Saturday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Saturday, August 15, 2020
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110 comments
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored
A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
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The headline of the day-
Georgia trooper charged with murder in traffic stop shooting
The Florida headline of the day-
Florida faces $5.4 billion deficit. Governor says addressing shortfall can wait.
I did UX and UI for a living. Not terribly well. I got back-doored into it. I got better.
I was the person to figure out how to do the SQL for this exec’s fancy guy megareport. So I had to figure out what she or he wanted to see. The different cuts. By states, drill down to counties or MSAs? Retail and wholesale. Penetration.
Dick Kovacevich gave me specs for a report he wanted. He was the the big cat back then. Norwest eats Wells Fargo.
No one taught me. I was the person who did an adjacent thing. It was the 90’s. It was a new thing to do anything more than here are the new files to pull and review today report.
I had to make rules and a taxonomy based on need.
I read up on new developments like a fiend and begged my boss to shoot me to conferences.
Tufte’s presentation of his Visual Explanations book changed my life.
—
I downloaded the State Of Survival game the other day and it is literally the shittiest UI imaginable.
This is absolute bullshit. Degenerative. Nothing should be that opaque. I was flabbergasted at how primitive it is.
I know it is designed to sell loot chests, but good golly, it took me hours to navigate out of the prologue because I could not discern what the game wanted me to do.
That is embarrassing. I worked really hard at my job. I apologize for this absolute crap.
I heartily apologize. A UI should not be that opaque.
Now I am so old I can barely figure out how to uninstall an app.
What have I become, my sweetest friend?
@de stijl: Aged?
@OzarkHillbilly:
Very.
Like bourbon.
COVID’s true toll in Texas is higher than reported, data shows
I have trouble putting the effing things on sitting down.
In my line of work, the user experience should not be too techy or off-putting.
Should be easy to see how we are doing in Cobb County vs. Atlanta proper or vs. Atlanta MSA.
Pick from the obvious list.
If I had to explain the mechanism I had utterly failed.
Opacity is really bad. A bad or frustrating experience on the first go means people do not come back ever.
It is get it right or wait at least six months for a new team to make the correct pitch.
State of Survival UI offends my soul.
You could have it all. My Empire of dirt.
@sam: I give him an 8.5.
Bald eagle attacks government drone and sends it to bottom of Lake Michigan
That eagle’s eyesight is either so bad it can’t tell the difference between a fish in the water and a drone in the air or… C’mon guys, you know as well as I it was being territorial.
Heh.
New ad from the Lincoln Project. On the whole, it appears me to be quite measured, and (dare I say it?) fair and balanced. While one — hearkening to his lesser angels — might hope for a less churchillian cadence, it cannot be gainsaid that, given the grouchoian character of its subject, just the right tone is established at the outset: “Fucking Moron”. The ad.
@OzarkHillbilly:
Love dudes doing erosion research, but you gotta clear it with the local eagles first. Have a sit-down. Work out the particulars.
Sending in drones willy-nilly will not fly.
@sam:
I was waiting for an ad like that.
@CSK:
“I was waiting for an ad like that.”
Me, too. The only thing better could be an ad starting with Trump saying he hires only the best people, followed by Trump’s descriptions of some of the people he hired.
Waiting for a New Deal job program? These US parks are already hiring
As unemployment soars, local governments and non-profits have created conservation jobs in the Roosevelt mold
Meanwhile, donald trump goes golfing.
@Moosebreath:
Yeah, I know. Isn’t it amazing how “the best people” invariably turn out to be “losers” and “dogs,” and he only hired them because he felt sorry for them?
@de stijl:
Sometimes your comments are poetry – imagery dancing around with obscure references and an internal rhythm.
US coronavirus death toll set to reach 200,000 by Labor Day, CDC forecast says
Sometimes when I’m bored I play Google Street View. I pick some obscure place, a city in Africa, a small European country, various islands, and light up street view which is quite often in less developed areas just 360 degree pix, and I make up a story. Who lives in this random place and why? How does that view, that place affect the worldview of people living there.
Evidently I have time on my hands.
I’ve never had my drone attacked by an eagle, but they’ve certainly followed it around. I’ve always noticed the shadow of the eagle on the ground and beat feet….err….rotors…..for my landing spot. Ravens have flown in and out of view while in flight, that was kinda cool. 🙂
@Bill: I was on my state’s legislative budget staff during the 2007-08 revenue shortfalls. The first rule is “The longer you wait to make the cuts, the bigger they have to be.” Eg, reduce staffing by one person for eight months or wait and have to reduce it by two for four months. The least disturbing possibility for the governor’s position is that he thinks the House Dems will win the standoff in DC and there will be multiple billions of dollars in aid to Florida’s state government. That’s not necessarily a stupid bet. I’m sure that the Republican Senators are getting an earful from their state governments during the current recess.
@Michael Reynolds: I can think of worse ways to waste time. I’ll bet your stories are better than mine.
@Jax: I once saw a video of some guys training eagles to take out drones. The idea was to use them around airports and other restricted air spaces. It was pretty cool to watch them do it in slo-mo.
@Michael Reynolds:
That was a nice thing to say.
You didn’t have to, but you did.
Appreciate that.
@OzarkHillbilly: I see your point. He didn’t actually spike the landing.
@de stijl:
It’s humbling to think you’re fairly well informed, then read something that shows yet another area where you’re completely ignorant. This line is the only thing I understood in your entire post. I heard it in Johnny Cash’s voice, but you probably said it in Trent Reznor’s.
@sam:
No, we’re not. And therein lies the problem.
@Roger:
Both did it very well in their way. I cannot pick. That would be a Sophie’s choice.
If I could start again…
@Roger:
It pisses me off when people shit on the shoulders they stand on.
Michael Cohen has a website for his forthcoming memoir:
http://www.disloyalthebook.com
If you like, you can read the foreword there.
@Michael Reynolds:
I like picking an address where I want to live.
Walk down the street. Look left. Look right. See the red door. They paid off their mortgage. Hey! They have a breezeway! Cool.
I walk 3-4 miles every day. I look at stuff and wave at folks on their porch or on their steps.
Look and listen.
@Bill: Siiighhh–a gawt damn shame. Of course, we could drastically reduce the incidence of this overnight if we restrict the number of non-moving violations you can be pulled over for.
The common thread of MOST of these shooting in police pulling people over in traffic stops. This is the gawt damn 21st century–a safety violation could have been mailed to the address of the registered owner of the vehicle.
In Jim Brown’s king for the day world–the police would only be able to stop a driver for reckless driving: x mph over the limit or lane changes within 1 car-length of another driver.
There is really a simple formula for making this scenario rare–reduce the number of interactions police can initiate with citizens. Frankly, 90% of their job (imo) should be out observing and gathering intel. Another 5% is just being seen.
But no, we can’t have that because Policing is a white male jobs program and they need to make money for their locality–because taxes should be low, low, low at all cost. I’ve said before that the Police/Prison industrial Complex is the birth child of NAFTA. These guys were working at the local factory making widgets until it went to Mexico, then China. Now–they are friggin police and corrections officers. This is what happens when you don’t design systems and equate to human factor. It would be better for them to be working making widgets than to be police squeezing every dime they can our of POC to pay the bills for nice police cars, courthouses, gear, etc.
I would love to see a AG Val Demmings clean some of this shit up.
@Jim Brown 32:
Many if not all Defund The Police scenarios envision unarmed folks for traffic enforcement.
It is working well in Europe.
The problem here is that unlike in France, the person you pull over for going 32 in a 25 or a DWB may have a 45.
It annoys me that every cop treats every traffic stop like a hostage situation and walks up with a hand on pistol.
Double for the DWB.
Too often it is not protect and serve it is occupy and subjugate.
@Bill: It’s like a Jedi mind trick in politics: “This isn’t the deficit you need to be concerned about.”
@de stijl:
Starting in the police academy, cops are programmed with the idea that traffic stops, like domestic violence calls, are the most dangerous jobs in law enforcement.
@CSK:
No, I ask myself do I really believe that Cohen wrote as much as two single adjacent words in the preface, let alone the book. Did he, at least, give the poor schlub who brought his sad pathetic existence to life a writing credit on the title page?
(But he is right on the answer. 😉 )
@de stijl:
I always included an unasked for report detailing the sales you did not get – your competition got those.
Let’s face it, sales people are kinda masturbatory.
Should not say always, but I always tried to. ABC is bullshit.
I always preferred gigs with QA or risk management folks. Or Europeans. Less alpha posing.
Once, a high up exec with a capital C in front of his job title said “Failure is not an option.” I nearly laughed.
Dude, check the stats on big budget information projects. At least you get the infrastructure and the process if it fails.
@CSK:
Law Enforcement is the 15th most deadly profession.
Farmers are in run-away first place. A lot of big equipment and diy boot strap training. Commercial fishing is second I believe. Same deal.
Local cops are way down the list.
@de stijl:
In my pre-retirement job, I got to interact with several chiefs of police or deputy chiefs, it was not unusual for them to admit that the prevalence of guns in society has changed policing and made it more dangerous for both the officer and the citizen. Add in racism…
@Jim Brown 32:
The common thread of MOST of these shooting in police pulling people over in traffic stops. This is the gawt damn 21st century–a safety violation could have been mailed to the address of the registered owner of the vehicle.
This right here ^
In Jim Brown’s king for the day world–the police would only be able to stop a driver for reckless driving: x mph over the limit or lane changes within 1 car-length of another driver.
You would have my vote sir. Simply cutting down on interactions would be a great start.
We have the technology, just need a one day king to implement the common sense
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
Oh, the book is obviously ghostwritten. You only have to read the first few sentences to realize that.
I don’t know if Cohen acknowledges the ghost. All arrangements are different. Sometimes the “author” pays the ghost directly out of his or her advance, and sometimes the publisher does. Sometimes the ghost gets co-author credit, or “as told to” credit, and sometimes just thanks in the preface or afterword. It’s not that well known, for example, that Lynn Vincent ghosted Sarah Palin’s first book and even less well known that Jessica Gavora (Jonah Goldberg’s wife) ghosted Palin’s second.
In this particular case, the ghost may not want to be acknowledged by Cohen. The person who ghosted Mark Fuhrman’s books didn’t want to be acknowledged. Paid? Yes, of course.
@de stijl:
Oh, a lot of jobs are more dangerous. But cops are programmed to believe that they are in grievous danger.
@CSK:
Those same countries (and folks who are serious about DFP) are using social workers for domestic calls.
We are the stupid kid who skews the OECD averages. Middle of the pack on violent crime per capita, but off the friggin’ chart on homicides. Could it be guns? Hmm.
Really? No comments on the Clinesmith plea? Might be the cap on the bottle or might be the first crack in the Three Gorges dam-like flood coming to DC.
Pretty sure it’s the other way around and I think loggers is the worst. Cops are safer than a lot of people including carpenters.
I’m getting one of my utility poles replaced and was talking to the crew chief and an engineer about when to do it and how best to access it. It was a good 30 or 40 seconds before I realized the engineer had both ears burned off and burn scars on one cheek. Fortunately his face straight on was fairly normal to look at so I didn’t stare too much.
@CSK: And are given the message daily that endangering innocent civilian lives and humiliating people are perfectly acceptable if it makes you feel more secure.
Harris ‘electrifies’ West Indian voters — and gives Biden a new edge in Florida
Wow. Our three lettered friend really does seem to be going full Q…
So who had “Romney grows a spine” on their 2020 bingo card?
@MarkedMan:
That’s certainly the message that some take away from their training. It’s the kind of work that’s been known to attract bullies, or the not-very-bright. A friend of mine once encountered a Georgia cop who referred to his nightstick as his “ni–er beater.”
@Michael Reynolds:
When I do the Google Maps version of walking around I always choose cities and virtually walk myself to the nearest coffee shop, bar, and pizza place. I ask myself if I could hang there. In these places? Was that a pleasant amble?
It is a fun diversion.
@MarkedMan: SQUIRREL!!!
@OzarkHillbilly:
Romney’s been objecting to Trump for a while now. I appreciate that, but unlike a lot of his colleagues, he’s unlikely to have his seat threatened by a horde of vengeful Trump voters, so he can speak his mind.
@de stijl:
I like good writing, especially things I can’t do. @Steve Story is another example, he’s great at short and pithy turns of phrase. There are a number of excellent writers here (including of course, our hosts) but most are doing things I can also do.
I used to say that the only things I can’t write are poetry and the closely-related, lyrics. But I had this concept for a TV series set in the world of stand-up. It wasn’t about stand-up, I was just using that as milieu. But I quickly realized I’d have to write snippets of stand-up. You know: jokes.
Well. Turned out there was another thing I couldn’t write. I quickly realized that writing jokes, routines, involves an entirely different world view. I walk through life seeing story, that’s what I’m looking for, what I understand. A comic goes through life looking for incongruities, twists, reverses, laughs. I was forced to conclude that I could do it, but only if I spent a decade changing the very way I perceive reality, and then there was no guarantee I’d ever rise above mediocrity. Seemed like a lot of work.
@JKB:
Yes, as soon as I saw that news I realized it’s all true. Hillary Clinton really is running a pedophile sex cult out of a pizza parlor, and Trump is secretly (very secretly) a genius fighting a lonely battle against governmental competence. I’m sorry, corruption.
@CSK: I know, but the same can be said for a lot of other Republicans and yet they all cower before trump’s mighty tweets anyway. Romney is AFAIK the only elected Republican willing to say trump is full of shit on a # of issues and that, to me anyway, is worthy of noting. Not that I will ever vote for him or send him a campaign donation.
@Michael Reynolds: Seems like an opportunity to work with someone very interesting, if you can find them.
@Michael Reynolds:
*Blushes* aww thanks!
@JKB:
Did you have any comments on it? I read it and it appears the individual had his day in court.
You seem to be predicting a “Three Gorges dam-like flood coming to DC”. Can you elaborate? Do you see this as a validation for the president? The modern Republican party?
Speaking for myself, I always look forward to learning from different perspectives, and your posts seem to initially stir up interest, but there is never any follow-up.
@Jim Brown 32: let’s add a leaflet about services to those mailed tickets: “Can’t pay your fine? Apply to receive a waiver in exchange for community service.” And if the ticket was due to something they needed to fix, like a taillight, maybe they have to provide proof of the repair for the waiver. Then they might have to serve eight hours at a food bank, say. This might prevent a lot of folks from getting arrest warrants when they don’t pay tickets they can’t afford.
@Michael Reynolds:
Good comedians are very close to poets and lyricists.
They hone, and rewrite and rewrite, and flip it. Fool with the pacing. The verbs. Persona. Dress. Body language. Pace.
It is as much a performance as it is a writing gig.
I used to room with a stand up guy who peaked at average and he worked his butt off.
The amount of work it takes to do a solid ten minutes of stand up takes months of writing and playing with phrasing and pauses. At the coffee table, on the balcony, in front of the mirror – thankfully there were two bathrooms.
Watching other comedians.
I am now a super genius nerd on late 80’s comedy. I know Bobcat Goldthwait bits by heart to this day.
If that was a pub quiz category I would kill.
Writing stupid lyrics is fairly easy. Writing stupid punk lyrics is shockingly easy. Writing a good lyric you want to put your name and rep on is dauntingly wicked hard.
Shout out to Bob who now lives in Phoenix with a gorgeous cool wife and owns several fast casual restaurant franchises. He was doing really well until May.
Bob is a really good dude. He looks like Bono. His wedding reception was at Nye’s which was pretty fucking bad ass.
@de stijl: even if you just look at deaths by violence as opposed to injury, cops are like fourth or fifth deadliest, after professions such as convenience store clerks, taxi drivers, and a couple others.
@Jim Brown 32:
I know you know this, but it bears repeating, the taillight malfunction is only the excuse for the stop, the real reason is see if there are any other infractions that can give him an excuse to search the car. And you know as well, that defective equipment stops more often happen to minorities than whites during the day and that disparity disappears at night.
@Monala: not to mention all the times I’ve read comments by medical professionals about how frequently they have to de-escalate erratic or violent patients, while being unarmed.
@JKB:
I totally agree.
He falsified evidence and lied about it. He deserves full punishment.
As does Michael Flynn.
Lying to the FBI is a crime.
Hmm. Michael Cohen does not say who his publisher is nor when the book will be available, though it’s “coming soon.”
Could it be self-published?
@CSK:
Very interesting. I should have caught that. He’s not on Amazon, and if you’re not on Amazon you don’t exist.
@de stijl:
This sums up my initial reaction to the story.
Wait, there it is: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1510764690
Weird it didn’t come up from a search of Amazon.
@CSK:
Back in the early 70s I had lunch with a couple of HS friends. One had become a cop. He said he was hoping for a race riot so he could bust some heads.
@JKB: Or it could be the nothingburger it appeared to be when Clinesmith’s act was first reported months ago.
@Michael Reynolds:
Cohen also claims to have written the book in longhand on legal pads while incarcerated, so despite the fact that the foreword has the tone of a ghosted product, maybe he did write it himself.
It’s odd that he couldn’t find a legit publisher to take him on, particularly if his stories as lurid as he claims.
@Michael Reynolds:
Okay, the book is published by Skyhorse Press, which doesn’t appear to be a vanity press, and it’s due out on Sept. 8. Why doesn’t Cohen say so?
@gVOR08:
If he was serious, that’s exactly the kind of person who shouldn’t be a cop. When I consulted to law enforcement, the department for which I worked retained a psychiatrist to try to weed out the bullies, sadists, and idiots from the recruits.
@CSK:
Good point! Hadn’t considered that. Hmmm…
What was left?
@OzarkHillbilly:
Surprisingly, some pretty good people. It was a city department, and they could be a lot more choosy about their recruits than some places. And they had a good rep.
In general lawyers aren’t much better at writing than carpenters. Back in the day I could fill hundreds of notebooks and if I was smart I would have given them to someone who knew how to write to turn them into something readable. I would bet Cohen did just exactly that.
Me? I was even smarter than that. I burned those notebooks.
@CSK: I have actually known a few good cops but most were “bullies, sadists, and idiots.” I have always wondered, did they start out like that? Or did the job make them like that?
@OzarkHillbilly: Just positioning himself for post 2020. I doubt that he actually cares otherwise as long as his vote isn’t the one “lost in the mail.”
@Monala: How are we going to put those people in jail if we don’t swear out arrest warrants for them because they have no fines that they can’t afford to pay? You’re losing the focus.
@Steven L. Taylor: My reaction was that it was small potatoes abuse of power, and that it likely happens on nearly every application.
So of like police testifying.
The dude should take his punishment, but there are so many others who also should be prosecuted, and he was investigated for political reasons. Corrupt political reasons.
And now I am reminded of Richard III
@Michael Reynolds:
Chinese Biographies? Yo mama, you say!
@CSK: As with ghost writers, maybe Skyhorse isn’t all that anxious to be known as the publisher of record but only wants the money. Seems reasonable to me at least.
@CSK: “Oh, the book is obviously ghostwritten. You only have to read the first few sentences to realize that.”
I don’t know why you say that, unless you’ve read other prose Cohen has written. I will admit I was pretty astonished by the quality of the writing in that foreword, but without having any history of his previous writing I can’t say whether he has a lot of talent or a really good ghost.
@OzarkHillbilly: In my wayward and misspent youth on the Left Coast, I remember a fair level of concern about police violence and remember that I read a study of officers and attitudes. In this study, the researcher claimed that a significant majority of candidates to police academies came from population subgroups where people generally believed that violence was a tool that could be used to solve problems.
Coming from such a subset myself, I found the theory quite plausible. I don’t see any compelling evidence that anything within this sphere has changed much over the past 40 or 50 years either.
@Michael Reynolds: Funny, one of the students in my most recent Swedish master class wanted to do the same thing — different entirely from your concept, I’m sure, but still a comedy/drama about a rising stand-up. I begged her to reconsider because she said she’d never written comedy, let alone stand-up, and didn’t even watch a lot of contemporary comics. At the very least I urged her to team up with a stand-up and have that person write the routines. She refused all my advice… and then abandoned the project when it got too hard.
@wr: You are clearly more generous of spirit than I, and possibly CSK. This is a good thing.
@CSK: @CSK: “Could it be self-published?”
It’s not — but if he was smarter, it would be. It’s going to get massive publicity no matter who publicizes it, it’s going to sell tons of books — just look how the niece’s book is doing. If he self-published through Amazon he’d be getting 70% or so of every copy sold. Find a publisher who can match that deal!
@wr:
It just has the ring of something that was ghosted. I can’t really explain it better than that. Ghostwritten books tend to sound the same: simple language, reliance on short sentences, and a fairly heavy use of clichés, or at least very common ways of describing things. There’s no unique voice.
I could be wrong. Maybe Cohen sounds like that in real life. But it is true that almost everyone who isn’t a real writer needs help of some sort.
It’s an amusing factoid that, among politicians, Richard Nixon was nearly unique in writing his own books.
@Just nutha ignint cracker: In the end, it doesn’t really matter which it is. Given how badly reforming the police has worked, it is why I don’t blame people for wanting to “defund the police.”
@de stijl:
When I travel, and I’m fortunate to travel alot, I don’t stay in hotels. I always stay in a VRBO or apartment I find on Craiglist, or some other rental site. But never a hotel. But before I book the spot, I do the google street thing, and check out the neighborhood in several directions.
What’s the walk to the tube or metro?
What coffee shops/bakeries are close by?
Is there a grocery store nearby? A bodega? 7/11?
What are my restaurant choices in walking distance?
It’s helped me get to know a neighborhood before I arrived. When my wife and I went to Madrid for the first time, we ended up in a neighborhood of Nigerian immigrants. Walking to the condo, we were asked if we wanted to buy weed severa; times by various Nigerians. Always discreetly. There were kids and grownups playing football (soccer) in the street. Our condo wasn’t ready, so we had to hang out for a bit, so we walked back to the area where they were playing football. We sat on a bench, with our suitcases and just watched the neighborhood guys play. Several more of the Nigerians asked us if we wanted to buy weed. We engaged with them in Spanish, and the rest of the trip they called us Mr. and Mrs. California every time we passed. It was a freaking awesome trip, because of the neighborhood.
Later, relaying the story in Barcelona to some friends from Madrid, we mentioned the neighborhood, (“Lavapies”, which translates literally to “wash feet” in English). Our Spanish friends couldn’t believe we had stayed in such a dangerous and downtrodden area. They couldn’t believe we enjoyed the neighborhood.
One of the advantages of growing up poor [in bad neighborhoods] is that other bad neighborhoods never seem that bad, and some are downright awesome due to the culture.
Trump will be participating in every day of the Republican convention, culminating in his gala acceptance speech on August 27. I suppose he can’t bear the thought of not receiving the lion’s share of adulation.
@OzarkHillbilly: Just checking but you do know that bald eagles eat other birds and mammals right?
@CSK:
I can imagine his aides just shaking their heads…. Every night he shows up will be better for Biden.
@EddieInCA:
So far Donnie Junior, Eric, and Tiffany are lined up to speak. I’m a bit surprised by the inclusion of Tiffany, given that Trump barely knows who she is. Did Ivanka bail?
I assume Melania is holding out for a payoff of some sort. She agreed to move into the White House only after Trump agreed to a revised pre-nup. She really has him over a barrel.
@Matt: I see bald eagles on a frequent basis all year long, but especially in winter when they take up residence in numbers on my “front stoop.” Bald eagles will eat anything they can get their talons into. I once chased a bald eagle down Indian Creek road for a half mile or more while carrying a 4 pound ‘possum in it’s talons (no doubt road kill). Another time I pushed a young one off some road kill and was eyeball to eyeball with him for more than a hundred yards as he flew down the narrow tree lined road I live on. They will eat birds… but the birds they catch have to be more ungainly than them, in other words maybe something like a heron or an egret, most likely as it was trying to take off. A bald eagle could never catch a crow. More likely the bird they eat would be already dead. They are big on eating carrion (the main (?) reason old Ben wasn’t too high on making them the national bird) Up in the Boundary Waters gulls were lucky to get any fish guts at all. The eagles would see them post up at our camp and swoop in to steal the guts every time. They are good at fishing. They congregate along our rivers every winter (especially the MO and MS rivers, the confluence is great spot for eagle watching) and if one watches long enough you will see them catch fish.
Eagles are not at all like Cooper’s Hawks or Sharp Shinned Hawks, predators built by millions of years of evolution to take prey out of the air. I have seen them get into aerial battles with other eagles (it’s rather like watching 2 drunks fighting on the sidewalk outside a south side bar). An Arkansas buddy of mine who lived in a remote mountain side cabin used to watch their *mid air mating dances* from his front porch. I have also seen them chased off by sparrows and blue jays.
** from the above link: The most famous and recognizable of these rituals is the “cartwheel courtship flight,” in which two bald eagles will fly up high, lock talons and then get into a cartwheel spin as they fall toward the ground, breaking apart at the last minute. “And [in] some cases they actually hit the ground,” Watts said.
I was always jealous of Walter (RIP) for having witnessed this act so many times when I have never seen it. 🙁
Eagles have very good eyesight. Drones are not on the menu. This was simple territorial behavior: “INTRUDER. ATTACK.”
ETA: Now that I am, thinking about it, I remember reading of eagles hunting snow geese up at Swan Lake Refuge. Taking one as they were taking off after scaring a flock into flight. I really want to get up there some day to witness the migration. It would be cool to see one take a goose too.
@CSK: Family values!
Indeed. I’m finding it difficult to believe that someone as self-infatuated as Ivanka would pass up the opportunity to be the cynosure of all eyes.
“A bald eagle could never catch a crow. ”
Yup, crows are incredibly good flyers. Have seen them fly around and harass Red tailed and Coopers hawks out of our area during nesting season. Fun to watch them. Think my favorites might be tree swallows just to watch them fly. Came to appreciate them after they came and stole our bluebird boxes. Of our 6 boxes would end up with only one or two pair of bluebirds and the rest tree swallows. Used to take my son out and we would throw feathers to them. Lots of fun.
Steve
I saw a sweatshirt with a good legend on it today:
“2020. Total crap. Would not recommend.”
Amen to that.
Like a crack addict who can’t get enough of his fix, Trump is feening hard from not getting his rallies…
@EddieInCA:..they called us Mr. and Mrs. California every time we passed…
I thought I would be clever and ask you if they thought you were Randy California until I read how he died.
Randy Craig Wolfe
1951-1997
May he Rest in Peace
The Great Canyon Fire in General
@steve: I have a neighbor who is a bluebird fan. She’s like 93 and over the period of her life has installed several miles of bluebird nesting boxes on her fence lines. I’m not shitting you, it’s miles and miles of boxes. Every third post is tall and has a nesting box. I have never seen a bluebird coming out of any of them. My Dad says bluebirds are picky about angles, heights, and the direction of the exit hole toward the sun, but I’ve never found anybody else with bluebird boxes to give me any personal insight on that.
Robert Trump, Donald’s younger brother, has died.
@CSK:..Robert Trump, Donald’s younger brother, has died.
Robert Trump
1948-2020
RIP
@EddieInCA:
I hate hotels.
I have never felt as bereft of human contact as one night in one of the exurbs of Chicago.
Six floors up looking down on a parking lot. Empty. Dead.
Travel always evokes some anxiety. But my brain went bonkers.
I am everywhere and nowhere simultaneously. Hotels, by being exactly the same everywhere you go, try to comfort you, but I had a profound opposite reaction. I felt I was nowhere and everywhere and utterly alone. Looking down on the world’s most saddest parking lot.
Next morning I soldiered through. Did what I was paid to do.
But that night haunts me.