I was thinking today about how I've been very pleased with my most recent set of work boots today and thought it could be interesting if anyone else had any particular favorite clothing items that they have really been enjoying.

Clothes are a very personal choice, as we're all built differently and do different things, but I'm curious to see if any trends show up in what we like.

I got the Keen Braddock Low Tops almost a year ago. I had a previous pair of Keen's imported boots a while back, and my new job makes us go through their provider instead of me getting reimbursed for buying my own boot of choice, and I wasn't thrilled with the idea of buying safety toes without getting to try them on first, as some can be pretty uncomfortable. I saw they had the US made Braddock though, which I had been wanting to try to see if it was an upgrade from the now discontinued boots I had from them.

I like Keen's because my old ones held up tremendously well. The thick rubber toe may look a little odd, but it doesn't scuff up like a leather cap boot, and it's asymmetrical so it fits my big foot better than many safety toes where both caps are the same shape. They feel very sneaker like, which is nice since my feet don't need serious protection from a super stiff and tall boot. I like the design is enough to be interesting, but nothing too wild.

These have been holding up very well, though I have 3 pairs in my rotation now, I also have a pair of leather CAT steel toe low tops and a pair of Carhartt composite toe fabric low tops. They each have their ups and downs, but the Keen is my all-arounder. It's not as light as the comp toe, it's a little bulkier than the leather boot, but it's the most comfy and feels to be the best built of the 3.

Edit: Just noticed the rules say the post needs to end with a question mark...

What is your favorite clothing item and why?

BBC: How decline of Indian vultures led to 500,000 human deaths 25 JUL 2024

More than two decades ago, India’s vultures began dying because of a drug used to treat sick cows.

By the mid-1990s, the 50 million-strong vulture population had plummeted to near zero because of diclofenac, a cheap non-steroidal painkiller for cattle that is fatal to vultures. Birds that fed on carcasses of livestock treated with the drug suffered from kidney failure and died.

The unintentional decimation of these heavy, scavenging birds allowed deadly bacteria and infections to proliferate, leading to the deaths of about half a million people over five years, says the study published in the American Economic Association journal.

“Vultures are considered nature’s sanitation service because of the important role they play in removing dead animals that contain bacteria and pathogens from our environment - without them, disease can spread,” says the study’s co-author, Eyal Frank, an assistant professor at University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy.

“Understanding the role vultures play in human health underscores the importance of protecting wildlife, and not just the cute and cuddly. They all have a job to do in our ecosystems that impacts our lives.”

The authors estimated that between 2000 and 2005, the loss of vultures caused around 100,000 additional human deaths annually, resulting in more than $69bn (£53bn) per year in mortality damages or the economic costs associated with premature deaths.

These deaths were due to the spread of disease and bacteria that vultures would have otherwise removed from the environment.

“The vulture collapse in India provides a particularly stark example of the type of hard-to-reverse and unpredictable costs to humans that can come from the loss of a species,” says Mr Sudarshan, an associate professor at the University of Warwick and co-author of the study.

It is amazing to see what a difference these birds most take for granted contribute to our success as a species.

Many find vultures to be creepy, but after learning about some of their amazing abilities and understanding why they've evolved to become what they are, they are superbly designed animals that excel at doing a very important job.

White-rumped vulture (Population loss since 2000: 98%)

Indian vulture (Population loss since 2000: 95%)

Red-headed vulture (Population loss since 2000: 91%)

Been unable to upload since yesterday. Getting an error in 2 apps, so it feels like it's a LW thing.

This cutie of a hootie is Decatur, an animal ambassador at the Vermont Institute of Natural Sciences.

Every day I post cute owls like this guy at !superbowl@lemmy.world for you to enjoy. You can come for just the pics, or I've also started posting some in depth writing about owls, packed with tons of info and detailed photos so you can learn how owls get their stealth, night vision, extreme flexibility, super hearing, and many other amazing powers you may not have known about.

I've also been posting places in every US state where you can go to see owls in person, and for everyone else, I sprinkle in owls from around the world, aaaaand I even started a while back posting things in metric measurements also so you know what the heck I'm talking about!

If I haven't won you over yet, here's some baby pics of Decatur!

Short

Medium

And Tall!

I don't know if you guys will like this or not, but I think it's fun. I was in a Beehaw thread talking about Halloween themed food, and most of the comments were they were either hard to make or looked good, but didn't taste good. That made me remember back to when I made the Meat Hand!

It's just regular meatloaf, so use whatever recipe your family likes, but instead of a loaf pan, shape it into a hand on a sheet pan. Top it with some sliced cheese before baking so it gets all crisped up and creepy looking, and cook it. Then place it on mashed taters.

I went simple, but you can add some panache with some onion slices for fingernails and a chunk for the wrist bone like in this pic I grabbed from Google.

It's simple, tastes great if you're into meatloaf, and some ketchup will give an added touch as some "blood" as well. And it looks pretty good for not much work. If you need a spooky Halloween dish for fun family dinner or for a party, give it a shot!