10 Oregon Republican senators can't run for reelection, the state supreme court confirmed, because they walked out last year to block 100s of bills.

This is due to a ballot initiative approved in 2022 that required lawmakers to be present in the session. https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/01/oregon-supreme-court-gop-walkout-00139079

Big news in bug math. This is the first year since 1803 when both 13-year cicadas and 17-year cicadas will emerge from the ground simultaneously in the US!

13 and 17 are both prime. It's believed cicadas evolved to have prime-number life cycles, thus avoiding predators that emerge more frequently, like once every 4 years or 5 years or... whatever. By showing up infrequently, with a prime number life cycle, cicadas can starve out those predators.

And since 13 and 17 are both prime and 13 × 17 = 221, both kinds of cicadas emerge simultaneously only once every 221 years. And

1803 + 221 = 2024

so now they'll both emerge simultaneously and we'll have 𝑙𝑜𝑡𝑠 of cicadas!

Also, this year the two kinds can interbreed! Maybe they're be fruitful and multiply... and we'll get 221-year cicadas. 😆

The last time the Northern Illinois Brood’s 17-year cycle aligned with the Great Southern Brood’s 13-year cycle, Thomas Jefferson was president.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/19/science/cicadas-emergence-broods.html

#Bluestockings Cooperative is an indispensible feminist bookstore in NYC. It's been a fantastic community space for as long as I can remember.

Now it's facing eviction because the store is providing Narcan — and they've actually saved lives!. Please do what you can to help. Details below...

https://www.instagram.com/p/C1MluXlOfr4/?hl=en

#Florida district pulls many #Jewish and #Holocaust #books, including Saul Bellow’s ‘Herzog’ and [Rebecca Walker's] ‘Black, White and Jewish’
https://www.jta.org/2023/12/21/united-states/florida-district-pulls-many-jewish-and-holocaust-books-including-saul-bellows-herzog-and-black-white-and-jewish

Also removed: Sophie's Choice by William Styron and the complete plays of Lillian Hellman.

#BookBans #Censorship #Libraries

YOUR 2023 CALENDAR WRAPPED

You spent 31 DAYS in each of the months of August, March, July, January, October, and May. That’s a six way tie. Guess you’re the type who can’t be satisfied by just one month! 😎

Your longest day was NOVEMBER 5, a whopping 25 hours. Falling back like a champ! 🍂

This year was the 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF 2013. Here’s to another 10 more! 🥳

You’ve had 51 MONDAYS so far this year. Yikes! We won’t tell Garfield if you won’t. 🐈

Today is John Mastodon Day: On this day one year ago, a journalist misunderstood some facts and created the person of “John Mastodon” out of them (https://web.archive.org/web/20221216232836/https://www.mediaite.com/opinion/hypocrisy-and-fear-all-the-way-down-at-twitter). That day, the Fediverse got a new meme, a patron saint and a running gag at the same time.
Let us all celebrate it!

#JohnMastodonDay #JohnMastodon #Fediverse