Anybody who’s seen me on the weekend Zooms knows that I have a pond about forty feet from my back door. This being Florida, we have no shortage of frogs around the house during the rainy season. Plenty more live in the trees that surround the place on three sides.
Needless to say, my nephew has, like every other small boy worth his salt, a fascination with reptiles and amphibians, and it’s my job as only uncle to encourage him along (his mother has finally forgiven me for convincing the lad that butterflies were carnivorous).
He typically visits during the day, which makes our attempts to find froggos fruitless. So I eventually got him a model frog to take home, telling him that he could keep it until he was old enough to stay through the night for a proper frog-spotting adventure.
One problem, though. The frog was made of metal, and I had no glue.
You would think that Swiss would give me a pat on the back and a “weld done,” but instead I get this:
Ah, well… I’ll continue to solder on.
The wee beasties sometimes congregate in the oddest places. You’d think they would feel safe and warm in their pond, but they’ll occasionally gain the high ground and sit in judgement of me.
Every once in a while one of their enforcers will arise from his watery abode to issue a challenge — or maybe a warning: “Tread softly,” he’ll croak.
It’s easy to laugh at the thought of having to give a wide berth to the froggos, until you remember that this is Florida:
‘Til next time, friends, when I can come up with a story that’s toadally worth your time…
Critters Around the House, &cet
My new neighbor, a millenial chap who is an assistant professor with the Herpetology department, recently discovered a new species of toad in the Everglades.
He’s named it Bufo deeznuts.
Excellent.
Can frogs narrow their gaze?
We’ve lived here about 18 years now. The type and number of critters varies each year. At first we never saw rabbits, now there are a lot of them. We used to have a lot of tree frogs climbing on the house, this year I haven’t seen many but I hear them. And I also hear a lot of other frogs outside at night.
I just the hear random hooting and whistling from the meth head who has been parking himself out front every day for the last couple years. Thank smod he goes elsewhere at night, probably to the urban campground behind the Walmart.
We live on the edge of a bunch of open space and it’s interesting to see the changes in the animal populations year to year. We recently had a lot of rabbits, but a coyote came and cleaned them up. We’ve had explosions of mice and/or voles in some years. Some years have a lot of snakes. When we moved in there were a lot of pigeons, but then they removed the fast spinning raptor chopping windmills on the hill, and the raptors cleaned up the pigeons. It’s useful to see that nature is constantly changing.
Adapting, even.
If only humans could do that.
I was driving across South Dakota, once upon a time, and encountered some sort of frog exodus. There were squashed frogs all over the road. I could hear them hitting the bottom of the car.
were they affecting the tire grip?
relevant
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBYvtUNcm3Y
I like snakes, lizards, frogs, and then other herps, in roughly that order.
My favorite Facebook group, from back when I was allowed on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ratsnake/
Make sacrifice and obeisance to Ceiling Frog.
Is Ceiling Frog more like Pepe Frog or the Froggies (i.e. French folks)?
Hypnotoad:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zHU2RlSCdxU
There is is.
I can’t even with this post
those frogs look gay.
I’ve been told that they were putting chemicals in the water to do that.
were they affecting the tire grip?
Very much so. It’s a good thing it wasn’t raining. That would have been like driving on ice.
Change
The White House published a memorandum of understanding on Monday, with the President pushing to ease the “crushing environmental regulatory burdens [that] caused the average cost of vehicles to soar.” In response to said burdens, he’s encouraging the EPA to clarify what emissions repairs are legal and issue guidance to consumers so they can avoid running afoul of the CAA. Additionally, the President requested that the EPA work to reduce reliance on the California Air Resources Board for parts certification—a known snag for some aftermarket manufacturers.
But maybe the most relevant takeaway for consumers is this: President Trump’s MOU urges the EPA to consider deprioritizing enforcement against “anyone who, in good faith, attempts to fix his or her own vehicle to its original configuration.” In other words, if someone uses parts that aren’t CARB- or EPA-approved to repair their car or truck, the EPA should contemplate whether or not legal action is necessary. Note the last part of the President’s phrasing, however, as he makes clear that his suggestion pertains only to those who try maintaining their vehicle’s original configuration.
Not exactly a performance enhancement free for all, but you might not be hostage to the dealer so much.
Sounds pretty useless to me.
Haha, suckers!
Editor’s note: Earlier today, we erroneously published a story saying that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was retiring. Neither Alito nor the court’s public information office has announced his retirement, and we have retracted the story.
June 30, 2026
Wishful thinking.
They really should have listed their bogus source and promised to cease using them.
It’s one of many pre-written stories they prepare. Similar to Obits.
They just accidentally pressed send.
(-.-)
The wee beasties sometimes congregate in the oddest places. You’d think they would feel safe and warm in their pond, but they’ll occasionally gain the high ground and sit in judgement of me.
You can’t allow that. They’ll get ideas.
Sensei, from the dedthred, Wizardry is a computer game series that started in 1981. The wiki page is a pretty good summary of the series and all of the spin-offs.
Complete blurb from The Drive:
Ferrari and BMW are among the automakers shifting from copper to aluminum for wiring applications, which happens to be cheaper these days due to data centers driving up the cost of the former. Chinese automakers and Tesla have done the same in recent years. One added benefit of aluminum is that it’s lighter than copper, and weight is a particularly important consideration for EVs. [Reuters]
Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t a bunch of houses burn down when they tried this?
Maybe it’s an alloy less prone to work hardening, but it makes one wonder.
All cars will have electrical issues like they were made in Britain in the 60s/70s.
The rodent attracting insulation is an optional extra!
The issue in the home wiring was thermal expansion and contraction. It wiggled the wires loose.
If you properly terminate it – it could probably work. But it doesn’t give me warm fuzzies.
I wonder if there is a dot Indian cover band called Four Naan Blondes.
dot Indian is no longer the correct nomenclature
I live on a lake and the frogs are extremely loud this time of year.
I like it, but it bothers my wife when one climbs up one of our windows.
I always tell her, “Don’t worry about that one, that’s just Steve”.
She never thinks it’s funny, but in my heart, I know I’m funny.
[ Ron’s wife and Glibs friends stoically put up with Ron’s bad jokes ]
last time I slept at my mom’s place the frog noises were insane
How long before OMB issues a new executive order saying the kids born in the US can stay, but the parents get deported, no exceptions?
I think we are already there.
about time
The issue in the home wiring was thermal expansion and contraction. It wiggled the wires loose.
I was thinking there was also an issue of work hardening and brittleness from those heat cycles. It was a long time ago.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the household code has a phenomenally expensive experimental update to “fix” the problem and bring aluminum back.
I thank my stars that I built my how 20 years ago and that I will never have to deal with it again.
The two 120V legs of 100A for my 200A service are Al. You just need to have the termination properly designed to accommodate the expansion and contraction.
If you perpetually overheat it from bad termination I can see it work hardening and becoming brittle as well.
In the case of the Al home wiring it was people using outlets and switches not designed for it and people not following procedures for its installation. It’s much less forgiving than Cu.
Electrician I had do some work said AL connecting to CU was a danger.
So adorable
The U.S. Federal Government is meddling with the automotive industry, the free market, and capitalism. Ironically, the current administration claims it’s for the latter two items on that list. But on Thursday, the U.S. Government essentially killed an automotive brand in America by forcing Polestar to stop selling new cars.
——-
The death by U.S. Government force of Polestar is an eye-opening moment, especially for consumers who are in favor of a free market and capitalism. But it’s just the latest, rather large, moment in a continuing saga.
What impermeable rock have these people been hiding under?
Hadn’t caught the story before.
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/polestars-us-setback-leaves-owners-asking-who-will-service-my-car-2026-06-29/
Last week Polestar, which is majority-owned by China’s Geely Holding (0175.HK), opens new tab, said it was denied an authorization to sell new models in the U.S. under a federal rule that restricts cars with Chinese-linked connected-vehicle technology, beginning with the 2027 model year.</.em
Forbidden from selling chinese spyware in the US. Oh My!
Explains why the MSM is critical of the idea.
‘Merican spyware in cars is AOK as long as the state has access.
And about that mandatory kill switch…
Geeky owned Volvo is ok, though.
Jarvis
@jarvis_best
(Paul Krugman sits down)
(Opens his laptop)
(Fires up his Substack)
(Stares at the black page)
(Pours a glass of chardonnay to the brim)
(Starts typing)
“The good thing about rent control is
9:45 PM · Jun 27, 2026 · 318K Views
too bad about the black fly
He can control Winston’s Mom’s vagina.
From this morning’s discussion about AC in Europe, the article had this brilliant insight:
“But in the longer term, what happens is, installing more air conditioning actually emits more heat into our environment, so it will actually increase the speed of warming.”
You cant fix stupid.
Now, in fairness, this is likely originally based in the idea that using electricity to cool the inside increases CO2 emissions, therefore contributing to global warming. Now, even with this steel man, this is a dumb take.
Putting that in an article published in a mainstream publication is kinda wild.
But more than that…
I have seen this phrase everywhere the last several days, ostensibly posted by real Europeans. They seem to honestly and angrily believe that pumping the heat outside with an AC makes it hotter outside and thereby makes everyone else hotter and in greater danger.
I know… it seems ludicrous… but it is all over the place. I even saw a lengthy argument about refrigerators in your home working the same way and people not being able to comprehend either the analogy or that they dont actually die of heat stroke if they have a refrigerator.
Not really, when the entire elite establishment takes all of that nonsense as gospel. They don’t really have to believe it, mind you. They just need to pretend to believe it so that they can control you.
there was a silly claim that many took uncritically that using AC in a city raises the outside temperature like 4 5 C . It was off course less than 1C.
World Cup, Norway score; from the BBC text commentary: “The whole Norway bench runs onto the pitch to celebrate!”
Rhywun weeps.
The reaction to that should be to throw every player who rean onto the field out of the stadium and ban them from the next ten games.
lol
I get it but of all the stupid fiddly rules they have, you would think they would stop that behavior.
FFS, the manager is not allowed to dip a toe in there at any time – why are inactive players allowed?
You know what those frogs are singing right? “Wanna fud?”
I thought they were singing “Hello my baby, hello my honey, hello my ragtime gal”.
+1 Warner Brothers cartoons
Bonus!
All I hear is “ribbit”. 🙁