We are so proud of you Georgie! Owl Chatter’s own staff administrator, in charge of our entire diet soda supply (his only responsibility), was the subject of this CBS News story yesterday:

In September, Santos will appear on the fifth season of Fox’s “Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test,” a grueling contest where participants will be subjected to chemical gassing and other military-themed challenges in a Malaysian jungle, the network announced Wednesday. “I took my fat behind off the coach and tried something new!,” Santos wrote in a post on X. “And it changed EVERYTHING! I can’t wait to share this experience with y’all!”

“This experience changed my perspective in life and it was the most humbling thing I’ve ever done!” he continued. He will go up against more than a dozen other contestants – including former NBA player Matt Barnes and actor Ruby Rose – in a show Fox has billed as the “ultimate test of physical, mental and emotional resilience.”

And here’s Ruby Rose. Yikes! That’s a lotta ink.

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Headline from The Onion:

Study Finds Gen Z Telepaths Lack Attention Span To Read Even Single Mind

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You hear about Gabriel Perez? He’s a long-time teleprompter operator for Trump and was caught placing bets (with inside knowledge) on specific words and phrases Trump would say in his speeches. He made tens of thousands of dollars. He’s being investigated for insider trading. Karoline Leavitt announced that he was being suspended. After Perez agreed to give Trump 40% of his winnings, however, the suspension was lifted and he was named Secretary of the Treasury.

Good to see you, KL! You’re the only blond left with Pam gone. Miss you, PB!

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You like arthropods? Silly question: who doesn’t? I had some fun with the millipede that was in yesterday’s puzzle.

Customer: Can you break this MILLIPEDE for me?
Teller: Ten centipedes okay?
Customer: Sure, I just need them for the pedometer.

I got lucky at the arthropod wedding I attended recently. I was the one at my table who got to take the centipede home.

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Kudos to Owl Chatter friend Pam on her successful submission to Frank Bruni’s For The Love Of Sentences feature! It’s on the amazing soccer star for Norway. Here it is:

In The Wall Street Journal, Ben Cohen and Joshua Robinson traced the demigod’s origins: “A soccer dome opening in the hometown of Erling Haaland when he was a toddler was the equivalent of the Cavern Club opening in Liverpool when the Beatles were teenagers.”

With the above, Pam pulled ahead of me in our, what she aptly termed, “death match.”

In response, I just submitted the following, regarding the current cyclospora outbreak:

Brian Beutler of Off Message commented: “I feel like if Biden or Obama had turned America into a diarrhea splatter film, Republicans would’ve made it into a political problem for them.”

I’ll spare you a photo from mine. Here’s Erling, soaking it all in.

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While we’re on the topic, here’s a shot of soccer mom Caity, with her Raffi.

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Smoke from the Canadian fires hit Jersey yesterday. You could look directly at the sun through the haze without hurting your eyes, that’s how thick it was. And the smell of smoke was pretty strong. Up in Canada now, 40% of the salmon is smoked salmon. Bagel shops are unable to keep up with the demand. Today’s better. The wind shifted.

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This poem, which should have appeared on Mother’s Day, is by Wo Chan. It’s dedicated to her mother. It’s called “Roller Coaster, Lightning Storm,” and is from Poets.org.

This one moment I loved: you
in the air, permed hair flying
wild in the rain, around and through
and not a thought of us dying

in the air, permed hair flying
against the storm, lashing hot rain
and not a thought of us dying,
strapped in the plastic car, chained

against the storm lashing hot rain
on our faces as we’re hurled up,
strapped in the plastic car, chain
clouds glowing, whirling—the gust

on our faces as we’re hurled up,
launched into the electric
clouds glowing whirling, the gust
as you laughed and laughed. It’s

launched into the electric,
wild in the rain, around and through
as you laughed and laughed—it’s
this one moment I loved you.

This is what Wo said about it: “I wrote this poem in 2012 and never published it. My mother passed away on Christmas Eve, 2025. When we went to China for a funeral once, we took a week to go to Macau (my birthplace) and we rode a roller coaster. As soon as we launched up, it started pouring rain and crackling lightning in the visible distance. We were trapped in this raucous insanity, flying through rain and clouds and storms. I had never seen my mother have fun like this.”

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Let’s close today with a cat picture. The clue was “They typically come in sets of four,” and the answer was PAWS. Rex is a serious cat lover and shared this shot of Ida and Alfie high-fiving.

See you tomorrow!

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