Rainy day

So now we have unemployed dogs to worry about?

Since the nose doesn’t know pot is now legal, K-9s retire

In Virginia, the rush to take marijuana-detecting dogs out of service began even before lawmakers voted last month to accelerate the timetable for legalization. A separate law that went into effect in March prohibits police from stopping or searching anyone based solely on the odor of marijuana.

Too bad, so sad

Rioters blame their actions on 2020 election misinformation

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Falsehoods about the election helped bring insurrectionists to the Capitol on Jan. 6, and now some who are facing criminal charges for their actions during the riot hope their gullibility might save them or at least engender some sympathy.

When pigs fly. 

Karma (or something)

 Today is the day all the COVID-related restrictions in our state (almost all) expire (according to our governor) and it's such a cold, dark, dreary day nobody wants to go out anyway, We're looking at a wet, 50º weekend here. (We might hit 60º Monday if we're lucky.)

Meanwhile, since we suspect winter won't last forever, no matter the present conditions, I've been getting my winter clothes cleaned and packed away and in the process I've discovered so many masks tucked away, forgotten, in so. many pockets I have enough supplies now to survive another whole pandemic.

Maybe I won't need them again, but still.

But, according to some, Franklin wanted a snake

Bald Eagles Are Back. And They Want to Eat Your Pets.

The spike in numbers has prompted joy among animal-lovers—and anxiety among others. Owners of small pets have outfitted little dogs and cats in spiked collars and armor-like vests to keep them from becoming bird food.

“For the truth, the turkey is a much more respectable bird…a true original Native of America who would not hesitate to attack a grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his farmyard with a red coat on.” [Attributed to Benjamin Franklin]

You say that like it's a bad thing

Buildup to super blood moon eclipses the finale

Half the moon vanished, leaving it looking like a black-and-white cookie.

Cookies are about the best good thing there is (except that other kind, of course, which are sometimes not so). 

The bee that wouldn't stand still

Once in a while you just have to sit back and marvel

Tennessee anti-vaxxer arrested after deliberately plowing car through vaccination site

"She told deputies she was only doing 5 miles per hour through the tent."

Finally, science has gone too far

These scientists want to make your brain enjoy broccoli

Neurogastronomy, an interdisciplinary field, brings together neuroscientists, chefs, food technologists, and agriculture professionals with the aim of deciphering the human brain and people’s behavior toward food. Neurogastronomists don’t want to engineer broccoli so it tastes better; they intend to rewire your brain into thinking broccoli tastes better.

I'm looking for the word, "hamburger." 

Persevere

Big bird

Every which way

File under "Works in Mysterious Ways"

Vatican issues a street art stamp, ends up getting sued

The Vatican is home to some of the greatest artworks ever made, and it vigorously protects its right to reproduce them by enforcing its copyright over everything from the Sistine Chapel to Michelangelo’s Pieta. But now the tables have turned…

There's nothing like standing with the dissidents

EU leaders agree on Belarus sanctions after plane diversion

“We must protect innocent passengers from despotic regimes and stand in solidarity with dissidents who are being targeted,” Sens. Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, and Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, said in a joint statement.

If a super moon is eclipsed in a forest…

Cosmic 2-for-1: Total lunar eclipse combines with supermoon

“For people who might feel like we’re missing out, set your calendars for Nov. 19 of this year,” Petro said. This will be a nearly total eclipse where the moon dims but doesn’t turn red.

Still feels like missing out to me.

Is it the ick factor that turns people on?

The cicadas are coming — and foodies are getting ready to feast

Jessica Fanzo, a professor of food policy and ethics at Johns Hopkins University, told CBSN on Friday that the insects are "really important" and are the sign of an "incredible moment."

I'm drawing the line at crickets, myself. 

Half of half is…something

Half of US states have fully vaccinated at least 50% of adults.

Those states are Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, Washington state and Wisconsin.

Does this make him double-canceled then?

Notre Dame commencement goes ahead without Biden after backlash

Word of the invitation caused a backlash among Notre Dame students and alumni, more than 4,400 of whom signed an open letter urging university President John Jenkins not to invite the Democratic president — even though Biden made clear he wasn’t coming.

This whole "cancel" thing is really confusing, isn't it? 

Suddenly we are infested

Porn is in the wallet of the beholder

Columbia Prep students and parents reel after class on ‘porn literacy’

Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School charges $47,000 a year for students to attend.