Patricia Smith

eclectic tastes

[Maphiri @Chibuleni]

I just witnessed the funniest fight of my life. 🤣🤣
A Zulu man and a white guy were going at each other, exchanging words left, right, and center. The argument was getting heated until the white guy suddenly started swearing in fluent Zulu. 😭😭The Zulu man froze, looked at him and said, "Kanti, you can speak Zulu?! So I wasted all my English for nothing?" 🤣🤣🤣At that point the fight was over. Everyone was laughing, including the two people who were fighting. 😂😂💀

[⚽️ Kyle Sheldon @kylesheldon]

Is this the best World Cup team photo of all time?

Bravo, Norway 🇳🇴⚔️

[Patricia Smith @PaddyMay]

A long difficult truism.

[Murray Rothbard @MurraySuggests]

The Iranian navy, which has been destroyed eight times, has apparently closed the Strait of Hormuz again, because the United States, for the seventh time, won the war that wasn’t a war, so now the United States has to open the Strait of Hormuz that was already open before the not-war began.

The not-war began because Iran had uranium that was totally, completely, beautifully obliterated, so they can’t build the nuclear bomb they weren’t building, which is why the United States had to start the not-war it definitely didn’t start.

Now the United States, which has nuclear weapons, is threatening to use nuclear weapons to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons, because nuclear weapons are far too dangerous for countries with nuclear weapons to allow other countries to have.

If the United States saw the United States doing what the United States does in other countries, the United States would invade the United States to liberate the United States from the tyranny of the United States.

[Sony Thăng @nxt888]

"Never forget," they say.

But they choose what you remember.

Never forget Tiananmen.

Never forget 9/11.

Never forget the Holocaust.

But somehow, you are allowed to forget Fallujah.

You are allowed to forget Mỹ Lai.

You are allowed to forget Sabra and Shatila.

You are encouraged to forget Gaza while it is still happening.

This is not a culture of remembrance.

It is a culture of selective memory.

[Ahmet Gemici @ahmetgemici2990]

Sizden bir ricam olabilir mi?! Filistin hakkında konuşmayı bırakmayın lütfen... Algoritmayı bozmak için nokta bırakın.
Destek için takip etmeyi unutmayın. 💔🇵🇸

[Sama Hoole @SamaHoole]

Imagine pitching this to investors.

A machine that:

- Runs entirely on grass nothing else can eat
- Produces dense, bioavailable protein and fat
- Fertilises the ground as it goes
- Builds topsoil instead of stripping it
- Needs no fuel, no grid, no charging cable
- Manufactures its own replacements at no extra cost
- Throws off leather, tallow and gelatin as a byproduct of simply existing
- Has been in continuous operation for ten thousand years

You'd be handed every environmental award going, plus a standing ovation.

We invented it, called it a cow, and now hold meetings about how to get rid of it.

[Patricia Smith @PaddyMay]

@archer_rs And on we all go.

[yu_007 @YVaw123]

A Palestinian Boy In Gaza Paints The South African Flag 🇿🇦 On a Bombed Building Wall With a Message To South Africans Saying : " FROM GAZA Thank You South Africa ♥️"

[Patricia Smith @PaddyMay]

@OmarHamadD Hello. Nice to know you.

[Mr PitBull Stories @MrPitbull07]

In September 2007, a bird weighing barely more than a pound lifted off from Alaska and flew across the Pacific Ocean without stopping once.

No landing.
No food.
No water.
No sleep on the ocean.

Seven days and nine nights later, she arrived in New Zealand.

Her name was E7.

She was a bar-tailed godwit — a shorebird small enough to fit comfortably in your hands.

Scientists had long suspected these birds made one of the greatest migrations on Earth, but nobody had ever tracked an individual bird across the entire journey in real time.

E7 became the proof.

Researchers fitted her with a tiny satellite transmitter before migration season began.

Then they watched in astonishment as the signals kept moving south.

And south.

And south.

More than 7,000 miles across open ocean with no break.

What makes the journey even more unbelievable is how a godwit prepares for it.

In the weeks before departure, the bird transforms itself into a living fuel tank.

E7 spent late summer eating constantly, nearly doubling her body weight in fat reserves.

Then something extraordinary happened inside her body:

Her digestive organs began shrinking.

Her stomach and intestines partially atrophied because they wouldn’t be needed during the flight.

At the same time, her heart and flight muscles grew larger and stronger to handle the nonstop effort ahead.

By the time she launched into the sky, her body had essentially rebuilt itself for one purpose:

Survival in the air.

Once E7 left Alaska, there was no room for mistakes.

A bar-tailed godwit cannot rest on the ocean like a seabird.

If she landed in the Pacific, she would drown.

So she kept flying.

Hour after hour.
Day after day.

She navigated using the sun, stars, Earth’s magnetic field, and atmospheric patterns scientists still don’t fully understand.

She rode favorable winds southward while slowly burning through the fuel stored inside her body.

And when the fat reserves finally ran low, her body began consuming its own muscle tissue to keep her alive.

After more than 200 straight hours in flight, E7 finally descended onto the mudflats of New Zealand.

She had lost over half her body weight.

Her digestive system had effectively shut down.

Her muscles were severely depleted.

But she survived.

Within hours of landing, her organs began rebuilding themselves again.

The tiny bird that crossed the Pacific started eating, recovering, and preparing for the next stage of life as though this impossible journey was simply normal.

And that’s the part scientists found most humbling.

E7 wasn’t some miraculous exception.

She was just the first godwit carrying technology that allowed humans to witness what her species had quietly been doing for thousands of years.

Every year, tiny birds rise into the Arctic sky and cross an entire ocean powered only by instinct, endurance, and a body engineered by evolution to do something that still feels almost impossible.

A one-pound bird.
Seven days nonstop.
Over 7,000 miles of open ocean.

And somehow, she knew exactly where she was going.

[Patricia Smith @PaddyMay]

@CarlBovisNature Beautiful bird

[Marianne Valentine 🇿🇦 🐘🇺🇦🏳️‍🌈🇵🇸 @MarianneValen20]

@gilliangodsell @kanniekaknie

[Patricia Smith @PaddyMay]

@Hatti____abb @gilliangodsell @poobie_pillay @Roshnee13 @80_incognito Wow! Early days for snow.

[Middle Eastern Affairs @OpsHQs]

🚨 The situation is completely getting out of control.

Albania is erupting for the second consecutive day in angry mass protests against the Kushner land seizure deal worth $4 billion. 🇦🇱

The Albanian people refuse to become a new Palestine. 💥"

[Patricia Smith @PaddyMay]

@archer_rs @gilliangodsell The BBC ? Seriously?

[Rich Raho @RichRaho]

“We are ruled by cretins and cowards. From our universities to our courts, our institutions have not met the present moment with courage. Thank God then for the pope. He is still a mere mortal, he is not perfect, but he is proving to be a much-needed force for good. He is speaking truth to a higher power.”https://t.co/el0KVrVE3J

[Patricia Smith @PaddyMay]

@gilliangodsell Good morning all. Another cold bright day. I do prefer dry to wet!!!

[Gillian Godsell @gilliangodsell]

Good morning wide world. Good morning Johannesburg. Good morning 3 degrees. Good morning bright half moon. Good morning cork bush: !gaeb moswaatlou, umHlalantethe

[Patricia Smith @PaddyMay]

@TEEPHTREND @gilliangodsell We survived 3 children in 4 years.

[Patricia Smith @PaddyMay]

@DuckieLouise @gilliangodsell My children are serious readers, my grandchildren are serious readers . Doesn't mean they are not into technology as well.