Startling Advances in Twig Technology

sensory friendly haircuts (is it bothering you anywhere? shave it off)

heavy boots for weight stimming

heavy leather jackets for pressure stimming

Source

Also: Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko

2. Reagan (super asshole)

I have many types of patients, real and fantastical, but interestingly enough, not many birds, and most are Big Birds, so Bird (aka the Bird) was a rarity.  His person originally wrote:

My Bird is in much need of medical attention. He has been with me now for 23 years… Bird has traveled with me across the USA and overseas. I have sewn up a few of his boo boos, but now he needs more than I can do.

His diagnosis photos showed dirt and ankle wounds, but particularly beak wear:

He came to the hospital for a spa and wound repair early this year (yes, it takes me some time to get stories up here!)

Here’s his bubble bath, he was already getting greener, which in his case was a good thing!

His person wrote:

Wow!  He looks like he’s enjoying it!

Once dry, we had to choose a new fabric for the green part of his beak (it was really too worn to sew):

Then the same fabric was used for his heart with a bit of his original stuffing (he had to get restuffed before his worn beak part could be recovered):

Finally, his beak was repaired (as were all his other wounds):

His chubbiness was tested:

Approved!  His spine was closed and he was ready to fly home (it was a bit far, so he took a plane rather than flying himself):

His person wrote:

Bill Nye now:

What we are seeing is the idea of “science” and “knowledge” been put as political statements cause the rock bed of conservatives depends on people being ignorant and in order to achieve that they have to make it seem like all science is by nature “political”

Kory Stamper in The Science of Us talking about hyperbolic “literally”. Excerpt: 

The emphatic “literally” is not a millennial invention; it goes back to the 1700s at least, though Smith gets it right that it’s English. John Dryden, a man who is best known as the founder of literary criticism and the prohibition against the terminal preposition, was an early user of the emphatic “literally.” Charlotte Brontë, Jane Austen, Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, William Thackeray, Vladimir Nabokov, and David Foster Wallace all used the emphatic “literally” in their works. Even Lindley Murray, 19th-century grammarian, uses the hyperbolic “literally” in his own grammar — and he was such a peever that he thought children, along with animals, shouldn’t be referred to with the pronoun “who,” as “who” conveys personhood, and only creatures with the ability to be rational are actually people.

Photo source

The alternatives, like sugar, relies on monocrops in third world countries, with transient labour. Growing up, there was a sugarcane field by my house, and I’m sure the Haitian men who worked backbreaking hours hacking a machete through knife-bladed leaves in 40 degree heat for a couple dollars a day would have traded a testicle to be a Canadian honeybee. Stevia’s going the same way, iirc.

Additionally, apiarists are actually huge proponents and activists for sustainable bee-keeping, and it’s estimated that the domesticated hive may be the last great hope for declining populations, because we can optimize their chances for survival.

Provide a home for the bees

Keep that home warm in the winter

Keep the bees well fed, negating the need for honey, which the bees would make anyways

Still do not take all the honey, just in case

Protect the bees from predators

Monitor the hives for any signs of the parasites, diseases, etc. that cause colony collapse disorder

Their bees-

Provide a valuable and reliable source of pollination for plants in the area, both wild and crops

Help keep the local ecosystem healthy

Honey-

Is one of the healthiest things you can eat

Is able to keep for a EXTREMELY long time (Millennia even), making it more valuable than many perishable foods without being full of preservatives

Can be used to soothe sore throats, nauseau, etc.

Has been eaten by humans since at least Ancient Egypt (We’ve found STILL EDIBLE honey in tombs)

Is a great tool in cooking, adding sweetness without raising the sugar content much

Is a staple food in many people’s diets

I grew up in a town that thrived on the slave trade of South Sea Islanders as cane farm workers and as part of Australia’s racist policies at the turn of the century, deported a lot of the men they stole. And in 2019, there is either no or very little recognition of what White Australia did to the largest non indigenous black community.

Then 80 years ago, cane toads were introduced to try and get rid of the beetle pests feeding on the cane, thus making an epidemic of poisonous toads that can live for 15 years and reproduce like nobodies business. (And they couldn’t jump to get those beetles). Those toads are still causing havoc across our country, killing countless native wildlife and pets as they have no natural predators that can handle their poison.

My hometown’s local sugar industry collapsed in the last 10-15 years, so much so that they only just found a german buyer for the local sugar company, who intended to export to Europe. Meanwhile, the federal government gave half a billion dollars for the Great Barrier Reef ‘foundation’ who in turn has granted money to a cane grower lobbyist group who doesn’t believe water pollution from cane farms is damaging the reefs.