Aquarium rewards dolphins w/a fish if they bring a piece of litter or dead gull (to help keep pool clean)
One dolphin starts (1) tearing pieces of litter into smaller pieces & trading each piece in for a reward & (2) stockpiling fish to lure & kill gullshttps://t.co/RiCw3yyuXy
— Julia Galef (@juliagalef) January 9, 2018
Open thread as we wait for the cosmic bypass to be built
schrodingers_cat
Stable genius made the front page on ICHC/lolcats!
Lapassionara
Cool!
lamh36
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Jonathan Swan gets very bitchy about the Wolff book, and any reporting that disagrees with what he knows to be true
Virginia
I guess we should be glad dolphins do not have thumbs.
Thoroughly Pizzled
When I see “so long and thanks for all the fish,” I assume that someone’s leaving. Don’t scare us like that!
Adria McDowell
I, for one, await the time when our dolphin overlords take control.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: (Since you repeated the comment from downstairs, I’ll repeat the reply…)
I know that Wolff said the Trump hates McMaster, he’s too gloomy and talks about details.
ETA: McGahn may just career self preservation or an attempt to keep himself out of jail.
Steeplejack
Oh, God, Cole’s Twitter feed is squeeing so hard over Yuki. I think there’s gonna be an addition to the household.
kindness
If Fox won’t hire Bannon then we are doomed to CNN doing so.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Someday, somebody on one of these talking head segments doing the wide-eyed “whatever has happened to Lindsey Graham…?” thing, someday one of them is going to speak the word “kompromat”
Mnemosyne
@Virginia:
As Douglas Adams said in the above-quoted book, humans think they’re smarter than dolphins because all dolphins do is loll around in the water all day swimming and making little dolphins, and dolphins think they’re smarter than humans for the exact same reason.
Jeffro
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: it’s almost like no one wants to work for this guy?
Adam L Silverman
@kindness: One News America.
chris
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Had to look him up. Swan works for Axios and gets very bitchy on Fox. Fuck him.
Chip Daniels
@Adria McDowell:
If present trends continue, by 2019, this may cease to be satire.
different-church-lady
@kindness:
Hell, why not the New York Times at this point?
zhena gogolia
@Steeplejack:
That is a damned cute picture, you have to admit.
different-church-lady
@chris:
Saving that to the clipboard.
schrodingers_cat
@different-church-lady: Move over David Brooks, your replacement is here.
lollipopguild
@Mnemosyne: Several years ago i remember reading a story about a scientist who was studying dolphins who told the reporter that he and several other scientists in this group felt that the dolphins were studying the scientists.
chris
A bit of light relief. The story of the polite paparazzo with a cute picture of Justin and son Hadrien outside Chubby Funsters.
Steeplejack
@zhena gogolia:
Yes. It reminds me of the classic joke about how dogs were “domesticated”:
Dog: “Have you noticed how if you cock your head and look at the humans a certain way they just start flinging pieces of meat at you?”
chris
@different-church-lady: You’re welcome, I think.
Yarrow
@Steeplejack: LOL. That’s hilarious. I wish he’d give us a Yuki update. He’s got to be keeping that dog.
Mnemosyne
@lollipopguild:
Hell, our cats have us trained and they only have brains the size of a walnut. I’m sure dolphins do much better at training humans.
Roger Moore
@kindness:
I think he’s going to try to find a new billionaire sugar daddy and start a new propaganda rag.
schrodingers_cat
Fellow New Englanders and cold climate dwellers, I have a question. After the epic cold of the last two weeks, I noticed some drips and condensation in several places, all over the house (basement and near the attic door) since it started warming up from yesterday. Drips have stopped, should I be worried. The house is well insulated and this didn’t happen last winter.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Steeplejack: OT: I read this post and thought of you for some reason.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Roger Moore: That’s the plan, and then run for President.
WaterGirl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I saw that on the other thread, but I have no idea what CNN report is being referenced, so the whole thing makes little sense to me.
WaterGirl
@Thoroughly Pizzled: I had the exact same thought!
WaterGirl
@Steeplejack: Hope so! Off to look at Cole’s twitter page.
WaterGirl
@Steeplejack: Dammit, Cole – why don’t we get that sweet photo posted here? What are we, chopped liver?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Thoroughly Pizzled: @WaterGirl: I thought the same thing, we were losing another front-pager!
I think the tweets about personnel reference a story about the stampede for the exits and people being leaned on to make up their minds and give adequate notice if they are leaving, I was more struck by Swan’s admission that being “unequivocally’ assured of something by this gang don’t count for much. I’ve seen him on TV a few times and he’s an arrogant prick, rolling his eyes and interrupting people.
Steeplejack
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Ha! Thanks.
SiubhanDuinne
A friend of mine lives on Tybee Island and spends hours just about every day taking her little boat out and interacting with the dolphins. After doing this for close to 20 years, she knows most of them individually and they recognize her and introduce their calves to her. She’s not trained in marine mammal biology or anything, but she has a real affinity for the dolphins, and they with her. Just sent her the link to the Guardian story in case she hadn’t seen it. They are so fucking smart.
WaterGirl
@Roger Moore: Would not surprise me one bit.
WaterGirl
@schrodingers_cat: I wouldn’t worry about it. My house is doing the same thing. I assume it’s because super cold air can’t hold much humidity at all, and now that it’s warming up the air we’re getting more humidity.
lowtechcyclist
@Mnemosyne: Having the book right here:
man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much – the wheel, New York, wars, and so on – while all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man – for precisely the same reasons.
In the tweet, there’s a link to the Guardian piece it’s referring to. Go there, read the whole thing. The tweet is just an appetizer.
Ken
@Mnemosyne: Someone else joked, “There are no reports of dolphins attacking humans. So either they’re smart enough to not attack, or they’re really smart and attack only when there will be no survivors.”
At least, I think it was a joke.
chris
@schrodingers_cat: Next time it gets really cold check for ice and drafts in those places. Extra cold air sneaks in through tiny gaps in the insulation/vapour barrier and freezes the moisture in the warm air. Now it’s melting and you have little drips.
Unless, of course, it’s mouse pee?/
schrodingers_cat
@chris: Thanks I have also noticed that the wood floor near the kitchen sink is slightly warped.
Another Scott
@schrodingers_cat: Check for water leaks under the sink (and in the plumbing in the basement ceiling (if you have one) under the kitchen). It might be nothing, but water is an excellent solvent… :-(
Good luck!
Cheers,
Scott.
chris
@schrodingers_cat: Warped is OK, it got wet at some point. Damp and warped is not. Check for leaks under the sink maybe?
ETA: Too slow! My experience was a small O-ring in the sink drain that let go. Tiny leak for a long time.
Roger Moore
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
I don’t think Bannon wants to be president. He’s the kind of person who prefers to be the power behind the throne to being the one sitting in it.
SteveinSC
BREAKING BREAKING—Susan Collins vows to really, Really, REALLY vote with Democrats on net neutrality restoration!!!!!*
*Pending an offer from Mitch Mcconnell of new highway for Maine
Ragbatz
“One dolphin starts (1) tearing pieces of litter into smaller pieces & trading each piece in for a reward …..”
Ah, gaming a fee for service system.
schrodingers_cat
@chris: I don’t see a leak, and only noticed the warping yesterday.
Ragbatz
–
chris
@schrodingers_cat: Plumbers check for leaks with toilet paper. Touch the pipes and area around them, if it gets wet…
schrodingers_cat
@chris: Thanks, I will check.
chris
@schrodingers_cat: Another Scott mentioned the basement. I have seen a pinhole leak in an old copper pipe shoot an invisible jet of water across twelve feet of basement. Couldn’t figure out how my workbench got wet til I felt it on my hand.
schrodingers_cat
@chris: Will do. The drips in the basement have completely stopped now.
Frankensteinbeck
Wow, that’s almost crow level of intelligence.
jmw
Neoliberal dolphin strikes again.
Ken
@SteveinSC:
Let’s be realistic about her principles.
WaterGirl
@SteveinSC: @Ken: The edit is perfect.
Gvg
@chris: I had to evacuate my apartment, oh 30 years ago because suddenly the carpet was wet. Repairs found that the copper pipes in the walls had sprung 6 different leaks. According to management, when the old copper pipes aged to wear thin, they were thin everywhere. They replaced the pipes and dried the carpet with huge fans. I was too young and timid to make them pay me for losing my apartment for a week.
chris
@Gvg: My sister and her spouse had to move out of their brand new condo for three months after they’d been in it for four months. They noticed the hardwood floors buckling and the one of the walls went sorta… soft. Their unit and the two underneath had to be stripped to the studs and refloored because there was mould everywhere to boot. All because of a couple of badly made plumbing connections.
Felanius Kootea
@chris: Looked him up too. He’s from Australia. Is he by any chance related to Murdoch or is there some pro-conservative reporting gene out there?
schrodingers_cat
@Gvg: @chris: You guys are scaring me. These incidents that I am describing only happened in the last 2 days. We have been here for over a year and last year was fine, no drips or leaks etc.
PaulWartenberg
Wait what?
we’re teaching dolphins to kill gulls?!
chris
@schrodingers_cat: No worries, it’s probably just because of the extreme cold and condensation. My sister’s place was a disaster because the water couldn’t dry anywhere in the concrete shell so it just kept spreading.
chris
@Felanius Kootea: Oz does have its very own RWNJs.
mawado
It just dawned on me, the dolphins have a better concept of the future than Republicans.
I’m gonna see a dolphin about a bourbon.
misterpuff
The Dolphins are more advanced than Drumpy and the GOP.
No surprise.
Wapiti
@PaulWartenberg: Nah. They’re training each other to kill gulls. They’re both protected species so it’s all good.
Stardus614
The dolphin is an entrepreneur working within an aquatic system of capitalism, Also, it is clearly a much better negotiator than the shitgibbon currently polluting the oval office.