Before my next post - the best dogs of the week (as chosen by Rate Your Dog)

 

Visiting Mom and Nic - Montana

 (Again - I am avoiding politics. Well, and news in general here. Plenty of places for anger.)

Eddie and I visited my mom and Nic this past few days. We did a lot of things before that, but let's start with them. They live up in Montana. There is a house in the pictures. My mom and Nic built it. 

Not as in, "they had it built", but as in they did it themselves. They worked on it for at least 3 years. They hired a plumber and an electrician, but they did everything else. And, if you knew my mom, you would be amazed at this. statement :-).

Ed in the woods nearby on a hike

Me, on the hike

The brook (Bear Creek) along the hike.

Me and my mom and the house they built.

Nic - my mom's husband, and the shed he built.

Eddie and mom

This is their new pup, Koda, 8 months old, and she loved us.

They live in the hills and had to clear the land where the house is built. They live in the Bitterroot Valley. The Bitterroot River is where they filmed "A River Runs Through It." Which give me a chance to post an image of Brad Pitt during his dreamy phase.

A point about Fly Fishing. We drove by lots of rivers in Montana and Wyoming. In nearly all of them, there were fly fishermen, standing in the water in waders. I guess the trout are traveling back to their mating grounds, and this is the time to fish the rivers.

The Bitterroot River is home to both native and introduced trout species, including Westslope Cutthroat Trout, Bull Trout, Rainbow Trout, Brown Trout, and Brook Trout. The river is a popular fishing destination known for its variety of aquatic insects and the diverse trout population, with Westslope Cutthroat being a native species that dominates the upper sections. 

I missed the annual Corgi races

 We all missed the annual corgi races from Vilnius. But the pictures are worth a thousand smiles.

There were also costumes.

Wombat and Koala Butt's

 Now this may sound odd, and it has nothing to do with poop*. When we were in Sydney, we took a tour of a nature sanctuary.  We learned an interesting fact about. Sorry if I already said this. Both Koalas and Wombats' butts are caked with keratin, like our fingernails.

Koalas' butt keratin is curled up around their ass. They use this so they can sit and sleep in trees for long periods.

Wombat's butts are also built from keratin, but they are much flatter across their entire rear.

Wombats dig and sleep in burrows, and if a predator (like a dingo) comes after them, they shove their ass in the plug of the burrow and they are safe.

* I did say this wasn't about poop, but remember, wombats are the only animal with square poops. NASA is studying it. Really.

Nice animal news

 Two endangered Amur Leopard cubs were born at the St. Louis Zoo.

There are only like 100 in the wild.

A special notice to the lesbians in my life...

 In honor of Lauren, a new movie has arrived.

It is "Honey Don't" and it replaces "Bound".

It has all the girl-on-girl action, but is a dark comedy. And who doesn't love Aubrey Plaza!?

If you don't know, Bound had the top lesbian movie until now.

(not political) This seems like not great news to me

This seems like a bad idea.

 

The article discusses the proliferation of lines of communication and the increasing complexity of decisions that have evolved as the battlefield has evolved over time - including the integration of air force, drones, and satellites.

It states that AI can significantly reduce the need for message filtering, saving time, money, and space in the new military command and its associated structures. By letting AI handle a lot of it.

Well, that doesn't seem right. AI might be beneficial, but it's best not to put it in the military command chain. They have already proven to catfish people, support suicide, and refuse to turn themselves off. I'm thinking they may also decide to "end a war" by just killing everyone on the other side. The most efficient method of doing that is atomic weapons. I don't want them near that button.