Jack-o-Rutabaga

Another old podcast episode I have listened to is 'Aftermath' from Throughline. This episode covers the 1927 Mississippi flood, the policy decisions we are stuck with today (levees only, BABY!), and the racism of some important people towards flood victims. www.npr.org/2020/04/22/8...

Squashabambaspis

"Cushing, however, represented the most dangerous element in the North—the politician utterly indifferent to the moral issue [of slavery] and remarkably self-righteous about doing business as usual" the more things change, man

Also, I'd love to know how two different stories -- each written by three reporters, with no overlap in the authors -- managed to find Jolene Riessen and make her the stand-in for apolitical Iowa farmers.

The 12yo has declared it Bythinella cylindrica Awareness Day! This tiny endangered freshwater snail, an aquatic gastropod mollusk in the family Bythinellidae, is endemic to Austria.

This article does not discuss one major reason why chocolate in the West got worse - Ghana and Ivory Coast, the two African countries that are the biggest suppliers of cacao globally, got organised and started demanding fair prices for it. www.reuters.com/world/africa...

Eek!

There is always time to be a bear. I am a bear.

This seems tailor-made for @cageyratfish.bsky.social

Maryland squirrel watchers have merch www.bonfire.com/the-classic-...

If I am washing vultures vomit out of L’s clothes this week, no one will be surprised.

So the women in the first photo were indeed "dressed like witches", because their (now ceremonial) uniform was established around the same era witches were put on trial in New England. The truth is: witches are CREATED out of respectable older women by accusation & this is what they wore.

WE DID IT. I CANT FUCKING BELIEVED WE DEFEATED USA WE DEFEATED A COUP WE DEFEATED META WE DEFEATED EVERYONE WHO TRIED TO SILENCE BRAZILIA PEOPLE LULA WON GUYS. THE PEOPLE WON.

"The repeated misinterpretation of recently constructed golf course elements as impact craters highlights a striking lack of methodological rigor…" that's a very polite way to put it.

Well, church RenFaire/block party went off almost without a hitch, and lots of neighbors came for food & fun, so that's great! …also my feet hurt. Behold the ridiculous baggy trousers I made for this. Each leg is most of an old bedsheet:

Arguably, climate change deniers and delayers have spent much of my lifetime exploiting this contextual gap - to the detriment of us all. Waiting to be “sure” locks in a lot of bad outcomes.

stumbled on a set of incredible 1970s illustrations in some government reports, so had to spend a day collecting them into a website to share with my friends on the computer: nickseaver.net/paperwork

Cattle dog games: Hide and seek and catch me if you can...

We need someone who gives a damn about discrimination, not just saying whatever they think will win them a seat. Progressive Iowans won’t forget this or the CPB glazing.

…I'm not sure those aren't my FIRST thoughts…

Made it to Hudson Bay. We are currently experiencing 100 km/h winds and sideways freezing rain. It’s definitely a day when the air hurts your face.

Anyone sad at missing out on any @tkingfisher.com books who is in the Minneapolis / Saint Paul area... we will be at the Twin Cities Book Festival on November 7th. We may have signed copies of some of her titles! twincitiesbookfestival.com

After receiving tuition on animal anatomy from paleontologists George Wieland and G. Edward Lewis, Zallinger began the project in 1942, his aim being to create a mural in the fresco secco technique... (photo showing undercoat © Yale University) #paleoart #palaeoart 7/n

Planet ahoy! It is just out of reach. A deer-like beast lives there and dreams of exoplanets.

Now, that may sound quite practical (ignoring of course that those subjects do indeed come in handy, sometimes life-preservingly so, for all of us). But the upshot-- The upshot is, you somehow identify WHO is likely to "need" those topics and who isn't and THAT can't go wrong, right????

Three years ago, my dad said that all fish are the same shape. Out of spite, I decided to draw all 478 families of bony fish listed in Nelson 2016. There's still some stuff I need to edit and some fish I want to redraw but, after 985 days, I finished my big dumb fish project last night.

The Australian government is introducing legislation to allow AI companies to use authors’ work to build their models. This would apply to authors from anywhere in the world. Authors: To sign the US Author's Guild petition against (you don't need to be a member): authorsguild.org/news/austral...

If our primary vehicles for CPR and first aid education are going to be TV shows, TV shows need to demonstrate better CPR and first aid

Another previously-unknown dimension of scumbaggery emerges

October 22nd is World Wombat Day! Let's learn about the THREE species of wombats. This is Sabine, Currumbin Sanctuary’s resident Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat (Lasiorhinus latifrons) showing off her zoomies. The Southern & Northern hairy-nosed wombats are much rarer than their bare-nosed cousins.

Evening of doodling

"A self-assembling swarm of pebbles" is a great mental image. (Though it does lead one to anthropomorphize, but that's my own fault.)