Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

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

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

Be a traveling stable for those who can’t find room at the inn.

ha ha ha! Nice try weird people.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

The Supreme Court is corrupt. Democrats must win in November and force court reform.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

I’m more Christian than these people and I’m an atheist.

Another missed opportunity for Jamie Dimon to just shut the fuck up.

Republicans would impeach Biden if he bit into a whole Kit Kat rather than breaking the sections apart.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Turkey Day (Open Thread)

Turkey Day (Open Thread)

by | 107 Comments

This post is in: 

I was walking Badger up our crappy dirt road early this morning, which dawned still and humid and overcast but tolerably cool. We hadn’t progressed much past our property line when a very large wild turkey burst through the brush at the edge of the road. It startled the dog and me, and the turkey was surprised by our presence too. We all stopped for half a beat and stared at one another.

The turkey recovered its wits and began running up the road ahead of us, with Badger straining at the leash to give chase and sort of dragging me along behind him. You might not think a 22 lb. dog could drag an adult human, but trust me, it is possible.

A short way up the road and to the right, the turkey veered into a lot where there’s a big pile of sand with stakes and marker tape that presumably outlines the dimensions of whatever the owner intends to build there. The turkey ran straight into the marker tape at a high rate of speed and became entangled.

Badger was barking his head off, and as we approached the sandpile, I wondered if I’d have to tie Badger’s leash to a tree and go help the turkey get free. It wasn’t making much progress getting loose but instead frantically entangling itself in the tape even more.

I had a Shingrix shot yesterday, so my left arm is kind of useless, and I’ve been under the weather for weeks, so I’m not sure I’m in good enough shape to wrangle a large, angry turkey. Luckily for us all, our approach galvanized the turkey, who broke through the entanglement and skedaddled into the underbrush, trailing a length of pink tape. Phew!

Hopefully, that concludes today’s excitement. Open thread!

Reader Interactions

107Comments

  3. 3.

    trollhattan

    Turkeys and Canada geese–we have a lot of both–and on foot or cycling they can present multipound hazards, sometimes unexpectedly. Have read tales of tom turkeys becoming territorial (whew, that’s a lot of ts) and harassing mail carriers and the like, or challenging their reflections in especially shiny cars.

    My hood usually has neither but occasionally, some lucky yard will fill with turkeys. Where from? Why so organized? They’re not talking.

  4. 4.

    Suzanne

    I love those wild turkeys. They’ve been one of the best surprises for me about living here in PGH. Last spring, I was running along a park trail, and I came across two of them. They let me get really close. Majestic AF.

    Yesterday was a crazy day. We officially submitted 100% construction documents for the pair of projects I’ve been working on for the last three years (I shared this yesterday in a thread). PLOT TWIST: And then, right before the end of the day, after the docs went out…. I resigned. I have accepted another offer at a really big firm with an office here in PGH. I start March 25. Rollercoaster!

  5. 5.

    OzarkHillbilly

    I’m not sure I’m in good enough shape to wrangle a large, angry turkey.

    If it’s a male bird, you do NOT want to engage in a rescue attempt. They have spurs. The older the bird the longer the spurs. They can do a lot of damage with them.

  8. 8.

    catclub

    I think any BC thread needs this: I saw butter sculptures – bunny and chick I think, at the grocery store!
    No lamb, yet. I had never seen them in my old location.

  13. 13.

    Miss Bianca

    @trollhattan: Wild turkeys can also cause hella amounts of damage to cars as well – a friend of mine was driving Hwy 115 towards Colorado Springs when her car got clobbered by a turkey that flew into it – the car looked like it had been in a crash! Luckily, she wasn’t hurt in any way – not sure about the turkey.

    (Insert obligatory reference here)

  14. 14.

    frosty

    @Suzanne: ​
     Congratulations on the 100% drawings. That’s a big accomplishment! Then congratulations on the roller coaster change. I’m glad you’re staying in PA. We need all the D voters we can find!

  15. 15.

    realbtl

    My #10 terror Chi/Pom/? is very happy. He got to bark the first turkeys off my front entry. As summer comes on this becomes a day long task as I encourage it to keep them from eating spilt birdseed and pooping on the deck. Turkeys can be BIG.

  16. 16.

    TBone

    Reposted from below thread:

    Question:  the wildlife specialist (“humane” kill traps) I called about squirrels removal from chewing chunks! of wood outta my attached carport roof beam wants a $600 commitment before he’ll even show up.  Is that normal???

  17. 17.

    Suzanne

    Thanks, all! I am excited about this change….it’s actually been in the works for about a year, but I wanted to finish this project. It is a big firm with more resources and reach. I have been working almost entirely remotely since COVID and this will be a hybrid arrangement, so some office days. I think it will be a good balance.

  19. 19.

    Eric S.

    @BC I had my 2nd Shinglex shot yesterday. My arm is sore and I have muscle aches across my upper back. My sleep was fitful last night. A heating pad helped.

  20. 20.

    rekoob

    @Suzanne: Congratulations on the transition! We on the Eastern Seaboard will miss your visits to Philadelphia, but all the more reason to do a meetup in Pittsburgh when the weather gets nice.

    I’ll still follow the Landmark project with great interest.

  21. 21.

    narya

    @Suzanne: Wonderful! Can’t wait to hear about your new adventures! (Seriously: I really like the perspective you bring from your work.)

  22. 22.

    Albatrossity

    Very colorful turkey in your woods now!

    You were wise not to mess with it; the spurs on those toms can inflict some serious wounds. On a Field Ornithology trip quite a few years back, we heard a sudden squawk and flapping in the woods behind us. A (small) coyote had ambushed a (large) tom turkey, and the turkey appeared to have a broken wing. But it nailed the coyote a couple of times with those spurs, and both of them broke off the engagement and headed in separate directions. The turkey clearly got the worst of it, but it was determined not to end up as dinner!

  24. 24.

    Suzanne

    @rekoob: Absolutely!

    So the second project is almost as big as the Landmark project. It’s not redeveloping a high-profile site, so it hasn’t gotten as much press, but it will also be great. It’s in Springfield, VA, and it is also a hospital and surgery center for the same client, adjacent to one of their existing buildings. Springfield Hospital, opening 2027.

  25. 25.

    Gin & Tonic

    We have a lot of wild turkeys wandering through our area, and I’m surprised by how well and gracefully they fly.

  27. 27.

    mrmoshpotato

    It startled the dog and me, and the turkey was surprised by our presence too.

    Nominated.

  30. 30.

    HinTN

    @TBone: I was paying $25 per raccoon to have them trapped and (allegedly) transported over 10 miles away for release in the wild. The $600 fee, at that rate, would be 24 squirrels, which seems excessive.

    Also, “skedaddled” is such a good word.

  32. 32.

    trollhattan

    @Gin & Tonic: A tree loaded with turkeys is a very odd sight, but by gawd they’ll do it.

    Not as weird as a tree o’ goats, that still takes the cake.

  33. 33.

    Ohio Mom

    @TBone: We had squirrels in the attic a few years ago. We deserved them, we let the gutter leak and rot away enough fascia to make chewing a hole easy.

    It was a mom looking for a place to nest, so we ended up with three squirrels guests.

    I don’t remember if we had to pay in advance, or how much it was. I do remember that it took several tries and the trapper caught a miscellaneous older male squirrel and a raccoon before catching all three of the targeted varmits.

    It was frustrating process so I am not surprised the fee is asked for in advance. Some customers must get fed up at the slow pace and take revenge on the trapper by firing or stiffing them.

    As I recall, Ohio law requires live trapping and for the caught animal to be freed in another area. Our trapper said he let them out in a rural area in the next county. I remembering wondering how humane this really is, I bet a lot of squirrels, raccoons, etc, do very poorly after all the trauma, especially the young ones separated from their moms. Not that I wasn’t glad to see them go.

    In other news, it’s a long story but I managed to fall and get a good two inch gash in the right knee on Thursday night. I have eight stitches and an immobilizer to wear for two weeks — it’s a soft cast to prevent my knee from bending and popping the stitches.

    I guess I’m glad I didn’t break my knee bone (or whatever it’s called), and it doesn’t hurt much, but it’s boring not to be able to get around much. So much to do and I can’t do anything.

  35. 35.

    trollhattan

    @Ohio Mom: ​
    Friend had to deal with garage attic possums and after that, a garage attic raccoon family. That was quite the adventure (he reported mom would bring the little ones out every night for swimming lessons in their pool).

    Squirrels can definitely be their own brand of hell.

  36. 36.

    TBone

    @Ohio Mom: thanks, I asked if they were using humane methods like trap and relocate and he laughed.  “We don’t trap squirrels around here.” I had this problem at my cabin and was so broke I had to use The Blue Death.  I don’t want to ever do that again.  But I also don’t really want this guy to rip me off.  “If we have to come back, it’s $150 each trip.” He sounds real slick to me /s

  37. 37.

    West of the Rockies

    I was walking our 65 lb. sheepadoodle last year when a turkey charged out from behind a car in a driveway and sent our dog into the street, pulling me sideways in the air about six feet before I landed badly on the asphalt.

    Wild turkeys are not to be messed with.

  38. 38.

    CaseyL

    A very newsy day already on Balloon Juice!

    Betty C versus Wild Turkey: Oh, there are so many ways one could interpret this :). I always wonder about animals who return to their flocks, or herds, with bits of human stuff. Like a tracking collar. Or, int his case, like this turkey trailing a length of marker tape. What does the rest of the flock/herd make of it? What sorts of explanations are demanded?

    (I hope you have all seen that viral short video of an owl wearing what appears to be a tracking antenna. Its two fellow owls keep looking up at the antenna, and at the owl wearing it, and appear to be completely dumbfounded. The owl with the antenna just glares straight ahead, daring anyone to comment.).

    @Suzanne: ​ Congrats on the new gig! Was the chance to work on bigger projects the reason you took the job? (IIRC< you were pretty happy with your current/old one).

  39. 39.

    TBone

    @HinTN: yeah, my Spidey senses are tingling about the up front payment being that large and any extra trips back to check on success being so expensive.  I don’t trust anyone who says they’re relocating around here – last time I saved a kitten and had to put up for adoption I nearly lost my mind worrying about sale to a lab.  These people here need the money but I couldn’t have another cat at that time (had 4 already). The girl promised to keep in touch but…I’m down to 3 resident cats and several neighborhood cats that I feed because owners got a dog that bites cats, so they moved out and into my shed where I put coolers with 7″inch hole cut out and fill with straw and soft blankets.

  42. 42.

    trollhattan

    @Suzanne: Very cool!

    A closing and immediate opening? That basically never happens–you have performed a miracle. See that makes it onto your resume.

  43. 43.

    TBone

    @Another Scott: Thank you, not irrelevant!  I’ll go see (any advice AND distraction is good until I have to call other, less “professional” squirrel removers).

  46. 46.

    TBone

    @Another Scott: How did I forget the capsaicin gambit?  We had to make peanut butter hot sauce sammiches here for a bear that greeted us when we moved in!  THANKS! ❤️ I have extra hot 🔥 sauce and will pour it all over the place and on some treats!

  47. 47.

    Matt McIrvin

    There’s a little posse of a big male and a couple of females who hang around our neighborhood. The dude likes to puff up his feathers and strut–I give him a wide berth when he’s doing that.

  48. 48.

    evodevo

    @ Betty Cracker….Yes…I believe you wholeheartedly about the 22 lb dog thing…ours is just short of 20 and could, I swear, pull a loaded dog sled all by herself.  And if she sees a S-Q-U-I-R-R-E-L all bets are off – she could probably drag our car out of a ditch.  I have a bad knee, and can’t do this any longer, so it falls to Mr.Evodevo to take her for walks, and I wish him well LOL

  50. 50.

    CaseyL

    Open Thread, so I’m going to share this, even though it’s about politics, SCOTUS, and the immunity case:

    Stephanie Says is another legal blog. In this post, she walks through SCOTUS deciding to take the DC Immunity case, and makes some very important points. It’s a welcome, and very much needed, antidote to the rage-and-doom reactions from the MSM and elsewhere. (H/T Teri Kanefield, the invaluable legal source on Mastodon.)

    TL;DR: Had SCOTUS not taken the case and let the Federal Circuit Court decision stand, it would only have decided the immunity issue for that specific case in that specific jurisdiction. Trump has already invoked total immunity in the Florida documents case and the George insurrection case – and whichever side lost there would ultimately have appealed to SCOTUS anyway. This way, SCOTUS can clear the decks on the immunity issue everywhere.

    (That doesn’t mean SCOTUS will rule in favor of democracy or lawfulness. But it does mean the decision-for-the-entire-country will come out in the heat of the Presidential Campaign, which may “concentrate the mind” among normie voters.)

    I am definitely one of the rage-and-doom reactors, so I am very grateful to Stephanie, and to Teri Kanefield. Teri has talked people off ledges so often that she’s tired of it, and now just posts links to other people (like Stephanie) still willing.

  51. 51.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    This encounter sounds like the nearly-nightly encounters we have with our local red fox. Before this guy (or girl) moved into our neighborhood, foxes were a thing I’d only seen in the wild a couple times in my life, and never close by. Now I’m almost blasé about it.

    Nah, I’m kidding. The fox always takes my breath away, they’re such pretty animals.

    The thing is, he absolutely doesn’t care about dogs on leashes. He knows he’s safe. So he’ll trot slowly by, maybe 20 feet away, while the dog on my left arm is going hysterical (like yours, a 40-pound hysterical dog can win in a tug of war).

    One night a couple of months ago we heard him vocalizing for a long while. I was wondering if he was injured or sick. Recently I realized that there had been a second animal I used to spot occasionally, a larger and darker one, and I haven’t seen that one in months. So I’m wondering if we heard him mourning a mate.

  52. 52.

    trollhattan

    @evodevo:

    Friends had a big, happy lug of a Newfie I was walking one day–she was generally fine on a leash–but we were crossing a treed campus when she spotted SQUIRREL and just rag-dolled me across that lawn. 120 pounds+4 legs suddenly became 1,200.

  53. 53.

    suzanne

    @CaseyL: Yeah, I like my current gig, but I think their backlog of projects of significant scale is dwindling. I kept asking what I would be assigned to next, and never got a satisfying answer. Others I work with were also wondering what they would be working on. I think they are struggling with reach. Only firms of a certain scale are equipped with enough resources to do big projects. So, when one reached out…. I listened.

  55. 55.

    Scout211

    @TBone: We have Havahart live trap for critters that won’t go away.  Here’s one at Lowe’s.

    They sell them at many stores, including Amazon, Ace Hardware, Tractor Supply, etc.  You do need to review your state laws for removal and relocation before you move them, though.  Or be very careful not to get caught.  (Pretend I didn’t just type that).  We had a raccoon recently that ate at least 4 of our chickens and that raccoon just loved him some sardines.  Just saying.

  56. 56.

    wjca

    The Californian turkey species died out about 10,000 years ago.  But we definitely have turkeys now.  There are various stories about how they got introduced here, and by whom.

    We certainly didn’t have any around this part of the state half a century ago.  But they’re here now.  The cutest story says that someone around here was raising them in his back yard.  When he died, his heirs dealt with them by just opening the back gate and letting them go.

  57. 57.

    Baud

    @CaseyL:

    Jack Smith wanted SCOTUS to take the case back in December.  Whatever they decide, they would have decided if they had listened to Smith then.

  60. 60.

    brendancalling

    Speaking of turkeys, I can’t be the only one who automatically dismissed the latest Sienna/NYT poll out of hand. These were the “red wave” folks, right? Fool me once, shame on me—but you don’t get a chance to fool me again.

  61. 61.

    Kelly

    @TBone: Several years ago we noticed a critter had been trying to chew/claw it’s way into our chicken coup. Mrs Kelly borrowed a live trap and set it. A couple mornings later we’d captured a spotted skunk. The coup and a couple chickens were quite fragrant. After a bit of thought walked up to the trap behind an 8×8 scrap of plastic drop cloth. Wrapped the trap put it into the back of our truck and drove the little beastie into the forest several miles away and hiding behind the plastic cautiously released. Seems all the stink was drained out by then as the plastic did not pick up and stink.

  62. 62.

    TBone

    @Scout211: thank you! I’m in the burbs, woolly though they may be so close to State Forests, and neighbors cut down all of their squirrel habitat. 🤬  So my house is the next best thing.  We gave our Have A Heart trap away when we moved out of cabin.  Not sure I have the patience and wherewithal for trap and release with my health issues and hubby’s combined.  But hot sauce and blocking further entry with steel wool and fancy hardware cloth (chicken wire with tinier holes) sounds like a one afternoon kinda job.  We’ll see!  Thanks again, I may do that if hot sauce fails when the weather here is better.

  63. 63.

    Another Scott

    @CaseyL: Thanks for that.

    IANAL, but Jack presented the argument that if they didn’t let the lower court ruling stand then they should take the case for reasons XYZ to address question alpha, and the one-page order used almost the exact same language to address question alpha-prime.  I took that as a good thing – Smith and his team know what they’re doing.

    Yeah, they’re taking their time, but the rest of it seems to be by the book.

    We’ll see.

    Thanks again.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  64. 64.

    trollhattan

    @Kelly: Friends keep city chickens and if they’re not safely locked in their coop by sundown, it’s a race between the skunks and raccoons for which gets to attack.

    All too much responsibility for me!

  65. 65.

    TBone

    @Kelly: wonderful !  The best use of our truck ever (I did NOT want a truck but hubby got one anyhow) was saving Bambi one day, who’d been hit and temporarily paralyzed right before we came upon her.  She’s at a local wildlife petting zoo now.

  67. 67.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: That’s where I landed on the issue. I wasn’t pissed off about SCOTUS taking the case because I think they’ll grant immunity. I’m pissed because they’re helping Trump kick the can down the road. I don’t think that’s a doomy or otherwise inappropriate reaction that people need to be talked down from.

  69. 69.

    Kelly

    @TBone: When I first saw we’d live trapped a skunk I had one of the biggest “OK now what do I do?” moments of my life.

    Live traps are $30~$40. Simple to set. Maybe you could have a go at catching the little beasties yourself.

  70. 70.

    TBone

    My ex once set out our Have a Heart in our yard by Penns Creek all night.  Next day he said “Well damn, that’s the ugliest mink I ever seen!” 😆 Possum was very, very large.

  72. 72.

    TBone

    @Kelly: that’s how I felt when I wrapped Bambi in a towel and held on while she struggled.  NOW WHAT?  Luckily, an Angel appeared just then with her 2 daughters and clued me in about where to take her.  They followed our truck to see that it went ok.  I’ll never forget that woman and her children!  So kind.  My health wasn’t great back then, but it’s much worse now.

  74. 74.

    TBone

    @Kelly: PS one of my favorite birthday gifts when I was a fully grown adult was my stuffed animal ‘Flower,’ the skunk from the Disney movie.  It came with a Far Side surprise party birthday card “I told you we shouldn’t startle him.”

    I’ve got several IRL skunk stories for another day.

  76. 76.

    trollhattan

    This sneaked past yesterday, bears sharing I think.

    The two largest US pharmacy chains will begin selling the prescription abortion pill, mifepristone, this month.

    CVS and Walgreens said they will start distribution next week in a handful of states where abortion is legal. Their move follows a decision by the US Food and Drug Administration last year allowing pharmacies to sell the pill.

    The pill has been legal in the US since 2000 but was previously only accessible through clinics and hospitals. The announcement by CVS and Walgreens on Friday also comes as the Supreme Court is set to weigh whether the pill could be acquired by mail without an in-person doctor visit.

    Spokespeople from both CVS and Walgreens confirmed that they will begin selling the abortion pill in interviews with the New York Times on Friday.

    Walgreens said it will start by providing the pill in a handful of pharmacies in New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, California and Illinois. Company spokesperson Fraser Engerman said it is part of a “phased rollout” to monitor quality, safety and privacy for both patients and pharmacy staff.

    CVS’s spokesperson Amy Thibault said it will begin dispensing the pill in all of its pharmacies in Massachusetts and Rhode Island “in the weeks ahead”.

    Both companies said they will focus on rolling out in states where pharmacists are allowed to dispense mifepristone, and will monitor prospects where there are legal challenges to abortion bans or limitations, like Kansas, Montana and Wyoming.

    Mr Engerman said Walgreens will not “dispense in states where the laws are unclear”, in order to protect staff. CVS said it will “monitor and evaluate changes in state laws” and will distribute the pill wherever it is legal to do so.

    Abortion pills are already available in clinics, and in some states, can be prescribed through telemedicine and mailed to a patient. With the pill being available through a retail pharmacy, it will give doctors the option to send a prescription to a CVS or Walgreens, where the patient can pick it up from a pharmacist. Widespread access to the pill has been opposed by anti-abortion groups, who have sued the FDA in a bid to remove mifepristone off the market in the US.

    The case will be heard by the Supreme Court later this month, after a federal appeals court ruled that the pill should remain legal, but should not be sent through the mail or prescribed through telemedicine.

    If the US top court upholds that ruling, it would mean that patients would have to obtain the pill by visiting a clinic, doctor or pharmacy in-person.
    –BBC

  78. 78.

    Scout211

    @trollhattan: This was discussed a bit in a thread yesterday.  Discussing it again today is well worth it.  I was particularly happy that the Biden team got this out to the pharmacies before SCOTUS makes its ruling this year.

  80. 80.

    trollhattan

    @Scout211: IDK what the odds of SCOTUS leaving well enough alone are here, but it’s an interesting clash of the inalienable rights of the Free Market and those of the Holy Zygote.

    Odds of Alito writing the majority opinion seem high. I’m sure Aquinas had thoughts on the matter.

  82. 82.

    Eyeroller

    @Matt McIrvin: Years and years and years ago my father was a residential real-estate appraiser and when I was home,  I often went along as an assistant.  We went to a rural property near a small town and were greeted by a huge tom turkey in full display.  Spread tail, puffed up, gobbling.  It turned out to be a heritage breed (so close to wild-type coloring) that had been purchased as a tiny chick and was intended to be Thanksgiving dinner.  He’d lived with them for something like five years at that point.  I was very intimidated.  The owner laughed and said he was just greeting us.  Uh huh, sure. But since it was domesticated and used to humans it did not seem inclined to attack.

  83. 83.

    kalakal

    Not had any experience of turkeys but one of the biggest pains of driving in bits of rural Yorkshire are pheasants. They’re the epitome of gorgeous but brain dead. They hide in the hedgerows then, when you’re about 20 ft from their hiding spot, panic and fly straight across the road, or straight into the front of the car. Add in the reflex swerve as something suddenly appears 3ft from your windscreen and they’re a lot of fun.

  84. 84.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    I have a turkey story…my wife is from the Washington, DC area but I grew up in Grand Rapids, MI and we were home visiting my family once. They live on the East side of town, barely Northeast, just a block North of Fulton, which is the Street that divides North from South in Grand Rapids. They’re near Lakeside Drive, so named because it runs by Reeds Lake, probably Grand Rapids’s premier natural feature (technically, the lake is in East Grand Rapids). When visiting we often walk over and along Reeds Lake on Lakeside. It’s a pretty lake and there’s a stretch where you can get unobstructed views of it for I’m guessing a half mile or so.

    Anyway we’d seen a flock of turkeys while walking through a fairly wooded stretch of Lakeside Drive that’s lined with grand old homes with very large yards. Then one day my wife went for a walk on her own to the lake and I get a call from her. She says there’s a flock of turkeys chasing her and one head butted the back of her leg. She sounded out of breath and panicked. I guess she called me on the assumption that I’d lived in this godforsaken place and maybe this was a common occurrence and I’d know what to do? I had no advice to give though –  something like that has never happened to me before or since so I was no help. The turkeys gave up while we were on the phone without doing her any harm, thankfully and there have been no recurrences on any of our visits since.

  88. 88.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, … DW.com:

    Germany’s Defense Ministry on Saturday confirmed the authenticity of a recording of a confidential discussion between high-ranking Bundeswehr officers regarding the war in Ukraine that was leaked by Russian state media.

    “According to our assessment, a conversation in the air force division was intercepted. We are currently unable to say for certain whether changes were made to the recorded or transcribed version that is circulating on social media,” a spokeswoman for the ministry said.

    The head of Russian state broadcaster RT, Margarita Simonyan, on Friday published what she said was an audio recording between German officers, including the chief of the Air Force, Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz.

    […]

    The clip also contains reference to the British having “a few people on the ground” in connection with the deployment of their Storm Shadow cruise missiles delivered to Ukraine.

    German outlet Der Spiegel reported that the virtual meeting did not take place via a secure line, but via the Webex platform.

    […]

    [ head-desk, head-desk, head-desk ]

    Grr…,
    Scott.

  89. 89.

    Bill Arnold

    @Another Scott:

    30s video of first air drop of US aid to Gaza.

    Part of the intent [appears to be] is to embarrass the Israeli government into allow more trucked supplies, and maybe into supplying security for them since the IDF has basically disbanded the local civilian police (by killing enough of them that the rest quit).

  91. 91.

    Bill Arnold

    @Another Scott:
    Am curious about how that was achieved. Perhaps for one (or more) of the endpoints it was on speaker and there was a separate microphone listening, or the endpoint computer was compromised.
    Or worse, one (or more) of the parties on the call recorded and leaked to the Russians.

  92. 92.

    Another Scott

    @Bill Arnold: Yeah, it would be nice if Krebs or someone similar can give a rundown on how it happened.

    However it happened, such discussions should never happen on a platform like that. What happened to “be prepared for everything you say on the Internet to end up on the cover of the FTFNYT!!”.

    Grr…,
    Scott.

  93. 93.

    Kathleen

    @CaseyL: Jennifer Rubin also has a unique perspective on Supreme Court’s approach to the case. Here’s a gift link to her provocative piece:

    https://wapo.st/3P51wA6

    ETA: I, too, am a Teri Kanefield fan! She and Heather Cox Richardson are life savers for my mental health!

  94. 94.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, … FTC.gov (from yesterday):

    […]

    Today, the FTC and Department of Justice took action to fight algorithmic collusion in the residential housing market. The agencies filed a joint legal brief explaining that price fixing through an algorithm is still price fixing. The brief highlights key aspects of competition law important for businesses in every industry: (1) you can’t use an algorithm to evade the law banning price-fixing agreements, and (2) an agreement to use shared pricing recommendations, lists, calculations, or algorithms can still be unlawful even where co-conspirators retain some pricing discretion or cheat on the agreement.

    The agencies’ work in this space is especially important given rising residential housing rental prices. Rent is up nearly 20% since 2020, with the largest increases concentrated on lower- and middle-tier apartments rented by lower-income consumers. About half of renters now pay more than 30% of their income in rent and utilities, and rising shelter costs were responsible for over two-thirds of January inflation.

    Meanwhile, landlords increasingly use algorithms to determine their prices, with landlords reportedly using software like “RENTMaximizer” and similar products to determine rents for tens of millions of apartments across the country. Efforts to fight collusion are even more critical given private equity-backed consolidation among landlords and property management companies. The considerable leverage these firms already have over their renters is only exacerbated by potential algorithmic price collusion. Algorithms that recommend prices to numerous competing landlords threaten to remove renters’ ability to vote with their feet and comparison-shop for the best apartment deal around.

    What’s the message for other businesses?

    Agreeing to use an algorithm is an agreement. In algorithmic collusion, a pricing algorithm combines competitor data and spits out the suggested “maximized” rent for a unit given local conditions. Such software can allow landlords to collude on pricing by using an algorithm—something the law doesn’t allow IRL. When you replace once-independent pricing decisions with a shared algorithm, expect trouble. Competitors using a shared human agent to fix prices? Illegal. Doing the same thing but with an agreed upon, shared algorithm? Still illegal. It’s also irrelevant that the algorithm maker isn’t a direct competitor if you and your competitors each agree to use their product knowing the others are doing the same in concert.

    […]

    More at the link.

    Good, good.

    Throw the book at them.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  98. 98.

    Another Scott

    Beyonce’ doin’ her Country thing has been mentioned here. I just listened to one of DJ Cummerbund’s mashups with her – Crazy Together (3:48).

    “Who he think he is??”

    “Math!”

    [ rofl ]

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  99. 99.

    Another Scott

    WhiteHouse.gov – press briefing and Q&A with “senior officials” today:

    […]

    Yesterday, President Biden announced that we would carry out airdrops of aid into Gaza, and I’ll talk a little bit more about that in a moment.

    We have also been working on additional pathways to get assistance into Gaza. We have been in touch with officials in Israel, in Cyprus, working with the U.N., working with potential commercial entities, to see if we can set up a maritime route as well that would deliver assistance directly into Gaza by sea.

    But back to the airdrops: Today, as the Central Command just put out, the Department of Defense and the Royal Jordanian Air Force conducted a combined humanitarian assistance airdrop into Gaza between 3:00 and 5:00 p.m. And this, of course, is to provide the essential relief to civilians affected by the ongoing conflict.

    Our C-130s dropped 38,000 meals along the coastline of Gaza, allowing for civilian access to the critical assistance. And those locations were chosen specifically as areas where we thought people would be able to best access the aid.

    There were 66 total bundles, 22 on each aircraft, which were dropped into Gaza to help alleviate the intense hunger and desperate situation there.

    This will be part of a sustained effort, in conjunction with our international partners, to scale up the amount of life-saving aid we’re getting into Gaza.

    And really want to make clear this is, kind of, an overall campaign. We’re looking at the land routes, we’re looking at the sea route, we’re looking at the air route to really ensure that we’re exploring every opportunity to get assistance in.

    […]

    The challenge has not been getting 250, 300 trucks-load of assistance physically into Gaza. The problem has been distribution, and distribution is what matters. If you cannot move assistance from storage facilities, from warehouses — Kerem Shalom, Rafah — out to the communities at need throughout center and south Gaza; if you cannot get aid into the north — and that has been a major challenge since October — you’re not meeting the critical needs to provide that minimal feeding that prevents famine.

    Why is there a problem? The problem has multiple routes. But essentially what has gone on is: With the removal of police from the protective duties, U.N. and other convoys, Emirati, Jordanian, Palestine Red Crescent, lawlessness, which was always a problem in the background, has now moved to a very different level. This is a product of, if you will, commercialization of the assistance; criminal gangs are taking it, looting it, reselling it. They’ve monetized humanitarian assistance.

    There’s a way that you resolve this problem, and the way is you flood the market. You bring in assistance from every point you can — air, sea, land — you bring it in, and you know that some of this assistance is going to be looted, is going to be self-distributed by desperate people, but you keep coming. And what you do through that — and there’s international experience with this — you demonetize these commodities. And with that, you de-incentivize the criminal groups, the gangs involved in attacking trucks, and you reduce the pressure on desperate people, not criminals, who just want food — because the food is there; it’s coming in.

    Now, the President’s intent is to see that flooding of the zone, which is why, to go to [senior administration official]’s comments, it is imperative that as many points of entry — the south; points of entry in the north, which we have been pressing for vigorously and about which we are hopeful; a maritime corridor; airdrops — all of them complement the other.

    And just a final note here: None of these — maritime corridor, airdrops — are an alternative to the fundamental need to move assistance through as many land crossings as possible. That’s the most efficient way to get aid in at scale. It’s the most efficient way to flood the zone.

    […]

    More, please.

    More at the link.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  100. 100.

    sab

    Late to the thread here, but turkey thing made me laugh.

    I had one particular public accountiing job for one year with a boss I didn’t like and his partner I despised. I came to work one morning in an eastern Cleveland suburb noted for its shopping malls. The partner I despised was pinned in her car by an outraged wild turkey.

    I think I backed away and went and got a coffee.

  101. 101.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, … Science.org:

    One of the most promising attempts to reinvigorate the stalled quest for an HIV vaccine has hit a snag that might seem minor but has major consequences: delaying the larger trials needed to show whether the concept works. In small safety and immune tests of the innovative vaccine strategy, which relies on a series of messenger RNA (mRNA) shots, an unusually high percentage of recipients developed rashes, welts, or other skin irritations.

    “We are taking this very seriously,” says Carl Dieffenbach, who heads the Division of AIDS at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which funded a recent phase 1 trial of the vaccine. Researchers want to understand the cause of the skin problems and how to minimize them before expanding tests of the vaccines, which are made by Moderna. “We would be moving more quickly if this finding had not been observed,” says Mark Feinberg, who heads IAVI, a nonprofit that is the vaccine’s major sponsor.

    The complex vaccine strategy involves injections of different mRNAs, encoding various pieces of HIV’s surface protein or the entire molecule, over the course of several months. The goal is to gradually guide the immune system’s B cells to produce so-called broadly neutralizing antibodies, or bnAbs, capable of stopping many different variants of the AIDS virus. People living with HIV on rare occasions eventually produce bnAbs, but no vaccine has ever done so—which has become the “holy grail” for the field, says Linda-Gail Bekker, an AIDS vaccine researcher in South Africa who runs the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre at the University of Cape Town.

    […]

    These HIV vaccines deliver a relatively high dose of mRNA, which Moderna scientists and others think could explain the skin issues. The company’s original COVID-19 mRNA vaccine used the same dose and has also been linked to skin problems, although at much lower frequencies, of 1% to 3%. (The Pfizer-BioNTech collaboration’s COVID-19 vaccine, also based on mRNA but given at a 70% lower dose, triggers skin problems, too, but one Swiss study suggests they occur 20 times less frequently than with the Moderna product.) Potentially more worrisome, however, would be if the problem is tied to a cumulative effect from multiple mRNA shots or the genetic background of the recipients, or if the HIV sequence itself were responsible for the welts and hives.

    Most of these skin problems quickly resolved and weren’t severe enough to stop any trial, but researchers do not want to minimize them. “At a time when vaccine hesitancy is high, it is critically important not to dismiss urticaria as an unimportant side effect,” says Kimberly Blumenthal, an allergist at Massachusetts General Hospital who has also found a link between Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine and higher rates of urticaria.

    Feinberg agrees the side effect issue needs studying, but is also concerned that people who are vaccine opponents might misrepresent the scope of the problem. “This finding has not been seen to the same frequency with other mRNA vaccines against other pathogens,” he says.

    […]

    Bodies are complicated and there’s still a massive amount of stuff that we don’t know (even as progress has accelerated).

    The good thing about finding these issues is that more understanding will result which will help give a fuller picture of what’s going on (here, and elsewhere). Science (and research of all kinds) would be really, really dull and boring if there were never any surprises.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  102. 102.

    Ironcity

    @trollhattan: I feel you pain literally.  My 130 # Lab and 60# Golden are fine except for finding other dogs to play with.  200# of excited dogs with 4 paw drive will haul 165# me a bit of a way.  Luckily they seldom can get their act together to go the same way at the same time.

  103. 103.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, … RFERL.org:

    […]

    The elections for a new parliament, or Majlis, and a new Assembly of Experts, which elects Iran’s supreme leader, were the first since the deadly nationwide protests that erupted following the September 2022 death while in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who had been detained for an alleged Islamic dress-code violation.

    Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency said 1,960 from 5,000 ballots in Tehran have been counted so far, with hard-liners ahead as expected.

    An alliance led by hard-liner Hamid Rasaee won 17 out of 30 seats in Tehran, state radio reported, while the incumbent parliamentary speaker, conservative Mohammed Baqer Qalibaf also obtained a new seat.

    The turnout appears to be at a record low, according to unofficial accounts, despite the officials’ repeated appeals to Iranians to show up en masse at the polls as Iran’s theocracy scrambles to restore its legitimacy in the wake of a wave of repression in 2022 and amid deteriorating economic conditions.

    The Mehr news agency, citing unofficial results, reported that voter turnout in Tehran was only 24 percent.

    Iran’s rulers needed a high turnout to repair their legitimacy following the unrest, but many Iranians said they would not vote in “meaningless” elections in which more than 15,000 candidates were running for the 290-seat parliament.

    State media reported that the turnout was “good.” Official surveys before the election, however, suggested that only some 41 percent of eligible Iranians would come out to vote.

    The Hamshahri newspaper said on March 2 that more than 25 million people, or 41 percent of eligible voters, had turned out, thus confirming the official survey.

    If the figure is confirmed, it will be the lowest election turnout in Iran since the Islamic Revolution of 1979 that brought the current theocracy to power, despite officials twice extending voting hours to allow late-comers to cast ballots.

    […]

    (Emphasis added.)

    When people have no real way to pick their leaders, they won’t participate in the sham.

    More at the link.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  104. 104.

    Geminid

    @Another Scott: Turkiye provides an interesting contrast. They had an ~85% turnout in last year’s Presidential and National Assembly elections. Two Muslim nations with 85 million citizens and very different politics.

  105. 105.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, … BaltimoreBanner.com on the Alsobrooks / Trone (+ others) debate for US Senate nomination:

    The pair also had exchanges about campaign fundraising. Trone, who has spent tens of millions of his own money on his campaign, charged that candidates who accept money from big donors and political action committees may be compromised.

    Alsobrooks called Trone “a one-man super PAC” and said it’s comical that he’s spending “$50 million to try and buy this race.”

    “He doesn’t give to PACs; he is the PAC,” Alsobrooks said.

    She noted Trone and his company, Total Wine & More, have donated to Republican candidates, including those who oppose abortion. Trone responded that it was important to make those donations in certain states to benefit his business and people who work for him.

    Here’s hoping the good people of Maryland make the right choice.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  107. 107.

    SWMBO

    @TBone: We got rid of our squirrels by fencing the yard and turning the dogs loose. They chased them to the neighbors.
    Have you tried calling the county?  We live in a suburban area and the animal control folks have cages or traps for cats and raccoons that you can borrow for $25 or so (depending on the size cage). They will come pick up the cages and release them into the Everglades.  At least they used to.  Several folks trapped cats and took them in for neutering and ear notch.

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