Lots of terrible, stupid and illegal things are happening today. You don’t need me to tell you that. How about a lovely Wood Stork and White Ibis friend wading in a chilly river instead?
Open thread!
Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.
The unpunished coup was a training exercise.
The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.
I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.
No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.
Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.
Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.
Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.
At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.
Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!
You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.
The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.
America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.
I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.
Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.
This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.
Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.
Dear elected officials: Trump is temporary, dishonor is forever.
Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.
The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.
Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.
Not all heroes wear capes.
People are weird.
The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.
On The Road – Winter Wren – Halibut Point in Late Fall and Winter
WTFGhost
They’re plotting with the geese to take over the world, I tell you. When we’re hoping hostile avians return our country to us, things are *bad*. Oh, you think “bird” flu is *accidental* do you?
Archteryx, if I remember your nym from another forum – can you spy on the birds?
Lyrebird
Gorgeous photo! Did you use a special lens for that?
narya
Local wine store has a big-ass warehouse sale every year, including big discounts and the ability to taste everything, and today is the day of that sale. Will I be morning-drinking? Yes, yes I will. I’ll also buy 6-8 cases of wine.
Baud
Nature photos will be especially important for the next four years.
NotMax
Open thread?
Decoding postal codes.
;)
WTFGhost
@Lyrebird: (mode=brat)
“Yes, it’s called a ‘camera’ lens” (/mode)
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊 😊 😊
rosalind
@Baud: amen. i just added a ton of PNW nature photographers to my Bluesky feed, so now I get a ton of amazing pics interspersed with the daily horror. Definitely helped to slow the doom roll…
rebelsdad
@NotMax: have this on my YT watch later list! I love CGP Gray.
rebelsdad
Good morning everyone! Cold but sunny here in Tampa. Saw my first Muscovy duck yesterday. I love all the wildlife I see around here.
Trivia Man
@NotMax: fun watch, thanks. I have worked transportation for many years, guessing zip codes has been my go to party trick.
Normal practice in trucking is to pay by distance, but all mikes arent the same. South into florida costs more than north out of Florida typically. South i have been entering rates based on zip codes for decades. I can make a pretty good guess by region or guess the zip codes if given a city. Not as well as i used to, my new company serves a lot fewer locations than my old.
side note: leading 0 zips in excel suck
Chigail
Thank you for this photo.i needed it today.
JML
@narya: sounds awesome. hope you find some great wine treasures.
oldgold
It appears that the Short Fingered Vulgarian’s vision for a “Golden Age in Arts and Culture” at the Kennedy Center is going to begin with a performance by the J-6 Choir.
It Is going to be a looonnnggg 4 years.
mrmoshpotato
@narya: Binny’s?
Soprano2
I think we had a low of -4° last night. When I got the pudding cup out of the refrigerator on the back porch for hubby, I discovered it was frozen!
E.
Was just thinking, nostalgically, how everyone held the U.S. Postal Service in such high regard when I was a kid, and that always made sense to me. Didn’t matter how far out in the boonies you lived, a stamp was still 13 cents. It’s going to turn to shit so fast when it has to turn a profit for an oligarch.
Ben Cisco
Good morning and happy Friday!
kalakal
Heh, never heard anyone call Wood Storks lovely. When flying they’re magnificent, on the ground those heads and bills make the vultures look good. Come to think, vultures look great in the air too
Booger
@Trivia Man: So do you have an app for reading the ERG codes on big trucks?
narya
@mrmoshpotato: Schaefer’s
ETA: I usually budget about a grand for this expedition, and I finished off last year’s haul this past week.
sab
We moved from Florida in 1966. I was about twelve. Initially it was a huge adjustment, but I learned to be grateful to live in a twentieth century world. Up north we had shopping malls! And actual tall hills!
Your photos remind me of how gorgeous many parts of Florida are.
cope
I have said it before and am certain to say it again but having moved back to Colorado after 33 years in Florida, the thing I miss most about the state is its birds (other than, of course, the many friends we made there). When we moved there, very much against my will, they were the first things that I began to appreciate.
A group of ibises strutting around our front yard, looking for snacks; ducks and egrets that would visit our backyard pool; hawks staked out on our fence scanning the neighborhood; bald eagles, unexpectedly gliding overhead, and the vast variety of species when we went to the Gulf Coast, too numerous to enumerate but a shout-out to our favorites, the spoonbills.
Thanks for taking my mind of internal images of Mr. Musk cutting up the International Space Station with a chain saw.
Betty Cracker
@Lyrebird: Thanks! I used my trusty old Nikon w/ optical zoom. The critter was probably 30 yards away.
dww44
@oldgold: This cannot not hold as currently manifested.
TBone
Thank you for the GIMME SOME WATER
Nukular Biskits
Awesome photo
trollhattan
Storks are frickin’ huge, as are their nests.
Needed to note that.
NotMax
@>kalakal
Did someone say vulture?
;)
TBone
WQSU college radio announcer just now: “ya gotta laugh sometimes so you don’t cry. Whatever you’re doing today, make it good! Depeche Mode coming right up …”
The Mighty Susquehanna Valley
TBone
@trollhattan: I thought that said “stocks” at first glance.
TBone
@oldgold: rotten eggs for pelting are a bargain at any price!
H.E.Wolf
@E.:
This is a great thing to call your US Rep and US Senators about!
I left voicemail for mine this AM, on this very topic. I’m wishing I’d mentioned Ben Franklin. Maybe on the next call….
TBone
@TBone: 🎶 mood mode
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Fy7FzXLin7o
Sometimes I slide away silently
I slowly lose myself over and over
Take comfort in my skin endlessly
Surrender to my will forever and ever
I dissolve in trust
I will sing with joy
I will end up dust
I’m in heaven
I stand in golden rays radiantly
I burn a fire of love over and over
Reflecting endless light relentlessly
I have embraced the flame forever and ever
I will scream the word
Jump into the void
I will guide the herd
Up to Heaven
dww44
@E.: it’s not just the money side of it. Having it moved under direct control of an authoritarian President gives him one important lever to determine the outcome of the 2026 election or insure that there won’t be one. Some democracy minded folks need to figure out how to stop him soon. Our calls and demonstrations can only achieve so much.
MazeDancer
Lovely photo. Especially nice shot of the wood stork.
(And, yes, I had to look it up to know which was which.)
TBone
@sab: getting to know you has been such a pleasure.
TBone
@Soprano2: baked alaska with puddn
JML
@TBone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAjbK18zw3w&pp=ygUcZ2ltbWUgc29tZSB3YXRlciBlZGRpZSBtb25leQ%3D%3D
Gimme Some Water?
:P
H.E.Wolf
@rebelsdad: Good morning everyone!
@Ben Cisco: Good morning and happy Friday!
Good morning back atcha, from the good ship Perseverance.
Does anyone else make up ship names to characterize the day? This week’s fleet is the Perseverance, the Resolute, the Tenacious, and the Ancestral Memory.
One week, it was the Daisy, the Rose, the Chrysanthemum. On one occasion, the Revenge, the Retribution, and the Resting Bitch Face sailed the seas. You just never know.
narya
@H.E.Wolf: I am stealing this. Today is the Wine Barge.
sab
I adopted two satby cats. I don’t do photography any more. I have internet access through my Nook e-book and my desk laptop. My phone is a flip phone.
Any advice as to what I need to buy to give you guys photos of the happily adjusted Solomon and Echo? Their owner is anxiously awaiting proof of life. She has been waiting for nine months.
So I need a not expensive camera that can upload to the internet without involving my phone.
My only experience with cameras is 50 years ago when they had film and development and all that.
Jackie
@oldgold:
Plus a mostly empty Kennedy Center.
I wonder where the de facto Kennedy Center will be the next four plus years?
MomSense
@dww44:
Our calls and actions can only do as much as Republican Congress critters will allow. This is the tragic problem we face. They are so chicken shit and/or compromised that they will absolutely stand by and watch our democracy crumble.
The courts are, for the most part, doing what they can, but by the time the legal process plays out there won’t be much left.
MomSense
@Jackie:
They also plan to pave over the Rose Garden.
MomSense
@TBone:
Maybe we should escalate to throwing chicken carcasses. That supply is increasing.
MobiusKlein
I better get my collection of butterfly pics into shape, so I can share them here
Over the winter, we had a bunch of crysolis on our porch, but no signs of the butterflies after emerging.
narya
@Jackie: I want to see an Alternative Kennedy Center honors or performances, scheduled at the same time as whatever time/place the Short-Fingered Vulgarian has something scheduled. And I want it to be a fund-raiser for NAACP or SPLC or ACLU. If they allow online viewing, that would be an extra knife-twist
ETA: have it at the Apollo, maybe?
UncleEbeneezer
A good chunk of my new drum kit will be arriving today (the rest on Monday). So excited. Also finally pulled the trigger on a guitar amp, but that won’t arrive until some time next week. This is a pretty major step in my rebuilding process.
Also, worked with the high school tennis teams all week and it went great. Nice kids. Good attitudes. And my boss and I work well together and have similar approaches.
Cheryl from Maryland
@Jackie: I have been a subscriber to the National Symphony Orchestra for over 15 years. Not anymore – well, I’ll probably need the money for the upcoming Depression. But I am also considering alternative venues in Maryland for my culture fix – like the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra or the Strathmore Center for the Arts.
Lapassionara
So, I checked Kevin Drum’s blog just now, and he did a bunch of posts late yesterday and early this morning with a health update.
Evidently Senate Democrats showed signs of life last night. I hope that continues.
TBone
@JML: yes, I stumbled upon that song by accident this morning and posted in the Late Night (very early morning thread) so it’s my Theme of the Day today! Women On Fire Department always needs water! Can’t listen to that too many times today, because
Serendipity doobdah!
PS my IRL first name is unisex, mama tried!
Starfish (she/her)
@sab: A lot of the mid-price cameras have been replaced by phones. So you are talking about either a really nice camera or a really crappy camera. But the middle ground is a phone.
I am saying this, not to be rude, but because I really miss having the mid-price cameras.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Two and half an hours of a Choirs singing praises to the Donald is almost as good as my guess, “Kevin Soboro and Vegie Tales does Macbeth on ice”
frosty
I don’t think I’ve ever seen the words “lovely” and “Wood Stork” put together before. For me, they look just like the dinosaurs they’re descended from.
sab
@Starfish (she/her): Thanks. I will consider this. My previous flip phone could take photos and send them. The current one can only take them. 25 years in I am hauled kicking and screaming into the 21st century.
25 years into the next century suggests I am a recalcitrant difficult stubborn old. Not a good look.
trollhattan
@Starfish (she/her):
This is all true and since digicams are essentially consumer electronics, they depreciate like a cliff face after purchase.
So a nice 4-YO used camera and lens can be had for a relative song (no opera).
But, brand and format choices await, regardless, and there are many.
TBone
@MomSense: good eye! How’s yer pitching arm?
ETA Now I’m remembering the Dubya shoe thrower, hahaha!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._Bush_shoe-throwing_incident
Geminid
@frosty: Those Wood Storks probably look like dinosaurs to the fish and amphibians they prey upon:
“They’re eating the frogs! They’re eating the fish!”
schrodingers_cat
@sab: Check your local Craigslist or FB market for a good used camera. If you know exactly what you want eBay is also a good option.
sab
@Starfish (she/her): So if I get a second phone, what is a good phone for cameras?
Betty Cracker
It’s 50 degrees right now, which is too cold to be outdoors, but I’m shivering on my porch anyway to watch/hear a tree-load of squabbling Red-Winged Blackbirds that landed in the sweet gum tree. We have a vintage Vornado fan that lives on the porch, and it reminds me that summer is coming, so soon I’ll have the heat to complain about instead of the chill!
Bill once said I am like an orchid, and at first I thought he was referring to my ethereal beauty (haha!), but nope — he meant I can only thrive in a very narrow temperature range.
Tomorrow it is supposed to be in the high 60s, which is closer to my ideal range. A friend and I are going to explore some of the obscure springs in the area we haven’t yet visited. Hopefully I’ll have some cool nature pics to share.
sab
@schrodingers_cat: Problem is I have no idea what I want. Do you have opinions?
trollhattan
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Remember the escalator? People will be hired as seat-fillers.
When does Elmo get his Medal of Freedom?
Ohio Mom
@Lapassionara: I have also been checking up on Kevin Drum. It doesn’t sound like he is quite out of the woods yet but he is making some progress and that is encouraging. He certainly has his writing mojo back.
As long as he’s in the fight, I’m cheering him on.
TBone
@Betty Cracker: OH have so much fun, B.C.!
*Judy Tenuta voice:
You delicate flower, you!
Geminid
@Lapassionara: That would be during debate over proposed amendments to the Senate Republican budget bill, the so-called vote-a-rama. I haven’t checked to see how that went, and which amendments were proposed.
I suspect this will not get much attention. People are fixated on Trump and his henchmen, and efforts by elected Democrats that don’t stop them immediately tend to be dismissed as merely nominal opposition.
sab
@MomSense: They burn or do something else to those chickens.
I went to my locally owned grocery yesterday and eggs were expensive but not obscenely so.
Ten bucks for eighteen.
I am biased. As a child I broke out in hives when fed eggs. I am still wary of them. My husband and my dog could eat many of them every day.
Starfish (she/her)
@sab: I am not good at this because I don’t have a bunch of cameras. A Pixel 8a is about $400. (The “a” means it is the cheaper line of Pixel phones. I have a 7a. Some people are complaining that the Pixel stuff is not as good as it used to be. Those people buy phones more than I do.)
But Samsung was giving everyone a fake AI moon. Everyone had lovely moon photos that were all fake because of AI.
The 8a may be further discounted in the run up to Google I/O in May.
cope
@sab: There are a lot of online camera dealers where you can go through the process of finding cameras that will suit your needs
ETA: B&H Cameras is one such store. They also sell used cameras, some good ones are under $200.
H.E.Wolf
I love it!
lou
The backlash is beginning. On one hand, HAha, FAFO to his constituents. On the other, a glimmer of hope for democracy.
Trivia Man
@Booger: Ive been almost exclusively in the grocery business, very little haz mat. Not very familiar with those codes. My contracts typically contain a clause stating that the trailer can NEVER be used for haz mat if they want to haul our food.
Bonus fact: concentrated beverage flavoring is limited to 5 gallons on an airplane because it is an acid danger.
H.E.Wolf
@MomSense:
“I choose to be found doing my duty.” – Abraham Davenport, one of my favorite New Englanders.
H.E.Wolf
@H.E.Wolf:
Some of my other favorite New Englanders are right here on this blog. :)
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Jackie: Counterprogramming the night the J6 choir appears in the Kennedy Center: Video of the assault on the capitol in which these people participated. Show it somewhere in the DC area.
MomSense
@H.E.Wolf:
Shoutout to Maine’s AG Aaron Frey. Trump is threatening to cut off our federal funding unless trans women/girl athletes are banned from competing in sports. Frey is not backing down and saying that this would be in violation of federal court orders and our state Human Rights Act. He also shamed Trump for using children as pawns to advance his political agenda.
lowtechcyclist
@sab:
I think I have a couple of cheap digital cameras lying around here somewhere, from the days when phone cameras were still pretty worthless for decent photography. If I can find one, I’d be happy to mail it to you because at this point, it’s just sitting in a box or drawer, taking up space. (Not much space, fortunately, they’re roughly the size of a cigarette pack.)
You’d need an SD card reader (though I may have one of those in a box too and would be happy to send it along) and I’m sure the battery’s dead (may be rechargeable, if I can find the camera, I’ll check).
So if you can wait another day or two, I’ll see what I can find.
frosty
@sab: I’m happy with my Sony a6000. They’re obsolescent but still available and I saw one at Best Buy for about $250 awhile ago. There’s supposed to be some software for transferring pics but my uploading procedure is:
Take SD card out of camera. Plug it into a USB adapter. Copy photos to computer (or Cloud). Edit and crop if necessary. Copy to whatever website wherever you want to post.
Not a one-button procedure but it works for me.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@lou: McCormick says he “happens to be a doctor” and “knows a few things.” He also says the CDC work is “duplicitous” with AI. I wonder if Dr. Knows a Few Things means it duplicative.
schrodingers_cat
@sab: I have always bought Canon cameras and have had good luck with them.
Rob
That is a lovely photo, Betty Cracker. I’m hoping that one will end up somewhere in Maryland or DC this summer.
frosty
@frosty: @sab: I just looked up BestBuy: they don’t sell them any more. Looked elsewhere and couldn’t find any at that price.
So never mind. Sorry to lead you astray.
JML
@Ohio Mom: I’m so happy to see him posting. I hope he keeps battling back and kicks the pneumonia in the a$$. It really made me so sad when he did a “looks this this might be it, folks” post.
feels like a little righteous anger might be helping him, lol.
MomSense
@sab:
Nope, they can’t burn them. It’s actually a nightmare to dispose of them because they must be buried but they create so much heat they can spontaneously combust. It requires lining the ground with a special material, and filling it up with a chemical to keep the contents from catching on fire. Think combination of hazmat and spent nuclear fuel rods.
JML
@UncleEbeneezer: congrats on the delivery! hope it’s as awesome in person as it looked.
Brace yourself, as the beat hits you — dip trip, a flip fantasia.
sab
@lowtechcyclist: Would you see what you can find? I would be very grateful. Cole and crew have my real e-mail although I do not check it daily.
I have another e-mail I check daily just to clear the spam.
Sister Golden Bear
@Starfish (she/her): There’s lots of older mid-range cameras for sale online. You can look for them on B&H Photo, KEH, and eBay.
sab
@MomSense: So something else.
H.E.Wolf
Good for him! Thank you for highlighting his actions.
schrodingers_cat
@sab: I own this camera and I like it.
sab
@MomSense: We have one chicken grower in my neighborhood. Totally illegal, but they have been doing it forever and seem to know what they are doing. They are a couple of ancient survivalists. City and the neighbors choose to look the other way.
TBone
@H.E.Wolf:
@narya:
So glad I had a moment to check back in so I didn’t miss this! AHOY Avast ye mateys! ARErrrrrrrrrrrr
TBone
@JML: I absolutely adore that song and must do the Cantaloop!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JwBjhBL9G6U
The visuals here are superb!
Something Special in Birdland!
Trivia Man
@Starfish (she/her): dies your library have loaners? Short term rental at a camera shop?
Jackie
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
@narya:
Both ideas are stellar!
TBone
Must take Noah Three Miracles back to vet hospital for tube checkup, bandage change, and another case of Science Diet urgent care food today. I haz a sad because he abhors the entire experience. He’s been SO good this week too – actually played with feather & string Fascinator, leaped from the floor up on the bed all by himself, AND deigned to taste the Gerber beef plate I made him this morning. Progress happening but the vet trips seem like a crappy reward!
KrackenJack
@sab: Craigslist.org has a variety of used digital cameras around $40 – $50 in these parts. Goodwill sells them, too.
Edit: Or what schrodingers_cat said…
sab
@TBone: Poor little guy.
sab
@MomSense: If we win again some day we can always dig it up and replant. They already killed the big plants last time.
ETA I actually relish the idea of these complacent reporters sitting around on concrete in the sun. Go to some other job if you want nice surroundings. You helped destroy where you worked.
lou
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Project it on the former Trump hotel. Or on the north facing side of the Lincoln memorial (which you can see from the patio of the Kennedy Center).
Winter Wren
@Baud: Agreed – nature experience is necessary to maintain sanity!
Winter Wren
@kalakal: Yes, the heads are not too attractive, but the brilliant white contrasted with the dark black makes the rest of the bird beautiful from my perspective.
JaySinWA
@TBone: In the bird flu era eggs might be considered a bioweapon.
H.E.Wolf
@TBone:
Maybe there’s a ship this week called Noah’s Arc of Recovery! :)
TBone
@H.E.Wolf: 💜 thank you, Captain! We are just preparing to set sail!
TBone
@JaySinWA: eggzackly!
TBone
@sab: he’s just so trusting and affectionate. Last night I had my fur hat on again! Purrfect for these chill winds.
Miss Bianca
@Dorothy A. Winsor: well, since he also refers to the “Democrat Party” as well, I am going to call him a duplicitous ignorant dipshit, “Dr” or no.
Gloria DryGarden
@rosalind: is there a particular feed you find them on? Did you just follow, or did you make your own list?
Gloria DryGarden
@Dorothy A. Winsor: how can we make this happen, who can pull some strings?
would it be possible for the gay men’s choir to give their concert open air, in a nearby park? Does one need a permit? Draw some big crowds. Dare the press to ignore…
Gloria DryGarden
Wonderful photo, BC.
the song comes to mind
wade in the water; god’s gonna trouble the waters….”
Only now there’s no place obvious to escape to…
Beautiful water birds.