There’s also one for salt.

Match-less:

Delightful attention to detail.

Stunning:

These are very silly, yet there’s something authentic in their movements.

Presented without comment. If you’re at work, use headphones or turn the sound down.

This made me laugh. Yes, it’s quite old.

Now I’m visualizing Arnie in Sleeper makeup.

Primarily I like the visual contrast between the music and the costumes.

But honestly, I’m not much into the music. Repetitive, needs more creativity.

(From a friend’s FB posting.)

They’re quite restful.

This is on Facebook, but the owls are adorable.

Brittany Howard. My Arts Editor said she has a very nice voice.

Better than just about anything else. Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/CjY0mm-xiLY

Update: I wish I had been one of the runners.

Because my Arts Editor really liked this ditty by Tori Kelly.

An oldie but a goodie, always applicable when the munitions providers and ideological zealots are beating the drums:

Quirky

This speech by Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) has the political world abuzz:

If you don’t want to sit through it, there’s also a transcript. On an aesthetic level, I suppose the Senator did an OK job, although that’s not really his area of expertise. I’m sure his staff enjoyed this assignment. I was vaguely amused. I also saw mention of this on Colbert last night, and, on review, I think Colbert was a somewhat unfair to the Senator.

However, and I believe the Senator is no longer being satirical at this juncture, I was horrified at his conclusion. I suppose I shouldn’t be – his training is in law, neither climate science nor demographic analysis nor ecology nor, since he mentions he believes this is an engineering problem, an engineer. When he calls for, in very libertarian language, more people:

And problems of human imagination are not solved by more laws, but by more humans!

More people mean bigger markets for innovation.

More babies mean more forward-looking adults – the sort we need to tackle long-term, large scale problems.

American babies, in particular, are likely going to be wealthier, better educated, and more conservation-minded than children raised in still-industrializing regions.

As economist Tyler Cowen recently wrote on this very point, “by having more children, you are making your nation more populous – thus boosting its capacity to solve [climate change].”

he’s calling not for a solution, but for an exacerbation of the problem. At it’s root, climate change is not about burning fossil fuels or even mass consumption – tragically, it’s about too many people. If we had only a third, or even half the population we actually have, and they were steady state, and our technology more or less the same, would we be facing a climate change problem? Almost certainly not. In fact, the Spring 2019 issue of American Archaeology, not yet online, has an article which inadvertently makes my point for me. I plan to publish a post using material from that article when AA’s publisher, the Archaeological Conservancy, gets their act together and puts it online (if they do – some articles don’t make it online). It has to do with the severe reduction in North American population when the diseases of Europe were let loose among the Indians, and how that affected the climate.

But back to the point, his call for more people and a magical creation of a solution is rather like, after jumping out of an airplane sans parachute, calling for everyone else to jump out as well and we’ll develop a solution before we hit.

From a friend, to whom I’m now eternally indebted:

Of course, this isn’t good enough. I’d like to see this done on a continental basis, with the possibility of then seeing the impact of non-political boundary events, such as plagues.

It seems a bit dissonant, but still fascinating.

And here’s an AI-generated film:

Admittedly, not compelling on its own. The story, though, is good. In passing, I have mentioned House of Representatives hopeful Mark Harris (R-NC), supposedly a pastor in District 9 of North Carolina, who employed a Republican operative who allegedly illegally collected and discarded absentee ballots from District 9 voters for the 2018 mid-terms. Harris won the contest, but by a small enough margin that those discarded ballots may matter, and the North Carolina Elections Board refused to certify the election. The House of Representatives has stated it’ll refuse to seat Harris without the certification, so he’s kinda stuck at the moment, as the above .

You’d expect he’d be willing to to speak to the press like, oh, any legitimate representative of the people. But, nope, as WSOC TV found out:

To avoid the media, Mark Harris ran down a fire exit staircase. A man tried to prevent us from following but we still did. The alarm went off as he ran out. When media caught up he sprinted across the street to the First Baptist Church of Charlotte's parking lot #NC09 @wsoctv pic.twitter.com/vDFca16EYx

— Joe Bruno (@JoeBrunoWSOC9) January 8, 2019

That sort of behavior really makes you wonder, especially as it comes from a pastor, who, popular opinion has it, should really be above such behavior.

Of course, Harris had an excuse: he wanted to go watch a football game. Not exactly responsible behavior.

So many ways to go on vacation.

More here.

These are endlessly fascinating as I contemplate how much effort must go into making them.

I’m sure everyone’s seen this one already, but it made me laugh and then think.

It’s Nature’s art, savagely beautiful and uncaring about the audience’s sensibilities:

I’m a day late and a dollar short, but this amused me too much not to put it up.