Trump just called for a big commitment to U.S. shipbuilding. Yet another instance of ripped-from-the-pages-of-today’s-headlines for my 2021 book THE BLUE AGE.

Page One of today’s national print edition of the New York Times calls Musk FIRST TRILLIONAIRE ON EARTH. But what about Krypton? What about the Klingon homeworld? nytimes.com/2026/06/12/techn…

To see Venus and Jupiter together this month, you won't need binoculars or even a telescope. Just look up after sunset and you'll find them emerging as the sky grows dark near the western horizon. In fact, on June 9 the two brightest planets were in close conjunction, separated on the sky by less than 2 degrees from our perspective. Since (brighter) inner planet Venus orbits the Sun faster than outer planet Jupiter, it catches up with and passes the outer planet along the ecliptic roughly every 13 months. But every three years or so their resulting conjunction can be viewed far enough from the Sun to be easily seen in Earth's twilight skies. On June 9, the two celestial beacon's close "cosmic kiss" was captured here next to the two large standing stones at the cove within a 4,000 year old stone circle at Avebury, UK. Larger than Stonehenge, the Avebury henge and stone circle complex is also recognized as one of the most significant neolithic ceremonial sites on planet Earth. Image Credit & Copyright: Josh Dury

Beside the still waters no storm-cloud can rise, To hide from our vision the blue of the skies; A touch of God’s heaven we find here below, Alone with the Master whose goodness we know. -Lizzie DeArmond

if it was high school this NBA Finals game would go to mercy rule espn.com/nba/game?gameId=401…

terrific essay for those who like theater criticism nytimes.com/2026/04/15/opini…

increasingly the iPhone looks like a villain (he said, typing on his iPhone)

People have been writing me asking if Rabbis should be permitted to use AI to write sermons. The clear answer is no, they should steal from other rabbis, as our forefathers have always done. Amen.

Over 1000 years ago, Persian astronomer Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi published humanity’s oldest known record of the Andromeda Galaxy in "The Book of Fixed Stars" (Bodleian Library MS. Marsh 144 p. 167). 800 years later, Andromeda became the 31st entry in Charles Messier’s "Catalogue of Nebulae and Star Clusters". From “a small cloud” to “nebula” and now known to be our nearest major galaxy, Andromeda has remained a fundamental astronomical object. Today’s image, taken over 202 hours, shows how far we have come in our ability to observe our neighbor. The diffuse red and blue clouds are mostly foreground ionized hydrogen and oxygen well within our Milky Way. Pink-red clouds of hydrogen ionized by the energetic light of young stars trace the galaxy’s dusty spiral arms. M32 and M110 are satellite galaxies pictured orbiting the larger Andromeda. Despite its long history of observation through ancient unaided eyes to modern telescopes, Andromeda still holds countless secrets that astronomers will continue to search for, including how galaxies merge and evolve, as well as the nature of the dark matter that galaxies reside in. Image Credit & Copyright: Nick Fritz Text: Keighley Rockcliffe (NASA GSFC, UMBC CSST, CRESST II)

Bears fans saying "oh no" nbcsports.com/nfl/profootbal…

could this actually be a case of politicians having enough spine to say "no" to NFL subsidy demands? chicagobusiness.com/politics…

Terrific new Atlantic piece from @imkahloon theatlantic.com/magazine/202… Recalls terrific Atlantic piece on same topic by Michael Kinsley 2010

Seems $225 million doesn’t buy what it used to ign.com/articles/star-wars-t…

You want to know why kids aren’t reading books anymore? Here is an actual statement from the National Council of Teachers of English.