Open Thread – More Shrimp
Last night’s Open Thread got me thinking about shrimp. In a variation on the theme, here’s an actual shrimp from the waters outside Whittier in Prince William Sound. When they first come up from depths of 400 feet or more, their eyes glow an eerie orange. I normally wouldn’t think of a shrimp as a handsome or festive animal, but you’ve just got to love this little guy.
Late in the day, but just too good not to share:
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/06/marys_monday_metazoan_at_least.php
Here’s some honest research about corn/ethanol subsidies, and how they hurt us:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/25/opinion/25Rattner.html?_r=1
and here’s some news about the horrific chemical “dispersants” dumped into the Gulf:
http://earthjustice.org/news/press/2011/government-releases-partial-list-of-chemicals-found-in-oil-spill-dispersants
Yesterday, I picked a quart of Juneberries, right of the trees at the Yonkers waterfront. Delicious! (I still don’t eat shrimp, but do think they’re cute.)
Zyxomma, I’ve never heard of Juneberries. What do they taste like and how do you prepare them – baking, jam, or eating raw?
That’s so cool that you can pick them at the waterfront.
Juneberries are kind of a relative of the blueberry. They grow on a more tree-like plant. Juneberries are *excellent*.
When I was a kid, my dad transplanted a juneberry tree to our garden, just because he thought it was special. We left there before it produced berries, but I remember that it was special to Dad.
(That was in Wisconsin. Many years ago.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/2chambers/post/report-bachmann-benefited-from-government-funding/2011/06/27/AGDVoOnH_blog.html
Report: Bachmann benefited from government funding
By Felicia Sonmez
As Rep. Michele Bachmann formally launches her White House 2012 bid Monday, a new report shows that the Minnesota Republican has benefited from the kind of government aid she frequently criticizes on Capitol Hill and on the campaign trail.
According to the report, published Sunday by the Los Angeles Times, a Bachmann family farm in Wisconsin has received $260,000 in federal subsidies over 13 years, while a counseling clinic run by the congresswoman’s husband has received $30,000 in state and federal funding since 2006.
The farm was owned by Bachmann’s late father-in-law, but Bachmann is listed as a partner. The counseling clinic is listed on Bachmann’s financial disclosure forms as one of the congresswoman’s assets; most of the government funding it received was in the form of grants for staff training.
I was off-line this weekend, so it may be old news to most readers.
That’s nasty stuff and I copied, pasted & emailed it to my eldest child. Obviously, I will have to discuss it with the younger one too.
*off-topic alert!**
“Bristol Palin is clarifying her take on the night she first had sex with Levi Johnston.”
snip
“in a “Good Morning America” interview Monday, the abstinence advocate said she does not accuse her ex of rape. “I am just looking back with the adult eyes that I have now and thinking that was a foolish decision,” she said. “I should have never been underage drinking and I should never have gotten myself into a situation like that.”
————————
Snide comment by myself follows:
I’m surprised that an editor or legal department didn’t already discuss this with her prior to publication.
Unless leaving it in the text was a marketing strategy.
Okay, I found this over at IM in the comments section (which, BTW, is full of vicious trolls today).
Glad I slogged through the mess because I found this juicy link to a story about Michelle Bachmann.
Remember the interview clip where Chris Wallace asked Michelle if she was a flake? He alluded to many of her gaffs. Here’s yet another one – not doing research before she speaks — complementing a town and sweating to follow in the footsteps of one of its “famous sons” — just so happens he is really a serial killer. Let’s hope that is one promise Bachmann doesn’t try to keep.
http://www.politico.com/2012-election/
You do have to scroll down one story but then there are two entries on this rather dumb mistake. Reminds me of when Sarah was speaking in a CA town an saying how glad she was to be in Reagan’s hometown (I hope I remember this correctly – please correct if need be).
oops – gaffe not gaff. Sorry.
It wasn’t a town but she said she was glad she was in the state that has Eureka College. The problem while “Eureka” is the CA state motto that college Reagan attended is in the midwest.
Ah, thanks. I felt I had a bit off. It’s still silly, though, considering the two Blackberries she carries – I mean, how hard is it for Sarah to Goggle or Bing something. Of course, you first have to know what you are looking for – searching can be hard for people like Sarah, I suspect.
That is so cool;a state with a vacuum cleaner for their state motto. Makes me kinda teary-eyed.BTW- I bit the big one today and ate my very first Sonic hamburger with fries and a coke. Actually pretty darn good. I only eat out about once a month.
The shrimp is kind of cute. We watched people skipping stones along the shore of Lake Michigan Saturday afternoon. I thought how long it took those stones to make it to shore and there they were, being tossed back in. Some skipped six times – pretty amazing.
On the political ad side, I find them immensely annoying and “mute” the sound or walk out of the room. I don’t think there should be any advertising for political matters on tv or radio. But I realize that will never happen.
I was watching a NatGeo channel last night when a political ad came up urging people to vote with Rethuglicans to overturn Obamacare. I honestly had no idea that NatGeo took political ads from either side and made my disappointment quite clear in an e-mail this morning.I do not recall ever having seen a paid political ad on NatGeo ever. I guess eternal vigilance is the price we pay for freedom.
Mike, don’t know if you’re on cable or satellite, but if it was cable, it may have been inserted by your local cable company, and not NatGeo. In past times, when I had cable, if there was any advertiser that was local appearing on my cable channels, it was always put there by the local folks to make some bucks. The channel itself, whatever it may have been (news, movies, or what have you), would not know that local content was played on top of their ads.
Sneaky, huh?
Thanks for the reply. I have Dish Network via satellite. I also sent two e-mails before Palin’s show was aired last year and got a typical canned response about my concerns being taken under advisement. I feel vindicated as far as the Quitter’s show turned out. I expect another canned response,but who knows.
If I’m not mistaken NatGeo is owned by News Corp under their Fox family of movie and TV companies.
oooohhhhhh!!! He’s a nice big ‘un !! Where’s the skillet and butter ?!! Interesting color – the ones I caught cast netting in Fla as a boy were gray until cooked…
This is an excellent article that examines the truth behind America’s founding and founders:
http://www.newsweek.com/2011/06/26/the-founding-fathers-were-flawed.html
“As the electioneering rises to a din, those who dare to read history for its chastening wisdom will be fatuously accused of “declinism.” But it is those who reduce history’s hard and honest reckonings to exceptionalist chest-thumping who will be the true agents of degeneration. As one of Jefferson’s favorite books, Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, so luminously argued, there is no surer sign of a country’s cultural and political decay than an obtuse blindness to its unmistakable beginnings.”
Okay, OMG, now I really owe you. Another great link!
I agree with Jefferson on religion, and with the author’s contention that we do ourselves no favors by glossing over history.
Better to see people as people and not comic-book saints. I am so tired of the right-wing’s attempt to revise history because they diminish the challenges people struggled with in order to attempt to create a better society.
That today’s right-wingers refuse to compromise or to admit that compromise and imperfection was a part of our history is one of of their hallmark failures and will eventually lead to their demise because lies cannot survive the search for truth.
What timing…the other Palin film arrives:
http://politico-junkie.blogspot.com/2011/06/uk-other-palin-film.html
What timing indeed! Thanks for the link, OMG. It was just what I needed to start my day with a smile.
Maybe they’ll screen it at the same multiplexes as “The Defeated Thrice,”(remember Miss AK) right next to it!
Perhaps they should rename the two of them: “Three Times a Bridesmaid . . .”
and
“Never a Bride.”
You’re right; he is a cute little fellow. Darn it – now I won’t be able to enjoy eating shrimp as I once did now that I’ve seen those expressive eyes. Mind you, I may still eat them, but I won’t enjoy them in quite the same way. Sigh.
Oh, well, it’s a beautiful photograph that seems to capture the essence of the creature. Brings up an interesting philosophical point or two: how can we eat that which we find appealing to our heartstrings, and why is it so easy to eat things that do not?
After all, some of the least attractive people are those we cherish most because we look beyond their surface appeal to their true character. I guess we don’t apply the same standards or principles to what we regard as food, huh?