Articles

Jan 08 2019

Representation of Diversity – Or not

Author: DakotaBirder • Discussion: No Comments

I never relay where I work on my blog. Or on social media. Why do I do that? Because anything I post is my opinion alone, and doesn’t relate in any official capacity to my work. All I will say is that right now I am BORED OUT OF MY FREAKING MIND, since I have been unable to report to work for the last 3 weeks. And as time passes, that boredom is gradually transforming to being PISSED OFF.  PISSED OFF at our elected officials who can’t do their jobs, and allow others to do theirs.

So instead of working on a journal paper I REALLY need to finish, instead of creating graphics to support that paper…I made this graphic. Showing how complete unrepresentative our political representatives are, particularly if you’re in the GOP. 88 PERCENT of the GOP House and Senate are white males. Mostly RICH white males, who’s life experience can’t possibly relate to the hardship they’re causing millions of Americans right now.

116th US Congress - Demographics

Demographics of the 116th US Congress. If you’re a rich, white male, you’re WELL represented. If you’re primary mission life is the acquisition of wealth, you’re well represented. If you’re a minority? A woman? Well, you’re kind of screwed.

Jul 16 2015

All life should be cherished. Except spiders.

Author: DakotaBirder • Discussion: No Comments
Garden Spider

The biggest spider I’ve ever seen in my yard, what I believe is a common “Garden Spider”. Pretty. Also the stuff of nightmares.

A bit off topic, but…there was a spider in the sink this morning.  Just your average-sized, run-of-the-mill spider you find in your house from time to time.  If you should find yourself in this situation, here are the 4 steps you should take:

  1. Turn the water on high and flush the spider deeply down into the drain
  2. Turn on the garbage disposal.
  3. Turn the water on as hot as it can go and run it for a bit…just in case.
  4. Pouring flaming gasoline down the drain is optional, but recommended.

I’m a nature lover.  I’ll go FAR out of my way to avoid hitting any form of life while driving.  I’ll stop and help turtles cross the road.  If I’m walking I’ll try to avoid stepping on little buggy critters.

But I draw the line at spiders, inside my house!  I’m not sure what the visceral, horrifying reaction is people (often) have to spiders.  They’re not that big.  They’re not going to hurt you.  Many people (myself included) don’t have the same negative reaction when seeing a similarly sized insect.  Yet a spider sighting in the house is a cause for immediate action in my house.

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