Minoru Saba

"‘Whether Starmer stays or goes...’: Larry the Cat’s viral post steals spotlight..."
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/uk/whether-starmer-stays-or-goes-larry-the-cats-viral-post-steals-spotlight-amid-uk-political-drama/articleshow/131066321.cms
#ukpol #LarryTheCat

RE: @tend2wobble@toad.social

"If you were running Japan’s central bank, and your country was suddenly staring down an energy crisis... what would you sell first?

You would sell the most liquid dollar asset you owned.

You would sell U.S. Treasuries."

"3 of the United Kingdom's 4 nations are set for the first time to be governed by pro-independence parties after elections on Friday..."

"With the electorate angry over a stagnant economy, a prolonged cost-of-living crisis and a widespread perception that Britain's best days are behind it..."

" ”There is a real risk that we end up sleepwalking into the end of the United Kingdom,” said George Foulkes, a former minister ​for Scotland..."
https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/divided-kingdom-pro-independence-parties-surge-across-britain-2026-05-08/
#ukpol

"Figuring out how to make wild birds think decoys are real is the work of Sue Schubel, also known as “Seabird Sue.” For the past decade, she’s made the decoys at the core of a global seabird restoration program..."
https://www.biographic.com/the-artist-showing-seabirds-home/
#Audubon #SeabirdInstitute #decoys

"...the friends were standing together in the passenger cabin of the Hindenburg airship as it prepared to land May 6, 1937, at Lakehurst, New Jersey. They were moments away from...“one of the worst catastrophes of the world” "
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/05/06/landmarks-hindenburg-chicago-passengers/
#OTD #Hindenburg #airship

Walking off lunch on Sunday in Nanasawa Forest Park, Kanagawa Pref, we stumbled upon a puppetry performance by Sagami-ningyō-shibai Hayashi-za(相模人形芝居 林座) in the Mori-no-Minwa-kan.
After the show, the puppeteers demonstrated how the puppets were operated and invited the audience to try their hand.🙂
https://www.kanagawa-park.or.jp/nanasawa/pdf/nanasawa_EN.pdf
https://www.hayashiza.org/

"Storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel from power plants are approaching full capacity across Japan"
"...the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan in February showed that the overall occupancy rate for storage facilities... rose to 78% by the end of 2025"
https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/16486369
"Japan’s nuclear energy policy has been compared to an “apartment without a toilet” " https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14953919

Saw a couple of Taro Okamoto designs (like the ones shown in Taro Okamoto Memorial Museum's "Art in Daily Life" Exhibition) mingling with tradition carp streamers flying from a local apartment balcony🙂
#TaroOkamoto #koinobori #ChildrensDay
https://taro-okamoto.or.jp/en/exhibition/art-in-daily-life/

@caranha@scholar.social No actual cats, just plushies. Probably herding actual cats would have been more than a handful for the museum staff.🙂 Live exhibits included a fish (Datnioides microlepis) in the lobby, a number of chickens in a cage outside the entrance, some gerbils, and a big sulcata tortoise together with lemurs in the Biorium which had a good collection of succulents as well as the baobabs.

Went to the "猫のすゝめ"[Neko no susume ("An Encouragement of Cats")] at Tokyo University of Agriculture's Food and Agriculture Museum (東京農業大学 「食と農」の博物館) on Saturday.
https://www.nodai.ac.jp/campus/facilities/syokutonou/museum-eng/
Lots of info, a number of life-size models of big cats, a reproduction in felt(?) of Takeshi, the calico cat which accompanied the first Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition, and a bunch of life-like plushies packed into a smallish hall.
Also saw the lemurs and baobab trees in the adjacent Biorium.🙂

"J. Craig Venter, who mapped the first draft of the human genome and helped scientists understand how genes shape our lives, died Wednesday. He was 79"
https://apnews.com/article/venter-human-genome-dna-synthetic-biology-5cb52ba1598044c1767b58a21f519810
#Venter #genome

"Factors that drove the [bison] kill-off included the completion of the transcontinental railroad, improvements in European tanning technology that made bison hides more desirable and...U.S. Army...efforts to force Indigenous peoples onto reservations."
https://news.emory.edu/stories/2023/08/esc_bison_impact_24-08-2023/story.html
#bison #slaughter

"After a four-year renovation, the updated Edo-Tokyo Museum has reopened [on 31 March 2026] in the capital's Sumida Ward, offering visitors the chance to explore the capital's history spanning the Edo Period (1603-1867) to the modern era"
https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/16474005

Edo-Tokyo Museum:
https://www.edo-tokyo-museum.or.jp/en/
#EdoTokyoMuseum #Tokyo

@wilpercy Swallows used to return each spring to nest in the awnings of a couple of local shops, but new tenants kept removing the nests and the swallows disappeared for a number of years. However, recently heard the chattering of a couple of swallows in flight and saw them briefly alighting in local market gardens. Probably gathering mud for nest-building. Hoping people will let them be and let nature heal a little. #Tokyo #swallows

@jbf1755@mastodon.social 🔸Seems to be on brand for GOP. Was reminded that state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia filed a bill (SB1248) that would eradicate the Democratic Party in #Florida. "If the bill were to become law, it would take effect July 1." https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2023/03/01/republicans-in-florida-are-trying-to-get-rid-of-the-democratic-party/?sh=1aa1962c2ac5

@bojacobs@hcommons.social Jpn govt still places short term financial gains above safety by pushing to remove the 60yr working life limit of nuclear pwr plants as seen from today's Q&A session when oppo CDP ldr Edano asked PM Kishida: "Even under the 40- or 60-year standard, the accident at [Fukushima] occurred. [Extending beyond 60 yrs] is prioritizing [nuclear pwr] use over safety; and as it relaxes safety standards, you can't claim the highest safety level in the world. Am I wrong?" https://news.tv-asahi.co.jp/news_politics/articles/000287772.html