This is Gertrude. In her 3 years in our home she has only ever known soft touches, gentle words, love and treats. Despite this, Gertrude weighs each potential interaction against her unshakeable conviction that we are merely biding our time and are, in fact, plotting to destroy her.

Pinky the Russian tortoise enjoying the beautiful day

In three days my 20 year old has worked two shifts, helped a friend move, driven 5 hours to Chicago to see a concert, and is currently driving back just in time to pack up for camping this weekend in Arkansas. I remember having energy once.

Having a bad day? Check out this mighty hunter! (The plastic swimming pool in the back is a tiny tattoo ink cup, for scale.) chilobrachys sp. "I forget which flavor and didn't mark it down and they kinda all look alike at this age" #tarantula #spider

I have a project that requires the contents of this box. I guess I'm not doing the project today.

A pretty little harpactira pulchripes juvenile tarantula on the run (well, the fast walk) as I take their picture. I'm pretty sure this is a male but I haven't been arsed to actually check.

My beautiful psalmopoeus emeraldus lady hanging out on here corkbark waiting for a meal. (She got one!) #tarantula #spider

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: If you're comparing "AI" to Magic as a way to excuse the things companies and "AI" designers intentionally ignore or hide from the public, that tells me you probably understand neither "AI" nor magic. 🤷🏾‍♂️

Does anyone know if the spider is ok?

funniest thing i’ve ever seen

Life when you love tarantulas: Oh my goodness, she's out for the first time in forever! Let me take some photos.... Welp. kochiana brunnipes adult female

The imagery!

Pro-tip from an IT professional: When you use your bluetooth mouse to turn off bluetooth on your device, the mouse no longer works immediately. You need not spend a minute or so wondering why your mouse "died." Not an auspicious beginning to the work day.

It's a beautiful day outside, all the spiders, tortoises, snakes and cats are fed, I have enough iron in my oft-anemic blood to create about 12 or 13 hefty hemoglobins and I'm waiting for my grandson to come over and work on his coding project. Concentrating on the good atm.

This is a freshly molted psalmopoeus ecclesiasticus. She is smooshed down to about half her normal size because I am taking a photo. I am taking a photo because she is never out and had to strike while the iron was hot. She eventually walked off and then I gave her a hornworm. #tarantula

Phormictopus sp. south hispaniola, adult female. Her carapace has highlights of pink and maroon and her femurs show off blue green, depending on the angle of the light. In this photo I captured just a hint of both.

Spider booty. Bumba horrida juvenile male. #tarantula #spider

If you’re a Hachette author you should be talking to your editors and teams about this. If they’re using AI to counter AI, it’s still AI. And it may also be giving your work to the machine, serving it up on a contractual platter.

I have chronic anemia so I take iron supplements. Went to doc, saying, hey, symptoms are worse despite taking supplements. Doc orders tests. Tests comes back. I'm anemic as heck. Duh. Doc calls and says I should take iron supplements.

I have been doing my own taxes since 1986. I filed this year on April 13th, two whole days before deadline. I believe this is now my personal record for the earliest filing!

We're on day something-something-2-months-later and Ms. Brown recluse is LORGE and more than ready to get released into the shed. #loxosceles #spider

Some fun bugs we found around the lodge yesterday. Leafhopper, Long-waisted Honey Wasp, Leaf Beetle, and everyone's favorite, the Magic Sparkle Weevil.

Yesterday I managed to get a close-up of that horn while she was eating. I love how the setae (hairs) on it has the same striping as the rest of the carapace. Ceratogyrus marshalli #tarantula #spider

Golden girl! The C3PO of spiders, if you will. Phormictopus auratus female. #tarantula #spider

In the voice of Crocodile Dundee: That's not an arch. THIS is an arch.

'Tis the year of our lord 2026 and I just caught a user printing a PDF attached to an email, retrieving the paper and then scanning it in to save it. They did not know how to download attachments from an email but they somehow knew how to use the "scanny thing" on their desk.

Go Boise!

Wandered into the Ninth Circle and saw this drop-down. Even Fox admits Blue City Crime, Campus Radicals and Border Crisis are not true.

You... had to make a pact with your wife about jumping out of airplanes?

Text msgs from my son yesterday: 11:15 AM I'm at your house. 11:17 AM Can I steal your Dutch Babies? 11:19 AM The previous message is now a warning, you do not have Dutch Babies at home (Dutch babies are a yummy food, not infants from the Netherlands)

This little lady just molted 10 days ago and is enjoying her first post-molt meal. Her future boyfriend is super hot-to-trot and I'm hopeful they can make cute little horned tarantula babies. (Ceratogyrus marshalli AKA straight-horned baboon tarantula) Her name is Magpie, Maggie for short. #spider

Finally managed to get my youngest two kids and their partners together for a Seder! Better late than never!

This is hilarious because it implies that her husband DID call her while she was in space on the ISS to ask her help in looking for something. 💀🌌

At a goodbye celebration for one of our co-workers, maga gym bro sales guy put his red phone down and in the light, it appeared pink. I said "oh cute pink phone!" Everyone else immediately picked up on the fun, telling him not to be insecure for loving pink, as he kept shouting that it was red.

Science "discovers" what the locals have long known. How little we understand about the amazing #biodiversity that we are fast trashing phys.org/news/2026-04...

Every month: Me, looking at my bank account: Phew! Doing OK! A few minutes later me, looking at my Discover card: Oh no. (My lovely college-aged child has her Apple pay connected to my Discover. She's gonna be a doctor, folks! I'm so proud! I'm so poor.)

If you see this, post a picture from whatever device you’re using with no explanation

Genius

Me, but with tarantulas

Took me three business days after reading this to finally laugh my ass off

Ordering wallpaper swatches from a site that has artists from all over the world and this is what I have learned: UK and Australia people really like whimsical teacups, teapots and/or tea accoutrements on their walls.

Maybe the new knife shoots little tiny knives?

With Bondi out, he's gonna have to start firing men soon. Tulsi? You in danger, girl.

Fun in manufacturing: We need 1000 Widgets. Widget specs have label for Whatzits, not Widgets. We create 1000 Widgets and label them as Whatzits. Shipping can't find Widgets, so someone makes 1000 more Widgets. They are labeled as Whatzits. Rinse, repeat 4 or 5 times We have SO MANY Widgets

Go squirrel!

My son came over to help build an Ikea cabinet. He got here and said "let's just eat dinner and watch anime and I will come over tomorrow while you're at work and do the cabinet myself." He is being kind, but mostly avoiding my inevitable anxiety-ridden annoying commentary during building.

Poecilotheria tigrinawesseli paws. (He's hiding from his food in a super awkward position and all I could see were feets.) #tarantula #spider

Some of the tshirts and homemade No Kings signs that stood out in St. Louis yesterday. #NoKings 1/3

Good dog!