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.
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 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.
I like my SuperDuty, I really do. It got a respectable 15.7 MPG yesterday on the 80 mile road trip down to Hudson and several preserves along the way, which I view as fairly respectable, something I can live with, especially if I do even better on even longer trips.
Oh well, I decided not to buy a quick link at Mad Dawg Bicycles because it was pouring rain, and get a better deal on trash from Amazon, which promises a big pack of quick links, an install tool, delivered the next day. It was delivered, but the links were lightweight aluminum trash that so poorly machined that they didn’t even fit together. Driving in so I can get to Steiner Sports by 6 PM and pick up a quick link or I guess I chain if they don’t have it. I so hate driving my SuperDuty to work. Not just because of the traffic but all the cops with their penises hanging out their windows,
Yesterday was a nice day, kind of today is a nice day. I really should think about getting a second bicycle – a used road bicycle – this summer. Just pay the $500 and a road bike is probably better for commuting while keeping the mountain bike for trail riding and riding in winter if this is going to be my primary method of commuting. That way I always have a back up. Especially during those months when I did not have a car. But who knows by the end of summer if I’ll even be able to get fuel for the SuperDuty or for under $300. Some people are talking about $10 gas, though I expect a pretty big recession before then, which will cut gas prices, as people buy those expensive houses with lawn mowers that you have to drive a long distance to get to.
Driving back home along US 9W, that homestead that always used to have smoldering burn barrels and smelled like hog shit and burnt plastic, I saw they subscribed to trash service. Apparently I had read the neighbors had long complained about them to the town, as a homestead smells well like a farm, but after burn ban they tucked the burn barrels away so they weren’t so visible road. Still smelled some plastic one day years later driving by. But honestly, I generally hate neighbors such almost as much as libtards. I would make sure to actually buy the property next to the hog farm to avoid complaints. If I do buy rural in New York, I’d probably be careful about how much plastic I burned, but I would still take the bottles and cans myself to the recycling center . And just try to minimize packaging like I currently do. Last night at Walmart I did buy sugar-free maple syrup and oatmeal, as I figure at this point, soon enough I’ll have the camper shell on my truck, and trash minimization won’t be such a big deal once I’m camping again.
Woke up this morning with a pounding headache, opened up the Amazon package and realized what China trash I had bought. Mom got me the return label, and I’ll return it – mostly out of principal and disgust over the $15 I spent on something I could have gotten that fits properly at the bike store. At least this time I wore gloves so I didn’t have my hands covered with grease. I just hate messing with the chain on my bike. Beans aren’t cooking well, as the stove wasn’t turned on hot enough. It’s fine, I want to head in late, so I’m not dealing with so much traffic at rush hour. I’m the big boss man, so I can do shit like that, and my supervisors are five miles up the road. I guess it’s not all bad – my parents also subscribe to trash service – probably to get rid of all their Amazon crap – and the bear came and spread trash all over their lawn. I’m quite happy just burning and hauling what needs to be the transfer station, but I also get how burnt plastic when it smolders ain’t quite neighborly. And the dioxin bull shit.
People say you should have bought that 25-year old Honda Civic , the people who complain about how high gas prices are putting a crimp on their daily commute to Teenage Stink-a-Lot, but honestly, I am quite happy with how the SuperDuty drives. And the fuel economy is fair and reasonable, it doesn’t sip fuel but out on the highway it doesn’t guzzle it that much for traveling on the open highway. It’s worse in the city. Really pretty close to what the old lifted truck got on MPG. Solid front axle does drive differently on the bumps, but generally I’m very happy with the basic work truck I bought. Now I’m just waiting for the camper shell to arrive, so I can move my gear over and head out camping. Might just do hammock camping for Memorial Day Weekend though locally, even if I do have the shell by then, as it’s going to be super buggy up north with the black flies. I’d rather ride my bike to work most days, and enjoy the SuperDuty on the weekend.
Private-credit firms delivered eye-popping returns to investors in recent years. That hot streak is over.
The latest earnings results across the industry show returns that appear to be entering a more modest chapter, just as investors have grown worried about other aspects of private-credit funds that lend to riskier companies.
As of May 2026, the global conversation around climate change has shifted from abstract warnings to the management of an active, accelerating crisis. While the transition to clean energy is moving faster than once thought possible, 2026 finds the planet grappling with record-breaking heat and an increasingly “out of whack” energy balance.
Scientists now have high confidence that global warming from 2015 to 2025 accelerated more rapidly than in any previous decade.
Temperature Benchmarks: 2026 is projected to rank among the four hottest years ever recorded. Recent years (2023–2025) have seen the planet effectively tied or near the 1.5°C threshold above pre-industrial levels—the critical limit set by the Paris Agreement.
Ocean Heat: The world’s oceans have absorbed an energy equivalent to 10 Hiroshima atomic bombs every second throughout 2025, reaching record high heat content for nine consecutive years. This “ocean fuel” is making storms more severe; for example, stalled tropical cyclones now produce about 12% more rainfall in smaller areas than before.
Energy Imbalance: A 2026 United Nations report confirmed that the gap between energy absorbed from the sun and energy reflected back into space is at its widest since 1960.
The Renewable Energy Turning Point
In contrast to the grim atmospheric data, 2026 marks a historic victory for renewable energy.
Surpassing Fossil Fuels: In 2025, renewable energy sources officially overtook coal as the world’s largest source of electricity. In the EU, wind and solar provided 30% of electricity, surpassing fossil fuels (29%) for the first time.
The Rise of Solar and Wind: In 2026, combined wind and solar generation is expected to surpass nuclear power globally. China remains the clean technology superpower, having installed solar and wind capacity in 2024–2025 equivalent to roughly 100 nuclear power plants.
Storage Breakthroughs: Innovation in battery chemistry, including lithium iron phosphate and long-duration iron-air batteries, has allowed grids to store more clean energy, making “virtual power plants” a reality.
Global Policy and the “Ambition Gap”
Political action in 2026 is defined by the outcomes of COP30, held in late 2025.
Finance Commitments: Nations agreed to mobilize at least $1.3 trillion annually by 2035 to help developing countries transition and adapt.
The Fossil Fuel Conflict: Despite pleas from climate-vulnerable nations, the formal COP30 agreement did not include an explicit timeline to phase out fossil fuels. Instead, a specialized conference is being held in mid-2026 (co-hosted by Colombia and the Netherlands) to develop specific roadmaps for this transition.
Resilience and Loss: In the first half of 2025 alone, the U.S. suffered $101.4 billion in damages from extreme weather, leading to a new focus on “building back greener” and investing in nature-based solutions like mangroves and wetlands.
By 2026, humanity has learned that the “worst-case scenarios” are arriving sooner than expected, but also that the economic engine of clean energy is more powerful than predicted. The current year is a race between these two forces: the physical reality of a warming planet and the technological reality of a green industrial revolution.
and get a better deal on trash from Amazon, which promises a big pack of quick links, 
an install tool, delivered the next day. It was delivered, but the links were lightweight aluminum trash that so poorly machined that they didn’t even fit together. Driving in so I can get to Steiner Sports by 6 PM and pick up a quick link or I guess I chain if they don’t have it. I so hate driving my SuperDuty to work. Not just because of the traffic but all the cops with their penises hanging out their windows, 
kind of today is a nice day. I really should think about getting a second bicycle 
– a used road bicycle – this summer. Just pay the $500 and a road bike is probably better for commuting while keeping the mountain bike for trail riding and riding in winter if this is going to be my primary method of commuting. That way I always have a back up. Especially during those months when I did not have a car. But who knows by the end of summer if I’ll even be able to get fuel for the SuperDuty 
or for under $300. Some people are talking about $10 gas, though I expect a pretty big recession before then, which will cut gas prices, as people buy those expensive houses with lawn mowers that you have to drive a long distance to get to.
that homestead that always used to have smoldering burn barrels and smelled like hog shit and burnt plastic, I saw they subscribed to trash service. Apparently I had read the neighbors had long complained about them to the town, as a homestead smells well like a farm, but after burn ban they tucked the burn barrels away so they weren’t so visible road. 
Still smelled some plastic one day years later driving by. But honestly, I generally hate neighbors such almost as much as libtards. 
I would make sure to actually buy the property next to the hog farm to avoid complaints. If I do buy rural in New York, I’d probably be careful about how much plastic I burned, but I would still take the bottles and cans myself to the recycling center 
. And just try to minimize packaging like I currently do. Last night at Walmart I did buy sugar-free maple syrup and oatmeal, 
as I figure at this point, soon enough I’ll have the camper shell on my truck, and trash minimization won’t be such a big deal once I’m camping again.
opened up the Amazon package and realized what China 
trash I had bought. Mom got me the return label, 
and I’ll return it – mostly out of principal and disgust over the $15 I spent on something I could have gotten that fits properly at the bike store. At least this time I wore gloves so I didn’t have my hands covered with grease. I just hate messing with the chain on my bike. Beans aren’t cooking well, as the stove wasn’t turned on hot enough. It’s fine, I want to head in late, so I’m not dealing with so much traffic 
at rush hour. I’m the big boss man, so I can do shit like that, and my supervisors are five miles up the road. I guess it’s not all bad – my parents also subscribe to trash service – probably to get rid of all their Amazon crap – and the bear 
came and spread trash all over their lawn. I’m quite happy just burning and hauling what needs to be the transfer station, but I also get how burnt plastic when it smolders 
, the people who complain about how high gas prices are putting a crimp on their daily commute to Teenage Stink-a-Lot, 
but honestly, I am quite happy with how the SuperDuty drives. And the fuel economy is fair and reasonable, it doesn’t sip fuel but out on the highway it doesn’t guzzle it that much for traveling on the open highway. It’s worse in the city. Really pretty close to what the old lifted truck got on MPG. Solid front axle does drive differently on the bumps, but generally I’m very happy with the basic work truck I bought. Now I’m just waiting for the camper shell to arrive, 
so I can move my gear over and head out camping. Might just do hammock camping for Memorial Day Weekend though locally, even if I do have the shell by then, as it’s going to be super buggy up north 
with the black flies. I’d rather ride my bike to work most days, and enjoy the SuperDuty on the weekend.
