You know honeybees make honey, but did you know they make bread too? And four other types of bees are also dedicated chefs! Alfalfa leafcutting bees take a punch from a flower for your ice cream. Blue orchard bees bring you almonds and sweet cherries. Plus, stingless bees protect their tasty honey in creative ways. And bindweed bees’ way of gathering pollen deserves a fashion award.
These videos are done in 4K. Hugs
| November 24, 1859 British naturalist Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species, which explained his theory of evolution.The basis for the theory is natural selection, the process by which organisms change over time as a result of changes in heritable (genetically based) physical or behavioral traits. Such changes allow an organism to better adapt to its environment and help it survive and have more offspring. Evolution is now universally accepted among scientists, and is the organizing principle upon which modern biological and related sciences are based.  Darwin and “On the Origin of Species” |
| November 24, 1869 Women and men from 21 states met in Cleveland to organize the American Women Suffrage Association, led by Lucy Stone, Henry Blackwell, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, and Julia Ward Howe. The group’s approach to enfranchisement for women was through acquiring the right to vote state-by-state. Those in Cleveland had broken with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton of the National Women Suffrage Association over the 15th amendment to the Constitution, which had granted the vote to black male Americans following the end of slavery, but had not enfranchised women, whether white or black. Anthony and Stanton protested the protection of black rights over universal suffrage. Original document from AWSA in the National Archives |
| November 24, 1947 A group of writers, producers and directors that became known as the “Hollywood 10” were cited for contempt of Congress when they refused to cooperate at hearings about alleged Communist influence in the movie industry.  The Hollywood 10 Following their appearance in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) under Representative John Parnell Thomas (R-New Jersey), the House of Representatives voted 346-17 for the citations. All were convicted and sentenced to 6-12 months in prison. The charges were upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. Invoking their 5th Amendment right not to be witnesses against themselves, and their 1st Amendment right to freely associate with whom they choose, the Hollywood 10 refused to answer the question, “Are you a member of the Communist Party or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?” Others cooperated: the mother of actor and dancer Ginger Rogers testified her daughter had been asked to say in a film, “Share and share alike, that’s democracy,” a line from a script written by the blacklisted Dalton Trumbo. Rogers said this was “definitely Communist propaganda.”  Free The Hollywood 10 demo Read more (2 links) |
| November 24, 1970 14 American students met with Vietnamese in Hanoi to plan the “Peoples’ Peace Treaty” between the peoples of the United States, South Vietnam and North Vietnam.  It begins, “Be it known that the American people and the Vietnamese people are not enemies. The war is carried out in the names of the people of the United States and South Vietnam, but without our consent. It destroys the land and people of Vietnam. It drains America of its resources, its youth, and its honor.” The treaty was ultimately endorsed by millions. Read the treaty |
| November 24, 1983 On Thanksgiving Day seven Plowshares activists hammered and poured blood on B-52 bombers converted to carry cruise missiles at Griffiss Air Force Base near Syracuse, New York.  Bloody handprint on missile.Watch Plowshares history video Read more (2 links) |
| November 24, 1987 The United States and the Soviet Union agreed to scrap short- and medium-range missiles in the first superpower treaty to eliminate an entire class of nuclear weapons. The Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF treaty), signed by Reagan and Gorbachev, was the first to actually reduce the number of nuclear weapons held by the two sides.  |
November 24, 1993 Queen Lydia Liliuokalani Congress voted to formally apologize to Hawaii for the 1893 overthrow of the government of Queen Lydia Liliuokalani. What the apology was for Read the apology An Hawaiian Declaration of Independence |
https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorynovember.htm#november24
Same with watching a pet hedgehog eat watermelon, which is also out there on YT somewhere. Meanwhile, this is right here. 17% lower is a good thing. Watch it 2x!
The links are priceless to read on their own, but there is fine info when we click.
“Whale-ship collision hotspots: 93% have no protection measures”
November 22, 2024 Evrim Yazgin
A global survey has found that shipping traffic overlaps with almost the entire range of all whale species but only 7% of the areas with the highest risk of whale-ship collisions have protection measures in place for the whales.
“Whale-ship collisions have typically only been studied at a local or regional level … and patterns of risk remain unknown for large areas,” says lead author Anna Nisi, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Washington in the US. “Our study is an attempt to fill those knowledge gaps and understand the risk of ship strikes on a global level.”
The research, published in Science, focused on 4 species: blue, fin, humpback and sperm whales.
It found that the highest risk areas lay along the coasts of the Americas, southern Africa and parts of Asia.
The team found mandatory measures to reduce whale-ship collisions were very rare. These overlapped with just 0.54% of blue whale hotspots and 0.27% of humpback hotspots. Such measures had no overlap with any fin or sperm whale hotspots.
The findings are “timely” and “not surprising”, according to Vanessa Pirotta, a researcher at Sydney’s Macquarie University who was not involved in the study. (snip-MORE)
I was built by inherited hungers. This is not a poem that names them.
i.
As a body politic we take up space in their ledgers.
Yes, my relatives are the salvage bodies of history.
We have ways they do not approve of.
How we feed ourselves for one:
I have been taught where to find the winter cache of squirrels—
and how to walk away.
As we walk, my brother quiets me:
you cannot tell stories until you visit the places where they make their homes.
Father said the garden song calls the pollinators—
and we must sing in tune.
Nimaamaa said leave some for the spirits and the little people
(and what she meant was we are small in the green frayed body of belonging).
We learn from makwa, from maa’ingan—sometimes, even from Nanaboozhoo.
By this I mean not everything tattered is ruined.
ii.
They believe I was built of equations for gain.
(This poem is not an anthem.)
We still follow picto-spirits,
animal tracks, and seed paths:
Not all of our tools have price tags.
Not all of our safeguards are weapons
You will not find wild game in our lexicon.
Ask yourself—are we the meat they covet?
Copyright © 2024 by Kimberly Blaeser. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on November 22, 2024, by the Academy of American Poets.
As Girl
At six being a girl meant Tinkerbell
nail polish and pointed, pink Barbie shoes.
Sequined fairy wands and slippers that fell
off my feet when I ran. Outside the blue
sky a backdrop for green grass, the sweet
gum tree that was home base. Everything caught
my eye and sparkled. Rain-freshened earthworms,
armored rollie-pollies, and firefly dots.
At night the television played the news.
Its cyclopean eye returned my stare.
The goat-like pupil reflected a parade
of women and girls like ewes. Fair
and lovely. I thought they were adored.
Later, I was not a girl anymore.1
1. Stardate 2373, Earthdate 12.25.2021: I watch the crew stand on deck and chart a course around
the asteroid. I want Roddenberrian optimism, but I worry that one of us misunderstands a
time-paradox. I worry one of us misunderstands humanoids.
The rerun ends and another documentary begins. Onscreen
a model James Webb unfolds its mirrors
like petals
Copyright © 2024 by Annie Wenstrup. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on November 21, 2024, by the Academy of American Poets.
All the links are worthy; today I’m partial to both the one about a Trump-proof climate action Pres. Biden could take that would benefit the entire world, and the story about the “Indian peach”.
Stories
You are a Diné woman
A cosmic energy of earth and sky
Nihimá Nahasdzáán
Azhé’é Diyiní
Winter is over
So, we put our stories in the drawer
Then we take them out for the next winter
It is said stories are only told in the winter
So, the bears and snakes do not hear them
My father is not a traditional man
But he grew up as a traditional ashkii yázhí
He speaks the tongue of the sky and earth
of our people
He knows the ways of our land
But denies it all
One day I tell him
about watching coyote and lizard
stories as a young girl in boarding school
in my Navajo culture class
I tell him excitedly how the videos are now on youtube
but I still don’t understand them
because the videos are only in Navajo
I show him the cute coyote and lizard video
in hopes he will translate for me
He stops me the first ten seconds in
And tells me I shouldn’t watch it
Not because he doesn’t believe in cultural preservation
We are only supposed to watch and tell those stories during the winter, he says
Ohhhhhh, I say as I close the app
All the years my dad talks down on our traditions
I find it interesting, he still abides by the way of the seasons
because he knows snake and bear might hear
Or maybe he said it for other reasons
Copyright © 2024 by Amber McCrary. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on November 18, 2024, by the Academy of American Poets.
Scottie's Playtime 