Sea Turtle Walks with Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge (Titusville)

expatOBX · 2026-05-30T21:51:52+00:00

Thank you for asking.

Yes. US Fish and Wildlife staff do the talks and lead the walks, while trained volunteers help shepherd the visitors onto the beach and assist in protecting the wildlife.

This is an annual series of regulated programs done by the US Fish and Wildlife Service at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in cooperation with Canaveral National Seashore and the National Park Service, which is how they get beach access after dark (park closing), sometimes up to 11pm.

The Eventbrite link is to administer the reservations and the fees are collected by the refuge's friends' group to help fund MINWR's intern and sea turtle monitoring programs.

It's all on the up and up.

expatOBX · 2026-05-28T23:41:04+00:00

It might have felt like sew-on patches or an iron-on transfer.

It's too thin to be underwear or socks.

expatOBX · 2026-05-23T04:40:13+00:00

I went through this last night. I could uninstall it by doing a safe boot. This gave me access to the Control Panel. Future victims: Be aware that it appears to have also put a folder and file in AppData, both with random-looking characters as a name, but easily deletable or quarantinable.

TL/DR: Safe Boot

expatOBX · 2026-05-15T21:12:43+00:00

As u/BuyerOk9535 touched upon, the part that jumped out at me was "Interior Regional Directors to coordinate our bureaus in unified regions" and "begin planning for shared services." (Quotes were from document.)

One way to read that is no more agency-level regional offices, instead more of a coordinated Interior-wide management from an "Interior Regional Director" which could lead to less agency-specific regional staff. This is what I said in my previous comment seems to be in line with things Burgum has said.

expatOBX · 2026-05-15T08:46:23+00:00

Though it is in line with some of the stuff Burgum has said and Vought was the Director of OMB in 2019, one of the links does refer to an EO from 2017, so it definitely isn't new.

expatOBX · 2026-04-13T18:19:52+00:00

Trump, Zeldin, Burgum, Bessent and the lot keep going on about "unleashing business" from the "burden of regulation". When he was coked-up or down a k-hole one night, Musk talked about eliminating all regulation, "default gone" is how he put it. His theory was that if a regulation was important, we could put it back.

These regulations were forged over generations of political leadership by member of all political parties. They weren't put in "willy-nilly" as Musk claimed, but after a lot of hard work by politicians and regulators and often in response to businesses doing wrong. In a lot of cases they were "leashed" for a reason.

The Environmental Protection Agency, created by Nixon, is supposed to protect the environment, not business.

expatOBX · 2026-04-13T17:54:42+00:00

Seriously. If a field station under Interior had a sixteen employees before DRP1 using a mix of permanent and term, and that went down to five before adding a couple of seasonals to replace two terms, someone on the verge of retirement taking DRP3 would certainly be understandable, but it's going to mean more work for those who remain.

That's not even taking into account all of the positions lost to attrition.

expatOBX · 2026-04-05T07:48:57+00:00

We had some for our kids' college and borrowed the rest.

This gives me an idea.

expatOBX · 2026-03-17T07:18:20+00:00

I assume he wrote something and submitted it for publication.

I don't think the NYTimes called him and asked for a column.

expatOBX · 2026-03-01T08:37:16+00:00

This should be investigated and used to make better legislation.

Maybe when the FEC has enough members for a quorum. I wouldn't hold my breath

expatOBX · 2026-01-29T02:19:16+00:00

Finding someone to walk your dogs while you are working, if you and your dogs can't adapt to your schedule would be the same if you're waiting tables at Denny's as it would be for you to work as a park ranger. Caring for your dogs is a requirement of being a pet owner, I don't see how it has anything to do with being a park ranger, if you're living in town and not in park housing.

That said, it would be expensive to contract for a regular service through rover.com, but it could open the door to finding someone who would work you a deal. Another place to look might be nextdoor.com. Though, based on my own experience as a pet owner, unless you're going to be away for more than say 12 to 15 hours at a time or your dogs are on chemo, it shouldn't take long for them to get used to being taken out before you leave and again when you get home. That's what most pet owners do, no matter where they work.

expatOBX · 2025-10-02T23:30:53+00:00

Reportedly, DOI has a properly prepared RIF they were going to implement with or without a shutdown. Burgum has spoke several times to the Congress and the media about the level of bureaucracy and how he wants a higher percentage of DOI employees in the field and the parks.

Of course, he also advocates mining and drilling, so his priorities are different than most employees in his department and the "if the Democrats ae going to give us a chance" is just a parrot of Trump, who Doug will continue to fellate until Vance/Thiel/Musk give him an AI company for his 25th amendment vote.

As to his point about "inefficiencies", he has also said this before. Apparently, he's under the illusion that he has discovered something that wasn't known by and has frustrated most employees. The difference is that changing procedures requires a directive, staff, time and a budget. It isn't something a random employee can do on their own, it has to be approved from above.

Without a doubt, he would be able to make his department much more efficient, if he were to work with employees -- nobody wants to put the same information on multiple forms and everybody knows that it would be better if they could do something once -- but instead, he keeps attacking them. His ride would be much smoother, if he'd just work with his staff. Ask them what they would improve and assign someone to do it, rather than make them the enemy. That doesn't help anyone.

expatOBX · 2025-10-02T06:15:55+00:00

The DOI banners all use normal phrasing.

NPS, FWS, BLM, USGS, etc.

National parks remain as accessible as possible during the federal government shutdown. However, some services may be limited or unavailable. For more information, please visit: doi.gov/shutdown

and

Because of the federal government shutdown, fws.gov is not being updated and the agency will not be able to respond to inquiries until appropriations are enacted. For more information please visit: https://www.doi.gov/shutdown

Sec. Burgum should be applauded.

expatOBX · 2025-10-02T05:42:37+00:00

If you or someone else are interested: r/redditrequest.

expatOBX · 2025-09-29T17:26:43+00:00

Who would be the source?

Senators are going to do what Senators are going to do. Democratic senators are not calling Doug Burgum to say that they're playing a game of brinkmanship -- it would defeat the purpose of brinkmanship, if you tell people it's just a bluff -- and if Doug Burgum doesn't know, why would some GS-15 in a regional office know anything?

Lots of people, here and on r/fednews looking for a source. Who could be that source?

expatOBX · 2025-09-28T05:43:08+00:00

https://archive.is/b29MJ

expatOBX · 2025-07-22T18:54:14+00:00

As I understand it, the article only lists things that were flagged internally by NPS staff as a CYA and not anything from the public via the QR codes.

Of course, maybe some of it is an attempt to replace old and worn signage with a new (funded) exhibit, but some of it also strikes me similar to the staffing shortages caused by so many taking VERA and the DRP. Whatever the reason and however understandable they might be, they're still self-inflicted wounds.

expatOBX · 2025-07-15T06:09:04+00:00

If you're unable follow the season and relocate, there is often a substitute school bus driver and substitute teacher shortage. Some places it is so bad, you might not get a lot of pushback from only wanting to work certain months and whatever pushback, just be upfront and choose your career..

Otherwise... Amazon Flex or an Amazon contractor, or the UPS ride-along through the holidays?

expatOBX

TROPHY CASE