Twitter accounts are based in Russia. BlueSky accounts are based in homes with, frankly, too many books, plants, obsolete cables, and pieces of rustic pottery, that could do with a bit of a tidying up, to be honest.

A photo of the Museum's Origami Tree. It is illuminated by purple spotlights.

A close-up photo of a Stegosaurus origami model on the tree. It's surrounded by colorful origami models.

Close-up photo of the Origami Tree treehopper, which is an asteroid.

A close-up photo of a "Where's Waldo?" origami model on the tree. It's surrounded by colorful origami models.

🎄The Origami Tree is now on view! An annual NYC tradition, the 13-ft tree is adorned with thousands of origami models. Produced in partnership with OrigamiUSA, it's decorated with hand-folded paper models created by local, national, & international origami artists: bit.ly/4ppGtYP

📸: A. Keding/©AMNH

Wide shot of a flock of flamingos wading in shallow water. They are crowding close together. Their pink feathers are bright against the pale grayish water.

#DYK? A flock of flamingos is called a flamboyance! The world's largest flamingo colony can be found in Tanzania, where 2 million+ birds have been observed.
Photo: Pedro Szekely, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

“They’re Just Kind Of Grabbing People”: Fear Grips Durham As Federal Agents Arrive Federal agents detained at least three people as volunteers mobilized to track the agents through Durham.

BREAKING: Federal agents detained at least three people in Durham on Tuesday, chasing them through a shopping center parking lot as stores locked down and shoppers fled.

Opinion: The battle against river debris, especially IPEX pipes, still rages on…and will for years • Asheville Watchdog It’s a wrestling match out there, folks. Every day. And sometimes you accidentally cut a catfish in half with a battery powered saw. More about that later. This is the situation on local waterways suc...

Cleaning up river debris after Helene will last for years
avlwatchdog.org/opinion-the-...

I’ve set up a recurring donation with mine. Even $5 a month can help a lot—usually way more than we, who don’t buy in bulk, could buy in equivalent.

Challenge: post your last photo taken in DC to show what a hellhole it is.
Sunset light on the conservatory of the U.S. Botanic Garden

Very unpopular opinion but I think in a healthier world our schools would teach the so-called “useless things”: Latin, old poetry, classic cinema, how to read and enjoy challenging novels. Studying these things won’t make you a better person. But they will give you a better life.

Progress Pride Flags are flying outside the Boston Public Library.

The flag adds black and brown stripes, along with the Transgender flag colors, to honor Boston’s Black, Brown, and Trans LGBTQ+ communities.

puppet

A wonderful puppet at #nokings in Chapel Hill @paperhandpuppet.org

A photo of a perentie on a rocky landscape. It is tannish in color and dappled with darker and lighter marbled patterning. It has a long neck.

Get to know the perentie! This lizard is one of the largest in the world. It can reach lengths of 6.6 ft (2 m) or more & hails from western Australia. It prefers dry habitats & eats a range of animals, from birds to mammals to other lizards.
Photo: Christopher Watson, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

U.S.-born man held for ICE under Florida's new anti-immigration law • Florida Phoenix Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen, was being held in the Leon County Jail Thursday, charged with illegally entering Florida as an “unauthorized alien” — even as a supporter waved his...

A Florida county is detaining and refusing to release a U.S. citizen born in the U.S., after ICE asked the county to detain him: floridaphoenix.com/2025/04/17/u...

A photo of a ring-tailed vontsira. It is covered in reddish fur and resembles a weasel or mongoose except for its long, bushy tail.

Have you ever seen the ring-tailed vontsira? Found in the forests of Madagascar, this carnivore weighs ~2 lbs (900 g) and feeds on insects, eggs, fish, small mammals, & more. It is an agile critter, an excellent climber, and is known to be playful.

Photo: sympiotr, CC BY-NC 4.0, iNaturalist

I used to go to UNC-SA up the street, and I would go sit under a tree in the green at Old Salem to study. We brought our kids there often when they were growing up, and my husband and I still visit a few times a year. We particularly love the gardens! (photo from 10/2019)

🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼

Polar plunge

Polar bear Nora loves to dive, so care staff came up with a way to safely place a camera at the bottom of her pool to watch her underwater. Beary cool!

A small pencil sketch of a tiny dragon perched on a branch with a paper clip gripped tightly in their mouth. The paper clip is about 1/4 the size of the dragon.

A dragon and their favourite paper clip.
The heart wants what the heart wants. 🤷‍♂️

Ibises in the trees and an alligator in the water in a small pond at the Fort Fisher NC Aquarium

I checked the math, and now I’m gonna just stare at the wall for awhile.

In 2023, the Smithsonian American Art Museum acquired quilts from the collection of Carolyn Mazloomi. She holds a doctorate in aerospace engineering and is a prolific artist, curator, and scholar.

"Sometimes the weight of living on this planet as a woman, we have to be reminded of who we are. Quilts help to serve that purpose of reminding women about their power." - Carolyn Mazloomi

…I can’t argue this one.

As Trump Threatened a Primary, a G.O.P. Holdout on Hegseth Flipped (Gift Article) Before Senator Thom Tillis voted to confirm Pete Hegseth as defense secretary, he worked with accusers to make the case against him in a bid to get G.O.P. leaders to scrap the vote altogether.

As Trump Threatened a Primary, a G.O.P. Holdout on Hegseth—NC’s Thom Tillis—Flipped

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/13/u... #ncpol

Chart showing instances of wild animals using a hamster wheel left out in the wild, with visits dominated by wild mice, followed by slugs, rats, shrews and a few frogs and snails.

In 2014 Dutch scientists left a hamster wheel outside, to see if wild animals would use it like their domesticated counterparts.

The answer: hell yes! 734 visits from wild mice - plus rats, shrews, slugs ("running" being subjective here) & even frogs and snails.

The apparent reason: fun. Just fun.

A photo of a whale shark swimming near a human diver. The animal is enormous. Its wide mouth is open. Its body is dark gray with lighter spots.

Not only is the whale shark (Rhincodon typus) the world’s largest shark—it’s also the world’s largest fish! Growing up to 40 ft (12 m) long and weighing more than 40,000 lbs (18,144 kg), it’s often regarded as a gentle giant.

Photo: Muhammad syaran, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

You’re the US Marines band at the White House and Mavis Staples 👑 walks into the room so you start playing "I’ll Take You There" and this happens👇

A male bullfinch sitting in a field that is entirely white with frost

Chonky bullfinch on this frosty, frosty morning 🥰
Liberton, Edinburgh
#birds #ukwildlife