The forbidden country

 

Forbidden cryptids in *North* Korea?! Clearly a counter-revolutionary provocation, since it doesn´t mention the famed unicorn lair outside Pyongyang, LOL. 

Apocalypse not

 

- Yeah, I´m an extinct Giant Swan from Malta,
so how does this Hormuz opening help me?

So apparently the Strait of Hormuz has been opened. For ten days. Because of something in Lebanon. Maybe. Don´t get me wrong, but does anyone even care anymore? 

Black-necked swan event

 

"So yeah, I´m more unexpected than that arrogant Aussie bastard" 

Sudden enlightenment

 

- Ahem, I´m not your pet, child.
You *do* realize that I´m actually older than you?
- Nah, I just pretend being a kid, I´m one quinvigintillion years old!

There are so many Hindu deities that it´s essentially impossible to keep track of them all. "Bala Saraswati" is apparently the child-form of Saraswati. Presumably some kind of Tantric stuff. There is no "official" iconography of her, but this is Gemini´s fantasy picture of her. The black swan is my idea. I think this peculiar species of swan is a very good symbol for unexpected and sudden enlightenment. You know, a "black swan event"...

Back to Godhead

 

Since totemism is "the world´s oldest religion", I semi-seriously wonder what´s my spirit-animal? And yes, I´m aware that totems and spirit-animals aren´t the same thing. But I can´t really contact my tribal ancestors 250,000 years ago, can I now?

I´ve always found magpies to be somewhat sympathetic (don´t tweet at me, bruh) so I suppose Pica pica pica might be it, I mean that Latin name is hilarious! And yes, it simply means "magpie magpie magpie". 

Another possibility is the black swan, since it´s a good symbol for sudden and unexpected spiritual enlightenment. You know, a black swan event. 

I´m somewhat partial to ants and termites, too...

Walking with hybrids

 

- Hybrid? Me? Nah, I´m just an inplanted species!

A somewhat esoteric blog essay on "hybrid non-bird dinosaurs". Eh? Don´t tell the creationists and, whatever you do, don´t tell Eugene McCarthy!

In Quest of Hybrid (Non-Bird) Dinosaurs

The ugly gosling

 

This must be the most hilarious misidentification of a bird like ever (and worlds without end, amen). The YouTuber who posted this (not necessarily the guy with the camera) actually think these are...wait for it...geese?!

HA HA HA, bruh, those are obviously *swans* for crying out loud. Mute swans, to be exact. No ugly gosling to be seen, move along! 

The crown duck

 

Not exactly Vegavis, but close enough
to make the point 

Did so-called modern birds evolve already before the great extinction event 66 million years ago? Specifically "Vegavis iaai", a bird classified as an anseriform (think ducks, geese and so on). 

According to the article linked below, anseriforms and galliforms are the two oldest groups among modern birds. If it quacks like a crown bird...

I admit I had no idea, I mean, shouldn´t it be ratites or something?!

Fossil of ancient duck-like creature discovered in Antarctica 

The land of desolation

 

So I just watched the nature documentary "Wild Ireland: Kingdom of Stone", about the apparently world famous karst landscape between County Clare and County Galway known as the Burren. I admit I never heard about it before! Or maybe I did, since parts of this docu reminds me of - surprise - other documentaries about western Ireland.

Animals shown include the pine marten, Daubenton´s bat, whooper swans and the butterfly known as the marsh fritillary. In the Atlantic Ocean we also find the finback whale (the world´s second largest animal) and the basking shark (the world´s second largest fish). The basking sharks occasionally gather in one place and swim in a large circle, nobody really knows why. But yes, it does look majestic.

The Burren also has an interesting human history. Here we find Neolithic grave monuments, abandoned churches and monasteries, and a mysterious tower once inhabited by none other than W B Yeats (who apparently saw whooper swans as near-divine). Indeed, the landscape is man-made in the sense that Neolithic farmers cut down all the trees, presumably to give room for agriculture and cattle. 

"The Kingdom of Stone" has a romantic (or Romantic) undertone, and frequently shows ravens (?) flying across the bizarre landscape of karst and ruins. Ahem, Ireland is a modern, globalized territory these days...

Still, could be interesting on a boring Wednesday evening. 

Damn vegetarians

 

I haven´t double-checked anything. Think twice before sharing. LOL! 

The ugly duckling

 

Deep. From the X account The Fourth Way.  

Some random YouTube shorts

 

Some completely random YouTube shorts. 

Mood picture?

 

 

Subliminal

 

I just realized that there is something terribly wrong with my romantic "mood pictures" of mute and black swans.

No, it´s not that the mute swan is mute (IRL it really isn´t). 

It´s - of course - the black swan. Silly me. "Black swan" is high brow slang for "entirely unexpected event". It could be a good one, I suppose, but in 2024, everyone expects the black swan to be a virtual horror show!

On the other hand, if everyone expects something, it´s no longer a black swan event, is it? And since white swans are some kind of sacred Hindu symbol for Paramatman or something to that effect, maybe we are all subliminally saved...     

Mood picture

 

 

Looking for the lotus

 

Credit: Looking Glass

What the heck happened to Advaita Vedanta, I mean, even the swans have a strange color these days?! What´s next, the lotus replaced by a datura plant or what?

The 100,000 year problem

 

So during the Middle Pleistocene, swans on Malta were lager than elephants living on the same island?!

Gotta love the Demiurge!

Human image for comparison above. Not sure if any human actually saw these wonderful creatures, though...

Operation Black Swan

A few years ago, the North Korean news agency reported that a "unicorn cave" had been found outside Pyongyang, to the general amusement of the rest of the world, only to retreat from the claim some time later, claiming it was a mistranslation (what happened to the poor translator was, alas, never explained). 

Now, Chairman Kim is supposedly telling his people to eat highly nutritious...black swans?!

Another mistranslation, I assume.

Or no?

North Koreans pushed to eat black swans amid food crisis

Sådan är socialismen

Credit: Charles J Sharp

OK, rubriken på detta blogginlägg är kanske lite simplistisk, men jag kunde inte hjälpa det... 

Kim Jong-uns recept mot svält: Ät svarta svanar 

Birds in the monastery

“Ireland's Wild Coast” is a documentary directed by Cepa Giblin and John Murray. The latter is most known for his award-winning “Broken Tail” about Indian tigers. After the inevitable stint in the tropics, Murray returned to his native Ireland and help direct two documentaries about its stunning nature and wildlife, the first being “Ireland's Wild River” about the Shannon.

In “Ireland's Wild Coast”, we are introduced to the Irish Atlantic coast, from Skellig Michael in the southwest to County Donegal in the northwest. Animals featured include seals, whales, basking sharks, blue sharks, outcast dolphins (sic), seemingly feral sheep and a wide variety of birds. At Skellig Michael, Manx shearwaters nest in an abandoned medieval monastery. Donegal turns out to be the winter quarters of whooper swans from Iceland - perhaps the only migratory bird spending the winter in Ireland!

I admit that I found “Ireland's Wild Coast” fascinating. The underlying theme of this production is wildlife taking over after humans leaving. In real life, of course, it's the other way around. Murray himself pointed out when interviewed by Swedish television that Ireland, previously regarded as the end of the world, has become one of its most exploited spots…

Five stars. For the documentary, that is.