gblueheron@bsky.social
@gblueheron.bsky.social
There’s no such thing as too many books. Seeing great blue herons makes me happy.
Reposted by gblueheron@bsky.social
Now I'm a dummy but it really feels to me like there has to be an entire relatively broad-based winning politics based around being in opposition to *just this one sliver* of what the Trump administration is doing right here www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/b...
November 11, 2025 at 4:26 AM
Now I'm a dummy but it really feels to me like there has to be an entire relatively broad-based winning politics based around being in opposition to *just this one sliver* of what the Trump administration is doing right here www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/b...
Reposted by gblueheron@bsky.social
Idiom Origin
“pull yourself up by your bootstraps”
This was originally *sarcasm* & meant to convey that the act was impossible.
A boot strap is a loop used to help put your boot on.
This 1921 cartoon from the “Nonpartisan Leader” showcases that you can’t pull upward on your boots to levitate.
“pull yourself up by your bootstraps”
This was originally *sarcasm* & meant to convey that the act was impossible.
A boot strap is a loop used to help put your boot on.
This 1921 cartoon from the “Nonpartisan Leader” showcases that you can’t pull upward on your boots to levitate.
January 20, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Idiom Origin
“pull yourself up by your bootstraps”
This was originally *sarcasm* & meant to convey that the act was impossible.
A boot strap is a loop used to help put your boot on.
This 1921 cartoon from the “Nonpartisan Leader” showcases that you can’t pull upward on your boots to levitate.
“pull yourself up by your bootstraps”
This was originally *sarcasm* & meant to convey that the act was impossible.
A boot strap is a loop used to help put your boot on.
This 1921 cartoon from the “Nonpartisan Leader” showcases that you can’t pull upward on your boots to levitate.
Reposted by gblueheron@bsky.social
not to be all "oh yeah well what about the OTHER awesome old timey-sounding '70s canadian shipwreck folk song" but if you pay attention to the lyrics of "The Mary Ellen Carter" it is surprisingly detailed and precise about marine insurance underwriting and drysuit salvage operations
Ok I had no idea the Edmund Fitzgerald was a contemporary thing for the song, this is like his Toby Keith 9/11 song but about transporting taconite pellets
November 10, 2025 at 11:22 PM
not to be all "oh yeah well what about the OTHER awesome old timey-sounding '70s canadian shipwreck folk song" but if you pay attention to the lyrics of "The Mary Ellen Carter" it is surprisingly detailed and precise about marine insurance underwriting and drysuit salvage operations
Reposted by gblueheron@bsky.social
Mammals have evolved into anteaters at least 12 times.
Due to their quantity, ants and termites have had a huge impact on evolution.
After the extinction of dinosaurs, mammals have continuously evolved traits to eat the insects, like those found in aardvarks and pangolins.
Due to their quantity, ants and termites have had a huge impact on evolution.
After the extinction of dinosaurs, mammals have continuously evolved traits to eat the insects, like those found in aardvarks and pangolins.
October 23, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Mammals have evolved into anteaters at least 12 times.
Due to their quantity, ants and termites have had a huge impact on evolution.
After the extinction of dinosaurs, mammals have continuously evolved traits to eat the insects, like those found in aardvarks and pangolins.
Due to their quantity, ants and termites have had a huge impact on evolution.
After the extinction of dinosaurs, mammals have continuously evolved traits to eat the insects, like those found in aardvarks and pangolins.
Reposted by gblueheron@bsky.social
More people have walked on the Moon (12) than have been born in Antarctica (11).
October 30, 2025 at 5:01 PM
More people have walked on the Moon (12) than have been born in Antarctica (11).
Reposted by gblueheron@bsky.social
In 2006, scientists found a fossil they believed belonged to a teenage T. rex.
It was recently identified as a completely different, smaller tyrannosaur species, but we now can’t stop thinking about teen T. rexes and how much attitude they must’ve given their parents.
It was recently identified as a completely different, smaller tyrannosaur species, but we now can’t stop thinking about teen T. rexes and how much attitude they must’ve given their parents.
November 6, 2025 at 7:34 PM
In 2006, scientists found a fossil they believed belonged to a teenage T. rex.
It was recently identified as a completely different, smaller tyrannosaur species, but we now can’t stop thinking about teen T. rexes and how much attitude they must’ve given their parents.
It was recently identified as a completely different, smaller tyrannosaur species, but we now can’t stop thinking about teen T. rexes and how much attitude they must’ve given their parents.
Reposted by gblueheron@bsky.social
UPDATE: Donald Trump is so hellbent on denying people SNAP that he went all the way to the Supreme Court to block benefits.
Now Trump is trying to bully states into TAKING BACK payments they already made to families.
It’s chaos for the sake of cruelty.
Now Trump is trying to bully states into TAKING BACK payments they already made to families.
It’s chaos for the sake of cruelty.
November 9, 2025 at 6:11 PM
UPDATE: Donald Trump is so hellbent on denying people SNAP that he went all the way to the Supreme Court to block benefits.
Now Trump is trying to bully states into TAKING BACK payments they already made to families.
It’s chaos for the sake of cruelty.
Now Trump is trying to bully states into TAKING BACK payments they already made to families.
It’s chaos for the sake of cruelty.
Reposted by gblueheron@bsky.social
This is what the band of the Milky Way would look like at night if your eyes could see radio waves. A hidden beauty.
It's a new image created by the Murchison Widefield Array, which scanned the sky in 20 radio "colors" over frequencies from 72 to 231 megahertz. 🧪🔭
www.icrar.org/gleam-x-gala...
It's a new image created by the Murchison Widefield Array, which scanned the sky in 20 radio "colors" over frequencies from 72 to 231 megahertz. 🧪🔭
www.icrar.org/gleam-x-gala...
November 9, 2025 at 6:19 PM
This is what the band of the Milky Way would look like at night if your eyes could see radio waves. A hidden beauty.
It's a new image created by the Murchison Widefield Array, which scanned the sky in 20 radio "colors" over frequencies from 72 to 231 megahertz. 🧪🔭
www.icrar.org/gleam-x-gala...
It's a new image created by the Murchison Widefield Array, which scanned the sky in 20 radio "colors" over frequencies from 72 to 231 megahertz. 🧪🔭
www.icrar.org/gleam-x-gala...
Reposted by gblueheron@bsky.social
So the oldest person ever to become president keeps falling asleep in his office during public events and there’s no big public discussion on how this is a coverup or how republicans are lying to us about how this government is running?
November 9, 2025 at 1:41 PM
So the oldest person ever to become president keeps falling asleep in his office during public events and there’s no big public discussion on how this is a coverup or how republicans are lying to us about how this government is running?
Reposted by gblueheron@bsky.social
This is an absolutely insane administrative process. Within the space of a week, states were told by judges/White House
*no SNAP benefits
*half benefits
*full benefits
*pause provision of benefits.
Result is chaos, uncertainty, and uneven access to benefits depending on where people live.
*no SNAP benefits
*half benefits
*full benefits
*pause provision of benefits.
Result is chaos, uncertainty, and uneven access to benefits depending on where people live.
NEW: The Trump admin told states it must immediately "undo" the work to provide full food stamp benefits, or face penalties. The feds sent this in a late-night memo, only adding to the chaos and confusion around SNAP. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/09/b...
Trump Administration Demands States ‘Undo’ Work to Send Full Food Stamps
www.nytimes.com
November 9, 2025 at 2:34 PM
This is an absolutely insane administrative process. Within the space of a week, states were told by judges/White House
*no SNAP benefits
*half benefits
*full benefits
*pause provision of benefits.
Result is chaos, uncertainty, and uneven access to benefits depending on where people live.
*no SNAP benefits
*half benefits
*full benefits
*pause provision of benefits.
Result is chaos, uncertainty, and uneven access to benefits depending on where people live.
Reposted by gblueheron@bsky.social
Loving today's news that the mysterious "fedora man" outside the Louvre heist was actually a 15-year-old museum visitor who dresses like a 1940s French detective all the time, just because. apnews.com/article/louv...
Fedora man unmasked: Meet the teen behind the Louvre mystery photo
Fifteen-year-old Pedro Elias Garzon Delvaux has become an internet sensation after an Associated Press photo captured him outside the Louvre on the day of a crown jewels heist.
apnews.com
November 9, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Loving today's news that the mysterious "fedora man" outside the Louvre heist was actually a 15-year-old museum visitor who dresses like a 1940s French detective all the time, just because. apnews.com/article/louv...
Reposted by gblueheron@bsky.social
My theory about Joyce Carol Oates is that all her bad posts are her charging up like Godzilla's spines until she lets loose with a radioactive blast that leaves the world's richest Nazi a pile of ash
November 9, 2025 at 2:31 PM
My theory about Joyce Carol Oates is that all her bad posts are her charging up like Godzilla's spines until she lets loose with a radioactive blast that leaves the world's richest Nazi a pile of ash
Reposted by gblueheron@bsky.social
1/ The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission. ⬇️
November 9, 2025 at 9:23 AM
1/ The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission. ⬇️
Reposted by gblueheron@bsky.social
Oh good. While the GOP Congress’s shutdown twiddles its thumbs and poor and working people in need starve and lose their health insurance, TRUMP IS GIVING THE WEALTHY EVEN MORE TAX CUTS!?!?!😡😡😡😡😡
"These breaks come in addition to the roughly $4 trillion package of tax cuts that President Trump signed into law in July..."
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/b...
November 9, 2025 at 5:21 AM
Oh good. While the GOP Congress’s shutdown twiddles its thumbs and poor and working people in need starve and lose their health insurance, TRUMP IS GIVING THE WEALTHY EVEN MORE TAX CUTS!?!?!😡😡😡😡😡
Reposted by gblueheron@bsky.social
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:39 PM
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Reposted by gblueheron@bsky.social
Seems like the ones waging a "war on Christianity" are Republicans, huh?
blockclubchicago.org/2025/11/07/f...
blockclubchicago.org/2025/11/07/f...
Feds Tell Faith Leaders 'No More Prayer' Outside Broadview Facility
In a possible violation of the First Amendment, federal officials instructed demonstrators to stop holding religious gatherings outside the immigration processing facility in suburban Broadview after ...
blockclubchicago.org
November 9, 2025 at 4:22 AM
Seems like the ones waging a "war on Christianity" are Republicans, huh?
blockclubchicago.org/2025/11/07/f...
blockclubchicago.org/2025/11/07/f...
Reposted by gblueheron@bsky.social
Here's sandhill crane dancing at sunset. Quick cell phone edit, so they'll be a better version someday.
Great way to clear my head after an unfathomably stressful week.
Winning is hard, especially given the constant losses in our communities.
The only way out is through ❤️
🪶
Great way to clear my head after an unfathomably stressful week.
Winning is hard, especially given the constant losses in our communities.
The only way out is through ❤️
🪶
November 9, 2025 at 2:36 AM
Here's sandhill crane dancing at sunset. Quick cell phone edit, so they'll be a better version someday.
Great way to clear my head after an unfathomably stressful week.
Winning is hard, especially given the constant losses in our communities.
The only way out is through ❤️
🪶
Great way to clear my head after an unfathomably stressful week.
Winning is hard, especially given the constant losses in our communities.
The only way out is through ❤️
🪶
Reposted by gblueheron@bsky.social
The single biggest question in American law today is:
Are lies a get-out-of-laws-free card? Can the government simply lie to grant itself new powers? And is everyone else under an obligation to act as if obvious lies are true, or at minimum, that they might have merit and deserve respect?
Are lies a get-out-of-laws-free card? Can the government simply lie to grant itself new powers? And is everyone else under an obligation to act as if obvious lies are true, or at minimum, that they might have merit and deserve respect?
November 6, 2025 at 5:01 PM
The single biggest question in American law today is:
Are lies a get-out-of-laws-free card? Can the government simply lie to grant itself new powers? And is everyone else under an obligation to act as if obvious lies are true, or at minimum, that they might have merit and deserve respect?
Are lies a get-out-of-laws-free card? Can the government simply lie to grant itself new powers? And is everyone else under an obligation to act as if obvious lies are true, or at minimum, that they might have merit and deserve respect?
Reposted by gblueheron@bsky.social
Reposted by gblueheron@bsky.social
Reposted by gblueheron@bsky.social
"German Food Banks Feed 37,000 US Soldiers. US soldiers stationed in Germany and civilian employees of the US armed forces are not receiving any salary or other payments. German authorities are compensating the civil employees, but not soldiers" hanschristensen.substack.com/p/german-foo...
November 9, 2025 at 12:59 AM
"German Food Banks Feed 37,000 US Soldiers. US soldiers stationed in Germany and civilian employees of the US armed forces are not receiving any salary or other payments. German authorities are compensating the civil employees, but not soldiers" hanschristensen.substack.com/p/german-foo...
Reposted by gblueheron@bsky.social
HAPPY FOUR SEASONS TOTAL LANDSCAPING DAY TO ALL WHO CELEBRATE
November 7, 2025 at 6:44 PM
HAPPY FOUR SEASONS TOTAL LANDSCAPING DAY TO ALL WHO CELEBRATE
Reposted by gblueheron@bsky.social
He has now erased fully 10% of the term to which Grijalva was elected.
Speaker Johnson is officially keeping the House in recess again next week. This will be the eighth consecutive week the House has been out of session. The chamber hasn't met since Sept. 19. Adelita Grijalva, who was elected on Sept. 23, has not been sworn in.
November 7, 2025 at 7:44 PM
He has now erased fully 10% of the term to which Grijalva was elected.
Reposted by gblueheron@bsky.social
In the last 3 days, the Supreme Court ruled trans people have (again!) lost access to valid passports, a federal district court legalized bullying against (only!) trans kids, and Cornell University joined the growing number of colleges agreeing to discriminate/ban trans people. When is it enough??
November 7, 2025 at 6:35 PM
In the last 3 days, the Supreme Court ruled trans people have (again!) lost access to valid passports, a federal district court legalized bullying against (only!) trans kids, and Cornell University joined the growing number of colleges agreeing to discriminate/ban trans people. When is it enough??