Derivan Liquid Pencil. Fun to use and experiment with too.
Affinity
Art, Fun, & Nonsense.
Derivan Liquid Pencil. Fun to use and experiment with too.
because I’m off to town today. Click for full size.
© C. Ford
Aquilegia. Click for full size.
© C. Ford
Columbines have been important in the study of evolution. It was found that Sierra Columbine (A. pubescens) and Crimson Columbine (A. formosa) each have adapted specifically to a pollinator. Bees and hummingbirds are the visitors to A. formosa, while hawkmoths would only visit A. pubescens when given a choice. Such a “pollination syndrome”, being due to flower color and orientation controlled by their genetics, ensures reproductive isolation and can be a cause of speciation.
Aquilegia petals show an enormous range of petal spur length diversity ranging from a centimeter to the 15 cm spurs of Aquilegia longissima. Selection from pollinator shifts is suggested to have driven these changes in nectar spur length. Interestingly, it was shown that this amazing spur length diversity is achieved solely through changing cell shape, not cell number or cell size. This suggests that a simple microscopic change can result in a dramatic evolutionarily relevant morphological change. Source.
Dame Vivienne Westood DBE RDI has just blown out her 75 candles, but she’s already back at work with the announcement of a new book. The “godmother of punk” is compiling her best journal entries in Get a Life: The Diaries of Vivienne Westwood.
Dame Viv is pictured on the cover wearing a portrait of transgender WikiLeaks whistleblower Chelsea Manning, currently imprisoned for sharing classified information on the Iraq war.
“My diaries are about the things I care about,” Westwood said. “Not just fashion but art and writing, human rights, climate change, freedom. I call the diaries Get a Life as that’s how I feel: You’ve got to get involved, speak out and take action.”
Get a Life will be released on October 6, 2016. This will definitely be on my stack of fall books, and I’m looking forward to it. The 75 candles link is NSFW.
DC’s Suicide Squad. I hope it’s got more than just glitz, but this looks like it might be fun to watch.
Bernie Sanders’s camp says he supports marijuana operations as an industry in Indian country. “But does Hillary Clinton?” asks Simon Moya-Smith.
I was sitting at the center of my unstable dining room table recently, nibbling on a pot brownie and watching the ugliness of this presidential campaign unfold on mainstream news, when I wondered: Where do Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton stand on the subject of medicinal or recreational marijuana operations on reservations?
So, I reached out to the Clinton camp for comment, and thus far they haven’t responded. They’re currently dealing with the backlash to Bill’s comment about how “the Black Lives Matter movement protects criminals,” said a fiscally conservative Clinton supporter I met here in Denver last night. Hillary’s Native American Advisor, Charlie Galbraith, told me last week by phone that it would go to one of Hillary’s senior staff campaign wizards to comment on the budding weed business in Indian country. Galbraith said he’d try to get me a response as soon as possible, but in journalism time that was years ago.
But Bernie’s folks responded within a matter of hours:
“Bernie supports the right for states to opt for legalization of marijuana, and as a strong supporter of tribal sovereignty, that same stance would apply to tribal nations as well,” Nicole Willis [Confederated Tribes of Umatilla], Sanders’s National Tribal Outreach Director, wrote in message.
“Senator Sanders fully supports tribal sovereignty and economic development initiatives in Native America,” Tara Houska [Couchiching First Nation], Native American Advisor to Sanders, and a fellow rabble rouser in her own right, said in a statement. “Marijuana decriminalization has significantly and positively impacted several state economies; sovereign tribal nations with strong, efficient regulatory and enforcement systems deserve this same opportunity.”
And still no call from the Clinton folks.
Nashville’s first female mayor is speaking out against pending legislation that would require transgender students statewide to use the bathroom and locker room that does not match their gender identity.
In addition to a bill awaiting the governor’s signature that would allow mental health professionals to turn away LGBT clients, state lawmakers on Wednesday resurrected a transphobic “bathroom bill” that had been effectively killed by being sent to a summer session just weeks earlier. […]
Barry, a Democrat elected last September, addressed the spate of anti-LGBT bills in a statement Thursday.
“This legislation doesn’t reflect Nashville’s values and doesn’t do anything to improve the quality of life for citizens of our city or state,” Barry said. “If some lawmakers don’t see the value in recognizing people’s dignity and privacy, I hope they can at least see the negative economic impact and potential loss of revenue to Nashville and the State of Tennessee.”
“We’ve seen the negative effects that similar laws in North Carolina have had on their economy, and we’ve already received indications that conventions might pull out of Nashville or eliminate our city from consideration should HB2414/SB2387 become law — resulting in a potential loss of over $10 million in state and local tax revenue and nearly $58 million in direct visitor spending removed from our economy.
“That is the loss of economic activity in just one sector of our city’s economy. Our future ability to attract film and television production will also be impacted, and we could expect to see other industry sectors impacted, as well. That’s quite a price to pay for legislation that would seem to hurt people — including some of our youngest and our most vulnerable — without actually benefitting anyone in the process. Instead of creating complex and confusing regulations for restrooms, or becoming the only state in the nation to allow discrimination by counseling professionals, the state should work with local governments to continue our economic growth, address traffic problems, and give our schools the resources and support they need to be successful.”
Tennessee’s Hate Bill has to do with supposedly protecting counselors from having to deal with *gasp* LGBT clients.
Last week the Tennessee legislature passed House Bill 1840/Senate Bill 1556. The bill, which has come to be known as Hate Bill 1840, will head to the governor’s desk any day now. As introduced, HB 1840 declared that no counselors “shall be required to counsel or serve a client as to goals, outcomes, or behaviors that conflict with a sincerely held religious belief.” As amended, the bill that will go to the governor declares no counselor is required to serve a client who conflicts with a “sincerely held belief.”
Thanks to Giliell for these beautiful photos! Click for full size.
On the way home, taken from the moving car at 100km/h. Not too bad…On the way home, taken from the moving car at 100km/h. Not too bad… © Giliell
And water, two ways. I love photographing water and photos of water, and here, Giliell has water soft and dreamy, and clear and crispy:
© Giliell
© Giliell
Gorgeous flowers, courtesy of Giliell. The first one looks like what I know as Iceplant (Delosperma cooperi), but I’m not sure. Click for full size.
Photo © Giliell.
Photo © Giliell.
Click for full size.
Photo © C. Ford. All rights reserved.
Since North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed a bill that regulates with who uses what bathrooms, LGBT activists are calling his office to check where they should go when they have to relieve themselves.
In the wake of North Carolina’s new anti-LGBT law, which requires transgender people to use public bathrooms that do not match their gender identity, LGBT activists have launched a social media campaign highlighting the absurd, unenforceable nature of the law. […]
Raw Story reports the latest campaign began in earnest on Monday, when activist Sam Moore encouraged frustrated citizens in and visitors to North Carolina to contact the governor every time they used a public bathroom “to confirm your adherence or disregard of #HB2.” On Facebook, Moore shared a graphic of a toilet in a private stall, with text indicating the phone number for the governor’s office, accompanied by the hashtags #PeeingForPat and #HB2.
Rice Broocks, author of God’s Not Dead.
The God’s Not Dead author, Rice Broocks:
MRT: Could you describe your relationship with science?
Broocks: I actually travel with a physicist who speaks with me at universities, and he likes the theology [Broocks has a master’s degree in theology] more and I like science more. For 20 years I’ve been seeking the evidence because I want to know. If people from science say that science points away from God, you have to explain that. Everybody has a philosophy and a worldview. Everyone has a different interpretation and you shouldn’t be afraid of the explanation of those same facts. I know there are a lot of people that are sincere and might be afraid of science, but the common grounds we all have are the facts of it.
My, my. I read that twice, just to make sure, but there isn’t one damn thing in that paragraph of nothing about his personal relationship with science. I think it might be safe to assume that in Mr. Broock’s world, science means anything I want it to mean. And he travels with a physicist. He makes it sound like the physicist is his pet. I find that very odd, to say the least.
MRT: Your research on both fronts must be quite extensive.
Broocks: I just read all the time. For 30 years my target audience has been university students, so you had to stay caught up. When I go and speak, I encounter “gotcha” questions so you have to stay caught up. I wouldn’t say the first book [“God’s Not Dead”] is scientific, but I want to make the science I use understandable. I’m constantly speaking in a way that is understandable, I’m sort of a middle man for the people who are really, really smart and the people who just don’t know. My quest is always to try and talk to the 15-35-year old who thinks that these ideas have been disproven, and let them know that we believe evidence points toward God, not away from.
What do you know, I read all the time too! It’s not research. It’s reading. Those aren’t the same thing. I’m a bit…gobsmacked over the smug happiness in wallowing in ignorance that is on display. (I know, I shouldn’t be, but I am.)
Oh, and those of you in Italy and Iceland? Beware:
Broocks: I’m going around and doing these events in different countries. I”m going to Italy soon, and I’ll be doing an outreach program in Iceland.
Iris (Iris sibirica). Sweet, sexy Iris. Click for full size.
Images © C. Ford