My first morning out roaming the desert this autumn, and I'm immediately greeted by this excellent bit of desert weirdness.

Did I need a pretty, cactiform hummingbird feeder? No. Did I get it anyway? Duh.

I promise, I'm coming out of my delightful summer hibernation and attempting to be more social. This format annoys me, but I can at least show off my nascent native garden as it slowly progresses.

Defiant nuns flee Austrian care home for their abandoned convent in the Alps Sisters Bernadette, Regina and Rita needed a locksmith to get back into their convent, defying Church leaders.

Someone needs to make a movie about this, stat.

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Nothing like rain in the desert to make a field bio feel good! Especially when it's summer, and you expected to be roasting.

Bets that he's also on the list? I'd give it at least 50/50 odds.

I enjoyed this review for a collapsible water jug very much. Corvids gonna corvid.

When the chips are down, there's always bribery.

The sanest of my cousins got a new puppy, and I figured we can all use a cute puppy photo.

My narrow-leaved milkweed finally took off once I started neglecting it, and I've had a gratifying number of caterpillar and adult monarchs this season. I'll be curious to see how this plays out.

I saw Flavor Flav in the mirror

In one of my more embarrassing feats of absentmindedness, I temporarily shoplifted a $50 watering can from my local nursery this morning by deciding not to buy it when I discovered the price and then walking out with it anyhow. Fortunately, I realized it right as I was about to drive away. Sheesh.

Invasive juvenile scaly-breasted munia munching away on invasive grass (Erharta erecta) and aster (Erigeron canadensis) in my ecology. I suppose that's a type of balance.

A comic of two foxes, one of whom is blue, the other is green. In this one, Blue and Green are just about to get into the car as they hear a mysterious noise. Noise: A! Blue: Hey, can you hear that? Green: I can see it! It's a magpie, sitting on the pavement! Blue and Green rush to the bird's aid. Blue: Let's go see if it's okay. Green: I've never heard one make that sound before. Just as Blue and Green are about to reach the magpie, it flies off with perfect ease. Green: Oh, it flew off on its own. Blue and Green turn to look at the direction the magpie flew, Green with curiosity and Blue with alarm. There's a sound of a car engine starting. Green: Wait, where did it go? Blue: It hotwired my car!

I performed an unexpected magic trick this morning in the ecology. I unfolded a bit of my makeshift tablecloth and *poof* baby Sceloporus occidentalis! I'm glad I found them before I set my teapot there. 😬 I'm not sure if this is one of the two(!) I rescued from one of my pots yesterday afternoon.

Advice welcome, for this and future invertebrate rehab attempts.

I've spent the most recent part of the morning attempting to rehab a wonky-winged monarch. We shall see how she fares.

Overheard just now: "The reason it's such an incredibly stupid show is that it's about people in our age group."

The trolley from Mr. Roger's Neighborhood went into the witness protection program and is hiding out north of Bishop.

Happy solstice, all. Things have been mostly good. I recently decided to semi-retire. So, obviously, I've spent the last two days working in the blast furnace of southern Nevada. But now I'm off to re-emphasize the retirement part of semi-retirement. I've missed y'all.

Yeah, screw all y'all kids' accomplishment of graduating from high school in spite of living in a burnt-out, run-down, poison-aired ag-town. It's actually all about Jesus. 🙄

Surprising me immensely, I won an award at the CSSA conference last night!

Why do AI company logos look like buttholes? A humorous exploration of the uncanny resemblance between AI company logos and human anatomy. Discover why circular, gradient-based designs dominate the AI industry, and what this design convergence t...

Because that’s what the LLMs talk out of, mostly.

velvetshark.com/ai-company-l...

How a mouse watching 'The Matrix' helped scientists create the largest map of a brain to date Thanks to a mouse watching clips from “The Matrix,” scientists have created the largest functional map of a brain to date.

Thanks to a mouse watching clips from “The Matrix,” scientists have created the largest functional map of a brain to date – a diagram of the wiring connecting 84,000 neurons as they fire off messages.

Anyone else worried that any Democrat representatives who travel to El Salvador won't return? Because I am.

Fasciation - Wikipedia

Fasciation, not polyploidy.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasciat...

I'm very near downtown San Diego, about 65km from the epicenter. My hammock turned into a bumpy ride, and all the birds flew away. If I'd been inside, I'd likely have moved into a safe spot for this one.

Earthquakes are so cool. I was in the hammock for this one, which was kinda fun. The birds all flew away, and some small object in the garage fell on the floor. Big excitement! 😄

earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/...

At this rate MAGA will only be able to afford to rent the libs.