April 25, 2025

REMINDER: YOUR SUBMISSIONS ARE ENCOURAGED

Overview for this week.

1. I'm starting this week with an In Memoriam for Pope Francis, who passed away on Easter Monday at 88.

2. In the pre-dawn hours of Friday morning, the crescent moon, Venus, and Saturn aligned to form a tilted smiley face above the eastern horizon.

3. Give your mom a unique gift this Mother's Day by adopting an animal at the Reid Park Zoo.

4. In the first of two Next Gen posts this week, I have this week, I'm catching up with shipping data analyst William George, who is busy providing analysis to journalists on the impact of the import tariffs.

5. In Technology, I have the story of a half-marathon in China where humanoid robots competed on a parallel course to flesh-and-blood competitors.

6. In my second Next Gen post this week, I'm featuring a young family friend, Billy VI, who fronts a heavy metal band, Dante Must Die, out of Denver, Colorado

7. I am sorry to have to include a second In Memoriam this week; this one is particularly personal. Norm Fishman was my computer mentor and a close friend. He passed away on Monday, the 21st. He was just an all-around good guy, and I will miss him.

Now, to this week's Flock.

I want to acknowledge the life and good works of Pope Francis, who passed away on the morning of Easter Monday after suffering a stroke and cardiac arrest. Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, Argentina, was the first pope from Latin America. His tenure as pope reflected his humility, compassion for the poor and marginalized, and commitment to interfaith understanding and cooperation.

Pope Francis, history’s first Latin American pontiff who charmed the world with his humble style and concern for the poor but alienated conservatives with critiques of capitalism and climate change, died Monday. He was 88.

The Vatican said Francis died of a stroke that put him into a coma and led his heart to fail.

Bells tolled in Catholic churches from his native Argentina to the Philippines and across Rome as news spread around the world.

“At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the home of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and of his Church,” Cardinal Kevin Farrell said from the chapel of the Domus Santa Marta, where Francis lived.

From: OSV News, By: Kimberly Heatherington, April 24, 2025

“God,” Pope Francis once said, “is God for all; and if God is God for all, then we are all sons and daughters of God.”

This credo, spoken during a 2024 interreligious meeting in Singapore — with almost 600 young people of varying beliefs in attendance — seemed to run through Pope Francis’ approach to interfaith relations during his 12-year pontificate. 

While Pope Francis, who died April 21, dialogued with people of many faiths, he seemed to have a special intensity of focus for the Abrahamic siblings of Christianity — Judaism and Islam.

“I think his legacy will be that he brought about a sea change in the relationship between the Catholic Church and the Jewish people, in that he always treated the Jewish community — the Jewish people — as his brothers and sisters; as his family,” said Menachem Rosensaft, an adjunct professor at Cornell Law School, lecturer at Columbia Law School, and general counsel emeritus of the World Jewish Congress.

From Reuters, By: Joshua Mc Elwee, April 22, 2025

Among Pope Francis' final words was a thank you to his nurse, who had helped the pope surprise crowds in St. Peter's Square on Easter Sunday with a short tour in his popemobile for the first time since surviving a five-week bout of double pneumonia.

"Thanks for bringing me to the square," Francis told Massimiliano Strappetti, who was providing 24-hour care for the pontiff, the Vatican's official news outlet reported on Tuesday.

...Francis, known to push himself to exhaustion, spent his final day working, defying the advice of doctors who had told him to take two months rest to allow his ageing body to heal.

About 35,000 Catholic faithful lined the aisles inside St. Peter's Square on Sunday as the pope made his tour, seated in a raised chair in the back of the popemobile.

There were shouts of "viva il papa" (long live the pope) and the vehicle stopped occasionally so Francis could bless babies brought forward by papal aides.

Pope Francis rides through St. Peter's Square in the Popemobile on Easter Sunday

Stargazers who were up early on Friday morning were treated to a cosmic smiley face. The crescent moon, Venus, and Saturn aligned so that if you tilted your head just right, they formed a smiley face—a fitting end to Earth Week.

From: EarthSky, By: Kelly Kizer Whitt, April 25, 2025

A smiley face moon on April 25, 2025?

If you’ve been on social media lately, you might have seen the claim that a smiley face, made up of the crescent moon and two bright planets, would grace our skies Friday morning. Was it true? Well … sort of. Although the example most gave (like the image above) are definitely an exaggeration!

There was a thin crescent moon in the sky before dawn, with bright Venus and Saturn nearby. And it did look a little like a smiley face, depending on where you live. From some countries, the mouth (moon) was far too close or too far away to the eyes. And U.K. and U.S. viewers saw the face lying on its side, close to the horizon. But the main difference between reality and the image that circulated – true for everyone across the globe – is that the two planets making up the eyes have vastly different brightnesses, with Venus totally outshining Saturn.

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Karl Diefenderfer in Quakertown, Pennsylvania, captured this view of the smiley face moon on the morning of April 25, 2025. Thank you, Karl! Karl’s image almost does look like a smiley face, if you use your imagination a bit.

One of my favorite places in Tucson, the Reid Park Zoo, has a great gift idea for moms: You can symbolically adopt a zoo animal for your mother. The adoptions make a great gift; Adoptions help support the zoo's animals, education programs, and conservation efforts. All adoption packages include a certificate of adoption, an information sheet on the adopted animal, and recognition on the zoo's website. Higher-level adoption packages include additional perks.

From: Reid Park Zoo

Celebrate the Mom in your life and support your Zoo by giving a unique and wild gift - a symbolic adoption of a favorite Zoo animal this Mother's Day!

Now through Mother's Day, May 11, enjoy $5 off adoptions at the Parent Partner level or $20 off adoptions at the Keeper's Korner adoption level or above when you use code LOVEMOM25 online

Parent Partner level adoptions include:

• Adoptive parent's name on the Reid Park Zoo website on the 'Meet the Animals' page
• Personalized thank you letter
• Fact sheet about the adopted animal
• Adoption certificate

Save $5 when using code LOVEMOM25 online!

Keeper's Korner level adoptions include:

• Adoptive parent's name on the Reid Park Zoo website on the 'Meet the Animals' page
• Personalized thank you letter
• Fact sheet about the adopted animal
• Adoption certificate
• Two admit-one tickets to visit Reid Park Zoo
• A voucher for a plush animal, redeemable at the Discover the Wild Gift Shop

Save $20 when using code LOVEMOM25 online!

I last posted about Flock Next Gen up-and-comer William George in December of last year, when CNBC used his work as Research Director for Import Genius as the basis of an article explaining Target's 2024 earnings miss. With the current uncertainty about tariff policy, William's analysis of shipping data has been in greater demand by journalists covering the state of international markets and the budding trade war's effect on goods and services.

From: CNBC, By: Anniek Bao, April 16, 2025

China last week announced it was done retaliating against U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, saying any further increases by the U.S. would be a “joke,” and Beijing would “ignore” them.

Instead of continuing to focus on tariffing goods, however, China has chosen to resort to other measures, including steps targeting the American services sector.

Trump has jacked up U.S. levies on select goods from China by up to 245% after several rounds of tit-for-tat measures with Beijing in recent weeks. Before calling it a “meaningless numbers game,” China last week imposed additional duties on imports from the U.S. of up to 125%.

While the Trump administration has largely focused on pressing ahead with tariff plans, Beijing has rolled out a series of non-tariff restrictive measures including widening export controls of rare-earth minerals and opening antitrust probes into American companies, such as pharmaceutical giant DuPont and IT major Google.

Robotics have come a long way; recently, as a demonstration of how advanced the technology has become, humanoid robots competed in a half-marathon in China. As an avid runner, I hope this doesn't become commonplace at events.

From: The Associated Press, April 19, 2025

In one small step for robot-kind — thousands of them, really — humanoid robots ran alongside actual humans in a half-marathon in the Chinese capital on Saturday.

The bipedal robots of various makes and sizes navigated the 21.1-kilometer (13.1-mile) course supported by teams of human navigators, operators, and engineers, in what event organizers say was a first. As a precaution, a divider separated the parallel courses used by the robots and people.

While flesh-and-blood participants followed conventional rules, the 20 teams fielding machines in the Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon competed under tailored guidelines, which included battery swap pit stops.

The Sky Project Ultra robot, also known as Tien Kung Ultra, from the Tien Kung Team, claimed victory among the nonhumans, crossing the finish line in 2 hours, 40 minutes and 42 seconds.

Awards were also given out for best endurance, best gait design and most innovative form.

Humanoid robots run a half-marathon in China alongside humans

I've promised to include this next-generation musician and his band in the Flock for months. Billy Storm, who I know as Billy VI, fronts the Denver, Colorado, heavy metal band Dante Must Die. I haven't featured a lot of heavy metal here in the Flock and had to do a Google search to familiarize myself with this music genre better. All that aside, they play with a ton of energy and sound great.

From: dantemustdie.com

Originally the solo side project of Billy Storm, Dante Must Die became his primary focus after deciding to form a line-up around his material. Taking the name from the hardest difficulty mode on Capcom’s “Devil May Cry” franchise, Billy wanted to record the material he had been accumulating over almost a decade by working with Jess Holmes (Drums) and Jaye Gambino (Bass) to help flesh out ideas. Influenced by Grunge, Punk Rock, Metal and Garage Rock they jumped in with Shady Audio to begin recording a full-length album originally written in 2015. Following the completion of the writing sessions, the band began playing live around the Denver area in late 2024.

Dante Must Die – HQ Denver 3.27.2025

Micah with his grandpa Fish.

Remembering my friend the guitar player Norm Fishman. Norm was the man to see in Tucson when it came to Mac computers, iPhones, and just about anything technical. Over the years, he helped me with numerous projects and became a caring family friend. Norm was kind to the core. He was a mentor, a loving father to his daughter Laora, and the very proud grandfather of her son Micah. He was so proud of Laora as a mom and educator and Micah for excelling as a student and young athlete that, at his behest, I featured them in my Bragging Rights section last December. Norm was down-to-earth, and I could always rely on him.

One more of Norm playing a tune for Micah.

These Flock regulars are always here for you:

Cita Scott for paintings, photography, and culinary art. Cita will be in and out of town all summer. Don't hesitate to give her a jingle. (520) 404-1551

Kimberly Gomer, MS, RD/LDN

Registered and licensed Dietitian/Nutritionist. Find me on my website at KimberlyGomer.com for information about nutrition coaching.

Sarah Smallhouse & Make Elections Fair ArIzona

– Sign the petition here

Sensitive & Specific: The Testing Newsletter by Mara G. Aspinall and Liz Ruark. Mara is always here to help in understanding testing knowledge and how it's being applied.

Kyria Sabin of Fletcher Pilates,

(520) 323-7070

The Fabric Jeanie!

Tap to learn more. 

(520) 245-0589

Linda Collazo, mezzo-soprano

for piano and voice lessons

Andres Valbuena, drum selection, drum basics, and more.

Dr. Hayward M. Fox, Ph.D.

The institute of Personal andTranspersonal Knowledge

Tucson Village Farm:

Vegetaable growing in the summer heat.

The Physio Shop,

Elite physical therapy services and more.

Icebox Cryotherapy,

Icebox Tucson’s unique enhancers allow you to be your best version! 

Nathan Anderson of Catalina Acupuncture

(520) 999-0080

Don't Be Shy: Share Your Stories!

I'm looking forward to sharing more of your personal stories - oral, written, or otherwise, as we enter our third year. I'd so love to present them to The Flock, hit a mailbox below to share your story.

Holualoa Ed Fit Wellness & Culture 2

520-818-4433

View as Webpage