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March 29, 2024

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Friday, January 28, 2022

Open Thread – Attempted Murder

There are all kinds of different categories for groups of animals – herd, flock, school, gaggle, pod, covey, pack… But, I’ve always thought the corvids had the most interesting. First, there’s a murder of crows. That’s what made me unable to stop laughing at the image above.

But here’s the strange thing. Ravens come in an unkindness. Ravens are surely bigger, badder and smarter than crows, and yet they only warrant an unkindness whereas their smaller skinnier cousins inspire murder. It’s weird – they always seemed so normal and nice, and kind of kept to themselves. You just never know.

Stay tuned for the latest on the election debacle tomorrow. It’s getting to the point where you don’t even have to live in Anchorage, or Alaska for that matter, to appreciate the drama, the cast of characters, and the downright skulduggery.

Comments

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Comments
33 Responses to “Open Thread – Attempted Murder”
  1. mike from iowa says:

    A final note on the student suicide last week in Primghar,Iowa. An eleven year old male student from South Obrien School District was taken to a mental facility in nearby Cherokee,Iowa after telling teachers he wanted to hang himself. Student is responding to counselors and staff. Hopefully,intervention may have saved this young persons life.

  2. JimInWA says:

    I’ve always like a ‘murder of crows’. Here are some other collective nouns that always make me smile.

    unkindness of ravens
    barrel of monkeys
    prickle of porcupines
    buffoonery of orangutans
    dropping of pigeons
    cackle of hyenas
    ballet of swans
    barren of mules

    And my very favorite …
    durante of toucans

  3. Mag the Mick says:

    Back in Anchorage, the was a magpie nest in a tree in my back yard, and I usually had 10 – 15 magpies there constantly. One spring day, my cat Grania killed a young magpie in a particular spot in the back yard. For almost a week, the rest of the birds congregated at that spot, standing with their heads bowed, not making any noise. Then – the war was on with Grania. They would swoop at her, peck at her, and oftentimes, succeeded in pulling some of her fur off her. She fought back, of course, sometimes leaping more than six feet in the air to try and bring one down. This war went on for four mor years, until we moved. Interestingly, my other cats were never bothered.

    We hold grudges and we remember, we Mags.

    • mike from iowa says:

      Okay,I’ll bite. What’s a Grania?

      • Mag the Mick says:

        Grania was my cat. She was named after GraniaUaill Ni Maillaigh,who was a tough, undaunted chieftainess of her clan in Galway and commanded her own private navy. How tough was she? Queen Elizabeth the First was forced to make terms with her. They became friends, of a sort, and corresponded in Latin, their only common language. The root word for Grania in irish is “gra”, meaning “love”. I named my cat Grania because she was bold and very warlike, but had a great heart.

        So Mickey, mo gra stor, that’s why.

  4. mike from iowa says:

    I just remembered about a year ago,someone chose to revise history that happened on April 18th,1775,though hardly a person is still alive that remembers that famous day and year. Except for YKW,Paul Revere,Dawes and others would have their names and actions safely ensconced in history books forever.Well,the party pooper pooped plenty. Texas board of education will rewrite early American history according to YKW’s version of events and it will be marketed as gospel. Is our children learning?

  5. juneaudream says:

    Loved the film..and studied it for the..indeed..pushing the cats to such anger..that they fought..hard and well. Me thinks the birds were not only ..being entertained as they have splendid senses of humor..but were mindful of the damages accruing to cats..who might/may..have predation of birds/nests..on their minds. Many levels there.

  6. A Fan From Chicago says:

    I was always partial to An Exaltation of Larks.

  7. jimzmum says:

    Dragging out the muslin frost covers for tonight, AGAIN! We had no winter until a couple weeks ago, and now it is showing up with great regularity. Dogwood winter is generally the last frost, but somebody forgot to tell Nature. Blackberry winter looks to be down in the high 20’s, and who knows what linen britches will bring!

    Will lightly spray all the ribes tonight in hopes that they appreciate the fact that I am going to be up every few hours to keep them warm. Somehow, I think not.

    • benlomond2 says:

      96 degrees yesterday, as I was splitting up the last bit of wood for upcoming winter. suppose to be the same today, My dogwood tree is in full bloom, as is the pear tree. time to turn the sprinkler sys on and break out the suntan lotion.
      The pic took me straight to Poe’s “The Raven”… Nevermore, nevermore….

      • Moose Pucky says:

        You have your wood for next winter already?? Whoa. We’re still burning the wood for this winter.

        • benlomond2 says:

          Yup! 2 and half cords, split with maul and wedge…great stress relief !We kinda just jumped from winter to summer this year…

    • leenie17 says:

      Yup…expecting snow here in western NY too. I’m right on the edge of the snow/rain line so we might not get too much but Buffalo is supposed to get a nice generous delivery of the white stuff.

      Since the early spring weather has been warmer than usual in the northeast, the trees have a lot more leaves than they normally do this time of year and the heavy, wet snow is expected to bring down lots of power lines.

      I’m glad I didn’t get around to planting my cold weather veggie seeds a couple of weeks ago like I planned. They would be just big enough by now to freeze and be killed.

      • Buffalogal says:

        We’ve got our candles and flashlights ready, big pot of creamy potato soup is on the stove, picked up milk and bread, got the fireplace ready and made sure that cocktail supplies were aplenty. The storm may arrive, if it must.

        Glad you didn’t get those veggies in the ground, Leenie !

        • leenie17 says:

          Stay safe and warm, Buffalogal!

          And if you have some of that potato soup left over… 🙂

          • Buffalogal says:

            I’ll hit the 90 and head east at 7pm and you head west, we can meet up in an hour, transfer soup and be both back home before the snow hits.

            On yer mark ….

          • leenie17 says:

            Just made some bbq pulled pork I’ll throw in to trade!

    • merrycricket says:

      There is a freeze warning for the western part of Ohio, a winter storm warning for the far eastern part and those of us in the middle are just stuck with dreary, cold and wet. Meh… Keep those plants cozy tonight.

    • jimzmum says:

      Sun is up, so am I, but not for long. Everything is good and the danged weather really, really needs to get its act together. Too old for this all night misting stuff.

  8. mike from iowa says:

    http://www.salon.com/2012/04/18/sheriff_joes_world_crumbles/singleton/

    Oh no,they say he’s got to go,gogo Arpaio. Buh-bye soon,Joe. Better days are coming for Arizona. Mayhaps the Brady bunc….errr,I mean the family that shall remain nameless can take over and Maricopa County can have its first momma grozzly sheriff.

    • merrycricket says:

      I hope he does go. I am so sick of republicans who want smaller government, less regulations and fewer rules all the while proving they need to be watched 24/7 and then some.

  9. thatcrowwoman says:

    Attempted murder…
    hahahahahacawCaw CAW!

    Please pass the murder mystery
    flavored with some historical fiction…
    Agatha Christie, anyone? Hercule Poirot? Miss Jane Marple?
    or some Ellis Peters? Brother Cadfael!

    Sunny in the forest, breezy and 50-ish.
    Time to peg out some wash (ever mindful of dust-bathing-hen craters).

    but first a song for earth day, eh?
    Winds of the old days…were you there on the 1st Earth Day, also, too?

    with a reggae vibe this morning,
    Ben Harper – With My Own Two Hands
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEnfy9qfdaU&ob=av2e

    “I can change the world
    With my own two hands
    Make a better place
    With my own two hands
    Make a kinder place
    With my own two hands

    I can make peace on earth
    With my own two hands
    And I can clean up the earth
    Oh- with my own two hands
    And I can reach out to you
    Oh- with my own two hands

    I’m gonna make it a brighter place
    (with my own)
    I’m gonna make it a safer place
    (with my own)
    I’m gonna help the human race
    (with my own two hands)

    Now I can hold you
    With my own two hands
    And I can comfort you
    With my own two hands
    But you got to use
    Use your own two hands”

  10. Kath the Scrappy says:

    Now, on the political spectrum, I found this most interesting. My fav soft spoken Thom Thurman interviews John Nichols from Wisconsin (that I really respect as well). Much historical stuff to digest IMO.

    If the Government Shutdowns – Who Wins?
    9:29mins
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKVoJOsiqrs&feature=youtu.be

    John Nichols, The Nation Magazine joins Thom Hartmann. Come September – there’s a good chance that the government might shut down. And believe it or not – this time – it’s not Republicans threatening the shut down. So who IS? And how might a shutdown one month before the election affect who wins the White House?

  11. Kath the Scrappy says:

    In keeping with the above picture, these two birds are just egging on a catfight, I don’t think they’re crows tho. Watch to the end, the birds just don’t stop egging:

    Two Crows Incite EPIC Cat Street Fight! – Birds Gone Wrong!
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b07b7VLNbSA&feature=youtu.be

    • COalmostNative says:

      Bwa ha ha! *snicker* That’s a good one to brighten my day… 😉

    • AuntieRuth says:

      I believe that the birds are magpies.

      • carol says:

        Not the magpies we have here in Alaska, locals don’t have the difference cape color and have way longer tails. Of course, we don’t even know if this is in North America. Silly cats, those birds definitely were “top dogs” in this cat fight.

    • leenie17 says:

      I can just imagine the hissing and spitting that was going on during that fight.

      The cat I had for 17 years was part feral so she was rather cranky and would often hiss, but the noise that always creeped me out the most was when she would growl!