#meadows — Public Fediverse posts

Der Grund, weshalb Friedrich Merz Wirtschaftskompetenz zugeschrieben wird, ist ein Bildungsproblem. Die neoliberale Mythologie hat sich so tief in unseren Alltagsverstand eingenistet, dass wir selbst die offensichtlichsten Widersprüche ausblenden.

Das großartige SURPLUS-Magazin, welches leider seine Reichweite durch eine Paywall selbst untergräbt, hat eine Liste wirklich guter Bücher zusammengestellt, die gut dagegen helfen. (Ihr wisst, wo Ihr die Artikel ohne Paywall findet)

Kate Raworths "Doughnut Economics" liest sich weg wie ein spannender Roman, weil auf jeder Seite Aha-Momente warten und die Geduld durch eine faszinierende Aussicht auf ein Wirtschaften nach menschlichen Maßstäben belohnt wird.

Dana Meadows "Die Grenzen des Denkens" ist ein ähnlicher Eye-Opener was komplexe Systeme angeht.

Wenn das Hirn einmal angefixt ist, von der Idee, dass es auch anders - und besser! - ginge, öffnen sich völlig neue Perspektiven. dann fällt auch das Hoffen wieder etwas leichter ;)

Lest und widersprecht den Bullshittern! Nur dann kommen wir weiter.

#Merz #Wirtschaft #Wirtschaftskompetenz #Surplus #KateRaworth #DoughnutEconomy #DoughnutEconomics #Piketty #Meadows

https://mastodon.social/@surplusmagazin/116396546985472449

From last #Spring.
I'm waiting for local #GarryOak #camas #meadows to showcase their annual full blooms. Another 2 weeks 💜

#ecosystem #KeystoneSpecies #nativeplants #nature #Saanich #Wsanec #IndigenousFoodPlant #VancouverIsland #VanIsle #PNW

Heads up! April 4th 👉 #VictoriaBC & area folks! Fun #Spring #MigratoryBirds #birding event!

Come out & enjoy a lovely outdoors community connecting with nature event!
I'm going to be there with my Indigenous friend, Jada.

Migratory Magnificence : #Camas Meadow Medley.

Join #SNEMITIYE Dominque James & #SpecialBirdService for a springtime Camas Meadow Medley at #CattlePoint and #UplandsPark.

Early April marks one of the most vibrant seasonal shifts on southern Vancouver Island. Camas meadows begin to wake, early wildflowers emerge, and the sharp metallic buzz of Rufous Hummingbirds returns to the landscape.

These small but fierce migrants travel thousands of kilometres each year, arriving along the coast just as nectar sources begin to bloom. Their presence signals the true beginning of spring.

Together we will explore the Garry oak ecosystem and coastal meadows of Uplands Park, learning how to notice hummingbird behaviour, listen for territorial calls, and observe feeding patterns among early blossoms.

This is not a fast-paced checklist focused walk. It’s an opportunity to slow down and tune into the rhythms of spring migration.

Open to all who agree to abide by the Cormorant's Creed. No birding experience required.

https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/migratory-magnificence

Friends of the Feather Ticket:
Free ticket to walk and waddle with us. You belong. Aimed at providing BIPOC &, or Queer folks, facing multiple barriers to outdoor education, recreation and stewardship, opportunities. You belong.

Contributing Cormorant
$15
To help us sustain the work and offerings for our communities, we ask our first time walk attendies, allies and supporters to contribute. Supports SBS’s year-round programming rooted in joy, access, and learning. Open to all who can contribute. Thank you.

#NatureWalk #Birdwatching #BirdLovers #OakBay #Saanich #VancouverIsland #VanIsle #PacificNorthwest #Cascadia #PNW #CommunityEvent #NatureLovers #GarryOak #ecosystem #ecological #Meadows #Inclusive #BIPOCFriendly #Conservation #Stewardship #Wildlife #Avian #biodiversity

Heads up! April 4th 👉 #VictoriaBC & area folks! Fun #Spring #MigratoryBirds #birding event!

Come out & enjoy a lovely outdoors community connecting with nature event!
I'm going to be there with my Indigenous friend, Jada.

Migratory Magnificence : #Camas Meadow Medley.

Join #SNEMITIYE Dominque James & #SpecialBirdService for a springtime Camas Meadow Medley at #CattlePoint and #UplandsPark.

Early April marks one of the most vibrant seasonal shifts on southern Vancouver Island. Camas meadows begin to wake, early wildflowers emerge, and the sharp metallic buzz of Rufous Hummingbirds returns to the landscape.

These small but fierce migrants travel thousands of kilometres each year, arriving along the coast just as nectar sources begin to bloom. Their presence signals the true beginning of spring.

Together we will explore the Garry oak ecosystem and coastal meadows of Uplands Park, learning how to notice hummingbird behaviour, listen for territorial calls, and observe feeding patterns among early blossoms.

This is not a fast-paced checklist focused walk. It’s an opportunity to slow down and tune into the rhythms of spring migration.

Open to all who agree to abide by the Cormorant's Creed. No birding experience required.

https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/migratory-magnificence

Friends of the Feather Ticket:
Free ticket to walk and waddle with us. You belong. Aimed at providing BIPOC &, or Queer folks, facing multiple barriers to outdoor education, recreation and stewardship, opportunities. You belong.

Contributing Cormorant
$15
To help us sustain the work and offerings for our communities, we ask our first time walk attendies, allies and supporters to contribute. Supports SBS’s year-round programming rooted in joy, access, and learning. Open to all who can contribute. Thank you.

#NatureWalk #Birdwatching #BirdLovers #OakBay #Saanich #VancouverIsland #VanIsle #PacificNorthwest #Cascadia #PNW #CommunityEvent #NatureLovers #GarryOak #ecosystem #ecological #Meadows #Inclusive #BIPOCFriendly #Conservation #Stewardship #Wildlife #Avian #biodiversity

Heads up! April 4th 👉 #VictoriaBC & area folks! Fun #Spring #MigratoryBirds #birding event!

Come out & enjoy a lovely outdoors community connecting with nature event!
I'm going to be there with my Indigenous friend, Jada.

Migratory Magnificence : #Camas Meadow Medley.

Join #SNEMITIYE Dominque James & #SpecialBirdService for a springtime Camas Meadow Medley at #CattlePoint and #UplandsPark.

Early April marks one of the most vibrant seasonal shifts on southern Vancouver Island. Camas meadows begin to wake, early wildflowers emerge, and the sharp metallic buzz of Rufous Hummingbirds returns to the landscape.

These small but fierce migrants travel thousands of kilometres each year, arriving along the coast just as nectar sources begin to bloom. Their presence signals the true beginning of spring.

Together we will explore the Garry oak ecosystem and coastal meadows of Uplands Park, learning how to notice hummingbird behaviour, listen for territorial calls, and observe feeding patterns among early blossoms.

This is not a fast-paced checklist focused walk. It’s an opportunity to slow down and tune into the rhythms of spring migration.

Open to all who agree to abide by the Cormorant's Creed. No birding experience required.

https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/migratory-magnificence

Friends of the Feather Ticket:
Free ticket to walk and waddle with us. You belong. Aimed at providing BIPOC &, or Queer folks, facing multiple barriers to outdoor education, recreation and stewardship, opportunities. You belong.

Contributing Cormorant
$15
To help us sustain the work and offerings for our communities, we ask our first time walk attendies, allies and supporters to contribute. Supports SBS’s year-round programming rooted in joy, access, and learning. Open to all who can contribute. Thank you.

#NatureWalk #Birdwatching #BirdLovers #OakBay #Saanich #VancouverIsland #VanIsle #PacificNorthwest #Cascadia #PNW #CommunityEvent #NatureLovers #GarryOak #ecosystem #ecological #Meadows #Inclusive #BIPOCFriendly #Conservation #Stewardship #Wildlife #Avian #biodiversity

Heads up! April 4th 👉 #VictoriaBC & area folks! Fun #Spring #MigratoryBirds #birding event!

Come out & enjoy a lovely outdoors community connecting with nature event!
I'm going to be there with my Indigenous friend, Jada.

Migratory Magnificence : #Camas Meadow Medley.

Join #SNEMITIYE Dominque James & #SpecialBirdService for a springtime Camas Meadow Medley at #CattlePoint and #UplandsPark.

Early April marks one of the most vibrant seasonal shifts on southern Vancouver Island. Camas meadows begin to wake, early wildflowers emerge, and the sharp metallic buzz of Rufous Hummingbirds returns to the landscape.

These small but fierce migrants travel thousands of kilometres each year, arriving along the coast just as nectar sources begin to bloom. Their presence signals the true beginning of spring.

Together we will explore the Garry oak ecosystem and coastal meadows of Uplands Park, learning how to notice hummingbird behaviour, listen for territorial calls, and observe feeding patterns among early blossoms.

This is not a fast-paced checklist focused walk. It’s an opportunity to slow down and tune into the rhythms of spring migration.

Open to all who agree to abide by the Cormorant's Creed. No birding experience required.

https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/migratory-magnificence

Friends of the Feather Ticket:
Free ticket to walk and waddle with us. You belong. Aimed at providing BIPOC &, or Queer folks, facing multiple barriers to outdoor education, recreation and stewardship, opportunities. You belong.

Contributing Cormorant
$15
To help us sustain the work and offerings for our communities, we ask our first time walk attendies, allies and supporters to contribute. Supports SBS’s year-round programming rooted in joy, access, and learning. Open to all who can contribute. Thank you.

#NatureWalk #Birdwatching #BirdLovers #OakBay #Saanich #VancouverIsland #VanIsle #PacificNorthwest #Cascadia #PNW #CommunityEvent #NatureLovers #GarryOak #ecosystem #ecological #Meadows #Inclusive #BIPOCFriendly #Conservation #Stewardship #Wildlife #Avian #biodiversity

Heads up! April 4th 👉 #VictoriaBC & area folks! Fun #Spring #MigratoryBirds #birding event!

Come out & enjoy a lovely outdoors community connecting with nature event!
I'm going to be there with my Indigenous friend, Jada.

Migratory Magnificence : #Camas Meadow Medley.

Join #SNEMITIYE Dominque James & #SpecialBirdService for a springtime Camas Meadow Medley at #CattlePoint and #UplandsPark.

Early April marks one of the most vibrant seasonal shifts on southern Vancouver Island. Camas meadows begin to wake, early wildflowers emerge, and the sharp metallic buzz of Rufous Hummingbirds returns to the landscape.

These small but fierce migrants travel thousands of kilometres each year, arriving along the coast just as nectar sources begin to bloom. Their presence signals the true beginning of spring.

Together we will explore the Garry oak ecosystem and coastal meadows of Uplands Park, learning how to notice hummingbird behaviour, listen for territorial calls, and observe feeding patterns among early blossoms.

This is not a fast-paced checklist focused walk. It’s an opportunity to slow down and tune into the rhythms of spring migration.

Open to all who agree to abide by the Cormorant's Creed. No birding experience required.

https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/migratory-magnificence

Friends of the Feather Ticket:
Free ticket to walk and waddle with us. You belong. Aimed at providing BIPOC &, or Queer folks, facing multiple barriers to outdoor education, recreation and stewardship, opportunities. You belong.

Contributing Cormorant
$15
To help us sustain the work and offerings for our communities, we ask our first time walk attendies, allies and supporters to contribute. Supports SBS’s year-round programming rooted in joy, access, and learning. Open to all who can contribute. Thank you.

#NatureWalk #Birdwatching #BirdLovers #OakBay #Saanich #VancouverIsland #VanIsle #PacificNorthwest #Cascadia #PNW #CommunityEvent #NatureLovers #GarryOak #ecosystem #ecological #Meadows #Inclusive #BIPOCFriendly #Conservation #Stewardship #Wildlife #Avian #biodiversity

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/mar/25/flowers-heated-2c-meadow-climate-crisis-experiment-rocky-mountains-aoe. "At the time [1991], it was believed a #temperature increase could lead to longer, lusher #grasses. But instead of flourishing, the grasses & #wildflowers started to disappear, replaced by #sagebrush. The experimental #meadows morphed into a desert-like #scrubland. Even the #fungi in the #soils were transformed by #heat."

Rapid Growth of #SCFN
The Right-wing
State Freedom Caucus Network

The "Conservative Partnership Institute" (CPI) launched SFCN in 2021
and shares leadership and office space with the organization.

Mark #Meadows, Trump’s former chief of staff and one of the founders of the congressional "House Freedom Caucus",
is a senior partner at CPI and is on the board of SFCN.

For Republicans, freedom caucuses that have emerged in state legislatures in the past few years have played the same obstructionist role as the House Freedom Caucus in Congress,
-- slowing or stopping initiatives by more traditional members of the party through political maneuvering.

In newly available IRS filings, SFCN disclosed $1.73 million in revenue in 2024
and just over $1 million in expenses.

In 2023, it reported $1.02 million in revenue and just over $730,000 in expenses.

SFC Foundation, SFCN’s sister organization,
reported revenue of $1.86 million and expenses of $1.92 million in 2024.

In 2023, the foundation disclosed $1.22 million in revenue and $1.55 million in expenses.

SFC Foundation shares office space, staff, and board members with SFCN.

Much of the funding for SFCN is untraceable,
but a CMD review of hundreds of IRS filings identified four sources in 2024:

🔸the "American Federation for Children" (established by Trump’s former Secretary of Education Betsy #DeVos), $25,000;

🔸the "National Christian Charitable Foundation", $80,000;

🔸"Renew Massachusetts Coalition Foundation", $100,000;

🔸and the "Robert S and Star Pepper Foundation", $5,000.

RMC is registered at the same address as SFCN and CPI and,
like SFCN, is also led by Andy #Roth.

Through a similar analysis of hundreds of IRS filings, CMD has been able to uncover several key sources of funding for the SFC Foundation,
including its biggest known contributors:

🔸#CPI, $1.03 million (2022–23);

🔸#Consumers’ #Research, $200,000 (2022; 2024);

🔸the Koch political network’s preferred donor-advised fund #DonorsTrust, $240,000 (2024);

🔸and Cleta #Mitchell’s "Foundation for Accountability, Integrity & Research in Elections Fund" (#FAIR #Elections #Fund), $300,000 (2023).

Like CPI, Mitchell’s voter suppression group is registered at the same address.

(A full list of CMD’s identified sources of funding for both SFCN and the foundation is available on SourceWatch.)

Scientists call for stronger action to save Indonesia’s vanishing seagrass meadows https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/seagrass-meadows-marine-conservation-indonesia-blue-carbon/

#Indonesia #environment #seagrass #meadows

Biodiversity of meadows degraded by fossil fuel machinery and fertilisers

Plant inventories dating back to 1884 and nearly thrown away enable unique time-lapse study of biodiversity in Swiss meadows
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/oct/09/switzerland-botany-biodiversity-grassland-agriculture-alpine-meadows-study-aoe

Technology assessment could be defined as "a form of policy research that examines short- and long term consequences (for example, societal, economic, ethical, legal) of the application of technology."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_assessment
#biodiversity #meadows #progress #monoculture #industrialised #agriculture #farming #grazing #machines #chemicals #technology #TA

Two huts in Bieszczady Mountains - Połonina Wetlińska 🍁🍂.⁣

#europe #poland #podkarpacie #carpathians #bieszczady #bieszczadymountains #bieszczadzkiparknarodowy #wbieszczady #karpaty #fall #hiking
#mountains #highlands #landscape #nature #travel #hiking #scenery #wilderness #outdoors #adventure #photography #trail #meadows #clouds #panorama #cottage #forests

The Supreme Court on Tuesday turned away former White House chief of staff #Mark #Meadows' bid to move his state prosecution to federal court -- in the case stemming from an alleged effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia.
The court's denial of Meadows' appeal leaves in place a lower court decision that returned the prosecution to state court.

Meadows and President-elect #Donald #Trump, for whom he worked, were charged alongside 17 others by Fulton County prosecutors for their alleged efforts to reverse Trump's electoral loss in Georgia in 2020.

They pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Proceedings have been on hold for months as a Georgia appeals court is set to consider in December whether to allow Fulton County District Attorney #Fani #Willis to continue prosecuting Trump and his allies.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/supreme-court-mark-meadows-fulton-county/

A team of Iranian hackers impersonated #Ginni #Thomas,
the wife of conservative Supreme Court Justice #Clarence #Thomas,
in an effort to extract information from people close to former President Donald Trump, CNN reported.

An indictment unsealed on Friday alleges that the three Iranian men gained access to the email account of a Trump campaign official this summer,
which allowed them to steal debate-preparation material and information on possible vice presidential candidates.

The practice is known as “spear phishing” among hackers.

Among the people whose accounts were compromised were #Roger #Stone, the veteran Republican dirty trickster previously pardoned by Trump before he left office.

Between April and May 2024, email was used as part of a phishing campaign that targeted, among others, a former security adviser to a former president.

Ginni Thomas was one of a number of identities fraudulently used by the hackers to target the Trump campaign.

The others have not been named but the victims detailed by the Justice Department include a series which appear closely linked to Trump,
suggesting that the use of names such as Ginni Thomas was a successful move by the Iranians.

Among those who fell for the phishing scam were a former deputy director of the CIA,
a former ambassador to Israel,
an ex-State Department adviser who appears to have advised the failed Nikki Haley campaign for president,
and a former presidential homeland security adviser.

Masoud Jalili, Seyyed Ali Aghamiri and Yasar Balaghi face charges of identity theft and wire fraud.

The indictment says they were acting on behalf of Iran’s #Islamic #Revolutionary #Guard Corps.

Although Ginni Thomas is not mentioned by name in the indictment, it says that the hackers created a fake email using the identity of a
“spouse of a sitting U.S. Supreme Court Justice.”

In addition to being the wife of a Supreme Court justice, Thomas is a conservative activist.

She made headlines for sending texts to Donald Trump’s then Chief of Staff #Mark #Meadows, on Jan. 6, 2021, urging him to overturn the election
—as Trump supporters stormed the Capitol.

One read, “Biden and the Left [are] attempting the greatest Heist of our History.”

Thomas, a conservative firebrand, claims that she does not influence her husband.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-donald-trump-campaign-got-spearfished-by-fake-ginni-thomas

Fleurs sauvages (wild flowers)…

#photography #photographie #blackandwhitephotographie #photos #backyard #photographienoiretblanc #fleurs #flowers #flore #meadows #pres #poppies #daisies #jlbouzou

Meadows, Giuliani and other Trump allies charged in Arizona 2020 election probe

An Arizona grand jury on Wednesday indicted seven attorneys or aides affiliated with Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign
as well as 11 Arizona Republicans on
👉felony charges related to their alleged efforts to subvert Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in the state

Those indicted include former Trump White House chief of staff Mark #Meadows, attorneys Rudy #Giuliani, Jenna #Ellis, John #Eastman and Christina #Bobb, top campaign adviser Boris #Epshteyn and former campaign aide Mike #Roman.

They are accused of allegedly aiding an unsuccessful strategy to award the state’s electoral votes to Trump instead of Biden after the 2020 election.

Also charged are the Republicans who signed paperwork on Dec. 14, 2020, that falsely purported Trump was the rightful winner, including former state party chair Kelli #Ward, state Sens. Jake #Hoffman and Anthony #Kern, and Tyler #Bowyer, a GOP national committeeman and chief operating officer of Turning Point Action, the campaign arm of the pro-Trump conservative group Turning Point USA.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/04/24/arizona-2020-election-charges-meadows-giuliani-ellis/

Understanding Wildlife Behavioral Responses to Traffic Noise and Light to Improve Mitigation Planning

Product Type: Policy Brief
Publication Date: June 09, 2020

"As roads and other developed land uses proliferate, the resulting habitat fragmentation and loss of wildlife connectivity hinder animals’ ability to forage, establish new territories, and maintain genetic diversity. Wildlife crossing structures such as culverts and bridges theoretically can reduce these impacts by allowing species to effectively cross highways. However, previous research has shown that traffic presence and density can disrupt wildlife use of highway crossing structures, and that noise and light from human activities can affect animal behavior. Researchers at the University of California, Davis, Road Ecology Center measured traffic noise and light levels and placed motion- and heat-triggered cameras at 26 bridges and culverts along four interstate highways, 11 state highways and one major county road across California. The presence and behavior of animals at these highway crossing structures were compared to those detected at sites unaffected by roads to understand the effects of noise and light from a highway on wildlife behavior. This policy brief summarizes findings from that research and provides policy implications.

"Traffic moving on transportation corridors affects wildlife connectivity. Many wildlife species move across road surfaces, or through culverts and bridges, with varying levels of success depending on species, infrastructure and traffic levels. As roads and other developed land uses proliferate, the resulting habitat fragmentation and loss of wildlife connectivity hinder animals’ ability to forage, establish new territories, and maintain genetic diversity. Wildlife crossing structures such as culverts and bridges theoretically can reduce these impacts by allowing species to effectively cross highways. However, the physical roadway barrier may not be the only deterrent. Previous research has shown that traffic presence and density can disrupt wildlife use of highway crossing structures, and that noise and light from human activities can affect animal behavior."

https://ncst.ucdavis.edu/research-product/understanding-wildlife-behavioral-responses-traffic-noise-and-light-improve

#GorhamConnector #SaveSmilingHillFarm #SaveRedBrook #SaveTheForest #WorkingFarms #MaineTurnpikeAuthority #Sprawl #InducedDevelopment #GorhamSpur #Wetlands #Meadows #EnvironmentalImpact
#SaveTheWoods #Maine #GorhamMaine #ScarboroughMaine #WestbrookMaine #RapidTransit

I'm planning on submitting a summary of these studies as part of my arguments against the #GorhamConnector. I grew up near a 4-lane highway, and the vibrations and noise pollution were constant -- I hadn't realized how bad it was until I went back home a few years ago and camped in my old backyard -- and felt every speeding tractor trailer truck going by.

Evidence of the impact of noise pollution on biodiversity: a systematic map

By Romain Sordello, Ophélie Ratel, Frédérique Flamerie De Lachapelle, Clément Leger, Alexis Dambry & Sylvie Vanpeene

Environmental Evidence volume 9, Article number: 20 (2020)

"Ecological research now deals increasingly with the effects of #NoisePollution on #biodiversity. Indeed, many studies have shown the impacts of #AnthropogenicNoise and concluded that it is potentially a threat to the persistence of many species. The present work is a systematic map of the evidence of the impacts of all anthropogenic noises (industrial, urban, transportation, etc.) on biodiversity. This report describes the mapping process and the evidence base with summary figures and tables presenting the characteristics of the selected articles."

https://environmentalevidencejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13750-020-00202-y

#SaveSmilingHillFarm #SaveRedBrook #SaveTheForest #WorkingFarms #MaineTurnpikeAuthority #Sprawl #InducedDevelopment #GorhamSpur
#Wetlands #Meadows #EnvironmentalImpact
#SaveTheWoods #Maine #GorhamMaine #ScarboroughMaine #WestbrookMaine #RapidTransit

“A hideous and intolerable eyesore”: the thread about the Meadow’s missing Jawbone Arch

The Jawbone Arch from the Meadows was in the news this week, as a local historian (not this one!) found himself ejected from a meeting in the City Chambers for repeatedly pressing a council committee on the subject, the arch having been dismantled over “safety concerns” and “for restoration” almost a decade ago, in 2014.

These bones, a pair of jaws from “arctic whales” are a remnant of the summer 1886 International Exhibition of Industry, Science & Art which was located on a grand, temporary, pavilion in the West Meadows.

They formed the frame of a fishing net tent over the exhibit stall that showcased the craft of the Zetland & Fair Isle Knitters. The stall was organised by Katherine Schoor and Barbara Muir, of Schoor & Muir of Lewrick, as an exhibit of “women’s industries” to promote the wares of the traditional Shetland shawl-knitting craft which was suffering in the domestic market on account of imports of Swiss and German products. The wealthy, eccentric and benevolent George MacThomas Thoms, Sheriff of Caithness, Orkney and Shetland, had arranged for six Shetland women to accompany the stall, under the supervision of Mrs Muir.

The women came to Edinburgh for a month at a time, before a relief was sent. Three of them came from Fair Isle and produced and exhibited gloves, stockings and caps in hand-dyed local wools. These were based on patterns handed down over generations and taught to their foremothers by shipwreck survivors of the Spanish Armada. It was noted at the time that their gloves matched those still for sale in the market in Valencia. Mrs Muir was joined by 63-year old Elizabeth Mouat, who had gained national fame a few months previous when she found herself abandoned on the Fair Isle mail boat Columbine in a storm that blew her all the way to Norway over 8 days. The vessels crew of three and its other, male, passenger having been separated from it when trying to rescue a man knocked overboard. Betty, a spinner and hand knitter, brought with her the shawl she had worn when on the Columbine.

That stall was one of the talking points of the whole exhibition. The whalebones had been provided by a Mrs Arbuthnott, probably the Hon. Mrs Arbuthnott of Arbuthnott House, Kincardineshire. After the exhibition closed at the end of October, it took over 3 months to dismantle, during which time the West Meadows were closed. In January, Sheriff Thoms wrote to the Town Council to offer up the bones with a view to placing them on the walkway across them when it reopened.

Not everyone was happy with this idea. The editor of the Edinburgh Evening Dispatch wrote they were “a quantity of old jawbones, growing mouldy” and had been set up as “a perpetual reminder of the vanity and fleeting nature of human pleasures“. They were “unsightly and gruesome crossbones“. A South Sider replied in support, they were “an eyesore caused by this ungainly structure… a hideous outrage on South Side residenters.”“A. Ratepayer wrote they were “a hideous and intolerable eyesore… gaunt, dirty-coloured decaying relics of a departed Jonah-swallower“. An Astonished One, who had been out of town for some time, had returned to “indignation that such a hideous eyesore should be thus thrust before the residents in [this] part of the city… Is the whole thing a ghastly joke by the council?… It would be more appropriate and much more interesting to erect an archway with the jawbones of the asses who made and supported the proposal“. A. Ratepayer concurred and suggested whichever councillor had accepted them should have “set them up at his own garden gate“.

But the apoplexy of the South Side Green Ink Society wasn’t long lived, and by late September 1887 the jawbones were erected as an arch over the pathway, which the newspapers had already taken to calling Jawbone Walk, a name that has stuck and become official. A metal band around each reads “From Zetland and Fair Isle Knitting Stand, Edinburgh Exhibition, 1886“.

The title of “Jawbone and the Air Rifle” (“a nightmarish folklore tale of a poacher bored by a decades-old marriage who escapes by roaming the local countryside at night hunting prey”) by Mark E. Smith from The Fall was reputedly inspired by him walking beneath them. The jawbones were an ever-present landmark until their removal in 2014, which was only to have been for a year. But experience has told us that Edinburgh’s public monuments, such as sculptures and clocks, have a nasty habit of being officially removed for a short while only to disappear for multiples of years.

Threadinburgh wishes Graeme Cruickshank, whom I have had the chance to meet on a few occasions at the Old Edinburgh Club and can vouch for being a thoroughly lovely man, every success with this bone he has decided to pick with the council and its officers who have taken it upon themselves to decide that there is no local interest or appetite for replacing or restoring the jawbones.

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@marcelias Cleta Mitchell should already be an indicted co-conspirator under Georgian laws.

"...
“It’s absurd for Cleta Mitchell or others to suggest our path to victory is by making it harder for young people to vote,” said the ex-Republican congressman Charlie Dent. “Republicans should not fear how people vote. Good candidates with good messages should resonate with voters.”
..."

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/08/lawyer-trump-2020-election-attacks-college-student-voting
#RuleOfLaw #AccountabilityNow #JusticeMatters #Georgia #FultonCounty #Raffensperger #Trump #CletaMitchell #Meadows #ConspiracyAgainstRights #OrganizedCrime #CriminalNetwork #VotingRights #CivilRights

It was, by her telling, an admin awash in #paranoia, w/ #Meadows & others refusing to dispose of daily litter in “#BurnBags” for fear that someone from the “#DeepState” might intercept the contents. Instead, she writes, Meadows #burned so many #documents in his fireplace in the final days of the #Trump presidency that his wife complained to Hutchinson about how expensive it had become to dry-clean the “bonfire” aroma from his suits.

If #Meadows were to succeed in changing #venues, he would widen the pool of potential #jurors, who could come from more #conservative areas outside #Atlanta, & he would avoid having his trial #televised. He would also set a bad #precedent, encouraging future presidents & their aides to #interfere in the administration of local #elections, w/the expectation that they could later claim they were acting in their official capacities & secure more favorable circumstances at any #trial.

#law #legal

#Arraignments for #Trump & 18 #CoDefendants indicted in #FultonCounty, #Georgia, have been set for Wed, Sept 6.

Trump’s #arraignment will take place at 9:30 AM ET, followed by arraignments in 15-min intervals, w/a midday break

9:45 AM: Rudy #Giuliani
10: #Eastman
10:15: #Powell
10:30: #Meadows
10:45: #Latham
11:00: #Hall
11:15: #Chesebro.
11:30: #Kutti
11:45: #Floyd
1:00 PM: #Clark
1:15: #Lee
1:30: #Ellis
1:45: #Still
2:00: #Smith
2:15: #Shafer
2:30: #Roman
2:45: #Cheeley
3:00: #Hampton

The thread about Middle Meadow Walk; resisting a century of attempts to “open” it up

Modal filters – closing a road to one form of traffic by a manner such as bollards – are often in the news regards “Low Traffic Neighbourhood” concepts, but are nothing new. By my reckoning, one of the oldest still in force in Edinburgh lies at the top of Middle Meadow Walk where it meets Forrest Road and Teviot Place, and it is one that has resisted attempts to get rid of it for more than a century and a half.

The Middle Meadow Walk story begins in 1722 when Thomas Hope of Rankeillor took a 57 year lease on the remains of the old Burgh Loch with the purpose of reclaiming the land as an ornamental park. He was bound to provide a tree-lined walkway all around the new park, flanked by a drainage ditch, and a similar walkway across the middle of the park – at this time known simply as the Meadow Walk. In 1737, the Town Council feud a strip across the lands of Heriot’s Hospital to provide a walkway extending the otherwise isolated Meadow Walk up to the roadway outside the town walls near the Charity Workhouse (present day Forrest Road). This was opened to the public in 1743 when the city wall was breached at its head. Maps from the middle of the 18th century reflect these paths and on Edgar’s town plan of 1765 (below) we can see the tree lined avenue. The name Middle Meadow Walk didn’t really come into use until the end of the 19th century to differentiate it from an ever increasing number of formally name pathways across and around the park.

From its very inception Middle Meadow Walk was always just that – a walkway. It was formally re-laid in the early 1850s after a competition was held by the Town Council, won by architect George Smith, for plans to improve and landscape the park as a whole in concert with a final drainage of the eastern portion of the park which had remained persistently boggy despite centuries of attempts to dry it. At this time the head of Middle Meadow Walk at Teviot Place was improved, in connection with the opening up of the new street of Forrest Road. The narrow entrance and lodge cottages on either side of the path were cleared away and four ornamental pillars planned. In the event, only two pillars were paid for by public subscription and these stood unfinished until 1850 when the Town Council paid for the sculptor Alexander Handyside Ritchie to provide a pair of ornamental unicorns to crown them. The wooden posts that formerly prevented (in theory) access to the park by carriage traffic were replaced at this time by more substantial and permanent stone bollards.

In 1864, the proprietors of the feus of the Grange, lead by the feudal superior landowner, Sir John Dick Lauder, 8th Baronet, loudly agitated to have it opened to horses and carriages. A public backlash saw this attempt fail, opinion was very much that this was a move at the expense of the majority to the benefit of a small number of residents who were wealthy enough to have a carriage. Opposition was lead by radical academic John Stuart Blackie. In opposition, Dick Lauder went so far as to write to The Scotsman that the late Lord Cockburn, for whom the Cockburn Association is named, had “express[ed] himself strongly in favour of the Middle Walk being opened as a drive“.

Public meetings were held in support of keeping Middle Meadow Walk traffic free, supported by a number of Town Councillors. Dr Begg lent his support – no, not Dr David Begg (now professor), one time city councillor transport convenor – but the Rev. Dr James Begg, Free Chuch minister and social reformer. It was the informed opinion of those against the proposal that “the Provost, Magistrates and Town Council of Edinburgh [were] ex officio the custodiers [sic] and guardians of the Meadows on behalf of their fellow citizens but no more” and therefore had no right to open Middle Meadow Walk to traffic.

The inhabitants of Edinburgh would be all greater geese than any that ever fed upon the common if they allowed the Middle Meadow Walk to be taken from them. If they allowed the proposed schemed to be proceeded with, they would, in his estimation, be greener than any grass that ever grew in the Meadows.

Rev. Dr James Begg, public meeting reported in the Scotsman, 8th March 1864

When it came to the vote, the Town Council came down strongly against the proposal and it remained a footpath. However that didn’t mean drivers didn’t try it on and in 1871 Alexander Moncur, “a young lad”, was knocked down by a horse cab cutting through the Meadows one night.

Another attempt was made in 1873-4 to drum up support for opening Middle Meadow Walk to traffic, led by the lawyer D. Scott Moncrieff WS. Again the issue divided opinion, again there was a public backlash against it. On Saturday 1st August, a mass public meeting, presided over by Dr John Bowie (a medical doctor of Lauriston Place, who was also a prominent temperance reformer, spiritualist and anti-vivisectionist), was held in the East Meadows in opposition, attended by 1,800 people.

Seeing that the Meadows are the exclusive property of the inhabitants of Edinburgh, as also the Middle Meadow Walk, which has from time immemorial been used as a promenade and quiet retreat for foot passengers, this meeting pledges itself to use every legitimate endeavour to retain intact their rights to the same.

Motion by Mr John Nisbet agreed to by the open air meeting

At a meeting to nominate a town councillor for the George Square ward, prospective candidate Mr Alexander Buncle declared “opening the Middle Meadow Walk was the grossest piece of vandalism that had been proposed during the last 50 years“, receiving loud applause. Once again, to much relief, the proposal failed.

The subject was discussed by the Town Council again in 1876. And 1879. And 1885. And 1892. Unsurprisingly those dates all coincide with someone in favour of the proposal trying to get themselves elected to the Town Council… In 1895 it was proposed to run an extension of the city’s cable tramway down Middle Meadow Walk to Marchmont but once again public opinion came out strongly against the proposal. Instead, the route ended up taking the long way around, down Lauriston Place, via Tollcross and back around Melville Drive. As a result, what could have been a 1 minute journey took closer to 10 minutes (or more when there was congestion at Tollcross). Writing to the Scotsman in 1909, a correspondent calling themselves “One Who Live Beyond the Meadows” said the “walk is a great boon to many living at the South Side, for there are still some who like to walk instead of going in tramcars. Let us… keep this walk free from the noise and rattle of the streets.” To this day, the district of Marchmont remains tantalisingly close to the city centre and yet awkwardly cut off from it by public transport as a result.

Things remained quiet until 1915 and again in 1919 whence once more there was some local agitation in the papers and within the Town Council in favour of the opening of Middle Meadow Walk to traffic – by now motorised. Again there was strong public condemnation.

“For folk that flee in motor cars, And little ken or care”

W. Forbes Gray writing to the Scotsman on the subject in 1919

And yet, despite the incessant attempts to change the status quo, every time public opinion and a majority in the Town Council came down against the “opening” of the route to traffic. Yet still people tried: it was an issue in the 1921-22 local election campaign. An Evening News editorial said in 1921 that it was the “one certain method of setting the heather on fire in George Square ward” and that the suggestion was trouble-making on the part of Leith councillors. And that of 1928. In that year, the Town Council’s Chief Traffic Officer, Mr Roy, had “two pawl posts with red lights” (what we would now call bollards) mounted on the tramway islands on Lauriston Place at the top of Middle Meadow Walk “to prevent motorists assuming that [it] was a traffic thoroughfare”.

In 1931, 1935 and 1936 the issue came up once more. When it looked in 1936 like the Town Council might finally be swayed in favour of the decision, so an effective local “Hands Off!” campaign was mounted by candidates in the George Square ward.

Traffic and road safety were big issues at the time. Cllr. Rutherford Fortune said, “there is a clamant (sic) necessity at this time for more play streets for children and it is an extraordinary proposal to suggest the opening to traffic of a place where security is almost absolute.” Citing the example of Melville Drive, which runs through the Meadows East-West, Fortune said “motor cars, noisy motor cycles, bicyclists, motor lorries laden with milk cans, all the roar of a busy street would be let loose beside Scotland’s greatest hospital“. This vigorous defence of the sanctity of Middle Meadow Walk delayed the “Meadows Traffic Plan” until 1939 by which time the war intervened. But change was back on the books in 1946 as part of the University’s Comprehensive Redevelopment Area proposals (which would go on to trash much of the neighbourhood over the following 20 years). As late as 1962, when Forrest Road, Bristo Place and Teviot Place were turned into a one-way gyratory to help “smooth the traffic flow”, the prospect of a straight vehicular route south through the Grange from George IV Bridge was too much for some to resist and noises were made in the papers about it being the time to change.

Indeed the *only* change in traffic status for Middle Meadow Walk over the last 170 years came in 1983, after 5 years of campaigning led by Spokes, the Lothian Cycling Campaign, when a painted cycle lane was added to the path. This remains one of the city’s most important cycling routes to this day and has garnered something of a special status in those respects amongst cycling campaigners.

The prospect of cycling on MMW provoked Edinburgh’s finest ever green-ink backlash to the Scotsman from Conservative Councillor Ralph Brereton:

“Spokes can get lost and take its commie friends with it. Who wants a proletarian dictatorship anyway?”

Breteton received something of a public slapping down in response and eventually warmed to the idea.

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