I like my mornings, so much so that I’m willing to forgo some big paydays in 2023. The corporate world wants to own your time starting at 8am, certainly no later than 9am. And increasingly it wants you to be in an in-person meeting somewhere, meaning that I would have to be showered, properly dressed, and on the road by 7am. My ritual of reading about the world and then commenting on it via this blog would have to end, or shift to a 5am start time. That’s a big sacrifice. The writing part of my morning is like meditation – it’s very good for me. So I’ve begun the process of extricating myself from prospective employer expectations. Call it an early New Year’s resolution.

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We finally got some rain here in Socal, about one inch in the last 24 hours. That’s a big relief – the plants love it, wildfires hate it, and it makes living here seem a little less deserty for a while. A one inch rainfall in KY isn’t news, but here it’s a headline above the fold.

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Scientists at Lawrence Livermore Labs’ Nuclear Ignition Facility, or NIF, have announced a fusion event with net energy gain for a few nanoseconds. That’s exciting news, but a long way away from sustained power source. I’ve been to the NIF – it’s impressive in both scale and complexity. Controlled, sustained nuclear fusion is a Holy Grail of science, one that I don’t expect to be achieved in my lifetime, or even the next generation.

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When I get to KY later this week I’ll be on the hunt for this bourbon. Hidden Barn.