Sitting’ on the plane from O’Hare for Boston. Thunder there haven’t cancelled us…yet. I upgraded to extra leg room, plus no one took the middle seat. No babies with 5 rows, this flight had potential! 🤠. Looking at a 20 minute flight delay.
I had a 4 hour layover in O’Hare. I graded papers, so I was somewhat productive. I learned half of my students think group is a benefit to a group. One mistake I made. When discussing bounded rationality, I shared the story of Herbert Simon, always ordered grilled cheese for lunch, so he knew he didn’t have to look at the menu, but they would have it wherever he went. My students talked about always ordering one meal, the same, but for them, it was always about either being scared to try new things, etc. Simon simply wanted to save time.
Very discouraging one was the number of students who thought confirmation bias meant you should look up information to support your opinion. Sigh! 🙄
Yeah, we do use video games to fight “bad guys.” Like Minecraft. There are all those monsters in Minecraft, and they’re all trying to kill you. A perpetual quest for survival.
Since we don’t have to constantly push to survive these days, I guess people move to simulated survival.
Yesterday's rain has arrived. Nice, gentle, needed.
I have always loved to read. I loved historical fiction and read that almost exclusively. Johnny Tremaine, the Little House books, Caddy Woodlawn, Inglis Fletcher's Carolina series, Rifles for Watie, Johnny Reb, Little Women. The thing that has struck me recently is that the role of girls and women on the frontier necessarily included opportunities to do "boy" stuff: explore, be brave, discover, defend against the Enemy. None of this jeopardized one's status as a girl or disqualified a girl from liking pretty dresses.
I never read Fifteen or "Are You There God? It's me, Margaret". Not interested (although I have learned that there is substantially more to "Are you there God?" than girls experiencing their first menstrual cycle.)
The problem is that girls will read books about boys but boys won't read books about girls. Girls learned about both sexes, while boys learned about only one. (In recent years, there has been a move to write about friend groups made up of both boys and girls in order to engage both. The Origami Yoda series was pretty good at this.)
Last, I remember a new family moving in across the street when I was still in elementary school. They had two boys, one my age and one my brother's age. They wanted to play army and that was the weirdest thing to me; it was not within our realm of pretend. Perhaps because we were too individualistic and didn't like the idea of taking orders.
Lucy, you raised a question or two about the role of men and boys in modern society, and this morning I listened to a podcast that covered the subject—in discussion with Joyce Benenson. So, in case you listen to podcasts: https://www.keeptalkingpodcast.com/joyce-benenson/
Do boys read books? I know men do, but do boys? I'm being a bit tongue in cheek but also, not many of the boys in my extended family have been interested in reading books.
I want to say that boys tend more to read comic books. If true, this is not necessarily a problem as long as it gets them reading.
My parents had no objection to my reading the occasional comic book--I'm a girl but I liked them too--as they knew I spent most of my available time reading actual books.
I was not a reader as a youngster. But I’ve got an old friend who was a voracious reader even from his youth in the 60s. And I think our Jay Janney has been a lifelong voracious reader, too. IIRC, he’s always been at the fastest end of the spectrum of readers. He told about finishing the books in his public school library early on.
Tyler Cowan is another one who apparently has superhuman reading speed.
I’ve got a niece who has always read fast. She’s consistently at the top of her class in the number of books she’s read—and passes tests on the reading to prove it for credit. She read all the Harry Potter books between ages 10 and 11, if I’m not mistaken.
I’ve always thought I was above average in reading speed, but realize that’s about like we all tend to think we’re above average drivers. Still, I couldn’t ever hope to read at the pace of my niece or Jay or Tyler.
I have bought all Rick Rirordan books for Rick...he loves them, he hated reading when I met him, but, I found him books I knew he would enjoy and that changed everything for him.
My younger brothers read books, though different than what I rad mostly...It hink some boys do, some don't.
If we start with the premise that we were hunter/gatherers (male) or nurturers (female) and were so programmed, then does it not follow that when you change one of those roles things can get confused? We evolved (?) to think of going to work as being an H/G and expanded N to include shopping for food, which seems more like H/G to me. We further evolved (?) by including women in the workforce, albeit not as equals. So, were they then new HGs? If so, and why not, the line between male and female as defined by HG/N was blurred and is now blurred to the point of their being in competition for the same jobs (sometimes, and not necessarily fairly, but evolution is a slow process). While a statistically insignificant number of men are acting the role of Nurturer (stay at home dads), men are often more involved to the point of attending activities and meetings (though still not as often as it should be, IMO).
Is it any wonder that there is some confusion as the roles combine, cross and mix? Isn't it likely that our daily lives sometimes are in conflict with millennia of programming and, if so, this may add tension to our lives?
Since I had many, many jobs over the years, I’ve worked for both men and women. A lot of women will say they prefer one over the other, but I had good and bad experiences either way. I do think women tended to be more nurturing, but they could also be very petty. Men could be very aloof, but they could also be very encouraging. I remember one man I worked for in a temp position that I particularly liked. He hired me to help put together a book using one of the original publishing softwares (I think it was PageMaker). I didn’t have any experience with it, but I had briefly used something else, and I was honest with him when I interviewed for the job. I remember how much I appreciated his attitude (even though I wasn’t sure he was right)—don’t worry, you’re smart and you’ll figure it out. I don’t know how “smart” I was, but I did figure it out, and it was one of my favorite jobs.
I worked part time for a wonderfully eccentric university philosophy professor. She and her husband both had PhDs in philosophy, and both taught at the same school. She was also a student counselor. Working for her was an adventure in so many ways because she seemed to have no rules in particular. At one point we had to visit a couple of prisons to enroll “students” into basic programs like English and math. That was something I never expected. Her husband looked like Igor from “Young Frankenstein,” and their kids were out of control, wild. But talk about a truly nice person who inadvertently helped me get out of a truly awful marriage!
Life is an adventure! And, looking back, I have to say that I’m grateful for all the people I’ve encountered to some extent or another. Thank goodness there are two sexes, and most of time we complement one another, if we are willing to understand that there are differences.
I can't help notice that several have commented on how cool it is. A few weeks ago, we commented on how hot it was. I have an explanation and here it is. No, wait another second. Okay, here it is. Summer. Interestingly, it comes every year and in every summer there is at least one hot spell and one cooler spell. Now, I'm not denying climate change. Heck, I've seen it in my lifetime. However, I do wish Chicken Little would lower the volume a bit and spend more time and energy (pay attention, Fearless Leader) doing some serious study about how we affect the climate and how various proposals regarding energy production would affect the climate. But please, lower the volume, Chicken Little. Each summer it gets hot. Each summer it rains. Each summer has a cool spell and a dry spell and a wet spell. We do spelling every summer as well as in every other season. Tomorrow's weather will be seasonal and you can bet on that, weather you agree or not.
in relation to the weather comment I made above, not at all. In my reply below, I took it as a general observation. But, in relation to the weather comment I made above, not at all. That has more to do with what is constructive study and what is unnecessary and unproductive (maybe counter-productive) screaming. No lawn involved there.
You'll have to ask others, but here's a lawn story for you. My oldest friend uses a leaf blower to clean his lawn. It's artificial turf. Seriously. Life in San Diego.
Well, here's an alternative thought from when I was young. I married a lovely black woman and my mother was worried about how her mother would deal with it. Now, I was her favorite grandchild and I wasn't worried about it at all, but it was a big event when my wife and grandmother met and...... it was a wonderful moment. You see, at 90, she understood what mattered in life. I was happy so she was happy for me and that was all that mattered. Perhaps my thought process is impacted by a sense of what matters, or realizing that much of what gets attention and publicity does not. I don't think this is a change for me, but perhaps it is, or has been without my noticing it. I have always been one to ask why we can't all just get along, so I don't think this is a shift, but maybe.
More importantly, if we look back at history, we’ve had some pretty big climate changes! Jonah and a humorous piece on the craziness of the reactions people are having to everything related to climate. The people most concerned didn’t appreciate that at all.
I just happen to like it when things are a little cooler, but hot days do happen, and that’s fine as long as I don’t have to spend much time outside.
G’morning all! I’m gettin’ ready to time travel! 🤠
I have a 45 minute flight to Chicago, which is on central time. Do I’ll arrive before my departure time!
4 hour layover, then on to a conference in Boston. Thunderstorms in Boston, I hope I don’t get stranded at O’Hare. I sometimes call O’Hare “Afghanistan”, because it is where dreams (to arrive at your destination on time) go to die. The TSA agent didn’t find it amusing.
Good news, my travel was approved this morning at 9:05, departure 9:25. But as my wife likes to say, I really don’t wait till the last minute, I’m either 10 minutes late or two minutes early. 🤠
Doors closing on the plane so it is dangerous for me to pun. Goin’ to airplane mode.
Anne, I thought you and Richard might find this helpful. Eric Westman explains the reasons for and against taking statins, as well as the meaning of blood cholesterol measurements. Dr. Westman is very well versed in the pros and cons, and has years of experience with the low-carb/keto diet and the whys and hows of its function. This was a free seminar on the subject, where it is normally a part of his “Adapt Your Life” (low carb) online academy.
Oh thank you so much!!! He recently had his checked, and it has gone up some after discontinuing statins, but it’s still good! Mine is actually higher, but I think we both have a good diet (Richard’s is better than mine, but I’m still careful).
I followed the link, so it’s now in my history, and I also shared it with Richard. ❤️
Good morning. More "stuff"about Hunter Biden at the mothership. In this case, the "stuff is testimony from a Hunter business associate, which both sides claim proves their point but is actually inconclusive.
Yes, and it has *nothing* to do with the sense that every time Hunter comes up it is to spit in the eye of Trump critics and whine "what about....!", or that every time Trump comes up it is to remind people to be outraged about something on both sides of the aisle and the condition of the world at large. Gah!
Hunter gets so much attention as an exercise in "whataboutism" by Trumpists. Hunter's problems are those of a private citizen engaged in drug abuse, porn and grifting foreign governments on the basis of his supposed "influence". I have no knowledge of Hunter Biden retaining highly classified documents, threatening state election officials, inciting riots or otherwise trying to overturn elections.
I know people who are convinced sr Biden can not be other than involved in Jr Biden's mess.
I get that. What I don't understand is not being able to see that that kind of corruption is run of the mill, at least pays lip service to the rule of law, whereas the former president's actions are more existential in nature.
I have many observations and opinions on the topic of the sexes, but, as others have observed, the most relevant comment on each item is, "Of course. Obviously."
Considering ways to engage male nature productively, one thing that comes to mind is freeing up the business environment to make it easier to start a business. The "enemy" is your competitors. Change the schooling expectations so that young men can more easily learn marketable skills, especially craft skills, and go into business with mentors in their field.
Or, if one wanted to approach the issue from an economically left-wing point of view, what about something like a kibbutz movement?
We finished Season Two of "Clarkson's Farm" last night. In the beginning, you think the show is about a man who starts farming at age 59. By the end, you realize it's a show about the excessive government regulations in Britain. I thought the US was bad!
These are great ideas. I keep thinking of my youngest brother, who quit school his senior year (but did get his GED). He found a job with a man who repaired and installed bakery ovens, something my brother had never done before, but learned from this guy, on the job. When the company owner retired, my brother bought the business, and has been doing this ever since. He’s actually done very well for himself. This is exactly what he needed, and I wish it was easier to find these kinds of jobs.
Also, I think a lot of young people could benefit from apprenticeships. I wish I’d had that opportunity, and maybe I did, but just didn’t know where to look.
TSAF breaks the striking writers' picket line with all new content! On your feet children, and then down on your bellies to do the Nightcrawler, the latest TikTok dance craze!
Today’s special animal friend is the nightcrawler, Lumbricus terrestris. Also known as the common earthworm, it is part of the Annelid (segmented worms) phylum, not the Nematoda (roundworm) phylum. A phylum is a high taxonomic level, just below Kingdom (ours and worms’ is Animalia). Our phylum is Chordata, everything with any kind of spinal cord.
Earthworms are cylindrical, slightly flattened at the rear end. Their bodies can be brown, reddish brown, or gray. They can be up to ten inches long, but most are considerably shorter. Each has an enlarged, smooth band called the “clitellum” about two inches from its front end. The clitellum is an organ which secretes a viscous fluid, forming a sac in which eggs are held.
Nightcrawlers dig deep, vertical burrows from which they emerge to feed. This pattern is called “anecic” by worm scientists, while munching through the soil, as some other worms do, is called “endogeic.” Nightcrawlers are detritovores, eating decomposing vegetable matter, animal droppings, and some dead animals. They prefer leaves that are high in calcium and nitrogen.
Each earthworm has both male and female reproductive organs. Any two adults can mate, and they do, usually on or near the surface at night. Each one deposits a cocoon, generated by its clitellum, in the soil; four eggs is the usual number. The eggs hatch in two to three weeks.
Common earthworms have not been evaluated by IUCN. It is native to Europe and an introduced species in the United States. In some habitats, it is considered invasive. Its burrowing can affect the growth of some species of plants as well as creating lumps in turf. Predators of earthworms include ants, centipedes, birds, snakes, toads, carabid beetles, and nematode worms.
In some U.S. environments, earthworms out-compete native species of worms. Meanwhile, on the Atlantic coast of Europe, the New Zealand and Australian flatworms, predatory species, have drastically reduced the earthworm population.
Last summer we had barn owls in the country club behind our house. In case you are unfamiliar with their calls, here it is https://youtu.be/gLPJlu0Ac7c. One night they were particularly loud and seemingly close so we went out in our bare feet to see if we could see them in the trees. It was a particularly dewy night. When I stopped walking to point my phone light in the trees, I felt movement under my feet. I pointed my phone light to the ground and there were MILLIONS of worms on the fairway. EEEKKKK, gross, yucky. I have to admit, I am a "worm rescuer." You know the ones, they come onto the pavement after a rain and don't retreat back to the wet grass before the pavement dries. BC to the rescue (unless of course it's a parking lot and there are hundreds.)
😂 Great opening! So, as I read this I was trying to figure out whether or not they are a good or not so good thing to have in our gardens and yards. Mostly I’ve read that they’re good, and it’s grubs that cause most of the problems, like attracting moles and voles.
Thanks for the warning—good title, and I’m currently hearing something else today that started yesterday, and I don’t even know when I heard it!
I vaguely remember a child’s program I used to watch, and there were two earthworms that wore hats (I think) and sang. I’m thinking it might have been on Captain Kangaroo?
Good morning. The youth and I have a church event today, but they don't need to get up for another half hour or so. I've already been for my outdoor walk.
Sitting’ on the plane from O’Hare for Boston. Thunder there haven’t cancelled us…yet. I upgraded to extra leg room, plus no one took the middle seat. No babies with 5 rows, this flight had potential! 🤠. Looking at a 20 minute flight delay.
I had a 4 hour layover in O’Hare. I graded papers, so I was somewhat productive. I learned half of my students think group is a benefit to a group. One mistake I made. When discussing bounded rationality, I shared the story of Herbert Simon, always ordered grilled cheese for lunch, so he knew he didn’t have to look at the menu, but they would have it wherever he went. My students talked about always ordering one meal, the same, but for them, it was always about either being scared to try new things, etc. Simon simply wanted to save time.
Very discouraging one was the number of students who thought confirmation bias meant you should look up information to support your opinion. Sigh! 🙄
Pushing away, gotta go for now.
I feel a song coming on…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=D9G1VOjN_84
Yeah, we do use video games to fight “bad guys.” Like Minecraft. There are all those monsters in Minecraft, and they’re all trying to kill you. A perpetual quest for survival.
Since we don’t have to constantly push to survive these days, I guess people move to simulated survival.
Good morning!
Yesterday's rain has arrived. Nice, gentle, needed.
I have always loved to read. I loved historical fiction and read that almost exclusively. Johnny Tremaine, the Little House books, Caddy Woodlawn, Inglis Fletcher's Carolina series, Rifles for Watie, Johnny Reb, Little Women. The thing that has struck me recently is that the role of girls and women on the frontier necessarily included opportunities to do "boy" stuff: explore, be brave, discover, defend against the Enemy. None of this jeopardized one's status as a girl or disqualified a girl from liking pretty dresses.
I never read Fifteen or "Are You There God? It's me, Margaret". Not interested (although I have learned that there is substantially more to "Are you there God?" than girls experiencing their first menstrual cycle.)
The problem is that girls will read books about boys but boys won't read books about girls. Girls learned about both sexes, while boys learned about only one. (In recent years, there has been a move to write about friend groups made up of both boys and girls in order to engage both. The Origami Yoda series was pretty good at this.)
Last, I remember a new family moving in across the street when I was still in elementary school. They had two boys, one my age and one my brother's age. They wanted to play army and that was the weirdest thing to me; it was not within our realm of pretend. Perhaps because we were too individualistic and didn't like the idea of taking orders.
Enough. Everybody have a great day.
Lucy, you raised a question or two about the role of men and boys in modern society, and this morning I listened to a podcast that covered the subject—in discussion with Joyce Benenson. So, in case you listen to podcasts: https://www.keeptalkingpodcast.com/joyce-benenson/
Great! Thanks!
Do boys read books? I know men do, but do boys? I'm being a bit tongue in cheek but also, not many of the boys in my extended family have been interested in reading books.
I want to say that boys tend more to read comic books. If true, this is not necessarily a problem as long as it gets them reading.
My parents had no objection to my reading the occasional comic book--I'm a girl but I liked them too--as they knew I spent most of my available time reading actual books.
My brother devoured Mad Magazine as a teen.
I was not a reader as a youngster. But I’ve got an old friend who was a voracious reader even from his youth in the 60s. And I think our Jay Janney has been a lifelong voracious reader, too. IIRC, he’s always been at the fastest end of the spectrum of readers. He told about finishing the books in his public school library early on.
Tyler Cowan is another one who apparently has superhuman reading speed.
I’ve got a niece who has always read fast. She’s consistently at the top of her class in the number of books she’s read—and passes tests on the reading to prove it for credit. She read all the Harry Potter books between ages 10 and 11, if I’m not mistaken.
I’ve always thought I was above average in reading speed, but realize that’s about like we all tend to think we’re above average drivers. Still, I couldn’t ever hope to read at the pace of my niece or Jay or Tyler.
My father and brothers didn't but my nephews, son and son's friends all do.
I can confirm that I read the Percy Jackson books religiously when I was 9 or 10.
My spn a daughter both read those.
I have bought all Rick Rirordan books for Rick...he loves them, he hated reading when I met him, but, I found him books I knew he would enjoy and that changed everything for him.
My younger brothers read books, though different than what I rad mostly...It hink some boys do, some don't.
I studied girls closely, every chance I got.
My husband has always preferred hanging out with women rather than the guys. It just makes more sense to him.
ha ha
If we start with the premise that we were hunter/gatherers (male) or nurturers (female) and were so programmed, then does it not follow that when you change one of those roles things can get confused? We evolved (?) to think of going to work as being an H/G and expanded N to include shopping for food, which seems more like H/G to me. We further evolved (?) by including women in the workforce, albeit not as equals. So, were they then new HGs? If so, and why not, the line between male and female as defined by HG/N was blurred and is now blurred to the point of their being in competition for the same jobs (sometimes, and not necessarily fairly, but evolution is a slow process). While a statistically insignificant number of men are acting the role of Nurturer (stay at home dads), men are often more involved to the point of attending activities and meetings (though still not as often as it should be, IMO).
Is it any wonder that there is some confusion as the roles combine, cross and mix? Isn't it likely that our daily lives sometimes are in conflict with millennia of programming and, if so, this may add tension to our lives?
Since I had many, many jobs over the years, I’ve worked for both men and women. A lot of women will say they prefer one over the other, but I had good and bad experiences either way. I do think women tended to be more nurturing, but they could also be very petty. Men could be very aloof, but they could also be very encouraging. I remember one man I worked for in a temp position that I particularly liked. He hired me to help put together a book using one of the original publishing softwares (I think it was PageMaker). I didn’t have any experience with it, but I had briefly used something else, and I was honest with him when I interviewed for the job. I remember how much I appreciated his attitude (even though I wasn’t sure he was right)—don’t worry, you’re smart and you’ll figure it out. I don’t know how “smart” I was, but I did figure it out, and it was one of my favorite jobs.
I worked part time for a wonderfully eccentric university philosophy professor. She and her husband both had PhDs in philosophy, and both taught at the same school. She was also a student counselor. Working for her was an adventure in so many ways because she seemed to have no rules in particular. At one point we had to visit a couple of prisons to enroll “students” into basic programs like English and math. That was something I never expected. Her husband looked like Igor from “Young Frankenstein,” and their kids were out of control, wild. But talk about a truly nice person who inadvertently helped me get out of a truly awful marriage!
Life is an adventure! And, looking back, I have to say that I’m grateful for all the people I’ve encountered to some extent or another. Thank goodness there are two sexes, and most of time we complement one another, if we are willing to understand that there are differences.
I can't help notice that several have commented on how cool it is. A few weeks ago, we commented on how hot it was. I have an explanation and here it is. No, wait another second. Okay, here it is. Summer. Interestingly, it comes every year and in every summer there is at least one hot spell and one cooler spell. Now, I'm not denying climate change. Heck, I've seen it in my lifetime. However, I do wish Chicken Little would lower the volume a bit and spend more time and energy (pay attention, Fearless Leader) doing some serious study about how we affect the climate and how various proposals regarding energy production would affect the climate. But please, lower the volume, Chicken Little. Each summer it gets hot. Each summer it rains. Each summer has a cool spell and a dry spell and a wet spell. We do spelling every summer as well as in every other season. Tomorrow's weather will be seasonal and you can bet on that, weather you agree or not.
Am I alone in detecting a subtle trace of “Get off my lawn!” in your recent remarks?
in relation to the weather comment I made above, not at all. In my reply below, I took it as a general observation. But, in relation to the weather comment I made above, not at all. That has more to do with what is constructive study and what is unnecessary and unproductive (maybe counter-productive) screaming. No lawn involved there.
You'll have to ask others, but here's a lawn story for you. My oldest friend uses a leaf blower to clean his lawn. It's artificial turf. Seriously. Life in San Diego.
Well, here's an alternative thought from when I was young. I married a lovely black woman and my mother was worried about how her mother would deal with it. Now, I was her favorite grandchild and I wasn't worried about it at all, but it was a big event when my wife and grandmother met and...... it was a wonderful moment. You see, at 90, she understood what mattered in life. I was happy so she was happy for me and that was all that mattered. Perhaps my thought process is impacted by a sense of what matters, or realizing that much of what gets attention and publicity does not. I don't think this is a change for me, but perhaps it is, or has been without my noticing it. I have always been one to ask why we can't all just get along, so I don't think this is a shift, but maybe.
Reference material: https://youtu.be/TwYFRlkTOIw and https://youtu.be/5jnZMW8C6wA
More importantly, if we look back at history, we’ve had some pretty big climate changes! Jonah and a humorous piece on the craziness of the reactions people are having to everything related to climate. The people most concerned didn’t appreciate that at all.
I just happen to like it when things are a little cooler, but hot days do happen, and that’s fine as long as I don’t have to spend much time outside.
G’morning all! I’m gettin’ ready to time travel! 🤠
I have a 45 minute flight to Chicago, which is on central time. Do I’ll arrive before my departure time!
4 hour layover, then on to a conference in Boston. Thunderstorms in Boston, I hope I don’t get stranded at O’Hare. I sometimes call O’Hare “Afghanistan”, because it is where dreams (to arrive at your destination on time) go to die. The TSA agent didn’t find it amusing.
Good news, my travel was approved this morning at 9:05, departure 9:25. But as my wife likes to say, I really don’t wait till the last minute, I’m either 10 minutes late or two minutes early. 🤠
Doors closing on the plane so it is dangerous for me to pun. Goin’ to airplane mode.
You have to go west to go east.
Hope it’s a safe and uneventful trip to your final destination!
Anne, I thought you and Richard might find this helpful. Eric Westman explains the reasons for and against taking statins, as well as the meaning of blood cholesterol measurements. Dr. Westman is very well versed in the pros and cons, and has years of experience with the low-carb/keto diet and the whys and hows of its function. This was a free seminar on the subject, where it is normally a part of his “Adapt Your Life” (low carb) online academy.
https://www.youtube.com/live/Hagz7S7z8qM?feature=share
Oh thank you so much!!! He recently had his checked, and it has gone up some after discontinuing statins, but it’s still good! Mine is actually higher, but I think we both have a good diet (Richard’s is better than mine, but I’m still careful).
I followed the link, so it’s now in my history, and I also shared it with Richard. ❤️
Good morning. More "stuff"about Hunter Biden at the mothership. In this case, the "stuff is testimony from a Hunter business associate, which both sides claim proves their point but is actually inconclusive.
I find TGIF over at "The Free Press" to be much more interesting than TMD. Who doesn't want their news with a dose of humor and sarcasm?!
Yawn once again
Between Hunter and Donald, I’m worn out. Talk about two of the least worthy individuals sucking all the air out of the room.
Yes, and it has *nothing* to do with the sense that every time Hunter comes up it is to spit in the eye of Trump critics and whine "what about....!", or that every time Trump comes up it is to remind people to be outraged about something on both sides of the aisle and the condition of the world at large. Gah!
Hunter gets so much attention as an exercise in "whataboutism" by Trumpists. Hunter's problems are those of a private citizen engaged in drug abuse, porn and grifting foreign governments on the basis of his supposed "influence". I have no knowledge of Hunter Biden retaining highly classified documents, threatening state election officials, inciting riots or otherwise trying to overturn elections.
I know people who are convinced sr Biden can not be other than involved in Jr Biden's mess.
I get that. What I don't understand is not being able to see that that kind of corruption is run of the mill, at least pays lip service to the rule of law, whereas the former president's actions are more existential in nature.
Double Gah!! Wait, do we have to call in Lady G?
Good morning. Rain probable throughout the day. One hopes there are no heavy downpours.
With regard to today's topic: "She explained similarities between human and chimp behavior and the evolutionary reasons behind them."
I think the country's ripe for another Scopes Trial, no?
I’m up for a Scopes Trial—or any other audition, for that matter.
You just like monkeying around...
Here's a song for that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRTGxXXlCNI
I have many observations and opinions on the topic of the sexes, but, as others have observed, the most relevant comment on each item is, "Of course. Obviously."
Considering ways to engage male nature productively, one thing that comes to mind is freeing up the business environment to make it easier to start a business. The "enemy" is your competitors. Change the schooling expectations so that young men can more easily learn marketable skills, especially craft skills, and go into business with mentors in their field.
Or, if one wanted to approach the issue from an economically left-wing point of view, what about something like a kibbutz movement?
Intramural paintball, perhaps?
It would be great, but it's not a job unless you're the operator.
Right. I was thinking more along the lines of how to engage middle school/high school -aged boys.
We finished Season Two of "Clarkson's Farm" last night. In the beginning, you think the show is about a man who starts farming at age 59. By the end, you realize it's a show about the excessive government regulations in Britain. I thought the US was bad!
Yeah, pretty appalling with the runaway government. You wouldn’t think local government could be so tyrannical.
These are great ideas. I keep thinking of my youngest brother, who quit school his senior year (but did get his GED). He found a job with a man who repaired and installed bakery ovens, something my brother had never done before, but learned from this guy, on the job. When the company owner retired, my brother bought the business, and has been doing this ever since. He’s actually done very well for himself. This is exactly what he needed, and I wish it was easier to find these kinds of jobs.
Also, I think a lot of young people could benefit from apprenticeships. I wish I’d had that opportunity, and maybe I did, but just didn’t know where to look.
Maybe they just need to give them a new name to make them popular again. I dunno, blue-collar internships?
This blog’s fall-back purpose is to point out the obvious so as to annoy Josh.
Well, good morning to you too. It is not so much that I am annoyed as that I see it as a waste of time and resources.
Very on-brand.
I try.
Grumpiness suits you...
I put in the years to get to this point. Go put ribbons in your hair.
Yikes. Hello, HR, can you hear me?
You looking for Henry Rosenblum? He retired to FL (God help him).
And that's what makes it soooooo worthwhile.
A purpose and an Enemy. Very meta!
TSAF breaks the striking writers' picket line with all new content! On your feet children, and then down on your bellies to do the Nightcrawler, the latest TikTok dance craze!
Today’s special animal friend is the nightcrawler, Lumbricus terrestris. Also known as the common earthworm, it is part of the Annelid (segmented worms) phylum, not the Nematoda (roundworm) phylum. A phylum is a high taxonomic level, just below Kingdom (ours and worms’ is Animalia). Our phylum is Chordata, everything with any kind of spinal cord.
Earthworms are cylindrical, slightly flattened at the rear end. Their bodies can be brown, reddish brown, or gray. They can be up to ten inches long, but most are considerably shorter. Each has an enlarged, smooth band called the “clitellum” about two inches from its front end. The clitellum is an organ which secretes a viscous fluid, forming a sac in which eggs are held.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvYM_TEE2Y4
Nightcrawlers dig deep, vertical burrows from which they emerge to feed. This pattern is called “anecic” by worm scientists, while munching through the soil, as some other worms do, is called “endogeic.” Nightcrawlers are detritovores, eating decomposing vegetable matter, animal droppings, and some dead animals. They prefer leaves that are high in calcium and nitrogen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3TZ9hcgCvM
Each earthworm has both male and female reproductive organs. Any two adults can mate, and they do, usually on or near the surface at night. Each one deposits a cocoon, generated by its clitellum, in the soil; four eggs is the usual number. The eggs hatch in two to three weeks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjpo6OkuYy0
Common earthworms have not been evaluated by IUCN. It is native to Europe and an introduced species in the United States. In some habitats, it is considered invasive. Its burrowing can affect the growth of some species of plants as well as creating lumps in turf. Predators of earthworms include ants, centipedes, birds, snakes, toads, carabid beetles, and nematode worms.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4zhogVAuqc
In some U.S. environments, earthworms out-compete native species of worms. Meanwhile, on the Atlantic coast of Europe, the New Zealand and Australian flatworms, predatory species, have drastically reduced the earthworm population.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6a4AFbQ5Q4
Nightcrawlers are a popular fish bait:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3iSvWPusB0
Last summer we had barn owls in the country club behind our house. In case you are unfamiliar with their calls, here it is https://youtu.be/gLPJlu0Ac7c. One night they were particularly loud and seemingly close so we went out in our bare feet to see if we could see them in the trees. It was a particularly dewy night. When I stopped walking to point my phone light in the trees, I felt movement under my feet. I pointed my phone light to the ground and there were MILLIONS of worms on the fairway. EEEKKKK, gross, yucky. I have to admit, I am a "worm rescuer." You know the ones, they come onto the pavement after a rain and don't retreat back to the wet grass before the pavement dries. BC to the rescue (unless of course it's a parking lot and there are hundreds.)
😂 Great opening! So, as I read this I was trying to figure out whether or not they are a good or not so good thing to have in our gardens and yards. Mostly I’ve read that they’re good, and it’s grubs that cause most of the problems, like attracting moles and voles.
I remember going from one bar to another to another. I thought we were night crawlers.
And for us mildly dyslexic, here’s Vulfpeck with a song about an Earworm.
https://youtu.be/tA6GwfeDYyA
Thanks for the warning—good title, and I’m currently hearing something else today that started yesterday, and I don’t even know when I heard it!
I vaguely remember a child’s program I used to watch, and there were two earthworms that wore hats (I think) and sang. I’m thinking it might have been on Captain Kangaroo?
I like their little red hats.
Good morning. The youth and I have a church event today, but they don't need to get up for another half hour or so. I've already been for my outdoor walk.
Morning! Too wet here for bumbling around in the dark outside.
We have sidewalks and street lights.
We have hangry deer and, uh, The Enemy.
I saw a rabbit.
Did you tell Elmer?
Nope. I just said, "Good morning, rabbit," and it ignored me.