Progress

Busy day today!  I got up early as I was helping out with new volunteer training for the SVDP.  Training was out at GESU in University Heights, and as I am the East District President...well, it behooved me to help out -- basically I was able to present a section and then take questions.  It was good -- we had a nice crowd, I got to meet some new volunteers and leaders, and made plans for the rest of 2026.  Can't complain!

As I was on the East Side, and literally five minutes from the place, I went to Lox, Stock, and Brisket in the Van Aken Market Hall in Shaker.  Yes, Shaker is practically a shithole, but this place is nice, mostly.  Parking is for crap, and East Siders drive like shit, but...anyways.  It was good, but pricey; I know everything is nowadays, but... then it was off to the gym, a couple of errands, watched the end of Duke (another narrow win, sigh), and then home.  I caught up on some work -- fraught with peril so I will tackle a different project tomorrow and then caught up on some reading.  Nodded off so here we are now...

Thomas Paine helped inspire US independence. He still has no DC memorial | AP News
Interesting.  As the article notes, for most of history have not exactly looked with kindness on him, sort of like the crazy relative who did one good thing and was a hot mess for the rest.  We are in a more secular time, to be sure, so his religious "views" are less of a concern, and on the right his belief in liberty and freedom is seeing more relevance.  I wonder what the space will look like, and where...

Exclusive: Have scientists found Leonardo da Vinci’s DNA? | Science | AAAS
Interesting?  Possibly cool?  Not exactly convincing?  I mean, it would be awesome but I suspect the vagaries of time -- bones and samples lost and degraded, families trees scattered, etc. -- have simply closed these paths off.  Course, if we can discover new human species...