So, "pepsis grossa" does not mean "I'll have a large Pepsi, please"?
I have an aversion to spiders. That doesn't mean I think they should be tortured. I just wish they would stay away from me, which mostly they do. But what other creatures do to spiders is not within my control or design, so I won't spend time thinking about it.
Thanks for this. The list of officials who had not replied was surprising because I had read Sen Thom Tillis' comments and he was unequivocal in his condemnation of Putin. It seems to me that some of these folks may not have taken the time to answer out of irritation, given the information already published. For instance,
I'm listening to Dan Senor interview Sen. John Fetterman, and Fetterman talked about the Tree of Life Synagogue murders. That reminded me that, when we were in Charleston, SC, for the Southeast Wildlife Expo, we saw the Emanuel AME Church, also a site of a mass murder, and a nice memorial garden and other features. We walked by/through it several times, because it was between two of the SEWE venues.
Nice memorial. I remember the Mother Emmanuel shooting and the heinous details. I'm not generally an advocate of the death penalty for a couple of reasons, but since there's absolutely no question of Dylan Roof's guilt, his despicable motive and vile method of comitting the crime, I'll have little objection to the Feds sending him to meet his maker if and when it happens.
BTW, not sure why... I was able to read the Atlantic piece you posted yesterday, but not this one... it wants a sign-in or sign-up for a free trial subscription to get past the first couple of paragraphs. But thanks for trying.
I get that kind of thing on a lot of links I follow to stories from different publications. Also get thwarted by sites that won't let me proceed without disabling my ad blocker, which I understand but never comply with. Too many other sources / things to read to fool around with that.
Sad news about Gene Hackman dying. His performances in Mississippi Burning and Unforgiven were, for me, extremely memorable. I also really liked his role in Heist (not THE Heist, which was another movie entirely), the David Mamet movie.
No idea what furnace and water-heating requirements would be for something like that and in that location / climate. All electric? Gas? Combo?
A couple of stories I skimmed said Hackman was found dead "alongside" or "together with" his wife and dog. Another said "alongside" in the first paragraph and then in the second said that according to a search warrant, they were found in separate rooms and appeared to have been dead for some time, but still no suspicion of foul play.
Probably will be a while before a definitive answer is published. Sad, whatever the cause. I really liked Hackman as an actor. Didn't realize he was halfway through his nineties or that his wife was that "young".
I remember being surprised at how old he was several years ago when I looked up his Wiki wondering why he hadn’t been in anything for so long. Iirc, he hadn’t announced his retirement from acting at some point—maybe after entering his 80s. At any rate, a very fine, charismatic performer.
Yeah. He had enough range as an actor to play a diverse set of characters quite well and make them believable, whether they were sympathetic figures or not. I recall his turn as a surveillance guy in "The Conversation" back in the early 70s, playing a pretty believable version of a socially awkward / inept tech nerd before such creatures had yet really entered the public consciousness en mass.
Good morning. 44 degrees here with a high around 50. It rained yesterday afternoon with evenings with occasional thunder.
For those not reading the news, the mothership is covering the budget proposal that passed the House, preserving the 2017 tax cuts among other things. But it has a long way to go.
The FP headline asks, “Is this what we voted for?” I’m fairly confident none of the regulars here voted for this chaos.
That budget bill... don't even get me started. And what I'd like to see is a dollar figure put on what all this Musk / DOGE chaos supposedly being done in the name of fiscal responsibility and reform is actually *costing* us voting taxpayers due to all the screw-ups, litigation, lost productivity due to confusion, disruption and just plain incompetence, etc, as well as all the consequences that will be forthcoming in the future both intended and unintended, because you know there'll be a boat load of the latter, which the people behind all of this don't care about in the least. What a freakin' joke. A very bad and dangerous joke.
It's cloudy here. I haven't looked at the foreguess yet. I have a hair appointment in the morning, a dentist appointment in the afternoon, and a Hispanic Ministry meeting in the evening.
Update: 56 now, maybe 75 later, 50% chance of a storm.
In that Schmidt video (I think it was), there’s mention that the wasp larvae “know” which organs of the tarantula to eat last in order to keep it alive the longest…
There’s a metaphor in there somewhere having to do with Musk and the DOGE enterprise among federal agencies…
And yet there are those who do. My wife's 10-year-old grandson (lives in Ithaca) has been known to eat crickets (fried), and when she was in Phoenix earlier this month she found and brought back for the boy a strawberry-flavored sucker with a cricket visibly embedded in it.
He started sucking on it right away. I didn't see what happened when he got down to the cricket.
Well, out of respect for your sensibilities I won't call it dirt again here.
But I spent ten years selling bags of soil--various types and brands--and I did sometimes refer to it casually using the d-word. I once kidded a co-worker who was arranging bags of it on a display, and asked him "so, do you tell your friends that you spend your days dealing with dirtbags?" He was very amused.
What I didn't like so much was the euphemism "mix" that is used on some bags in place of the word "soil." It confuses customers. They'd ask what was in the bag if not soil. I explained that they use the word "mix" because they think people are afraid of a little d . . . I mean soil. For gardeners and people who sell to gardeners, getting one's hands dirty ("soiled" just seems a bit niminy-piminy to me) is what it's all about.
Oh, and I observed that some customers who didn't have a large English vocabulary would ask for "mud" when they were looking for a bag of that stuff to put in a planter or in the ground. (And they weren't installing drywall; that was at the other end of the store.) But I soon caught on.
Good point. Gotta wonder where the headlines fall on the Schmidt Sting Pain Index… which, for a morning challenge, everyone should try uttering quickly five times in a row.
So, "pepsis grossa" does not mean "I'll have a large Pepsi, please"?
I have an aversion to spiders. That doesn't mean I think they should be tortured. I just wish they would stay away from me, which mostly they do. But what other creatures do to spiders is not within my control or design, so I won't spend time thinking about it.
(Meep meep!)
Here's the Atlantic piece again. Paywall should be disabled:
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/02/republicans-dictator-putin-ukraine/681841/?gift=BtHKijFqEnt1YaIeX_YOQLK7uoKxQor1A_176bdxYAM&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
Thanks for this. The list of officials who had not replied was surprising because I had read Sen Thom Tillis' comments and he was unequivocal in his condemnation of Putin. It seems to me that some of these folks may not have taken the time to answer out of irritation, given the information already published. For instance,
https://www.carolinajournal.com/opinion/senator-tillis-speaks-truth-on-ukraine/
Tillis was also quoted in TD this past week:
https://thedispatch.com/article/gop-senate-trump-ukraine-zelensky/
Very possible.
2 in 5 Americans Say Living in U. S. No Longer Enjoyable
https://studyfinds.org/living-in-america-not-enjoyable/
The living is just fine. It's the watching and listening that suck.
If I lived in tarantula country, I'd probably have a couple of roadrunners for pets.
I'm listening to Dan Senor interview Sen. John Fetterman, and Fetterman talked about the Tree of Life Synagogue murders. That reminded me that, when we were in Charleston, SC, for the Southeast Wildlife Expo, we saw the Emanuel AME Church, also a site of a mass murder, and a nice memorial garden and other features. We walked by/through it several times, because it was between two of the SEWE venues.
https://emanuelnine.org/
Nice memorial. I remember the Mother Emmanuel shooting and the heinous details. I'm not generally an advocate of the death penalty for a couple of reasons, but since there's absolutely no question of Dylan Roof's guilt, his despicable motive and vile method of comitting the crime, I'll have little objection to the Feds sending him to meet his maker if and when it happens.
Ladies and Gentlemen: Your U.S. House of Representatives:
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/02/republicans-dictator-putin-ukraine/681841/?
Paywall removed.
RE: *Your* House of Representatives
Do I / we have to claim them?
BTW, not sure why... I was able to read the Atlantic piece you posted yesterday, but not this one... it wants a sign-in or sign-up for a free trial subscription to get past the first couple of paragraphs. But thanks for trying.
Just re-posted.
Working now. Thanks. Can you come feed my nags so I can just go on and read it?
List me try again
"it wants a sign-in or sign-up for a free trial subscription"
Same, and I'm not going to give them my information.
Just reposted
I get that kind of thing on a lot of links I follow to stories from different publications. Also get thwarted by sites that won't let me proceed without disabling my ad blocker, which I understand but never comply with. Too many other sources / things to read to fool around with that.
I never thought I would pity a tarantula.
Yet another reason to live in the northeast!
Sad news about Gene Hackman dying. His performances in Mississippi Burning and Unforgiven were, for me, extremely memorable. I also really liked his role in Heist (not THE Heist, which was another movie entirely), the David Mamet movie.
And strange, too... him, his wife *and* their dog. Story I read said foul play not suspected.
Carbon monoxide poisoning?
That was my first thought. However, It's a heck of a house in New Mexico...
https://www.hellomagazine.com/homes/816924/inside-gene-hackman-santa-fe-home-with-wife-betsy/
No idea what furnace and water-heating requirements would be for something like that and in that location / climate. All electric? Gas? Combo?
A couple of stories I skimmed said Hackman was found dead "alongside" or "together with" his wife and dog. Another said "alongside" in the first paragraph and then in the second said that according to a search warrant, they were found in separate rooms and appeared to have been dead for some time, but still no suspicion of foul play.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/news/gene-hackman-death-latest-police-request-search-warrant-for-santa-fe-home-after-actor-wife-and-dog-found-dead/ar-AA1zTg2I?ocid=BingNewsSerp
Probably will be a while before a definitive answer is published. Sad, whatever the cause. I really liked Hackman as an actor. Didn't realize he was halfway through his nineties or that his wife was that "young".
I remember being surprised at how old he was several years ago when I looked up his Wiki wondering why he hadn’t been in anything for so long. Iirc, he hadn’t announced his retirement from acting at some point—maybe after entering his 80s. At any rate, a very fine, charismatic performer.
Yeah. He had enough range as an actor to play a diverse set of characters quite well and make them believable, whether they were sympathetic figures or not. I recall his turn as a surveillance guy in "The Conversation" back in the early 70s, playing a pretty believable version of a socially awkward / inept tech nerd before such creatures had yet really entered the public consciousness en mass.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heist_(2001_film)
Not in my library catalog, but maybe it's available on one of my husband's numerous streaming subscriptions.
I’m a big Mamet fan. The other movie of his I really enjoyed as STATE AND MAIN.
Great cast,no?
Yes.
Nope. Nope. Nopity-nope.
Good morning. 44 degrees here with a high around 50. It rained yesterday afternoon with evenings with occasional thunder.
For those not reading the news, the mothership is covering the budget proposal that passed the House, preserving the 2017 tax cuts among other things. But it has a long way to go.
The FP headline asks, “Is this what we voted for?” I’m fairly confident none of the regulars here voted for this chaos.
That budget bill... don't even get me started. And what I'd like to see is a dollar figure put on what all this Musk / DOGE chaos supposedly being done in the name of fiscal responsibility and reform is actually *costing* us voting taxpayers due to all the screw-ups, litigation, lost productivity due to confusion, disruption and just plain incompetence, etc, as well as all the consequences that will be forthcoming in the future both intended and unintended, because you know there'll be a boat load of the latter, which the people behind all of this don't care about in the least. What a freakin' joke. A very bad and dangerous joke.
It's cloudy here. I haven't looked at the foreguess yet. I have a hair appointment in the morning, a dentist appointment in the afternoon, and a Hispanic Ministry meeting in the evening.
Update: 56 now, maybe 75 later, 50% chance of a storm.
Well, now I understand why the WERE a band, instead of BEING a band.
Per the furry biting thing...yesterday, you were grossed out by chicken feet and duck heads for lunch...and THIS doesn't bother you?!?!?
In that Schmidt video (I think it was), there’s mention that the wasp larvae “know” which organs of the tarantula to eat last in order to keep it alive the longest…
There’s a metaphor in there somewhere having to do with Musk and the DOGE enterprise among federal agencies…
Yes, that is a target rich environment, metaphorically speaking.
I don't claim to make sense, and I sure don't plan to eat bugs.
And yet there are those who do. My wife's 10-year-old grandson (lives in Ithaca) has been known to eat crickets (fried), and when she was in Phoenix earlier this month she found and brought back for the boy a strawberry-flavored sucker with a cricket visibly embedded in it.
He started sucking on it right away. I didn't see what happened when he got down to the cricket.
I'm aware that insectophages exist, but I'm not that hungry.
Well, this is a particularly unpleasant read. Guess I’ll check the news…nope! Back to wasps and spiders!🕷️
Amen.
Yeah...no. I realize I'm having a conniption fit over the current political clusterhump, and saying and writing all sorts of stupid crap.
As your wellness adviser, I advise not reading the news.
RE: "... saying and writing all sorts of stupid crap."
So, Kurt... you ever think about a run for Congress? You seem to be saying here that you're eminently qualified. 😉🙄
I'm not reading the news ... not when there's the immense oeuvre of Brandon Sanderson and the Envirothon Soil Manual!
So, what's the dirt on dirt today? ;)
Soil is not dirt!
Well, out of respect for your sensibilities I won't call it dirt again here.
But I spent ten years selling bags of soil--various types and brands--and I did sometimes refer to it casually using the d-word. I once kidded a co-worker who was arranging bags of it on a display, and asked him "so, do you tell your friends that you spend your days dealing with dirtbags?" He was very amused.
What I didn't like so much was the euphemism "mix" that is used on some bags in place of the word "soil." It confuses customers. They'd ask what was in the bag if not soil. I explained that they use the word "mix" because they think people are afraid of a little d . . . I mean soil. For gardeners and people who sell to gardeners, getting one's hands dirty ("soiled" just seems a bit niminy-piminy to me) is what it's all about.
Oh, and I observed that some customers who didn't have a large English vocabulary would ask for "mud" when they were looking for a bag of that stuff to put in a planter or in the ground. (And they weren't installing drywall; that was at the other end of the store.) But I soon caught on.
Good point. Gotta wonder where the headlines fall on the Schmidt Sting Pain Index… which, for a morning challenge, everyone should try uttering quickly five times in a row.
Do we have to send you proof of five attempts or be fired?
The punishment for failure is to read more headlines…
Could you just go on and fire me instead?
Trending up toward 200...I'll take a honeybee sting any day over what I'm reading in the news.
This is somewhere like reading the news nowadays....(safe Youtube link)
https://youtu.be/g2c_-9kIjyU?si=ttQWmNsETOjesnbg
Wow. And people think bugs and other animals exhibit strange behavior.
😂😂
What a great analogy.