By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Patient readers, this is a travel day for me and hence an Open Thread. Talk amongst yourselves! –lambert
Bird Song of the Day
At IM Doc’s suggestion–
Gray Catbird, Indian Springs Wildlife Management Area; along Blair’s Valley Road, Washington, Maryland, United States. “Adult Gray Catbird singing from roadside vegetation.” No doubt sitting in the catbird seat!
I did think this was remarkable, though. From Old School blogger Jon Schwarz (the image duplicates but the text does not):
The DOGE dorks & their penumbra are, as you’d expect, stupendously ignorant, drunk with power, and could be extremely dangerous. The good news is they’re so out of their minds that it seems unlikely they’ll manage to do huge damage. https://t.co/H6fAF7MSAn by @vhmth pic.twitter.com/u7b5T2AuGy
— ☀️ Jon Schwarz ☀️ (@schwarz) January 5, 2025
Apparently the entity known to us as DOGE has some quasi-formal existence somewhere, but as what? As in “Hey, kids, let’s put on a show!”? Or more?
Contact information for plants: Readers, feel free to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) find out how to send me a check if you are allergic to PayPal and (b) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi, lichen, and coral are deemed to be honorary plants! If you want your handle to appear as a credit, please place it at the start of your mail in parentheses: (thus). Otherwise, I will anonymize by using your initials. See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. From Angie Neer:
Angie Neer writes: “I’m taking the liberty of attaching a photo, because the Water Cooler plants have long been a highlight of my days. This one was shot about 45 years ago, on Tri-X film that I developed myself in the darkroom of my high school. (The same public school where I learned typesetting with real lead type!) I hope it expresses the mood of seeing a friend receding into a future that’s perhaps mysterious, but lush with beautiful possibility.”
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