Azure

French President Emmanuel Macron: “So many times we invest in and finance non-European solutions. We are crazy.”

Cowards are not worth your time.

Never forget who caved to Trump.

Gallup has been tracking presidential approval for eight decades.

Pirro is morally compromised, lacks intellect and integrity, and is beneath contempt, even when she is sober. She has no business holding any public office.

Great read. Spot on this:

“…what we are dealing with here is a generation of European leaders who cannot admit that they have failed. The world they assumed was permanent, was not. However instead of admitting their failure, they desperately pretend that things are not changing beneath their feet.”

Nice! This is in the current Land for Wildlife magazine. Great to see the @birdlifeoz.bsky.social Powerful Owl Project getting coverage, and nice to be name checked :-)

Show nature some love by registering to volunteer this #ValentinesDay. Our reserves team is looking for five additional #volunteers to help us get into the far corners of Five Rivers Reserve to track down sneaky ragwort! Starting on 23/02/26 we will be weeding for 4 days.

I didn't say he was. My question is this: If it's him or someone who will vote to make Mike Johnson the Speaker, do you still think it's "just more of the same?"

This quote will be part of the history books written while Barron Trump is president

Coastal Wetlands Restoration, Carbon, and the Hidden Role of Groundwater - Eos Coastal wetland restoration offers major carbon benefits, and understanding groundwater processes helps explain how these ecosystems store carbon over the long term.

In a recent Editor's Vox feature article, @jcu researcher Dr Mahmood Sadat-Noori explains the hidden role of groundwater in coastal wetlands for influencing carbon storage.

Read full article here👉 tinyurl.com/4n8py99k
@agu.org

"(Insurance) doesn't eliminate the forest fire. It doesn't eliminate the house. The house burned down. It it doesn't solve the real physical destruction and the cost of rebuilding," - Nobel Prize-winning economist Professor Joseph Stiglitz

Was "washed up loser lawyer" one of the insults they pre-loaded in her little "burn book"?

Because I'm not sure it nails a Harvard law graduate who taught con law for 25 years before becoming a congressman who's now the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee -- and, um, likely its next chair?

Our Starfleet Academy podcasts continue to stream/download at way above our usual pace.

The SFA #1&2 podcast is already our TOP podcast ever. The SFA ep 3 podcast is #3 and the SFA ep 4 podcast is already at #4.

Don't let the Starfleet Academy naysayers get you down.

#StarTrek #StarfleetAcademy

2/2 It's time! Clockmakers, from Jan van der Straet's series of great modern inventions. Blame them for woes of modern society!

2/2 Renaissance business (plus some entertainment): Piazza del Mercato Vecchio in the 1560s, by Jan van der Straet.

I've seen a few cruel posts on Twitter / X recently, and, as a result, I would remind you all of the following:

If you're trying to avoid infection with SARS-CoV-2, you're being smart.

Mask harassment - online or irl - is done by uninformed, resentful and insecure people. Ignore them.

Long COVID may be triggering Alzheimer’s-like changes in the brain: new study Over 20 million Americans are believed to have long COVID, suffering symptoms such as severe fatigue, shortness of breath, chest pain, palpitations, dizziness and muscle pain.

As I've said many times before on this platform, the moment I decided that I was going to avoid infection with SARS-CoV-2 was the moment I read that acute Covid-19 could cause both cognitive dysfunction and anosmia.

nypost.com/2026/02/10/h...

Department of Government Embezzlement Trump opposes government charity . . . unless it’s for him.

"The American public is increasingly alarmed about the dangers of Trump and Trumpism. But the elites are slower...Their behavior brings to mind the alleged remark by Alexandre Ledru-Rollin in 1848: 'There go the people. I must follow them, for I am their leader.'”

open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...

Photograph of two birds standing around water on a concrete water tank. On the left, a young Red Wattlebird is balancing on the sloping edge of the tank. On the right a nervous Common Bronzewing has a wing raised in protest.

Subsequent to photo 1: The Wattlebird is leaning forward with its wings raised and its body stretched.

Subsequent to photo 2: The Wattlebird is airborne, but angled down as it dives towards the water. The Bronzewing has lowered its wing but is watching the wattlebird nervously.

Subsequent to photo 3: The wattlebird is just starting to rise out of the water after diving in for a quick dip. It is sending droplets of water in all directions.

Young Red Wattlebird taking a quick dip on the neighbour's water tank.
#birds

Photograph from December 2015 of a male Australian King Parrot standing on a wooden railing. The bird is bright red and green, with distinctive yellow markings on his tail and the top of his head (though the marking on the head is difficult to see in this photo).

Photograph from February 2026 of the same bird perched on a tree branch in dappled sunlight looking much the same as he did 10 years ago.

Yellow Tail returned to our garden this week, marking a major milestone: I've been photographing this beautiful wild King Parrot for over 10 years now!!!

First photo: 21/12/2015
Latest photo: 09/02/2026
#birds

NB: Male King Parrots don't fully attain their mature red head plumage until they're about 4 years old, meaning Yellow Tail is at least 14 years old!

2/2 Wollaton in all its glorious oddity, particularly that prospect room on the top. Accessible only via the roof! Crazy Elizabethan architecture immortalized by Jan Siberechts.

The amazing & slightly manic Wollaton Hall in Nottinghamshire. Built for Sir Francis Willoughby in the 1580s, painted in 1697 by Jan Siberechts of Antwerp. Today is his day.

Chatsworth & its gardens in all their glory, 1703. Huge picture by Jan Siberechts of Antwerp, whose day is today.

Carts, cows, people -- everybody's in the stream in 1663. Or is the road just seriously flooded? As painted by Jan Siberechts of Antwerp, whose day is today.

Infanta Margarita Teresa, drowning in her truly astonishing pink dress, 1665. By Juan Bautista Martinez del Mazo, whose day is today.

Portrait of a girl with flowers. Beautiful work by Juan Bautista Martinez del Mazo, whose day is today.

Margarita Teresa of Spain, painted by Juan Bautista Martinez del Mazo. She would die at age 21 during her 7th pregnancy. One child survived her. Life of a Habsburg woman!

Red-tailed black cockatoo.
Sunset Strip, New South Wales.

‘Build more houses’: RBA call to arms as mortgages hit record highs In five years, the average new mortgage has soared almost 50 per cent to record levels. The Reserve Bank says the country needs to build more homes.

Capital gains tax discount should not be available for buying existing residential property.
The tax discount should only go to investments that add to Australia’s productivity, not just changing the owner

www.smh.com.au/politics/fed...