Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves? (hint, door #2)

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Celebrate the fucking wins.

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

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

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

Republicans do not trust women.

This blog will pay for itself.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

You are here: Home / Nature & Respite / Much Needed Respite Thread: More Ducks In Scarves

Much Needed Respite Thread: More Ducks In Scarves

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I don’t know about you, but I need a break from all the chaos. I wish all of you could have sweet ducks wandering around your backyard, cheering you on stressful days.

a duck in a knitted scarf

My plan to adorn one duck at a time worked really well today, so I got a nice shot of Maddie. As is her way, she averts her face from the camera as much as possible.

If you missed how all this started, click here for more Ducks in Scarves

Again, thanks to MomSense for creating these and sending them to me so I could dress up my flock.

Respite open thread

Reader Interactions

128Comments

  5. 5.

    CaseyL

    Maddie is wanted by The Authorities in three countries; hence her camera shyness.

    But the scarf is a great disguise: makes her look like a sweet college student duck (liberal arts!) instead of the lawless renegade she is.

  12. 12.

    LuciaMia

    Ducks in Scarves.   The name of a new indie band?

    Or a new road sign.  Caution: “Ducks in Scarves”

  14. 14.

    Ohio Mom

    Yes, I need a break! Unemployed Ohio Dad is caught up with his job applications earlier this afternoon and is currently at very loose ends.

    I told myself I would not panic until the end of March. Don’t ask me how panicking is going to help or change anything.

  16. 16.

    laura

    I’d like to see the ducks in some fresh Lily Pulitzer prints this spring. Nothing fancy, just simple A-line shifts.

    How’s that spotty pup and her dandy pal doing these days?

  18. 18.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    Took a drive up to Red Rock to see(and do a time lapse) of the Milky Way as it faded into sunrise and rather than fighting traffic on the drive back to LA at that time, drove further north to Lone Pine and the Alabama Hills for some nice views of Mt. Whitney.

  20. 20.

    zhena gogolia

    @Ohio Mom:

    Thanks, I’m addicted. I’m just trying to stay out of Sanders discussions to the best of my ability

    ETA: speaking of panic that does nothing

  21. 21.

    Ten Bears

    Ducks are prey, their eyes on the sides of their heads, vis-a-vis raptors whose like humans’ eyes are forward, so as to expand their peripheral vision, where raptors and humans are focused. She isn’t isn’t averting her gaze, that’s her best angle to get a good look at you.

    Funny thing, I’m one of those you might on occasion see sporting a green and yellow tie-dyed ducks tee-shirt or tank who ahhhh… actually went to the University of Oregon.

  24. 24.

    Brachiator

    @LuciaMia:

    Ducks in Scarves.   The name of a new indie band?

    Or a new road sign.  Caution: “Ducks in Scarves”

    Some New York ducks in this attire live in Scarvesdale.

    Quacks me up.

  25. 25.

    zhena gogolia

    We have committed to taking in two cats in a few weeks. I’m getting excited but nervous too, as one of them has an array of issues. But they’re very cute. We’ve only seen them in pictures so far.

  27. 27.

    Ohio Mom

    Ten Bears@21: That’s interesting. Except for the fact the fence is in the way, I see that Maddie is poised for a quick getaway. An advantage of using that posture to take a good look.

  28. 28.

    Major Major Major Major

    Amazing ?? I was following their knitting on Instagram and it’s so fun to see the end result!

    I spent most of my day half-panicking so I think I might just do some digital painting or something tonight. Finish a book. Watch Eureka. What a week.

  30. 30.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Ohio Mom:

    At least Ohio Dad has you, all I’ve got is my cat Salad and that lazy fucker refuses to join me and go look for a job while I slowly edge into total despair as letter after letter goes unanswered.

  31. 31.

    zhena gogolia

    @Baud:

    Bailey (big, orange and white male with issues) and Xena (little cute gray-striped female). I’m going to mentally call her Zina after a Russian friend. Although I was a fan of Xena the Warrior Princess.

  33. 33.

    MazeDancer

    @Ten Bears:

    Oooh, good point about ducks being birds. Thus, the way they look at you directly is turn their head.

    Adorable duck, by the way. Actually head-turningly adorable.

  34. 34.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Major Major Major Major:

    He was a neighbor’s cat (named by a then 4-year-old boy) when his original human mom got ill and had a battle with cancer (and won! she’s kicking ass to this day) and he kind of got lost in the shuffle.

    Slowly but surely he started jumping into my kitchen window (that was how my cat, Midnight, went in and out) and grabbing a snack and after about six months while his original family was still in flux and mom was in recovery he stayed with me.

    They even moved a couple of blocks away and he came straight back and I found him curled up on my kitchen chair.

  39. 39.

    debbie

    @Ohio Mom:

    I was unemployed for 18 months, so I can relate to your sense of panic. It does no good, but there it is. Keep the faith and know that Ohio Dad will end up where he should be: at a much better job.

  42. 42.

    Catherine D.

    @HumboldtBlue:

    At least Ohio Dad has you, all I’ve got is my cat Salad and that lazy fucker refuses to join me and go look for a job while I slowly edge into total despair as letter after letter goes unanswered

    It’s infuriating, isn’t it? Hey, at least tell me to eff off.

  45. 45.

    Ohio Mom

    Humboldt Blue: I sympathize. What is your field? Ohio Dad is a computer engineer (HMI and motion control ). I am thinking there is a lot of age discrimination that works against him.

    Debbie: Eighteen months?!!! I’m in awe. That was a lot of soldiering through.

  46. 46.

    John Revolta

    My baby’s got the most deplorable taste
    But her greatest mistake is hanging over her fireplace
    She’s got ducks! Ducks on the wall!
    Ducks! Ducks! Hanging on the wall!
    My lady’s got a sort of strange fascination,
    An obsessive fixation for cheap decorations
    She’s got ducks! Ducks on the wall!
    Ducks! Ducks! Hanging on the wall!
    Wo-wo-wo I love her so but if she doesn’t move the ducks,
    I think my mind is gonna go!
    Ducks! Ducks! Ducks on the wall!
    Ducks! Ducks! Hanging on the wall!

    _Kinks

  47. 47.

    Ken

    @LuciaMia: Ducks in Scarves. The name of a new indie band?

    Netflix series.  But you’ve got to say it like “Pigs…. in… SPAAAAACE!!” from the Muppet Show.

  48. 48.

    Suzanne

    @Baud: Lead singer of the Dead Kennedys, songwriter of “Nazi Punks Fuck Off” (among others), and former candidate for Mayor of San Francisco. He also ran for president in 2000, coming in second to Nader for the Green Party nomination.

  49. 49.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Ohio Mom:

    I was a sportswriter and then news reporter for 21 years and my industry has simply been melted away by hedge funds.

    I have focused on trying to get a position in the expanding cannabis industry but every job listing draws a hundred applicants and they’re all younger than me and most with greater experience.

    It’s one arena where a science degree from HSU really comes in handy. The school has excellent biology and enviro programs that dovetail nicely into a new agribusiness.

  56. 56.

    Baud

    @Suzanne: I’ll give him props for recognizing that Warren was better.

     

    ETA: although I don’t know why you wouldn’t endorse the candidate you thought was better.

  57. 57.

    JPL

    @Baud:  You want snark, I have to watch a local council members facebook until nine and respond according.   Why you ask?  cuz I’m fair and balanced.    lol lol lol lol

  62. 62.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Just watched Jeopardy! for the first time in a long while. Alex Trebec looks pretty good, but he sounds just godawful terrible. I hope the hoarseness is just a temporary thing, and not a sign of deteriorating condition or reaction to chemo or something.

  63. 63.

    Ohio Mom

    Humboldt Blue: Say no more. Ohio BIL and his wife are in the newspaper biz (well wife is now retired). They have been holding on by their fingertips for at least fifteen years now, through three cities and changes in beats.

    We are well-schooled on the ways in which late-stage / vulture capitalism (with a dash of Craig’s List and job boards) have decimated the industry. It is a sleeper of an issue for our democracy.

  66. 66.

    Brachiator

    @HumboldtBlue:

    I was a sportswriter and then news reporter for 21 years and my industry has simply been melted away by hedge funds.

    I have been trying to follow these changes in the industry.  I thought competition from the Internet was a larger factor.

    I have focused on trying to get a position in the expanding cannabis industry but every job listing draws a hundred applicants and they’re all younger than me and most with greater experience.

    More experience smoking weed?

    More seriously, yeah I guess this area is very competitive.  And competition from the non-legal market and other pressures is making it tough for businesses to succeed.

    But good luck with your job search.  I know how tough it can be.

  68. 68.

    chris

    @John Revolta: Ducks on the wall!

    First heard in 197? and  I fell on the floor laughing. My super straitlaced grandmother had ducks on the wall. And plates with birds and a couple of velvet paintings. I loved her but her taste was beyond awful.

  71. 71.

    MomSense

    Oh my!!! Maddie is so pretty.  I had the most unexpectedly great second half of the day.  My sister texted me and said she was in town and would I meet her for a drink.  We ran into a friend who I haven’t seen in forever.  We used to take care of each other’s kids – they are 28 now!  And then ducks in scarves!  Perfect!

  72. 72.

    Suzanne

    @chris:

    And plates with birds and a couple of velvet paintings. I loved her but her taste was beyond awful.

    Do you have any of it left? I’ll buy it. That sounds GREAT.

  73. 73.

    trollhattan

    @chris:

    IDK if it’s the only pop song to feature a duck call, but I’ll wager it’s the only chart-dwelling pop song to accomplish the feat. And yep, hilarious. And you can dance to it.

  76. 76.

    trollhattan

    @Suzanne:

    When I was in college our favorite Mexican restaurant prominently featured a LARGE velvet Iwo Jima flag raising, festooned with Christmas lights. Instant, eternal winner–you just can’t compete with that.

  77. 77.

    Mary G

    Every time I hear about ducks now I chuckle about Elizabeth Warren telling Stephen Colbert that Scrooge McDuck doesn’t wear pants. Reminds me of Cole.

  78. 78.

    chris

    @Suzanne: Haha! No, sorry, it went to one of my sisters who now has (probably antique and valuable?) ducks on the wall and the other stuff. We always wondered about her.

    Wondering about you now..

    PS: I’ll keep you in mind when I’m in the secondhand places around here.

  79. 79.

    trollhattan

    @Suzanne:

    Most homes when I was a kid seemed packed to the gills with tchotchkes. I just assumed it was a requirement, along with wallpaper, antimacassars, walls-full of framed family pictures and bad reproductions of the masters on canvas, and the like.

    If you had to sit your little butt there and be silent for a couple of hours, they did provide diversion.

  81. 81.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Brachiator:

    I thought competition from the Internet was a larger factor.

    It most certainly played a role, but those news organizations which focused on creating an online presence alongside their traditional print medium found a way to make it work.

    What impacted the smaller newspapers and very traditional newspapers across the west — papers that go 150 years — was being bought and run by hedge funds who only wanted to squeeze as much revenue as possible from the existing model along with some token nods to the emerging digital world.

    Name a western state and you’ll find a wasteland of regional and dead local newspapers because of a simple lack of investment.

    They refused to invest in the people — just cut-cut-cut — and most importantly the priceless institutional knowledge that came with the staffs of mid-sized and smaller newspapers that served millions of people in hundreds of communities.

    And that’s just Northern and central California.

  88. 88.

    hilts

     

    MSNBC needs to fix its Chris Matthews problem

     

    Kudos to Laura Bassett for speaking out against this sexist creep:

     

    In 2017, I wrote a personal essay about a much older, married cable-news host who inappropriately flirted with me in the makeup room a few times before we went live on his show, making me noticeably uncomfortable on air. I was afraid to name him at the time for fear of retaliation from the network; I’m not anymore. It was Chris Matthews. In 2016, right before I had to go on his show and talk about sexual-assault allegations against Donald Trump, Matthews looked over at me in the makeup chair next to him and said, “Why haven’t I fallen in love with you yet?”

     

    When I laughed nervously and said nothing, he followed up to the makeup artist. “Keep putting makeup on her, I’ll fall in love with her.”

     

    Another time, he stood between me and the mirror and complimented the red dress I was wearing for the segment. “You going out tonight?” he asked.

     

    I said I didn’t know, and he said—again to the makeup artist—“Make sure you wipe this off her face after the show. We don’t make her up so some guy at a bar can look at her like this.”

     

    h/t https://www.gq.com/story/chris-matthews-experience

  89. 89.

    Brachiator

    @HumboldtBlue:

    RE: I thought competition from the Internet was a larger factor.

    It most certainly played a role, but those news organizations which focused on creating an online presence alongside their traditional print medium found a way to make it work.

    You may be right.  But I try to follow changes in the industry, and I see fewer and fewer people either subscribing or buying street sales copies.  At an office I worked in, no one under age 30 read a physical newspaper.

    And except for a few big reputation papers, online subscriptions are fairly anemic.

    But yeah, I can see that hedge funds exacerbated problems.

    ETA: I worked for the LA Times years ago, and even though they were bought out by a local billionaire, they are still struggling. I honestly don’t see them being around in the next 5 to 10 years.

  92. 92.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Mary G:

    Every time I hear about ducks now I chuckle about Elizabeth Warren telling Stephen Colbert that Scrooge McDuck doesn’t wear pants. 

    LMAO!  Now I have to watch that segment.

  93. 93.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Brachiator:

    You’re spot on, print is dead and save a few notable locals such as the North Coast Journal, nearly invisible.

    But it was the lack of focus on creating a digital model while there was still strong revenue from traditional streams. That didn’t happen and in fact, a former member of the traditional newspaper industry was out in front of the digital platform and now runs the most-read local news source in the region.

    The local paper was murdered by corporate action and it didn’t need to happen in that fashion. The personnel were in place, the resources and contacts and relationships were in place.

    What was needed was investment in the changing medium not crass commercial exploitation.

  97. 97.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @HumboldtBlue:

    But it was the lack of focus on creating a digital model while there was still strong revenue from traditional streams.

    Unfortunately, it seems the FTFNYT has successfully made that transition. The WaPo too, though they’re way better

  98. 98.

    Ohio Mom

    Schrodingers Cat@ 80: Well-done puppets and witty lyrics. I watched a couple more of the videos, one of them has a bare-chested Putin puppet. All very on target. I’ll be watching the rest of them.

    Humboldt Blue@93: Yup, you tell the same tale as my BIL and SIL, except their papers are/were east of the Mississippi.

  99. 99.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Brachiator:

    I’ve heard that newspaper circulation in the US actually began to fall in the 1970s. Is that true?

    Perhaps the wider availability of television played a role there, just as the internet would some decades later. Then again, radio had been around decades and was free just like broadcast television was then and newspapers had been doing just fine

  107. 107.

    Suzanne

    @trollhattan: I am in the middle of preparing for our cross-country move and selling our house, so lots of purging and packing. My mother, aka SuzMom, lives with me, and she is a total clutterbug and it causes me a lot of stress. So many tchotchkes. I told her that she can’t bring them all. And the ones that do make the trip need to be stored behind glass, as my dust allergy is still making my life difficult and I will not be maintaining them.

     I am a potter and I have given away four big boxes of work so far.

  110. 110.

    Brachiator

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    I’ve heard that newspaper circulation in the US actually began to fall in the 1970s. Is that true?

    Television (even radio) offered competition, but many newspapers still did well.  The LA Times in the mid 70s had over 600,000 home delivery subscribers and at one time more advertising than any other daily newspaper. With news rack sales, over a million circulation.

    Big Ass Oversimplification. TV news used to be 15 minutes. For everything. Local and national.

    The rise of half hour national news and long form late afternoon and evening news helped kill a lot of afternoon newspapers.

    So did changes in commuting and work hours.  People got off work, went home and watched TV. They didn’t read the newspaper.

    But most recently Craig’s List and similar services killed newspaper want ads, which was a huge revenue stream for papers.

    And the 24 hour Internet, home computers, and portable devices are burying traditional print media, magazines and newspapers.

    And yeah. TV and radio were free, or at most part of a cable TV subscription.

    People expect news to be free now.

  115. 115.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Brachiator:

    So IOW, the death of print newspapers has been a long, slow process and the internet is just the the final nail in the coffin? Sounds about right.

    What was the state of the newspaper industry say, in the 90s? Did anybody in the industry that you were aware of foresee what’s happening today?

  116. 116.

    Martin

    @Brachiator: More notably, the newspapers looked back at their centuries long history and confidently determined that people would keep buying papers, keep buying classified ads, etc.

    Then they had the oh shit moment, when they realized they might be wrong, and then simultaneously cut costs and then failed to competently develop payment systems. If they were smart, they would have done a broad subscription system – give me a $5/mo sub to 100 local papers, so I  can read my local paper as well as the local paper in whatever city I travel to. One well implemented payment system, everyone benefits.

    But no, they failed to learn the lesson of ‘United we stand, divided we fall’.

  117. 117.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @HumboldtBlue:

    Fucking LMAO

    Edit: The effect with the guy’s glasses just falling off suddenly is pretty bad. It makes it look obviously fake. Spielberg should’ve redid that take. Flawless otherwise

  118. 118.

    chris

    @Suzanne:

    a monkey wearing a fez, holding two “candles”

    That sounds delightful. If I see some ducks, or monkeys, for your wall I’ll let you know.

    ETA: First reply vanished into the ether so I made this one. Now I have two.

  119. 119.

    Kattails

    @Suzanne: Wow. “Potter” and “cross-country move” is just a brutal combination. You have my sympathy. My mother moved up from FL to live with me a few years ago (she hated New England and moved back south after a year). She arrived with the most ungodly quantity of absolute crap, which cost her thousands to bring up. Would have done much much much better to save the money and have fun shopping the local consignment and thrift shops. Then she paid to store it for a year, a 10 x 10 space packed to the rafters. Which she then spent weeks going through to get rid of so she could move again.

    REMAIN FIRM.

  123. 123.

    Brachiator

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    What was the state of the newspaper industry say, in the 90s? Did anybody in the industry that you were aware of foresee what’s happening today?

    No one really saw how fast and definitive the plunge would be. Kinda like how Blackberry did not see that the iPhone release in 2007 would kill other types of mobile devices deader than dead.

    There used to be a site called Newspaper Death Watch that chronicled the decline.  A current site has a great chart. In the 1990s there were over 450,000 people employed in the newspaper industry.  Currently, it is fewer than 180,000, the lowest since 1947.

    BTW: computer technology killed jobs even as it allowed newspapers to increase profits.  The spreadsheet and word processing eliminated thousands of clerical jobs. The automation of printing the newspaper is a whole other topic.

  126. 126.

    Brachiator

    @Martin:

    More notably, the newspapers looked back at their centuries long history and confidently determined that people would keep buying papers, keep buying classified ads, etc.

    Well, not quite.  Again, let me use the LA Times as an example, because in the 70s they were the industry leader in advertising.

    And here display advertising was the big moneymaker.  Department stores, electronic stores, etc. And things were so fat that a new company in town could not buy a display ad in the main news section of the paper. And there was gravy in inserts that would be delivered with the paper. Supermarkets, etc

    In the 80s with a recession and other changes, classified ads become a bigger and more reliable source of profits.  Display ads were also competing more with television and magazine ads.

     If they were smart, they would have done a broad subscription system – give me a $5/mo sub to 100 local papers, so I can read my local paper as well as the local paper in whatever city I travel to. One well implemented payment system, everyone benefits.

    Something like this might have been very innovative and helpful. But newspapers used to get 80% of their revenue from advertising. You can’t make up for that with subscriptions, and especially not with shared subscriptions.

    And the Internet (along with TV and radio) has intensified the belief that reporting and entertainment news should be free. Increasingly, people just flat out refuse to pay for news at any price.

  127. 127.

    Ohio Mom

    Mrmoshpotato: you guessed right, the Reply button does not work on the platform of my ancient cell.

    So I pretend by typing in the Nym and sometimes number of the comment I am replying to.

    One day I will get a new phone (not soon, see above, the Ohio Family breadwinner is not winning any bread st the moment), and I expect this problem to solve itself.

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