Elon Musk has announced that he has found a replacement CEO for Twitter, currently rumored to be an ad executive name Linda Yaccarino. That could change. Musk is a dorky flibbertigibbet who might change his mind depending on how the rumor is received.

It doesn’t matter, though. Nothing will improve.

• He’s personally selecting a CEO, which means it will be someone who aligns with his views.
• Whoever he hires will be under his control, and he’s a micromanaging tyrant.
• Whoever he hires will be subject dismissal if she crosses him.
• He has driven the company so far into the ground, both in income and reputation, that there’s no hope.
• It’s a Musk decision. Every decision he makes is terrible.

I feel pity for anyone who gets lured into this position, although, given the kind of person who’d willingly associate with Elon Musk, I suspect any sympathy would evaporate after their first day on the job.

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Oh, actually, this announcement is a distraction. Quick, focus on the Twitter noise, not the costly recall of Tesla cars in China!

Tesla will recall more than 1.1 million cars in China due to potential safety risks, the country’s top market regulator said on Friday.

Starting May 29, the US company will take back 1,104,622 vehicles that were produced between January 12, 2019, and April 24, 2023, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) said in a statement, citing a plan filed by Tesla (TXLZF) with the regulator.

That’s nearly equivalent to Tesla’s total sales in mainland China during the four-year period. From 2019 to March 2023, Tesla sold about 1.09 million vehicles in the country, according to CNN calculations based on figures from China’s state-backed industry associations.

Last night, Mary and I went for a bit of a hike at the Wetlands Management Office — they have a trail through a big chunk of very soggy land, full of ducks.

(Yes, that’s what the untilled prairie grasslands look like this time of year.)

It does look a bit brown, but spring just started. Give it time. We did find some prairie pasqueflowers, the first flowers of the season.

We also found spiders, of course, but maybe I’ll throw a few of those photos in a separate article on Patreon, so this one can be spider-free.

I just finished grading all those exams and lab reports for genetics. It is finished!

OK, almost. There is an optional final exam next week — it replaces any low exam grade they might have received over the course of the term, and I expect that very few of the students will bother.

I still have the other course to wrap up, though, so it’s still going to be a busy couple of days.

It was quite nice and I enjoyed myself. Unfortunately, it was no LA Philharmonic.

Multiple people who attended the L.A. Phil concert on Friday reported hearing a woman making a moaning noise during the symphony’s second movement.

One attendee, composer and music producer Magnus Fiennes, described the sound on Twitter as that of a person having a “loud and full body orgasm.”

An alleged audio recording of the moment — where someone can be heard crying out during a quiet beat in the music — was making the rounds on social media. Attendees who spoke to The Times said that the clip was similar to what they’d heard.

Future audience expectations in LA are going to be hard to match.

I don’t have a lot to say about it. It’s 2½ hours of solid, non-stop chop-sockie and gun-fu, strung together on an increasing thin, baroque plot built around an imaginary and deeply improbable society of assassins. Time flew by! You don’t get to think, because if there is a brief pause that might give you a moment to consider the weirdness of the story, there’s a kinetic distraction that will fly in from stage right with a knife or a pistol or a seriously vicious dog. Which is OK, I guess, it’s a popcorn movie with no time to eat popcorn.

I was quickly desensitized to all the murder, but there was something that bothered me greatly. John Wick gets beat up badly — he’s hit by cars multiple times, and everyone — I mean everyone — is punching and kicking him. There’s one scene where he has to run up 222 stairs to get to a deadly appointment, and it is of course lined with bad guys who are continuously shooting and punching him, and he gets to the top and one of the heavies knocks him down and he rolls down the stairs. I don’t mean he falls hard — he rolls down all of the stairs in a long scene that is comical in its overdoneness.

That hit home. I don’t often get shot at or stabbed, but I have sometimes twisted an ankle or overdone the walking or stretched wrong in bed and ended up hobbling and aching for days or weeks. I just wanted to say, “John, don’t get up. You’re gonna need lots of ibuprofen, and you might want to ice your whole body for a while. Get some rest, John.” Oh, sure, I could watch him persevere in a gun battle with thousands of enemies and not blink an eye, but it was the falls that were just too relatable.

I sincerely hope that there isn’t a John Wick: Chapter 5. The franchise has been thoroughly milked at this time, and it would be a good idea to move on creatively. But most of all, I feel for Keanu Reeves, who had to have exhausted himself making this movie.

Keanu, you’ve got to be popping painkillers and icing every joint in your body. Get some rest, Keanu.

I have just posted the final midterm (it’s an online exam) of my genetics class. The semester is almost over!

I will still have to put together two finals for my two classes, but that’s next week. I can shut off my brain for a little while.

Now also I’m a free-spirited bachelor for a week, as my wife gets to go spend time with our granddaughter. I don’t get to go, because there’s still a week of classes left. I’m going to drown my sorrows and celebrate the completion of this exam by walking downtown to the Mexican restaurant for fish tacos, and then I’m strolling over to the theater to see John Wick 4. I like Keanu Reeves, but he’s pushing my patience with this 2 hour and 49 minute movie. Good thing I got my work done.

Tomorrow I’m going out again — a student gave me a free ticket to the UM Morris Concert Choir and Vocal Jazz concert. I’m going to strive mightily to make Mary regret leaving me for a week!