Michelle Telkes @Plasticstatic

A herring is a fish. When a herring is preserved by salting and smoking, it turns red and smells. It's so pungent that it's a great diversion to distract hunting dogs from their trail. Now, a ‘red herring’ refers to anything that diverts attention from the issue at hand.

Wise words

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump

14 years ago

I cannot believe the Republicans are extending the debt ceiling—I am a Republican & I am embarrassed!

2K 3K 12K 0 831

Who wants a snacky snack?

Carol brought the Cool Whip. Once again Thanksgiving is ruined.

Bugs Bunny: [does an impression of Peter Lorre] 5 y/o me: haahahahahaha. Hell yeah

Fran’s fancy imported butter looks and tastes like margarine.

12 Reasons Why Cities Need More Trees: 1. Temperature Control One large tree is equivalent to 10 air conditioning units, and the shade they provide can reduce street temperature by more than 30%. 2. Noise Reduction Trees can reduce loudness by up to 50%. In urban areas filled with the sound of cars, construction, sirens, aeroplanes, and music, trees are essentially the best way to block noise and keep cities — along with the homes and workplaces in them — quieter. 3. Air Purity Trees remove an astonishing amount of harmful pollutants and toxins from the air. In urban areas air quality is often disastrously bad — with severe consequences for our health. Trees make the air we breathe much cleaner. 4. Oxygen And, while absorbing all those pollutants, trees also put more oxygen back into the urban environment. Oxygen levels are significantly lower in cities compared to the countryside; trees help to solve that problem. 5. Water Management Trees do more than just shelter us and our buildings from rain — which is, in fact, extremely important. They also absorb huge quantities of water, reduce run-off, neutralise the severity of flooding, and make flooding more unlikely altogether. Not to forget that their roots absorb pollutants and prevent them from feeding back into a city's water supply. 6. Psychological Health Studies have proven what we instinctively know to be true: that human beings are significantly happier when surrounded by nature rather than sterile urban environments. Our emotions, behaviour, and thoughts are shaped by the places we spend time — and trees have a profoundly positive effect on our psychology. The consequential benefits of being happier and more peaceful — as individuals and as a society — are immense. 7. Physical Health Beyond all the other ways in which trees improve air quality and the urban environment, much to the benefit of our health, they also encourage people to go outside. Cycling, running, and walking are all more common in urban areas with plenty of trees. A knock-on effect of people spending more time outdoors is also social integration and stronger communities. 8. Privacy A simple point, but not inconsequential, is that trees provide privacy. 9. Economics The total economic benefit of urban trees is hard to calculate. There are costs, of course, including the repair of infrastructure damaged by roots and maintaining the trees themselves. But the total economic benefit — a consequence of everything else in this list and more — far outweighs the expenditure. Trees make cities wealthier. 10. Wildlife Trees are miniature cities all of their own, serving as a habitat for hundreds of different species, including birds and mammals and insects. 11. Light Pollution Trees don't only block the light shining down, therefore keeping us and our cities cooler — they also disrupt light shining up, from street lighting, cars, houses, and billboards. Skies are clearer in cities with more trees. 12. Aesthetics And, finally, trees are beautiful. They break up the potential monotony of urban environments — the sharp geometry, the greyscale roads and buildings, the endless rows of cars — with their trunks, boughs, canopies, and flowers. Just think: the gold and red of falling leaves in autumn, the white and pink blossom of spring, the vast green canopies of summer, and the branches lined with hoar-frost in winter. Every single tree is a myriad of intricacy and texture, of colour and scent, of dappled light on the pavement, mottled bark, knotted roots, of clustered leaves and delicate petals and stern boughs. Few streets would not be improved by the kaleidoscopic aesthetic delights of a tree, not to mention the many different species of tree, all over the world, whether willow, oak, lime, cherry, aspen, maple, birch, horse chestnut, dogwood, hornbeam, ash, sycamore... the list goes on. There are some drawbacks to urban trees, most of them context-specific, and they are not — of course — universally appropriate. But it seems fair to say that many cities would benefit from at least a few more trees here and there.

Such a class act. He will be missed. nytimes.com/2023/08/26/us/…

Oh l hope Paul Lynde is okay.

anyone incarcerated for more than two years is going to return to their google account deleted, and with it most connection to family, jobs, memories and everything else that allows for readjustment

@summarizeddeets @RufusTSuperfly The Banshees of Inisherin- incredible movie!

“I’d use a payment app built by someone who doesn’t honor their financial obligations.” —Nobody

Perhaps we need Third Spaces, and good ones, more than ever before. This is at least one solution to the old problem of how we build beautiful cities — and a fairly simple one at that. People aren't hard to please; give them a nice square and they'll be much happier...

The trouble comes with architecture and design that is essentially careless and in which cost is the main priority, to the exclusion of all and any real aesthetic considerations. To call this sort of university building uninspired is rather an understatement.

Everybody shut up Mama's Family is on

We're living through a Great Flattening. It seems like every company has adopted the same values, the same mission statements, and the same style of visual branding. Just look at logo design. It's become flat, bland, sterile, drab, and timid. Architecture is suffering from the same kind of homogenization. In the built environment, we've traded beauty for usability. Ornamentation is out. Efficiency is in. Objects have lost their craftsmanship, even at the high end. Minimalism has become a euphemism for laziness. The mahogany desks that you'll find at an estate sale require far more craftsmanship than what you find at fairly high-end stores like CB2 and West Elm today. I live in Austin, Texas where it seems like every new house was designed in AutoCAD under a strict budget and a rushed timeline. What we've gained in productivity, we've lost in soul and spirit.

June 28 Everyone at #GGACP wishes a happy 97th birthday to the legendary @MelBrooks! @Franksantopadre @RealGilbert

If you’re outdoors in these temperatures you need to be primarily drinking water. NOT red bull, NOT iced coffee, NOT that purple stuff all over tiktok, W👏A👏T👏E👏R

Can't babe, I'm being annihilated online for my views on badgers.

Last night Fran insisted l watch Grey Gardens. Today l spent 48 dollars on Clorox and Swiffers.