Scrapping Quarterly Reports Solves a Problem No One Had – WSJ
How a Small Bear Challenged DEC’s Rules in the High Peaks 🧸
In the bear populated Adirondack High Peaks, bear canisters a legal requirement. Enforced by ticket welding Forest Rangers and regularly now being undermined by the same bears they’re trying to protect. State government regulations mandate the use of hard-sided bear canisters for overnight stays to prevent wildlife from becoming dependent on human food.
For years, the industry leader was BearVault, a product engineered to be physically impossible for a bear to open. Its design relied on a fundamental assumption: that while a bear is strong, it lacks the cognitive ability to solve a multi-step mechanical lock.
Then came Yellow-Yellow who made a mockery of the state law.
A Law-Violating Genius in Fur 😆
Yellow-Yellow wasn’t the hulking beast you’d expect. She was a modest, 125-pound female black bear, named for the twin yellow tracking tags wildlife biologists clipped to her ears. Despite her size, she became a legend by becoming the first—and for a long time, the only—animal to systematically “crack” the vault.
Backcountry campers began reporting a bizarre phenomenon. They would wake up to find their canisters sitting upright, completely intact, but entirely empty. There were no signs of a struggle—no claw marks or punctures in the tough polycarbonate. It was as if a human had simply walked into camp and unscrewed the lid.
Decoding the Machine 🤟
When researchers finally caught her in the act, they realized Yellow-Yellow wasn’t trying to break the canister; she was operating it.
Her technique was clever to say the least:
- The Grip: She would roll the canister against a rock or log to keep it steady.
- The Key: Instead of thumbs, she used her canine teeth to press down on the locking tabs with surgical precision.
- The Twist: Once the tabs were depressed, she used her paws to provide the torque needed to spin the lid open.
The Evolutionary Arms Race 🧑🔬
This sparked a years-long battle between Yellow-Yellow and the engineers at BearVault. When the company heard about her, they didn’t just ignore it; they redesigned the product. They made the tabs harder and changed the plastic, effectively “updating the software” to see if she could find a new exploit.
She did. Every time. Within a single season, Yellow-Yellow would adapt to the new design and find a way back into the hikers’ snacks. Eventually, the manufacturer had to include a disclaimer on their website warning that their product was approved for use everywhere in North America except for Yellow-Yellow’s territory.
A Legacy of Intelligence 🐻❄️ 🐻
Yellow-Yellow’s story, which came to an end in 2012, remains one of the most significant case studies in wildlife behavior. She proved that “instinct” is a limited word for an animal capable of mechanical reasoning, long-term memory, and problem-solving.
She didn’t just stumble onto food; she outthought some of the best outdoor engineers in the country. For those who trek through the Adirondacks High Peaks today, her story serves as a humbling reminder: we aren’t the only ones in the woods with a mind for puzzles. Nature always finds a way!
The bike is back working again 🚲
I rode into the office. I noticed when I got into the office that the emergency tire pump got left home, so I best not get any flats on the commute home, though I have a new tube and rear tire, so that reduces the risk of a flat. But there is always so much broken glass and metal trash on the roads between Erie Boulevard and I-787 where everybody throws their glass beer bottles out their car windows. I so despise things packaged in glass, not just because I can’t burn it, but because it makes such a mess wherever it breaks and recycling like so many other things is a scam but with better marketing with the greenies then plastic.
It was nice riding to work, and not taking the SuperDuty in. 🛻 I mean the SuperDuty is great for traveling, but it’s kind of big and heavy, and Water Street is such crap in Albany and it’s tight getting past all those parked cars and tight turns. And it gets like single-digit fuel economy in the city, even if I am happy enough with the fuel economy on the open road. The bike ride is so much better for my sanity. 
Now I’m just waiting for the truck cap, I should reach out to Ruth’s for an update at end of the week. Probably the rest of the week it’s back to busing it, 
as it’s going to rain. I mean I guess I could take the SuperDuty but that’s stupid as it burns a lot of soon-to-be $5 a gallon gas. 
At that price, if I let the tank get down to the last gallon, probably not recommended for risk to fuel pump, it would be $165 to fuel up. Granted that is well over 500 miles of gas on the highway, still that’s a big number.
Just to be safe, I plan to ride straight home tonight, 
and make a quick dinner and then grab the air pump and go out to Five Rivers assuming the weather is good. After fiddling a bit with quick link I got in on the bike, and a bit of adjusting – I mean bending the derailuer hanger – and no longer is the chain clicking, straining or jumping as I downshift and accelerate hard out of traffic lights. 
I think the stress on the chain actually caused the quick link to break off the Shram Chain I had, but I do think the quick link I got from Steiners was good. I am debating now about the junk QuickLinks crap I got from Amazon – send them back or not? The cheap QuickLinks are machined so poorly, and Mom sent me the UPS label for printing and I can drop them off tomorrow at UPS bin in the Empire Plaza. I kind of hate to reward a scam business. I know I won’t be ordering any non-brand name parts off Amazon any time soon again. 
I hate dealing with bike stores an the granola eating crowd, but generally what bike stores sell is quality parts, once you find out how to install them.
The Pine Hollow Arboretum was spectacular last night 
but not a lot of yellow flowers. 
Lots of reds and blues. Felt good to have the bike on the road, and after some adjustments shifting well, though once the chain came off at the stoplight. But now seeming good. Got dark quickly, kind of a bit of clouds to west in evening, 
plus the hollow is kind of a darker place. I was noticing the Paw Paw Tree 
wasn’t looking so hot, but maybe it’s been too cold to leaf out, as it’s part of the northern range. The Giant Laurel aka Rhododendron were quite spectacular though some still aren’t out in the full bloom. 
Got to the bank after picking up the bike part, went to Price Chopper and they had very affordable 18-pack of eggs packed in paper carton
and milk 
as with rain coming tonight through Friday, I doubt I’ll be riding in on my bike with easy access to Hannaford in the mean time.
Daraxonrasib and Cancer ♋
Daraxonrasib is an experimental targeted therapy that fights pancreatic cancer by “turning off” a protein that acts like a broken growth switch inside cancer cells.
- The Problem: In about 90% of pancreatic cancers, a protein called RAS (often KRAS) develops a mutation. Normally, this protein acts as a switch that tells cells when to grow. In cancer, the switch gets stuck in the “ON” position, sending a constant, out-of-control signal for cells to multiply and spread.
- The “Molecular Glue” Solution: For decades, scientists found this “on” switch impossible to grab onto (calling it “undruggable”). Daraxonrasib works by pairing up with another protein already in your body (cyclophilin A) to create a “molecular glue”. This duo can finally latch onto the active RAS protein and physically block it from sending growth signals.
- Pan-RAS Targeting: While some drugs only target one specific type of mutation, daraxonrasib is a “pan-RAS” inhibitor. It can block many different versions of the RAS mutation (like G12D, G12V, and G12R), making it effective for a much wider range of patients.
- Targets the “ON” State: Many older experimental drugs tried to catch the protein while it was “off.” Daraxonrasib is designed to hit the protein while it is actively driving the cancer.
- Survival Impact: In a major Phase 3 clinical trial (RASolute 302), the drug nearly doubled the overall survival time for patients with advanced pancreatic cancer compared to standard chemotherapy—increasing it from roughly 6.7 months to 13.2 months.
- Availability: As of May 2026, the drug is not yet fully FDA-approved but is being fast-tracked. The FDA recently authorized an Expanded Access Program (EAP), allowing some eligible patients to access the drug while the final approval process continues.
How an ‘Impossible’ Idea Led to a Pancreatic Cancer Breakthrough – The New York Times
Pancreatic cancer is one of the most dire diagnoses in medicine. There are few available treatments, and they do little to help. For decades, experimental drugs flopped in trials. Many researchers believed the biological obstacles could not be surmounted.
In what seems the blink of an eye, all that has changed. A drug nearing regulatory approval, daraxonrasib, is the first to substantially extend the lives of patients with pancreatic cancer. It works by targeting a cellular protein that fuels not just nearly all pancreatic tumors, but also many lung and colon cancers. Those three are the leading causes of cancer deaths.
Do Not Fear the SuperDuty 🛻
I spent sixty thousand dollars on a brand-new SuperDuty, and yet, there’s a part of me that’s still hesitant to even turn the key. It isn’t a fear of the machine itself—Old Smokey has a solid, planted ride, though that straight front axle definitely reminds you of its presence when the pavement gets choppy. No, it’s more of a deep-seated resentment toward the act of driving in the modern world.
I love big trucks, but I’ve grown to loathe the suburban grind. The stoplights, the congestion, the speed traps, and the constant feeling of being under a microscope by law enforcement—it’s exhausting, especially in the city. Out on the open country roads, away from the multi-lane interstates and urban sprawl, the experience is transformed. But today, I had to venture into the belly of the beast.
I needed a new chain link for my bike after getting burned by some cheap Chinese garbage on Amazon. It was a stark reminder: never buy critical bike parts online unless they’re the same established brands you’d find at your local bike shop. I hated every minute of the commute. I intentionally waited until after 9:00 AM to head into the office just to let the rush hour fever break, and even then, I took the back way through the city just to avoid the expressway madness.
I’m lucky to have a suburban office with acres of free parking, but I still don’t want my working years defined by a daily commute. One day a week is plenty. However, taking the SuperDuty down to Hudson on Sunday to explore those preserves and parks reminded me why I bought this rig in the first place. On the open road, it’s a dream—solid, powerful, and offering a commanding view through those massive towing mirrors. It’s a truck, plain and simple. And in a few weeks, once that ARE MX camper shell is finally installed, it’ll be the perfect escape pod.
I realized I’ve missed the countryside. It was a long, cold winter without a truck after I retired Big Red. Out on the rural blacktop, the 6.8L gasser actually surprised me, pulling down 15.7 MPG even with some stop-and-go in town. That’s more than fair for a one-ton HD truck that’s meant for recreation, not commuting.
Of course, the news is a constant drumbeat of rising gas prices. You see the horror stories on Facebook of guys getting 8 MPG while towing heavy, and you do the math: 34 gallons at five bucks a pop is a $170 fill-up. If the doomsayers are right and we see ten-dollar gas, things are going to get ugly, especially for the folks out West. But I topped off the tank the other day—just a hair below half—for $83. It didn’t sting as much as I expected. Seeing “460 miles to empty” on the dash felt like a security blanket.
For now, I’m content to let Old Smokey sit a bit. I want to savor those three digits on the odometer and keep that new-truck feeling alive as long as I can. This is likely the last new truck I’ll ever buy before I finally hang it up and head for that off-grid homestead in 2040. Until then, I’ll be counting smiles per gallon, not miles per gallon.
Gray Water 🫗
Gray Water is wash water generated by a household. It’s from washing dishes and hands. Sometimes clothes and showers. It not only contains water but also soaps and nutrient rich residues from whatever you are washing clean.
Unlike dairy farm wash water, it is on most residential properties commonly discarded to septic systems and municipal waste water systems, loosing the nutrients in the water and the water itself. Done that way to protect public health it often strikes me as an incredible waste.
Ways People Reuse Gray Water 💦
- Simple Systems (e.g., Laundry-to-Landscape): These divert water directly from a washing machine to the garden without pumps or filtration. They often use a 3-way valve to switch between the garden and the sewer/septic.
- Complex Systems: These involve tanks, filtration, and often UV disinfection to treat water for more advanced uses like toilet flushing or indoor laundry.
Best Practices for Gray Water Reuse 🪣
- Food Crop Safety: Focus on ornamental plants, shrubs, and fruit trees. Never use gray water on root crops (like carrots) or leafy vegetables where the water might touch the edible portion.
- Direct Subsurface Application: Apply water directly to the soil or under a layer of mulch; never use sprinklers, as “misting” gray water increases inhalation and contact risks.
- Product Selection: Use “plant-friendly” biodegradable, low-sodium, and boron-free soaps.
- When to Divert: Always switch back to the sewer/septic if someone in the house is sick, or if you are washing diapers or clothes soiled with toxic chemicals like gasoline.
Health & Environmental Risks 🧑⚕️
- Pathogens: Untreated gray water can contain bacteria (like E. coli or Salmonella), viruses, and protozoa. Risk increases if the water is stored for more than 24 hours, as nutrients break down and pathogens multiply, causing foul odors.
- Soil and Plant Damage: Gray water is often alkaline. High levels of sodium, boron, or chlorine bleach in soaps can build up in soil, damaging plants over time.
- Surface Runoff: Pooling or runoff can create mosquito breeding grounds and potentially pollute local waterways.
Legal Issues 🚨
- Varying Codes: States like Florida allow indoor reuse for toilet flushing but ban outdoor use, while others like Massachusetts only allow systems in houses with composting toilets.
- State Permitting: Some states (like California) allow simple washing machine systems without a permit if they follow specific guidelines, while larger plumbing modifications require full permitting.
- Unlike some Western states, NYS generally prohibits discharging inadequately treated sewage (including gray water) onto the ground surface. Irrigation must be subsurface.
- Property Line Setbacks: Most codes require gray water to stay on your property and maintain specific distances from water bodies and neighboring property lines.
