Animals
British moths...some "relatives" of American moths.
This one is the sort of thing only a naturalist would quietly photograph. It's a nasty immigrant species that does not belong in England (it's not exactly loved in Europe, either--ancient Greek authors wrote about hating it too), and he really should have killed it. This year it's "a first record for my garden." Next year it'll be a nuisance people demand the government find a way to poison. And there is no way to "control" nuisance species by poison. Sometimes it is possible, though, to kill the first invader before it reproduces.
Christian
I can't say I'm really keen on CantosYOraciones' current series of random thoughts by anonymous contemporary Chrisians in place of Bible texts, hymns, and prayers, but I do like this thought:
(Apaga = turn off. Pantallas = screens, blinking boxes.)
Education
A school changed the outdated, stuffy name of Stonewall Jackson High School to the nicer name of Mountain View High School...for the wrong reasons, in a misguided effort to propitiate rioters. Then the school changed the name back. Now "six students and their parents" think they should be able to force the rest of the school to change the name, again, to suit them.
General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson was an interesting, multifaceted historic character. One of the facets of his character was that he owned slaves; another was that he taught ex-slaves how to read. It may be appropriate for schools other than the one where he taught to choose their own names, and if the six students had respectfully asked that the school keep the newer, prettier name it might have been appropriate for others to keep it out of courtesy, but it is not appropriate for six students to get the message that they can control what the majority of the students, teachers, and parents call the school.
I think, if I were the principal of what the students persuaded a federal court to order everyone to call Mountain View High School, I'd bring those six students to the front of the hall in assembly and proclaim, "These conceited individuals want to dictate speech to the rest of us. God died and left this lot in charge! That's what we call control freaks, isn't it, class? We need to teach these six young control freaks a lesson before it's too late. NOBODY SPEAKS TO THE CONTROL FREAKS."
Some student-led protests are against policies that really are unnecessarily hard on students and/or parents. Those protests can and should be allowed to succeed; their leaders can and should be perceived as heroes. Then there are protests that, like this one, really amount to censorship and "You can't call your school what you choose because I said so." The leaders of those protests can and should know that they're going to be as popular as leprosy, even after they've gone back to court and appealed for the judge to reverse an inappropriate, censorship-supportive decision. They should have the experience of seeing that other Black students can have friends, play on teams, act in plays, and so on, but they, as control freaks, can sit through lessons and do their assignments in silence and that's all.
Etiquette
Going to a memorial service when the bereaved family have asked you to stay away...may not be punishable by prison time, but it ought to be.
Even if it breaks your heart that, say, the widow of the deceased thinks you ever had any designs on her husband, or the grandmother of the deceased thinks you led the deceased into trouble when you were in fact the one who tried to keep the deceased out of trouble, or the senile husband of the deceased thinks you stole a load of old clothes and shoes that his son hauled off to the landfill knowing that the Salvation Army wouldn't have them...the memorial service is about that troubled soul, not you. Stay at home and mourn.
Music
Elijah Bossenbroek.
Puccini. (Warning: opera.)
Neil Young. (Pbird observed that "Some commenters say [the two songs linked immediately below] are the same song.")
Verdi. (Warning: another opera.)
Tom Petty.
John Scalzi.
Whitney Rose. (The link opens a playlist including songs by eight other bands, if you let it run on.)
Grace Jones.
One Direction.
Technology
Why not use every Microsoft "update" as a reminder to invest in the technology of the future?
Photo from Wikimedia Commons.
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