“Scuba-diving” lizards use bubble to breathe underwater

I thought this would be cute to post for a science article, and now that I’m getting it done, I’m thinking Scottie posted video about these little guys, a few months or so back. I hope this isn’t a boring duplicate. Earlier it didn’t hit me, but now at bedtime, the photo is ringing a vague bell. Still, it’s really cute for a Friday morning, so enjoy the side eye from the anole being called a chicken nugget.

September 18, 2024, Ariel Marcy

Researchers have found a type of lizard – referred to as the chicken nugget of the forest – that can hide underwater thanks to a special bubble they produce around their nostrils.

Details of the scuba-diving lizards are published in Biology Letters.

Image of blue-gray lizard standing underwater with large bubble emerging from its nostrils. — A water anole produces a special bubble over its nostrils to breathe underwater. Credit: Lindsey Swierk.

For animals that have adapted to live on land, air-based breathing limits the amount of time they can survive underwater.

Many invertebrates, including species of beetles and spiders, are known to use bubbles of air to extend the amount of time they can spend underwater. These bubbles allow air-breathing animals to inhale previously exhaled air and take in additional oxygen. This behaviour is called rebreathing, inspired by the scuba technology of the same name.

Until recently, there were no known examples of vertebrates using bubbles to rebreathe underwater. In 2021, Lindsey Swierk, an assistant research professor at Binghamton University in New York in the USA, and her colleagues documented rebreathing in several species of Anolis lizards.

One such species, the water anole (Anolis aquaticus), is a semi-aquatic lizard that lives near streams in the forests of southern Costa Rica.

“Anoles are kind of like the chicken nuggets of the forest. Birds eat them, snakes eat them. So, by jumping in the water, they can escape a lot of their predators,” says Swierk. “We know that they can stay underwater at least about 20 minutes, but probably longer.”

The question remains whether the bubble over the water anole’s nostril functionally extended the amount of time these lizards could hide underwater.

To test this, Swierk and coauthors applied a bubble-impairing substance to the skin of one group of lizards.

“Lizard skin is hydrophobic. Typically, that allows air to stick very tightly to the skin and permits this bubble to form,” said Swierk. “But when you cover the skin with an emollient, air no longer sticks to the skin surface, so the bubbles can’t form.”

Swierk’s team then measured how long the control group stayed underwater compared to the bubble-impaired group. They found that the control group stayed underwater 32% longer on average.

“This is significant because this is the first experiment that truly shows adaptive significance of bubbles. Rebreathing bubbles allow lizards to stay underwater longer. Before, we suspected it – we saw a pattern – but we didn’t actually test if it served a functional role.”

https://cosmosmagazine.com/nature/animals/scuba-diving-lizards-breathe-bubble/

Well, how about this-

Teamsters Joint Councils Don’t Care What Sean O’Brien Says, Endorse Kamala Harris Anyway, by Rebecca Schoenkopf

Whoops, seems like this is not a gambit that is paying off in any way whatsoever.

Read on Substack

Yesterday, Teamsters President Sean O’Brien announced that the union would not be endorsing either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris for president of the United States, the first time the union has not endorsed a presidential candidate since 1996.

Now, in 1996, the union refused to endorse Bill Clinton because of NAFTA, which (sorry) was entirely reasonable. This time is a little different and a whole lot less reasonable. You have one candidate that will be continuing the policies of an administration that — with the unfortunately glaring exception of blocking the rail workers’ strike, which was bad — has been one of the best for labor in decades, and then you have another candidate who previously appointed union-busting lawyers to the National Labor Relations Board, refused to recognize a union at his Las Vegas hotel, and loves to have a good giggle with his union-busting friend Elon Musk about what a fabulous time it is to fire workers for striking.

Naturally, O’Brien stopped by Fox News to explain his reasoning to Neil Cavuto, who was extremely pressed about the fact that the Teamsters did not endorse Trump, even though Trump had invited him to speak at the RNC (and because Democrats told him to pound sand for having done that), and because the polling of rank-and-file members showed that they lean heavily towards Trump. He suggested O’Brien might just be being petty because of the whole “being friends with Elon Musk and having a good laugh about how fun it is to fire striking workers!” thing.

O’Brien said that the primary reason he did not endorse either candidate was because he “couldn’t get a commitment” from either one about Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. This actually would have been entirely understandable, except for the fact that Harris has repeatedly, specifically endorsed the PRO Act and said she would sign it if it got to her desk. Also except for the fact that Tim Walz, who has an incredible record on labor, actually signed into law something of a mini-PRO Act for the state of Minnesota.

Whoops!

Meanwhile, when Trump was in office, his administration literally put out a statement promising to veto the PRO Act.

“H.R. 2474 would also restrict workers’ freedom of association. It abolishes State right-to-work laws, and would thereby make union dues compulsory nationwide,” it read.

Whoops again!

Unsurprisingly (and despite that polling), Teamsters Joint Councils across the US (and particularly in battleground states) are issuing their own endorsements for Harris.

“The Harris-Walz ticket offers a comprehensive vision for America — one that not only prioritizes economic fairness but also stands steadfastly by our nation’s workers,” said Kevin Moore, President of Michigan Teamsters Joint Council 43, which represents 250,000 workers. “Their record and future plans are exactly what our country needs to continue growing and prospering. I urge all my Teamster members and fellow citizens to lend their support to this outstanding campaign.”

Teamsters Joint Councils 7 and Joint Council 42, which combined represent 300,000 Teamster members from 39 Local Unions across California, Nevada, Hawaii, and Guam issued a joint statement on Facebook announcing their endorsement.

“Winning fair wages, bargaining quality affordable healthcare, securing strong pensions, protecting good jobs, and growing the middle class through organizing, is at the heart of what we do as Teamsters” the statement read. “Vice President Harris and Governor Walz have demonstrated a commitment to standing with working people through action, such as supporting the Protect the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, and in the state of Minnesota, Governor Walz signed a bill that would ban forced captive audience meetings. Under a Harris-Walz administration we are confident that we will continue to have proworker appointees to the National Labor Relations Board and the Supreme Court, which directly impacts our ability to organize and win contract fights that benefit all workers.”

“Kamala Harris has long been a champion of working people and Labor Unions. As a Senator, she cast the tie-breaking vote that helped pass the Butch Lewis Act, which saved the pensions of thousands of Teamsters and millions of other hard working Americans,” read the endorsement from Joint Council 396, representing workers in southern California. “This crucial legislation preserved the financial security and dignity that our members earned over decades of dedicated work.”

“As Vice President of the most pro-union administration ever, Kamala Harris worked with the Teamsters and other union workers to pass the historic Butch Lewis Act which has saved the pensions of over a million retirees to date.” said Bill Carroll, President of Teamsters Joint Council 39, which represents roughly 15,000 workers in Wisconsin. “As President, Kamala Harris will build on those efforts and work with Congress to pass the PRO Act, ending some of the most egregious union busting tactics once and for all. In contrast, Donald Trump tried to gut workers’ rights as President by appointing union busters to the NLRB and advocating for national right-to-work. Trump’s Project 2025 would go even further, attacking the ability for unions to even have the ability to organize. This November we will work with millions of union workers across the country to defeat Donald Trump once again, and send Vice President Harris and Governor Walz to the White House. We are proud to endorse Harris-Walz for President and Vice President.”

Joint Council 40, representing western Pennsylvania, also issued an endorsement on its website.

So far, it does not look like any joint councils are endorsing Trump, and those who do lean that way would probably have a difficult time finding any actual labor-related reasons to support him. What would they even say? That keeping trans people from going to the bathroom or banning books will help workers somehow? That they want the famously anti-union, anti-worker corporate attorney Eugene Scalia back as Secretary of Labor?

There’s not a lot to go on there.

Totally Off Topic, But It Could Be Fun (I think it’s fun)

One day back in early summer, I searched to see if that’s a real song that plays on the Allegra commercial with the young woman coming out with headphones belting it out. The first entry on my search page brought this blog, so I checked it out. I read a few entries, and subscribed, since it’s on WP. I’ve enjoyed what I read. I got this last night, and thought I’d share, in case someone would like to check it out sometime and enjoy some commentary on TV commercials.

Progressive: Jamie Is A Reluctant High School Football Player

(PS just in case: they named the song in the blog entry, so after I read on the blog, I went to YouTube to check the song. It is a real song.)

Florida sheriff fed up with school shooting hoaxes posts boy’s mugshot to social media

This is sickening, so of course it is Florida. Seriously this is an adult sheriff mad at other adults and taking it out on a child. This is an 11 year old, impressionable child who has not formed critical thinking skills. In Florida this boy couldn’t read books with LGBTQ+ characters or plots, But we think they are smart enough to process the wrongness of their actions? If someone had talked him into taking off his clothing and letting them take pictures, we would not blame the kid would we. Seriously this is a 5th grader, being perp walked by adults. Tell me how this teaches the kid anything but the bigger the bully who carries a gun the more they can push around others. This trauma of being arrested, placed in a cop car, treated like a criminal is going to scar this child for life. Being locked in a cell, hell did they book and process him … with all that entails. Where is the right of the minor to have his parents present. There are better ways to handle this. All because adults don’t want to give up their damn guns. Hugs. Scottie

A Florida sheriff fed up with a spate of false school shooting threats is taking a new tactic to try get through to students and their parents: he’s posting the mugshot of any offender on social media. (Sept. 17, 2024)

Clark State security finds suspicious package on campus, rules out threat

(I clicked on a Springfield New-Sun article the other day; they let you read everything if you start an account or register or whatever; email address, user name, and a password. Anyway, it’s a very polite paper, and the work, so far as I’ve seen, is exemplary. If you click through to the page, take a look at their headlines to see how things are going in Springfield, thanks to the Republican ticket. Some of it is good news for residents; there is balance.)

News By Brooke Spurlock 3 hours ago

Clark State is investigating after officials found a suspicious package this morning on the College’s Springfield campus.

The college’s security found the package around 8 a.m. on the Leffel Lane campus and immediately contacted police, according to a statement on the college’s website.

“Police responded quickly and determined that the package was not of concern and no threat exists,” the statement said.

Administrators and police searched the buildings and campus before the Springfield Police Division said the campus was safe at 11:12 a.m.

Clark State closed all of its campuses this week and moved to remote classes through Friday as a result of two email threats of a potential bombing and shooting from last weekend.

https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/clark-state-security-finds-suspicious-package-on-campus-rules-out-threat/4Z2NNWTAZRDS7MS4L7EUN76AFA/#

Peace & Justice History for 9/19:

Interestingly, when something violent/violent-adjacent happens surrounding the Trump campaign and other Republicans, my Peace History newsletters go into Spam in my Gmail. It used to happen like that when he was in the WH, and also during the W admin. I’m not really saying anything here, just making a note before I apologize; this was in Spam, so it wasn’t posted promptly, and I’m very sorry to anyone who was missing it. There’s quite a bit today!

Okay. So, the same thing just happened to me that happened to Scottie; please go to the page. You click the tiny Peace buttons to access the pages with more info. It’s probably an internet anomalous day today. 😤🤦‍♀️🌞 It never hurts to just breathe deeply!

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryseptember.htm#september191952

Let’s talk about Harris showing Trump how he gets manipulated….

Jimmy Carter receives Holbrooke award from Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation

He is about to turn 100 years old.

FILE - Former President Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday School class at the Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains, Ga., Aug. 23, 2015. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Credit: AP Nation & World

By HILLEL ITALIE – Associated Press Updated 1 hour ago

NEW YORK (AP) — Less than two weeks before his 100th birthday, former President Jimmy Carter is receiving a lifetime achievement award from the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation, which has set aside its longstanding rule that the winner accept the honor in person.

The Ohio-based foundation announced Thursday that Carter was this year’s winner of the Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award, named for the late diplomat. In 2002, Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his human rights advocacy and for brokering such agreements as the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel.

Carter, who turns 100 on Oct. 1, is in hospice care in Plains, Georgia. His grandson, Jason Carter, will accept the prize on his behalf during a November ceremony that will honor the former president’s peace efforts and his authorship of more than 30 books — what the foundation calls “the power of the written word to foster peace, social justice, and global understanding.”

“For the past 17 years, one of the standing requirements to receive the Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award was a guaranty that the recipient would appear in person in Dayton, OH for an on-stage interview and an awards ceremony,” Nicholas A. Raines, executive director of the Dayton foundation, said in a statement. “This year we have decided to waive that requirement and present the award in absentia, to President Jimmy Carter.”

Jason Carter said in a statement that two of his grandfather’s “most enduring interests have been a devotion to literature and a near-constant pursuit of a peaceful resolution to conflict.”

“It is gratifying to have the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation choose to honor my grandfather with the Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award for a lifetime of work melding two of his loves — literature and peace,” Jason Carter added.

On Thursday, the Foundation also announced that Paul Lynch’s “Prophet Song” won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Fiction and Victor Luckerson’s “Built from the Fire” won for nonfiction.

Lynch and Luckerson each will receive $10,000. Fiction runner-up, “The Postcard” author Anne Berest, and nonfiction finalist, “Red Memory” author Tania Branigan, each get $5,000.

FILE - Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, left, U.S. President Jimmy Carter, center, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin clasp hands on the North lawn of the White House as they completed signing of the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel in Washington on March, 26, 1979. (AP Photo/Bob Daugherty, File)

Credit: AP

https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/nation-world/jimmy-carter-receives-holbrooke-award-from-dayton-literary-peace-prize-foundation/7KOA5Q63WJFU7MKBBW3KB5XEDE/

Let’s talk about the republicans getting tricked by the GOP….

The post I lost and the last three days

I talk about my weekend and reasons for not going to the MS site anymore, the fact I wrote a long heartfelt post on WordPress and due to one mistake lost the entire thing, and how I plan computer upgrades before continuing to post more videos. Best wishes, and Hugs