... you can talk about whatever you like (but it will take a moment or more before you post will go up).
That's a photo by Meade, taken within a mile of home. The path in the foreground is the Lakeshore Path. The lake is Lake Mendota. The cranes are very accustomed to people nearby. They stalk about in the university parking lot. They're a real fixture of the landscape.
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17 comments:
Nice to look at something beautiful and put the cares of the day--and the woes of the world--away for a moment.
Have you ever woken up and realized your iPhone was missing an app? it happened to me Monday morning. I hope it's nothing sinister. The reason i know when it happened is because when i went to hit my usual app, it had switched places on the screen. And sure enough, an app was missing, as a consequence all the other apps had moved up to fill the gap. When i unloaded UBer, last year, i stopped using it and driving for them, i noticed a few times that the app would appear reloaded. I would unload it again and the app, or someone, would reload again.
This time the app in question was totally removed from the phone. This is somewhat unsettling.
I am not saying that things are perfect, that there is not injustice and unfairness in America, but given the amount of sound and fury that is generated is well out of proportion of the reality. In America Megan Rapinoe takes a knee during our national anthem. She should take a knee and thank God that she was born in America where she can virtue signal all day, color her hair, say outrageous things have a non hetero sexual orientation, etc. If she were in Afghanistan now, the knee she would be taking would be in deference to her assigned husband at best, and at worst in preparation for her execution. The justice warriors in America are no brave. They have every major institution on their side, fighting a war that does not exist. Jackie Robinson was brave, MLK, Jr. was brave, Rosa Parks was brave. These people were at risk and had real issues to fight. The "leaders" against injustice in America are rich, and pampered and take no risks to their persons or their livelihoods. And half a world away real injustice occurs and they cannot be bothered to speak up much less make a real stand that risks their personal comfort.
If half the money and half the energy that goes into fighting the nothings in America were directed toward real injustice, maybe I would have some respect for the left in America. I want them to put their money and time where their mouths are. Take a Migrant family into their home, send large chunks of money to help poor people. Protest in a country that really violates human rights. Otherwise STFU.
Sorry for the rant. Afghanistan is making me sick and all people can do is say "It was Trump's plan!" I hope it helps them sleep better.
Driving back home today through all sorts of thunderstorm and tornado activity. At one point I checked in with my wife (at home) while I was in a tornado warning area (Greer, SC). She hollered over the phone "Seek shelter now!" like a Civil Defense manager. I was in a parking lot between a Burger King and some place called Skins Hotdogs (eww...) I said "Honey I have some bad news for you. I'm gonna take my chances in the car."
When Biden ran on restoring norms, I didn't think he meant he wanted to restore the norms in Afghanistan.
I remember Sandhills being an old genus, but…
“The oldest unequivocal sandhill crane fossil is 2.5 million years old.”
Went to The City to see the Yankees beat the Red Sox today, forgot about all the misery and never ending BS for a few hours. Great fun. It’s always magical to come out from the hallways and see that beautiful green field. Bought two beers for $31.00!
Florida has its own non-migratory population (a few thousand) of Sandhills that are recognized as a distinct species but look pretty much the same as yours. We have a pair that stalk our neighborhood year-round and usually produce one or two babies each year. Our streets carry warning signs for motorists to watch out for them. They are much loved here.
Epic Rant by ANDREW NEIL unloading on Biden:
DAILY MAIL UPDATED: 19:01 EDT, 17 August
"It was the most contemptible speech by a U.S. president in modern times — a speech that shames America and leaves its global reputation in the dirt.
And given that, until last January, the White House was occupied for four years by a certain Donald J. Trump, there couldn’t be a more damning criticism of President Joe Biden.
Much of his address to the U.S. on Monday was Orwellian. In his classic novel 1984, set in a totalitarian dystopia, George Orwell created a Ministry of Peace which waged war, a Ministry of Truth which peddled lies, a Ministry of Love which tortured dissidents and a Ministry of Plenty which oversaw starvation.
Biden matched all of that and more with his own defiant doublethink, involving distortions, the rewriting of history, and nonsense and untruths that even Trump would struggle to rival.
His abject surrender to the Taliban was dressed up as political reality and common sense. His scuttle from Kabul, still ongoing, was depicted as geopolitical wisdom and a refocusing of U.S. priorities.
Any mistakes or problems were the fault of others, from Trump to the Afghan army.
But make no mistake: the person overwhelmingly responsible for the appalling scenes currently unfolding on our TV screens is the man sitting in the Oval Office..."
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-9903067/The-speech-shamed-America-ANDREW-NEIL-asks-Joe-Biden-recover.html
Followed by:
Daily Mail
UPDATED: 22:23 EDT, 17 August 2021
Taliban shoot and kill woman without a burqa and begin rounding up activists and government workers: Pentagon watchdog says warlords are already offering SAFE HAVEN to al-Qaeda
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9902633/Pentagon-watchdog-says-Taliban-offering-SAFE-HAVEN-al-Qaeda-despite-Bidens-claims.html
Followed by the entirely predictable:
"President Biden's approval plunged seven points to its lowest level so far in a poll published on Tuesday, as voters said his handling of the Afghan war was worse even than President George W. Bush.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll was taken on Monday..."
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9903177/Bidens-approval-rating-plunges-seven-points-lowest-level-Kabul-falls-Taliban.html
Showtime has a documentary coming out next month about John Walker Lindh, that Marin County kid who converted to Islam in the late 1990s and ended up in Afghanistan where he was captured in 2001, not longer after we invaded. He was part of the prison riot where the CIA officer was killed. The documentary is called Detainee 001. Lindh got out of prison a few years ago and is in hiding somewhere. He has Irish citizenship now, which I think is kind of interesting as he was able to get that while he was in prison. Through his grandmother, which I didn't know Ireland allowed you to do that.
I've been thinking about some of the players in the early days after 9/11 and the Afghan invasion. People like Tommy Franks, the General who was in charge of Central Command. He's been retired for years and is in business now, according to Wikipedia, where I also learned that there's a museum dedicated to him in Oklahoma. That seems very niche to me.
The Taliban blew up some Buddhist statutes when they were last in power and I remember that there was a lot of outrage about it at the time. But blowing up or tearing down statutes and other memorials is a popular thing here in the US now so we'll have that in common with them.
There's no Trump on the horizon to rescue Afghanistan from the Taliban like there was when Obama abandoned Iraq to ISIS.
Tweet thread from Ajmal Ahmady, Central Bank Governor of Iraq on the fall if you can read it.
https://twitter.com/aahmady/status/1427265049668636674?s=20
How long before the cranes are declared a symbol of white supremacy and removed?
Your cranes have their winter home here in Texas, because they are very smart birds.
Showtime has a documentary coming out next month about John Walker Lindh, that Marin County kid who converted to Islam in the late 1990s and ended up in Afghanistan where he was captured in 2001, not longer after we invaded. He was part of the prison riot where the CIA officer was killed.
I have a friend and colleague, originally from India, who is a member of a religion that has one of their retreats right next to Point Reyes in Marin County, Ca. One of the monks there had an early 70s Buick GSX for sale, and I picked up friend Arvind at his home in Walnut Creek on a Sunday and headed there to check it out. On the way, we stopped at a convenience store for some water and a snack. The cashier had the tv on behind him and the story about Lindh’s trial came on. The clerk was excited, as he told us Lindh was from the area… then he made the mistake of asking Arvind what he thought a fair punishment for Lindh should be.
Arvind didn’t miss a beat, as he responded, “I think they should hang him, shoot him, and then burn him just to make sure he’s dead!”.
I remember laughing as we walked out the door, got in the car, and laughing for several additional minutes as we drove off.
Lovely cranes.
I stumbled upon Japanese Shoebill pelikans.
Far more frightening.
Here's a few seconds with a "dance".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCXDzlTv3VY
We have Sandhills in our community. They have reached a point of near domestication since there is little traffic and a lot of people walking pets, or just walking themselves. We're not supposed to feed them, something about Florida law, but I have it on good authority they like corn and blueberries.
Lem said...
Have you ever woken up and realized your iPhone was missing an app? it happened to me Monday morning. I hope it's nothing sinister.
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Technocrats lookin' out for ya.
Speaking of which, gonna be fun going forward as a freelancer while increasingly required to vax to work jobs.
I know..the technocrats aren't exactly doing the deciding. They're putting it in the hands of highly competent HR folks and liabilty averse producers.
Mind you, it's not all about perceived lethality of the the thing. One client has told me they based decision on risk of a positive test triggering isolation/quarantine of swaths of staff.
I don't know the best way to discuss with them the vagaries of the (soon to be quietly phased out) PCR test and the increasing likelihood of breakthrough positives. I have encountered the notion that breakthrough positives of the vaxxed are not reported into official stats. Are employees required to disclose?
It seems a bit out of whack to have notable percentages of healthcare sector "heroes" resisting the vax while putting the squeeze on us mere hesitant plebes.
I held back on the overly generous unemployment bennies expecting this madness to end, Insread, the said bennies fall back while demand for bodily conformity expand.
In one of my occasional jobs that continues in Madison, tonight I witnessed a (probably) 19-24 y/o worker wearing the double layer Fauci mask model..outside.
Today begins my Ivermectin prophylaxis, by the way.
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