Simple ways to make your older dog’s life better and safer
Simple improvements, recommended by veterinarians and other experts, will help to prevent injuries and make it easier for your aging pup to get around. None of us likes admitting age-related limitations. But whether you and your pooch of a certain age live in an apartment building with slick floors or a townhouse with a treacherous staircase, there are many ways to make our older dogs’ lives — and ours — better and safer.

Four apps, designed and managed by scientists with world-class data, meet all your ID needs free of charge.The easiest to use is Seek.The app identifies the taxonomy of plants and animals instantly as you shoot. 🤖inaturalist.org/pages/seek_app The app doesn’t include deeper context about the species it identifies.

For that, there’s iNaturalist and Pl@ntNet. Both offer sophisticated, if slightly less user-friendly, apps that upload and analyze photographs of flora.inaturalist.org

A new threat rises in earthquake-battered Turkey: Mountains of rubble
In Samandag, the dump sites are another blow to a wounded town, sparking protests by residents and environmental activists, and fears of future health problems.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/04/… At all hours the dump trucks arrive, hauling earthquake rubble to what has become a growing mountain by the sea — of concrete and steel and blankets and bikes and, residents worry, a stew of toxic substances waiting to be released.

This 'debt ceiling' problem poses the biggest conundrum facing the US in 40 odd years. Every Administration in the last 25 years, since Clinton's 2nd term, Federal spending has exceeded revenues with the National Debt ballooning from $US5 trillion to $US31 trillion. No one has taken it seriously and most of that spending arose post 9/11 when national security services were given blank credit cards ... Bush Jnr started a war based on a WMD lie, Obama could not find an exit strategy, Trump offered tax cuts for his mates

President Biden isn't running out of anything! The dregs of the elected Republican party and the humoungous debt left by TFG are under the gun. This is not an unforseen expense, the Republicans who control congress were well aware that President Biden can't raise the debt ceiling, only congress controls that!

President Biden is running out of time and options to avert an unprecedented default on the federal debt, as House Republicans make increasingly clear that they are willing to court economic catastrophe washingtonpost.com/business/2023/… Call the GOPs bluff.

You think the ultra rich who control the corrupt Republican Party are going to allow the likes of Greene and Boebert to destroy their wealth?

Remember, rural America, their GOP representatives, are only pawns, used to help the plutocrats win elections.

Mowing grass too short can cut the tops off flowering plants creating lawns that are inhospitable for pollinators seeking habitats in which to feed rest and nest, experts say Keeping your lawn neat and trim not only is resource-intensive but can also affect its overall health.

https://twitter.com/MesMitch/status/1650285060682129409

Across the Lower 48 states, there are about 40 million acres of lawn, according to a 2005 NASA estimate derived from satellite imaging. These spaces could be havens for pollinating critters, many of which are facing widespread habitat loss.

Wagner group surges in Africa as U.S. influence fades, leak reveals
Wagner’s influence in Africa is a source of alarm to the U.S., prompting a push to find ways to hit the group, according to the documents.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/04/… One document in the trove lists nearly a dozen “kinetic” and other options that could be pursued as part of “coordinated U.S. and allied disruption efforts.” The files propose providing targeting information to help Ukraine forces kill Wagner commanders, and cite other allies’