Starting this off on a good note:
In a now viral clip, Kenyan journalist Alvin Kaunda was interrupted by baby elephants while filming a clip about the status of an elephant orphanage during a drought.
This week five people died and at least 18 were injured after a stochastic terrorist shot up Club Q in Colorado Springs. Journalist Heidi Beedle has previously reported on how republicans in her state are waging war on transgender Coloradans. At Club Q, a vet and a transwoman successfully disarmed and beat up the shooter. When cops arrived, they handcuffed the vet and held him in a police car for an hour as he screamed to see his family. The victims include Daniel Aston, Derrick Rump, Kelly Loving, Ashley Paugh, and Raymond Green.
I don’t have any comment beyond rage and grief. Since news of the shooting broke, many queer people, myself included, have turned to Saeed Jones’s poem “Alive at the End of the World.”
In beautiful things, Chloé Savard, a queer microbiology student based in Montreal, shared a look at a pear under a microscope.
I recently learned about Chirodectes maculatus, a very rare box jellyfish. The large, colorful, and probably poisonous jellyfish was first seen in 1997. Late last year, a diver took video of what is either a second sighting or a first sighting of a closely related species.
Air travel has been a disaster in the US lately, and it might get worse. It’s also at the highest level in three years, amid ongoing staffing shortages. If you’re flying this week… good luck.
This week I finally watched Planes, Trains, and Automobiles for the first time. I loved John Candy as a kid and have been enjoying Steve Martin in “Only Murders in the Building” recently. The ending of Planes is predictable, yes, but the characters are heartfelt and hilarious, never tiring or overwrought, and it’s fun getting there. The night after watching, I learned that an extra 75 minutes of footage was just released, including this clip of Candy smoking and eating a hotdog at the same time.
Thanks for reading. Stay safe,
Kate