Here’s a European starling basking in the morning sun while perched in our bamboo stand earlier today:
According to the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (whose officers my father derisively calls “bunny sheriffs”), these starlings are a “nuisance species” that are a “serious competitor with native species for tree cavities, often aggressively evicting other species…”
Sucks for our local woodpeckers, but I think the starlings are beautiful too.
Anyhoo, everything is terrible, so please feel free to discuss whatever since this is an open thread.
Corner Stone
Speaking of everything is terrible, I wish Joe Biden would STFU and go away. Please to be stopping with the advice to Democrats, sir.
Corner Stone
Also too, apropos of everything terrible, is it just me that finds the public floating of various excuses and cover up plans for Khashoggi’s murder to be really odd? Now we know who they’re going to blame it on before the blaming starts?
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Corner Stone: They’re testing them out to see what flies.
I like Biden but he’s not helping.
eclare
This is coincidental…I just started watching Ozark, I’m on Episode 7, Season 1 (No Spoilers please!), and the younger son has become obsessed with how much damage European starlings do. I don’t know if the numbers in the show are accurate, but even if only half that, wow. Damage to livestock, agriculture, etc. They also are strangely attracted to airplanes.
And btw, Ozark is really good. All of the casting is perfect, plot is solid, and the dialogue crackles.
ruemara
If it’s any consolation, I like starlings, too.
Just a wee bit upset I didn’t get my forest ranger elf wenchy dress thingymabob when it was $9 and now it’s $32. But I got elf ear in semi-sorta the right skinshade, so there’s that. I don’t think I’ve really ever spent money on a costume before. I mean, I dress like a toddler or an elf on general principle.
@Corner Stone: They’re just throwing shit at the wall to see which one the media will help stick.
chris
Heh. Nova Scotia crime wave. Never happened to me, dammit!
Mary G
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Uncle Joe needs to STFU. His time is over. It’s a tragedy that the world ignored Saudi Arabia’s destruction of Yemen so MBS could play soldier with all the expensive toys he bought from us, and Obama’s greatest sin is letting them do it for three years. If they get away with the murder of Khashoggi in such a blatant way, Dog only knows what boundaries they’ll push next, maybe public beheadings of the women activists they rounded up. Kushner is now floating the “it’ll blow over” attitude to keep his BFF safe. It’s just vile.
germy
cope
Literally seconds before reading this post, I was shooting pics of a hummingbird at the feeder outside the window behind our computer desk. Shooting through first a dirty screen and window then shooting through just a dirty window, dealing with the stoopid autofocus and my shaky grip and, the final nail in the coffin, the furshlugginer camera was still in “Manual Mode” from last night when I tried to shoot the Moon and Mars dancing through Capircornus. Results: lousy bird pics. My astro pics were nothing to speak of either, maybe next time.
Live and learn, live and learn…as much living as I have done, I would like to think I learned more.
jeffreyw
@eclare: Agree on Ozark, we eagerly await season 3.
catclub
@Mary G:
The Trump clan has LOT more experience in this than most people. All the evidence I have seen is that he will be right in this case.
As Mr Barnum might say, you won’t go far wrong assuming the media has the attention span of a flea, especially if you keep showing them new outrages.
Schlemazel
I picked up a book at a used book place, “Runaway Slaves” by John Hope Franklin and Loren Schweninger.
Just read the first chapter which is a mish-mash of a hundred stories of defiant slaves that has me alternately crying and sick to my stomach. “Big Jim” who openly defied his master and even beat his overseers would be whipped but would violently curse his master as soon as they cut him down. Slaves who beat or killed masters knowing full well what it meant for them. Many stories of attempted uprisings that ended in death for the men and women of courage.
This is a troubling but great companion piece to the diary of the slave owner I read 4 years ago. In that one he mildly argue whether it is better to whip or paddle defiant slaves. The banality of evil
Schlemazel
@germy:
To bad they didn’t kill each other instead
debit
@germy: Just taking part in the long tradition of empty barrels making the most noise.
catclub
@cope:
We get too soon old, … and too late smart.
C Stars
I keep reading stories about how Rick Scott in FL is even MORE corrupt than was previously known, and has been engaging in possibly illegal payola/campaign financing schemes right up to, like yesterday. Floridian Jackals, what’s the tone like down there? I’ve never been to Florida but always been curious about it. Everyone I’ve ever known who is either from Florida or lives there now is unquestionably progressive, i.e. not just progressive but actually a member of a minority/protected group… which perhaps says more about me than the state itself, but I’ve always found it curious that it’s such a razor’s edge come election time, given that the population is so diverse.
Also, the red tide issue there sounds disgusting and quite clearly the result of Scott’s policies. Do any of these things (corruption, environmental degradation) stick to him, in local media coverage? Are people really going to vote for him? Why on earth….?
PaulWartenberg
personally feeling a lot overwhelmed at the moment. trying to juggle two jobs in one at the library. stressing over getting prepped for NaNo and the upcoming FWA RPLA gala this weekend. Losing mental focus on everything.
Mary G
Rooting for injuries:
Somebody needs to record one of these with their iPhone and give it to WaPo. The cussing was probably epic.
@germy: Sorry, I missed that you had already posted this, because, yes I type that slowly.
Corner Stone
@germy: Why would John Bolton resign? He’s supposedly maneuvering quite well against all his enemies in the admin, and if left unTrumped for a few more months may have the US in his favorite position – a War Footing.
Also too, John Kelly is a piece of shit.
BruceFromOhio
@germy: Heh. My money is on Kelly, a KO in six.
HeleninEire
Betty I am at the final of the GBBO series 2. NO SPOILERS!! I am so happy that I found this. Like you said last night, it is calming and makes me stop thinking about the fucking fact that the fucking President of the United States of America is a party in covering a murder because the murderers give him money.
OK back to MaryAnn, Holly, and Jo. SHHHH no spoilers! :) Oh wait. Is that a spoiler?
WaterGirl
@catclub: They might be right, if it wasn’t a Washington Post reporter who was tortured and murdered. I think that might be the only thing that saves us.
BruceFromOhio
Autumn is in progress, with some cold, frosty mornings and spectacular sunsets. The trees haven’t all caught on yet – the burning bushes are burning and the locust has dumped it’s load of leaves, but the bigger trees are still hanging in there. I’ve been fortunate to ride the motorcycle to work every day this week, testing out the layers I’ll need for a run out of San Francisco the week after Thanksgiving. MrsFromOhio and I have been spending quiet, relaxing evenings at home all week, and it feels like we’ve hit our stride after a major remodel this summer.
if the two-bit ratfuck soulless criminals running my country into the ground would all just spontaneously croak, why, things would be downright pleasant.
jharp
I hate fucking starlings.
In the fall they congregate in large flocks here in the north.
I’d like to see a bounty put on their heads. Give the gun nuts something constructive to do.
My guess is a well placed ambuscade with a few shooters could easily bag 10 birds per hunter within a few seconds.
Mikeindublin
History of their introduction is crazy. Some guy loved em so much he introduced them and now they’re spreading. They rly are destructive and flock sometimes in the 1000’s creating amazing displays in the sky. I think a Planet Earth had an episode of them above Rome. I’d see them at certain times of the year in the sky above Stuttgart Germany from my rooftop apt.
WaterGirl
A reminder for anyone who might be interested:
Beto has a one hour town hall tonight — Cruz declined the corresponding town hall that CNN offered him.
Tonight 7pm ET, 6 pm central. I requested a thread for the town hall; hoping we et one!
Mnemosyne
@Schlemazel:
Along those same lines, you might be interested in reading Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation, by Frances Kemble. She was an English actress who married a wealthy American in Philadelphia, only to discover that they would have to spend part of each year on his plantation in Georgia, which was the source of his family’s wealth. She has an outsider’s view of the whole thing, which is very valuable.
kindness
The English brought Startlings and Sparrows over with them when they came because they ‘missed’ them from back home. Damn morons. Sparrows actively kill babies of other species in the nest. It doesn’t bother me when my cat comes in with one. If it is still alive and healthy I remove it from the cat and set it free outside though.
Schlemazel
@Corner Stone:
Bolton is a survivor. My guess is he will successfully knife anyone who crosses him. That he is at odds with hair furor’s bullshit shield is a great thing for the continued cannibalization of the current shit show. Ones does not become a 4 star without slitting throats of people more qualified so at least it is a fight amongst equals. With any luck they destroy each other in their quest for power
oatler.
@jharp: I used to park under a tree in which starlings roosted. Not a fan. I remember trying to wash my car there and it looked like The Birds parody in “High Anxiety”.
Ocotillo
Those European Starlings sound like some other Europeans that showed up on these shore about 400 years or so ago.
Schlemazel
@Mnemosyne:
THANKS! I will look that up. I am an ACW buff & have read over 200 books on the subject but there are so few about the everyday lives of owners and slaves. We simply have to put an end to the lie that the slaves were happy, that the owners actually cared about them and that the slaves accepted their lot.
Jay
@jharp:
A pair of Starlings were brought to the America’s by a nut who wanted New York City to have all of the birds mentioned in Shakespeare.
There have been many attempts to eradicate Starlings in North America, all have had massive unintended consequences and most simply contributed to their spread.
The only way to reduce Starling populations is to have a time machine, go back and kill the Shakespeare fan, then go back in time even further and prevent the loss/extinction of the bird populations who’s ecological niche the Starlings have filled or outcompeted native species to fill.
dmsilev
@cope: I’ve been having reasonable luck photographing the hummingbirds at my feeder using a fairly fast shutter speed (1/1600 works well; gives just a bit of blur to the wings to keep a sense of motion) and a 300 mm lens.
Here’s a sampler
El Caganer
@Ocotillo: Can you hear the lambs screaming, Clarice?
ruemara
Look when we’re all under bridges roasting starlings, you’ll be happy they exist then. So STOP COMPLAINING AND START EATING.
JPL
@WaterGirl: Please post updates, since I’ll be going to a middle school to listen to the orchestra perform. Finch’s walker plays the bass.
Gelfling 545
@Mary G: Maybe they could have a Hamilton/Burr meeting to settle it.
Beth in VA
Your bamboo stand may also be terrible, if it is one of the invasive kinds.
Schlemazel
@Jay:
the fucking robins are not native. drove out natives including robins and bluebirds. fuck the folks who came here, refused to enjoy the local things that made it special and insisted it have the same shit as the place they could not wait to be rid of.
JPL
@dmsilev: Yes you have, those are great. General Stuck was able to capture some amazing pictures of hummers, also.
Doug R
Descendants of Eurotrash, destroying everything they touch.
And then there’s starlings.
David Evans
@dmsilev: Those are amazing. I don’t think “luck” is quite the right word.
catclub
A ticking time bomb I had not heard of: I think this is the HAMP program
It does not make clear if all the loans start their 5 year 2% countdown in 2016, or if some started in 2011 ( or earlier?).
Yutsano
@Mary G:
WaPo just ran one of Khashoggi’s columns. I have a feeling they’re not going to let this go until there are satisfactory answers here.
EDIT: It’s the very last column he submitted to the Post. They’re just now publishing it. Gutted, I am.
Mnemosyne
@Schlemazel:
It should be easily available since it’s in the public domain. According to Wikipedia, there was a journal article that criticized (alleged) mistakes in Kemble’s book, but considering that it was published in 1960 in a journal of Georgia’s history, I think some side-eye is in order when it comes to that article’s reliability.
Juju
What did Joe Biden say? I haven’t been paying attention to him much these days, any more than I pay attention to Wilmer.
NotMax
There are days I fervently wish the birds around here would shut the hell up. Especially before 10 a.m.
Also that they would learn not to try to build nests within the wooden windbreak on the front porch. They’ve never had success, and the porch floor is frequently littered with stuff as they inevitably give up after loudly bumping into the walls and roof and end up dropping whatever they were carrying.
@ruemara
Six minutes in the solar powered Instant Pot.
:)
Mnemosyne
@ruemara:
Apparently starlings used to be kept as pets in the 1700s. Mozart had a pet starling that he was very attached to. No idea why they became unfashionable.
Schlemazel
@Mnemosyne:
It took me a while in the early days to identify markers of reality versus “Gone With the Wind” bullshit. One of the big things is primary sources over ‘historical writing’. Since most of the stuff written about slaves & slavery was written by white people you really need to remember the lens when reading. There is just almost enough of the slave perspective to figure out what actually was happening.
But my BS alarm goes off pretty easily .
Also, I just realized I am very very angry. reading this stuff is affecting me
Corner Stone
@Schlemazel:
I’ve heard of kissing cousins. And I guess in West By God Virginia there are fucking cousins. But what’s the difference between fucking robins and robins?
ruemara
@NotMax: I think we can deep fry those puppies
WaterGirl
@JPL: I’ll be glad to! Enjoy your concert.
Schlemazel
@Mnemosyne:
they are very smart birds & I could see them being fun pets for the time. I hate them in my garden though
J R in WV
@dmsilev:
So what kind of hummer is the yellow guy with the black tie? Cute as a button, but maybe a yellow-bellied sap sucker? Just a wild guess… for amusement, I know it isn’t a “sapsucker” because they’re all wookpeckers.
Google Image search didn’t work a bit, Common Crossbill pine nut eater.
Now I’m perplexed, no yellow bird like this shows up on a real bird search tool !!
Where was this bird seen?
Schlemazel
@Corner Stone:
the European robins are what we currently know as ‘robins’ the ‘robin red breast’ of lore actually had a RED breast but is now extinct because the fucking European robin killed it
WaterGirl
@ruemara: Don’t deep fry puppies! :-)
ruemara
@WaterGirl: Bird puppies! We need the real puppies to retrieve the starling carcasses for deep frying.
tybee
“bunny sheriffs”
we refer to them as the “possum police” but they do god’s work.
chopper
brid-wise that could be worse.
i’ve had a whole crew of young and suicidal steller’s jays in my big leaf maple all week, and they keep slamming into my windows. i’ve picked 6 dead birds up off the porch and side yard in the last two days.
WaterGirl
@ruemara: I know you didn’t actually mean puppies, I was just having some fun.
Grace
Is it just me, or is Mitch McConnell running around proudly declaring his party’s devotion to cuts in Medicare and Social Security, and yet another vote to end “Obamacare,” scary as hell? In any normal time, a few weeks before an election, that would be considered political malpractice if not suicide. Yet the Turtle doesn’t seem at all concerned that those claims might put a scare into even Republican voters, let alone Dems. I find it terrifying because I wonder if they know the fix is in, all this noise about enthusiasm and generic ballot edge for the Dems will come to naught, because the election is already secured for them? Is he setting up to declare the voters have spoken, they support cutting those programs and scrapping the ACA, so full steam ahead with their “mandate”?
Dan B
@chris: Shocking!
Uh, no. That was my Mom’s Kirby vacuum (pre war, Civil or World??) finally retired in 2000. 140 decibels of annoying the dust.
WaterGirl
@Grace: You are not the first person here to wonder that very thing. Sadly, we do not have the answer.
Roger Moore
@Gelfling 545:
I would prefer a Hamilton/Mohun meeting.
Immanentize
@Schlemazel: What’s your feeling about the Nat Turner book and movies? One of my University colleagues was heavily involved in that book. Don’t let that hold you back if your opinion is negative! Seriously, don’t
Immanentize
@Grace: McConnell does not give a shit about the House. Both of those things are helpful to red States senators in tough races. Gets the state-wide base all fired up.
jharp
@Schlemazel:
I did not know that robins weren’t native.
I did know that honey bees and night crawlers are not native species.
And in Indiana we are fighting honeysuckle, multi flora rose, bradford pear, russian olive, and a plethora of other non native invasive species.
And feral swine.
It sucks.
Mary G
@Immanentize: The John Birch Society and assorted right-wingers had a fit when my high school English teacher assigned us to read “The Confessions of Nat Turner” in the early 70s. They succeeded in banning it, which led to excursions to the big city to buy copies to see what it was they didn’t want us to read. We were all very disappointed when there were no good sex scenes in it. More kids read it than would ever have if it was just allowed to be assigned. I had an excellent side source of income providing homemade Cliff’s Notes because I was a fast reader.
Grace
@Immanentize: I hope you’re right. But I’ve found it odd for quite a while now that I’m not seeing discussion of any GOTV effort on the GOP’s part for the House OR Senate. RedState is clogged with juvenile pieces ridiculing Sen. Warren, mocking “lying” assault survivors, etc., but not once this season have I seen any semi-coherent articles focused on GOTV, save our majority, yada yada. Nor Breitbart. A few glances at those sites are about as much as I can stomach of Wingnuttia, but I’m wondering if anyone else here sees any urgency on the ground on the part of the GOP? Do those who canvass ever see their people out on the street? Ad buys and signs are easy, just throw some money around, but I don’t see any sign they are much trying to mobilize their voters.
Jay
@Schlemazel:
Around here, English Sparrows are only found in town. Once you are above the bluffs, it’s 14 kinds of native sparrows. Robins here are native robins. Bluebirds have come back since the mass poisionings of the Drought Years of ’32-’38 when DDT was literally shovelled out into the countryside to kill the swarms of grashoppers.
Around here, we don’t get flocks of Starlings. We get mixed flocks of Grackles, Cowbirds, Yellowheaded Black Birds, Catbirds, Thrashers and Brewer’s Blackbirds. Only one isn’t native. Watching them swoop, curve, climb and dive in unison, is amazing.
The only thing I don’t like about the flocks, is their habits of feeding and gathering along the roadsides, and startle out infront of cars.
Because the previous people living here had a ton of barncats. It took 5 years of care and habitat conservation before the hills were filled with bird song again.
That year coincided with the last year of a drought and swarms of grasshoppers, like smoke in the sky. One day, I watched as swarm after swarm flew up the valley towards the ranch, only to see flock after flock fly up from our woods and grasslands to feed on the swarms.
It was like watching dolphins and tuna herd and feed on baitfish on BBC’s Planet Earth.
Starlings and Magpies doing crop and livestock damage around here only happens when the farmers and ranchers have stripped their lands of all native plants and verge. If there’s wild food for them, they will leave your crops and herds alone.
Other than peas. Crows love fresh pea sprouts.
Jay
@Schlemazel:
Not here. We have native American Robins here.
frosty fred
Do we really have European robins in North America?
tybee
american robins here, too.
tobie
@Grace: I’ve been wondering about this, too. In my red county, the local Republican club does put up large billboard signs on all heavily traveled roads but I haven’t seen anything else indicating grassroots enthusiasm (e.g., bumper stickers, yard signs, canvassers, etc.). It feels strange. Kudos to you for going to right-wing sites to see if people are talking about campaign efforts. I don’t think I would have the stomach for that.
laura
The slap fight between Kelly and Bolton must have been epic. Two massive assholes. – a “news” yesterday reported that Shitler planned a total embargo on Iranian goods and services and woe betide any country doing business with them after November 5th , and that the KSA promised to keep light sweet crude flowing at it’s current price, so that Bolton can finally get his war on with Iran because he’s monsterous filth. The whole inconvenience of the Kashoggi brutal state sanctioned execution has thrown a spanner in the plan and the daily attempt to ‘nothing to see here, move along’ isnt working as it usually does. There’s enough pushback and coverage to have the West Wing on the back foot though Jared reassures that this will blow over like all the rest of the war and human rights violations and get back to focusing on all the deals.
Anyone else hear anything about this as the reason for the clash of the torqemada’s?
WaterGirl
@Immanentize: That makes the most sense of anything I’ve heard to explain why McConnel would be making this announcement now. thank you
tobie
Regarding nature: I’ve got a long, narrow snake curled up in a coil in my compost bin. I don’t know what to do.
jl
I heard on the news that Trump has gotten to the ‘Few people know this, but’ (Kashoggi is probably dead) stage of his BS and lies cycle.
Mary Ellen Sandahl
@jharp: They didn’t ask to come here. They were introduced to the United States on purpose in the late 19th C by (wait for it) human beings. I think they’re the avian equivalent of us: adaptable, smart, loud, messy, and champion overpopulators. They do, however, have some good ecological effects which is more than you can say for homo sapiens.
Schlemazel
@Immanentize:
I have not read it. What is your opinion?
I have only really read one book this year. The black dog does not like me reading.
Schlemazel
@Mary G:
Best way to get teens to read a book is to ban it! We should ban a bunch of books.
Jay
@tobie:
Leave it alone, it’s there for the warmth in the bridge season. Once warm it will leave to hunt, and in a few weeks, will migrate to a den to hibernate.
Schlemazel
SO glad to hear that hear that native robins still live! They are gone from here & I was under the impression the were extinct.
AliceBlue
@Schlemazel: I recommend Zora Neale Hurston’s “Barracoon”. It recounts her visits in 1927 to Plateau, Alabama to interview Cudjo Lewis, an 86 year old survivor of the Clotilda, the last slave ship to land in America.
Princess
@Schlemazel: That’s…not true. The robin we see everywhere in North America is an American robin. The European robin has a red breast. It still can be found all over Europe and nowhere here, so far as I know.
pluky
@BruceFromOhio: Not how the General was trained. More like Krav Maga tactics: hit fast, hit hard, beat down, insure no getting back up.
eclare
@AliceBlue: I’ll have to check that out! Loved “Their Eyes Were Watching God.”
Gelfling 545
@Mary G: In fact, if it had been assigned a large number would have avoided reading it because, eeew, homework!
danielx
General propositions:
1. There is a reason why pissanting around 4×8 sheets of plywood is a job left to All The Young Dudes.*
2. Painting is problematic when seasons go from August to November and skip right past September and October.
*bonus points if you get the reference.
mikefromDublin
what the irish call robin red breast are cool little birds. they have no fear of humans and will get within a couple feet of you, especially if you are rummaging in your back yard as they eat bugs and have learned we stir em up.
pluky
@tobie: Leave it be!
Roger Moore
@Schlemazel:
American robins are far from extinct; they’re classified as “least concern”. And I’m surprised you don’t see them, since their range covers just about all of the continental US. There are a few far southern areas where they’re only present during the winter and a few areas in the north where they’re only present in the summer, but they’re considered year-round for most of the US.
Jay
@laura:
When you take money from the MEK Terrorist Organization, you are only supposed to repeat their propaganda, you are not supposed to believe it, and you are definitely not supposed to smoke their hash.
The slap fight was probably about Bolton either allowing Jared to greenlight Kassoggi’s brutal murder, or about Bolton not using his position to reign in Jared.
satby
@dmsilev: those are GREAT!
Gelfling 545
@frosty fred: Not where I live. We have Turdus Migratorious which the Audubon Society says is the American Robin.
Mike in NC
Earlier this month an elderly ammosexual in Florence, South Carolina shot seven police officers with a high-powered rifle, one of them fatally. He eventually surrendered and authorities found 129 guns of various types in his home. Fat Bastard tweeted his usual boilerplate “thoughts and prayers” before heading out to play golf.
According to a neighbor’s Facebook post, he’s played at least 44 times at a cost to the taxpayers just shy of $60 million.
Cacti
Did everyone see that the first of the Khashoggi disappearance/murder suspects died in a “car accident” today?
The recently deceased motorist was Mashal Saad al-Bostani, a lieutenant in the Royal Saudi Air Force. He was one of the fellows seen in video footage outside the Istanbul consulate just a couple of hours before Khashoggi arrived.
When Pompeo said that they were giving Saudi Arabia “more time”, it seemed like the barely concealed subtext was “to eliminate witnesses”.
JPL
@tobie: Good luck with that.
eemom
@Schlemazel:
If you haven’t already read it, Frederick Douglass’ autobiography is also excellent.
debit
@eemom: I understand that we’re hearing more and more about him these days.
eemom
@El Caganer:
Exactly what I thought of.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m having an old friend for dinner.
jl
@eemom: I agree. One of the masterpieces of 19th century US literature. I wish i’d been assigned some of it in HS, rather that all that damned Dickens (which I got sick of after a while).
Roger Moore
@Cacti:
Maybe it’s just me, but mysterious deaths of the alleged killers makes me more, not less, likely to believe Saudi Arabia is guilty.
Jay
@Cacti:
It’s more about having “rogue elements” that can be conveniently blamed, because, being dead, they can’t testify on their own behalf.
jl
@Roger Moore: If they start getting hit by buses and falling out high windows, will it take two weeks for Trumpsters to suspect something suspicious might have happened? Hard to say.
Corner Stone
I think the next cover story we’re going to hear is that the Saudis took Ambien to sleep on the plane ride to Istanbul, where they were going to perform perfectly normal diplomatic duties, and never came back “to” until they arrived back in Saudi. With several extra pieces of luggage which they can not account for.
ruemara
@WaterGirl: I know.
joel hanes
@Schlemazel: @Schlemazel:
he European robins are what we currently know as ‘robins’ the ‘robin red breast’ of lore actually had a RED breast but is now extinct because the fucking European robin killed it
This is comprehensively incorrect.
The American robin, Turdus migratorius is native, and common.
It is a medium-sized thrush.
The European robin, Erithacus rubecula, does not live in North America.
It is much smaller, and probably a flycatcher, not a thrush.
You want to be mad about something, be mad about carp.
Jay
@chopper:
Spiderwebs and hawk outlines in the windows repel birdstrikes.
They see the dark interior revealed by the window as a flight path.
Cheryl from Maryland
@Mikeindublin: We know the culprit — Eugene Schieffelin who wanted every bird mentioned by Shakespeare living in the US. CF: this article about invasive species.
les
@Schlemazel:
Wiki (yeah, yeah I know) says they’re one of the top few most prevalent birds in NA. After red wing black birds, which are very cool.
Lapassionara
@tobie: does it have a tail that rattles? Does it have red on yellow stripes? I would just see if it moves on, which it will likely do.
Brachiator
@eemom:
Douglass re-wrote his autobiography a couple of times, but it is always fascinating reading. Today’s NY Times has a review of a new Douglass biography by David W. Blight, “Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom.” I confess that I really couldn’t get a good feel about this work, since the review is very uneven and uninformative.
A Ghost To Most
@tobie: What color, and where do you live?
chris
@Dan B: Hey! My grandmother had one of those Kirbys. Loud as hell but you better be sure the carpet is nailed down.
jl
The GOP strategy of lie all the time about everything, and the corporate medias complicity is disgusting. I am not as surprised at Krugman though.
It will effect my contributions, and who I GOTV for if I can find time to travel to a swing district. I will prioritize Dems who are willing to go into smash mouth mode.
The GOP has become a completely depraved sociopathic white collar criminal enterprise.
Probably a mistake for a Democratic candidate to just say that out loud, but I think you can take the high road, and be very aggressive and proactive, and push back hard at total knowing depraved lies, and do both at the same time. So, I’ll look for candidates like that. And Beto has enough of my money already.
Corner Stone
@joel hanes:
Just for that reason alone I think I’d ruin every picnic and backyard outing I could. And pick random mornings to start chirping wildly outside people’s windows, waaayyyy before dawn.
WaterGirl
@Cacti: Yep. I speculated earlier that they will see who they can “accidentally” kill, and those people will, coincidentally, be the ones that their “investigation” will show were responsible.
They think we are fucking idiots.
jl
@jl: Forgot to give link to Krugman’s column, via his twitter.
https://twitter.com/paulkrugman/status/1053036918500458496
And fivethirtyeight blog’s aggregates are moving towards big turnout driven wave that might sweep away normal pollster models and odds, which is good to see.
SiubhanDuinne
@Cacti:
At the bottom of a flight of stairs with his wrists slit.
NotMax
@tobie
Carefully dump (or stand well back and toss) some ice (cubes or crushed) near to it. The cold ought to shock it into seeking a more hospitable spot.
debbie
@Mary G:
Just stop that. Or start telling Hillary to STFU. No disparate treatment, please.
joel hanes
@Corner Stone:
It’s just Latin for “thrush”
It does make grade-school boys snigger, though.
And like many other birds, robins do have a habit of defecating on takeoff.
debbie
@JPL:
Have things calmed down with that dog?
NotMax
There is no depth the Rs will not plumb.
tobie
@NotMax: Clever! I’ll try that trick.
WaterGirl
T- 15 for the Beto solo downhill on CNN.
A Ghost To Most
@NotMax: Or really piss it off if it’s a copperhead.
tobie
@A Ghost To Most: Maryland. The snake is brownish with a diamond back. A garter snake, I suspect.
dmsilev
@J R in WV:
Sorry for the delayed response. I’m in Pasadena, so anything that hangs out in Southern California is a reasonable bet.
That bird amused me. “I am too a hummingbird. Watch me drink nectar!”
At the other end of the size spectrum, I have a nice picture (not in that album yet) of a honeybee drinking from one of the “flowers” on the feeder.
debbie
@Immanentize:
The one by Styron? I liked it very much.
jl
@NotMax: One hope is that the GOP will get so desperate that they start pumping out stuff so ridiculous and disgusting that they are damaged by their own vile BS. I think the best response from a Dem candidate is nonstop laughter and ridicule, but with the subtext of disbelief, outrage and disgust clearly showing, if not uttered outright.
Mnemosyne
@les:
You say that like someone who’s never had a red-winged blackbird try to peck your eyes out because it thinks you got too close to its nest.
The Adler Planetarium in Chicago had to put up signs warning people to stay away from certain parts of their grounds because so many people were getting attacked.
Of course, they’re all dinosaurs, so it makes sense that they’re vicious little beasts. ?
Mnemosyne
@Brachiator:
Blight is a pretty eminent scholar of the Civil War, if that helps. He’s the guy who taught the iTunes U course on the Civil War that was all the rage a few years ago after Ta-Nehisi Coates touted it.
A Ghost To Most
@tobie:
That sounds like a garter snake, but we had plenty of copperheads when we lived in Middletown MD. Nasty bastards.
WaterGirl
Thread for Beto O’Rourke town hall, please.
dmsilev
@Mnemosyne: Those hummingbirds I’ve been photographing? They’re nasty little buggers. Primarily to each other.
MY TREE!
NO, MY TREE!
MomSense
@Mnemosyne:
Bolton and Kelly got into a profanity laced argument today over border crossings and Kelly’s side secretary (allegedly!!) Nielsen.
Bolton and Kelly shouting match
WaterGirl
It’s pretty quiet. Don’t forget to vote for the COLORADO HOUSE RABBIT SOCIETY that TaMara asked us to help support in their voting contest for funds for hay products, which has gotten really expensive.
COLORADO HOUSE RABBIT SOCIETY
Mnemosyne
@tobie:
If it’s a garter snake, I would just leave it alone. It’s going to eat things that you don’t want getting into your house.
WaterGirl
@MomSense: How is your new job going? And your new side business?
MomSense
@tobie:
Make sure it isn’t an Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake.
MomSense
@WaterGirl:
My job is great. I was exhausted every day the first month from the learning curve but it was a satisfying tired. I can’t keep up with the side business. Right now I have boxes of cast off textiles I need to process. I wish I had a studio!
WaterGirl
Debate is starting.
Mnemosyne
@MomSense:
I don’t think you really meant to reply to me, but it still made me think that it was probably like the dog video that AL posted yesterday: ?
https://mobile.twitter.com/BoringEnormous/status/1051476126265221122
WaterGirl
Immigration / Trump plans to restart the Family Separation Policy
What is the most important legislation Beto plans to introduce to make sure this doesn’t happen again?
Last time, talked to moms who would be separate in a few hours. Hundreds of kids who may never see their parents again.
Never another child taken
Immediately every kid reunited with family
Follow our own asylum laws
Texas should lead national conversation to rewrite those laws.
Free dreamers from fear.
debbie
@MomSense:
Wish they’d both turned on Miller.
MomSense
@Mnemosyne:
I thought you were one of the people who suspected Kelly and Nielsen were sleeping together.
Mnemosyne
Speaking of birds, this video made me laugh out loud at my desk:
https://mobile.twitter.com/BoringEnormous/status/1052279074121555968
Roger Moore
@dmsilev:
Where in Pasadena? Why don’t I remember seeing you at any of the LA area meet-ups?
FYI, I live in Upper Hastings Ranch.
Mnemosyne
@MomSense:
Sorry, I missed the reference to Neilsen the first time around. It does sound like Kelly was defending his side piece. ?
WaterGirl
Negative ads about open boarders
What is your position on border security? What is needed for border security?
Please explain whether you are for open boarders.
Not in favor of open boarders.
Do not need walls.
Walls built on farmer’s homes or ranches or farms.
Record security and safety on the boarder.
El Paso one of the safest cities because of the immigrants.
Serious border challenges.
People smuggling humans and drugs
Support border control
Support local law enforcement
But also must tell the stories of our safe communities
Rewrite the laws in our own image
Wrote legislation to make more secure with staffing at ports of entry
Opposed to every major immigration policy at white house
How would you deter people coming across the border?
Trump breaking our asylum laws.
Parents trying to save their children.
How to stop illegal immigration that is not part of asylum?
Expand capacity in visa categories – 18 or 20 years to get in line
Free dreamers
japa21
@dmsilev: Hummingbirds are extremely territorial.
MomSense
@Mnemosyne:
How is the PT coming along?
WaterGirl
Name isn’t really Beto.
Attacked for being an Irish guy pretending to be hispanic.
Born Robert Francis O’Rourke
From day 1 in El Paso, he has been called Beto for his entire life
Beto is part of who I am and where I’m from
Full dual language immersion education in the school his kids go to, and that Beto went to.
Loud applause.
Schlemazel
@joel hanes:
apparently I was given bad information. I was told that the local robins are not natives. Thanks for the info
A Ghost To Most
@MomSense:
Not sure where Tobie lives, but I only ever saw them on top of the ridges. I had a 5 footer try to bite me in PA. He chose poorly.
WaterGirl
Trump coming on Monday to campaign for Cruz.
What do you say to Rs and Independents who might be considering voting for you are worried that Beto if won, main objective would be to impeach Trump.
“We can come together. I want to represent all of you. Finding common cause. Make sure teachers get paid a living wage. Lead conversation on immigration. Go from least insured in US to being a state that leads the way for universal, guaranteed high quality health care. I will work with Trump to do that.
His Q was impeachment. Have you changed your mind on voting to impeach? No. There may be an open question on collusion, but to quote George Will but in Helsinki defended Putin . Fired James Comey – obstruct? But in broad daylight on Twitter asked AG to eliminate investigation. Allow full independence of Mueller, but Beto has already said he would vote to impeach.
We need impeachment to get to all the facts. Has already made the case for collusion and obstruction of justice, but we have to stand up for our democracy. Enough there for impeachment. Have not made this the mission of the campaign. Have never called for that. But thinks enough facts and evidence for impeachment.
schrodingers_cat
@Mnemosyne: Surely, you jest. Are you suggesting that the General is not an officer and a gentleman?//
Schlemazel
@eemom:
Yeah
Like ‘Big Jim” I can be horrified by the hopelessness of not resisting and deeply moved the raw courage to do so in the face of such odds
Mnemosyne
@MomSense:
On schedule, which means more slowly than I’d like. I’m still on one crutch but I’m hoping that won’t be for too much longer. I think I got into some bad walking habits while I was waiting for the surgery to be approved, so now I have to break those.
Schlemazel
@Roger Moore:
Oh I see them, I was just told those were not the native birds.
One of my favorite moments from life in Florida was coming home one day & finding 2-300 of them in my yard. Back on the tundra they never flock
WaterGirl
Holy shit, you have to listen to this ad from Arkansas. It’s on this thread at LGM.
You have to listen to believe it.
http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2018/10/donald-trump-becoming-republican-nominee-mystery-will-never-solved-like-square-root-4
WaterGirl
Tone in the race. Changed this week.
You’ve been saying people sick of pettiness, but you took a page out of Trump’s playbook.
Called Cruz “lyin’ Ted’. Why did you do that?
First debate Cruz lied. Second debate Cruz started out with another lie. Felt he had to call out Cruz as lying.
Not something I am totally comfortable with. Maybe took a step too far. Do you regret it? Not sure that’s the way I want to be talking in this campaign. Focus on future, what we want to achieve, you have to respond when the opponent is lying about it. That can invite confusion, so he feels he has to say it’s dishonest when Cruz says that.
Was that planned? No, it was not. Beto doesn’t have a pollster, that was another lie from Cruz.
MomSense
@Mnemosyne:
Walking to a full length mirror is helpful. You can check that your hips are level. I had to re-learn how to walk 10 years ago. Also walking in a shallow swimming pool is very helpful.
Schlemazel
@WaterGirl:
HOLE – EEE – SHIT!
there are no words. I quit. If that works we are beyond hope & deserve to die as a species.
dmsilev
@Roger Moore: I’ve been to a couple of the local meetups we’ve had; I guess we’ve just had the bad luck to not overlap.
WaterGirl
heroin overdose death.
Neuroscience says brain develops into mind 20s
Marijuana has been linked to anxiety, schizophrenia, etc.
Son’s abuse began in his teens, ended with heroin.
Concerns about legalization.
So sorry for your loss and grateful you are here.
70k die each year
criminal vs. public health issue
should be public health issue
As brain is still forming, can diminish your chances in life, won’t reach your potential.
Need smart drug control policies
war on drugs is a failure
drugs sold in high schools
kids are defenseless.
Keep marijuana away from kids and proceeds away from cartels
But veterans shouldn’t be outlaws for marijuana use
Many in prison because of marijuana
Can do the right thing
Make sure those who need it should be able to get it, don’t incarcerate.
Pharma companies should pay full consequences for causing this problem.
Q in 2009, ending prohibition on narcotics
should have a serious discussion about this.
Drug war raging in his city in 2009 in part due to drug policies that kids were dying and killing for narcotics.
Thought we owed them on a conversation.
My amendment wasn’t worded all that great
I don’t want to legalize narcotics
Should end prohibition on marijuana, medical prescriptions.
WaterGirl
How will medicare for all benefit texans?
half under the age of 65 in texas have a preexisting condition
cruz promised to repeal every single word of the affordable care act.
Steps
1. expand medicaid – tx left 100million dollars on the table
2. introduce medicare as an option on the exchanges
it could be medicare for all or other roads, but define the goal
everyone well enough to live to potential
everyone has access to goo health care
will work with anyone in senate regardless of party
will work with the president
eyes on the prize, keep the urgency
patrick II
@cope:
Kevin drum often has pictures of hummingbirds he shoots outside of his window. He has several posts about which shutter speeds and apetures work the best. You may want to check them out if you’re looking to learn a bit about how to shoot pictures of hummingbirds.
WaterGirl
#MeToo
current culture, victims dismissed, also too easy to label with false allocations against men
Presumption of innocence is incredibly important. Struck by courage of survivors. Dr. Ford testimony, courage, with nothing to gain and everything to lose, reliving one of most traumatic experiences of her whole life for the world to see. Need to honor the courage of those who come forward and make sure necessary and thorough investigations.
Teach our kids about respect and demanding respect from others.
Legislators need to be held to this standard.
We can do all of this.
Roger Moore
@dmsilev:
Maybe you were there and I didn’t know who you were or something.
WaterGirl
@Schlemazel: Un-fucking believable. I am disgusted by the ad and by the woman who spoke in the ad. Do we really think that was a black person or just someone imitating the speech pattern?
edit: if it works, we as a species are too stupid to live.
Schlemazel
@WaterGirl: I thought it sounded like Amos N Andy
BTW seeing no bottom to the barrel
https://twitter.com/SteveKingIA/status/1053022645606895616
WaterGirl
Issue that divides Beto and Cruz.
Guns.
F rating for Beto. A rating for Cruz from NRA
People say Beto wants to take away people’s guns. Clarify your stance. What are you proposing?
Strongly support 2nd,
don’t want to take your guns.
Make sure the people of TX who have history of responsible and safe gun ownership… use pride of place to lead the national conversation.
30k die to gun violence in US. not true anywhere else in the world
either something bad or evil about US or there is a human solution to our human problem
Universal background checks – 50% reductions in gun crimes in states that adopted them
fewer girlfriends and boyfriends being shot by parners
0 debates in last 6 years in congress
need someone who could care less what the NRA things – to stand up for human beings
chris
@Schlemazel: Gah! What a horrible thought. Or what passes for one in King’s case.
PJ
@Schlemazel: I’ve never seen a European robin in the US. Wikipedia says the range of the American Robin is all over North America: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_robin
WaterGirl
Speech therapist. husband if 59. Can’t find any work in his field, which is the oil business. Overwhelming to have to carry whole household myself. He can’t even get a job at home depot.
No one will hire him, what is a person to do?
Economic growth since 2009. Lots owed to small business owners
Economy improving but good paying jobs, not easy to find them, that’s the problem
Solution? program called Burlison Works. Invest in men like your husband in trying for skills or apprenticeship so they can get high skill high wage. investment produces a return. Take care of themselves and contribute to community.
Trillion $ tax cut to corporations already sitting on record piles of cash
21 million in debt – unconscionable.
Followup: Unemployment rate 49-year low. TX #1 in job growth last year, #1 in wage growth this year. How do you explain why Rs should be replaced?
Because those benefits and that wealth is not flowing to regular people. Schoolteachers with 2-3 jobs, even when teaching is most important job in country. Vouchers at a time where we need more $ into schools, not less.
Start public ed pre-K. 76billion – for every dollar in, $9 back. some kids start kindergarten already a year behind.
in favor of 2 years of state or community college. how to pay? Raise taxes?
Cost estimate for at least 2 years of college without debt. 60 billion $ over 10 years. Just lowered taxes from 35% to 21%. If we raised it back up to 255 or 26%, generate 500-600 billion dollars. to cover things like this.
Corporations doing better than ever and need to pay their fair share.
SiubhanDuinne
@WaterGirl:
JFC. That’s all kinds of appalling.
Mary G
@Schlemazel: I liked the commenter who corrected Steve King’s misspelling of Nikki Haley’s name:
MoxieM
@Mnemosyne: Also Mary Peabody Mann, who visited Cuba during slave times with her sister Sophia (Sophia–a painter–married Nat Hawthorne; Mary–a writer–married Horace Mann; 3rd sister, Elizabeth founded nursery school education in the US. Seriously awesome women in that family. Hellluva contrast to the opportunities available to WOC in Cuba–or here, those days.) Anyhow Mary’s lightly fictionalized book about her experiences is Juanita; also Sophia sent home some letters that have become well known by 19th c. Concord obsessives and others…
There are many more, but that’s off the top of my head.
Also, too I am reading just now David Blight’s brand new biography of Frederick Douglass (of whom more and more is being said these days). It is a mighty book, befitting its subject, but totes excellent so far.
And while I’m rambling on the subject, I highly recommend Blight’s video lectures of his UG class at Yale in the history of the US Reconstruction period. He’s a really good teacher, as well as scholar.
WaterGirl
Raised more than $60 million box, twice what Cruz did.
Listened to you talk, investing in success of others. Lots of publicity about $60 million raised – what would you tell Texans who think you are being selfish with the money you raised at the expense of the Dem party and what will you be doing with the millions you raised to ensure a strong democratic turnout in competitive races?
To provide context. 30 years since 1988 TX has a democratic in the senate. We have our work cut out for us. largest of lower 48 states. Use every resource to reach every person. Takes money to do that. Met a woman last week on her way to WhatAburger – I want to give this $10 to you because I want you to win. I had a significant medical condition, hard to get insurance, putting myself thru school for my future.
I don’t want to the $10 she gave to me — to another candidate. Want to make sure we run this in the right way and win it in the right way.
WaterGirl
Grad student question: see yourself as running for president some day?
The answer is NO. Our kids are 7, 10, 11. Taking 2 years out of life to run this race, and now we are committed to being a family again. Is that a definitive No? Never? I will serve every single day of a 6-year term and won’t leave the state to run for president.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@WaterGirl:
I’d add that the entire economy and how we live is going to have to be restructured to accommodate both climate change and automation. It’s not just going to be auto workers who are replaced with machines. Anything that can be automated that doesn’t require complex thought or creativity will be. We have to separate income from jobs, basically, through some kind of UBI scheme.
WaterGirl
Debate over, for anyone who cares.
piratedan
@WaterGirl: ty for giving us a blow by blow regarding the questions Beto is getting….. damn he may not be perfect but he sure as hell is thoughtful and earnest…..
MomSense
@MoxieM:
Did you read Megan Marshall’s book The Peabody Sisters? It’s brilliant.
WaterGirl
@Schlemazel: Excuse me while I go bang my head against a wall.
chris
@WaterGirl: Thank you
WaterGirl
@piratedan: thank you! I thought he did pretty well.
Only one person in the audience clapped when he said NO on running for president – his wife. He laughed and pointed that out. :-)
Schlemazel
@WaterGirl:
DO it hard enough and you could become a Republican!
Serious story: My brother had a horrible car crash and suffered traumatic brain injury. He became a big fan of Rush Limbaugh and a dyed in the wool wingnut after he recovered. He was normal before the accident.
Jeffro
@Corner Stone:
I think the phrase you are looking for, according to our much-vaunted MSM, is that Trumpov and the Saudis are “searching for an explanation”. While they continue to line his pockets.
How about this: he was either murdered, or he wasn’t. Search one way or the other, there is no middle option here.
Plenty of evidence, with those for eyes to see…
WaterGirl
@Schlemazel: I’m sorry to hear that, but it’s not uncommon. I wonder if it’s fear or less processing power that turns people in that direction. Or both.
zhena gogolia
@WaterGirl:
OMG. I don’t know what to say.
waratah
@WaterGirl: you did a marvelous job. I can only watch.
Thank you.
He received an endorsement from the Longview Herald editorial board today. This is big. Right in the middle of red east Texas.
Litlebritdifrnt
@PJ: The American Robin is so named because the European peeps saw a bird with a red breast and called it a robin cause it reminded them of the English Robin. In reality it is more related to the Blackbird than the Robin.
guachi
Nate Silver and the 538 crew must be seeing some kind of movement towards Ds in either polls or enthusiasm or something. His ratings in the past week have take a strong turn towards Team D. Stronger than the movement on Cook Report. Both were similar base on a D wave of about 230 seats but today’s 538 has Ds up to 234.
That’s a lot of seats since I looked just six days ago!
The odds of Ds winning the House based on 538’s numbers is 99.999%. Ran 100,000 random trials and the Democrats won the house in 99,999 of them. The odds aren’t that high on the 538 site because they add lots of leeway for other events.
But 99.999% and 234 seats seems pretty good, no?
Mnemosyne
@WaterGirl:
It sounds like he got some reasonably tough questions from people who do not agree with him, which is usually good. Getting nothing but sycophantic softball questions isn’t good for anyone.
Jeffro
@catclub:
That’s just so true. Watch this: who remembers
– back when Anonymous was the ‘resistance inside the Trumpov administration’? Ages ago, right?
– back when Trumpov was named an unindicted co-conspirator in violating campaign finance laws…
– …and said violation was routing campaign funds through a shell corporation to pay off the mistress he had just after his third wife had his fifth kid?
– back when Trumpov fired the FBI director for not halting the investigation into Trumpov & Co’s conspiracy against the United States with Russia, a hostile foreign power?
– back when Trumpov fired the acting AG ’cause she was the one who knew Flynn was in it up to his eyeballs with the Russians?
– back when Trumpov never really divested himself of anything, in direct violations of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution?
That’s just off the top of my head
– Kavanaugh
– Charlottesville
– ignoring Puerto Rico’s suffering and claiming their dead were made up to hurt him politically
– separating families at the border for months on end
– calling Democrats “the party of crime” and claiming WE are the ones who want to end coverage for pre-existing conditions (oh sorry, that one’s recent)
Jeffro
@Cacti:
If true, well…not that I care about their fate, but that kill team had to have known (at least within the first day or two, with all the blowback) that they were next.
“We have found the criminals who committed this heinous act and either terminated them or put them in jail for the rest of their lives. Now, here’s another $100M and please let us continue our time sharing of Putin’s Puppet.”
cope
@patrick II: Will do, thanks for the tip. I used to have his blog bookmarked, need to do so again.
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: It’s simply appalling. Maybe they’d like their candidate to take a tour of all the schools, maybe read “Little Black Sambo” or something to the kinds. Not sure that would top the ad, though.
Unless they found someone who could sound like Gregory Peck in To Kill A Mockingbird, talking about the threat of accusations.
Schlemazel
@guachi:
That is very good! I try really hard not to pay attention to these things, I always run as if we are behind and need to do more. A month or so ago I saw 9 GOP senate seats that were ‘weak’ for them. If we could turn 7 of those we would have the 66 votes needed. I know that is too much to ask for but i need to have hope
JPL
@WaterGirl: Thank you so much, since I couldn’t watch I do appreciate it. One more question, how did the audience react?
WaterGirl
@waratah: If that’s the endorsement I just read, I thought it was great. I don’t know Texas enough to know that particular endorsement would be a big deal.
WaterGirl
@Mnemosyne: Agree. No way to know if people were asking questions because of their actual concerns or if they were giving him an opportunity to get his actual positions out there instead of Ted’s lies.
I thought the moderator did a most excellent job — she followed up on questions where he hadn’t really answered what she asked, and then he would reply again, often with a yes or no that got explained, even if it was a risky position. She was good, he was great.
rikyrah
That is a beautiful bird ?
WaterGirl
@JPL: My take was that the audience was pleased. For grins, you could google “beto twitter”. Even if you don’t want to watch the videos of his individual answers, you would see some serious faces as they ask questions and some beaming faces in the audience.
I think he did good.
WaterGirl
@MomSense: I missed this as I started to live blog the Beto town hall. New jobs are hard, and there’s no automatic pilot so your brain is working all the time.
I missed the outcome of your knee problem – something you were able to resolve with ice and heat? Or a bigger issue?
CapnMubbers
@J R in WV: @Roger Moore: Yellow bird is a male hooded oriole.
CapnMubbers
@CapnMubbers: dang. meant that for @dmsilev: also
J R in WV
@Schlemazel:
Serious story: My cousin had a terrible accident while working construction on a big dam project — rock fell off the highwall and hit him in the head, the back of his head, he was bent over when hit. Crushed his skull like an eggshell, which is why he didn’t die.
Then he became a xtianist rightwinger of the worst flavor — we were closer than brothers. The last time he called me was to beg me to vote for St Ronaldux Dummbassus. I was pretty negative that time, probably why he never called me again, ever.
@CapnMubbers:
Thanks for the bird ID – pretty uncommon bird around these forested hills. Really pretty, though. Pretending to be a hummer!! Wow!
Bill Arnold
@Schlemazel:
I’m betting that somebody thought that the native species was the European robin for some reason, perhaps an imported children’s book or somebody who immigrated as a child.
There are plenty of invasive non-native species, mostly plants though (not a biologist so could be wrong). This time of year I just look for insect, fungus, gall damage, and if there is none look it up to see if it’s non-native.
Bill Arnold
@Litlebritdifrnt:
I call them “Lawn Thrushes”, just because that’s what they are. :-) (Only among birders though.)
J R in WV
@Bill Arnold:
You all need to know about Giant Hogweed, a newly identified invasive plant. It causes acute sensitivity to solar UV, enough that chopping down one of these very big plants can get enough toxic sap on you to kill you dead from UV burns before you can get out of the brush you were cutting.
Looks somewhat like a 10+ foot queen anne’s lace plant in appearance, only way more deadly. So scary!
WaterGirl
@J R in WV: Holy shit.
J R in WV
@WaterGirl:
Check this gardening article. Pix of teen cutting brush post exposure to Giant Hogweed, good pix of the plants. Deliberately introduced as landscaping plant!!
Giant Hogweed data
WaterGirl
@J R in WV: Holy shit is all I’ve got. Big chunks of his face started falling off.
If I had seen the photos I might have thought that was a cool garden feature because of the height and the airy look. I am blown away by how dangerous that stuff is. Scary.
MoxieM
@MomSense: oh, Yah. She used to be around a lot, then she got a teaching job. That’s what Harvard will get you! I always wondered what her English Department colleagues thought (privately) of her lack of a Ph.D. No doubt she is a terrific writer, and a superb researcher … it helps to have been married into an old New England family with loads of unpublished family correspondence, cough. But good on her for recognizing the worth of it all.