Japanese balloon flower. My new favorite garden plant! [image: 1751416954453-eab1c561-80ff-4a1b-a1f9-481afc66772a-image-resized.jpeg]

They deserve each other, like couples in many marriages. Go Elon!!

@Nina said in It passed in the Senate: Murkowski has no shame. If not Murkowski, it would be some other Senwte Republican else being the 50th "yea."

I love this tune. Link to video

Had butter tarts in Niagra Falls last week. Several kinds. Terrific!

@CHAS said in Ticks: Keeping the grass short helps keep tick populations down. I wonder if our grass is short enough. We mow once a week and keep it just a touch long — I mean, it doesn’t look long but the deck isn’t on the shortest setting, doing it this way is supposed to help prevent non-grass weeds…

The first American academics fleeing Donald Trump's America for France have arrived. Aix-Marseille University last week introduced eight U.S.-based researchers who were in the final stage of joining the institution's “Safe Place for Science" program, which aims to woo researchers who have experienced or fear funding cuts under the Trump administration. AMU offers the promise of a brighter future in the sun-drenched Mediterranean port city. While both France and the European Union have launched multimillion-euro plans to woo researchers across the pond since Trump assumed the U.S. presidency in January, AMU's initiative was the first of its kind in the country — meaning the eight researchers who were welcomed are the first academic refugees planning to trade the United States for France. https://www.politico.eu/article/meet-first-academic-refugees-fleeing-us-france-science-program/

I retired from CPS in 2013, and I haven't kept up much. The political punishment is harsh and swift for those wanting to address these sorts of issues with simmering racial overtones involved. Layer on top of that the lack of national, state and city funding over the years for updating or replacing aging buildings has led to the current situation. The addition of charter schools with performance about the same as public schools has caused its share of student losses as well.

Seems a good thing to do. But I have never lived there so what do I know about it? I have a feeling (based on the number of products I've purchased that come with warnings specific to CA) that the state probably went overboard with its restrictions. Matt Lewis, spokesman for California YIMBY, which supports the new legislation, said a law that had initially been intended to prevent projects like new freeways from plowing through neighborhoods had over the years been “Frankensteined” into a tool to block housing development. And the act, ultimately, has harmed the environment by limiting denser housing, which reduces pollution, he said. Isn't ironic that the original legislation was signed into law by a Republican governor, and it's being rolled back by a Democratic governor.

A really good piece at TMP (it may be behind a paywall, I'm not sure)... Bill Moyers Saw What Was Coming

@wtg said in I want his job: chief gelato officer CGO! That's quite the job title!

I use Dawn because I'd rather economize than buy what I'd rather have-- something without harsh chemicals. It makes too many suds, and it's difficult and time consuming to rinse anything you wash with it, imho.

Isn’t she the one that kills puppies?