I hadn't realized until the Olympics began ten days ago that NBC stands for Nothing But Curling.
17.02.2026 23:38 β π 6 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0@quammen.bsky.social
Author and journalist. The Song of the Dodo, Spillover, The Reluctant Mr. Darwin, The Tangled Tree, Breathless, and other books. Most recently, The Heartbeat of the Wild. Bunch of magazine work since 1981.
I hadn't realized until the Olympics began ten days ago that NBC stands for Nothing But Curling.
17.02.2026 23:38 β π 6 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Thanks, Rob. Yeah, that's exactly what I'm afraid of.
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Women's Monobob: Now THERE is a sport, and a group of athletes to admire.
Hello NBC? You're covering "Olympic" curling. Rerun of "The Last Dance" on ESPN. Which is sports?? Duh. Goodbye.
17.02.2026 03:36 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Hello, NBC? Are you insane? What's is it that makes you think we want to watch HOUR after HOUR after HOUR of prime time Olympic coverage of . .. CURLING??
We don't.
It's not an athletic activity, a sport. It's a nice pastime for seniors.
Bradley (lurking blackly in his kennel box) is my sidekick, and Oscar is Bradley's.
01.02.2026 20:33 β π 13 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Thanks, Nathaniel. I enjoyed your McClintock book and look forward to the one on Watson.
01.02.2026 20:30 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0Thanks, Michael. Hope you and your gang are well, and that your work thrives.
01.02.2026 20:30 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0thank you, Steve
29.01.2026 21:05 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0So, I heard about the world leader who got stuck on a sabotaged escalator at the UN. He was trapped for two hours, waiting for rescuers. Then his wife pointed out that a stuck escalator is still a stairway, and she walked away.
24.09.2025 07:16 β π 15 π 1 π¬ 1 π 0Chainsaw babe sighted at Tre Cime. @betsygainesquammen.bsky.social
19.09.2025 14:12 β π 8 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Chainsaw Babe, sighted in Cortina d'Ampezzo
18.09.2025 15:10 β π 6 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0We do not talk enough about how much vaccines have transformed Ebola outbreaks. The country stock pile of 2000 vaccines was immediately deployed to respond to the outbreak in the DRC and 45,000 additional doses have been approved for shipment to the DRC.
www.afro.who.int/countries/de...
These two hombres lay claim to Dave's chair when he's on the road. Partners in crime. @betsygainesquammen.bsky.social
17.09.2025 20:48 β π 23 π 2 π¬ 1 π 0Everyone parrots the line, βTheyβll just replace Trump with another figurehead.β
Bullsh*t.
Later today in my latest JHN Newsletter Iβll break down why Trump is the one irreplaceable piece of this machine.
When heβs gone...the whole thing starts to crack.
One of the things that amazes me about the English Civil War (roughly 1642-1651), as I'm reading of it in David Hume's great history, vol. 5, is that this was essentially a ferocious, murderous, ruthless religious warβfought between Episcopalians and Presbyterians.
31.08.2025 16:35 β π 5 π 1 π¬ 0 π 0OH, DEAR!!
open.substack.com/pub/ejeancar...
Go, E. Jean!
I had a fine time talking with Jacob Watson-Howland for his podcast. We went deep into the weeds of zoonotics and much else.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0wW...
Good job, Jaju. Let's all not serve pierogi to Dershowitz.
01.08.2025 03:30 β π 3 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Please pay attention.π
We cannot afford to leave our democracy in the hands of a process that requires this DOJ to act in good faith. We must act now to harden our election systems. www.democracydocket.com/opinion/what...
I love this. Who doesn't love walking-stick insects.
I've seen a huge one in New Guinea scare the bejeezus out of a local lady, on whose shoulder it alit. But, god bless and comfort her, it was harmless.
Our research has been engulfed by an endless torrent of lab leak conspiracy theories about the origin of the pandemic - even as the evidence for zoonosis has only grown stronger.
This fuels anti-science agendas and erodes public trust.
Now, we respond π
theconversation.com/how-conspira...
Her name was Diana. She was 23 years old and 7 months pregnant.
Russia murdered her today in an attack on the maternity hospital in Kamyanske.
Some generations were asked to storm beaches. Ours is being asked to stay engaged. Thatβs not too much to ask.
I wrote this piece not just as a veteran or former congressman but as a dad. We are not the generation that lets this flame die. Not on my watch
adamkinzinger.substack.com/p/we-are-not...
When ICE agents questioned a group of 11- to 14-year-olds whoβd just finished batting practice, their coach, Youman Wilder, stepped in. βIβm willing to die to make sure these kids can get home,β he recounted afterward.
28.07.2025 21:10 β π 7734 π 2141 π¬ 214 π 114A Korean-born researcher and longtime U.S. legal permanent resident has spent the past week detained by immigration officials at the San Francisco International Airport without explanation and has been denied access to an attorney, according to his lawyer.
29.07.2025 13:29 β π 7781 π 3732 π¬ 393 π 258As things get weirder, I keep expecting Trump's body to split open suddenly, like a character in "Men in Black," to reveal that there's nothing inside the skin but a tower of nibbling maggots. I say this with all due respect.
27.07.2025 14:01 β π 20 π 8 π¬ 0 π 03/2 He gets some well-deserved outside time after the cleaning of his tank, Bootsville.
26.07.2025 21:57 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 0 π 02/2
26.07.2025 21:52 β π 5 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0One guess what summer reading Boots has embraced.
1/2
I wrote this story as a young man in Montana, forty years ago, struggling to understand, struggling to survive, and I am very glad and grateful to see that it has legs.
We all have fathers. Mine was a wondrous man. This story is not about him. It's fiction.
Your father?