An online teaser in this week’s Science:
A 47-year study of great tits in Britain…
Disappointingly, the paper turned out to be about birds and climate change.
***
Report your own studies here.
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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
To the privileged, equality seems like oppression.
Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.
Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.
The words do not have to be perfect.
The “burn-it-down” people are good with that until they become part of the kindling.
Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?
American history and black history cannot be separated.
“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”
if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.
We are aware of all internet traditions.
Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.
One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.
The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.
So fucking stupid, and still doing a tremendous amount of damage.
Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.
There are times when telling just part of the truth is effectively a lie.
The National Guard is not Batman.
If you’re gonna whine, it’s time to resign!
“Alexa, change the president.”
President Musk and Trump are both poorly raised, coddled 8 year old boys.
You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.
You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.
We will not go quietly into the night; we will not vanish without a fight.
Stay strong, because they are weak.
Rex
The BBC headline for that story was Great Tits Cope Well with Warming which was a relief to me.
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7390109.stm
Krista
I wonder if the copy editor managed to keep a straight face.
Those cheeky, cheeky Brits.
nightjar
Birds don’t have tits, do they?
jake
Intrest in ornithology and the environement among males aged 11 – 110 increased by eleventy million percent today …
4tehlulz
TITS OR GTFO
RSA
Back when I worked in a restaurant, the cooks would announce that a chicken breast-based dish was ready to be served by calling out, “Chicken tits up!”
El Doh
In parts of the UK, where the study’s apparently from, “bird” used to be (is?) slang for a woman — q.v. “chick”.
So…
Dreggas
Nah here’s a headline:
Center for underaged camel jockeys opens
frogspawn
I believe the original headline atop this Beeb article was “Nude Playboy Airwoman Faces Probe”; it was up briefly on the morning of Sat, Jan 13 2007 before they changed it.
Just Some Fuckhead
I’m sure great should be modifying Britain here.
nightjar
Sounds like an upscale diner. Mel’s Chicken Tit SPECIAL
joe
A 47-year study of great tits in Britain…
…found that they droop after a while?
El Doh
It’s the name of a bird. There’s also a Blue Tit and a Coal Tit and quite a lot of others.
Scott H
Sure, only the great tits get the attention and concern.
HumboldtBlue
Cliff Schecter just finished a study of the west’s biggest dicks, needless to say, he wrote a piece about the modern GOP.
El Doh
Well, it is the place where “The Sun” is from — page 3 and all that.
nightjar
Oh, OK , like the Bushtit here where I live. And no that’s not a joke about the commanderguy.
SamFromUtah
A 47-year study of great tits in Britain…
Rupert Murdoch made the last 39 years of it easier with that whole Page 3 thing.
Dreggas
I saw a pair of blue tits once before someone undid the rope binding them. Come to think of it they were purple tits.
ThymeZone
Oh man. When I saw the title, I thought, okay, no websurfing tonight, I found the material I was looking for.
And then wham! It’s about birds.
Another gigantic letdown. Thanks a lot.
JGabriel
Scott H.:
Oddly, they had trouble getting volunteers for the study on witches tits.
.
JGabriel
Thymezone:
It’s rude to brag.
.
AkaDad
That was udderly fascinating.
Krista
Ow. Goddamn, dude.
Dreggas
That’s not what she was saying. Actually it didn’t really hurt her, it just was some heavy tying that restricted circulation for a bit. Not even any clips or needles.
D-Chance.
Birds still fly south for the winter; ergo, it must still get cold up north. Although there’s nothing wrong with tits in the winter.
w vincentz
I’m devastated!
Here I’ve been spending endless hours constructing teeny tiny bras that would fit under the wings of these cute little birds, and now I find that they don’t have tits!
Think of what can be learned at Balloon Juice!
Back to my next invention, athletic supporters for GOP DICKS.
What? They don’t have them either?
Dreggas
Yeah though it does get a tit bit nipply in the winter.
Dreggas
Yeah though it does get a tit bit nipply in the winter.
Keith
Elizabeth Hurley has the greatest British tits, IMO
ed
That’s cold.
ThymeZone
Well, everything is relative …
Fulcanelli
Keeley Hazell.
End of story.
w vincentz
Keith,
Two words:
B-a-r-b-a-r-a W-a-l-t-e-r-s.
Or, for those that don’t read as fast as I type, I’ll say it:
Bawbwa Wahltuz
Notorious P.A.T.
Darn, I was hoping for a Lucy Pinder update.
D-Chance.
Fat liberal slob Bernie Ward… g’bye.
Between the falling-down drunk Randi Rhodes on the East Coast and pedophile Bernie Ward on the West, it appears the pickings among liberal talking heads are getting slimmer by the day.
Brachiator
There must be some junior high school science class where a student with a wicked sense of humor is asking some earnest teacher, “Can we talk about the effect of Global warming on Great Tits?”
And thanks to Wikipedia, one can learn that the Great Tit is Parus Major. Strangely enough, although the Japanese Tit — also known as the Oriental Tit — is Parus Minor, it is not known as the Lesser Tit.
The Wikipedia article also has such great lines as the following (Great Tit):
And of course, the best reference book on Tits is Tits, Nuthatches and Treecreepers.
protected static
I found it kind of brassy, myself…
jake
Depending on where he is he’d either be suspended, expelled or handed over to the cops under the school’s Zero Tolerance for Humor policy.
Best literary reference to a tit goes to Richard Adams (I think from The Plague Dogs): “The great tit is ringing in its tree!”
In the U.S. they’re called titmice which says something really unpleasant about our attitude towards tits and mice.
Keith
What does Barbara Walters have to do with British tits? I know she’s sorta topical right now, but she’s about 75 and AMERICAN
Mike
On a tree by a river a little tom-tit
Sang “Willow, titwillow, titwillow!”
And I said to him, “Dicky-bird, why do you sit
Singing Willow, titwillow, titwillow’?”
“Is it weakness of intellect, birdie?” I cried,
“Or a rather tough worm in your little inside?”
With a shake of his poor little head, he replied,
“Oh, willow, titwillow, titwillow!”
He slapped at his chest, as he sat on that bough,
Singing “Willow, titwillow, titwillow!”
And a cold perspiration bespangled his brow,
Oh, willow, titwillow, titwillow!
He sobbed and he sighed, and a gurgle he gave,
Then he plunged himself into the billowy wave,
And an echo arose from the suicide’s grave —
“Oh, willow, titwillow, titwillow!”
Now I feel just as sure as I’m sure that my name
Isn’t Willow, titwillow, titwillow,
That ’twas blighted affection that made him exclaim
“Oh, willow, titwillow, titwillow!”
And if you remain callous and obdurate, I
Shall perish as he did, and you will know why,
Though I probably shall not exclaim as I die,
“Oh, willow, titwillow, titwillow!”
Brachiator
In the US, they’re also called chickadees, which says something really pleasant about our attitude towards dees and chicks.
And titmouse goes back to 14th century Old English, not anything particularly American (Tit (bird)):
Xenos
Dreggas-
I finally narrowed it down as to what manner of queer bird you are –
Either the Agile Tit Tyrant, or the Lesser Tit Tyrant. (couldn’t ge the link to work for the book on Columbian Birds, sorry)
Some direct observation might be neccesary to peg you correctly, but I am not up for that sort of intensive fieldwork!
Notorious P.A.T.
I just can’t resist:
celebparasite.com/1958/Lucy_pinder_is_gorgeous_in_these_sexy_photoshoots.html
b-psycho
Funny, since the phrase “nice tits” today refers to big ones.
I wonder how quickly I’d get slapped if I said to a large-breasted woman who happened to be a bird enthusiast that I was curious how her great tits would feel in my hands…