Mike Kaspari

“the thinker of tender thoughts” by shel silverstein [an illustration depicting a boy growing into a man. as he grows, his hair grows out as flowers. people laugh at him for it and he becomes sad. he starts trimming off the flowers, but as he reaches the last one he stops. he is then depicted with a smile and a flower in his buttonhole on his jacket.]

“the thinker of tender thoughts”
by shel silverstein

So according to the WSJ a US Senator conspired with another country to manipulate the US into starting a war, am I getting this right

Huuge Woody Allen fan.

The Day Israel Lost America The Iran war sure looks like a breaking point.

nymag.com/intelligence...

Alanis Morrissette?

Like clockwork.

Please don’t give him any ideas.

Are you getting a lot of inquiries about the noun "Nuremberg"? Can I take this opportunity to nominate it for Word of the Year 2027?

If only someone could have predicted this...

Voting in Virginia is *much* more fun than voting in Oklahoma.

My bet is on “Nuremberg” as Merriam Webster’s word of the year for 2027

Top DOD Official in Charge of the ‘Golden Dome for America’ Project Has Financial Ties to Contractors This article first appeared at ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of...

The DoD is spending billions to build a shield to destroy missiles launched against the U.S. At least four of the companies awarded contracts so far are owned by a private equity firm founded by billionaire turned Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg.

Salt water aquaria.

Fish crow is our offishal yard bird.

"Deadwood" and the community of spirits On rewatching David Milch's masterpiece in the age of the oligarch

David Milch’s Deadwood gave us three years of transcendent television. Periodic rewatching remains a joy.

This lovely essay gives some reasons why, even partially rehabilitating—or at least explaining the character of—Gerald McCraney’s Hearst.

www.thenecessaryfictions.com/p/deadwood-a...

You can almost smell the avian testosterone from our porch here in C’Ville this morning.

Joe Mason wears one purple sock and one yellow sock…on the same foot.

🤣🤣🤣

Thank you, Senator. That's the mindset and plan of action we need.

Oh what might have been!
Our Department solicited images for a new coffee mug every few years.
You know the typical outcome: a design that looks like a car windshield after driving through a zoo:
random critters BUT everyone represented.

Debby and I submitted this image.
Woulda been glorious.

One of those adjustable letter boards where someone has spelled out, "IT HAS BEEN 0 DAYS SINCE SOMEONE POOPED IN THE LOBBY"

Sign in the vet's office yesterday

Lotsa great breakup songs out there, but Tommy Duncan wrote and performed one for Bob Wills’
Western Swing band. Each of the four verses are a stage of grief and adaptation. Brilliant.

" share.google/2kvTsVGGIcUd...

I've been trying to get the Treasury's hidden Epstein files turned over since 2023. Last night I tried again to get them disclosed and Republicans blocked my bill to do so.

Well heck, just a glimpse at that graphic tells you that. 😉
Edward Tufte must be spinning. Wonder how many figures this (important) project would generate in a normal journal.

One of the glories of ant ecology is that there are so many of them—and such diversity!—but one of the challenges is seeing the world through their eyes.
Two fungus ants—leafcutter Atta and caterpillar poop rustler Cyphomyrmex—cross paths on the forest floor.
Pen and ink
~Debby Cotter Kaspari, 2004

Semipumbeous hawk, Isla Barro Colorado, Panama
Pencil sketch from life
~2005 Debby Cotter Kaspari

Soon afterwards, Gizmo became an indoor cat.

As much as I love to cook
Sometimes ya gotta go all grad school…

Ceiba tree study, Isla Barro Colorado. Pencil on paper.
2007 by Debby Cotter Kaspari.

Important work in climate change biology highlighting extreme rainfall as cause of bird mortality—an aspect of abiotic change hard to measure; Dr's Alice and Katy show the way.

There are a lot of glib explanations for avian declines floating around but these folks are sciencing the heck out of it.