Paint isn't protection! "Even worse, most Americans see these terrible lanes and think, "I'd be crazy to ride a bike" — and the cycle continues." usa.streetsblog.org/2026/02/23/s...

I would like to say that I’m not always such a surly grump! It’s just a terrible era to be literate.

I’m a STEM woman in a small nonprofit. I do have to be both meeting chair and responsible for simultaneously taking my own minutes verbatim. And criticized for both. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The US men’s Hockey Team have tarnished their victory by refusing solidarity with women’s and gender minority sports. Sports are political, especially if you have had to actively fight to even be able to participate, to be paid fairly, to have gear made to fit, and to be equally publicized.

A legal system that prioritizes property rights over all others is no longer a democracy. Our current circumstances are the rich few feeling directly threatened by the many who object to their horde of wealth and resources. They define freedom as a freedom from any responsibility for public good.

There's a reason they're calling them detention centers and not prisons. Prisoners have rights, detainees do not. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

“The frustrated city manager of Social Circle, ...told the Guardian that he’s denying the feds’ request to turn on the public water as they race to open their detention camp there as early as April.” Time to get on your local planning boards, everywhere.

Signal boost. Several times now, peaceful protesters, observers, or even people who have just been in the wrong place and time have been accused of “assaulting ICE agents with their car.” This often falsified claim is used to justify ICE’s violence, illegal incarceration and intimidation.

I just want to live in a country where the leader can’t enrich themselves with our tax dollars, the government does what the people want, and the wealthy have to follow the laws. You know, like a democracy.

Just in case everyone forgot why the EPA’s been gutted. Can’t possibly let pesky things like clean water get in the way of Elon Musk’s ego project. www.npr.org/2024/10/10/n... #epa #spaceX

Make no mistake, the repeated banging on news media trying to get engagement from AOC’s pause is deliberate. This repetition is frequently used to erode support of women in positions of power. As seen in Doctor WHO to intentionally disempower: youtu.be/GidbEhL0teE?...

After having to endure the embarrassment occurring every single time this administration speaks, I really don’t give a shit that AOC has one single less than polished clip. Purity testing from a group of people that lick the boots of a man who sounds mentally unwell isn’t worth the screen time.

US government rn

More like “forced” into, when AI is added to our existing software, email, spell check, web browsers and operating systems. It is extremely difficult to disable. It’s also who we are forced to talk to when reaching out to customer service or, increasingly, even our own local government.

Wolves reduce livestock losses. You read that right Wolves reduce livestock losses. By controlling coyote numbers (coyotes are responsible for 60% of all livestock losses) Wolves (responsible for 1/4 of 1%) actually help farmers and ranchers.

Restored Peatlands Could Become Carbon Sinks Within Decades eos.org/articles/res...

The bill would give pharmacists authority to administer any vaccine licensed by the FDA and recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians, or the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. https://bit.ly/4cEfLse

You don't read this every day . . . but we may from now own. Seriously, Minnesotans have shown the rest of us how it's done. The regime chose the strongest people and the most inhospitable season to attack. Kakistocracy personified. @rawstory.com www.rawstory.com/ice-26752709...

“State Sen. Matt Harrington, R-Sanford, said a pause on development would endanger a new data center planned for his district. He added that the water district that could serve the facility was excited to take on a new customer…Harrington did not respond to multiple interview requests Friday.”

Elimination of emissions standards was one of the pretty clear policy stakes of the 2024 election and it received about 1% as much coverage as whether Tim Walz retiring from the national guard after 21 years was cowardly.

Avian enthusiasts around the world will identify and count birds from February 13 through February 16 as part of a massive citizen science project

What loons teach us.

Maine universities are leading the charge in updating to bird-safe windows on their campuses. Here is a great read about bird-safe glass efforts at @BowdoinCollege, where studies like these help bring awareness to bird strikes and what can be done to prevent them. tr.ee/YlMmfx

Reminder that multiple US states, farms, and major cities are likely about go to court over their inability to make a new agreement over water rights to the diminishing Colorado River. Climate change is still happening while this administration rips apart the mitigation infrastructure.

Whenever I see pseudoscientific conspiracy theories about ancient aliens or giant petrified trees or ice age satellites or whatever it drives me crazy because THE EARTH IS COOL ENOUGH JUST AS IT IS! WE DON’T NEED TO REACH FOR REASONS TO MAKE IT MORE INTERESTING! HAVE YOU SEEN A TULLY MONSTER??!!

We found that Jeff Bezos paid *zero* taxes in 2007 and 2011. In fact, he reported making so little in 2011 that he even claimed and received a $4,000 tax credit for his children. This is how he did it (published 2021):

your honor you have to understand what a pain in the ass it is to find evidence of a crime before every arrest

Maybe Liam is too wee yet for Spider-Verse, but I ❤️ Miles Morales and Nueva York is covered in snow too! Much thanks to @julioanta.bsky.social for the translation so that I could include both spideys. #Comics4Liam FREE THE CHILDREN!!! Shutter forever these evil detention centers; ABOLISH ICE.

A Black-capped Chickadee showcasing winter fashion by donning a snowflake accessory.

I never got around to reposting my Weird Duck Time comic this year! Also, unrelatedly, today is a good day to help out at standwithminnesota.com

Advice from Pat Izar: "First, trust your own perspective. Your experiences, your landscape, your languages: these are forms of knowledge. Science needs them. Second, seek community. [..] And finally, remember that building a more equitable science is a collective effort. We advance together." WORD!

Visited the Portland Maine Museum of Art and found out our cat has been moonlighting as an art model.

“There's a kind of magic in masks. Masks conceal one face, but they reveal another. The one that only comes out in darkness.” -Terry Pratchett

May the right fire burn within me.

Just little Portland critters.

Loafin’ 🍞

The Druid is here. 🐈‍⬛ 🍃

🤷🏻

Tomorrow is Cat-erday!

Devastating for scientists and their research, and everyone who benefits from that research. I’m not sure if everyone outside academia is aware that a delay or “pause” in grant funding often means the researchers themselves are lost from the field, along with their expertise.

re: neil gaiman vulture article. text: "be on the lookout for smear campaigns against the sources and/or the journalist, Lila Shapiro, in the coming weeks and months." p1 remember how depp's team smeared amber heard. remember how the same team smeared blake lively. be extremely skeptical.

A seed fern fossil (Alethopteris?) from the Upper Carboniferous in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. #FossilFriday #Fossils 🧪 ⚒️

“Separate the art from the artist” feels like a weak justification to avoid seriously thinking about the context your favorite art exists in. Literary scholars also study the author’s life and time period because it informs the novels they wrote. Neil’s work does not exist in a vacuum. #neilgaimen

Flashback to Lilith “helping” with the roller derby MVP awards. 🛼🏆🐈‍⬛

Be cautious, it is an upsetting and explicit read.

New skates! Holding on tight through the break in period. 🍌

The always insightful @hcrichardson.bsky.social has a particularly good post today. open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

A cat and her cat tree. A love story.