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Meerkat mob! Six fluffy bundles of joy have arrived at Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo, with the Zoo’s Meerkat mob welcoming its second litter of pups for 2023. Mum Midra gave birth to six pups on Wednesday 2nd August, and while the pups are yet to be sexed or named, keeper Rez Onay said they’re doing well. “Coming in each morning and seeing the pups, it’s the best part of the day,” Rez said. They’re very cute and our main job is watching the behaviour of the family, making sure everyone is happy and well and looking after the new arrivals. “The family is doing a great job of looking after the pups, who are putting on weight and getting more active each and every day.” These arrivals bring the total number of meerkats at the Zoo to 20, including 14 in the breeding group at The Waterhole. Parents Midra and Howell have their hands full, with 10 pups under six months of age. Meerkats can fall pregnant as soon as one week after giving birth, or once the pups are weaned at about eight weeks of age, so it’s not unusual for them to give birth again so soon,” Rez said.
Why we should respect worst-case scenarios.
The post Dr. Doom on the Hottest Summer (So Far) appeared first on Nautilus.
This is much more likely that we might want to think You’ve no doubt heard about the release of the Fulton County Georgia Special Grand Jury findings by now and learned that they recommended indictment of 39 people including Lindsey Graham, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler. Obviously, DA Fanni Willis decided to only indict half that number for what all the TV lawyers say are good reasons. But this is a red flag and I think we’ll need to prepare ourselves for the possibility: But perhaps the more practical lesson from the report, regarding the case ahead, is that it reinforces how difficult it might be to obtain convictions, including for Trump. Indeed, on the vast majority of charges recommended by the Georgia special grand jury, the vote was not unanimous. To win convictions, however, all jurors must vote in favor. Of the seven recommended charges against Trump, each featured precisely one grand juror who voted against, with between 17 and 21 grand jurors voting in favor. (Some grand jurors were absent for some votes.) Of about 90 votes on recommending charges, just 14 were unanimous.
Inside the “out there” quest for a drug that would help doctors save lives before it’s too late.
The post Can We Stop Time in the Body? appeared first on Nautilus.
The Florida governor appeared anguished by the loss of what his aides disclosed was the most cherished footwear he owned.
You see, she’s forcing poor old Joe out into the public where people are making fun of him. She thinks RFK Jr would be the best candidate for the Democrats because the Democrats don’t like him. She’s pretty sharp for someone ancient old Biden’s age. She certainly knows how to elegantly stick the shiv in Biden’s back. Fox News has primed her well.
California lawmakers sent a bill to Gov. Gavin Newsom that would make it legal to possess or grow some plant-based psychedelics.
The post California Might Legalize Magic Mushrooms appeared first on The Intercept.
RICO is a shit law, which criminalizes association and free speech. When it was passed, to take down the mob, far-sighted commenters noted it would be abused. Now it is being used to take down “Stop Cop City”.
No, not that kind. Ick. CNN has a behind the scenes report on the Supreme Court’s deliberations in the Alabama gerrymandering case in which they surprisingly found that the state had violated the Voting Rights Act: When the Supreme Court considered the challenge to an Alabama congressional map that shortchanged the state’s Black voters, liberal justices expected the conservative majority to side with Alabama – if not gut the 1965 Voting Rights Act altogether. Instead, the justices emerged from their first closed-door conference meeting on the case in October 2022 without a solid majority for either side, CNN has learned. Ordinarily, this meeting, held without any law clerks or other staff present, results in a clear understanding among the nine justices of which party will prevail in a case. In the Alabama dispute, sources said, it was far from certain which side would win. What happened next defied predictions from inside and outside the court.
Perhaps AUKUS should be renamed MAUKUS – the Morrison, Albanese, United Kingdom and United States agreement – to clearly identify those responsible. Indeed, it is surprising that neither Defence Minister Richard Marles nor Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy invited Australian Labor Party National Conference delegates to support a motion of appreciation to former Prime Minister Continue reading »
An affectionate sense of reunion and a warm group photo session were among highlights on Thursday in Beijing of the seventh Meeting of the China-Australia High-level Dialogue, the first such gathering of the two delegations since a meeting in 2020 in Sydney. It was also the first meeting in the post-COVID 19 era, gathering incumbent Continue reading »
In Asian media this week: Hanoi, but not Jakarta, a deliberate choice. Plus: ASEAN must ease great power tensions; G20 starts with Xi’s snub of the West; global inflation to last for years; BRICS the real challenge to US-led order; Indonesia supports bloc but will not join; Manila ‘taking defence seriously’. The decision by US Continue reading »
It will probably shock most Australians but the political system which they take for granted to be a democracy capable of safeguarding their and their kids’ interests is hardly a democracy at all. The reality is that the “democracy” we live in is a very limited one because it is governed by a Constitution under Continue reading »
Recently, while trawling the net, I stumbled upon something startling. As a young man, my great-grandfather had unearthed a hideous crime. Against Aborigines. Charles Heydon––known only through family whispers because he hadn’t married my great-grandmother—was a Supreme Court Judge and NSW Attorney General. According to the historian Raymond Evans, after a number of shipwrecked sailors Continue reading »
I wonder how many Australians know where the Ayungin Shoal/Second Thomas/Ren’ai Jiao is? Do they know that their Navy has been deployed to this atoll, ostensibly to defend their “national interest”! Do Australians know that the sovereignty of the Philippine occupied shoal (since 1998), is being disputed by China, Vietnam, and Taiwan? Do they know Continue reading »
With experts seeing risks in America’s domestic politics, is it wise for Korea to bet the house on the US? “You can always count on Americans to do the right thing — after they’ve tried everything else,” Winston Churchill once said. Since establishing itself as the “benevolent hegemon” of the free world after World War Continue reading »
How understanding Earth’s deep past can lead us into our radically altered future.
The post What the Earth Knows appeared first on Nautilus.
A presidential candidate is promising extrajudicial summary execution and it’s just normal. Of course, once he declares war on Mexico we’ll be dealing with the laws of war so there’s that. Meanwhile, the wheels are coming off: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has privately complained about a powerful operative at the center of his 2024 presidential effort, according to three people familiar with the comments, a sign of the internal drama that has complicated his struggling White House bid. DeSantis has expressed regrets over Jeff Roe’s hiring asa lead strategist at the super PAC Never Back Down, an outside group that has assumed many responsibilities in the race traditionally handled by campaigns, two of the people said. One, a DeSantis donor, heard the comments directly from the governor, this person said. DeSantis has also voiced anger over a pre-debate strategy memo from Never Back Down, which was publicly posted last month on the website of Roe’s firm, Axiom, these people said. One of them, the donor, said the governor was “apoplectic.” The finger pointing has officially begun.
Saturday: I sleep for seven restful hours and am gently awakened by the warmth of the rising sun. The world is full of promise.
Sunday: I sleep for thirteen REM-less hours and jolt awake to my air raid siren alarm. Nothing to do but hunker down and brace for Monday, because the weekend is basically over, as is life itself.
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Saturday: I take a chance on a new brunch spot, and love my Persian-inspired date and saffron scramble.
Sunday: Who can think about food at a time like this? Breakfast is stale toast. The end pieces. The mold-free bits.
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Saturday: Hopefully, I’m not getting a cold, so I can make Jamie’s surprise party.
Sunday: Hopefully, I’m getting Ebola, so I can miss work.
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Saturday: I visit two museum exhibits, switch the laundry, and then pop over to Jess and Alex’s house to babysit at the last minute. I have endless energy for my beloved community.
There are a number of crazy political events taking place right now, from the Paxton trial in the Texas senate to the GOP threat to remove a Democratic Supreme Court Justice in Wisconsin and the impending impeachment of Joe Biden. (Oddly, the only one that’s justified in the one in Texas, brought by Republicans against a Republican so corrupt even they couldn’t ignore it.) We also have trials against former president Trump in civil and criminal court pending in five different jurisdictions. Oh, and we’re also looking at a possible government shutdown. It’s a lot. The one place that seemed relatively sane, at least by comparison, was the U.S. Senate. Sure they had a some big dramatic fights last year over President Biden’s legislative agenda but they were pretty standard policy battles that mostly took place within the Democratic caucus. The Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson were as ugly as usual but they didn’t feature a lot of fireworks. All in all it’s been a fairly functional institution lately. But that’s not to say that the Republicans haven’t been playing any games at all.