Dr. Flowers @AlliFlowers@talkedabout.social

A polar bear found dead on Alaska’s North Slope is the first of the species known to have been killed by the highly pathogenic♦️ avian influenza ♦️that is circulating among animal populations around the world.
The polar bear was found dead in October near Utqiagvik, the nation’s northernmost community, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation reported.

“This is the first polar bear case reported, for anywhere,” said Dr. Bob Gerlach, Alaska’s state veterinarian.

As such, it was reported to the World Organisation for Animal Health and has gotten attention in other Arctic nations that have polar bears, he said.

This was also the first Endangered Species Act-listed animal in Alaska known to fall victim to the disease.
Polar bears, dependent on sea ice that is diminishing because of climate change, were listed as threatened in 2008.

While polar bears normally eat seals they hunt from the sea ice, it appears likely that this bear was scavenging on dead birds and ingested the influenza virus that way, Gerlach said.

Numerous birds on the North Slope of various species have died from this avian influenza, according to the Department of Environmental Conservation.
#birdflu #avianinfluenza #polarbear
#WHO #WOAH #crossspecies
https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/wildlife/2023/12/31/avian-influenza-death-of-alaska-polar-bear-is-a-global-first-and-a-sign-of-the-virus-persistence/

Putting the *fucking backward barbarism* of execution aside—just thinking of this as if it’s a remotely normal thing for a modern society to do—I never understand why they don’t just let the condemned slip away pleasantly on an overdose of heroin.

It’s Sunday in Arkansas…if people want to celebrate the New Year with drinking a toast, they better have bought their alcoholic drinks of choice yesterday because the liquor stores are all closed and it’s illlegal to sell alcohol on Sundays.🤦🏻It’s so nice to live in a theocracy. It’s coming to the rest of the US if you don’t watch out.
#OnlyInTheSouth

This was one of most liked tweets:

Ro Khanna introduced a reform plan that:
- bans stock trading for Congress + spouses
- bans Congress from lobbying
- 12 year limits for Congress
- ban lobbyists + PACs donations

He directly mentions Unusual Whales work in fighting corruption.

#news #finance #economics #stocks #options

Hey Australia, it’s 2024 there, do we have flying cars yet?

This gets my vote for best political cartoon of the year.

Apparently this cartoon has drawn criticism for a false equivalency between Netanyahu and Hamas, but the people who are making that accusation are missing what it's really trying to say: there are innocent people on both sides being attacked and killed, and that's the real problem.

https://www.goshennews.com/opinion/the-latest-editorial-cartoon/image_151fb25e-69fc-11ee-a121-671ee3416509.html

Kevin McCarthy’s resigning in disgrace, effective today. Happy New Year!

brb putting on put on my slipurrrrrs

@RickiTarr With conservatives it's never about policy, it's about control/power/privilege/supremacy. They have no policy or desire to govern, only to rule.

Did you know every user on #mastodon has an #rss feed? For example - here's mine https://social.yesterweb.org/@triptych.rss just add '.rss' after the url

Axios - Fidelity has again marked down the value of its shares in X Holdings, which the mutual fund giant helped Elon Musk buy for $44 billion when the company was known as Twitter. The company, according to Fidelity is now worth 71.5% less than at the time of purchase. https://www.axios.com/2023/12/31/elon-musks-x-fidelity-valuation-cut