When I was really little I would sit in a wingback chair in our living room (the chair's upholstery was green leaves) and pretend it was a chair and I was a koala. I'd just sit there. My parents told me about how they eat eucalyptus leaves and I figured that the closest we had were bay leaves, so I took all of my mom's out of the spice rack and tried to eat them.
I'm paraphrasing because I don't even remember the author's name, much less the book title, but "The only thing that would make Koala bears more Australian is if they were venomous, like every other goddam natural creation around here..."
Parenting absolutely does have universal elements, especially among mammals. I was visiting my local zoo one day and a primate exhibit had a family with a youngster. I don't remember if it was the orangutan what, just some kind of primate. Anyway, the action between mother and offspring was so human like that, as a mother myself, I instantly recognized it. It's uncanny. Of course, I know that it's because of evolution and how we're related to primates so it's not really surprising that we have so many behaviors in common.
Those fascinating apes are our close cousins, far closer that most people realize. Their behavior graphically mimics ours. Thus if we watch them closely we may gain enormous insights regarding ourselves.
That Trump had blood on his hands before he let COVID run wild and killed millions by cutting off US aid is really no surprise. Since he never had the guts to pull the trigger, he's the only Mafia Don who isn't a made man despite the mass casualties he's caused.
I'd like to propose that everyone stop paying attention to Miller's tweets. He only does it to get a rise out of us. There's absolutely nothing of substance involved in his childish screeds. They're just distractions from his behind-the-scenes evildoing.
Well, Fermi escaped from Fascist Italy, but point taken. (Went directly to New York from Stockholm after picking up what was obviously not a Peace Prize.)
I guess Miller's allohistorical novel would have both skipped over the nation's history of slavery as well as exclude mention of his own Russian grandparents immigrating to the U.S.
I wanted to get him a photograph by a local artist that we saw at a theater over the summer. I didn't think to take a picture of it or the card for the photographer at the time (this is a theater space that also features local artists in the lobby.
So I emailed the theater, who referred me to the theater group who were renting the space at the time. THAT person sent a very nice email saying that I must be asking about the photographer who did their posters for the show (not the same person). Worse, that person is her mom. So now I feel weird emailing her back to say "No--not your mom's work--the artist showing his work in the lobby!" because that seems mean.
That story about Ka$h closing the Hoover headquarters gave me a moment of reckoning.
I'd visited the place when I was a kid, and was even taken down to the indoor shooting range where an agent steadied my hand as I shot bullets into a target that bore the life-size silhouette of a human being. I was given that target at the end of the visit, and it hung on my bedroom wall back at home for some time. Mind you, this first visit to D.C. was also the one where we later watched Robert Kennedy's funeral cortège roll through the streets.
Anyway, that was a fucked-up thing to do as a kid, hang a target of a human being on a bedroom wall.
So I think about this and I’m at peace knowing that the real shitty things that happened as a kid had a big influence on who I am today. Some responsible adult, likely a parent, let that happen.
Yes, thanks for that, as it's entirely true. One other thing I've never forgotten from that trip is my mother's friend's reaction to a Black man who came up to try to sell her a newspaper. It was searing revelation to about that woman's racism, and though she remained a family friend for years afterward, I kept my distance from that moment forward.
And thanks for that too. I've had a horror of guns from not long after that time, related to something else that happened. I hadn't really thought about that target for decades until the Hoover building got mentioned in the news.
This reads like a koala calmly chewing eucalyptus while the empire free-falls in the background. Absurdity stacked on atrocity, cut with humor sharp enough to keep you awake without numbing out. The chaos is real, but so is the refusal to let it steal wit, memory, or moral clarity. That balance is its own kind of resistance.
Your hed gif info: https://martiniambassador.substack.com/p/itchy-joey
And meme chat: https://open.substack.com/chat/posts/7666d0b2-0771-4938-acb8-b6101d4993b5?utm_source=share
When I was really little I would sit in a wingback chair in our living room (the chair's upholstery was green leaves) and pretend it was a chair and I was a koala. I'd just sit there. My parents told me about how they eat eucalyptus leaves and I figured that the closest we had were bay leaves, so I took all of my mom's out of the spice rack and tried to eat them.
And you're still alive?!
𝚃 𝚁 𝙰 𝙲 𝙺 𝙳 𝙾 𝙺 . 𝙲 𝟶 𝙼
"Tried" to eat them.
"Mummy, you're not watching me!"
Why yes, that is an obscure Television Personalities reference.
Cute picture. Koalas have huge livers. They need it given they eat eucalyptus leaves which contain a toxic compound.
"Well, why don't they just not eat it, then?" shouts the Common Sense™ crowd
Because the leaves are SO tasty 😋😋😋😋
My heart is filled with koalaness.
That's some koalaity gif, there.
OH, that babby drop-bear. I would snuggle the shit outta that little floof.
Making it easier for it to bring it's extendable fangs into play. 😱
For a tree borne species
A fall brings pain and strife
But clinging onto momma
Brings koality of life
A marsupial mother
Like other mothers knows
That sometimes bad things happen
As her Koala baby grows
But holding tight to mother
Can surely save the day
And lead a growing baby
To another day of play.
Poet laureate of the Wonkeverse!
And to think those cute little koalas are chock full of chlamydia. Why????????
On a trip to Australia in the late 90s, we got to pet a koala, never even thinking that it might be infected.
Since you asked: https://koalaconservationaustralia.org.au/pages/disease#
Poor koalas!! RFKjr would probably recommend we eat them to build up our immunity 🙁
Thanks for the link.
I shouldn’t have gone to that page whilst eating Marmite on toast. Poor beasties.
Uncoordinated, huh? I'd like to see *you* scratch *your* chest with your foot and stay balanced in the crook of a tree limb doing it.
Don't be fooled, that is a dangerous likely chlamydia infested Babby Drop Bear!
The way Momoala flaps her ears in exasperation is so cute!
Her left hand/paw gesture is all "What?! How many times have I told you? You have to hang on to me!"
Parenting has universal elements...
I'm paraphrasing because I don't even remember the author's name, much less the book title, but "The only thing that would make Koala bears more Australian is if they were venomous, like every other goddam natural creation around here..."
Does the endemic chlamydia take care of that?
Parenting absolutely does have universal elements, especially among mammals. I was visiting my local zoo one day and a primate exhibit had a family with a youngster. I don't remember if it was the orangutan what, just some kind of primate. Anyway, the action between mother and offspring was so human like that, as a mother myself, I instantly recognized it. It's uncanny. Of course, I know that it's because of evolution and how we're related to primates so it's not really surprising that we have so many behaviors in common.
Those fascinating apes are our close cousins, far closer that most people realize. Their behavior graphically mimics ours. Thus if we watch them closely we may gain enormous insights regarding ourselves.
Are we still supposed to hate Qantas?
According to Ma Glam's post about chlamydia earlier in the thread, the koala in the ad's stated reason for his hatred of Qantas would be justified.
https://youtu.be/bHiPlZUgWEs?si=mbzdvNl-gSHec7AN
I recognized that reference.
👍👍👍
"Mom, I meant to do that!"
"Itchy Joey?" Sounds like a Dick Tracy villain.
That clip of the little drummer boy hitting the rimshot when his band bandmate falls is on point. The kid's been paying attention.
I hope I still think this a year from now, but Rama Duwaji seems to be the coolest person.
That Trump had blood on his hands before he let COVID run wild and killed millions by cutting off US aid is really no surprise. Since he never had the guts to pull the trigger, he's the only Mafia Don who isn't a made man despite the mass casualties he's caused.
“The meeting will take place in the main dining of Mar-a-Lago. Press is invited.”
In other words, the “meeting” was just a show for Pedo to posture in front of of the media.
Oh? Are they planning to demolish the Hoover building and replace it with Trump's Triumphbogen?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwerbelastungsk%C3%B6rper#/media/File:Arches_Height_Comparison.png
Ahhh Monday's with Tab's and Coffee in the Morning ☕💯👍
I can't trust a top 10 movie list that does not include Listers: A Glimpse Into Extreme Birdwatching
Best movie of the year, no question. Released free on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl-wAqplQAo
Love it 😀! Thanks for the link, Lox!
If you can't trust John Waters, who can you trust? Besides, isn't Pink Flamingos extreme birding enough?
they covered them in Listers.
Honestly, it's the most Wonkette movie since Priscilla Queen of the Desert, IMO
Aaaw! S. Miller is jizzing over Nazi Werner von Braun. How special!
I'd like to propose that everyone stop paying attention to Miller's tweets. He only does it to get a rise out of us. There's absolutely nothing of substance involved in his childish screeds. They're just distractions from his behind-the-scenes evildoing.
Do I at least get a point for referencing the Nazi and not the Jews? Closer to his heart and all. (Moon shot, not atomic bomb.)
Does Miller even understand the we "harnessed" the atom because of Jewish refugees escaping NAZI Germany???
Stupid fuck isn't he?
He's a dude that thinks history began the date of his birth
Well, Fermi escaped from Fascist Italy, but point taken. (Went directly to New York from Stockholm after picking up what was obviously not a Peace Prize.)
I knew there would be one refugee truther in the bunch- dear Wonks
Always glad to be a token.
Hey, my father was a refugee physicist, so I have to be precise here. (winky emoji)
The world is on fire and now it's under a foot of snow to boot. And under the boots of ICE. Deep six ICE
I guess Miller's allohistorical novel would have both skipped over the nation's history of slavery as well as exclude mention of his own Russian grandparents immigrating to the U.S.
A regular Harry Turtledove.
NEED a birthday present for Husband!
I wanted to get him a photograph by a local artist that we saw at a theater over the summer. I didn't think to take a picture of it or the card for the photographer at the time (this is a theater space that also features local artists in the lobby.
So I emailed the theater, who referred me to the theater group who were renting the space at the time. THAT person sent a very nice email saying that I must be asking about the photographer who did their posters for the show (not the same person). Worse, that person is her mom. So now I feel weird emailing her back to say "No--not your mom's work--the artist showing his work in the lobby!" because that seems mean.
That was my only fucking idea. HELP ME, WONKS!
You with a birthday bow in your hair.
Not mean at all.
Well, Ziggywiggy once showed her photo somewhere, so that counts.
(Sorry, that's what I got, a bad joke. And a mention of our Mistress of Movies. I could post a link to "The Polka Pit" too, I suppose.)
"While [mom's name]'s work was lovely, a photo on display in the lobby particularly resonated with me..."
Just be clear on who you mean. It is not mean ... I mean... Aw, fuck it.
That story about Ka$h closing the Hoover headquarters gave me a moment of reckoning.
I'd visited the place when I was a kid, and was even taken down to the indoor shooting range where an agent steadied my hand as I shot bullets into a target that bore the life-size silhouette of a human being. I was given that target at the end of the visit, and it hung on my bedroom wall back at home for some time. Mind you, this first visit to D.C. was also the one where we later watched Robert Kennedy's funeral cortège roll through the streets.
Anyway, that was a fucked-up thing to do as a kid, hang a target of a human being on a bedroom wall.
So I think about this and I’m at peace knowing that the real shitty things that happened as a kid had a big influence on who I am today. Some responsible adult, likely a parent, let that happen.
Yes, thanks for that, as it's entirely true. One other thing I've never forgotten from that trip is my mother's friend's reaction to a Black man who came up to try to sell her a newspaper. It was searing revelation to about that woman's racism, and though she remained a family friend for years afterward, I kept my distance from that moment forward.
Kids are kind of oblivious to their own casual cruelty. Having met you once or twice, you don't seem scarred by it.
And thanks for that too. I've had a horror of guns from not long after that time, related to something else that happened. I hadn't really thought about that target for decades until the Hoover building got mentioned in the news.
Stephen Miller's Diary took a Turner for the worse....
ICWYDT
This reads like a koala calmly chewing eucalyptus while the empire free-falls in the background. Absurdity stacked on atrocity, cut with humor sharp enough to keep you awake without numbing out. The chaos is real, but so is the refusal to let it steal wit, memory, or moral clarity. That balance is its own kind of resistance.
And there's something about the external womb that really brings it home. Only a platypus would be more absurder.