Late every spring, tropical trees start to pop up all over the St. Louis
area. Most palms don't and won't grow in Missouri or Illinois.
"Weather is the issue," explains David Knoll with Walter
Knoll Florist. To combat the region's harsh winters, Knoll built a heated
warehouse longer than a football field and about 30ft tall. "We keep it nice
and toasty in here," smiles Knoll, "it's never under fifty degrees in
here."
Thousands of palm trees and tropical
plants are stored in the warehouse for winter, once the threat of frost is
over, it's their time to shine. Multiple crews with tools ranging from
shovels to skid steers, carefully move the trees out of the warehouse and to
their designated homes.
A substitute teacher in Frederick County, MD discovered a student reading a book about incest rape that is available in the school’s media center.
The book, called “Push,” includes details of a father raping his daughter. The teacher brought the book to a recent school board meeting and read it for board members.
“I was shocked to hear the committee approved this book. What is the FCPS position on porn in our schools? Is FCPS saying yes to porn in our schools?” the teacher asked.
“Remove this book ‘Push’ or it will set a precedent for other pornographic books to be allowed into our schools,” she demanded.
⚠️CAUTION: VERY GRAPHIC⚠️
A substitute teacher in Frederick County, MD discovered a student reading a book about incest rape that is available in the school's media center.
The book, called "Push," includes details of a father raping his daughter. The teacher brought the book… pic.twitter.com/gHmsAJKUVn
At Hat Hair, White House Introduces 'White House Wire'. Beege Welborn adds, "Literally, it looks like the old Drudge Report, just snappier and really clean. And basically functions the exact same. It's an administration news aggregator of pieces I'm figuring they feel are telling their story fairly. It looks to me as if they've got links up from across the spectrum of the media." Damn it, just thing I need, a source for more links.
From Da Fetched, Trump DOJ Sues Blue States Over Ridiculous Climate Laws that ‘Violate the Constitution.’ "The DOJ filed complaints Tuesday against New York and Vermont over newly passed ‘climate superfund’ laws, which would impose strict liability on fossil fuel companies for alleged contributions to climate change." Misty Severi reports Judge rules Trump order pulling security clearances from law firm unconstitutional. "The president signed an executive order in March that pulled the security clearances of some of the firm's staff, claiming the law firm engaged in “dishonest and dangerous activity," and essentially barred its attorneys from federal buildings." Harmeet K. Dhillon@HarmeetKDhillon, "Second Amendment issues are civil rights issues." Quote Firearms Policy Coalition @gunpolicy, "The United States has filed an amicus brief in support of the cert petition in Wolford v. Lopez, in which it argues that Hawaii's private property default carry ban violates the Second Amendment: https://supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/24/2."
If you like to fish for fun, here is a great excuse to cast a line. In a
bounty fishing program happening this month in Baltimore waters, you get paid
for every invasive-species fish you harvest.
What’s the catch?
There isn’t one.
Reel Rewards is a win-win for
the angler—who gets $30 richer with each fish they catch—B overall river
health, and Bay environmentalists, who will gain valuable research data from
the fish that are turned in. It’s the second year for this program of the
Environmental Justice Journalism Initiative (EJJI), aimed at protecting the
Patapsco River from nonnative species. The program is part of the
Reimagine Middle Branch Project
with the South Baltimore Gateway Partnership, who provide funding for the
bounty payments.
The bounty program started because the Middle Branch Harbor and the wider
Baltimore area are facing a gap in research on invasive fish species, EJJI
tells us. These areas are home to large immigrant, Black, and veteran
populations, some of whom fish for their food in these waterways. With a long
history of air, land, and water pollution in the area, consuming these fish
may pose health risks for various demographics. It’s important for researchers
to learn what is being caught and eaten.
All fish must be caught
within the Baltimore Harbor area of the Patapsco (newly expanded since last
year’s inaugural event), and the head or body must be turned in (fresh or
frozen) at one of the event’s designated drop-off times. When you turn in your
fish, you get $30. You can turn in up to 15 fish per week. There is currently
no cap on the number of fish overall that anglers can turn in. Last year, the
tournament paid out nearly $9,000 in bounties over three months.
The program is currently limited to the Baltimore Harbor area of the
Petapsco River, and anglers can turn in up to 15 fish per week. But there is
no cap on the overall number of fish, and some local fishermen are making
hay while they can. Last year, 26-year-old Brian Slacum made around $4,000
turning in 134 snakeheads. He had plenty of fish to eat, too.
“Snakeheads
are
excellent eating,” he tells Outdoor Life. “I like them better than striped bass, and
Baltimore Harbor is jammed with them. They are literally everywhere in
shallow water these days, spawning I think.”
A great spring, or even proto-summer day. Temps in the 70s, just a bit of humidity sneaking in.
The tide was about half way down when we started walking, and there was a good amount of gravel and shell hash to look through, and very little wave action to make it difficult.
Georgia scored her third cow shark tooth for the week, although this one might be considered a calf shark. She also found a nice upper Snaggletooth that beat the current tooth occupying the kitchen window sill.
This little snaggletooth I found has the most unusual colors I've ever seen. The photo doesn't do it justice, but the center of the bladem on both sides was brick red.
The I stumbled onto this Snaggletooth that beat Georgia's by 1/16 of an inch, although it's much more robust. 35 teeth in all.
I ran into a big Northern Watersnake sunning itself on the beach. It didn't stay around for a photo op, but this Common Snapping Turtle did. It wasn't all that happy about me, but I put him back in the bay.
Sean Davis@seanmdav "With very few exceptions, Republicans in Congress don’t seem interested in doing anything other than being in Congress. As our country teeters on collapse, the most powerful branch in our government is run by do-nothings who are terrified of using their power to save the country, while their opponents are champing at the bit to get power back so they can finish us off once and for all." Quote Cernovich@Cernovich, "The Republican Congress isn't interested in enacting Trump's agenda. No judges impeached. No funding cut for DC courts. No nothing."
Hat Hair's John Sexton reports Robby Starbuck Sues Meta Over False Claims Its AI Made About Him "What he found, after querying Meta's AI himself, was a whole list of false claims about him. . . Large language models like Meta's AI can hallucinate false answers about a topic, but he wondered if these specific claims may have absorbed from some "source" when Meta's AI was scraping the internet for training material. However, Starbuck's research team couldn't find anyone making these specific claims about him anywhere else online. Also, other AI companies did not make the same errors."
Toxic femininity was rejected at the ballot box. Even, or perhaps especially the MAHA and MAGA moms have had enough of this fake crying act by wicked deceivers who destroy lives. https://t.co/BSonjzMvFy
Duane Patterson at Hat Hair, Oklahoma, Where The Court Comes Sweepin' Down The Plains "The Supreme Court held oral arguments this morning in a case that all people concerned with religious liberty and school choice care very deeply about. It's called Oklahoma Charter School Board V. Drummond, and could be the final nail in the coffin of public officials desperate to keep religious discrimination alive and well."
Vogue Williams
showcased her bronzed physique and toned legs, as she stripped to her
underwear for a sizzling new photoshoot for her fake tan brand.
The TV presenter, 39, launched Bare
By Vogue back in 2019, and has now revealed all her top tanning tips to
fans.
In an accompanying photos, the mother-of-three posed up a
storm at home, first in a white bra and matching underwear that displayed
her long legs and flat midriff.
Back in college, I discovered potassium permanganate makes a pretty good artificial tanning agent and it's germacidal. Of course, it took a lab accident to figure that out.
