First reaction, without reading the link, is this: You undermine the fight against racism if you practice racism to fight racism. As always, I'll offer this bit of inconsistency to go along with it. You undermine an anti-abortion stance by supporting the death penalty. If killing is wrong, it is wrong to practice it even in the name of justice. If racism is wrong, it is wrong to practice it even in the name of fighting it. That is not to say there is no need for society to take some affirmative action to redress the history of racism and discrimination. We just have to find better ways.
As a pro-lifer, I know that pro-lifers tend to describe themselves as defending *Innocent* human life. Many pro-lifers also oppose the death penalty. But the 2 issues are distinct.
As to a precedence between those issues, I would place defending the life of an innocent unborn child, higher than defending the life of a person who has committed a heinous capital crime and been duly convicted at trial.
That is, if you oppose the death penalty, you should also oppose abortion. Opposition to abortion does not obligate you to oppose the death penalty.
Of course, your comments about racism are spot on. There is an argument for redressing past racism, but there are better ways than committing new acts of racism. Two wrongs do not make a right.
Part of my problem with the death penalty is that it is final and mistakes do happen. Perhaps rarely, but they do happen and there is no way to give someone back life. I confess, though, that while I oppose the death penalty on those grounds, I also oppose it because it is the taking of a life. I understand that life is not as innocent (assuming no mistake was made), but why should that matter? An execution is still the taking of a life. We have the means (incarceration for life) for punishment with no need to cross that line.
Incidentally, I know of no one, even ardent believers in the right to an abortion, who is not pro-life. Well, perhaps someone who is suicidal is not pro-life, but who else is not? The anti-abortion lobby struck an unassailable stance in choosing "pro-life" as a descriptor, for it presupposes that anyone in favor of allowing an abortion is anti-life and, again, outside the suicidal, who is anti-life? Likewise, the notion that anyone is pro-abortion is a bad shortcut for being for the right, because to be pro-abortion would mean, presumably, in favor of killing. The terminology is terrible all around. The language is not honest, but shaped to influence for or against someone's position.
On terminology, I would admit that "pro-abortion" is used as a shortened form of the more accurate label "pro-abortion-rights" or perhaps "abortion rights". ( I'm not sure any abortion rights supporter views abortion as anything but a sometime necessary evil, at most). But "pro-life" makes clear the position that abortion is wrong because it kills a real human life, a person who has come into existence at conception but has not yet been born.
I know we understand each other and terminology is not always helpful. Accuracy issues aside, pro-life was brilliant strategy because in this "I'm right and therefore you're wrong" climate, where too few are willing to even have meaningful dialogue, pro-life suggests, at the least, the the opposition is not pro-life, which is patently ridiculous. As to ""pro-life" makes clear the position that abortion is wrong because it kills a real human life, a person who has come into existence at conception but has not yet been born," I think that should hold for persons already born and I remain steadfast in my opposition to execution. It is not morally defensible, in my opinion, and also wholly unnecessary. Even if one sees it as justice (I do not), it cannot bring back the victim and take away the loss for the family. It is, at best, vengeance and, once again, not necessary.
I will state my view on abortion. I am opposed to it. I'm not opposed to all exceptions and I'm really not sure it's my call to make at all. It is the most difficult of all questions, I think and I'd like to see more support for women with unwanted pregnancies. That might help keep the number of abortions down.
In the real world, I find it interesting that studies show that the majority of citizens think it should be allowed, but with limitations and I suppose that is where I stand, even while I am anti-abortion as I think everyone is.
Interesting that I could view that one twit page, but still locked out of everything else. Any chance someone is willing to post a link to a treat video or a Pippa report so I can try it?
I was going to show it to my husband, and tried going to twitter.com, but I need to log in or create an account. I closed my account, and don’t really want to start one again. There are a few people I’m interested in, and one is “The Prosecutors,” who have a weekly podcast about prosecuting crimes. They’re interesting.
But, I don’t want to get into politics—people are unbelievably mean when it comes to that, and feel like it’s fine to say incredibly awful stuff. Yuck. I don’t even want to be tempted to look at someone I enjoy (like Jonah), although the dogs would be fun to see.
Follow-up: I did, however, discover a hack. I found that if I Google "twitter Jonah Goldberg" or "twitter buitengebieden" then when the Google results page comes up, if I right click on an image (video or photo) and select new tab, it does display and I can then play it. Doesn't work for every item, they don't tend to come up in chronological order, but I saw today's treats video! Hah, take that, chief twit!
Perhaps the Corydon one worked for me because it opened into a different page just for the one item. I don't know twit jargon for what you call these things.
Fie on the chief twit. I'll have to continue imagining the warm fuzzies.
It’s definitely immature humor, but I thought that was part of being a guy. What I find amusing is that men still laugh at that stuff. I start laughing because i KNOW my husband is going to find it funny. He says lots of “stupid” stuff to me, and I still love him!
It's who we are. We find that stuff funny, even though we should be more mature about it.
The funny part is, although they have now closed, it was a nice little family run pharmacy that tried to make Corydon a little bit nicer. They just had a funny name.
For our group bet on how things turn out for Prigozhin, I thought some of you might enjoy this interview from the Jordan Harbinger podcast. In the first part of it, Jordan talks to John Lechner about the Wagner Group, and that’s interesting. But I thought Brian Klass was even more so in his take on coups, dictators, and how he sees the future for Pregozhin. Hint: Not good.
Show Notes: What is Russia's Wagner Group, and why did it recently try to depose Putin? John Lechner and Brian Klaas explain on this episode of Out of the Loop!
On This Episode of Out of the Loop:
• What is Russia's Wagner Group, and what kind of desperate degenerates fill its ranks?
• How did catering chef Yevgeny Prigozhin come to lead this private army of marauders?
• Where do the funds that fuel Wagner's activities originate?
• What instigated Wagner's attempted coup against Vladimir Putin, and why did it ultimately fail?
• What can we expect from the aftermath, and what will likely happen to the ringleaders who dared to defy Putin?
I think it might have been tossed when my sister moved her to assisted living. My sister is not a keeper and I became “not a keeper” after having to deal with all the things left behind in three different homes from three different parents/in-laws. My mom showed it to me when I did a video of her telling me about her childhood and growing up.
I felt sorry for Elmer because growing up, whenever we watched horseracing on TV we'd yell "Glue bait" at the last place horse. But I don't think any of those horses cared, as they never reacted to us yelling it.
When I was a kid the electric company around here had a cartoon mascot named "Little Bill" and it was like a little chick with a beak, and a light bulb for a body. The jingle went:
I know I’ve seen that character before! Yeah, I need to get some things done this morning, and here I am, looking stuff up, following links here, etc. I’m going to have to come back later!
As soon as I read this it reminded me of a wonderful series on YouTube about hidden dangers in homes during certain time periods. I remembered one about electricity, and I managed to find it. It’s hard to imagine how exciting so many of the new inventions were, but the risks are something we’ve forgotten.
I remember Reddy Kilowatt, the mascot of my local power company, Ohio Edison (among many others, it seems). Reddy appeared on electric bills and materials from Ohio Ed when I was growing up. But I don’t remember Reddy holding a knife and threatening a boy as in this morning’s article.
My father worked for Indiana, Michigan power, which was eventually acquired by American electric power, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.
Reddy kilowatt was their mascot. When I married Pam the local electrical co-op serving her family featured their own mascot, willy wired hand. And of course, they claimed he was a superior mascot.
I asked Katie about the rural co-op where she grew up, she thought they were too poor to afford a mascot. 🙁
Good morning. Today the mothership features a summary of the just-concluded Supreme Court term, and reports on a lawsuit alleging that federal officials conspired with social media companies to suppress speech ranging from COVID skepticism to the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop. (Hunter seems to be the gift that keeps on giving).
I’ve had a couple of weeks being easily excited. I’m in a fight with my home insurance company on hail damage to my roof and it’s made me a tad grumpy and….ummm…confrontational. 😁
The attention that this cocaine story got -- including a leading story at least one of the major networks (no names, but the initials are CBS 🙂) indicates that yesterday was really a slow news day.
It could well have been Hunter Biden, who is a sad specimen of humanity, and whose father (I suspect) is more enabling him than helping him.
I was listening to John Podhoretz on Commentary this morning (I think it was from yesterday), and he was talking about working at the Whitehouse, along with a fair amount of reporting that took him there, and he said this is extremely unusual. Not that they found cocaine, necessarily, but that it got reported. He was saying that over 1,000 people work or have access to the Whitehouse, and a lot of things happen that never get reported. He seems to think there’s some significance to leaking this, but doesn’t know what.
It’s hard to know. It could disappear from the news, too.
That turned up in the image search, and I found it irresistible. I give it about 99 percent chance of being the work of an independent artist, maybe a 1 percent chance of being from an actual ad campaign…
Today’s special animal friend is the star-nosed mole, Condylura cristata. It is about the size of a hamster: about 7 inches long and weighing around 2 oz. This burrowing animal has 22 tentacle-like appendages on its snout. On these appendages are about 25,000 Eimar’s organs, a kind of touch receptor that is also found on other moles.
The “star” is about 1 cm in diameter. It is densely packed with the tiny Eimar’s organs. Their touch receptors are organized in a way that is similar to light receptors in a mammal’s eye. Those on the periphery get a quick sense of an object, while those nearest sense have precision focus. Studies have shown that more than 50% of the animal’s cerebral cortex is devoted to interpreting inputs – touch, not smell! - from the nose.
The upshot of this is that the star-nosed mole can sense and consume prey incredibly quickly, as fast as 120 milliseconds from the first touch. This is the fastest of any known animal. It eats a lot of worms and leeches when burrowing in moist earth. It can also swim, and it can smell underwater by emitting tiny bubbles and then re-inhaling them, laden with scent molecules. In the water, they eat a variety of aquatic macroinvertebrates, including the larvae of caddisflies, stoneflies, and dragonflies. They also eat small crustaceans and fish.
Native to the Northeastern U.S., southeastern Canada, and a bit of the Atlantic coast almost as far south as Florida, the star-nosed mole is active day and night and all year round. In addition to burrowing and swimming, they are found on the surface more often than most other moles. They mate in late winter to early spring. Females give birth to four or five young after about 3 months. The babies are about 2 inches long, hairless, and helpless for the first two weeks. They are independent after 30 days and full-grown in about 10 months.
Predators of star-nosed moles include birds of prey, foxes, mustelids, domestic and feral cats, and skunks. Large fish such as the Northern Pike can eat them in the water. So can bullfrogs. The lifespan of the star-nosed mole is three to four years. They are a species of Least Concern.
Other mole species have the Eimar's organs, but they don't have them on tentacles like the star-nosed mole's. It seems likely that it's an adaptation related to their semi-aquatic life. Being on the surface is also different from many mole species.
Day and night, year round - that explains large parts of my yard.
When Tropical Storm Michael came through, we nearly lost our HVAC unit: moles had been so active between the unit and a tree that the soil turned into soup with all the rain. You could see the ground rise as the wind blew the hickory, raising its root mass. I dug a ditch to drain the area. It worked.
They do so much damage so quickly! Our yard ends up having these surface tunnels that destroy the grass every year, especially late summer into fall. If I walk out there, it feels like a sponge. Yet, somehow, everything is fine again next spring.
My husband does his best to trap them, and the size of some are kind of scary!
No place is perfect it seems. We don’t seem to have the bedrock where we are, but we sure have a lot of loose rocks everywhere! They are constantly coming to the surface when the farmers plow or there’s any kind of excavation. But, put in some topsoil, and a halfway decent lawn, and moles appear from who knows where!
Thanks for the laughs, all! Was nice to read the banter after a difficult day.
Many of the comments at the Mothership today feel . . .spicy I guess is the word.
Including some very surprisingly bad-faith comments from some of the regulars.
🙁
You’re always welcome to visit the CSLF for an emergency badinage infusion.
From John M at the mothership:
Worth Your Time II: 'Harvard Undermined Itself on Affirmative Action'--David French
https://tinyurl.com/5ahj4ncu
First reaction, without reading the link, is this: You undermine the fight against racism if you practice racism to fight racism. As always, I'll offer this bit of inconsistency to go along with it. You undermine an anti-abortion stance by supporting the death penalty. If killing is wrong, it is wrong to practice it even in the name of justice. If racism is wrong, it is wrong to practice it even in the name of fighting it. That is not to say there is no need for society to take some affirmative action to redress the history of racism and discrimination. We just have to find better ways.
As a pro-lifer, I know that pro-lifers tend to describe themselves as defending *Innocent* human life. Many pro-lifers also oppose the death penalty. But the 2 issues are distinct.
As to a precedence between those issues, I would place defending the life of an innocent unborn child, higher than defending the life of a person who has committed a heinous capital crime and been duly convicted at trial.
That is, if you oppose the death penalty, you should also oppose abortion. Opposition to abortion does not obligate you to oppose the death penalty.
Of course, your comments about racism are spot on. There is an argument for redressing past racism, but there are better ways than committing new acts of racism. Two wrongs do not make a right.
Part of my problem with the death penalty is that it is final and mistakes do happen. Perhaps rarely, but they do happen and there is no way to give someone back life. I confess, though, that while I oppose the death penalty on those grounds, I also oppose it because it is the taking of a life. I understand that life is not as innocent (assuming no mistake was made), but why should that matter? An execution is still the taking of a life. We have the means (incarceration for life) for punishment with no need to cross that line.
Incidentally, I know of no one, even ardent believers in the right to an abortion, who is not pro-life. Well, perhaps someone who is suicidal is not pro-life, but who else is not? The anti-abortion lobby struck an unassailable stance in choosing "pro-life" as a descriptor, for it presupposes that anyone in favor of allowing an abortion is anti-life and, again, outside the suicidal, who is anti-life? Likewise, the notion that anyone is pro-abortion is a bad shortcut for being for the right, because to be pro-abortion would mean, presumably, in favor of killing. The terminology is terrible all around. The language is not honest, but shaped to influence for or against someone's position.
On terminology, I would admit that "pro-abortion" is used as a shortened form of the more accurate label "pro-abortion-rights" or perhaps "abortion rights". ( I'm not sure any abortion rights supporter views abortion as anything but a sometime necessary evil, at most). But "pro-life" makes clear the position that abortion is wrong because it kills a real human life, a person who has come into existence at conception but has not yet been born.
I know we understand each other and terminology is not always helpful. Accuracy issues aside, pro-life was brilliant strategy because in this "I'm right and therefore you're wrong" climate, where too few are willing to even have meaningful dialogue, pro-life suggests, at the least, the the opposition is not pro-life, which is patently ridiculous. As to ""pro-life" makes clear the position that abortion is wrong because it kills a real human life, a person who has come into existence at conception but has not yet been born," I think that should hold for persons already born and I remain steadfast in my opposition to execution. It is not morally defensible, in my opinion, and also wholly unnecessary. Even if one sees it as justice (I do not), it cannot bring back the victim and take away the loss for the family. It is, at best, vengeance and, once again, not necessary.
I will state my view on abortion. I am opposed to it. I'm not opposed to all exceptions and I'm really not sure it's my call to make at all. It is the most difficult of all questions, I think and I'd like to see more support for women with unwanted pregnancies. That might help keep the number of abortions down.
In the real world, I find it interesting that studies show that the majority of citizens think it should be allowed, but with limitations and I suppose that is where I stand, even while I am anti-abortion as I think everyone is.
Hey, guys? 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘴 up with electricity?
What’s that, Phil? These puns are re-𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘵-ing? Well, I can 𝘢𝘮𝘱 it up! 𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴 are futile! What’re you going to 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦 me with, huh?
Truly one of your best, Jack! 9.4
Our capacitance for pun-ditry is magnetoficent.
Upon further review, most of these puns have been made already. Apparently, I’m not very 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵.
It might have been a DC current, only flowing one way.
Or does a DC current mean it involves a shocking Washington issue?
You can still show yourself out, just don't trip over any cords or mascots -- 🚪
Jonah posted this on twitter.
I laughed out loud. It's sophomoric, but I have been to Corydon, IN.
https://twitter.com/historyinmemes/status/1672663621694791681
Interesting that I could view that one twit page, but still locked out of everything else. Any chance someone is willing to post a link to a treat video or a Pippa report so I can try it?
I was going to show it to my husband, and tried going to twitter.com, but I need to log in or create an account. I closed my account, and don’t really want to start one again. There are a few people I’m interested in, and one is “The Prosecutors,” who have a weekly podcast about prosecuting crimes. They’re interesting.
But, I don’t want to get into politics—people are unbelievably mean when it comes to that, and feel like it’s fine to say incredibly awful stuff. Yuck. I don’t even want to be tempted to look at someone I enjoy (like Jonah), although the dogs would be fun to see.
https://twitter.com/JonahDispatch
I just copied it from a very recent Pippa scritch. IDK there's not a long code after it, lemme know if it worked or not.
Follow-up: I did, however, discover a hack. I found that if I Google "twitter Jonah Goldberg" or "twitter buitengebieden" then when the Google results page comes up, if I right click on an image (video or photo) and select new tab, it does display and I can then play it. Doesn't work for every item, they don't tend to come up in chronological order, but I saw today's treats video! Hah, take that, chief twit!
I appreciate the thought, but that's the basic URL for Jonah's page, and it still automatically turns into the following, https://twitter.com/i/flow/login?redirect_after_login=%2FJonahDispatch which (when I don't log in) takes me to https://twitter.com/
Perhaps the Corydon one worked for me because it opened into a different page just for the one item. I don't know twit jargon for what you call these things.
Fie on the chief twit. I'll have to continue imagining the warm fuzzies.
Fie on the whole lot of them! They’re nothing but a pack of flap-eared knaves!
Very sophormorphic. is this typical Hoosier humor?
As a Hoosier it seemed kinda normal to me, but I am not often seen as representative of anything, so IDK.
It’s definitely immature humor, but I thought that was part of being a guy. What I find amusing is that men still laugh at that stuff. I start laughing because i KNOW my husband is going to find it funny. He says lots of “stupid” stuff to me, and I still love him!
It's who we are. We find that stuff funny, even though we should be more mature about it.
The funny part is, although they have now closed, it was a nice little family run pharmacy that tried to make Corydon a little bit nicer. They just had a funny name.
The ad was actually cute. I think men are wonderful, and I think most women find them pretty entertaining! 🤭
😂 That is funny! “Free parking in the rear!”
I gotta admit, I'd never guess Jonah would find it amusing, but I endorse it. 'course I am immature, so there's that.
For our group bet on how things turn out for Prigozhin, I thought some of you might enjoy this interview from the Jordan Harbinger podcast. In the first part of it, Jordan talks to John Lechner about the Wagner Group, and that’s interesting. But I thought Brian Klass was even more so in his take on coups, dictators, and how he sees the future for Pregozhin. Hint: Not good.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-jordan-harbinger-show/id1344999619?i=1000619224079
Show Notes: What is Russia's Wagner Group, and why did it recently try to depose Putin? John Lechner and Brian Klaas explain on this episode of Out of the Loop!
On This Episode of Out of the Loop:
• What is Russia's Wagner Group, and what kind of desperate degenerates fill its ranks?
• How did catering chef Yevgeny Prigozhin come to lead this private army of marauders?
• Where do the funds that fuel Wagner's activities originate?
• What instigated Wagner's attempted coup against Vladimir Putin, and why did it ultimately fail?
• What can we expect from the aftermath, and what will likely happen to the ringleaders who dared to defy Putin?
Okay, since I openly detest all the bad news, and since I don't think it is right to complain without offering something constructive to say, read this short but stunning story. https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/conjoined-twins-given-2-odds-of-survival-are-now-thriving-and-graduating-kindergarten/
Whoo! Yeah! 👏
2%. Wow
I kept thinking the same thing. It is an amazing story.
I saw something about this yesterday! It’s a wonderful story, and thanks for sharing!!
My mom collected Elsie the Cow stuff. She had an album she made as a child with all the Elsie cow stuff.
Did you get to keep the album? It sounds like a charming item to remember a mom by.
I think it might have been tossed when my sister moved her to assisted living. My sister is not a keeper and I became “not a keeper” after having to deal with all the things left behind in three different homes from three different parents/in-laws. My mom showed it to me when I did a video of her telling me about her childhood and growing up.
I always loved Elsie. I think she had a son??? I’m pretty sure I remember them introducing at least one other bovine character.
I think Elmer was the dad and Beauregard was her son
Elmer! That’s right, and poor Elmer went on to represent Elmer’s Glue!
I felt sorry for Elmer because growing up, whenever we watched horseracing on TV we'd yell "Glue bait" at the last place horse. But I don't think any of those horses cared, as they never reacted to us yelling it.
The horses may not have cared, but I would have been extremely upset! 😉
I don’t think I realized he was the same Elmer but he definitely is.
It really didn’t occur to me either. Kind of unsettling when you think about the connotation.
Cartoon drawings. Let's not get too serious.
Your mascot sent me down quite a rabbit hole this morning. Not like I don't have a gazillion other things to do.
My grandfather was a salesman for Washington Gas Light Co when he retired in 1969. He had been with the company around 40 years.
Washington Gas Light had a much nicer mascot - particularly to the eyes of a little girl in the 60s: https://photos.app.goo.gl/nh3kQqRQy4euM68EA
When I was a kid the electric company around here had a cartoon mascot named "Little Bill" and it was like a little chick with a beak, and a light bulb for a body. The jingle went:
Electricity costs less today you know,
Than it did many long years ago,
A little birdie told me so.
Cheap cheap! Little Bill!
🤩
I know I’ve seen that character before! Yeah, I need to get some things done this morning, and here I am, looking stuff up, following links here, etc. I’m going to have to come back later!
I'm curious to know where, if you happen to remember.
It’s been years ago. I grew up in Illinois, and I wonder if it was in a magazine?
As soon as I read this it reminded me of a wonderful series on YouTube about hidden dangers in homes during certain time periods. I remembered one about electricity, and I managed to find it. It’s hard to imagine how exciting so many of the new inventions were, but the risks are something we’ve forgotten.
https://youtu.be/dr1IAfl0_TM
I was tied up with a washer/dryer delivery and just got to this. I'm satisfied that my punning comrades struck like lightning.
Some of our comments were grounded....in silliness.
Granted, it was a long time ago, but nobody had this method in the SRDS pool.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/yevgeny-prigozhins-predecessor-was-burned-alive-after-betraying-a-russian-leader
I'm a little conflicted that I liked this. I think Putin would be more deserving . . .
I hear that.
You might enjoy the podcast I linked to this morning.
Will check it out.
Dayum.
I remember Reddy Kilowatt, the mascot of my local power company, Ohio Edison (among many others, it seems). Reddy appeared on electric bills and materials from Ohio Ed when I was growing up. But I don’t remember Reddy holding a knife and threatening a boy as in this morning’s article.
Can you imagine them showing something like that today!!!
My father worked for Indiana, Michigan power, which was eventually acquired by American electric power, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.
Reddy kilowatt was their mascot. When I married Pam the local electrical co-op serving her family featured their own mascot, willy wired hand. And of course, they claimed he was a superior mascot.
I asked Katie about the rural co-op where she grew up, she thought they were too poor to afford a mascot. 🙁
Their mascot was the friends we made along the way.
Good morning. Today the mothership features a summary of the just-concluded Supreme Court term, and reports on a lawsuit alleging that federal officials conspired with social media companies to suppress speech ranging from COVID skepticism to the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop. (Hunter seems to be the gift that keeps on giving).
DougAz is on a nuttier rampage than usual. Am I the only one who didn’t know Clarence Thomas is a racist?🤔
You're not the only one who knows others think Clarence Thomas is a racist. 🙂
Thank you. Sounds like a good morning to skip over there. How are you doing Phil?
Doing just fine, Mary. I tend to be more of a political junkie than most (which can be dangerous if you're easily excited).
I’ve had a couple of weeks being easily excited. I’m in a fight with my home insurance company on hail damage to my roof and it’s made me a tad grumpy and….ummm…confrontational. 😁
He’s already being blamed for the cocaine recently discovered.
The attention that this cocaine story got -- including a leading story at least one of the major networks (no names, but the initials are CBS 🙂) indicates that yesterday was really a slow news day.
It could well have been Hunter Biden, who is a sad specimen of humanity, and whose father (I suspect) is more enabling him than helping him.
I was listening to John Podhoretz on Commentary this morning (I think it was from yesterday), and he was talking about working at the Whitehouse, along with a fair amount of reporting that took him there, and he said this is extremely unusual. Not that they found cocaine, necessarily, but that it got reported. He was saying that over 1,000 people work or have access to the Whitehouse, and a lot of things happen that never get reported. He seems to think there’s some significance to leaking this, but doesn’t know what.
It’s hard to know. It could disappear from the news, too.
As Jim Geraghty pointed out, you can't say it's an unreasonable assumption.
Wouldn't it be nice if there weren't so many creeps around the White House, regardless of who is in office?
You can't help but love the smiling cartoon character pointing a dagger at a kid.
That turned up in the image search, and I found it irresistible. I give it about 99 percent chance of being the work of an independent artist, maybe a 1 percent chance of being from an actual ad campaign…
I found it while trying to look for the video on the “early home” dangers of electricity. Sometimes it’s hard to come up with the right search input.
Right? If Reddy stabs you with the knife, will it hertz?
My husband just asked me why I was groaning so much. I said everyone was just a bit too ex-static in the comment section this morning.
Mary, Mary, quite contrary -- 🚪
Shocking, isn't it?
Way to go, Mary!!!!
Zap!
*sigh*
Since I now know you're a lady, I'll hold the 🚪 for you as you use it.
😂 You are really good at this!!
Well played, Phil!
I've always depended on the kindness of strangers...
STELLA!
Artois!
Don’t trust anyone…
It will. It’ll megahertz, it’s so painful
You get to hold your own 🚪 on your way out!
🤭
It probably depends on how much resistance you put up.
Too much zucchini!!!
Affects the vowels.
I hate “liked” that
Ohm my God, that was shocking.
A two-fer still only gets one 🚪
Ha!
My fuse was blown.
Et tu, Cynthia? 🚪
Whew! We don’t want anyone thinking women aren’t getting equal treatment!
Thank you, Phil. I think this is my first door!
Your second (but who's counting?)
I should get some door stickers to put on my computer.
Hey, Phil, do you realize that, thanks to Reddy, you can just push a button and the door will open?
I’m shocked you guys are getting such a charge out of this. I was amped up for some to find it revolting.
I'm suspecting this morning's article was chosen for its pun-rich environment. 🚪
I think this comment blew the breaker on electrical puns.
Its arc was confused.
Reddy and his marauding friends probably communicate through WattsApp..
A special kind of Flash mob.
Being there can transform you.
Oh, that is goooooood!
My pun efforts have been galvanized by many examples.
Nice one!
You have learned well, grasshopper.
I was feeling more like a firefly.
“I see your point—here’s my lunch money.”
Today’s special animal friend is the star-nosed mole, Condylura cristata. It is about the size of a hamster: about 7 inches long and weighing around 2 oz. This burrowing animal has 22 tentacle-like appendages on its snout. On these appendages are about 25,000 Eimar’s organs, a kind of touch receptor that is also found on other moles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iM6EPWZKPw
The “star” is about 1 cm in diameter. It is densely packed with the tiny Eimar’s organs. Their touch receptors are organized in a way that is similar to light receptors in a mammal’s eye. Those on the periphery get a quick sense of an object, while those nearest sense have precision focus. Studies have shown that more than 50% of the animal’s cerebral cortex is devoted to interpreting inputs – touch, not smell! - from the nose.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-56nE20vrI
The upshot of this is that the star-nosed mole can sense and consume prey incredibly quickly, as fast as 120 milliseconds from the first touch. This is the fastest of any known animal. It eats a lot of worms and leeches when burrowing in moist earth. It can also swim, and it can smell underwater by emitting tiny bubbles and then re-inhaling them, laden with scent molecules. In the water, they eat a variety of aquatic macroinvertebrates, including the larvae of caddisflies, stoneflies, and dragonflies. They also eat small crustaceans and fish.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-er-MB3V90
Native to the Northeastern U.S., southeastern Canada, and a bit of the Atlantic coast almost as far south as Florida, the star-nosed mole is active day and night and all year round. In addition to burrowing and swimming, they are found on the surface more often than most other moles. They mate in late winter to early spring. Females give birth to four or five young after about 3 months. The babies are about 2 inches long, hairless, and helpless for the first two weeks. They are independent after 30 days and full-grown in about 10 months.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20_fD6vOM2Q
Predators of star-nosed moles include birds of prey, foxes, mustelids, domestic and feral cats, and skunks. Large fish such as the Northern Pike can eat them in the water. So can bullfrogs. The lifespan of the star-nosed mole is three to four years. They are a species of Least Concern.
They appeared in that greatest of shows: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hkvhdHetCY4
It wasn't mentioned in the show that they're a species of Least Concern.
So Ferb was right when he said, “I think they can take care of themselves.”
Truly an odd, but incredibly useful adaptation. I wonder why the moles we find here don’t have the same kind of nose?
Other mole species have the Eimar's organs, but they don't have them on tentacles like the star-nosed mole's. It seems likely that it's an adaptation related to their semi-aquatic life. Being on the surface is also different from many mole species.
They fall in the “not cute” category.
I feel the same way.
What a coincidence! Today I gave a moletiple choice quiz in class! 🤠
I hope all your students had a good understanding of Eimar's organ.
I met a guy who could play Bach’s cantata and fugue on one of those.
They deserve a ⭐️!
🤩🤩🤩
Day and night, year round - that explains large parts of my yard.
When Tropical Storm Michael came through, we nearly lost our HVAC unit: moles had been so active between the unit and a tree that the soil turned into soup with all the rain. You could see the ground rise as the wind blew the hickory, raising its root mass. I dug a ditch to drain the area. It worked.
Not a fan of moles.
They do so much damage so quickly! Our yard ends up having these surface tunnels that destroy the grass every year, especially late summer into fall. If I walk out there, it feels like a sponge. Yet, somehow, everything is fine again next spring.
My husband does his best to trap them, and the size of some are kind of scary!
Our yards are on bedrock, so we don't get tunnelling animals (or basements, or trees with taproots).
No place is perfect it seems. We don’t seem to have the bedrock where we are, but we sure have a lot of loose rocks everywhere! They are constantly coming to the surface when the farmers plow or there’s any kind of excavation. But, put in some topsoil, and a halfway decent lawn, and moles appear from who knows where!