Today is Donald Duck Day, Movie Night Day and Triangle Coral Reef ( one of the three largest in the world...in the Pacific in The Philippines ..., with a huge percentage of the total coral in the world.
Hmmm. 🧐 A I can’t unsee it now. Before, I always assumed it was just a coincidence we never saw Jon Heder your at the same time as Taylor Swift. 🧐 hmmmm
Both Elon Musk and Taylor Swift are brilliant self-marketers. It's not beyond the realm of possibility that they came up with this together as a joke. On the other hand, neither of them has a public persona of being able to laugh at themselves, so maybe not.
I saw "Driver Retirement" and I thought - oh, good, something on how to deal with getting aging parents to retire their car keys.
My plan, for myself, is to determine the objective criteria for taking away my keys and give it to my children. When the time comes, they can say, "Mom, it's time."
There's much not to like about Illinois' regulations. But requiring senior drivers to requalify by road test is a positive.
The only drawback is the need to check. When my then 97 year-old mother reapplied, the DMV gave her a what she claimed to be a license. Surprised, my wife and I embarked on the cease driving campaign anyway. When we prevailed several months later, we learned she had been driving with a state ID card, not a license. D'oh! 😖
I had a 93 year old patient who still drove..she stayed in right hand lane and only turned right to go to her destination and return home..I had to think about that one!
Somewhere I heard that Amazon drivers routes are laid out to take only right turns because it saves time -- no waiting at a light for a chance to go left. I'm not sure it's true, but maybe?
Would no longer a good ol' boy endeavor if the nerds take over the sport. I think a lot of folks would miss the genuine trash talk being replaced by ChatGPT offerings and of course the occasional semi-faux fisticuffs.
I considered myself (and my mother) fortunate when she called me and told me to come get her car. I consider her a model in that way and I hope I will do the same, or listen to my kids if they come to me first. I knew a 98 year old gentleman who was still driving and I did not think it was safe.
My Dad drove until 94 despite our efforts to convince him to stop. I (and my brothers) just couldn’t take the difficult step of taking away his keys, possibly because he was still relatively clear minded and lived in a small town with only short driving trips. My biggest fear was him hitting a pedestrian and I don’t know how I would have lived with myself if that had happened, knowing I could have prevented it.
re: driverless cars. I'm still waiting on the flying cars powered by garbage and "Mr Fusion" that Steve Spielberg promised us back in 1985. That target date of 2015 has already come and gone.
Good morning. Today the mothership reports that a certain former President was indicted (although not officially announced yet) for retaining classified documents after leaving office.
I used to have TOP SECRET access. Had I done a fraction of what he was reported to do, I would be in Club Fed.
I am of the opinion that the presidency is a job, with a start and an end, and that in the after portion the past president (should be called Mr., not Mr. Pres.) rejoins the rest of us as an ordinary citizen. For that matter, even a serving POTUS should not be above the law.
I'm inclined to agree about the courtesy title. As a practical matter, charging and prosecuting a sitting President, who oversees the Justice department, would be difficult, which is why DOJ guidelines preclude charing a sitting President. And that's why we have impeachments and Senate trials. But from the Clinton era to today, that process has been hopelessly politicized.
Hopelessly and, recently, foolishly. I have always maintained (still do) that the Rs would be in stronger position today if they had taken the lead in impeaching Trump. They could have owned the day.
I’m hoping they have something. If nothing else, maybe he would become ineligible to run again. I read his response in NR this morning, and I cannot believe he was actually president to begin with.
Sadly, a conviction would not bar him from office. That would take a Senate conviction after impeachment. That opportunity was blown in 2021 when the Senate let him off.
True, but prison stripes probably don't make an effective outfit while out campaigning. Oh, wait, there would be no "out campaigning." I realize prison is an outside likelihood, but I do think it would be the right thing for several reasons.
The Wall Street Journal had a depressing article yesterday about Instagram. Pedophiles are using it to search for, and transact pedophile content. Even worse, their algorithms will push out this content. Sadly, it is clear Instagram hasn't put sufficient effort into shutting it down.
Here's a quote from the article.
"In theory, this same tightness of the pedophile community on Instagram should make it easier for Instagram to map out the network and take steps to combat it. Documents previously reviewed by the Journal show that Meta has done this sort of work in the past to suppress account networks it deems harmful, such as with accounts promoting election delegitimization in the U.S. after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. "
Why hasn't the DoJ/FBI pursued it? What they pursue is a matter of their chosen priorities, and this apparently hasn't made the list. But then again, FBI agents delayed arresting Larry Nasser over 11 months, again because it wasn't a priority.
Your comment at TMD was phrased, "Why hasn't the DoJ/FBI pursued it? What they pursue is a matter of their chosen priorities, and pedophilia apparently isn't a Biden administration priority."
Although I don't disagree, I would suggest that the Biden Administration just doesn't have much influence over the DoJ/FBI except for situations that could directly involve Biden himself. Thus, one might say, "Pedophilia isn't a DoJ/FBI priority under the Biden Administration, and neither is anything else that's not about partisan political advantage."
One might then say the same about those agencies under previous administrations.
I should be clear--Nasser was an Obama administration issue (USA gymnastics reported him in 2015, he was arrested in December, 2016).
But at the end of the day, POTUS hires and fires the heads of those agencies, so it is on them to select the right managers. And IMHO, we've not had good leadership there in years.
Heads of agencies may come and go with administrations, but as I noted elsewhere, the vast majority of government employees are lifers. I think that, with so many lifers in place, even new heads are limited in what they can really change in a short time.
I followed the Nasser story from its first report, so I didn't have it confused with the current reporting about Instagram.
And I agree about Federal law enforcement agencies. On the one hand, the president is the head of the executive branch, appointed (or failed to replace) the leadership, and is responsible. On the other hand, it's reasonable to assume the president is unaware of a lot that goes on, especially when the president is a nut or ancient.
The bigger problem, she said, winking with her right eye in the secret libertarian identification pattern, is that the government is too big, too unaccountable, and involved in way too much stuff. The other problem, she added, winking her left eye in a secret Catholic code, is that people do wrong things for personal advantage and just out of pure rottenness sometimes.
I hope I didn't get my lefts and rights mixed up and accidentally signal that I'm "pro-Trump," because that's just the worst, puts you right out of the "us good people" group forever, no matter what else you do in life.
CynthiaW, stating that pure and sinless people (IOW, bureaucrats) might actually pursue their own personal agenda is the most Pro-Trumpian Trumpist thing a Trumpist could Trumpet. As in a Heavenly orchestra filled with nothing but Trumpets! 🤠.
There at good people out there who claim Trumpeting pro-Trump messages will automatically get you cast into the 3rd inner ring of hell. You know the ring with the Yuuuuuuge pipe organ, competing with the staticky tv screens filled with sports ball.😱
It makes me want to be pro-Trump, just to jerk people's chain, but I just can't manage it. I always intensely disliked him for reasons related to my school trauma.
That said, I'm not sure what the interpretive filter is that gets a commenter accused of "carrying water" or "hating" or "wanting them to burn in hell" or whatever it is that one didn't say but they're sure you think it, because not saying something is proof that you think it.
Speaking of which "carrying water" is on the list of phrases I'd like to outlaw. What does it even mean?
Carrying water I think harkens to African villages where they lack western plumbling. Women and children walk to a source of water with pails, and fill them.
It's why I like donating money to build wells in African villages, to free them from having to carry water so far.
That is to say, I think the DoJ and FBI kind of crank along on auto-pilot, doing whatever they were always doing, including working at cross-purposes to one another, themselves, and other agencies, regardless of who is president.
I think this is how the fed gov generally functions. There are nearly 2,000,000 federal employees, many of whom hold their jobs for decades while administrations come and go making little impact at agency levels. It reminds me of the supertanker theory of government. A supertanker has s turning radius of 1.2 miles. It takes about 15-20 minutes just to bring it to a stop. The captain of that ship, like his counterpart in the White House, just can't decide to make a quick turn and actually make it happen.
You posted about this in TMD, and it’s a good question. I don’t understand how this sort of thing is even able to get a toe hold on Instagram, or anywhere, for that matter.
Cynthia: Here is a VERY interesting article (with pics!) about where animals travelled during the pandemic lockdowns. Its WaPo but I've made it so there's no paywall.
Something is getting to us, and we don’t see anything noticeable. I’ve been waking up with swollen eyes, some coughing (both of us), and feeling somewhat run down. I didn’t equate it to poor air quality, which we’ve been getting warnings about for over a week now. All this made me wonder how you and Kim are doing?
We're fine, thanks. We spent most of the last few days at home, only running a few quick errands, and we're not feeling any effect. When I went out for a bit on Wednesday, I wore a mask and some others did the same, we noticed. Thanks for asking. You two take care. Check out AirNow.gov, where you can check your air quality by zip code.
I’m glad you guys are doing good! The photos look awful (especially with that monster in the skyline! 😂). We aren’t really seeing anything, but we’re definitely feeling it. Richard wore a mask while he was mowing—good idea.
That's an interesting update on driverless car development but also for its reminder about the development of technology v the hype. Count me as a skeptic about driverless cars taking over the roads anytime soon. The best chance of that would be, I think, if a municipality blocked off a section of a town to other vehicles, allowing only driverless vehicles and I don't think that will happen.
That crossed my mind when the person trying it out said that the car started immediately when a light turned green. Drivers who want to survive count to three, allowing for those who are running the light on the cross street.
It’s amazing to see how many people drive through Red lights these days. I think they’re counting on a delay for the cross traffic. Another thing we’re noticing is how fast people are driving. If it was just every so often I’d think maybe some emergency had come up, but it’s lots of people!
I’m starting to miss the Covid traffic (hardly any cars on the road), although I sure don’t want to go through that again.
If you've had one close call, you always count to three after that. Slowly. And if people behind you are honking, freep 'em. The goal, as I always tell the teen drivers, is to reach your destination with yourself and your vehicle intact.
"The best chance of that would be, I think, if a municipality blocked off a section of a town to other vehicles, allowing only driverless vehicles and I don't think that will happen."
The author Mr. Brooks mentioned retirement communities in Florida that have houses, recreation facilities, etc., in a limited area with not much external traffic. Having been to retirement communities in Florida, I agree that could be a pretty safe environment, but how would the driverless car get there? It - or more than one - would have to be based in the semi-enclosed area and never leave it. They couldn't take residents to stores, doctors, the movies, or anything outside the development.
Today's special animal friend is the red-lipped batfish, Ogcocephalus darwini. Found only in the Galapagos Islands, an Ecuadorian archipelago, and off the coast of Peru, these are, in the graceful understatement of the Wikipedia article's author, "fish of unusual morphology." The Ogcocephalidae family, "batfish" or "sea bats," are related to anglerfish. They are bottom dwellers, "benthic," and from above, their bodies and fins produce something like a bat shape, if one doesn't know too much about bats.
Red-lipped batfish live in fairly shallow water, up to about 250 feet deep. They swim awkwardly. More commonly, they use their pectoral, pelvic, and anal fins to "walk" along the sea floor. They grow up to about 16 inches long. Their similarity to anglerfish shows in the protuberance called an "illicium." This is a variation of a dorsal fin, which emerges near the forehead. At the tip of the illicium is an "esca," which emits a bright light. In deeper water or at night, the light attracts fish to the batfish's mouth. The batfish eats smaller fish, shrimp, worms, crabs, and molluscs.
Red-lipped batfish have tan-colored backs with brown stripes or spots and light-colored undersides. Other than their lips, they are well camouflaged on the sea bottom or swimming in shallow water. Biologists believe that the bright red lips of the red-lipped batfish help them to recognize one another when it's time to spawn. In the words of the anonymous author, "... exposing their lips can attract sexual tension within the species." I don't think English is this person's first language.
Red-lipped batfish are a species of Least Concern. They have no known direct predators. As part of pelagic and coral reef ecosystems, they are threatened by pollution, including plastics, and reef damage.
Oddly, I can see your response in my email, but it’s not showing up here! Anyway, thank you for making me laugh! I hate puns!! (Sorry punster people!) 😉
That was a really interesting article. The only advantage in the system as he described it seemed to be that the ride was offered at no cost to the passenger because he's part of an experiment.
Good morning. The guys at Hard Fork had an episode about 3 or 4 weeks back where they took a driverless cab to a coffee shop in San Francisco. They recorded the whole thing. Interesting and, as you would expect, funny.
Drive hello and have a great Friday....
Today is Donald Duck Day, Movie Night Day and Triangle Coral Reef ( one of the three largest in the world...in the Pacific in The Philippines ..., with a huge percentage of the total coral in the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hwEpATZ75o
Yeah, I did some research myself to see where and what they were talking about, thanks
Whatever else one might think of Elon Musk, you have to think he's really funny:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-12177445/Taylor-Swift-fans-SLAM-Elon-Musk-compares-singer-Napoleon-Dynamite-drag.html
Why give him attention?
Because it's funny.
okay, fair enough
Hmmm. 🧐 A I can’t unsee it now. Before, I always assumed it was just a coincidence we never saw Jon Heder your at the same time as Taylor Swift. 🧐 hmmmm
Both Elon Musk and Taylor Swift are brilliant self-marketers. It's not beyond the realm of possibility that they came up with this together as a joke. On the other hand, neither of them has a public persona of being able to laugh at themselves, so maybe not.
as with Musk, she does not rate my attention, either, though millions disagree with me on each of them.
That's perfectly reasonable.
Good morning!
I saw "Driver Retirement" and I thought - oh, good, something on how to deal with getting aging parents to retire their car keys.
My plan, for myself, is to determine the objective criteria for taking away my keys and give it to my children. When the time comes, they can say, "Mom, it's time."
Oh, well.
There's much not to like about Illinois' regulations. But requiring senior drivers to requalify by road test is a positive.
The only drawback is the need to check. When my then 97 year-old mother reapplied, the DMV gave her a what she claimed to be a license. Surprised, my wife and I embarked on the cease driving campaign anyway. When we prevailed several months later, we learned she had been driving with a state ID card, not a license. D'oh! 😖
The older you get the harder to fine print is to read!
There's a lot to be said for having a neutral party do the evaluation.
My goal is to be able to make the decision in a timely manner so my children don't have to.
I had a 93 year old patient who still drove..she stayed in right hand lane and only turned right to go to her destination and return home..I had to think about that one!
The size of the town has a lot to do with how well that works.
Somewhere I heard that Amazon drivers routes are laid out to take only right turns because it saves time -- no waiting at a light for a chance to go left. I'm not sure it's true, but maybe?
The lead article at today's CSLF mentions that the driverless taxis do a lot of turning right.
Guess they won't be entering any NASCAR races without some serious reprogramming.
Would racing be any fun with driverless cars? It would be like the radio-controlled races.
Would no longer a good ol' boy endeavor if the nerds take over the sport. I think a lot of folks would miss the genuine trash talk being replaced by ChatGPT offerings and of course the occasional semi-faux fisticuffs.
MAGAmobiles? 😳
I honestly don't think of MAGA as "right." Such actual positions as there are seem to be pretty random.
Jay, she's got you on that.
Are they owned by Republicans or unhappy Dems?
For that you get a ⭐
Wow, and the sun is out and the air feels good. What a day!
I considered myself (and my mother) fortunate when she called me and told me to come get her car. I consider her a model in that way and I hope I will do the same, or listen to my kids if they come to me first. I knew a 98 year old gentleman who was still driving and I did not think it was safe.
My Dad drove until 94 despite our efforts to convince him to stop. I (and my brothers) just couldn’t take the difficult step of taking away his keys, possibly because he was still relatively clear minded and lived in a small town with only short driving trips. My biggest fear was him hitting a pedestrian and I don’t know how I would have lived with myself if that had happened, knowing I could have prevented it.
I had similar thoughts.
re: driverless cars. I'm still waiting on the flying cars powered by garbage and "Mr Fusion" that Steve Spielberg promised us back in 1985. That target date of 2015 has already come and gone.
I've wanted The Jetson's ones for years...lol
Good morning. Today the mothership reports that a certain former President was indicted (although not officially announced yet) for retaining classified documents after leaving office.
I used to have TOP SECRET access. Had I done a fraction of what he was reported to do, I would be in Club Fed.
So I say: Lock him up.
I am of the opinion that the presidency is a job, with a start and an end, and that in the after portion the past president (should be called Mr., not Mr. Pres.) rejoins the rest of us as an ordinary citizen. For that matter, even a serving POTUS should not be above the law.
I'm inclined to agree about the courtesy title. As a practical matter, charging and prosecuting a sitting President, who oversees the Justice department, would be difficult, which is why DOJ guidelines preclude charing a sitting President. And that's why we have impeachments and Senate trials. But from the Clinton era to today, that process has been hopelessly politicized.
Hopelessly and, recently, foolishly. I have always maintained (still do) that the Rs would be in stronger position today if they had taken the lead in impeaching Trump. They could have owned the day.
I’m hoping they have something. If nothing else, maybe he would become ineligible to run again. I read his response in NR this morning, and I cannot believe he was actually president to begin with.
Sadly, a conviction would not bar him from office. That would take a Senate conviction after impeachment. That opportunity was blown in 2021 when the Senate let him off.
True, but prison stripes probably don't make an effective outfit while out campaigning. Oh, wait, there would be no "out campaigning." I realize prison is an outside likelihood, but I do think it would be the right thing for several reasons.
if anyone could campaign for President while in prison, Donald Trump could.
He is the curse that keeps on giving!
Dammit!
The Wall Street Journal had a depressing article yesterday about Instagram. Pedophiles are using it to search for, and transact pedophile content. Even worse, their algorithms will push out this content. Sadly, it is clear Instagram hasn't put sufficient effort into shutting it down.
Here's a quote from the article.
"In theory, this same tightness of the pedophile community on Instagram should make it easier for Instagram to map out the network and take steps to combat it. Documents previously reviewed by the Journal show that Meta has done this sort of work in the past to suppress account networks it deems harmful, such as with accounts promoting election delegitimization in the U.S. after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. "
Why hasn't the DoJ/FBI pursued it? What they pursue is a matter of their chosen priorities, and this apparently hasn't made the list. But then again, FBI agents delayed arresting Larry Nasser over 11 months, again because it wasn't a priority.
Your comment at TMD was phrased, "Why hasn't the DoJ/FBI pursued it? What they pursue is a matter of their chosen priorities, and pedophilia apparently isn't a Biden administration priority."
Although I don't disagree, I would suggest that the Biden Administration just doesn't have much influence over the DoJ/FBI except for situations that could directly involve Biden himself. Thus, one might say, "Pedophilia isn't a DoJ/FBI priority under the Biden Administration, and neither is anything else that's not about partisan political advantage."
One might then say the same about those agencies under previous administrations.
I should be clear--Nasser was an Obama administration issue (USA gymnastics reported him in 2015, he was arrested in December, 2016).
But at the end of the day, POTUS hires and fires the heads of those agencies, so it is on them to select the right managers. And IMHO, we've not had good leadership there in years.
Heads of agencies may come and go with administrations, but as I noted elsewhere, the vast majority of government employees are lifers. I think that, with so many lifers in place, even new heads are limited in what they can really change in a short time.
I followed the Nasser story from its first report, so I didn't have it confused with the current reporting about Instagram.
And I agree about Federal law enforcement agencies. On the one hand, the president is the head of the executive branch, appointed (or failed to replace) the leadership, and is responsible. On the other hand, it's reasonable to assume the president is unaware of a lot that goes on, especially when the president is a nut or ancient.
The bigger problem, she said, winking with her right eye in the secret libertarian identification pattern, is that the government is too big, too unaccountable, and involved in way too much stuff. The other problem, she added, winking her left eye in a secret Catholic code, is that people do wrong things for personal advantage and just out of pure rottenness sometimes.
I hope I didn't get my lefts and rights mixed up and accidentally signal that I'm "pro-Trump," because that's just the worst, puts you right out of the "us good people" group forever, no matter what else you do in life.
CynthiaW, stating that pure and sinless people (IOW, bureaucrats) might actually pursue their own personal agenda is the most Pro-Trumpian Trumpist thing a Trumpist could Trumpet. As in a Heavenly orchestra filled with nothing but Trumpets! 🤠.
There at good people out there who claim Trumpeting pro-Trump messages will automatically get you cast into the 3rd inner ring of hell. You know the ring with the Yuuuuuuge pipe organ, competing with the staticky tv screens filled with sports ball.😱
Or I could be wrong, it’s one or the other! 🧐
It makes me want to be pro-Trump, just to jerk people's chain, but I just can't manage it. I always intensely disliked him for reasons related to my school trauma.
That said, I'm not sure what the interpretive filter is that gets a commenter accused of "carrying water" or "hating" or "wanting them to burn in hell" or whatever it is that one didn't say but they're sure you think it, because not saying something is proof that you think it.
Speaking of which "carrying water" is on the list of phrases I'd like to outlaw. What does it even mean?
It’s from your well-wishers.
Carrying water I think harkens to African villages where they lack western plumbling. Women and children walk to a source of water with pails, and fill them.
It's why I like donating money to build wells in African villages, to free them from having to carry water so far.
That is to say, I think the DoJ and FBI kind of crank along on auto-pilot, doing whatever they were always doing, including working at cross-purposes to one another, themselves, and other agencies, regardless of who is president.
I think this is how the fed gov generally functions. There are nearly 2,000,000 federal employees, many of whom hold their jobs for decades while administrations come and go making little impact at agency levels. It reminds me of the supertanker theory of government. A supertanker has s turning radius of 1.2 miles. It takes about 15-20 minutes just to bring it to a stop. The captain of that ship, like his counterpart in the White House, just can't decide to make a quick turn and actually make it happen.
Good description. That's pretty much what I was trying to say.
Thanks. I heard it somewhere many years ago and the image stuck with me.
You posted about this in TMD, and it’s a good question. I don’t understand how this sort of thing is even able to get a toe hold on Instagram, or anywhere, for that matter.
Cynthia: Here is a VERY interesting article (with pics!) about where animals travelled during the pandemic lockdowns. Its WaPo but I've made it so there's no paywall.
https://wapo.st/3MQBMpe
Thanks for the article. I followed this topic when it was happening. There were a lot of interesting outcomes.
I loved the photo of the bighorn sheep shopping in Wales.
Shopping for wool products, no less.
Well, those knit sweaters are comfy.
Especially in the climate of Wales.
Do you think the sheep wear wide wale corduroys...?
It’s nice to know there was an upside. Good article (and pics)!
The AQI in the NYC area is now a "Moderate" 69. Yay! Hey, Biker Chick, the trip is on!
Something is getting to us, and we don’t see anything noticeable. I’ve been waking up with swollen eyes, some coughing (both of us), and feeling somewhat run down. I didn’t equate it to poor air quality, which we’ve been getting warnings about for over a week now. All this made me wonder how you and Kim are doing?
We're fine, thanks. We spent most of the last few days at home, only running a few quick errands, and we're not feeling any effect. When I went out for a bit on Wednesday, I wore a mask and some others did the same, we noticed. Thanks for asking. You two take care. Check out AirNow.gov, where you can check your air quality by zip code.
I’m glad you guys are doing good! The photos look awful (especially with that monster in the skyline! 😂). We aren’t really seeing anything, but we’re definitely feeling it. Richard wore a mask while he was mowing—good idea.
Thanks for the link!
Down to a healthy 39 up here.
Good morning,
That's an interesting update on driverless car development but also for its reminder about the development of technology v the hype. Count me as a skeptic about driverless cars taking over the roads anytime soon. The best chance of that would be, I think, if a municipality blocked off a section of a town to other vehicles, allowing only driverless vehicles and I don't think that will happen.
I was thinking that it’s probably not going to be very viable until or unless all cars are driverless.
That crossed my mind when the person trying it out said that the car started immediately when a light turned green. Drivers who want to survive count to three, allowing for those who are running the light on the cross street.
I don't count to three but, I do pause and look , certain intersections I drive through to work and back have reckless drivers...
Always assume someone's going to run the light. Always assume someone's going to run the stop sign.
It’s amazing to see how many people drive through Red lights these days. I think they’re counting on a delay for the cross traffic. Another thing we’re noticing is how fast people are driving. If it was just every so often I’d think maybe some emergency had come up, but it’s lots of people!
I’m starting to miss the Covid traffic (hardly any cars on the road), although I sure don’t want to go through that again.
If you've had one close call, you always count to three after that. Slowly. And if people behind you are honking, freep 'em. The goal, as I always tell the teen drivers, is to reach your destination with yourself and your vehicle intact.
"The best chance of that would be, I think, if a municipality blocked off a section of a town to other vehicles, allowing only driverless vehicles and I don't think that will happen."
The author Mr. Brooks mentioned retirement communities in Florida that have houses, recreation facilities, etc., in a limited area with not much external traffic. Having been to retirement communities in Florida, I agree that could be a pretty safe environment, but how would the driverless car get there? It - or more than one - would have to be based in the semi-enclosed area and never leave it. They couldn't take residents to stores, doctors, the movies, or anything outside the development.
Right. But driverless golf carts could own the place.
My mother would say that driverless golf carts - or golf carts driven by cats - couldn't possibly be worse than current conditions in The Villages.
Today's special animal friend is the red-lipped batfish, Ogcocephalus darwini. Found only in the Galapagos Islands, an Ecuadorian archipelago, and off the coast of Peru, these are, in the graceful understatement of the Wikipedia article's author, "fish of unusual morphology." The Ogcocephalidae family, "batfish" or "sea bats," are related to anglerfish. They are bottom dwellers, "benthic," and from above, their bodies and fins produce something like a bat shape, if one doesn't know too much about bats.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuMGmS32YvY
Red-lipped batfish live in fairly shallow water, up to about 250 feet deep. They swim awkwardly. More commonly, they use their pectoral, pelvic, and anal fins to "walk" along the sea floor. They grow up to about 16 inches long. Their similarity to anglerfish shows in the protuberance called an "illicium." This is a variation of a dorsal fin, which emerges near the forehead. At the tip of the illicium is an "esca," which emits a bright light. In deeper water or at night, the light attracts fish to the batfish's mouth. The batfish eats smaller fish, shrimp, worms, crabs, and molluscs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Hvk4o2XaWo
Red-lipped batfish have tan-colored backs with brown stripes or spots and light-colored undersides. Other than their lips, they are well camouflaged on the sea bottom or swimming in shallow water. Biologists believe that the bright red lips of the red-lipped batfish help them to recognize one another when it's time to spawn. In the words of the anonymous author, "... exposing their lips can attract sexual tension within the species." I don't think English is this person's first language.
Red-lipped batfish are a species of Least Concern. They have no known direct predators. As part of pelagic and coral reef ecosystems, they are threatened by pollution, including plastics, and reef damage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6IqkK6cC8A
That dramatic music before the reveal ( and the reveal itself) startled and cracked me up...lol
I would have thought the Jokerfish, the RiddlerFish and some others would have been direct predators of The Batfish, Robin...
Holy Piscatorial Puns, Batman!
Just like at the mothership - -
Take a Bat-turn and head out the 🚪
Oddly, I can see your response in my email, but it’s not showing up here! Anyway, thank you for making me laugh! I hate puns!! (Sorry punster people!) 😉
To be fair, I think Jay's post should be classified as a pop-culture reference rather than a pun.
We know that is not true, but it's a cute line.
I make exceptions. 😘
🤭
Playing to terrible stereotypes, the red-lipped batfish immediately brought to mind a Hollywood trope from years back about some blonde.
That was a really interesting article. The only advantage in the system as he described it seemed to be that the ride was offered at no cost to the passenger because he's part of an experiment.
Good morning. The guys at Hard Fork had an episode about 3 or 4 weeks back where they took a driverless cab to a coffee shop in San Francisco. They recorded the whole thing. Interesting and, as you would expect, funny.
Hiya. I think I heard that one.