And I just had to look this up to confirm. Neat! They have the look, but I never made the connection. TIL!
The reason I ever looked these birds up in the first place was, funny enough, because of the reason mentioned in the Wikipedia article: "The loud, distinctive call of the laughing kookaburra is widely used as a stock sound effect in situations that involve an Australian bush setting or tropical jungle, especially in older movies."
I was wondering if you had done more. Two minutes?! Wow.
I get pretty lucky with dragonflies compared to most other critters. They are so cool. 💜
Gotta be honest, I'm normally sleepy at that time as well. Late is late.
Yes! I just confirmed that notes and notebooks move to the new trashcan! So grateful! 💜
I had to rollback my database just last week because my son managed to accidentally delete a whole notebook on his phone and was pretty upset. I resolved that, but was once again so frustrated with the lack of trash. Now this will be a thing of the past! 🎉🥳
Also noticed undo and redo buttons for the first time. That was killing me just as much!
Two birds with one stone it seems!, (either that or I'm blind 😁)
Just looked up the bird. I love it! Definitely unique.
These jays will never stop being one of the most beautiful birds I've yet to see. Some day we will meet. 😁
I love the eye markings. 💜
Ha! I didn't realize this was a thing! I just assumed I was the worst birder in existence. I'm so glad to feel a little less alone. 🤣
I'm surprised I watched the whole video. Haha. Mildly interesting. Maybe slightly more than mild. 😁
Without the email prompt: https://archive.is/5yzNx
Soon after President Biden took office, his administration began imposing scientific integrity policies across the federal government, setting rules that protect research from political interference or manipulation. Many such policies are in place — though research advocates say they aren’t durable because they aren’t enshrined in federal law, and could be undone with new executive actions.
At the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, where a 2020 investigation found that agency leaders violated its scientific integrity policy after Trump showed a doctored hurricane forecast map, stricter standards took effect in March. A similar policy will soon be extended to the Commerce Department, including to the political appointees whose violations were detailed in the 2020 probe.
At the EPA, the new scientific integrity provision is part of a four-year contract with the agency. The provision ensures that workers’ complaints will be assessed by an independent investigator, rather than a political appointee.
Powell said the Trump administration especially targeted climate researchers at the agency. Trump has called global warming a “hoax,” and during his first year in office, his political appointees barred three EPA scientists from speaking about climate change at a conference in Rhode Island.
...
The Interior Department — which manages vast swaths of public land and federal waters and oversees everything from offshore oil drilling to endangered species protections — could come under intense scrutiny in a second Trump administration.
In the interview with “Fox & Friends,” Trump was asked about government programs that he would slash in a second term. “We’re going to do, like, Department of Interior,” he said in response.
In April, the Office of Personnel Management finalized a rule that will allow federal employees to keep their existing job protections and right to due process, including the right to appeal a reassignment or firing. The rule overturns a Trump directive, known as Schedule F, that allowed his administration to force out thousands of career employees by changing their status to at-will workers who could be fired without due process.
...
NOAA leaders and observers said the agency is better equipped to withstand the sort of pressure scientists faced when Hurricane Dorian was approaching the U.S. coast in 2019, and Trump used a marker to extend the hurricane forecast cone to include Alabama.
These updates are important because they set “that moral and intellectual compass to remind people where the curbs are in the road,” said Craig McLean, a 40-year veteran of NOAA who served as the agency’s acting chief scientist during the Trump administration.
With such a law in place, “the next president can’t say, ‘No, I don’t care,’” when violations of scientific integrity arise, said Andrew Rosenberg, a former NOAA official and a senior adviser at the Center for Ocean Leadership at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research.
I agree that this article is short on information. It's hard to get a read on what happened. I mean, it's not uncommon to order psych evals in various circumstances. I don't know what to think based simply on this article. With one exception--a $25 gift certificate?! WTF!?
It would be a huge undertaking, but a Fitness and Health tracker / aggregator that could replace Google Fit and the likes.
I really can't bear how Google, Apple, Samsung, and all these big companies are the primary holders of our most intimate information. I've put some measures in place to limit who gets what, but it would be a huge boon to be the sole maintainer of my own info.
The problem is that the various apps and devices which report data won't immediately support syncing with a FOSS upstart...
The app I use for grabbing my weight and BMI can only sync with a few other apps. The app I use for calorie and diet tracking can likewise only sync with a few apps. They happen to have Google fit in common, so I use that as an intermediary to transfer weight to the calorie/diet app. All my steps, exercise, and sleep stay in Zepp, separate from them all.
It sure would be nice to have one service/application to rule them all and a secure method of storing one's own personal information without having to give it to the tech companies. Sure, use one of the many cloud services but encrypt all the data so that they can't steal it. Yadda yadda.
One can dream.
I was wondering the same.
And... if these ferns are superior to us in some way. 🤣
I was really hoping this article would say more about what this means, but this is all we get...
Intriguingly, bigger isn’t always better when it comes to genomes, the team says. Large-genomed plants tend to have slower growth, require more nutrients and perform photosynthesis less efficiently. As such, it’s thought that T. oblanceolata is bumping up against the upper limits for genome size.
What a train wreck everything's become.
And their efforts won't likely be all that beneficial to people for some time, if at all... 🫤
TIL that the ruby-throated hummingbird flies non-stop across the Gulf of Mexico as part of its spring migration and has a VO2 max that is about 10 times higher than elite human athletes.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/21718242
> - > - Author: /u/tW188y > - Link Shared on Reddit > - Original Reddit Comments >
From the article: >This feat is impressive, as an 800 km (500 mi), non-stop flight over water would seemingly require a caloric energy that far exceeds an adult hummingbird's body weight of 3 g (0.11 oz). However, researchers discovered the tiny birds can double their fat mass in preparation for their Gulf crossing, then expend the entire calorie reserve from fat during the 20-hour non-stop crossing when food and water are unavailable.
This is nuts!
Gemini App w/o Google App and forced Android login integration?
Is there any way to install and use the Gemini App without the Google App and forced association of the account with my Android phone?
I have a specific Google account just for Gemini, but I neither use the Google app nor desire for my phone to maintain this alt google account as one of the phone associates accounts. I think many folks would prefer login stay within the app itself.
The Boy Scouts of America is changing its name for the first time in its 114-year history. The Texas-based organization is announcing at its annual meeting in Florida on Tuesday that it will become Scouting America.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/20749204
Another positive step in the right direction for an organization rife with brokenness. There's a lot I don't like about the organization, but this is something a love--a scouting organization open to young women and the lgbtq community. The next step is being inclusive of nonreligious agnostic and atheist youth and leaders. As well as ending the cultural appropriation of Native American peoples.
May this organization continue to build up youth, never allow further violence against youth, and make amends for all the wrongs. There's a lot of good that comes out of organizations like this and I won't discount it even though it's riddled with a dark history.
The periodical cicadas that are about to infest two parts of the United States aren't just plentiful, they're downright weird.
😳
OnePlus 11 Lens Attachment?
Could anyone recommend a OnePlus 11 telephoto lens attachment? My searches are coming up dry so far.
A new study of Japanese tits provides the first evidence of non-primate animals using gestures to convey messages
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/13638497
> A new study of Japanese tits provides the first evidence of non-primate animals using gestures to convey messages > > When a mated pair of small birds called Japanese tits arrives at the nest, one of them might flutter its wings at the other. The second bird then typically enters the nest first. This motion might be a signal, meant to convey the message “after you” to the other bird, scientists reported Monday in the journal Current Biology. > > The research provides the first evidence of animals besides primates using gestures to communicate meaning. The result “shows that Japanese tits not only use wing fluttering as a symbolic gesture, but also in a complex social context involving a sender, receiver and a specific goal, much like how humans communicate,” Toshitaka Suzuki, a co-author of the new study and a biologist at the University of Tokyo, tells Science News’ Darren Incorvaia.
A Bird's Field Guide...
My youngest shared a page from his funny poem book with me. I laughed out loud quite literally and thought I would share it with you all as well. 💜
OnePlus 11 Lens Attachment?
Can anyone recommend a OnePlus 11 telephoto lens attachment? My initial searches seem to be coming up dry.
Gamified Bird Identification App?
Does anyone know of a Duolingo-like birding application that gamifies bird identification?
(Particularly for Android and extra points for sound ID in addition to visual ID)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in action in the two years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion.
"Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in action in the two years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion.
"A U.S. intelligence report declassified in mid-December 2023 estimated that 315,000 Russian troops had been killed or wounded in Ukraine. If accurate, the figure would represent 87% of the roughly 360,000 troops Russia had before the war, according to the report."
———
I will never feel as though I fit in this world, a place where the so-called leaders of humanity callously throw away the lives of their own people--slaughtering the innocent along the way--in their own broken, vileness.
There is no goodness from such death.
We have the ability, today, to be so much more than we have ever been. We can realize the greatest of human potential. Yet we continue to choose death.
Had I only been born in a later age where I could spend my one life in an era that is extraordinarily glorious. Presuming of course that our species would survive itself to such a time.
Not seeing comments
Any idea why I am not seeing comments for any of the posts here?
When I click the "Last weeks thread" link and it opens in my web browser, I am then able to see the comments including my own...
🤔
How often do you attempt to use preternatural abilities on the world around you?
I am one with the Force and the Force is with me.
The White House says it is preparing additional “major sanctions” on Russia in response to opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s death in an Arctic penal colony.
Even more major than the current major sanctions...
A Texas judge has granted a pregnant woman permission to obtain an abortion in an unprecedented challenge to the state’s ban that took effect after Roe v.
The first trans-Atlantic flight by a commercial jet powered solely by so-called sustainable aviation fuel has flown from London to New York.
The first trans-Atlantic flight by a commercial jet powered solely by so-called sustainable aviation fuel has flown from London to New York.
Ornithological society to rename dozens of birds — and stop naming them after people
Birds in North America will no longer be named after people. The American Ornithological Society announced the move Wednesday.
Hospitals and health care systems are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence to help summarize doctors’ notes and analyze health records.
Footage from deep in the Pacific Ocean has given the first detailed look at three World War II aircraft carriers that sank in the pivotal Battle of Midway.
A white Texas gunman who killed 23 people in a racist attack on Hispanic shoppers at a Walmart in 2019 has agreed to pay more than $5 million to families of the victims.
Genuinely curious and ignorant about restitution from inmates who spend the read of their lives in prison.
How would he ever be able to pay 5M+ USD?