Is anybody online today? If only because, and while, it's raining? Since we had our family gathering and fireworks show on Saturday, last night I did make some time to read blogs and find links.
Animals
The Roads End Naturalist observes bison, prairie dogs, and weird rocks in Dakotaland.
Maria Pavlik observes llamas in Canada.
Bayer, Lilly, Merck, and Other Scum
Linked in English earlier, here it is for those who want to read it in French:
Peut-etre qu'il faut chercher Google Translate; il fonctionne.
Or in Spanish:
Con ciertos aparatos hay que buscar Google Translate, pero aun funciona.
Climate
Local warming! Empathy to those who have to survive summer in cities...Here's a poem where the writer imagines how one of the minor miracle stories in the Bible might be told if it happened in modern times, well, twentieth century anyway.
Here's the song track that comes to mind...
Now, this mess is North Carolina's problem, but it is the kind of thing that contributes to local warming, heat-related fatalities and crop failures, and wildfires. And other things--this proposed natural gas pipeline, for which the mess has been made, is planned to cross over 400 natural watercourses. That's more than 400 opportunities for gas, possibly burning gas, to foul water from mountain springs--and channel flaming gas right into houses, maybe when a drowsy child is reaching out to the tap for that last drink of water before bed. Pennsylvania and Colorado have not solved the problems they've had with natural gas pipelines. Understandably many people in North Carolina want to see those problems solved before they are reproduced in North Carolina. They're asking for out-of-state signatures on a petition to the federal government...you readers must do as you think best about that.
All that brown is soil erosion waiting to clog city water lines.
"Gay Rights"
Politicians do what politicians do--appease deep-pocketed interest groups. Robert Kennedy's mandate is going to be to annoy enough of those groups that he can't afford to lose the LGBTQIA...Z mob. Too bad for those who want to keep drivel about how Heather has two mommies who "love" each other (as the usual "two mommies" arrangement, a mother and grandmother or mother and aunt, presumably don't?!?!) away from children, but I think it's going too far to say RFK is advocating for porn in the schools.
Though I would like to see a realistic picture book called Olivia Has a Mommy and a Grandma in first grade classrooms across the fruited plain... "Olivia used to have a Mommy and a Daddy like everyone else. Then her Daddy went away. Then her Grandma came to stay!" We need more celebration of the heterosexual friends and relatives, 99% of whom are women, who step in to replace missing fathers and make it possible for single mothers to survive.
But in view of the Supreme Court's recent ruling...Anybody can refuse to serve anybody because they just feel like it, if they're not serious about building a business. Burger flippers at McDonald's can refuse to sell you a hamburger because they're tired of flipping burgers and are going home now, and that may be a good thing because their little burst of bad temper just might mean they're coming down with something contagious. But if I saw, in real life, store employees going "Ewww ick, I'm not going to sell you a battery or a hamburger or a dozen eggs because your personal choices go against my religious beliefs"? If it came to that I'd be pro-"gay" too. I never heard of anyone being converted to the True Faith by hateful bad manners. People have a right to do what they choose in their own homes, no questions asked.
Poems
Can we make or do things beautiful enough to honor the memories of our departed friends?
Topophilia
An ancient paradox: What if our individual self-actualization happens to involve rootedness, maintaining and preserving the connections between generations at their home? We humans share a natural instinct to wander, mingle, seek out exotic DNA, with all kinds of animals--and insects. Yet it seems to me that we realize our human potential when we've found that exotic DNA for mating purposes, satisfied the urge to wander, and reconnected to our ancestral roots on our ancestral home ground.
Zazzle
Did you ever think of personalizing USB flash drives? Why not? For those who still use the Internet in the most intelligent way, at public (or school) computer centers, customizing the outside of your flash drive would make it easier to find if it were misplaced. So here's a sample "Save the Butterflies" design. Nephews, I expect you to personalize yours with different butterflies, or completely different images. You'd know this by looking at the sample. Although it's a valuable composter species, is the Silver-Spotted Skipper really the most propitious image for an electronic storage device? Right. Insert a better one.
Here's a new thing for Zazzle--cornhole bags.
They go with this board:
So that's the old-style cornhole set, where the boards were decorated and came with plain, generic bags. You can always keep the generic bags for spares. But just wait...I look forward to the launch of cornhole sets with customizable bags to match the boards!
These boards aren't mine. I'm not keen on the idea of throwing things at butterflies, but wouldn't this design make a great jigsaw puzzle?
This link was generated when I clicked through the process to transfer the picture above to a 20x30", over-1000-piece jigsaw puzzle. If it doesn't work for you, clicking through to generate your own link should take about 90 seconds.
This one's not mine. It looks a bit like a fever dream but it celebrates a butterfly that really exists in tropical South America.
Thank you for the links, there's so much to read. And digest. I see our dear poet Rommy's poem too. :)
ReplyDeleteBTW, a happy Fourth of July!!
Thank you...a happy whole of July to you, as well!
ReplyDelete