Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

So many bastards, so little time.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

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

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

The willow is too close to the house.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

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

Democrats are back in array!

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

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

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Where the Tree Frogs Sing (Open Thread)

Reader Interactions

120Comments

  4. 4.

    TaMara

    That looks like so much fun. Brush and paints or a nice iPad app, my artwork resembles a toddler on a sugar high. So I stick with a camera. LOL

    Can’t wait to see more of what you do…

  6. 6.

    Jay Essel

    Love these! Google “David Hockney ipad art” and tell me you’re not his twin

  10. 10.

    Steeplejack

    Great paintings! Just need more gators. Maybe just a pair of eyes peeping above the waterline.

  11. 11.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    I didn’t think I would like swamps either but Betty’s pix are making me question that. I think she needs to add sound – bellowing alligators.

  13. 13.

    raven

    Our neighborhood school recently had a  name changed from Chase Street School to Johnnie Lay Burks School (after one of our first African American teachers) but they are still the Tree Frogs!

  14. 14.

    NotMax

    Do not want. What happens when the price gets kicked up between the time you put the item in the cart and it is rung up at the register? (Emphasis added.)

    Grocery store prices are changing faster than ever before — literally. This month, Walmart became the latest retailer to announce it’s replacing the price stickers in its aisles with electronic shelf labels. The new labels allow employees to change prices as often as every ten seconds.

    “If it’s hot outside, we can raise the price of water and ice cream. If there’s something that’s close to the expiration date, we can lower the price — that’s the good news,” said Phil Lempert, a grocery industry analyst. Source

  17. 17.

    Jeffro

    Looks like fun, Betty!

    I’m heading back from a short trip to Boston.  Mrs and I are dreading the scales after having North End dinners and lobster roll lunches.  Hopefully they will let us on the plane. 😳

  19. 19.

    Baud

    @NotMax:

    They’d need to develop a system so that the electronic shelf labels are synced to the registere. Even then, they can’t control how long it would take from the customer to get from the shelf to the register.  Once a day price changes seems like the only option feasible.

  20. 20.

    CaseyL

    You just started using the app?  These are wonderful, and don’t look at all like a beginner’s work!

    I really like the contrast between the “blurriness” of the first and the clarity of the second.  Swamp with and without ambient steam :)

  22. 22.

    cain

    Of course, you’d use an app called ‘procreate’ – that seems on-brand for you, Betty. :D

    Great pix! :)

  25. 25.

    Belafon

    @NotMax: Make sure time stamping is on and take a picture of your product next to the label. And hold up the line at the checkout if the price doesn’t match. Make it cost the store.

  26. 26.

    raven

    CNN — 
    The Supreme Court appears poised to allow abortions in medical emergencies in Idaho, according to a document that was erroneously posted on the court’s website briefly Wednesday, according to Bloomberg News.
    The opinion showed that a majority of the court agreed to dismiss the appeal, according to Bloomberg, which reported that it reviewed a copy of the opinion.
    The release was a stunning breach of protocol at the Supreme Court, which usually carefully guards the release of its opinions. The abortion case was considered among the most significant of the current term that is winding down ahead of the July 4 holiday.

  29. 29.

    WaterGirl

    So glad you got the new app.  Everything I have seen from you is great!

    Jealous of all your talent.  Being good at organizing is not in the same league as having a good singing voice or having artistic talent.  Jealous in the best way, of course!

  31. 31.

    Tony Jay

    Nice work, BC. I particularly like the Nazgûl huddling under the fork of the fallen tree in the first picture. What is he doing there? Lurking? Hiding? Doing what bears do in the woods? And why is he wearing a pancake over his face? Intriguing as all hell.

    Art. You get out of it what you put into it. 👍

  32. 32.

    Belafon

    @raven: The leaker is trying to get conservatives to go after the justices that are for letting emergency abortions happen before the official release.

  33. 33.

    artem1s

    I started using Procreate when I got my iPad pro. But I didn’t know it was so versatile until I started to watch their instructional videos and really dug into the online user manual. It is a great drawing and painting tool but you can use it like Photoshop and inDesign as well. I’ve seen some amazing art that was produced with Procreate.

  34. 34.

    Scout211

    Those two “paintings” are beautiful, Betty. You are very talented.  I took art classes all through high school but my daughter surpassed my abilities by the time she reached 5th grade.  LOL

    Betty, I felt inspired after reading your garden post a few days ago with the pic of all the ripe eggplants.  I have a big pot of ratatouille simmering on the stove right now.  Yum! I had to buy the eggplant because this year’s garden has no eggplants, but Sprouts does have good quality produce so fingers crossed.

    These open threads away from politics are very much appreciated. So thanks.

  35. 35.

    TBone

    @Belafon: 👍 but…

    I try to make my in-store time as short as possible. Less risk of illness.  I’m wearing a mask in the heat.  I don’t like peopley places.  I want the price to be a weekly, not daily, homework assignment.

    Off to yell at some clouds while shaking my fist in the hope that this new way to bait and switch doesn’t take hold!

  39. 39.

    TBone

    I am a dinosaur – can these beautiful works of art be printed, say like at a Staples or somewhere with a color printer if you want to display them IRL?  I’d buy a print to hang in my blue bedroom, they’re so peaceful.  Just wondering because I am old and don’t know how this anything works.

  40. 40.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @rikyrah: Yesterday you asked what was different about the anti-trans healthcare case that the SCOTUS will be hearing next term. I didn’t have a chance to reply, but here’s a good overview of the potential impact.

    This case, depending on how the Supreme Court rules, will determine the fate of gender-affirming care bans in states across the country, with the potential to affect other transgender rights issues….

    “While this case focuses on criminal bans on access to gender-affirming care for trans youth, the broader implications for a ruling on equal protection grounds are immense,” transgender advocate and clinical instructor at the Harvard Law School Cyberlaw Clinic Alejandra Caraballo told LGBTQ Nation.

    “A ruling finding that government policies targeting trans people are only subject to rational basis review opens the door to sweeping government-sanctioned discrimination such as bans on bathroom usage, gender marker changes, usage of pronouns, and gendered dress codes that only need a thin veneer of pretense to pass constitutional muster.”

    Conversely, if the Clerical Six rule against us — Alito and Thomas have been saying they’ll do — then it’ll be bad, really really bad. There’s a reason trans people, adults included, are stocking up on hormones.

  41. 41.

    munira

    Beautiful. I’m also at the toddler level when it comes to painting so I too stick to a camera.

  42. 42.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    🇬🇧
    The Economist has conducted its first-ever MRP analysis of a British general election. This mega-poll finds that Labour is on track to win 465 of the 632 seats in England, Scotland and Wales, giving it the biggest majority since the second world war. Meanwhile, the ruling Conservative Party, which won 365 seats in 2019, is set to collapse to a mere 76, the fewest in its history.

    Good show! Good show!

  45. 45.

    Belafon

    @Baud: The problem is that Democrats keep swooping in every few years and fixing things. We don’t let people really experience the Republican experiment.

  46. 46.

    Baud

    @Belafon:

    100%. The Republicans are right that Dems have created a society of moochers, but not in the sense that they mean.

  47. 47.

    Meaahi

    Unlurking just to recommend to Betty the Art with Flo tutorials on You Tube.  They are fun and she does a really good job explaining how to use the different tools in Procreate on the ipad.  Some of them look like they would be hard but she really explains everything well.

  55. 55.

    cain

    @Belafon: It’s part of the whole scam. But this time though the GOP wants permanent majority.

    Our only defense against tyranny is that our people are very privileged and want solutions quickly. If a GOP majority happened and continued to happen thanks to voter suppression across all 50 states – there will be out in 2 terms. Since they depend on blaming everyone else – it’s going to turn into finger pointing with each other and effectively destroying the comity – plus, they’ll use the same dirty tricks on each other. Everything will be rigged and likely lead to political violence.

  57. 57.

    Baud

    @cain:

    Our only defense against tyranny is that our people are very privileged and want solutions quickly

     
    Ironically, that’s also the main reason we are at risk of tyranny.

  58. 58.

    Bill Arnold

    @Anoniminous:
    That paper seems pretty philosophical.
    Reinforcement learning, that explores some subspace of the world, either virtual or real, is a thing in AI (including aligning LLMs), so, going back to at least the early 1990s, e.g. Tesauro’s TD-Gammon, and the (google) AlphaGo paper is also instructive. Reinforcement learning can work really well.

  59. 59.

    p.a.

    Grocery store prices are changing faster than ever before — literally. This month, Walmart became the latest retailer to announce it’s replacing the price stickers in its aisles with electronic shelf labels. The new labels allow employees to change prices as often as every ten seconds.

    “If it’s hot outside, we can raise the price of water and ice cream. If there’s something that’s close to the expiration date, we can lower the price — that’s the good news,” said Phil Lempert, a grocery industry analyst. Source

     

     

     

    There’s been a spate of ER visits by Walmart employees nationwide as a… glitch… in a new inventory pricing system delivers a 110v ac shock through to control pads whenever an employee attempts to revise prices lower…

  61. 61.

    ArchTeryx

    Repost from the last dead thread:

    @JPL: The Sinister Six vote for whatever is good for the Republican Party. A whole series of martyrs, many of which are mothers or people who want kids, on television? Killed because of red states’ medieval anti-abortion laws? It turns out, that is not so good for the Republican party.

    And if they overturned EMTALA the fireworks would just be getting started. People dying in the streets and patient dumping would once again become routine. Nevermind what would happen in a COVID style pandemic WITHOUT EMTALA.

    Dumping EMTALA would be like setting off an M-80 right next to the ear of a sleeping giant. The result would make the current women’s backlash look like a ladyfinger going off.

  63. 63.

    scav

    @p.a.: Interesting definition of good news, raising the price of ice cream just when kids want some.

    ETA, plus, telling everyone the price you see when you pull the item off the shelves has no necessary tie to the price that is rung up.

  65. 65.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Those are gorgeous, Betty! You are wonderfully talented, especially in non-traditional artistic media (talkin’ to you, butter).

  69. 69.

    different-church-lady

    @p.a.: This is gonna go over great when the price you see at the shelf is different from the price you get at the register.

    Fuck every single one of the people who come with this shit. Fuck them sideways, and then properly, and then sideways again so they understand how sideways is different from properly.

  70. 70.

    ArchTeryx

    @p.a.: Basically bringing the world of price gouging directly to the shelves rather than through sneaky means such as shrinkflation. They’re not even bothering to hide it any more, since most groceries chains are now oligopolies.

  71. 71.

    Baud

    Go Hindus!

    A spokesperson of the Hindu community is seeking to have ancient Sanskrit scriptures displayed in public classrooms alongside the Ten Commandments.

  72. 72.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: Georges Seurat’s paintings can seem a little distant, what with the crowds of nicely dressed French people parading through placid parks. But I can imagine Egrets, Herons and Gallinules trooping through a swamp dressed in Belle Epoque finery.

    Yes, I’ve been dipping into the edibles today.

  73. 73.

    Delk

    I’ve been using procreate for a while now. There are a lot of great YouTube tutorials available. Check out James Julier Art Tutorials or Art with Flo.

  79. 79.

    Redshift

    @cain: They’re already constantly telling their side to blame people who don’t have any power. I can’t imagine their being in power would compel them to start blaming each other.

    There’s also the little matter of whether we’d even have elections to vote them out if they held power for two terms…

  80. 80.

    scav

    @Eyeroller: The bar code when scanned at the register will indeed match whatever price that exists at that time in the database, who knows how many potential “tens of seconds” worth of changes since the product was put in the cart from a shelf showing a price that you used in your decision.  What you saw is no longer necessarily what you get (charged).

  81. 81.

    Dan B

    @Belafon: I wonder who gets to define medical emergency?  It seems like a can of worms that will not allay the fears of physicians.  It is a ham handed decision to make Dobbs seem less cruel.  Abortions allowed when you’re on death’s door!  I feel so relieved.  It’s akin to waterboarding when a terrorist attack is imminent.  Torture lite@

  82. 82.

    Eyeroller

    @scav:  I don’t know why they said “We could change prices every tens of seconds! Eleventy!” since that is obviously wildly impractical for many reasons, such as the one you cite but also how much staff time do they want to devote to this?

  83. 83.

    smith

    @scav: I had the impression that stores have an obligation to tell the consumer what something costs before they buy it. Since the customer can’t see the insta-price change as they are heading for the checkout, they will have been misinformed about the price. Isn’t this some kind of fraud?

  84. 84.

    NotMax

    @scav

    “Y’know, I never liked that customer. Change the price on the item in the cart from $1.30 to $13.00.”

  85. 85.

    lowtechcyclist

    @danielx: ​

    Does the mango menace get a 10% cut off the top of everything?

    I will not stand for anything that’s crooked or unfair
    I’m strictly on the up-and-up, so everyone beware
    If anyone’s caught taking graft, and I don’t get my share
    We line him up against the wall, and pop! goes the weasel
    -Rufus T. Firefly, President of Freedonia​​​

  86. 86.

    scav

    @Eyeroller: Well, who knows, but they, or their spokesman, choose to point it out as a Good Thing so I don’t feel I need worry much about pointing out what said good thing entails if used as described.

  88. 88.

    Dan B

    @Belafon: There are plenty of people who would get accustomed to and adapt to oppression.  I’m all too familiar with how LGBTQ people coped pre-Stonewall.  And people of color, indeed all vulnerable minorities, have too much history of adopting the oppressors’ worldview.  I remember guys who would not kiss because “That would make them faggots.”  There were plenty more who thought they were defective and not “normal”.  Making life worse does not guarantee the emergence of enlightenment.  Look to Fascist Italy and Germany, plus plenty more current examples.

  89. 89.

    Belafon

    @Eyeroller: A number of places have. It’s the “look outside, see that it’s hot, and raise the rice of ice cream” part that’s the problem.

  90. 90.

    Dan B

    @David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch: My expectations of Labour opening the gates to an egalitarian paradise are low.  See: Keir Starmer, we win hearts when we compromise our principles and keep going when “only” a quarter of us suffer horribly

    I’m hoping for Tony Jay ripping the gauze from our eyes.  With florid prose, of course.

  91. 91.

    scav

    @Eyeroller: And you notice the clear lack of banter about that?  It is exactly the leventy-leven seconds bit and the explicit real-time demand based pricing that’s caught attention.  Rolling over prices at night raises not a hackle.

  92. 92.

    Eyeroller

    @Belafon: And I think this “analyst” is full of shit if he thinks stores will do it even more than once a day, much less every few seconds. He also says they can lower the price of “something near the expiration date,” which would require labels like that on each individual item.  Somebody else with apparently more brain cells working says in the article “Rather than seeing an opportunity to use surge pricing, Gallino says retailers are likely drawn to electronic shelf tags to ensure consistency between online and in-store pricing.”

  98. 98.

    Baud

    Sam Alito cites Ramesh Ponnuru’s The Party of Death in the accidentally released EMTALA decision.

  99. 99.

    wjca

    @Jackie:  I also read somewhere that the Ten Commandments should be posted in their original language – Hebrew.

    And, since we’re apparently going to have government control of everything religious, mandate that anything quoting Jesus (including Bibles) give his words in the original Aramaic.

    EDT Why would the Christianists object? It would make it easier for them to avoid confronting the fact that their words, not to mention their behavior, run directly contrary to their God’s expressed beliefs and commands.

  100. 100.

    Trollhattan

    @Jackie: Is there a Comic Sans version of Hebrew type?

    [From offstage] “You want square, cursive, or medial?”

    Quitting while I’m ahead.

  101. 101.

    Belafon

    @Eyeroller: Kind of like why would Google ever ruin their successful search algorithm or why would Boeing make crappy airplanes, right?

  102. 102.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Baud: ​
     

    Sam Alito cites Ramesh Ponnuru’s The Party of Death in the accidentally released EMTALA decision.

    Reason 3,436 showing why he’s a bitter right-wing fanatic…and an example of why the Court needs a redo, don’t care what, ie., term limits, expansion, whatever.
    Ain’t gonna happen in my lifetime (much less in Biden’s second term unless he really does have no fucks left to give).

  106. 106.

    Mick McDick

    Betty, those are wonderful paintings! Do you hang any in galleries to sell? They are worth something, my opinion. Impeccable color sense!

  108. 108.

    Eyeroller

    @wjca: Unfortunately the Gospels were all written in Koine Greek so we don’t know the Aramaic (and it wasn’t recorded at the time anyway).  But sure, let’s post the Greek text, it’s the original after all.

    The Christianists always want the Protestant version of the 10 commandments posted, typically the King James Version, presumably Exodus 20:1-17.  But not all sects agree exactly how to group those 17 verses into 10 commandments.

  109. 109.

    Eyeroller

    @Belafon: I sort of understand Google’s “thinking” there. They were utterly convinced it would be better, they weren’t intending to screw over their users (any more than they already do).  Boeing, of course, is a different matter.

  110. 110.

    satby

    Wonderful work Betty! I’d go for painting without you the mess too.

    Just got home from my errand down south to indycat’s house, took 5 hours roundtrip including a layover to wait for a horrible rainstorm to lighten up.

    He’s the sweetest, calmest boy ever. We’re going to keep his name as Blondie right now, to complement his blonde coloring. He gets around very well on three legs, and whoever adopts him will really luck out. He has to be an inside cat only, if anyone is interested. He won’t be up at PetSmart for a couple of weeks until our next rotation.

  111. 111.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    @Baud: Talk about Orwellian.  He smears people who want to save a woman’s life, so she can bear life again, as “pro death”

  112. 112.

    Ruckus

    @Eyeroller:

    Seems to me everyone is under thinking this.

    It will likely take changing prices out of the local store management’s hands. Everything that can be done in the manager’s office will be able to be done at headquarters. And I imagine that is exactly what will happen and that it will likely take effect when the stores are closed. Zero local control. The prices can be set the same or different for any store and it will likely take minutes to guarantee that all stores prices in any one area are the same – or can be different depending upon the financial well being of any area/store.

  114. 114.

    NotMax

    @phdesmond

    Maui had an intensive (and mostly successful) program to eradicate invasive coqui frogs here a while back. Incredibly noisy little critters.

  115. 115.

    wjca

    @Eyeroller: The Christianists always want the Protestant version of the 10 commandments posted, typically the King James Version, presumably Exodus 20:1-17.  But not all sects agree exactly how to group those 17 verses into 10 commandments.

    Having them spend all their time, energy, and money fighting over that seems like a win.  Especially if that means bitter and expensive primaries (even for safe blue seats).

  117. 117.

    SomeRandomGuy

    For me, anything that makes it easier for me to do things I enjoy is good, because, for me, having to clean up after myself means I wouldn’t do any art. So, on a personal level, I’m glad you’re mucking around with the iPad apps.

    Being able to make things, being able to create, that’s a good thing. I had a friend who remembered she liked to play music on her keyboard, and sometimes sing along. I was glad she had that. I reminded her that there’s joy in stuff like that, and, in real life, joy is *never* sufficient, so making a bit of your own is good, however you can do so. That goes for anyone facing any challenge, really – make some time for joy, just so you don’t forget it. (And guys, I don’t *just* mean sexy-time joy, so frequent self-love, while good for your prostate, isn’t (always) enough.)

    Be well, and be happy. (Not just you, Betty. I’d like everyone to follow that “command”. But it’s a good thing to think of – how can you both be well, *and* happy, rather than just one or the other.)

  118. 118.

    StringOnAStick

    @SomeRandomGuy: Joy is my watchword to pursue these days.  I’ve gone from being a hard core science type and working slave to being very into my creative activities.  Believing in myself and my creative process has opened up whole new worlds for me.

    Lovely work Betty, such nice clear colours and excellent composition!

  119. 119.

    Lyrebird

    I enjoy painting and drawing more than doodling on the iPad, but with an app, you don’t have to wash brushes, scrub paint stains out of your clothes or fool around with paper and pencils.

    Yeah, I never thought I could get into mouse-based art, never believed an app could provide the same flow experience as messing around with paper and so forth, but when I first tried the ArtRage app, I had SO much fun.  And BC your work is gorgeous!!!

  120. 120.

    Chris T.

    @NotMax:

    Do not want. What happens when the price gets kicked up between the time you put the item in the cart and it is rung up at the register?

    Make a YouTube short where you take something off the shelf that’s listed for $1.79, drop it into you cart and watch the price tag on the shelf switch to $17.99. You do a double take at the shelf tag, take it out of your cart, tag price switches to $1.79 again. Lower item towards cart, price shoots up, raise it, price shoots down again, repeat several times, finally smash item on floor and walk away.

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