Straight Line of the Day: HR Questions About IMAO: …

Why did you choose to view IMAO?

What were your objectives in viewing IMAO? Were they met?

What were some of your biggest takeaways?

What advice would you give to someone considering viewing IMAO?

How would you describe IMAO’s value?

Where do you see yourself in three years? (Halle Berry answers not accepted)

Don’t panic: this isn’t an exit interview. But it could be, depending on your answers.

Straight Line of the Day: US Air Traffic Control Being Revamped. Key Upgrades Include:

US Air Traffic Control Undergoes Biggest Upgrade Since the Jet Age | Modern Skies Summit
YouTube | 04/28/2026 | The Daily Signal

The U.S. air traffic control system is getting its largest modernization since the jet age.

The Daily Signal’s Abigail Matsuyoshi reports from the Modern Skies Summit in Washington, D.C., where Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy unveiled sweeping upgrades to the Federal Aviation Administration’s aging infrastructure—some of which dates back to the 1960s and 1970s. The project aims to boost safety, reduce outages, and modernize how air traffic controllers manage America’s crowded skies.

Straight Line of the Day: Your Passwords Are Probably Screwed. What To Do About It: …

Your Passwords Are Probably Screwed
The New York Times | April 28, 2026 | Brett J. Goldstein

Anthropic recently sent a shock wave through the cybersecurity world when it said its new artificial intelligence model, Claude Mythos, had exhibited an extraordinary ability to find previously unknown vulnerabilities in software — a hacker’s fantasy. Concern over the tool’s power caused Anthropic to restrict its release mainly to bigger companies, allowing them time to secure their software.

Straight Line of the Day: What Would You Do at a $100,000 Hollywood Fundraiser?

Hollywood elite in secret gathering at liquor heiress’s mansion to shower Dem presidential candidates with cash
New York Post | April 24, 2026 | Katie Jerkovich

A ticket to attend the event, closed to the press, cost anywhere from $45,000 up to $100,000. … The evening was expected to rake in $1.5 million dollars for the DGA, with around 45 donors in attendance.

Straight Line of the Day: If There’s Another Russian Revolution, This Time Around…

Leader of Russia’s Communists warns parliament of risk of revolution due to faltering economy
Reuters | 22 April 2026 | Andrew Osborn

MOSCOW, April 22 (Reuters) – The veteran leader of Russia’s Communist Party has warned parliament that the ​country’s faltering economy risks stoking a 1917-style revolution and that the government needs to take urgent measures to correct ‌its course.

Gennady Zyuganov, 81, issued his warning to a plenary session of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, ahead of a parliamentary election due in September, according to a recording of his speech posted on the Duma’s official website…

“If you (the government) do not urgently adopt ​financial, economic and other measures, by autumn a repeat of what happened in 1917 awaits us. We don’t have the right to ​repeat that. Let’s take some decisions.”

Gennady Zyuganov . . . Isn’t he the leader of the Dead Gennadys?

Straight Line of the Day: Curiosity Rover Makes a Big Find on the Red Planet: …

Mars Curiosity Rover Makes a Big Find on the Red Planet
Nautilus Magazine | April 23, 2026 | Jake Currie

With all the excitement over sending scientists back to the moon, it’s easy to forget we’ve already got a pair of talented chemists on Mars: the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers. …

Now, new research published in Nature Communications details Curiosity’s latest find—never-before-seen organic compounds, including one with a structure similar to DNA precursors. ….

Curiosity extracted samples from clay deposits from Gale crater, broke them down with on-board chemicals, and analyzed them with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. …the rover found more than 20 organic molecules, including some surprising large compounds.

One was a nitrogen-bearing molecule with a structure similar to DNA precursors and another was a benzothiophene, a double-ringed organic molecule containing sulfur, likely brought to the planet via meteorite.

Friday Night Open Thread: Movie Ideas

PLOT:

The main character books an all-inclusive 2-week voyage on a festive partying cruise line. Not trusting his self-discipline with unlimited no-extra-cost booze, he purchases the Nanny Package, to have a responsible person to supervise him.

When the (naturally, good-looking) nanny objects, he points out the loophole in the program — it doesn’t specify that the supervised person must be a kid.

SURPRISING PLOT TWIST:

The main character is not a transsexual or lesbian.

Feel free to throw out your own ideas.

Bear News — Again?

Hey; we reported on this in November, 2024. But it’s still funny.

Three people sentenced to jail for bear-suit insurance scam in California
https://www.theguardian.com | Sat 18 Apr 2026 | Eric Berger

When it comes to the California department of insurance, don’t poke the bear.

That is the lesson three individuals in Los Angeles learned recently when they were sentenced to jail time for an insurance fraud scheme in which they staged attacks on high-end vehicles by having a person dress up in a bear costume – then pretending that person was an actual bear.