May 1–8, 2026

• Finished porting the code that figures out the weights for Net Merit $ (and related indices) from Fortran 90 to Python. The goals of doing this are 1) improving my understanding of how the calculations work, and 2) providing greater flexibility for research by making a tool that is easier for me to work with. It is generally very easy to convert Fortran to Python, the only major challenge is that Fortran is 1-indexed and Python is 0-indexed, so careful checking of results was needed. Everything matches nicely with only very small differences due to rounding.
• With Dan Null's help, I've updated the "supercow" plot (Figure 5 from Cole and VanRaden, 2011) to include all 5 breeds for which we calculate genomic evaluations. I'm fairly happy with the code. It will be part of my presentation on selection limits at the International Committee for Animal Recording meeting in Verona, Italy, in a few weeks.
• My colleagues from USDA received a Service to America Medal in recognition of the impact of their decades of hard work on behalf of U.S. agriculture. They deserve so much better than the treament they're getting from Secretary Rollins and Mr. Vaden.
• Started learning "Killing in the Name" by Rage Against the Machine. Continued practicing the set-list for The Lethal Recessives' show this summer. I don't know that we're actually going to play "Pictures of You", but I enjoy the bass part very much.
• I updated many pages on this site.

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