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Thursday, Apr. 10, 2025

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Carrion Luggage

by Robert Waltz

Rated: 18+ · Book · Opinion · #2336646

Items to fit into your overhead compartment

Carrion Luggage

Native to the Americas, the turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) travels widely in search of sustenance. While usually foraging alone, it relies on other individuals of its species for companionship and mutual protection. Sometimes misunderstood, sometimes feared, sometimes shunned, it nevertheless performs an important role in the ecosystem.

This scavenger bird is a marvel of efficiency. Rather than expend energy flapping its wings, it instead locates uplifting columns of air, and spirals within them in order to glide to greater heights. This behavior has been mistaken for opportunism, interpreted as if it is circling doomed terrestrial animals destined to be its next meal. In truth, the vulture takes advantage of these thermals to gain the altitude needed glide longer distances, flying not out of necessity, but for the joy of it.

It also avoids the exertion necessary to capture live prey, preferring instead to feast upon that which is already dead. In this behavior, it resembles many humans.

It is not what most of us would consider to be a pretty bird. While its habits are often off-putting, or even disgusting, to members of more fastidious species, the turkey vulture helps to keep the environment from being clogged with detritus. Hence its Latin binomial, which translates to English as "golden purifier."

I rarely know where the winds will take me next, or what I might find there. The journey is the destination.

Show Recent Comments

10 Most Recent Blog Comments:

Lazy Writer est 4/24/2008

about 5 hours ago
In response to "In Its Place"

I have always wanted to go to the moon..but since I'm not an astronaut and I'm 75 I dont think I'll be going! I am glad the moon is there.

1 Like

Wordsmitty ✍️

about 11 hours ago
In response to "In Its Place"

WIthout a moon, huh? I wonder what evolution of earth and life would have been like. Sounds like a good idea for a scifi-fantasy book.

2 Like

Robert Waltz

about 12 hours ago
In response to "In Its Place"

tj wanderlust-words-in-motion

- Short answer: false premise; they are not right.

Longer answer: in their twisted concept of reality, at least from the "explanations" I've seen, the other moons and planets are spheroids; it's only the Earth that's special.

1 Like

tj wanderlust-words-in-motion

about 13 hours ago
In response to "In Its Place"

I wonder, if the flat earthers are right, is the moon then also a flat disc?

1 Like

Aiva Raine

a day ago
In response to "Human Becomings"

LOL- so identified with the "Who the fuck is WE?"

I don't think you're alone in your reaction to this article. Not fitting in is pretty much my default setting and the older I get, the harder it becomes. I've learned more patience than I had when I was younger so in some circumstances, it's easier for me to keep quiet, but I have a limit. Maybe patience is the wrong word, maybe wisdom and willpower to shut-up? I succeed approx. 50% of the time.

I find myself forgoing certain situations all together or if I do go- there's always an exit or fallback option. Like still going to the family reunion but renting an air-bnb instead of staying at the house. Going to the friends superbowl party that has a ton of conservative drumpf loving people but only staying an hour cause we have a prior engagement.

Hosting our own board game convention with close friends because I can't stand the crotch fruit demon horde that's allowed to run wild because parents no longer parent or doing the Vegas con instead and sitting in the quiet room because I don't really like people generally.

I'm me- whatever that is- and pretty much the only concession I make to others is whether I'll concede to wear a bra in limited situations and how much I keep my mouth shut until I just walk away.

1 Like

Elisa the Bunny Stik

a day ago
In response to "Human Becomings"

Again, who the fuck is "we?" Not me.

Something about the royal "we".

And do you comb/brush your hair? Then you're not being authentic; you're conforming to society's norms.

I brush my hair more to soothe my scalp than anything. If I don't get the tangles out, scalp soreness and irritation does increase. It's annoying.

1 Like

tj wanderlust-words-in-motion

a day ago
In response to "Human Becomings"

I am unique, like everyone else...

1 Like

Elisa the Bunny Stik

Apr 7, 2025 at 9:49pm
In response to "Skeuomorph"

Not me over here still being able to afford maple syrup

1 Like

Lazy Writer est 4/24/2008

Apr 7, 2025 at 7:14pm
In response to "Seeing is Disbelieving"

I like optical illusions. So i don't try to see through them.

44 is not a good test to go by.

1 Like

Jayne

Apr 7, 2025 at 12:01pm
In response to "Seeing is Disbelieving"

We also looked at radiologists just beginning training. Their illusion perception was no better than normal. It seems radiologists’ superior perception is a result of their extensive training.

According to current theories of expertise, this shouldn’t happen. Becoming an expert in chess, for example, makes you better at chess but not anything else. But our findings suggest that becoming an expert in medical image analysis also makes you better at seeing through some optical illusions.

Maybe some of them (all whopping 44) get slightly better at the size illusions because they spend all day looking at tons of what, in many cases, are freakin' optical illusions? Is X a shadow or tumour or fluid? Is X as big as it looks, or is only that way relative to other landmarks, shadows, and fluid? Y doesn't look like it's in the right place. Oh, wait a minute, which plane are we looking at? My bad, transverse view, it's fine.

That's not getting better at something different. It's a similar thing in a different package.

But what do I know? I'm just a chick on the internet.

2 Like

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