Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

All hail the time of the bunny!

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

Museums are not America’s attic for its racist shit.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

Second rate reporter says what?

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

T R E 4 5 O N

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

Disappointing to see gov. newsom with his finger to the wind.

Every decision we make has lots of baggage with it, known or unknown.

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

You are here: Home / Nature & Respite / Birdwatching / Saturday Evening Open Thread

Saturday Evening Open Thread

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This gorgeous oriole was hanging out in our bottle-brush tree a little while ago:

Here’s Mrs. Oriole, thinking “But I’M the pretty one, damn it!” (She is, too.)

And here’s the pair in the same frame:

Are y’all having a pleasant evening? I hope so.

I got caught in the rain while out riding my motorcycle earlier today. That sucked! It hadn’t rained here in quite a while, so the roads were as slick as owl shit. Had to take it easy on the way home, which was thankfully not far away.

In other news, the time change happens in the wee hours tomorrow. Here’s the most pleasant take on that I’ve seen:

Looks like we Floridians won’t ever have to give that hour back to the orange fart cloud presidency either; the state legislature passed a law to keep us on Daylight Saving Time forevah!

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

107Comments

  2. 2.

    eclare

    Lovely photos! Just started on Season One of Atlanta, Donald Glover is so talented. I lived there for fourteen years, and it was filmed there, so it’s interesting to see places and hear references.

  3. 3.

    Corner Stone

    I remember one time myself and a friend were heading out I-10 and saw a storm rolling in from the west. We exited, u-turned back on to I-10 and did about 120mph (or so) the whole way to stay ahead of that monster. The last thing I wanted was to be on a motorcycle on a highway with fresh spatter so that all the oils come to the surface. Nightmare fuel.

  4. 4.

    trollhattan

    Orioles are really fetching, nothing that exotic visits our urban weedpatch, although we do have a bottlebrush (which hummers love, of course).

    Something to ponder with your bike–factory tyres are usually lowest-bid choices and swapping with a good set with fresh, hydrophillic rubber can make a yuge difference in handling and braking, dry and wet. Tyres and helmet are your two most important investments.

  5. 5.

    Corner Stone

    Are y’all having a pleasant evening?

    Not really. My son is supposed to go camping with my ex-MIL and ex-FIL this week but ex-MIL keeps upping the ante in attempts to control his behavior, or he won’t get to go. Probably just going to stay home waiting for him to get fed up with her shit.

  9. 9.

    Major Major Major Major

    What a bizarre law.

    WHEREAS, the State of Florida is known as the “Sunshine State,” and
    WHEREAS, as the “Sunshine State,” Florida should be kept sunny year-round, NOW, THEREFORE,

    Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

    If the United States Congress amends 15 U.S.C. s. 260a to authorize states to observe daylight saving time year-round, it is the intent of the Legislature that daylight saving time shall be the year-round standard time of the entire state and all of its political subdivisions.

    Second question: why the hell would you observe offset time all year, instead of not observing offset time all year?

  11. 11.

    efgoldman

    @trollhattan:

    Orioles are really fetching, nothing that exotic visits our urban weedpatch

    The Oriole that spends the summer in the maple tree outside my den window hasn’t come back yet this year. He sings and sings and sings, but as far as i know he is still mateless. I think he may have been blown off course to our yard in a storm and keeps coming back.

  15. 15.

    Humdog

    Regarding the Balloon Juice Calendar, the photos were roughly 75% cat and 25% dog. Do you suppose that is the actual ratio of cat to dog owners here at the Juice, or that cat people are also photo takers and timely submissions people? I figured there were more dog owners here, but those commentsers’ bark may just be louder.

  17. 17.

    trollhattan

    @Corner Stone:
    Once took my bike camping in the Sierra Nevada, off CA 88. A storm rolled in next day and I really didn’t want to cross back over that pass, or those to the north, during a downpour so headed south on 395 to try and do a southern end-around. Well sir, that storm was fvcking huge and rather than tempt fate with Tioga–the southernmost pass I went up over Sonora (9,624 ft) instead. Shee-yit. Rained hard enough a half-inch of water was sheeting across the road, which seem 1.5 lanes wide for long winding stretches. After some point I realized I could not possibly get any wetter and also had to leave my visor up because I couldn’t stop it from fogging over. Just rode on trying to keep my shivering from steering me off the road.

    Finally exited the rain in the foothills and stopped in the thriving burg of Copperopolis to wring out. Tavern I stopped at didn’t have coffee so I asked for the red wine she said they had, figuring it could warm me up at least a little. I should have known they’d keep the jug in the fridge, alongside the beer. Hard to believe the size the pool that formed under my barstool.

  18. 18.

    trollhattan

    @Humdog:
    Based on my photo forum experience about half of new lens or camera purchases lead to “First shots” posts of cats. They’re just around. They also sleep 85% of the time.

  20. 20.

    Jager

    We have plenty of birds up in the canyon, Our favorites are the owls. Mrs J’s terrific grandmother loved owls and collected owl things her entire life. When we hear the owls calling to each other as they track down their evening meals, one or both of us will say, “Hi Grandma.” Mrs J’s grandmother took me aside when Mrs J and I started to get serious and told me, “She’s been bossy ever since she started to talk, I think you need to know that.” Gladys was a wise old bird.

  21. 21.

    p.a.

    I can’t wait until New England is on Atlantic time: the first step in our union with Canuckistan. C U later, trumpsters!

  26. 26.

    trollhattan

    @efgoldman:
    Aww, he needs a friend!

    We’ve acquired a lone phoebe, probably drawn to the koi pond, who likes to perch on our antenna and grab bugs, so I’m objective pro-phoebe. Have yet to get a single decent picture, as he/she is skittish and keeps their distance.

    I assume the Youngs are asking “What’s an ‘antenna?'”

  27. 27.

    Villago Delenda Est

    With any luck, by November we won’t have to get back the lost hour of Trump this weekend.

  28. 28.

    Corner Stone

    @Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady):

    Florida is surprisingly far west–about on a longitude with Michigan or Chicago.

    I’m in Houston which is basically a straight shot to Chicago north. It takes me 9 hours of driving to get to the western edge of FL.
    ETA Hmmm, looking at a map it seems you are right. FL does extend further west than I had considered.

  29. 29.

    Yarrow

    @NotMax: Don’t we now spend more of the year in Daylight Savings Time than we do in Standard Time? Why isn’t DST now Standard Time and Standard Time something like Bleak, Dreary Time?

  30. 30.

    trollhattan

    @Jager:
    I’d put up owl boxes if I though we could attract them. Maybe they could get some rats since the neighborhood cats don’t seem up to the task. Hearing their call while camping (me, since owls don’t camp) makes me giddy.

  37. 37.

    Corner Stone

    @trollhattan:

    Hard to believe the size the pool that formed under my barstool.

    Sounds like there’s a Trump + Golden Showers joke in there somewhere.

  38. 38.

    evodevo

    @Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): Hard to say … the Ivory Coast and Gambia, as well as Nigeria, were the jumping off point for the Middle Passage, but exactly what tribes most of the slaves came from would be hard to pinpoint. Arab slavers (who had been operating in the region for a thousand years) kidnapped their prey in northern Nigeria, Mali and other spots in and south of the Sahel, then sold them on to centers on the Gambian river and other spots. The vast majority went to Brazil and the Caribbean. Only a tenth or so ended up in the US, sometimes by way of Caribbean plantations.

  39. 39.

    Yarrow

    @NotMax: That could easily be changed.

    Betty, have you seen this?

    Kayakers face terror on the river: ‘This is one renegade otter.’

    For Marsha Wikle, it should have been a typical Sunday afternoon, paddling downstream along the Braden River in Manatee County.

    Wikle said she was taking in the sights, leading a kayaking excursion in a “very quiet section” of the river, when they encountered something familiar to many visiting Florida’s freshwater areas: a river otter.

    But this was no ordinary otter.

    The rogue — and possibly rabid — animal attacked a 77-year-old Sarasota woman. It also menaced the kayakers as they attempted to make their way on shore. And that wasn’t the only otter attack reported this weekend on the river, which is east of Interstate 75.

    The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is investigating a second attack in which two individuals were bitten by an otter the day before, on Saturday, two miles from Wikle’s encounter.

    The otter also was reported to be chasing boats and acting aggressive, according to FWC.

  41. 41.

    Fair Economist

    @WereBear:

    Visitors bring money, citizens cost money.

    What about having DST only hotels and tourist spots? The tourists aren’t going to care when the students get on the buses. Call it “Visitor Saving Time”.

    The move runs counter to a lot of education research indicating kids, especially teenagers, learn better if school starts later.

  42. 42.

    p.a.

    @trollhattan: After the Superb Owl and Butler benching, there are actual anti-Belichick noises coming from the local fandom; that’s about the equivalent of Hannity saying something anti-trump.

  47. 47.

    Heidi Mom

    Lovely photos! Baltimore orioles are my favorite bird, and I look for them every spring. Didn’t see any last year, but saw a pair in 2016.

  50. 50.

    Mnemosyne

    @trollhattan:

    There are some species of owl that are native to So Cal, so I’m assuming you could probably attract some.

    One thing the organizations that make owl boxes make you do is go around to all of your neighbors and make sure they stop poisoning rodents for at least a month (I think) before you install the box. Otherwise, you end up poisoning the owls, which is counterproductive, to say the least.

  53. 53.

    Fair Economist

    @Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD):

    I read somewhere that 1/3 of black Americans can trace their roots to what is now-present day Nigeria. Is that true?

    IDK, but some googling indicates it’s plausible:

    historical documents show that the Igbo and Yoruba are two of the 10 most frequent ethnicities in slave trade records

    Those two ethnicities are primarily from Nigeria, and there are other ethnicities from there too.

  55. 55.

    Fair Economist

    @WereBear:

    How about starting school later? I agree, studies now show teens’ brains want them to sleep late.

    Could be done although there are logistical problems with starting school at, say, 10 AM (=9AM normal time), for families where both parents work full time.

  58. 58.

    Fair Economist

    @Corner Stone:

    Let’s just say it: weather.com is the most garbage ass website out there.

    Weather Underground is by far my favorite of the big weather sites. I think the fact that of the big weather sites they were the one with the least commercial origin (started as a blog) is no coincidence.

  59. 59.

    Betty Cracker

    @NotMax: I believe they also roped the FL Panhandle into Eastern time in the same bill. Fine by me. It always annoyed me to wait for their polls to close to get election returns.

  60. 60.

    Catherine D.

    My pet peeve about DST is that “you get another hour of daylight” Oh, when did earth’s travel around the sun change by fiat to make the day longer?

    Also cranky because I’m trying to move my cell number to a new carrier, which has been a stop-motion process.

  61. 61.

    eclare

    @WereBear: Agree totally. Where I live, high school starts at 7 AM, which is insane. Coworker’s daughter catches the bus at something like 6:25 AM, as a teenager!

    When I was in high school a million years ago, it started at 8:30.

  64. 64.

    NotMax

    @Betty Cracker

    Doing that requires Congressional approval. See: Idaho south of the Salmon River. Different time zone from the rest of the state from 1918 until made to match by Congress in 2007.

  65. 65.

    Betty Cracker

    @raven: My husband is watching it. If I ever actually go to a tournament, I’m going to be tempted to take a divot out of the assholes who bellow “GET IN THE HOLE!!!” after every shot. Drives me nuts!

  69. 69.

    Corner Stone

    @Betty Cracker:

    assholes who bellow “GET IN THE HOLE!!!” after every shot. Drives me nuts!

    That only started a few years ago. IMO, with the new crowd Tiger drew in to tournaments. For years there was a tourny in AZ that Phil always played where the entire crowd was egged on to be loud and rowdy. But every other venue was more toned down. I don’t have any sympathy for the players but I agree, it’s assholes all the way down.

  70. 70.

    WaterGirl

    I just have to say that the previous thread about kid’s music is possibly the first BJ thread I have ever seen that has stayed on topic. At least through #167 which is where it is now. Amazing.

  71. 71.

    opiejeanne

    @Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): CA overdid the Year Round DST by imposing double DST, a two hour difference in the dead of winter. That was when my son walked to school in the dark, except he didn’t because I drove him. That would have been Jimmy Carter’s presidency because of where we lived at the time.

  72. 72.

    Amir Khalid

    Liverpool lost at Manchester United so that part of my weekend sucked. On the other hand, I’m making satisfying progress with learning to play Born To Run — which is a bit more complicated than, say, Rocking in The Free World or Rock and Roll or Hey Hey My My.

    I’m watching an MSNBC clip in which Maddow reports on the FBI beginning to seize assets bought with the billions embezzled from 1MDB. She mentions one particular Malaysian a lot, but for some reason doesn’t try to pronounce his not-at-all-tricky name, which is Najib Abdul Razak.

  78. 78.

    Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)

    @evodevo: @Fair Economist: My paternal aunt’s DNA test came back half-Nigerian and half-Scottish, so at least my father’s line is from one of the tenth (Continental US on my grandfather’s side, Jamaican on my grandmother’s). The test seems to have missed a German direct ancestor who entered my grandfather’s line the same time Scottish blood entered my grandmother’s.

  81. 81.

    Mnemosyne

    @NotMax:

    I’m drinking a hot chocolate from their fancy machine. It’s not terrible. All the morning snacks are long gone, though.

    And since this is blue CA, we have HGTV on, not Fox News.

  82. 82.

    opiejeanne

    @Mnemosyne: We had two varieties of owls that we heard when we lived in Riverside and there were rare reports of barn owls in the area. The two we know of were Great Horned Owls and Screech Owls. The Great Horned had deep booming voices and the screech owls made a funny hooting sound that was a pattern of high-pitched hoots, getting faster and faster, like the pattern of a marble dropped on something hard as it loses momentum.

  83. 83.

    John Revolta

    This ties in with the last thread! When my little guy was maybe 5 years old he used to love my old Bobby Day record “Rockin’ Robin”.
    He especially liked the “tweedly-deedly deet” parts and the part where “He out-bopped the buzzard and the oriole!”

  86. 86.

    Corner Stone

    @Eric S.: I believe that is the Black Crested BellyButton Lint Picker.
    Some varieties are referred to as Navel Gazing Fuzzy Lint Picker.

  92. 92.

    Don

    Being permanently on Eastern Daylight Time is the same as being on Atlantic Standard Time and not observing DST. This would put Florida in the same time zone as lots of the Caribbean, who also don’t observe DST. The Bahamas currently are in Eastern time and they follow DST; I wonder if they’d follow suit and jump to AST all year?

  93. 93.

    David Evans

    @Baud:

    One person today has over 1 million ancestors 400 years ago.

    And by extension, one person today has over 1 trillion ancestors 800 years ago.
    Which is impossible. Clearly there was a lot of cousin marriage going on.

  94. 94.

    jl

    ” I got caught in the rain while out riding my motorcycle earlier today. ”

    Young lady, I told you to be careful with that damn motorcycle. You’ll put your eye out with that thing. You’re grounded.

  95. 95.

    Another Scott

    @Eric S.: It looks like some kind of shore bird (not unexpected since Indiana has lots of sand dunes near the Lake, and it’s not that far from Chicago). Maybe some kind of Sandpiper but I can’t see one that exactly matches. (The horizontal stripes on the head should help you find a match if you look long enough.)

    HTH a little!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  96. 96.

    Brachiator

    We’re having a little rain here in Southern California. It was expected, but Friday (and Saturday morning) was so nice and dry that the contrast is a bit of a downer. But I’m sitting outside in the dry area of a cafe and watching a couple of kids have fun dealing with the weather. Amazing how little things can make kids giggle.

    Reminder to those with TCM. The delightful 1932 comedy Trouble in Paradise shows on March 11. Definitely worth watching.

    ETA. Also fun watching the crowds come out for A Wrinkle in Time. A very strong contingent of father’s with daughters. And quite a number of book lovers among the kids, who are reading a favorite novel while they wait to go in for the feature.

    A pleasant diversion from having to think about Trump.

  100. 100.

    Rob

    @Eric S.: American Woodcock (your bird) often show up in urban situations during migration time, plopping down in any old place in cities.

  101. 101.

    NotMax

    Changing the time was a helluva lot easier when the house had maybe 2 or 3 clocks. Nowadays everything but the kitchen sink has a freaking time display. And figuring out how to change the time on some car clocks takes several advanced degrees.

  102. 102.

    Brachiator

    @NotMax:

    Changing the time was a helluva lot easier when the house had maybe 2 or 3 clocks.

    Most of my devices, mainly my smartphones and a couple of tablets, change automatically. I have a travel alarm clock I use frequently that changes to DST, but does it on a weird schedule, either on Tuesday or Thursday.

    I had some portable device that was ridiculously difficult to adjust, so I would just leave the time setting alone.

    But I remember the bad old days when I had a VCR that would mock me when I tried to change the time.

  103. 103.

    NotMax

    @Brachiator

    One of the VCRs in the abode has a recessed button for the clock that is so tiny a leprechaun would struggle to get a fingernail in there to press it. We don’t change time here but after an outage it is a royal pain. Using the auto-set time function never works, it ends up off by 4 and a half hours (for whatever arcane reason).

  104. 104.

    Gvg

    I like daylight savings time and prefer the time change. In the winter it’s too dark for me or kids. In the summer I love the extra daylight to work in the garden and getting up earlier is tiring for a week or so but that’s small annoyance compared to the benefits. Grumbles have been increasing the last decade but if it goes through I expect a lot of blowback. I didn’t think it would and have lots of other important issues to worry about now but I will not be happy with this dumb move.
    Time change is useful and is an adaption to real daylight length change with the seasons. It’s practical.

  107. 107.

    Albatrossity

    Betty, those are actually two male Baltimore Orioles; the female would not have nearly that much black on the head. They could be a couple, depending on what is legal in Florida these days.

    Nice to see some migrants headed north!

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