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Floreana Island tortoises returned to the wild

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I'm baaaack!   For a while, they were believed to be extinct. But they weren't quite all gone. A SciAm article describes the return to the Galápagos Floreana island of Floreana tortoises bred in captivity. About 180 years ago the Floreana Island was believed to have lost its unique tortoise, the Floreana giant tortoise ( Chelonoidis niger niger ). It is a subspecies of the Galápagos giant tortoise. After the arrival of sailors, pirates and a slew of invasive species, the tortoise was believed to have been wiped out.  Actually, in 2000 scientists found a population of tortoises 70 miles away on Isabela Island. Those critters looked a lot like the Floreana giant tortoise with their distinctive saddle-shaped shells. Genetic testing found that these were hybrid tortoises descended from Floreana giant tortoises. They apparently somehow wound up by accident on Isabela island after being put onboard ships for food. Anyway, 158 of these tortoises with Floreana ancestry are back ...
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Clocks And Other Timepieces

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  Bunny has always liked clocks and timepieces.  Grandparents had a nifty Seth Thomas that would loudly tick, and chime every 15 minutes.  Mrs. Bunny doesn’t like cuckoo clocks, so none now.  But, except for the toilet, a clock can be seen in every room.   Watches are analog.  Pocket watch from the 1800s.  Not obsessed with time, but like timepieces.     And you? J. P. Bunny
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Complaint Wednesday

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 Maybe I should make a once a week recurring thread so we can all complain about what is irking us. The SOTU speech really irked me. The dumb reactions of the Dems irked me. We had another winter storm, and though SNOWFLAKES I generally like, fuck the cold already. I am irked by the demise of Disqus: AI says: Yes, there are strong indications that Disqus is losing participation, popularity, and trust as a primary commenting platform, although it remains a major, widely-used service. The decline is driven by user and publisher frustrations regarding, among other things, ad-heavy interfaces, privacy concerns, and restrictive, sometimes faulty, moderation.   Here is a breakdown of why participation in the Disqus ecosystem is waning: User and Publisher Frustration:  Critics frequently cite that the platform has become too ad-heavy, and for publishers, removing these ads often requires a costly subscription, making it less attractive to smaller creators. Declining Performance/...
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Inventions And Innovations We Can Do Without.

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  Things that sound great, but really aren’t.   For Bunny, it is flying cars.  We have enough trouble with morons on the road, now, imagine them in three dimensions.  Nowhere would be safe. What inventions and innovations would you rather not go anywhere? J. P. Bunny
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When a hockey game can NOT just be a hockey game

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  Trudeau trolls Trump after Canada bests USA at hockey "You can't take our country — and you can't take our game," Trudeau wrote on X. https://abcnews.com/Politics/trudeau-trolls-trump-after-canada-bests-usa-hockey/story?id=119039286 So, of course, the Trump White House had to do one better: This is what the world has devolved into. Yeesh 😒
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Embracing Change

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  Life isn’t static.  Things change all the time.  How do you deal with it?  Do you jump in and embrace what the newness has to offer?  Act with caution?  Need to be dragged kicking and screaming? J. P. Bunny
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Is It Really A World Record?

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  This is about the Olympic records that depend on speed.  Cheers, tears, and celebrations when someone beats the world record by a few hundredths of a second.  This is so minuscule as to be nonexistent.  We have all tried to count to ten within one second.  A speedy slur, but doable.   Now, count to one hundred in one second.   Nope.  Without specialized machines and ultra fast timepieces, no one would know. Technically, the person was faster, but does it really count?  If you wash and wax your car before heading out on the highway, you will get better gas mileage.  But, it is so infinitesimal, it would take decades to notice.  Same with these Olympic records.   Are these really records breakers?  Should people take pride in winning something that needs high tech to show it?    Should tenths of a second be the limit for these records?  Are these new world records really worthy of the title? J. P. Bunny
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