Today is National Pet Day in the U.S., though I'm sure you're allowed to "celebrate" this anywhere. A good suggestion is to hug your pet, and you can give them an extra one for me if you don't mind (use your discretion if you have fish, venomous animals, etc.) MrsBlue is still in mourning over the passing of the Gunnar-man (not that I'm not), and our current townhouse lifestyle is not very suited to canines anyway, so a new dog isn't in the immediate cards. She's also deathly allergic to cats, so that isn't an option. But I'm a big animal lover, so I continue to revisit the idea of some sort of alternative pet. You may recall my previous discussions of lizards and the like. There are no easy answers here, and it may just be a Kobayashi Maru, but I still revisit the concept on occasion, and National Pet Day is one of them.

Domesticated Round-up
Thanks Ant, Neutronbeam, and Max.

Stories

• Academy to Award Stunt Design Oscar at 2028 Oscars Ceremony - The Hollywood Reporter.

Science

• Trump White House budget proposal eviscerates science funding at NASA - Ars Technica.
• Pet dogs have ‘extensive and multifarious’ impact on environment, new research finds - The Guardian.
• A Tiny Piece of Mouse Brain Has Finally Been Mapped in Mindblowing Detail - ScienceAlert.

Media

• Helicopters DON'T just fall from the sky - What is -Mast Bumping? Thanks The Flying Penguin.

Creature Features

• 1e Zeearendkuiken 2025 - Vogelbescherming. First chick. Thanks Frans.

Follow-ups

• Val Kilmer's Official Cause of Death Revealed - TMZ.
• The Day James Bond Movies Died - Far Flungers - Roger Ebert.