Medievals who occasionally saw these red-breasted birds came up with the idea that pelican mothers stab themselves in the breast when they don't have anything else to feed their young.
I've been to Florida exactly once. I saw a flock of spoonbills at a distance in the Ding Darling Refuge, and I was just positive I'd finally seen flamingos. Hah!
Spoonbills are just gorgeous boids with SUCH a unique bill, evolved to allow them to sift and sort through the reeds and the sludge to seek out tasty crustaceans and other goodies for themselves and to feed those abundantly beaked bebbes. <3
“Of course a businessman turned president would be interested. But Greenland is not for sale,” Murkowski and Chemnitz said in a statement obtained by POLITICO.
It still astonishes me that any reasonably sentient person, much less a US Senator, can refer to T***p as a "businessman".
It used to be the ;aw that a producer had to charge the same amount for what they produced whether it was for one dozen or one million dozen. That made it possible for the little shops to compete with the conglomerates. Then someone did away with that law and conglomerates wiped out the little guys. Dynamic pricing, changing the price of a good or service depending on how desperate the shopper is just the next step. It must be made illegal
That's some very useful information. It's hard to wrap my head around the fact that hundreds of thousands of people have been thrust into this turmoil in just over a week.
HuffPost: Trump Thanks Himself In Bizarre Post About California Wildfires.
"On Tuesday night he was at it again, writing on Truth Social: “The water is flowing, big time, in Northern California. The long empty reservoirs will soon be full. Thank you President Trump!!!”"
There is a sticker on my fridge from Australia's fabulous The Shot that says 'FUCK MURDOCH'. I love it, reminds me every day to resist their evil. Imagine my joy and surprise when awesome former Australian of the year Grace Tame wore the t-shirt of my sticker to this years Australian of the Year awards. Grace Tame was sexually abused by a teacher from the age of 15 and gagged from telling her story by a horrendous law here in Tasmania. Thanks to Grace, the law was changed and her efforts to raise awareness and take action against child sexual abuse and rape earned her the title of Australian of the year. She is a dead set legend, I really admire her spirit and I loved this. The Prime Minister looked gutted. BWAH HAHA!!
Since I'll be asleep when the Open Thread drops, gonna put this on the morning open thread and maybe remember to repost it later.
I don't spend any time in Durham, except for when I used to work there, but it's still nice seeing a celebrity I like say nice things about a place in my state:
"Even Patton Oswalt Is Charmed by Rubies on Five Points" The Independent, 1/27/2025
His evening at Rubies on Five Points left such an impression that the next morning, Oswalt posted a lengthy Instagram tribute to the venue, calling it “chill, goofy, inclusive, friendly, dark and fun.” In a moment when many people are grappling with an uncertain political future, he wrote, spaces like Rubies offer “fierce, human light.”
//
There's also a story about a nicetimes interaction with a fan in there, including the picture he asked her to take of them to show his daughter (she showed him her ankle tattoo of Remy from "Ratatouille", who he voiced).
Glad to know that the future impeachment this asshole deserves for continuing to submit illegal orders won't ever occur, thanks to the courageous cowardice of the entire GQP.
That Andrew Kloster guy is horrific. It shocks me that such POS are allowed to walk around among us and think and say what he thinks and says. What a putrid human stain.
Comment on The Nation article: My partner believes all of us who have used or are using Amazon for any reason are probably getting prices on goods served to us based on our spending habits at the site, like the Electronic Shelf Labels (ESL) system in Kroger and soon to be Walmart, and believes Amazon will serve us the maximum we're willing to pay based on our data and spending. However, face recognition software wouldn't work if one has a sticker pasted over the camera when shopping, right? Partner has no reason to know, just suspects. How to prove it? Which government agency will care now about protecting consumers? (Somewhat rhetorical question)
Of all the terrible things covered in this morning's tabs, the FACE act one really stands out for me. It's probably not even the most terrible, but it's awful.
I worked in women's clinics in the early 90s, and was there when the FACE act came into play. It made a huge difference, and while we knew we were still under threat, created a buffer that assisted both with how safe we felt, and allowed our clients to access the clinics with much less (though unfortunately, some) harrassment.
This was during the era when the women at the Boston Planned Parenthood were murdered, when our own Florida clinic's Dr. David Gunn was assassinated, when Dr John Ritton and clinic escort James Barrett were shot dead, and on and on and on.
And that leaves unaddressed the countless, heartless incidents of harrassment of clinic staff and patrons all over the nation.
It's going to get worse before it gets bettter. I pray, in my godless hippie way, that it does get better. The arc of the moral universe moves at a snail's pace, no doubt assisted by the awful, terrible acts of those who have no morals when it comes to the fates of their fellow humans.
'Trix, you watched Sgt. Pepper? ALL of it? I can only admire your fortitude, the one time I tried I gave up 15 minutes in. I can stand a lot in a bad movie, but my kryptonite is stuff that ought to be fun and awesome but instead is just wrong. It's like a perfectly crafted candy strawberry made of sugar, red dye and shit.
Some info on that hed gif: https://open.substack.com/pub/martiniambassador/p/roseate-spoonbills
And the meme chat: https://open.substack.com/chat/posts/871eb399-d76b-478a-a523-b151e4fe3c8c?utm_source=share
Medievals who occasionally saw these red-breasted birds came up with the idea that pelican mothers stab themselves in the breast when they don't have anything else to feed their young.
Somehow, seeing this family of spoonbills, is very uplifting. It brings back a fond memory of a favorite picture from my childhood.
I've been to Florida exactly once. I saw a flock of spoonbills at a distance in the Ding Darling Refuge, and I was just positive I'd finally seen flamingos. Hah!
I went out with a spoonbill once; cost me about an 8-ball!
SPOON!
#TheTick
https://youtu.be/rcm-J7lQT3w?si=sZtMuh3tXLSnOhOW
One of my favoriest birbs! We see them all the time Down Here.
And yes, they are JUST that pink.
'How did I end up with such ugly kids?'
We were lousy with these lovely roseate spoonbills in Florida. Unfortunately, we were also lousy with the red hatted trumper. Lousier even.
Luckily you have the banana republic climate to compensate.
Quacked me up.
Almost as lovely as the much rarer sporkbill.
That is a bird I have always wanted to spot.
I saw one once, crossing the Matanzas River into St. Augustine. They’re pretty rare that far north.
So sweet!
When sweetening my coffee
I need a spoon to fill
But if my spoon were that size
I'd have sugar overkill.
~ Burma Shave
Worth 100+ Everglades mosquito bites to see.
Ahhh, summer in Flamingo, in Everglades National Park.
Elliot Key on a windless day
How about a gif of the forked tongue maga.
NO!!!!!!!!!!!
Spoonbills are just gorgeous boids with SUCH a unique bill, evolved to allow them to sift and sort through the reeds and the sludge to seek out tasty crustaceans and other goodies for themselves and to feed those abundantly beaked bebbes. <3
Check out Spoon-billed sandpiper, which possess a similarly shaped bill. Unfortunately they are critically endangered.
[Chris Cornell voice]
Spoonbill!
“Of course a businessman turned president would be interested. But Greenland is not for sale,” Murkowski and Chemnitz said in a statement obtained by POLITICO.
It still astonishes me that any reasonably sentient person, much less a US Senator, can refer to T***p as a "businessman".
Sgt. Pepper’s Bee Gees movie; you just watch it for the music.
It used to be the ;aw that a producer had to charge the same amount for what they produced whether it was for one dozen or one million dozen. That made it possible for the little shops to compete with the conglomerates. Then someone did away with that law and conglomerates wiped out the little guys. Dynamic pricing, changing the price of a good or service depending on how desperate the shopper is just the next step. It must be made illegal
My sister sent me this link for Federal workers. Under attack.
https://www.askamanager.org/2025/01/questions-from-federal-workers-who-are-currently-under-attack.html
That's some very useful information. It's hard to wrap my head around the fact that hundreds of thousands of people have been thrust into this turmoil in just over a week.
HuffPost: Trump Thanks Himself In Bizarre Post About California Wildfires.
"On Tuesday night he was at it again, writing on Truth Social: “The water is flowing, big time, in Northern California. The long empty reservoirs will soon be full. Thank you President Trump!!!”"
Somebody please take him for a boat ride on Lake Mead.
Then tell him the boat is sinking and there are sharks in the water.
Omigod, Sister Monster was obsessed with that BeeGees movie when we were kids. She must have watched it a million times on HBO in the 80s.
Was the title to this supposed to lodge a Clash song in my head for the entirety of today?
There is a sticker on my fridge from Australia's fabulous The Shot that says 'FUCK MURDOCH'. I love it, reminds me every day to resist their evil. Imagine my joy and surprise when awesome former Australian of the year Grace Tame wore the t-shirt of my sticker to this years Australian of the Year awards. Grace Tame was sexually abused by a teacher from the age of 15 and gagged from telling her story by a horrendous law here in Tasmania. Thanks to Grace, the law was changed and her efforts to raise awareness and take action against child sexual abuse and rape earned her the title of Australian of the year. She is a dead set legend, I really admire her spirit and I loved this. The Prime Minister looked gutted. BWAH HAHA!!
theshot.net.au/uncategorized/what-would-grace-tame-do/
That's wonderful! Here's one of my favorite Murdoch references:
https://substack.com/@alternativedog/note/c-71201489?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=2kpbm7
And I just mentioned him in a comment yesterday where I quoted Mike Royko, a favorite columnist from my youth:
"No self-respecting fish would want to be wrapped in a Murdoch paper."
That's fabulous, thank you!
Since I'll be asleep when the Open Thread drops, gonna put this on the morning open thread and maybe remember to repost it later.
I don't spend any time in Durham, except for when I used to work there, but it's still nice seeing a celebrity I like say nice things about a place in my state:
"Even Patton Oswalt Is Charmed by Rubies on Five Points" The Independent, 1/27/2025
https://indyweek.com/culture/patton-oswalt-is-charmed-by-rubies-on-five-points/
//
His evening at Rubies on Five Points left such an impression that the next morning, Oswalt posted a lengthy Instagram tribute to the venue, calling it “chill, goofy, inclusive, friendly, dark and fun.” In a moment when many people are grappling with an uncertain political future, he wrote, spaces like Rubies offer “fierce, human light.”
//
There's also a story about a nicetimes interaction with a fan in there, including the picture he asked her to take of them to show his daughter (she showed him her ankle tattoo of Remy from "Ratatouille", who he voiced).
Glad to know that the future impeachment this asshole deserves for continuing to submit illegal orders won't ever occur, thanks to the courageous cowardice of the entire GQP.
That Andrew Kloster guy is horrific. It shocks me that such POS are allowed to walk around among us and think and say what he thinks and says. What a putrid human stain.
Comment on The Nation article: My partner believes all of us who have used or are using Amazon for any reason are probably getting prices on goods served to us based on our spending habits at the site, like the Electronic Shelf Labels (ESL) system in Kroger and soon to be Walmart, and believes Amazon will serve us the maximum we're willing to pay based on our data and spending. However, face recognition software wouldn't work if one has a sticker pasted over the camera when shopping, right? Partner has no reason to know, just suspects. How to prove it? Which government agency will care now about protecting consumers? (Somewhat rhetorical question)
Ugggghhh, and we're not even two weeks in....
Of all the terrible things covered in this morning's tabs, the FACE act one really stands out for me. It's probably not even the most terrible, but it's awful.
I worked in women's clinics in the early 90s, and was there when the FACE act came into play. It made a huge difference, and while we knew we were still under threat, created a buffer that assisted both with how safe we felt, and allowed our clients to access the clinics with much less (though unfortunately, some) harrassment.
This was during the era when the women at the Boston Planned Parenthood were murdered, when our own Florida clinic's Dr. David Gunn was assassinated, when Dr John Ritton and clinic escort James Barrett were shot dead, and on and on and on.
And that leaves unaddressed the countless, heartless incidents of harrassment of clinic staff and patrons all over the nation.
It's going to get worse before it gets bettter. I pray, in my godless hippie way, that it does get better. The arc of the moral universe moves at a snail's pace, no doubt assisted by the awful, terrible acts of those who have no morals when it comes to the fates of their fellow humans.
My dad knew either Britton or Gunn, I don’t remember which. He was really angry about those murders.
'Trix, you watched Sgt. Pepper? ALL of it? I can only admire your fortitude, the one time I tried I gave up 15 minutes in. I can stand a lot in a bad movie, but my kryptonite is stuff that ought to be fun and awesome but instead is just wrong. It's like a perfectly crafted candy strawberry made of sugar, red dye and shit.
The soundtrack album to the Bee Gees Sgt Pepper album is pretty good, though.
Some things should be heard and not seen.