It’s been quite the afternoon here at Balloon-Juice! I’m just going to squeeze a respite thread into the middle of all the other stuff that’s going on; sorry for the bigfoot-ish result. No primary politics, and if you have to hate on a generation, make it the Lost Generation or earlier.
To get us started, here is an awesome crab.
Boxer crabs — also known as pom-pom crabs ?— have a cool symbiotic relationship with sea anemones. The tiny crabs hold them in their claws for self-defense & the anemones benefit from food scraps. The crabs have also been seen halving the anemones, essentially cloning them. pic.twitter.com/mGxdTWqIF8
— Dorsa Amir (@DorsaAmir) December 2, 2019
For more on the pom-pom crab (a name which keeps making me think of the Tom-Tom Club), check out this National Geographic article.
What about you folks, seen any good animals lately? I get to see a good one every day…
Enjoy your respite! Serenity now!
Betty Cracker
Tom-Tom Club! That’s what my evening playlist needs — thank you!
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Samwise always looks so cute in his bowties. Though, it makes me question if he watched too much Cucker Tarlson when he was in his “bowtie phase”
Pete Mack
Female grouse by the side of the road–I hear grouse regularly, but actually spotting one is very rare. Also, dozens of wide turkeys.
DRickard
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Obviously he’s a fan of the Eleventh Doctor, who knew that bow ties are cool now.
Ksmiami
respite is good, spite for all Republicans is better- I’ve been thinking that every repulsive thing we liberals have thought Republicans represent is correct
Major Major Major Major
@DRickard: More accurately, I am. Samwise just has to wear whatever I pick up in Tokyo.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@DRickard:
Never could get into DW. My first exposure to it was the 10th Doctor almost 15 years ago. And rewatching Tennant’s portrayal, I realized the Tenth Doctor really came off as annoying.
What did you think of the whole “will they or won’t they” thing with the Doctor and Rose?
@Major Major Major Major:
You know I was only kidding about the Carlson thing, right? ^^’
trollhattan
Carson Pickett is a footballer with the Orlando Pride. FIFA WWC made this video with her. Best thing I’ve seen today by an order of magnitude.
schrodingers_cat
@Major Major Major Major: Is he getting a kimono?
West of the Rockies
We just got a Sheepadoodle puppy, female. She is very smart and inquisitive. Gonna be a big girl. Potty training had a few rough days but is smoothing out nicely.
zhena gogolia
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Samwise wears only George Kent bowties!
HumboldtBlue
This little bird could prove useful
schrodingers_cat
@West of the Rockies:
Photos please.
Percysowner
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
The 10th Doctor was really annoying. I HATED the “will they or won’t they” Rose/Doctor relationship. To me, the Doctor isn’t about romance, it’s about adventures in time and space. Also Rose annoyed me and frankly The Doctor and Rose brought out the worst in each other.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Insanity later!
Major Major Major Major
@schrodingers_cat: oh my I’ll bet they totally make those…
laura
That velvet fog pelted beast is as handsome as all get out and has lowered my blood pressure from “that post down there.
Still not ready to make nice with jackals of a certain age/gender yet so I’m out till tomorrow.
WereBear
I discovered our rescue kittens are a breed. American Ringtail cat. Well, a breed in progress.
But it is hard to mistake the distinctive tail that curves over the back. I’m pleased. They are such magic kittens.
Major Major Major Major
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
@Percysowner: 10th Doctor/Rose was indeed annoying & troubling to me, but there’s never been a better pairing than 10th/Donna.
NotMax
Feel that Walla Walla should be mentioned. And as it’s Hawaii here, the muu muu.
Also too, though indubitably less salubrious, Mau Mau.
;)
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Percysowner:
Fair enough, but can’t both coexist?
I thought Ten and Donna (comedian Catherine Tate) had good platonic chemistry, based on the few episodes I’ve seen of them. What about the Ninth Doctor?
@Major Major Major Major:
IIRC, the show made a lot of jokes about them being mistaken for a couple. Probably because it happened to 10th and Rose a lot.
BTW, what did you think was so troubling about Rose/10th Doctor?
Mary G
Lucy speaks for me today:
Also, this charmer:
NotMax
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Not about to go looking for any but am fairly certain there must be Bill & Ted slash fiction out there in the wilds of the ‘net.
:)
schrodingers_cat
@Major Major Major Major:
Oh they do! I have seen slide shows and articles. Here is one
VeniceRiley
Will they dare let the new Doctor have a relationship? Perhaps an older-now Alex Kingston as River Song? That would be interesting. I’ve seen the trailers and the bowtie is back! Also looks like there will be a Nicola Tesla episode.
mrmoshpotato
Crab Rave
ETA – Samwise! ❤️
BruceFromOhio
@Percysowner:
Sounds like most relationships.
scribbler
Okay, I’ll bite. Fitzgerald was sublime. Hemingway? Not so much.
Major Major Major Major
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): troubling isn’t the right word. Icky? Not nearly as bad as the gender dynamics during the Moffat seasons though.
BruceFromOhio
All through her upbringing, TeenFromOhio had only goldfish and bunnies as pets. Cats and dogs were off the list due to major allergies by other family members. Now that she is off to wide open spaces of her own, she has become a crazy cat lady. Having one cat left in the care of a cat sitter over the holiday, it was constant texting and angsting over the smallest details. She even owned up to it, sighing and setting down her phone at one point with the exclamation, “I’ve become a crazy cat lady!”
At what point does it become an issue, 20 cats or more? I wonder about that virus thing that drives people to collect cats like tchotchkes.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@NotMax:
Oh I’m sure there is. That wouldn’t surprise me in the least. My parents were watching the Nathan Fillion show cop show, The Rookie, and got squicked out with a near gay kiss.
Pretty impressive for network television, I have to admit.
On an unrelated but still related note, I’d kill to read a good BTTF/Indiana Jones crossover story
Baud
Thanks, but I’m still working on my initial spite.
ruemara
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I despised Rose and the Doctor. It was ridiculous.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5YoqpRhygh/
His floofy and high majesty.
NotMax
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Somebody has to travel far enough back in time to deliver that Ark to the Jews. Not all that much in the way of raw materials in the desert to construct it, after all.
;)
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Major Major Major Major:
I haven’t heard good things about Moffat. Especially with Rory and Amy, right? That time period also corresponds to Matt Smith’s tenure as the Doctor.
What specifically was icky?
Major Major Major Major
It was almost certainly delivered synchronously by one of the Good Omens leads.
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: With the whole time traveling aspect of Bill and Ted, any slashfic would have to include dinosaurs, and, being slashfic, it would have to be dinosaur erotica.
You’re welcome.
NotMax
@Major Major Major Major
I believe demons are required to use Dead Ex.
;)
Amir Khalid
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
If that’s what you want to read, and no one else is writing one — well, here’s your chance.
Major Major Major Major
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Amy/Rory and also the full River Song arc in the end. Moffat has one good trick (wibbly wobbly timey wimey), and it gets old pretty fast. Almost all his women characters are terrible. The Davies years brought us the whole Rose thing, yes, but we also got Donna and Harriet Jones and others (a lot of ppl like Martha).
NotMax
@mrmoshpotato
Ah, the fabled and elusive Erotisaurus Rex.
;)
mrmoshpotato
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): No! Writing a good BTTF/Indiana Jones crossover story does not give you license to kill, Goku! ?
chris
My Contribution to the Dr Who discussion. I haven’t watched it in years but this gif comes in handy sometimes.
Fuck this planet, I’m out
Major Major Major Major
@chris: ah, the Douglas Adams years (not that it’s a real quote, just sayin)
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Major Major Major Major:
I’ve always been worried I might write terrible female characters (or have terrible gender/racial dynamics) and then people would (figuratively) tar and feather me, I have to admit.
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: Sorry not sorry. Amazon link
Amir Khalid
RIP Lil BUB.
NotMax
Have a big ol’ soft spot for science fiction, yet Dr. Who in any format has consistently left me cold.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@NotMax:
It’s just too nonsensical to me. “Timey Wimey”. Ugh
chris
@mrmoshpotato: LOL!
NotMax
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Deus ex Tardia.
;)
ruemara
@Major Major Major Major: Martha was brutally underserved.
Sister Golden Bear
Had to fly down to Glendale today and had just enough time to squeeze in a stop at Zankou Chicken.
I now have garlic breath for days. I regret nothing.
(So good that Beck wrote a song about it.)
Major Major Major Major
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): it’s okay not to be a fan of silly British space opera, but it’s not nonsensical at all. Except for several of Moffat’s high-profile flourishes. Though even the one you quote isn’t nonsensical; the Doctor finds himself at a loss for words and comes up with something nonsensical because he can’t do better. It’s not the actual explanation.
WereBear
@BruceFromOhio: As long as everyone is getting their needs met, it’s Sane Cat Appreciator.
When I’m asked I simply state that, as a rescuer, I have so many because others have so few.
Sister Golden Bear
@DRickard: Samwise needs a fez as well.
J R in WV
@NotMax:
Me too. Read a ton of SF and Fantasy, but Dr Who — nah…
mrmoshpotato
@Sister Golden Bear:
Good to hear! Mmmmmm garlic.
Major Major Major Major
@ruemara: agree, and as a result she didn’t leave much of an impression on me.
Was Captain Jack a Moffat or Davies invention? He first shows up in a Moffat episode. At any rate, he was mostly written by Davies and he was great.
Sister Golden Bear
@BruceFromOhio: Assuming there are at least two people in the house, one becomes an Official Crazy Cat Lady when the number of felines exceeds the square of the number of humans.
WereBear
@mrmoshpotato: You know there is dinosaur erotic, right?
Major Major Major Major
@Sister Golden Bear: I always thought the formula was “more cats than hands”
mrmoshpotato
@WereBear: Click on the link at 46. ?
ruemara
@Major Major Major Major: Could always have been worse. RIP, Billy, you were tragically abandoned.
WereBear
@mrmoshpotato: I’m afraid to, thanks!
@Major Major Major Major: Cat Higher Math uses two variables.
Cat Types: Alphas need the most space, Gammas the least.
Social compatibility: 2 cats who don’t get along need far more room than 6 cats who do.
mrmoshpotato
@WereBear: LOL
Sister Golden Bear
@mrmoshpotato: What no Charles Tingle?
HumboldtBlue
@Amir Khalid:
Well damn.
Ruviana
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Surely it’s the influence of Lily!
Jamey
With friends like the Pom-Pom Crab, who needs Anemones?!
Sab
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): My dad was a Democratic pathologist, and that is what he wore for sixty years (he is currently 95).
Tucker Carlson is an ignorant twerp. Do not let any of his fashion choices change yours. Cultural misappropriation is what he does.
He was and is a super-rich guy born ino Newport Rhode Island and Orange County California. He is not typical and he does not know what is typical in America.
But in our curent political climate, don’t wear bowties unless you really want to.
The Lodger
@mrmoshpotato: Paging Chuck Tingle…
The Lodger
@Sister Golden Bear: You call him Charles?
Citizen Alan
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
I dunno. An age gap of 890 years, maybe?
Citizen Alan
@Major Major Major Major:
Agree to disagree. I thought 12 and Clara were the second best duo after 10 and Donna.
Citizen Alan
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
To be fair, that expression was used only twice I think in 10 series. The first time was the Doctor trying to very quickly explain under very difficult communication circumstances the non-linear nature of time to someone who’s life was in danger and needed the info in a hurry. The second time, Eleven uses it in passing and is then mocked for it by both the War Doctor and Ten (the guy who came up with it in the first place).