Every year since 2014 I've greeted with optimism. Surely, surely the "f*cking around" stage will soon be over and we'll move on to the "finding out" and "doing something about it" stages of the popular saying.

However, I've since come to accept that the humanity's most natural way of "doing something about it" is not to step back, sit down, and calmly figure out the best way to fix the situation. No, the humanity's most natural response to "finding out" is to split into two camps. One camp will then continue to "f*ck around" in the exact same way as before, with redoubled effort, in the blind hope that what's worked then will keep working now, at least long enough for them to retire.

And the other camp's reaction to "finding out" will be to start "f*cking around" in the exact opposite direction, just as blindly, in the belief that if we just press long and hard enough on the "reverse" pedal, that we'll somehow undo all the damage that we've done when we first careened out of our way onto our current trajectory.

So, this year I look into the future not with optimism, but with acknowledgement that things will continue to be hard. For my part, I will try to act on what I know are facts, and I will try to do what I think will help the well-being of my family, my friends, the projects I work on, and, by all means, myself. I cannot hope to fix everything that's f*cked up around me, but I can hopefully fix the small part of it that's within my reach and limited ability.

So, I raise my glass to all of you whom I count among my friends. May 2026 be kind to you. Do what is right and act on what gives you hope. Take care of yourself and be an ally to those who need you most.

And if you feel a need to punch something in 2026, make sure it's a nazi.

Quick, everyone, quit speaking Russian before the motherland comes and liberates the sh*t out of you.