The death of Jürgen Habermas yesterday has me wondering when (or whether?) @hotgpod.bsky.social will start mentioning influential German (speaking) philosophers. (Or are we counting people like Luther and early Swiss republicans as quasi philosophers?)

Jürgen Habermas, German philosopher and sociologist, dies aged 96

CONAN: “For the first time since 2012 no British people are nominated for Best actor or best Actress… a British spokesperson commented, ‘Yeah, well, at least we arrest our pedophiles.’" #Oscars

Despite what you may have read online, Oscar winner “One Battle After Another” is not about March Mammal Madness. #2026MMM

Much as I am sure rodents will ultimately be snubbed in #2026MMM, I am also certain no rodent will be winning at the Oscars. 🐿️🐹🐁🏆🐀🐭🦫

Marmots do have good eyesight - comparable to human vision. They rely on vision to spot predators in their meadows.

I’m going to visit some sloths in the wild this coming week, to console them over their treatment in #2026MMM. I’ll remind them that the Sloth lived and #AltAdvances into our hearts. 🦥

So NYT is in this dilemma of its own making. Maintaining the noble-savage myth about MAGA requires ... never actually hearing directly from MAGA. Hearing directly from MAGA requires ... abandoning your own stated moral & journalistic principles. There's no solution to that equation, as I wrote:

cc: @artologica.net @ratatosk.bsky.social

What a remarkable story and find !! www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a...

Torn Ear Lion squats down to urinate onto the ground, saturating mold, and then immediately scratches his claws through the moldy urine mud on the ground (Matoba et al. 2013) #2026MMM journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

I’m still upset about the bat’s ignominious defeat in #2026MMM at the paws of a mere lazy cat. #BatScandal 🦇

Which reminds me- I got this message on FB today...

Up next: 6-seed cat (Felis catus) vs 11-seed common pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pipistrellus) #2026MMM

WOW WHAT A NIGHT! Crocodile, Mouse, Grey Fox, Eurasian Eagle Owl, Cat, Dog, White Stork, & LIONS ADVANCE! #2026MMM

#2026 LIBRARY LEGENDS ROUND 1 WINNERS: Nile Crocodile, Mouse, Gray Fox, Eurasian Eagle Owl, Domestic Cat, Domestic Dog, White Stork, Lions Please join us Monday 3/16 at 8PM EST for Round 1 of Extinction is Forever!

Our other combatant is the second most dangerous threat to libraries worldwide...MOLD! (Jaddaoui, Ghazal, and Bennett 2023) Molds are a type of structure certain fungi make and are *primo* at breaking down organic matter from plants and animals. #NotMyLeatherBoundBooks #BOOKCARNAGE #2026MMM

Last Up: #2 Lions (Panthera leo) vs. #15 Mold (Aspergillus sp.)! A #2026MMM collab between @mammalssuck.bsky.social and myself!

GRAY FOX RE-EATS BOOK SCORPION!!! #2026MMM

Moving On: #5-seed Grey Fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) vs. #12-seed Book Scorpion (Chelifer cancroides) #2026MMM

MEANWHILE... Cairo, Egypt, deep in the Manuscripts Library of the Coptic Museum are stored 6000 papyrus and other artifacts... so many organic materials including leather, fur, wood, linen, wool, & paper (El-Hassan et al. 2021). #2026MMM

Sadie looks up at Oliver with big golden, amber eyes as he tilts a page of "The Eyes and the Impossible" to her, showing Sadie the beautiful illustrations of a dog who races to protect his animal friends throughout a park by the sea. #NewburyMedalWinner #2026MMM

Before any other animals were domesticated, dogs became human's best friend. Dogs have myriad roles across & within human cultures- protection, hunting, herding, search, rescue, guide/service, emotional comfort... sled-pulling, cancer-detecting, the list goes on! (Chira et al. 2023) #2026MMM

Next Up: #3 Dog (Canis lupus familiaris) vs. #14 Book Louse (Liposcelis bostrychophila) #2026MMM Note: image is not combatant dog, combatant dog is the Official MMM Art that you will see shortly by @opellisms.bsky.social

Papyrus is a giant grasslike plant with triangular blades known as a sedge. Papyrus wetlands are important for biodiversity, for water quality, floodwater management, and contribute directly and indirectly to the livelihoods of millions of people. (Van Dam 2014) #2026MMM

First Up: #1-seed Nile Crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus) vs. #16-seed Papyrus (Cyperus papyrus) #2026MMM

300+ rabbit breeds trace back to 1 domestication from the European rabbit that still hops wild in Spain today. DNA shows steps of diversity loss: Iberia → France → breeds. One species, one funnel 🐰 #2026MMM journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

A mouse in the house? Almost definitely. The house mouse (Mus musculus) moved in with humans 15,000 years ago, but they’re new to the Americas—hitching a ride on European ships in the 1500s. #2026MMM pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

This is the kind of carnage I was promised. #2026MMM

MOUSE OUTLASTS EUROPEAN RABBIT!!! #2026MMM

House mice can be up to 8 inches long from nose to tail (0.6 stoat length), but they are about half tail, and tipping the scales at 0.15 stoatweights (30grams), fur color ranges from light brown to black with white to buffy bellys. #2026MMM

WILD European Rabbit tips the scales up to 5.5lbs, their soft fur is grayish and can be sprinkled with black, brown, ruddy colors. Their undersides are paler gray to white. Rabbits in general have smaller ears & shorter, less powerful legs than hares, & the European Rabbit is no exception. #2026MMM

Next Up: 8-seed European Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) vs. 9-seed Mouse (Mus musculus) #2026MMM

EURASIAN EAGLE OWL OUTLASTS SILVERFISH! #2026MMM

NEXT UP: #4 seed Eurasian Eagle Owl (Bubo bubo) vs #12 seed silverfish (Lepisma saccharinum) #2026MMM

“The United States completely blew this,” said Sal Mercogliano, a naval historian and maritime shipping expert at Campbell University in North Carolina. “How they didn’t know this was going to happen is really mystifying … they should have been prepared.” #Hormuz #Iran www.cbc.ca/news/world/s...

FWIW, this is from a BlackRock event yesterday. The whole thing is...just...trainwreck. I was thinking I might write about it, but I dunno if my heart can handle it.

Once again, we are rightly warned that you #CantTrustPigeons. bsky.app/profile/jimb...

#Tardigandalf #AltAdvances into tonight's second round of #2026MMM battles!!!

I’ve been away too long. Or not long enough? bsky.app/profile/bubb...

“Plant blindness” was the term introduced in 1999 by the botanists and educators JH Wandersee (GREAT NAME) & EE Schussler to describe what they saw as a pervasive insensitivity to the green environment & a general neglect of plants on the part of biology education"(Thomas et al. 2022) #2026MMM

EASTERN GORILLA OUTLASTS SPECTACLED BEAR!!! #2026MMM

Gorilla looking over his shoulder, bounces off a tree trunk, accidentally STAYING ON THE FIELD OF BATTLE!!! #2026MMM

LAST BATTLE OF THE NIGHT! Seed #8 Spectacled Bear (Tremarctos ornatus) vs Seed #9 Eastern Gorilla (Gorilla beringei) #2026MMM

ARABIAN ORYX DEFEATS EURASIAN LYNX! #2026MMM

Eurasian Lynx has little hope of effectively wrestling the bovid down with a throat-crushing kill bite. Bruised but savvy, LYNX QUITS THE FIELD OF BATTLE! #2026MMM

Next Up: #7-seed Arabian Oryx (Oryx leucoryx) vs #10-seed Eurasian Lynx (Lynx lynx) #2026MMM

Next up! 6-seed Roan Antelope (Hippotragus equinus) VS 11-seed Borean Orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) #2026MMM

But sloths are good swimmers! Though surprised at his suddenly aquatic surroundings, Sloth begins to paddle. (Britton 1941) #2026MMM www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7HG...