Hellion and on and on

Reid Wiseman, the commander of Artemis II, lost his wife Carroll in 2020 after a 5 year long breast cancer battle. But Carroll and their two daughters encouraged Reid to continue following his dreams of being an astronaut. Today, as they went around the moon, they announced one of the brightest moon craters to be named Carroll.

“It's a bright spot on the Moon. And we would like to call it Carroll."

What a day to be alive, to be human, to be part of this creation we call life.

The Artemis II crew captured this view of an Earthset on April 6, 2026, as they flew around the Moon. The image is reminiscent of the iconic Earthrise image taken by astronaut Bill Anders 58 years earlier as the Apollo 8 crew flew around the Moon. The Apollo 8 mission was the first crewed spacecraft to circumnavigate the Moon.

Tropicbird seawatch, southern O'ahu, Hawai'i

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“With this burn to the Moon, we do not leave Earth. We choose it.”

—Christina Koch,

A view of Earth taken by NASA astronaut and Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman from one of the Orion spacecraft's window after completing the translunar injection burn on April 2, 2026. The image features two auroras (top right and bottom left) and zodiacal light (bottom right) is visible as the Earth eclipses the Sun.

Credit: NASA

I was shopping with a friend (let's call him L) at a large Chinese supermarket late in the evening when we smelled a pungent sour scent upon exiting.

Most of the time, there's a skewer cart in front of this particular supermarket, which in my opinion, is a very clever bit of marketing and product placement. They are upwind of the supermarket itself, and the smell of grilling meat often leads many of the shoppers to a post-shopping snack.

Chinese supermarket trips are often like Costco trips, no small ordeal and not to be taken lightly. One must be prepared with a battle plan. You must be willing to fight another shopper for the last cut of fresh pork belly. At minimum, you will come out of the establishment with six large bags of groceries that mysteriously somehow cost $50.

It makes it all the more likely that you will indulge in a post-shopping snack afterwards, hence the skewer cart.

L turns to me and says, "do you smell that? Smells good. Is that stinky tofu?"

As I said before, it's a pungent sour smell, not unlike the smell of ferments. Now, I like kimchi, sauerkraut, Chinese fermented bean paste, and things like that even if they're a bit stinky. You eventually become accustomed to it.

Stinky tofu is its own weight class.

Some versions will look something like

It will look like sewage, smell like sewage, feel like sewage, and taste like heaven. I've tried some less extreme versions and I can attest to the fact that they have an earthy and charcoally flavor, like a well grilled piece of meat. That combined with a creamy texture makes them a very popular street cart food.

So L and I walk up to the skewer cart outside the supermarket, where we assume the smell is coming from. We ask if he has stinky tofu, which is also good grilled and served on skewers.

The vendor gives us a weird look and says no.

Well clearly there's stinky tofu somewhere. We're in the middle of Chinatown and there's probably some other food cart selling it.

Determined to find the source of the smell, we load our groceries and follow our noses, but there are no other street carts within the vicinity of the supermarket.

The smell is strongest in the parking lot in front of the supermarket, so we follow it around the side until we get to the source of the smell under the awning.

I’m just curious how many people at some point in their lives have played/learned to play an instrument of any kind.

I included a nuance button bc I know there might be some folks who might be like “well I played the recorder in grade school but idk if that counts” — count it if you want or hit nuance if you’re unsure! 😊

To be clear, if you studied an instrument to any level of proficiency, even if you’re out of practice now, please select yes!