I just love that you highlight so many Australian animals, it is wonderful. So is the awesome echidna. In summer we often see them pottering around with their cute little walk. Scares the stuffing out of the cats. A common sight here is also people standing in the road, frantically waving their arms as an echidna toddles their little monotreme self across the road. The babies are called puggles, which is just delightful. Yay for echidnas!
A quotation from Thorstensen, 2003, "Parallaxes and Distance Estimates for 14 Cataclysmic Binary Stars", Astronomical Journal, v. 126, p. 3017:
"A correction to absolute parallax was estimated as follows. For each star used for the reference frame, a distance was estimated from the measured I and V − I color, using typical main-sequence values tabulated by Pickles (1998). The straight mean of the estimated reference-star parallaxes was used to correct the relative parallax to absolute. Reddening of the reference stars was not taken into account, nor was the possibility that they might be giants, which we cannot exclude."
I love them, They eat ants. Also, they were one of my favorite animals at the Zoo. I'd rather see them in the wild, of course, but I always found them fascinating. I wonder if anyone makes plushie echidnas?
Speaking of echidnas -- Zappa's "Echidna's Arf (Of You)", from the LIVE album "Roxy and Elsewhere", featuring his mid '70s band, which was -- beyond great.
Menotsure is kind of a genius at that. Did you ever see Head Of The Class? He was a teacher just like him, and both he and his wife were pioneers in their respective educational systems. Brilliant family!
Although don't discount yourself, didn'ya is really good, too!
Menotsure IS a genius at that. Doggerel is an interesting form - seemingly simple and casual, but a source of surprising humor from creative almost-rhymes.
I remember that show, and I lived it. I was a cross between the fat kid and the nerd with taped glasses.
I loved that show, too! I remember wanting to BE Simone. But I wasn't an honors kid, per se. Although I did take quite a few advanced classes. I think I tested well, just not well enough.
Heaven's no! That would be wrong on so many levels. 😄
I'm very lucky, there's a wonderful Mexican restaurant close by that has the best enchiladas (and tamales!) so I get my fix regularly. Locally owned and operated, too!
On a related topic, I was just thinking that it’s weird I’ve never seen a porcupine in the wild? Do other people see them? Aren’t they like skunks and possums—not everywhere all the time, but a couple of times a year things?
When I lived in northern Virginia I had hot and cold running skunks and opossums all year round. Once found a young possum in a kitchen drawer. Also too, there were garden snakes in the attic at one place ( the same one as the baby possum).
I've seen them every so often. Mostly as roadkill. A few times there was one that scurried through the front yard. Once while bird hunting I took a breather and let the hound do its thing. When I called it back in it came with a face full nasty quills! I cut them in half and jerked the rest out. Kept a close eye on his snout for the next few days looking for infection. Everything turned OK!
They're mostly nocturnal; seeing one in daylight is usually not a good sign. There was one in my (now former) neighbor's yard, several years ago, just winding itself in circles. Checked the google - that's usually a sign of rabies, along with being out in daylight. Yowsa.
I am always extra cautious when I see a raccoon out in daylight. They always are acting a little crazy. Once I heard a story on This American Life about a rabies raccoon charging across a field to attack a human. As I recall, the woman it attacked pinned the animal down with something, an umbrella maybe, and then had to wait a long time before help arrived, all the while struggling to keep that raccoon pinned down.
This is very good information to know! Thank you so much for sharing it. I live in northwest Georgia now, surrounded by forests, which is lovely! But there's so much that I don't know about our woodland friends still.
We have LOTS of porcupines in Maine. Often in trees stripping bark to eat. I have a woods cabin in the mountains and often see them. They are indifferent to me and are almost friendly.
Never seen them swim or in water. Not that they don’t.
When we lived in Maine our dogs could often find them, much to the sorrow of the dogs (and us.) Porkies chewed up our canoe paddle handles, I assume to get the salt we left on the paddles. Too often were they roadkill but the collection of the barbs was a find for tourists.
They sometimes gnaw on the plywood subflooring atop uninsulated cabin floor joists, if the floor is close enough to the ground for them to reach by standing up under it. They'll even climb foundation posts to reach the subfloor. We've had to staple chicken wire to the bottoms of the joists to prevent this.
Oh yes, just like that. In Vermont I've spied them several times in the penumbra from the torchlight on the trail to the outhouse. Never bumped into one, yet.
Growing up near Tacoma, WA, Mrs. C's dad's dog, a Brittany spaniel, tried to bite a porcupine. Twice. After the first time, and a very expensive vet trip, her dad swore he wouldn't pay for that again. When it happened again, Mrs. C and her brother panicked and removed the quills from the dog's mouth and muzzle themselves, she holding the dog down and he weilding the pliers. Evidently it was very messy and noisy.
Yes, I’m old and remember that. I actually lived in NO for that election and got to see the bumper stickers first hand. Quite an eye opener. I’m still convinced Edwards was behind Duke’s primary campaign, as he was possibly the only white man in the state that could lose to Edwards in the general election.
Hippos have no business being in Colombia. Future paleontologists may discover their remains and wonder how the hell they got there.
They are major threat to native species and need to be removed. But it’s good that this billionaire is working to relocate at least some of them to an acceptable habitat.
I didn't find the NOTUS article particularly confusing. Mike Johnson is not a good leader, Mike Johnson is more busy sucking up to Trump than to his members. The Republican House is filled with Entitled idiots. Herding cats would be easier. And some Republicans would be happier with a Democrat were Speaker because then they could blame the Dems for everything, What's hard to understand about that.
One of the books from the Huntington Beach debacle is apparently "Sex is a Funny Word".
Which I bought for my kids. It's a positively heartwarming early puberty book about bodies and changes and relationships, super gender neutral, super orientation neutral, and even leaves lots of room for parents to insert their views and beliefs if they have more rigid ones they want to enforce than this trans lesbian does... 😅
Remember that most kids are going into puberty years earlier than you probably did, if you look it up and think it looks juvenile.
And remember that comprehensive sex ed, teaching them about their bodies and that they have control and sovereignty, is one of the best counters to actual grooming and predation.
Always remember that last one when they try to hide books like this.
I was just in Orange County last weekend for a convention. There is a surprising lack of visible homeless people in the area. I saw exactly one, and they were moving along in a hurry on the sidewalk. I presume the Disney mafia is somehow responsible for keeping them out of sight, but I'm curious where they live and how they get any services in the area now, since every square inch of the entire area is occupied by SFH or apartments. There is no place to camp out (unlike my city, where there's still tons of infill lots with plenty of tree cover.)
One thing that was a pleasant surprise was the inexpensive bus system. They have $2 one way trips, with a $5 daily cap, and a max of $69 cap for the month. I didn't have to rent a car and was able to get around cheaply without relying too much on rides.
I could point you to a street in Laguna Niguel that hosts a lot of car dwellers at night, but they're the unseen homeless that have jerbs to go to during the day.
There were some notorious videos a few years ago showing the homeless encampments along a bike trail in Irvine taken using a Go-Pro. Just shocking the number of people camped out - these vids went on for ten or so minutes as the biker sped through filming. I had heard that the encampments were eventually cleared out, but have no idea where all of those people went.
Banksy Stuns With Massive ‘Blind Patriotism’ Statue Stunt In Central London
"The suited figure, whose sight is obscured by the flag, has one foot poised over the edge of the plinth, indicating he is just about to step off. It was installed in an area of the British capital that is home to royal palaces and gentlemen’s clubs, and it mirrors the style of nearby statues, including King Edward VII on horseback, nurse Florence Nightingale and statesman Sidney Herbert."
O.T. Is it just me or has anyone ever noticed that Republicans don't appreciate comedy ANY comedy. Late night hosts and their guests are called "not funny" and are somehow threatened physically. But they really are funny.
Many Repubs USED TO like Rodney, Carlin and others. Not now. "Too woke" for their, ahem, taste(s). It's reality and it's funny. Nevermind Trump's pathetic attempt at leadership. WTF with these clowns? Have some fun. Laugh for a change.
Happy May Day! Try to find humor in your day! The fine folks here at Wonkette are willing to help! Fox is nothing but misery for the truly terminally miserable.
Happy May Day, comrades! Here is your Friday gif info on echindnas: https://martiniambassador.substack.com/p/rose-goes-snorkeling
And a meme chat: https://open.substack.com/chat/posts/425a139b-d92a-448e-8ff3-bbe1e09d94db?utm_source=share
I just love that you highlight so many Australian animals, it is wonderful. So is the awesome echidna. In summer we often see them pottering around with their cute little walk. Scares the stuffing out of the cats. A common sight here is also people standing in the road, frantically waving their arms as an echidna toddles their little monotreme self across the road. The babies are called puggles, which is just delightful. Yay for echidnas!
Now I'm going to have They Might Be Giants' song "Mammal" in my head ALL WEEKEND.
A quotation from Thorstensen, 2003, "Parallaxes and Distance Estimates for 14 Cataclysmic Binary Stars", Astronomical Journal, v. 126, p. 3017:
"A correction to absolute parallax was estimated as follows. For each star used for the reference frame, a distance was estimated from the measured I and V − I color, using typical main-sequence values tabulated by Pickles (1998). The straight mean of the estimated reference-star parallaxes was used to correct the relative parallax to absolute. Reddening of the reference stars was not taken into account, nor was the possibility that they might be giants, which we cannot exclude."
Bravo. BRAVO!
The Echidna
is spiky like a porcupine
don't sit on her
or she will poke your behind
Q: Why aren't male echidnas afraid of drowning?
A: Because they're all buoy-cupines!!
I love them, They eat ants. Also, they were one of my favorite animals at the Zoo. I'd rather see them in the wild, of course, but I always found them fascinating. I wonder if anyone makes plushie echidnas?
Google is your friend 🧡
https://www.google.com/search?q=echidna+plushie
Very true. I looked right after I commented, and I have a couple in mind....it's a collection, not an obsession...
It's almost ant season here.
They come trooping inside from the balcony garden every spring.
I guess I should get an echidna.
I use Terro baits because there are no animals or children in my home.
There have been many years that I could have used an echidna.
I did not know echidnas could/did play in water!
Speaking of echidnas -- Zappa's "Echidna's Arf (Of You)", from the LIVE album "Roxy and Elsewhere", featuring his mid '70s band, which was -- beyond great.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb5AKjDlDxo
This morning I woke up and got
A creature that I like a lot
Her name is rose
She has a short nose
About that echidna you not.
Nice. I was trying to get a close-enough rhyme to echidna and was workshopping didn'ya.
Menotsure is kind of a genius at that. Did you ever see Head Of The Class? He was a teacher just like him, and both he and his wife were pioneers in their respective educational systems. Brilliant family!
Although don't discount yourself, didn'ya is really good, too!
https://nostalgiacentral.com/television/tv-by-decade/tv-shows-1980s/head-class/
Menotsure IS a genius at that. Doggerel is an interesting form - seemingly simple and casual, but a source of surprising humor from creative almost-rhymes.
I remember that show, and I lived it. I was a cross between the fat kid and the nerd with taped glasses.
I loved that show, too! I remember wanting to BE Simone. But I wasn't an honors kid, per se. Although I did take quite a few advanced classes. I think I tested well, just not well enough.
Arf!
That critter looks more like what you sweep your front porch with than a real critter.
Armadillos, it seems, are carriers of the black plague. Rats aren't even in the same league.
It's like a Michelin Cat.
I suppose “hung like an echidna” is too awkward to become a thing.
The phrase "ribbed for her pleasure" floated through my mind.
I read the article and I’m still not sure if it would be a compliment or an insult. :P
It's wild! https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/solving-the-mystery-of-the-four-headed-echidna-penis
Have you read about ducks?
That sounds like a Harry Stephen Keeler title!
She's not a waterlogged porcupine, she's short-beaked echidna! I first read that as Empanada.
Now I want to see one of those early 1960's mecha-monster movies....
ECHIDNA vs. BLOWFISH!!!!!
of course, Godzilla would have to make a cameo at the end....
Would watch.
I still think someone should do a feature-length silent color movie of GiIANT SQUID vs. SPERM WHALE.
Rosie likes snorkeling and swimming!
Mmmmmmm, now I want enchiladas.
What a cutie pie!
Echidnachaladas?
Sounds like something that might have been on a menu if France had defeated Mexico.
Heaven's no! That would be wrong on so many levels. 😄
I'm very lucky, there's a wonderful Mexican restaurant close by that has the best enchiladas (and tamales!) so I get my fix regularly. Locally owned and operated, too!
Cheese and onions! nom nom nom!
He’s so adorable!
On a related topic, I was just thinking that it’s weird I’ve never seen a porcupine in the wild? Do other people see them? Aren’t they like skunks and possums—not everywhere all the time, but a couple of times a year things?
When I lived in northern Virginia I had hot and cold running skunks and opossums all year round. Once found a young possum in a kitchen drawer. Also too, there were garden snakes in the attic at one place ( the same one as the baby possum).
I've seen them every so often. Mostly as roadkill. A few times there was one that scurried through the front yard. Once while bird hunting I took a breather and let the hound do its thing. When I called it back in it came with a face full nasty quills! I cut them in half and jerked the rest out. Kept a close eye on his snout for the next few days looking for infection. Everything turned OK!
I think I’m too far south.
They’re nocturnal. I’m not.
They're mostly nocturnal; seeing one in daylight is usually not a good sign. There was one in my (now former) neighbor's yard, several years ago, just winding itself in circles. Checked the google - that's usually a sign of rabies, along with being out in daylight. Yowsa.
I am always extra cautious when I see a raccoon out in daylight. They always are acting a little crazy. Once I heard a story on This American Life about a rabies raccoon charging across a field to attack a human. As I recall, the woman it attacked pinned the animal down with something, an umbrella maybe, and then had to wait a long time before help arrived, all the while struggling to keep that raccoon pinned down.
Raccoons are sturdy little bastards. My son refers to them as trash pandas.
I think of them as smallish bears.
This is very good information to know! Thank you so much for sharing it. I live in northwest Georgia now, surrounded by forests, which is lovely! But there's so much that I don't know about our woodland friends still.
We have LOTS of porcupines in Maine. Often in trees stripping bark to eat. I have a woods cabin in the mountains and often see them. They are indifferent to me and are almost friendly.
Never seen them swim or in water. Not that they don’t.
When we lived in Maine our dogs could often find them, much to the sorrow of the dogs (and us.) Porkies chewed up our canoe paddle handles, I assume to get the salt we left on the paddles. Too often were they roadkill but the collection of the barbs was a find for tourists.
And traditional embroiderers? See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quillwork.
Yeah. Neat. When the billionaires have gathered all the real money into their own grubby paws, we may find porky quills useful in trading for stuff.
They sometimes gnaw on the plywood subflooring atop uninsulated cabin floor joists, if the floor is close enough to the ground for them to reach by standing up under it. They'll even climb foundation posts to reach the subfloor. We've had to staple chicken wire to the bottoms of the joists to prevent this.
I know ALL about it. Fortunately they don’t like the taste of PT.
I raise a glass in your direction at our shared misery.
Clink
Hey if a porcupine is the worst of my life, I’m doing pretty good.
I lived in NH for a long time. Saw them a lot, although they are primarily nocturnal.
Jesus, that must have been the 1700's version of stepping on a lego on the way to the bathroom.... that would SUCK!!!
Oh yes, just like that. In Vermont I've spied them several times in the penumbra from the torchlight on the trail to the outhouse. Never bumped into one, yet.
1964, Shaver Lake, CA. The dogs cornered one and got their muzzles full o' quills.
Similar! Only the Sierra back country, early 70s, and it was dusk in the wilderness, getting the quills out by flashlight
We saw a porcupine under a rock last weekend in upstate NY.
You're sure it wasn't a giant prickly sow-bug?
"and each particular hair to stand on end like quills upon the fretful porpentine"
-Shakespeare
And his hair was perfect.
Maybe we don’t have them out west?
I’m going to go look it up.
Growing up near Tacoma, WA, Mrs. C's dad's dog, a Brittany spaniel, tried to bite a porcupine. Twice. After the first time, and a very expensive vet trip, her dad swore he wouldn't pay for that again. When it happened again, Mrs. C and her brother panicked and removed the quills from the dog's mouth and muzzle themselves, she holding the dog down and he weilding the pliers. Evidently it was very messy and noisy.
And, no doubt, painful for the poor dog.
Oh yeah, thus the noise.
They're out here
There are two (sometimes more) in the High Desert Museum in Bend, OR
I saw one in a zoo in Arizona. They're native, just like river otters.
That's an unusually active echinacea. They usually stay planted.
LOL, stupid spellcheck!
It is Teh Debbil.
I call it automangle.
Yes, I’m old and remember that. I actually lived in NO for that election and got to see the bumper stickers first hand. Quite an eye opener. I’m still convinced Edwards was behind Duke’s primary campaign, as he was possibly the only white man in the state that could lose to Edwards in the general election.
Good times, good times.
As usual, the news delivered most groovily!
Hippos have no business being in Colombia. Future paleontologists may discover their remains and wonder how the hell they got there.
They are major threat to native species and need to be removed. But it’s good that this billionaire is working to relocate at least some of them to an acceptable habitat.
Re: Gerrymandering. The Untied States of Vespucci is a failed nation. It's time to escape.
There’s going to be a Cocaine Bear sequel called Cocaine Hippos about the Escobar pets now, goddamit.
Cocaine Echidna.
Huntington Beach is so gross. It's the trou du cul of California
A song for May Day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFPSgzMQZgs
Another Mayday song, nsfw:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaTe0xfqmog
Johnny Cash is coolness for the GOP in the back.
I bet if you asked Trump about Nicole Saphier right now he would say “Who?”
I didn't find the NOTUS article particularly confusing. Mike Johnson is not a good leader, Mike Johnson is more busy sucking up to Trump than to his members. The Republican House is filled with Entitled idiots. Herding cats would be easier. And some Republicans would be happier with a Democrat were Speaker because then they could blame the Dems for everything, What's hard to understand about that.
Could have gone with "Mike Johnson is busy sucking Trump's member" and still made the same point. :-)
It's not even a rigid member, which is needed for construction. More like a rotting toadstool.
One of the books from the Huntington Beach debacle is apparently "Sex is a Funny Word".
Which I bought for my kids. It's a positively heartwarming early puberty book about bodies and changes and relationships, super gender neutral, super orientation neutral, and even leaves lots of room for parents to insert their views and beliefs if they have more rigid ones they want to enforce than this trans lesbian does... 😅
Remember that most kids are going into puberty years earlier than you probably did, if you look it up and think it looks juvenile.
And remember that comprehensive sex ed, teaching them about their bodies and that they have control and sovereignty, is one of the best counters to actual grooming and predation.
Always remember that last one when they try to hide books like this.
The Maypole Dance!
https://youtube.com/shorts/hkhahxZX5_g?si=bi7hp1azmnHdwDhH
Why aren't the dancers naked?
I was just in Orange County last weekend for a convention. There is a surprising lack of visible homeless people in the area. I saw exactly one, and they were moving along in a hurry on the sidewalk. I presume the Disney mafia is somehow responsible for keeping them out of sight, but I'm curious where they live and how they get any services in the area now, since every square inch of the entire area is occupied by SFH or apartments. There is no place to camp out (unlike my city, where there's still tons of infill lots with plenty of tree cover.)
One thing that was a pleasant surprise was the inexpensive bus system. They have $2 one way trips, with a $5 daily cap, and a max of $69 cap for the month. I didn't have to rent a car and was able to get around cheaply without relying too much on rides.
I could point you to a street in Laguna Niguel that hosts a lot of car dwellers at night, but they're the unseen homeless that have jerbs to go to during the day.
There were some notorious videos a few years ago showing the homeless encampments along a bike trail in Irvine taken using a Go-Pro. Just shocking the number of people camped out - these vids went on for ten or so minutes as the biker sped through filming. I had heard that the encampments were eventually cleared out, but have no idea where all of those people went.
I love pub trans so much! Would rather use that than get a rental car or drive.
Banksy Stuns With Massive ‘Blind Patriotism’ Statue Stunt In Central London
"The suited figure, whose sight is obscured by the flag, has one foot poised over the edge of the plinth, indicating he is just about to step off. It was installed in an area of the British capital that is home to royal palaces and gentlemen’s clubs, and it mirrors the style of nearby statues, including King Edward VII on horseback, nurse Florence Nightingale and statesman Sidney Herbert."
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/banksy-statue-london_n_69f43d94e4b0db8899bc3501?origin=home-latest-news-unit
O.T. Is it just me or has anyone ever noticed that Republicans don't appreciate comedy ANY comedy. Late night hosts and their guests are called "not funny" and are somehow threatened physically. But they really are funny.
Many Repubs USED TO like Rodney, Carlin and others. Not now. "Too woke" for their, ahem, taste(s). It's reality and it's funny. Nevermind Trump's pathetic attempt at leadership. WTF with these clowns? Have some fun. Laugh for a change.
Happy May Day! Try to find humor in your day! The fine folks here at Wonkette are willing to help! Fox is nothing but misery for the truly terminally miserable.
Comedy requires a functional sense of empathy. The Republicans have self sorted anyone with empathy out of their party.
As a result, there's no Republican comedians and Republicans don't enjoy comedy.
They might still enjoy slapstick, but even then...
Seriously. They are making themselves the party of psychopaths, in the zero sense of empathy meaning.
Also too, not every smart person is funny but almost all funny people are smart. For the righties, the joke is lost on them.