Current mood?

 

My ishta-devatas? ;-) 

Lord of the Flies

Some fun facts (or factoids?) about the space rock we currently inhabit. From Wikipedia, I believe.

>>>Insects are the most diverse group of animals; they include more than a million described species and represent more than half of all known living organisms. The total number of extant species is estimated at between six and ten million; potentially over 90% of the animal life forms on Earth are insects. 

>>>Insects may be found in nearly all environments, although only a small number of species reside in the oceans, which are dominated by another arthropod group, crustaceans, which recent research has indicated insects are nested within.

>>>In 1982, Terry Erwin published an estimate of global species richness of 30 million, by extrapolating from the numbers of beetles found in a species of tropical tree. In one species of tree, Erwin identified 1,200 beetle species, of which he estimated 163 were found only in that type of tree. Given the 50,000 described tropical tree species, Erwin suggested that there are almost 10 million beetle species in the tropics. 

>>>In 2011 a study published in PLoS Biology estimated there to be 8.7 million ± 1.3 million eukaryotic species on Earth. A 2016 study concludes that Earth is home to 1 trillion species.

The good news is that most of that trillion aren´t insects. The bad news is that they are...micro-organisms! Either way, we live on Bug Planet. And God is the Lord of flies.

Good news at last?

 

Credit: slawojar

Claim: Ukraine has retaken almost all of the Dnipropetrovsk region while Russia isn´t capable of launching a summer offensive. 

Is this true? If so, it´s (kind of) good news, obviously. Expect another "charm offensive" from Putin directed at Donald Trump in 10, 9, 8... 

Trust the plan

 

Gotta lööv the aesthetic

Michael Tracey just now: "Among voters who say they oppose the war in Iran, the most common reason cited is "I do not trust Donald Trump." Just in case anybody gets the wrong idea that there's some major anti-war epiphany going on. Swap in another political figure they "trust," and they'd be all for it".

Well, Mikey, Iran is ruled by a brutal oppressive theocracy in effective control of the fossil fuel trade routes with a penchant for supporting terrorist movements all around the Middle East...so yeah, something like that. They seem hell bent on unleashing another Holocaust, too. If that´s a thing?

Although I would prefer some kind of freakin´ plan rather than "trust"...

What is the strategy, J D?

 

Is this AI-generated, or does Vance really dare showing his ass together with *Lindsey Graham* of all people?! You know, the senator who supports both Israel and...Ukraine.

Hmmm...

But sure, Jay Dee, join the Dark Side while you can, LOL. 

Monday

 

Shiva and the moon... 

Christmas forever?

 

Two of my neighbors still have Christmas stars in their windows?! I kid you not! Sure wonder for how long? I mean, it´s soon Easter for crying out loud. And officially spring... 

I assumed I was the biggest Xmas/Yuletide marauder in town, but naaah. 

It´s life, Jim, but not as we know it

 

Some bacteria have "devolved" to a point where they are scarcely even alive anymore, while some viruses (known as giant viruses) seem to be very much alive, at least compared to other viruses! The boundary between living and non-living is getting...messy. 

Is anyone surprised?  

Mormons and Cylons

 

Some clips from the original (1978-79) "Battlestar Galactica" series. The Mormon influences are obvious in these three excerpts. Most clearly in the first one. But note that the evil guy is called Iblis, the Muslim name for Satan!   

It´s over

 

He looked like such a nice guy. Has Father Eleftheria finally lost it? Too much Messiah complex and Gog-Magog end times stuff in this one. Hopefully the apocalyptic stuff is just click bait. 

I suppose we´ll know when our man passes his "last spiritual test" in two weeks, during the Easter holidays. Stay tuned. Because, you know, we´ll all be here post-Easter, too!