Because Life Doesn’t Come With a Guidebook, It Comes With A Mom

THis has become my perennial Mother’s Day Post.

Can you believe it…it’s Mother’s Day already! Even during stressful times like these the years  tick by at an alarming rate. I can’t say for sure whether the universe is expanding but I can verify the fact that time is accelerating. My Mom has been gone for 17 years already this month, which doesn’t even seem possible, sometimes it seems she was here just yesterday. Mom: ever a part of you, always with you, even when she isn’t.

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom.

To celebrate mothers is to celebrate life itself. Like virtually everything else in life there are exceptions but for the most part mothers are indeed exceptional in their unconditional love and devotion. At a Mother’s Day gathering in 2017 Melania Trump explained it this way:

“Mother is a title that claims your heart and changes your life forever. In fact, it has been said that having a child means allowing your heart to walk around outside of your body.”

So if you’re lucky enough to still have your mom around, grab some flowers and thank the woman who let her heart walk around independent of her body.

Give her a big hug (assuming neither of you have the Wuhan cooties of course). If she’s no longer with you, honor her memory by recalling the good times you had when you were both impossibly young.

For time is indeed a most fleeting commodity.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms out there – and to everyone else who has, or ever had, a Mom.

Moms:because life doesn’t come with guidebook, it comes with a mom

Proof That Creativity Hasn’t Been Completely Killed

Is anyone else war weary and politically pooped? I doubt I’m alone so here’s an entertaining diversion that may keep you smiling till Mother’s Day.

It’s 11 years old so the video quality isn’t what it is today but it’s still hilarious, still more creative than anything Hollywood has put out in the same timeframe. Proof that low tech still has a place in our lives.

Their mothers must be proud.

Wishes for a good week to all.

Not All Heroes Wear Capes

Who is Elizabeth Bik? She is basically a scientific truther who points out studies in scientific papers that can’t be duplicated. In other words, she exposes dubious “scientific” results being cranked out by thousands of academics who feel pressured to publish papers. Apparently “truthiness” is no longer a requirement in science.

Elizabeth Bik

Her super power is an unnatural ability to spot image duplications/manipulations in scientific papers resulting in major corrections and retractions. To date, her work alone has resulted in 1,686 Retractions, 269 Expressions of Concern, and 1,256 Corrections (as of April 2026). What started as a simple exercise in checking for plagiarism turned into a full time career of exposing just how common image manipulation – fraud – is in scientific publishing. She’s doing the work that sham peer reviewers ( they get paid processing fees for their reviews) refuse to do.

By the way, Elizabeth is a Dutch microbiologist who came to this country (legally) 25 years ago and worked at Stanford laboratory before moving on to the biotech industry. If all immigrants contributed even a fraction of what she does nobody would be complaining about immigration.

An example of Elizabeth’s data sleuthing:

In addition to her other work Elizabeth has a blog, Science Integrity Digest, that lately has been exploring AI’s role in plagiarized papers. Science has no greater hero than this data sleuth. And had she been around to nail Michael Mann for his fraudulent hockey stick graph perhaps we wouldn’t have the climate hysteria that has engulfed the planet in a flimflam extortion scheme of monumental proportions for decades now.

The Democrats Entertainment Enterprise: Better Than Policy and Ideas.

Singing.

Bo and Zo read to a group of children and lead a sing-along at a Bronx childcare center: The Wheels on the Bus go Round and Round; if they don’t fall off first.

Dancing.

Michigan State Senator and U.S. senator candidate Mallory McMorrow  proves Democrats can’t campaign without turning every event into a circus. She burst into the 2026 Democratic Convention in Detroit like she was starring in her own parade, complete with a pounding marching drumline, clapping hands, and a giant cardboard cutout of her own face bobbing through the crowd. Sad. Desperate theatre kids hawking hype over substance.

Berating.

Walz rips Trump and Vance in Spain, says 'feeble-minded, trigger-happy president' has no exit plan for Iran. Says the man whose exit plan from Minnesota includes pocketing millions of dollars from various Somali Learing Centers.

Those crazy, corrupt, communist Democrats. They’re nothing if not entertaining. Nothing.

You Can Always Count On The Euro-Trash

The hubris of the smug, effete Euros would be amusing if it weren’t so aggravating. The Euros would rather side with recognized terrorists than save their own culture and civilization. They renounced their strongest ally who has stuck with them for over 100 years. The same ally that has bailed them out time and time over that 100+ years. That’s some very weak cheese, even for the cheese eating surrender monkeys.

May God help these godless ingrates as I doubt we will step in to save their bacon (literally) again.

I’m not familiar with Tim Soret but he has his thumb on the stupidity of his fellow Europeans.

As a European, I apologize to Americans for all the idiocy coming from our side.

You save your pilots no matter the cost.
You send humans to the moon.
You fight authoritarianism head-on.
It's truly inspiring.

We're on the wrong side of the moral equation.

— Tim Soret (@timsoret) April 5, 2026

Frankly I hope I can join your ranks one day.

I'm done with the morally smug, economically illiterate, declinist mindset here. We think we're so cultured & so smart, but it's mostly masturbatory.

Americans keep demonstrating their uniquely actionable & pragmatic intelligence.

— Tim Soret (@timsoret) April 5, 2026

 

And on a happier note, thank you, dear MOTI, for brightening my weekend with this most lovely arrangement. It has been such a very grey spring (following a very grey winter) around here. “April flowers” are even more welcome than usual, and these are stunners.

You need an overhead shot to appreciate the magnificent branches of apple blossoms, or maybe they’re cherry blossoms, I’m not sure but either way they are gorgeous.

As are the coral peonies, a most unusual color and they are very dramatic mixed with the soft pink blossoms and pale pink roses and greens.

Another homerun bouquet from the MOTI that will brighten our home all week while we wait for the sun to shine again. Prayers and blessings for all from the very grateful MOTUS house.

Easter Sunday 2026

And he said unto them, Be not amazed: you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified: he is risen;

He is not here: behold the place where they laid him.

And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you. - Mark 16:6

‘I am the resurrection, and the life: He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.’

And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? — John 11: 25-26

Christians around the world gather today on this most holy of Christian holydays to celebrate with joy the miracle of the Resurrection and the promise of eternal salvation. Enjoy this beautiful, joyful, hopeful spring day: rest, reflect and renew. Have a blessed Easter.

Stop Doodling Around

Happy Wingsday wingsmen.

I offer this as a PSA: Although dogs bred with poodles have been extremely popular for years now, resulting in new breeds left and right, please stop breeding poodles with EVERYTHING!

Stick with adorable doodle dogs and curly fries.

The world really does not need a Chick-a-Doodle.

Maybe an Australian mountain doodle

but definitely not a Chick-a-doodle.

All feather, no meat

The King of Memes

Although Chuck Norris didn’t invent memes, arguably that was Russian standup comedian Yakov Smirnoff with his “In Soviet Russia…” routine, but he certainly ruled the genre.

Yakov Smirnoff pre-dated the viral shared template, humorous, digital memes that took off in the 2000s as his routine  peaked in the 1980s was known as a Russian reversal joke.

 

As funny as the Smirnoff trope was the unquestioned master of the internet meme was Chuck Norris. So let’s just leave the war behind for awhile and revel in the fun of “Chuck Norris facts.” Like the Communism/Capitalist trope they will age well because of the eternal clash of left and right, good and evil.  So here’s to you Chuck, the baddest hero ever. The list of his amazing strengths is long and eternally funny. A few of my favorites below: there are literally hundreds of these and I encourage you to add your favorite.

 

RIP Mr. Norris. You earned it.