James' World 2

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“When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn’t become a king, the palace instead becomes a circus. — Turkish proverb,”

 

Hmmmmm…History is repeating itself yet again!

 

Isaiah 59:14

New Living Translation

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You might find these videos enlightening!

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A. R. Bernard: one of many

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Rachel Feltman: For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, I’m Rachel Feltman.

Last August U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, who at the time was also the acting administrator of NASA, announced his intention to see a nuclear reactor placed on the moon by 2030. You don’t have to be an expert in nuclear physics or spaceflight to know that his plan is, shall we say, ambitious. But the idea of popping a nuclear power plant on the lunar surface isn’t necessarily the sci-fi disaster movie plotline you might be envisioning. Plenty of experts say it actually makes perfect sense—as long as we take our time.

Here to tell us more is Robin George Andrews. He’s a volcanologist turned science journalist who writes about the earth, space, and planetary sciences. He’s also the author of a feature in Scientific American’s June 2026 issue all about the dream of going nuclear on the moon.

Thank you so much for coming on to chat today.

Robin George Andrews: Thanks for inviting me! It’s such a weird thing to chat about. [Laughs.]

Feltman: For a layperson, I think there are probably a couple of things that feel weird and surprising about this. The very concept of a nuclear reactor on the moon might surprise people, and then also the timeline seems very fast, and we’ll dig into all that. But let’s start with the first one because this isn’t actually a fringe idea, right? Nuclear power on the moon might kind of be inevitable. Could you tell us more about that?

Andrews: Yeah, so solar power has been the way things have gone in space, and that’s been the idea for the moon for quite a while. But the problem is the sun doesn’t shine universally on the moon, just like it doesn’t on Earth, but the lunar south pole, where you have 14-day-long nights, solar power is not gonna be great for keeping astronauts alive, for powering machinery, doing research.

For decades, people have said, like, “Well, you’re gonna need nuclear power.” I mean, it powers deep-space spacecraft, you know, essentially. And it doesn’t need to rely on the sun. So yeah, the concept of having this, like, thing you can hold in your hand, although it’s not recommended, and you could power a small village on the moon

for 10, 20, 30 years, you know, seems like kind of a no-brainer, really.

Feltman: Right. I think a lot of people have a lot of misconceptions about the level of risk and sort of the actual mechanics of nuclear power. Could you give us just a brief overview of, you know, what this actually looks like and why it’s maybe not so inherently frightening?

Andrews: Nuclear power obviously can sound a bit scary. I mean, radiation is the thing we all think about or something like Chernobyl, which is, like, a really specific and hopefully once-in-a-century or longer kind of disaster. But, like, things are more radioactive than we think.

I think, like, there’s this statistic: if you eat a single banana, you get as much radiation as if you lived next to a nuclear power plant for a year, ’cause potassium is radioactive. I mean, you’d have to eat, like, so many bananas that you would die of something more, you know, digestive [Laughs] than anything radioactive, but radiation’s kind of everywhere. There’s, like, acceptable doses of it.

Having a nuclear power plant on the moon is, in many ways, maybe safer than it is having it on Earth because you don’t have just living things everywhere that could get harmed by it, and the amount of power you’d need on the moon is considerably less than you’d need on Earth, and it’s been through decades and decades of sort of safety tests and regulations.

I think the perception of nuclear power as this, like, super sketchy, dangerous thing that’s just waiting to explode is definitely overblown, I’d say. And I think it’s just we have these, like, biases when we think of, like, nuclear disasters and things like Chernobyl. So it’s got a PR problem, I think. [Laughs.]

Feltman: Well, like you said, because the moon is apart from us, in some ways, this is safer. But that being said, you know, even though I think a lot of people tend to sort of think of the moon as this inert rock in the sky, it’s a very dynamic place. And so what are some of the specific challenges to putting a nuclear reactor on the moon?

Andrews: Yeah, so one of the main problems with the moon is that it has a sixth of Earth’s gravity, which means that the main coolant they use for nuclear power plants on Earth, which is water, would not operate in the same way. Also, it has wild temperature swings of hundreds of degrees from day to night because there is no atmosphere to, like, mediate this.

So that’s this huge challenge, so they’d probably have to use air that they would have to, obviously, ship from Earth, which is maybe a nontrivial thing. I mean, it’s a very weird thing to think to ship away. That would be used as a slightly less efficient way of transferring the heat.

Also, nuclear reactors produce so much heat. I mean, they produce so much of it, they actually need to get rid of a lot of it as, like, excess heat. If you don’t get rid of the excess heat, you melt your nuclear reactor. It’s what a—kind of what a meltdown is. And you don’t want one of those on anywhere.

Normally, you’d use water or something like that, or you at least have an atmosphere to kind of radiate the heat into, but the moon doesn’t have an atmosphere, so you’d need these giant fins, these big sails, which would, like, radiate the heat into space. It’s really the only way you can do it. That’s a bit tricky to do.

You also have meteorite impacts, and I don’t mean, like, the really big meteorites that could kind of, like, take out—like, hundreds of meters across, which is a problem for Earth as well, but Earth’s atmosphere, like, filters out these, like, one-, two-, three-meter-sized asteroids pretty easily. They’re basically big shooting stars. But the moon has no atmosphere, again, so this will just hit the ground with the force of, like, several tons of TNT. Even small, like, centimeter-sized ones can go through it like bullets, so you’d need to shield your nuclear power plant in a way. You could put it in a lava tube, maybe.

And also, the moon occasionally quakes. You have moonquakes. They’re not as strong as Earth’s, but they last for, like, tens of minutes. It’s not a great idea to just shake a nuclear power plant for tens and tens of minutes. There are nuclear power plants, basically, in nuclear submarines, which get jostled about quite a bit, but it’s not quite the same as the whole environment you’re on just being vibrated for 10 minutes.

There are a lot of things that no one’s tried to design around before. Putting a nuclear power plant on the moon has some challenges that are hard to test on Earth, for sure. So it’s not trivial.

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NASA; Scientific American Illustrations

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Vladimir Putin pulled up to a hotel in central Moscow earlier in May in a Russian-made SUV, dressed casually in jeans and a light jacket. Carrying a bouquet of flowers, he walked unhurriedly into the lobby and embraced his former schoolteacher, Vera Gurevich, who kissed him on both cheeks.

He then helped Gurevich into his car and drove her to dinner at the Kremlin.

It came just a day after several western media outlets, citing a European intelligence report, claimed Putin had spent weeks hiding in an underground bunker, gripped by fears of assassination or even a coup.

The televised meeting was carefully crafted to reinforce a very different image of the Russian leader, one which he has refined over 25 years in power: the approachable, confident president, a man of the people casually dropping in on an old teacher.

But while fears of an imminent coup are exaggerated, there is little doubt that Putin is entering the most challenging period of his long rule. Interviews with several people in the orbit of the Russian leader, as well as sources in the Russian business world and western intelligence officials, paint a picture of an isolated leader surrounded by an elite that is becoming rapidly disillusioned, both with the faltering war in Ukraine and the economic downturn at home.

“There’s definitely been a shift in mood among the elites this year … there is profound disappointment in Putin,” said a well-connected business leader, adding that there was “a growing sense that some kind of catastrophe is looming”.

“No one believes everything will suddenly collapse tomorrow,” the source said. “But there is a growing realisation that utterly senseless, self-destructive decisions keep being made. People who once defended Putin no longer do. Any sense of a future has disappeared.”

Putin’s approval ratings are slipping, the economy is under mounting pressure, and even pro-Kremlin bloggers who have rarely criticised the president are beginning to speak out.

Despite the cracks emerging at home, Putin’s calculus on the war in Ukraine has not changed, and he remains determined to press on, according to interviews with multiple people familiar with his thinking, as well as European and Ukrainian intelligence officials.

Putin has made clear to his inner circle that he believes Moscow can capture the entirety of the Donbas region by the end of the year, two sources with access to the president said. “Putin is fixated on Donbas, and he will not stop before that,” one of them said.

Speaking after the 9 May Victory Day parade – scaled back amid fears of Ukrainian drone attacks – Putin surprised many by suggesting the war was “coming to a close”. The remark made headlines, but those familiar with his thinking caution that it should not be interpreted as a sign he is prepared to compromise. Instead, it suggests Putin believes a military breakthrough is imminent.

A Ukrainian intelligence official said Russian generals had convinced the Russian leader that the Donbas would be taken by the end of the year. “Fabricated reports [are] being fed up the chain of command, claiming victory is imminent,” the official said.

That bravado is not currently reflected on the battlefield. Military analysts say that, at the current pace of advance, it could take Russia years to fully capture the Donbas.

It remains unclear to what extent Russia’s military and security services are presenting Putin with an overly optimistic picture. “Even if many around him understand the reality of the situation, we still don’t know what Putin himself understands. That’s the most difficult part,” one senior European intelligence official said.

“Of course, officials and the military paint a rosy picture for the president,” a person familiar with discussions in the Kremlin said. “They lie to him. That’s how the system Putin has built works.”

Another factor in Putin’s decision to fight on is that the Russian leader has lost faith in Donald Trump’s ability to pressure Kyiv into surrendering territory as part of a deal, according to one source close to Putin and another involved in backchannel talks.

“There was this widespread optimism in Moscow that Trump could deliver the Donbas after his election. It has largely evaporated,” one source in contact with Putin said.

Though Trump has in recent days repeatedly touted that the war in Ukraine is coming to an end – with US help – the Russian leadership increasingly sees little value in continuing negotiations with Washington. Ukraine has acknowledged that Trump’s envoys, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, repeatedly pressed it in a series of meetings to withdraw Ukrainian troops from territory it still controls.

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Increasingly isolated president is determined to press on with Ukraine war, say well-placed sources, despite ailing economy

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Passive income sounds appealing, right? Free money without doing anything? Sign me up!

Unfortunately, that’s a common misconception. Just like you can’t pluck money from a tree, you can’t expect to earn passive income by being, well, totally passive.

But you can absolutely make money without punching the clock at a 9-to-5 or spending hours in your car. There are plenty of fun and creative ways to set up streams of income that actually flow in while you sleep.

Here are a few of our favorite ways to earn passive income.

Earn Up to $50 this Month By Answering Survey Questions About the News — It’s Anonymous

The news is a heated subject these days. It’s hard not to have an opinion on it.

Good news: A website called YouGov will pay you up to $50 or more this month just to answer survey questions about politics, the economy, and other hot news topics.

Plus, it’s totally anonymous, so no one will judge you for that hot take.

When you take a quick survey (some are less than three minutes), you’ll earn points you can exchange for up to $50 in cash or gift cards to places like Walmart and Amazon. Plus, The Penny Hoarder readers will get an extra 500 points for registering and another 1,000 points after completing their first survey.

It takes just a few minutes to sign up and take your first survey, and you’ll receive your points immediately.

Get Paid Up to $140/Month Just for Sharing Your Honest Opinion

Brands want to hear your opinion to help inform their business decisions on everything from products and services to logos and ads — and they’re willing to pay you up to $140 a month for it.

A free site called Branded Surveys will pay you up to $5 per survey for sharing your thoughts with their brand partners. Taking three quick surveys a day could earn up to $140 each month.

Most surveys take five to 15 minutes, and you’ll get paid within 48 hours of your payout being processed, just for sharing your opinions.

They’ve already paid users more than $20 million since 2012, and the most active users can earn a few hundred dollars a month. Plus, right now, you’ll get a free 100-point welcome bonus just for becoming part of the community.

Set up your account and start getting paid to take surveys.

You Don’t Actually Have to Pay Full Price — Ever

Most rich people didn’t get that way by accident. They watch their money like a hawk. You’d be surprised at the lengths even the wealthiest people go to to save a buck — they almost never pay full price.

Good news: The rest of us don’t have to, either. A free tool called Rakuten.ca works with just about every online store you shop at, and they can make sure you get some cash back every time you buy — up to 15% cash back at stores like Walmart, Old Navy, Adidas, Best Buy, and more.

It takes less than a minute to open a Rakuten account and start shopping like you normally would. You just need an email address. 

They’ll pay you with a check in the mail every few months or deposit it to your PayPal account. Talk about money for nothing. Plus, when you sign up now, you’ll get a $5 welcome bonus.

Earn as Much as $1K/Month Doing Simple Online Tasks

Is there such a thing as easy money? If you know your way around the web, there certainly is. 

That’s because data is currency these days, and many companies are willing to pay cash for it — up to $1,000 per month.

Finding these companies can be time-consuming on your own. But a company called Freecash has compiled all sorts of quick cash tasks from about a dozen advertisers and market research companies thirsty for data. Freecash has paid out more than $13 million to users since 2019.

Pick and choose tasks and complete them at your convenience. Convert the coins you earn into things like Visa gift cards, Amazon gift cards, cryptocurrency, or cold-hard PayPal cash.

Signing up for a Freecash account is easy, and there’s no minimum amount to cash out. And if you’ve got enough free time on your hands, you can join the ranks of Freecash users making upwards of $1,000 a month in extra cash.

Sign up here to see how much you could earn.

Need Cash? This Could Help

Sometimes it’s not about making a big financial move. It’s just about getting a little breathing room when things start to stack up.

The Spring Financial Personal Loan keeps the process simple. You can apply online in just a few minutes, and it won’t impact your credit score just to check your options. If approved, funds can be sent by e-transfer, in some cases as soon as the same day.

Loan amounts range from $500 to $35,000, with rates starting at 9.99% APR and flexible terms up to 84 months. There are no application or origination fees, and you can pay it off early without penalties.

It’s also designed to help you build credit over time, with payments reported to both Equifax and TransUnion.

So if you need to move on something sooner rather than later, you can apply for the Spring Financial Personal Loan and see your options in just a few minutes.

Share What’s in Your Fridge

Remember the Nielsen company? The one that’s always tracked TV ratings? Well, now it wants to know what’s in your fridge.

Once you sign up to be on the Nielsen Consumer Panel, you’ll gain access to the NCPMobile app. (If you don’t have a smartphone, Nielsen will send you a scanner.) As you unload your groceries after your next shopping trip, simply use the app to scan items’ barcodes.

Nielsen will reward you with points, which you can redeem for free gift cards, electronics (new TV, anyone?) and household items. The longer you stay on the panel, the more opportunities you have to earn.

Applying to become a panel member is straightforward. You’ll answer some basic questions about you and your household, then Nielsen reviews your application and will contact you when you’re eligible to join.

Publish on Kindle

If you’re a subject-matter expert, have an intriguing life experience, or love to craft engaging genre fiction, you could write a book. But there’s no need to send it off to the major publishing houses in New York City.

You can publish ebooks yourself through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing platform. Ebooks don’t have be hundreds of pages long, either — tons of books on the platform are as short as 6,000 words.

The Penny Hoarder contributor Steve Gillman wrote his book in a week and made $350 a month selling it on Amazon.

The best part? He continued to collect royalties, even months and years after it was published.

Sell Your Smartphone Photos

If you have a smartphone and a photographic eye, making money may have just gotten a lot easier.

An app called Foap lets you turn your smartphone photos into cash.

Here’s how it works:

1. Download the free app and create an account.

2. Take a quality photo and upload it to Foap’s marketplace.

3. Someone buys the license to your photo for $10. You make $5.

If your photo sells 20 times, you make $5 each time and end up with $100 in your pocket — all for about five minutes of work. Pretty cool, right?

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Passive income sounds appealing, right?

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A gunman known to the U.S. Secret Service opened fire near the White House and was shot and killed by federal officers. President Trump was in the White House at the time.

A man who was already known to the U.S. Secret Service approached the White House complex on Saturday evening, took a gun out of a bag, and opened fire before being shot and fatally wounded by Secret Service police officers.

A bystander was also struck by gunfire, the Secret Service said in a statement, though it did not give details on the nature or severity of the injuries. It was unclear who fired the shot that struck the bystander.

The gunman, who was identified by two officials with knowledge of the investigation as Nasire Best, 21, was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead. No officers were injured, the Secret Service said.

In a social media post early Sunday, President Trump thanked the Secret Service and law enforcement officers involved in the shooting, and described the gunman as having “a violent history” and a “possible obsession” with the White House.

The shooting took place a little after 6 p.m. near 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, at the northwestern corner of the White House grounds.

Mr. Trump, who was in the building at the time, had made it known on Friday that he would be spending the long holiday weekend at the White House.

In his social media post, Mr. Trump also appeared to renew his push for a proposed ballroom and security expansion at the White House, saying the episode underscored the need for “the most safe and secure space of its kind ever built in Washington.”

Within the last month, two people have been arrested after opening fire in the vicinity of top U.S. officials.

On April 25, a man from California who was armed with a shotgun, handgun, and several knives charged past a security checkpoint at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, where Mr. Trump was due to speak, before being subdued by Secret Service agents.

On May 4, a man from Texas was wounded during an exchange of gunfire with Secret Service officers near the Washington Monument, accused of making vulgar statements about the White House afterward, as he was being taken to a hospital in an ambulance.

Mr. Best had been arrested last July for walking into a restricted area on the White House grounds, ignoring signs and commands to stop. At that time, according to an affidavit filed in D.C. Superior Court, Mr. Best had already been known to Secret Service personnel “for walking around the White House complex inquiring how to gain access at various entry posts.”

He had briefly been involuntarily held that June for blocking a vehicle entry on the east side of the White House, the affidavit said. At the time of that arrest, on a misdemeanor charge of unlawful entry, he had no pending warrants. He told officers at the scene that “he was Jesus Christ and that he wanted to get arrested.”

Court records show that a judge issued a “stay away order” the day of his arrest, apparently barring him from the area around the White House. After he did not show up for a hearing in August, a bench warrant was issued.

On Saturday evening, the flurry of gunfire prompted a brief White House lockdown, and rattled the reporters who were gathered on the North Lawn.

Selina Wang, a senior White House correspondent for ABC News, posted a video on social media of her recording a report when what sounds like gunfire can be heard in the background.

She was about three seconds into the recording when the noises are heard, and she dropped to the floor for cover.

“I was in the middle of taping on my iPhone for a social video from the White House North Lawn when we heard the shots,” she wrote on X. “It sounded like dozens of gunshots. We were told to sprint to the press briefing room, where we are holding now.”

Allison Robbert, a photographer for The New York Times, said that about 20 to 30 gunshots were heard from the north lawn of the White House.

“Journalists heard it from outside the press room and were ushered inside by Secret Service,” she said in a text message.

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A gunman known to the U.S. Secret Service opened fire near the White House and was shot and killed by federal officers on Saturday evening. CreditCredit…Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images

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A Bermuda high parked over the western Atlantic is pulling sweltering air up from the south, challenging records in parts of the eastern U.S.

For those in the eastern half of the country, mid-May is feeling a lot more like midsummer, with an early heat wave bringing record-breaking temperatures.

Boston hit 96 degrees Fahrenheit on Tuesday, breaking the date’s previous record of 90 degrees F, which was set back in 1949. Washington Dulles International Airport near Washington, D.C., hit 94 degrees F, surpassing the previous record for May 19 of 92 degrees F. The city reached 97 degrees F, surpassing the previous record by one degree F. And Philadelphia reached 98 degrees F on Tuesday, besting the previous record of 96 degrees F, which was set in 1962.

The cause of the roasting heat is a weather system that always accompanies a big spike in temperatures: a high-pressure ridge. In this specific case, the system is called the Bermuda high, a semipermanent area of high pressure hanging out over the Atlantic Ocean to the east of North America that is also one of the atmospheric features that steers summer hurricanes. The clockwise flow of air around the Bermuda high pulls up warm, humid air from the south. 

This heat wave is not as intense as the one that sent temperatures soaring well into the triple digits in the Southwest in March, but it’s still bringing temperatures into the 90s Fahrenheit from the mid-Atlantic to the Northeast—well ahead of average. Humidity is also rising, with dew points in the 60s F—that’s not as sweltering as they can be in the dog days of summer, but it’s the highest they have been so far this year, says Marc Chenard, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s (NWS’s) Weather Prediction Center.

Though this week’s temperatures won’t challenge any all-time record highs, they still pose a health risk because people are less acclimated to heat this early in the year. The NWS’s HeatRisk map tool shows “major” heat risk—the second highest category—from Washington, D.C., up to Boston. Relatively high overnight temperatures are a particular concern because they mean people’s body doesn’t have a chance to cool down and recover.

Climate change is driving this event, too. Overall, summer heat waves are becoming more intense, longer-lasting, and more frequent. The high-heat season is also bleeding into spring and fall. For this particular heat wave, a tool from the nonprofit research group Climate Central shows that this heat event is two to five times more likely because of climate change.

This heat wave will be short-lived for northern areas because a “back-door cold front” will roll through later on Wednesday, Chenard says. First, a more traditional cold front, with winds from the northwest, will move into the area, and then winds will switch to become northeasterly. That shift will reinforce the coolness and keep the heat from reasserting itself over the mid-Atlantic and Northeast. The Southeast, though, will continue to feel sultry temperatures amid a widespread drought that is raising wildfire risks.

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Whether you want to build your own website or you’re hoping to boost your attractiveness to potential employers, learning to code can certainly be handy. But where to start? There’s clearly no shortage of options for getting your feet wet in the world of programming languages, but finding a good entry point can prove to be daunting. After all, how do you even decide which language makes the most sense for you?

This article will attempt to walk you through the first decisions you’ll need to make when you’re contemplating learning to code, and then it will recommend some of the best online resources to turn to when you’re ready to develop your skills.

Decide Which Programming Language You Want to Learn

Type “which coding language to learn” into Google, and you’ll be met with over 200 million results. Clearly, this is a popular question, and you’ll find plenty of authorities with different opinions on the subject.

It could be illuminating and worthwhile for you to spend some time reading what various sites have to say on this topic, but if you want to streamline things a bit, first ask yourself this question:

What do I want to build?

Just like words in the English language are the means to the end of communicating thoughts and ideas, programming languages are useful because they help you accomplish certain things. So when you’re deciding what coding language to learn, it’s incredibly important to think about what you want to build. 

Want to build a website? Knowing HTML, CSS and Javascript will be important for you. More interested in building a smartphone app? You’ll need to decide which platform you want to start with (Android or iOS), and then pick one of the corresponding languages such as Java and Objective-C. 

Clearly, the above examples are not exhaustive; they just provide a taste of the questions you’ll want to ask yourself when you’re considering which language you should start with. The flow chart above could prove to be another helpful resource when you’re trying to narrow your coding pursuit down to a language. And never underestimate the usefulness of Google; it will take some patience, but if you know what you want to build, researching what coding language it takes to build it can be well worth the time and patience.

Carl Cheo, who’s behind that nifty flowchart seen above, also provides a handy breakdown of learning resources to consider based on the language you’re looking to learn.

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Codeacademy

What We Like

• Once you’ve created a Codeacademy account and begin taking a course, the service keeps track of your progress, so it’s easy to stop and start without needing to spend hours tracking down where you left off. 
• Another plus is that this service is targeted toward total beginners; it recommends complete newbies start with HTML and CSS, though it offers more advanced language courses as well.
• You can browse by course type (web development, tools, APIs, data analytics, and more), and thanks to the site’s huge popularity — it boasts more than 20 million users — its forums are a great resource for asking and answering your own questions on anything from problems within a specific course to how to build what your heart desires.
• Another pro: Codeacademy is free.

What We Don’t Like

• Some courses (or particular questions or problems within a course) aren’t written perfectly clearly, which can lead to confusion on behalf of the user.
• The robust Codeacademy forums can usually come to the rescue in these instances, though it can be discouraging to run upon a snag when most of the content is presented so seamlessly.

Best for: Free, dare I say fun coding lessons for some of the more basic languages. If you want to build a website, you can even take a course focused on the fundamentals of HTML and CSS, which you’ll put to use as you practice building a site.

Languages offered: HTML & CSS, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, PHP, SQL, Sass

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Code Avengers

What We Like

• Courses through Code Avengers are fun and engaging — in this respect, it’s comparable and even competitive with Codeacademy.

What We Don’t Like

• The biggest one is that there’s a cost; while you can get a free trial, subscriptions — which give you full access to each course, rather than a limit of up to just five lessons in a course — cost $29 per month or $120 for six months.
• Another disadvantage, at least compared to Codeacademy, is that there aren’t any forums specific to individual courses, so it’s harder to track down solutions if you’re struggling with a certain problem within your course. 

• Compared to some other sites, you also have relatively few language options to study.

Best for: Those who want fun and games along the way to learning how to build real things through coding languages, since you’ll complete mini-games after each lesson. Like Codeacademy, it’s targeted toward beginners, and perhaps even more than Codeacademy, it’s about learning basic concepts rather than all the nuts and bolts of a programming language. It’s also an ideal choice for those who speak languages other than English, since courses are also offered in Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese and Russian, among other languages.

Languages offered: HMTL & CSS, JavaScript, Python

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Khan Academy

What We Like

• Everything is free, making Khan Academy one of the great resources for learning to code online without having to hand over credit card information. 
• Lessons are reasonably sized (not hours-long) and engaging.
• The way new skills are presented and taught is also well-organized; you can jump to animation basics within the JavaScript materials, for instance.

What We Don’t Like

• Relatively few languages offered, and you won’t enjoy the same thriving forum community as available with Codeacademy.
• That may or may not make a difference depending on your learning style and preferences — it’s just something to keep in mind.

Best for: Newbies who know what they want to build and want an engaging, straightforward way to learn skills. Additionally, Khan Academy will make the most sense for those who want to focus on graphics and gaming-type applications. There’s also a focus on programming, drawings, and animations.

Languages offered: JavaScript, SQL

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Code School

What We Like

• A great selection of courses, and a very helpful beginners guide that can inform your decision of which language to begin with.

• In line with its reputation for providing professional-quality courses, Code School offers professionally curated content lists, along with podcasts and video shows.
• You can dip your toes into the world of coding for iOS devices — something that isn’t possible to do with most of the other resources mentioned in this list.

What We Don’t Like

• You might feel a bit lost if you come to Code School with zero prior programming knowledge. Plus, to get unlimited access to all the site’s 71 courses and 254 screencasts, you’ll need to pay ($29 a month or $19 a month with a yearly plan) — and if you want to use this site to its full potential, you’ll need to shell out.

Best for: Those who want to learn languages beyond the standard JavaScript and HTML/CSS, especially mobile languages for iOS apps such as Objective-C. It’s not as beginner-oriented as the other resources on this list, so you might want to start with another site first and then make your way here after you have a few skills under your belt. Code School has more of a professional bent than many of the other resources mentioned in this article — if you’re looking to become a programmer by trade, this could be a good place to spend some serious time (though be prepared to spend some money as well if you want access to all the material).

Languages offered: HTML & CSS, JavaScript, Ruby, Ruby on Rails, PHP, Python, Objective-C, Swift

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Coursera

What We Like

• Courses are available from world-renowned institutions such as Johns Hopkins University, Stanford and the University of Michigan, so you know you’re in good hands. Plus, most courses are free, though you can pay for some, including options that present you a certificate of completion at the end.

What We Don’t Like

• You won’t find all the coding lessons in one easy-to-digest place, meaning it could help to come to this site knowing exactly what you’re looking for. The courses generally aren’t as engaging or interactive as those available through Codeacademy, Code Avengers or Khan Academy, either.

Best for: Self-motivated learners who have the dedication and the patience to do a bit of digging to find the course that makes the most sense for them, since unlike sites like Codeacademy, Coursera hosts educational material for a huge variety of subjects beyond programming. 

Languages offered: HTML & CSS, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, Objective-C, Swift

You’ll find additional languages based on your search terms, since Coursera is a repository for educational material on a wide variety of subjects

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Treehouse

What We Like

• Includes mobile programming languages for iOS, so if you want to build an iPhone app, this site could help you learn how to do it.
• You get access to community forums, which can further your learning and passion for coding in addition to helping you when you’re stuck.

What We Don’t Like

• Once you’ve used up the free trial, Treehouse requires you to select one of two paid plans. The cheaper one costs $25 per month and gives you access to more than 1,000 video courses and interactive tools, while for $49 a month the “Pro Plan” gets you access to a members-only forum, bonus content, the ability to download videos for offline learning and more. Some of those features could definitely be useful, but you’ll need to be pretty serious about learning to code for it to be worth paying that much on a monthly basis.

Best for: Those who are planning to stick with programming and utilize the skills they learn professionally or for some side projects, since most material requires a paid subscription. That’s not to say you need to come to Treehouse with a ton of prior knowledge; having an idea of what you want to build is often enough since many of the courses are built around objectives, such as building a website.

Languages offered: HTML & CSS, JavaScript, jQuery, Ruby, Ruby on Rails, PHP, Swift, Objective-C, C#

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Decide which language

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Hmmmm … Now we can process the Epstein files at last!

Click the link below the ottom picture

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A poster of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s former supreme leader, in Tehran this month. He was killed in an airstrike at the start of the war. Credit…Arash Khamooshi/Polaris for The New York Times

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