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dark_kana posting in

1) Delicious fresh pressed blood orange juice

2) A clean house and clean bedlinen

3) Having fun rereading the manga Prince of Tennis. I'll probably get through the last part of the series this evening ^^

shewhostaples

two log cabins with snow on the roofs in a wintery forest the text snowflake challenge january 1 - 31 in white cursive text

Top 10 challenge

I'm onna train, so here are 10 railway stations I like. In no particular order, and for various different reasons.

1. Frankfurt Hbf. This was where my international rail travels began. Standing on the concourse, looking at the departure boards (getting slightly earwormed by Stuttgart and Fulda), realising that I could get pretty much anywhere from here...

2. London St Pancras. It's beautiful. It's not actually a terribly pleasant experience getting a train from here (maybe the East Midlands and South Eastern platforms are better) but from the outside it's a fairy tale castle.

3. Stockholm. Rolling in, bleary eyed, off the sleeper from Malta, through dingy orange lights, and then suddenly you're in this marble palace. (I got chugged in Stockholm station. I don't know what I was doing to look like a Swede with disposable income rather than a discombobulated tourist, but there we go.)

4. London King's Cross. Never mind all that wizard nonsense, it has a fully functional platform zero. Also the toilets are free these days.

5. Liège Guillemins. Just glorious.

6. Ryde Pier Head. When it's operational and when you don't just miss the train because the catamaran was thirty seconds late. But there's still something fun about a station in the sea.

7. Dawlish. Train to beach in under a minute (your mileage may vary, as may mine considering I haven't been there in about a decade).

8. York. Never mind a pub in the station, it has one on the platform. Lovely stained glass, too.

9. Norwich. Light, gracious, makes you glad you've arrived.

10. Luxembourg. Stained glass again - and just time for an ice cream before the train.

freshport_news_feed

https://www.freshports.org/commit.php?category=x11&port=quickshell&files=yes&message_id=c766a64796dd0f7deedc810adf30eb451a339bf4

x11/quickshell: Add port: Building blocks for your desktop

Quickshell is a toolkit for building status bars, widgets,
lockscreens, and other desktop components using QtQuick. It can be
used alongside your wayland compositor or window manager to build a
complete desktop environment.

WWW: https://quickshell.org/

https://www.freshports.org/commit.php?category=x11&port=quickshell&files=yes&message_id=c766a64796dd0f7deedc810adf30eb451a339bf4

sovay

Running this many days without sleep, I find it hard to tell whether I had an insight about creativity this weekend or just reinvented a 101-level objection to LLMs and so-called generative AI, but it ocurred to me that such technologies are not capable of allusions. Their algorithms are not freighted with the same three-dimensional architecture of associations which accrete around information stored in the human cold porridge, all the emotional colors and sensory overtones and contextual echoes which attend the classic example of a word like tree when you throw it out across the incommensurable void between one human mind and another to be plugged into their own idiosyncratically plastic linkage of bias and experience whose least incompatibility may be the difference between a bristlecone and a birch and Wittgenstein has to lie down with a headache, but all of these entanglements form as much of the texture of a writer's style—of any human communication—as the word cloud of their vocabulary or their most commonly diagrammed sentences. It has always interested me to be able to detect the half-rhymes or skeletons of familiarity in the work of other writers; I have always assumed I am reciprocally legible if not transparent from space. I've seen arguments against the creativity of LLMs based on intentionality, but the unintended encrustrations seem just as important to me. By way of illustration, this thought was partly sparked by this classic and glorious mashup.

I was delighted to find on checking the news this morning that a new Roman villa just dropped. Given the Iron Age hillforts, the twelfth-century abbey, the Georgian country house, and the CH station, Margam Country Park clearly needed a Roman find to complete the set. I have since been informed of the discovery of a similarly well-preserved and impressive carnyx. Goes shatteringly with a villa, the Iceni tell me.

I joke about this rock I spend most of my time under, but how can I never have heard of Marlow Moss? The Bryher vibes alone. The Constructivism. And a real short king, judging by that jaunty photo c. 1937 with Netty Nijhoff. Pursuing further details, I fell over Anton Prinner and have been demoralized about my comprehension of art history ever since.

Last night I read David Copperfield (1850) for the third time in my life. It has the terrible feel of a teachable moment. In high school I bounced almost completely off it. About ten years later, I enjoyed the dual-layered narration and was otherwise mostly engaged by the language. Now it appears I just like the novel, which I have to consider may be a factor of middle age. Or I had just read the necessary bunch more of Dickens in the interval, speaking of traceable reflections, recurring figures; my favorite character has not changed since eleventh grade, but I can see now the constellation he's part of. It seems improbable that I was always reading the novel while waiting for chorus to start, but I did get through Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886) in the down time of a couple of rehearsals that year. I was not taking either of the standard literature classes, but I had friends who left their assigned reading lying around.

I have to be at three different doctors' offices tomorrow. I could be over this viral mishegos any second now.

Current Music: Pavement, "Grave Architecture"

james

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xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/3193/

I wanted to make the world's fastest yawl, so I made the aft sail bigger, but apparently that means it's not a yawl anymore! It's a real ketch-22.

https://xkcd.com/3193/

cornerofmadness

Started with my annual wellness check. I have some things she wants me to do that I agree need being done (endoscopy/colonoscopy) and isn't sure that coughing thing I do some times IS the hiatal hernia. My tachycardia is getting worse. She's wondering if I'm going into arrythmias and the coughing is resetting it. I'll be doing some testing for that. You'd think she'd order a halter monitor but she didn't. Just wants me to get a pulse ox for now.

Monday is an easy day. I have 1 new student in my upper level A&P and one didn't show but otherwise, it went well. Tomorrow is much more likely to be issuey.

Here's a funny thing from yesterday. Even though I had the thing on timer I was making a pastina soup and...it boiled out of the pot and burnt the pasta to the bottom. I told this to my parents and they started laughing. Mom did exactly the same thing with her soup too.

And it's music monday 30 weeks of music. This week's prompt is #9 a song you could exercise to. Believe it or not I HAVE an exercise playlist for when I'm at my brother's and doing aerobics in the pool. Since that contains slow warm up/cool downs I'll share some of the more driving ones.

( right under here )

Current Mood: exhausted
Current Music: Murder She Wrote

james_davis_nicoll

One character in my Outgunned game gets a laptop as part of his starting gear. Game is set in 1977 so I told the university age player he could have a programmable calculator or a slide rule.

"What's a slide rule?"

rocky41_7 posting in

booknook

Title: Empty Wardrobes
Author: Maria Judite de Carvalho
Translator: Margaret Jull Costa
Genre: Fiction, literary

I collect false treasures in empty wardrobes.

This quote by Paul Eluard opens book #14 from the "Women in Translation" rec list, which continues to fatten up my TBR list. This is Empty Wardrobes by Maria Judite de Carvalho, translated from Portuguese by Margaret Jull Costa. This novella, originally published in the 1960s, is about the ways in which women are subsumed by the men in their lives, or otherwise are buffeted about with less control over their lives than they ought to have.

The forward by Kate Zambreno is a wonderfully complementary piece. She talks about the anger she feels going to a woman's funeral and hearing the dead woman sanctified by men in her life who did nothing but take from her, who can speak of her only to praise what she did for others, and can say nothing about what the woman herself was.

Sometimes you can read a book and just know the author was angry when she wrote it. This is one of those. The book uses the phrase "discreet rage" about one of its characters, and I think that sentiment succinctly describes the whole book. The protagonist, Dora Rosario, is ten years into widowhood, and she has devoted her entire life to mourning her unremarkable husband as much as she had previous devoted her life to supporting his every opinion regardless of whether or not she agreed with it. Now, a decade on, her mother-in-law reveals something about Dora's late husband that changes her entire perspective.

I would like to believe we are moving away from the world portrayed in Empty Wardrobes (though not with as much success as I'd like), but this is a stark reminder of how even a few generations ago, in the Sixties, a woman's identity was so controlled by her husband's. There are only two men in this book--Duarte, Dora's dead husband, and Ernesto, the longtime partner of a side character--and they both, through social structures, exercise incredible control over the lives of the women around them without any respect or even knowledge of their impact.

The three main women in this book--Dora, her daughter Lisa, and the narrator--each take a different approach to the male romantic partners in their lives, and none of them comes out the better for it (well, perhaps for Lisa, but I personally doubt it will last), because the ultimate problem is societal attitudes about the way men and women are meant to relate to each other.

It's not a long book, and I can't say much more without spoiling things, but I also think it does some fabulous things with its narration and perspective, and the way it doles out information. Really an excellent framing that allows for a lot of fluidity and filling in gaps with your own visions while remaining clear in the nature of the story it's telling.

This book was only translated into English in 2021, which is a shame, because I think it would have struck a nerve much earlier, but we have it now! Costa does an excellent job with the work too; the writing is full of punchy phrases like the above, and she captures some realistic dialogue--characters repeating themselves, responding in ways that don't quite match up with what was asked, etc.--while keeping it natural-sounding.

adafrog

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languagelog_feed

Posted by Victor Mair

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=72589&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=amber-in-the-east

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=72589

Well, now, for all those doubting Thomases who insist that there was no contact between western Eurasia, Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia in antiquity:

"The Amber Trade along the Southwestern Silk Road from 600 BCE-220 CE." Lü, Jing et al. Palaeoentomology 8, no. 6 (December 29, 2025): 679-682. https://www.mapress.com/pe/article/view/palaeoentomology.8.6.10.

Abstract

Amber holds significant historical importance in China, symbolizing not only the glory of ancient Chinese art and culture but also reflecting the development of cross-regional trade in antiquity. Evidence shows that Burmese and Baltic amber became widely popular during the Han dynasty (202 BCE–220 CE) and could be imported through various routes (Liu et al., 2023a, b; Zhao et al., 2023; Li et al., 2025). During this period, the Euro-Asia Steppe Trade Road was predominantly used for the import of Baltic amber, while the Maritime Silk Route might also facilitate the amber trade (Li et al., 2025). Additionally, the Southwestern Silk Route is regarded as a crucial pathway for amber trade in ancient Southern China. This overland route stretched from Central China through the mountainous regions of Sichuan, Guizhou, and Yunnan, extending to Myanmar and other Southeast Asian countries (Elias, 2024). The ancient Ailao Regional States, serving as a key node along the Southwestern Silk Road, encompassed southwestern Yunnan (China), northern Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and eastern Assam (India) (Sun, 2016). Notably, the territory of Ailao Regional States included the Burmese amber deposits in the northern Myanmar, which was also recorded in the Han historical records as the amber origin (Fan, 1965). In addition, several amber artifacts from the same period have been discovered in the Dian Kingdom, which is primarily located in Yunnan and borders the Ailao Regional States (Zhao, 2016). While there is considerable evidence suggesting that the Southwestern Silk Route played a significant role in the amber trade, there is a lack of empirical evidence detailing its specific functions in the transportation of amber.

Etymology

From Middle English ambre, aumbre, from Old French aumbre, ambre, from Arabic عَنْبَر (ʕanbar, “ambergris”), from Middle Persian (ʾnbl /⁠ambar⁠/, “ambergris”). Compare English lamber, ambergris. Displaced Middle English smulting (from Old English smelting (“amber”)), Old English eolhsand (“amber”), Old English glær (“amber”), and Old English sāp (“amber, resin, pomade”).

- The nucleotide sequence "UAG" is named "amber" for the first person to isolate the amber mutation, California Institute of Technology graduate student Harris Bernstein, whose last name ("Bernstein") is the German word for the resin "amber".

(Wiktionary)

The English word amber derives from Arabic ʿanbar عنبر from Middle Persian (ʾnbl /ambar⁠/, "ambergris") via Middle Latin ambar and Middle French ambre. The word referred to what is now known as ambergris (ambre gris or "gray amber"), a solid waxy substance derived from the sperm whale. The word, in its sense of "ambergris", was adopted in Middle English in the 14th century.

In the Romance languages, the sense of the word was extended to Baltic amber (fossil resin) from as early as the late 13th century. At first called white or yellow amber (ambre jaune), this meaning was adopted in English by the early 15th century. As the use of ambergris waned, this became the main sense of the word.

The two substances ("yellow amber" and "gray amber") conceivably became associated or confused because they both were found washed up on beaches. Ambergris is less dense than water and floats, whereas amber is denser and floats only in concentrated saline, or strong salty seawater though less dense than stone.

The classical names for amber, Ancient Greek ἤλεκτρον (ēlektron) and one of its Latin names, electrum, are connected to a term ἠλέκτωρ (ēlektōr) meaning "beaming Sun". According to myth, when Phaëton, son of Helios (the Sun), was killed his mourning sisters became poplar trees, and their tears became elektron, amber. The word elektron gave rise to the words electric, electricity, and their relatives because of amber's ability to bear a charge of static electricity.

(Wikipedia)

Electrifying!

Warms the cockles of your heart.

Selected readings

"China Babel" (3/26/24) — with numerous important references
"Celto-Sinica" (12/30/25)
“Correspondences between Old Chinese and Proto-Celtic Words”, by Julie Lee Wei, Sino-Platonic Papers, 373 (December, 2025), 1-85.
"Volts before Volta" (1/3/26)
“The Baghdad Battery: Experimental Verification of a 2,000-Year-Old Device Capable of Driving Visible and Useful Electrochemical Reactions at over 1.4 Volts", by Alexander Bazes, Sino-Platonic Papers, 377 (January, 2026), 1-20.
"Battery-Powered Prayers" (1/8/26)
"The Trans-Eurasian Exchange: The Prehistory of Chinese Relations with the West", by Andrew Sherratt, published posthumously in Victor H. Mair, ed., Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2006), pp. 30-61.
Joyce C. White and Elizabeth G. Hamilton, “The transmission of early bronze technology to Thailand: new perspectives”, Journal of World Prehistory 22 (2009), 357–97 (Google Scholar)
Hajni Elias, H, "The Southwest Silk Road: artistic exchange and transmission in early China," Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 87 (2024), 319–344. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0041977X24000120
"The Wool Road of Northern Eurasia" (4/12/21) — comment:
Annie Gottlieb reminds me that there was also an Amber Road. I had written about that in various places, and was fascinated by the fact that there is clear evidence for flourishing trade along this route from the Baltic to the Mediterranean already during Neolithic times (although recent scholarship emphasizes the last three thousand years).
— traceable right over the Alps.
That further reminded me of this lecture that was given in my department on July 13, 2017: "Wine Road before the Silk Road: Hypotheses on the Origins of Chinese and Eurasian Drinking Culture". It was delivered by Peter Kupfer, Professor, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany.
Liu, Q., Zhang, Y.H.., Li, X.P., Qin, X. & Li, Q.H. (2023b) Some amber artifacts excavated from tombs of the Han Dynasty in Hunan Province. Journal of Gems and Gemmology, 25, 146–157. https://doi.org/10.15964/j.cnki.027jgg.2023.04.013
Luo, E.H. (2000) Chinese “Southwestern Silk Road” in the Han and Jin Dynasties. Journal of Sichuan University (Philosophy and Social Sciences Edition), 1, 84–105. [In Chinese]
Na, X.X. (2020) The research of the gemmological characteristics and colour grading of Burmese amber. Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, 34–40. [In Chinese]
Shi, Z.T., Xin, C.X. & Wang, Y.M. (2023) Spectral characteristics of unique species of Burmese amber. Minerals, 13, 151. https://doi.org/10.3390/min13020151
Sun, J. (2016) The spatio-temporal patterns and geographical imagination of ethnic groups in the Southwest of China, among Qin and Han Dynasties. China Social Sciences Press, Beijing, 530 pp. [In Chinese]
The Archaeological Team of Guizhou Provincial Museum (1979) The tombs of the Han Dynasty in Xingyi and Xingren, Guizhou Province. Cult Relics, 5, 20–33. [In Chinese]
Zhao, D. (2016). Exotic beads and pendants in Ancient China: From Western Zhou to Eastern Jin Dynasty. Science Press, Beijing, pp. 103–107. [In Chinese]
Zhao, T., Peng, M.H., Yang, M.X., Lu, R., Wang, Y.M. & Li, Y. (2023) Effects of weathering on FTIR spectra and origin traceability of archaeological amber: The case of the Han Tomb of Haihun Marquis, China. Journal of Archaeological Science, 153, 105753. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2023.105753
"Of a Persian spymaster and Viking Rus' in medieval East Asia: Scythia Koreana and Japanese Waqwaq" (6/1/25) — from Scandinavia to Korea and Japan; strikingly illustrated
Victor H. Mair, "Language and Script: Biology, Archaeology, and (Pre)history", International Review of Chinese Linguistics, 1.1 (1996), 31-41 (large format, twin columns) — hard to get hold of, but well worth the effort

plus hundreds of Language Log posts documenting east-west contact in ancient times by Lucas Christopoulos, Brian Pellar, Sara de Rose, and others.

[Thanks to Ted McClure]

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=72589&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=amber-in-the-east

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=72589

lassarina

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dailykos_feed

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2026/1/12/2363028/-8-ways-Trump-s-gaudy-DC-renovations-dwarf-whatever-the-Fed-is-doing?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=

President Donald Trump is trying to force out Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell by launching a baseless criminal investigation into his congressional testimony about a renovation project at the central bank.

Debris is seen at a largely demolished part of the East Wing of the White House, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, in Washington, before construction of a new ballroom. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) — Debris is seen at a largely demolished part of the East Wing of the White House on Oct. 23, 2025.

It's a move that even some Republicans are saying is a phony pretext to try to force Powell out so Trump can name a new Fed chair who will bend to his will on lowering interest rates. Such a move would eliminate the Fed's independence, which could plunge the U.S. economy into a recession.

The irony, of course, is that Trump has overseen multiple illegal and offensive renovations that are far more worthy of a criminal probe than the cost-overruns at the Fed. But of course, that won't happen because Trump has eliminated the Justice Department's independence, turning it into his personal revenge arm.

But if the DOJ were to actually do its job, here are the many corrupt and offensive renovations that Trump has made in his second term that should be investigated.

East Wing

Chief among Trump’s illegal moves is his razing of the entire East Wing of the White House to make way for his hideously ostentatious and out-of-touch ballroom that will dwarf the size of the White House itself.

Trump knocked down the entire structure without approval from the National Capital Planning Commission, and he's allegedly funding the project through "private" donations—which for all intents and purposes look more like bribes from major executives who are either seeking approval of their mergers or are desperate to dodge one of Trump's retribution campaigns.

West Wing

Trump is also talking about adding on to the West Wing, another potentially illegal renovation.

It's a move that we all should've seen coming, as Trump was spotted taking a bizarre walk on the West Wing roof over the summer.

The renovation is not out of necessity but rather to make his despicable ballroom stand out less by evening out the two sides of the White House.

White House interior

Trump has also made ugly-as-sin renovations to the inside of the White House, including a marble-encrusted Lincoln Bathroom—which he boasted about updating as he was set to withhold food stamps from low-income Americans. A real man of the people, he is.

Rose Garden

In one of his first moves upon reentering the White House, Trump spent millions to pave over the historic Rose Garden, turning the space into a sad, gray patio.

It not only looks like his gaudy Mar-a-Lago club, but also behaves like it, with Trump wining and dining with his rich buddies where they conspire ways they can enrich each other.

The Kennedy Center

Trump’s illegal renovations have not just occurred at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, but he’s also slapped his dumb name onto the Kennedy Center, even though the building was named by an act of Congress and changing it required congressional approval.

In fact, the Washington Post reported that Trump had the performing arts center board change its rules to permit the name change. But the name isn’t the only thing Trump is ruining at the Kennedy Center: He is also trying to add marble arm rests to seating in the theater, putting his signature gaudy touch on the building.

Other renovations

Aside from demolishing the White House and defacing the Kennedy Center, Trump has also carried out a hostile takeover of public golf courses in Washington and slapped his name on the side of the U.S. Institute of Peace, which his administration illegally took over.

He’s also talking about building an arch near Arlington National Cemetery—which is disgustingly being dubbed the “Arc de Trump.”

Trump is a one-man wrecking ball, who is more obsessed with remaking the nation’s capital in his image than he is about helping Americans.

It’s no wonder his approval rating is in the toilet.

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2026/1/12/2363028/-8-ways-Trump-s-gaudy-DC-renovations-dwarf-whatever-the-Fed-is-doing?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=

dailykos_feed

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2026/1/12/2363024/-Cartoon-Threat-to-America?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=

A cartoon by Mike Luckovich.

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2026/1/12/2363024/-Cartoon-Threat-to-America?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=

dailykos_feed

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2026/1/12/2363013/-The-Recap-Be-disrespectful-and-die-in-Trump-s-America-and-how-Democrats-can-give-us-hope?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=

A daily roundup of the best stories and cartoons by Daily Kos staff and contributors to keep you in the know.

Trump defends Renee Good killing: She was 'disrespectful' to ICE

Let’s be honest: If Trump thinks you’re being disrespectful, you’re probably doing something right.

Overwhelmed Americans are dreading 2026. Can Democrats bring hope?

Most Republicans now seem to realize a blue wave is forming.

Trump's pettiness is now tanking the US economy

Voters, who are desperate to see inflation cool, are surely jazzed about it.

Cartoon: Straight into the veins

Nothing to see here, just Trump’s war on ~~oil~~ drugs.

Jasmine Crockett on blazing her own trail in Texas politics

In this Daily Kos exclusive, Crockett proves there’s still hope for Democrats.

The right blames car horns and iPhones for ICE violence

Honking horns? Recording video? ICE agents are clearly the real victims.

Can this Democrat win a deep red Senate seat?

Democrats believe Alaska could again defy national trends.

Click here to see more cartoons.

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2026/1/12/2363013/-The-Recap-Be-disrespectful-and-die-in-Trump-s-America-and-how-Democrats-can-give-us-hope?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=

questionable_content_feed

http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=5742

Good job Ayo

http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=5742

freshport_news_feed

https://www.freshports.org/commit.php?category=math&port=Imath&files=yes&message_id=85819a4495e040dfe6da898223ef43758e9a4801

math/Imath: default-enable PYTHON

Required for upcoming new port,
Reported by: Martin Filla

https://www.freshports.org/commit.php?category=math&port=Imath&files=yes&message_id=85819a4495e040dfe6da898223ef43758e9a4801

freshport_news_feed

https://www.freshports.org/commit.php?category=net-mgmt&port=librenms&files=yes&message_id=fa5c456d6096ac7afc99afd76bb8fba88d995ead

net-mgmt/librenms: Update to 26.1.1

re: https://github.com/librenms/librenms/releases/tag/26.1.1

https://www.freshports.org/commit.php?category=net-mgmt&port=librenms&files=yes&message_id=fa5c456d6096ac7afc99afd76bb8fba88d995ead

dailykos_feed

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2026/1/12/2363042/-Zuckerberg-kisses-up-to-Trump-by-tapping-insider-for-cushy-gig?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=

Facebook owner Meta launched itself deeper into the Republican orbit on Monday, tapping former Trump administration adviser Dina Powell McCormick as its new president and vice chair.

The move is the latest step in the tech giant’s effort to smooth relations with President Donald Trump and the GOP as Washington’s balance of power shifts.

Powell McCormick’s resume straddles finance and government. According to The Wall Street Journal, she spent 16 years at Goldman Sachs, most recently held a senior role at BDT & MSD Partners, and served as Trump’s deputy national security adviser during his first term. Earlier in her career, she served under President George W. Bush.

She joined Meta’s board last April, part of a broader push by the company to bring prominent Republicans into the fold following Trump’s return to the White House. Monday’s promotion elevates her from board member to one of the most powerful executives inside the company.

In a statement, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg praised Powell McCormick’s background in global finance and diplomacy. Her “experience at the highest levels of global finance, combined with her deep relationships around the world, makes her uniquely suited to help Meta manage this next phase of growth,” he said.

“She’ll be involved in all of Meta’s work, with a particular focus on partnering with governments and sovereigns to build, deploy, invest in, and finance Meta’s AI and infrastructure,” Zuckerberg added in a post on Threads announcing her new role.

Trump, for his part, wasted no time embracing the appointment. In a post on Truth Social, the president congratulated Powell McCormick and said Zuckerberg had made a “great choice,” calling her “a fantastic, and very talented, person, who served the Trump Administration with strength and distinction!”

UNITED STATES - JANUARY 25: Dave McCormick, Republican U.S. Senate candidate from Pennsylvania, and his wife Dina Powell McCormick, greet supporters during a campaign event with Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, at Lehigh Valley Sporting Clays in Coplay, Pa., on Tuesday, January 25, 2022. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images) — Dave McCormick, Republican U.S. Senate candidate from Pennsylvania, and his wife Dina Powell McCormick, greet supporters during a campaign event with Sen. Ted Cruz in Coplay, Pennsylvania, on Jan. 25, 2022.

On paper, Powell McCormick’s financial background aligns well with Meta’s ambitions. Still, her proximity to Trump and deep Republican ties are hard to ignore. Powell McCormick’s elevation comes as Meta continues its broader reset under the current administration, following years of tension.

Zuckerberg and Trump once had a famously icy relationship. Trump was banned from Facebook after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, and the president spent years lambasting the platform.

But that dynamic has shifted dramatically during Trump’s second term. Zuckerberg had a front-row seat to Trump’s inauguration in January—alongside Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos and Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk—after donating $1 million to the inaugural fund, and has made multiple trips to Florida to meet Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

Meta has also adjusted its policies to better align with Republican priorities. Last year, the company scrapped its independent fact-checking program and rolled back diversity initiatives, both moves intended to curry favor with Trump. And after Zuckerberg raised concerns about digital services taxes at a White House meeting, Trump publicly threatened tariffs on countries that impose them.

Powell McCormick’s appointment fits neatly into that pattern. Since Trump’s election, Meta has steadily stocked its leadership ranks with GOP veterans. The company elevated former Republican official Joel Kaplan to serve as its global affairs lead, while naming Kevin Martin, a former Republican chair of the Federal Communications Commission, as his deputy.

Earlier this month, Meta also hired former Trump trade adviser C.J. Mahoney to lead its legal team, replacing Jennifer Newstead, who served in the Biden administration.

Speaking to Reuters, Meta declined to say whether Powell McCormick’s promotion was intended to seek favor with Trump, though a company statement emphasized her role in expanding Meta’s long-term investment capacity.

Powell McCormick’s political connections don’t stop with her own résumé, though. She’s also married to David McCormick, the Republican who won a closely watched Senate race in Pennsylvania in 2024.

Taken together, the moves suggest a company working hard not to end up on the wrong side of a combative White House. Once again, Silicon Valley looks less inclined to resist Trump’s Washington than to adapt to it.

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2026/1/12/2363042/-Zuckerberg-kisses-up-to-Trump-by-tapping-insider-for-cushy-gig?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=

tsuki_no_bara

hello my flist! i had such high hopes for the new year and, just, pfft. it's

snowflake_challenge season and i haven't even posted for that. oy.

anyway i hope your 2026 has been decent-to-good so far or at least not worse than 2025.

for new year's i went to my sister's and we went out for dinner (delish) and watched a lot of lotr, pausing only to watch the ball drop in times square. i like a good tradition but she may or may not want to do something different this year. we'll see. and for christmas she came to my house and we drove around to look at people's holiday lights and got chinese takeout and watched wake up, dead man on netflix because we both felt too meh to go out. (i liked it but i think i liked the first one the best.) and like four days before that my cousin's youngest kid got married in dc and i brought a cold with me and lost my voice at the wedding. wtf. that made it very difficult to talk to cousins which did not stop me. but it also meant i was still sick or recovering for the entirety of my time off. whiiine. at least i had two weeks off to cough up a lung and sit on my couch and be tired, rather than having to take sick days or work from home a lot. but still! i had a lot of time off and couldn't even enjoy most of it! and i had plans! which were mostly "watch tv, work on holiday project for writing group, start pumpkin spice cross stitch". sigh.

(while in dc my sister and i did a little sightseeing, which included a farmer's market down the street from the hotel - it was SO WINDY but there were lots of dogs - a walk around the washington monument, a stroll down the reflecting pool, and a little talk by a park ranger in the lincoln memorial.)

we got snow a couple times tho, that was nice. i'm a big fan of waking up to snow on the ground. :D especially new year's day! it was just enough to shovel but if it had been, say, four inches, i would've enjoyed that too.

during my time off i met admin s who works at the libraries for lunch and a week later i met one of the admins m for lunch and both of those things were really nice, partly because i enjoy a lunch out and partly because it was just nice to see people. and i never see admin s because i don't work with her any more. i also had mexican brunch with

tamalinn and friend a and friend a's hubs and that was fun and also delicious. and saturday i got a haircut. :D

before the haircut i went to cousins j&m's for brunch and to say hi and goodbye to their kids before they went back to school, and friday night my sister and i took cousin p on dad's side out for dinner for her birthday. it was yummy (i had black pasta with shrimp and calamari) and they brought cousin p a slice of flourless chocolate cake for her birthday. my sister and i ate most of it.

work re-entry was fine and going to campus was weird because it's been like three weeks since i was there. classes don't start until february so it's very quiet but again, it's nice to see people.

things i did in november and december:

went record album/antique shopping with tamalinn and friend a and bought the go-gos' beauty and the beat, heart's little queen, and a cookbook from the 50s full of buffet recipes
saw wicked pt 1 (again) in preparation for seeing wicked pt 2
went out to dinner with my sister and cousin j (of j&m)
fetched the mothership at the airport for tday
went out for bday dinner with mom, sister, cousins j&r, and the aforementioned lone cousin j
got snowed on in harvard square :DDD
had brunch with cousins from mom's side
bought a dress for the wedding
did not need to buy shoes
had dinner with cousins from dad's side
had mom and sister over for dinner (i made pork chops because i could)
went to j&m's for tday
ate a lot
saw wicked pt 2 (not bad but i liked pt 1 better, also why did the story have to be two movies?)
went to snowport (boston holiday market, down by the seaport) where i bought a print of a pickle sign and saw the lobster nativity
borrowed a bolero jacket from one of the admins m for the wedding because the dress is sleeveless and it was a jewish wedding and i'd have to cover my shoulders
went to the holiday market at the somerville armory and bought a blockprint of a medieval looking fish and a print of my favorite local bridge
one of the vendors had a print with a drawing of a guillotine and the legend "a better world is possible!" heh.
watched red one (so cute, so silly)
went to friend r's to watch the thin man because it's set around christmas and while i don't know how successful it was as a murder mystery i liked nick and nora as a couple and overall enjoyed it
saw the housemaid (had some twists i appreciated and i liked it)
curled lots, made a couple good shots and a lot more acceptable-to-missed shots
finished the lowdown (liked it, recommend it, didn't love the way the murder plot shook out)
watched talasmasca: the secret order (partly because of elizabeth mcgovern going "talamasssca" in the trailers) (mostly liked it altho i didn't really like the protagonist - he thought he was the smartest person in the room and every time he got in over his head, which was pretty much the entire show, women showed up to get him out of trouble)
watched hysteria! (about a high school heavy metal garage band that pretends to be a satanic cult to get fans, and then shit goes off the rails) (it's set in 1987 and got a lot of the satanic panic right but was otherwise only glancingly historical which made me twitch. was fun altho did i mention it went totally off the rails?)
rewatched stranger things s1-s4 with folks on discord in preparation for s5
watched s5 (i have mixed feelings about the season as a whole but i was pretty satisfied with how it ended)

so this news is massachusetts based and one of my friends even works for massdot and DID NOT TELL ME and i had to learn from a snowflake challenge from someone who doesn't even live here and now i share with you the winners of the name-a-snowplow contest. the entries all came from public school classrooms (k-8) and the plows are in service this winter. sleet caroline! clearopathra! you're killing me squalls! read and giggle.

speaking of mass, the boston aquarium built an old folks home for their geriatric penguins. how cute is that?

in the wake of dump and his administration cutting funding to universities mackenzie scott (aka the former mrs jeff bezos) donated $80m to howard university, an hbcu (historically black colleges and universities, for the non-americans in the audience), which is one of the biggest single donations in the school's history. she got billions of dollars when she split from jeff and she's definitely using her powers for good.

i know thanksgiving was last year and these are probably quite sold out but i must share the "no-thanks" jell-o molds. you could get ~~canberry~~ canned cranberry jelly, pecan pie, and brussel sprouts. i don't like brussel sprouts at all but the round little molds are so cute.

joe keery officiated a wedding in his scoops ahoy uniform. for the stranger things fen in the audience. :D

i must share one of the scariest videos i've ever seen - a guy climbing up and then skiing down mt everest with no supplemental oxygen. i'm sorry, but watching him ski down that mountain, especially from the top, is fucking terrifying. i'm not afraid of heights but absolutely not, no way.

sir david attenborough sends a hedgehog on its way. to end with something cute.

dave grohl vs animal drum battle. and something fun. :D

Current Mood: SO BEHIND
Current Music: the kitchen timer is ticking

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Page Summary

dark_kana in 3_good_things_a_day - Tuesday 13/01/2026
shewhostaples - Snowflake Challenge: day 6
freshport_news_feed - x11/quickshell - 0.2.1
sovay - Am I just a phantom waiting to be ripped around on shady ground?
james - Days off: Project!
xkcd_feed - Sailing Rigs
cornerofmadness - First Day back
james_davis_nicoll - sigh
rocky41_7 in booknook - Book review: Empty Wardrobes
adafrog - Monday Jan 12.
languagelog_feed - Amber in the east
lassarina - 2026 Goals
dailykos_feed - 8 ways Trump's gaudy DC renovations dwarf whatever the Fed is doing
dailykos_feed - Cartoon: Threat to America
dailykos_feed - The Recap: Be ‘disrespectful’ and die in Trump’s America, and how Democrats can give us hope
questionable_content_feed - Mistress Of Subtlety
freshport_news_feed - math/Imath - 3.2.2_2
freshport_news_feed - net-mgmt/librenms - 26.1.1,1
dailykos_feed - Zuckerberg kisses up to Trump by tapping insider for cushy gig
tsuki_no_bara - it's winter, you get penguins

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Tuesday 13/01/2026

Snowflake Challenge: day 6

x11/quickshell - 0.2.1

Am I just a phantom waiting to be ripped around on shady ground?

Days off: Project!

Sailing Rigs

First Day back

sigh

Book review: Empty Wardrobes

Monday Jan 12.

Amber in the east

2026 Goals

8 ways Trump's gaudy DC renovations dwarf whatever the Fed is doing

East Wing

West Wing

White House interior

Rose Garden

The Kennedy Center

Other renovations

Cartoon: Threat to America

The Recap: Be ‘disrespectful’ and die in Trump’s America, and how Democrats can give us hope

Mistress Of Subtlety

math/Imath - 3.2.2_2

net-mgmt/librenms - 26.1.1,1

Zuckerberg kisses up to Trump by tapping insider for cushy gig

it's winter, you get penguins

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January 2026

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