The first video (about Ozzy Osbourne) is extremely infuriating. The second one is about a new trend among charismatic Christians: to speak in tongues and then ask ChatGPT to "translate" it?! Yes, really. Gives an entirely new meaning to the term "Large Language Model"! Ironically, both presenters sound AI-like so there´s that...
I won´t even tell you what the third video is about. But yeah, chances are that´s just another AI end times deception...
What is a robot or robotic jockey in camel racing?
A robotic jockey is a small remote-controlled device used to replace human jockeys in camel racing. Here's how it works and why it was introduced:
It’s a lightweight robot mounted on the camel’s back.
The robot is equipped with:
A whip mechanism (usually a soft padded whip) to encourage the camel to run faster.
A speaker or device to issue commands.
The robot is controlled remotely by the camel’s trainer or handler from the sidelines using radio signals.
Historically, camel racing in places like the Middle East used young boys as jockeys, some as young as 4 or 5 years old.
Due to child labor concerns, safety, and international pressure, many countries banned the use of child jockeys.
Robotic jockeys were developed as a humane and ethical alternative.
They allow the sport to continue while protecting children and improving animal welfare.
Eliminates child exploitation.
Provides consistent control over camels.
Can be programmed or adjusted remotely for better performance.
Reduces risks of injury to jockeys.
Mainly in Gulf countries like the UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.
The technology is continuously improving for better control and reliability.
If you want, I can share videos or more technical details about how robotic jockeys work!
So I decided to fact check a stunning statement overheard on the interwebs with my new friend ChatGPT...
Is this a true statement: Tigers appear orange to humans because most of us are trichromats, but green to deer and boars which are dicromats. The tiger´s orange and black colors provide camouflage, helping it stalk hoofed pray like deer and boars effectively.
Yes, this statement is generally true.
Human Perception (Trichromats):
Most humans are trichromats, meaning we have three types of cone cells in our eyes that detect red, green, and blue light.
Because of this, we perceive tigers as orange due to how their fur reflects light.
Deer and Boar Perception (Dichromats):
Many of a tiger’s prey, like deer and boars, are dichromats, meaning they have only two types of cone cells (usually sensitive to blue and green).
This limits their ability to distinguish between red and green hues, making colors like orange appear more like green or grayish tones to them.
Camouflage Advantage:
In a forest or grassy environment, greenish or grayish shades blend in well with foliage and shadows.
This helps tigers remain less visible to their prey, making them more effective ambush predators.
So, while tigers look orange to us, they likely appear greenish to their prey, enhancing their natural camouflage.
Tigers are dichromats, not trichromats.
Like most carnivorous mammals, tigers have only two types of cone cells in their eyes, making them dichromatic. Their color vision is similar to that of deer and other prey animals, meaning they have limited ability to distinguish between red and green.
Tigers can see blues and greens fairly well.
Reds and oranges likely appear as shades of green or grayish tones.
This means that while they don’t see their own fur as bright orange like humans do, their camouflage still works effectively in the forest.
Tigers, like other predators, rely more on motion detection and night vision than detailed color perception. Their eyes are adapted for low-light hunting, which is more critical for their survival than distinguishing a full range of colors.
Even better than beaver bombing? What should we call this, boar bombing? The article proposes "guerilla rewilding". Lynxes, too! Note also that some of the suids released were apparently domestic pigs! Eh? Can´t the rewilders tell the difference between a feral pig and a boar?!
Another bizarre cult in the never-ending *human* saga...
Dartmoor wild boar sightings prompt suspicions of guerilla rewilding
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| - Yes, they seem to think that I´m you! |
And camelids, too! Not to mention over-sized specimens of the lutrine persuasion. I never been particularly interested in Nessie or the Loch Ness monster. In fact, the whole thing strikes me as rather silly. I mean, we´re talking about one bloody loch just south of a city with 63,000 inhabitants. Are ye telling me that a breedin´ population of please-your-soars can live there undetected for millennia?! Then, I have a fake tartan to sell you!
It´s a cultural phenomenon, no more. As proven by Karl Shuker´s entertaining article about the monster´s split personality. While a plesiosaur is the most common identification, others have been proposed. Some of them very strange! How about a long-necked seal, a gigantic tullimonstrum, an "elephant squid", an *actual* elephant, or a camelid with a plesiosaur-like head and neck (the latter seen on land?!). There´s also the mother of all otters, also seen on Ireland. Shuker doesn´t mention "a specter conjured by Aleister Crowley", but then, he´s more into the flesh-and-blood portion of the cryptozoology specter, er, spectrum.
Entertaining, I say. And probably not true either way.
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| - What do you mean, guv? I identify as a llama, I do! |
Maybe there is *one* close US ally Donald Trump should invade. Or why not a good ol´fashioned German blitz? LOL.
När Göteborgs förskolor nyligen skulle uppmärksamma samernas nationaldag (!) valde man att servera hjortkött från Nya Zeeland (!!), eftersom detta visade sig vara billigare än renkött från lappmarkerna (?!). Ger en helt ny innebörd åt uttrycket "go Woke, get broke"...
Kritik mot att hjortkött serverades
What´s up with the red heifer situation? This update is from early August. Have the Jewish fundamentalists backed down? Or did animal rights activists rescue their poor cows?
Israelis practice red heifer ritual in front of Al-Aqsa Mosque
Arla (the Scandinavian dairy company) is threatened by a boycott in the UK due to cows getting a mysterious new feed which makes them fart less and hence "produce" less methane, which is a green house gass. The feed is associated with Bill Gates, who is prominently featured in various conspiracy theories... and off we go. Arla, for their part, blame "disinformation".
Personally, I wonder if the people who want to boycott Arla over this think that modern milk is entirely "organic" to begin with? Why do they buy their dairy products from Arla rather than from some semi-illegal biodynamic farm run by Anthroposophists? Duh!
Arla says boycott calls over methane-cutting feed additive based on "misinformation"
"Mitt Sverige" (My Sweden) is a nature documentary by Hungarian Zoltan Török. His Sweden turns out to be the scariest part! Think icy islands in the Gulf of Bothnia (?) featuring colonies of cormorants, eagles fighting each other, and ravens harassing seal cubs.
Later, Zoltan and his family go trekking somewhere in Lapland, with its vast and seemingly empty hill tracts and woods. Or not so empty, since we do get to see bears, foxes, lynxes and wolverines. At one point, the documentary becomes unintentionally funny, as Zoltan says that the Sami (Laps) live in harmony with nature...while the camera shows how they herd reindeer with snowmobiles! I assume these are powered by gasoline?
But sure, if you want a good argument to stay indoors in some safe burb in southern Sweden (the civilized part), I suppose "Mitt Sverige" could be worth watching!
"The best cryptid evidence" doesn´t strike me as very "cryptid". Note that the Patterson-Gimlin film of Bigfoot fame isn´t included in this survey. All animals featured (except maybe Marvin) seem to belong to known and currently extant taxa. So-called cryptozoologists don´t really care - they want to find a giant ape-man, a surviving dinosaur, or something to that effect.
So it seems the Patterson-Gimlin film is unique, being the only good footage of an *actual* cryptid (i.e. a monster). But it´s precisely it´s singular character that makes it so hard to believe...
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| Credit: Charles J Sharp |
“Dracula´s Hidden Kingdom” is the dramatic title of a fairly regular
nature documentary about Transylvania in Romania. As far as I understand, Transylvania
wasn´t even 15th century warlord Vlad Dracula´s actual principality!
It was probably British writer Bram Stoker (19th century) who made
the association and…well, here we are.
To give the docu some (tourist) “local color”, some scary castles, ruins
and graveyards have been included, and something I take to be Gypsy music plays
in the background while the narrator speaks. Most of the time, however, we get
to see all the usual players: lynxes, wolves, red foxes, deer, beavers and European
bison – OK, maybe the latter is new to most viewers! Birds shown include white
storks, bee-eaters and the hoopoe. We also learn that there are 200 species of
butterflies in Transylvania and 27 species of bats. I admit I had no idea so
many species of these particular critters even existed in Europe! Sources?
Apparently, Homo sapiens have lived in Transylvania for 40,000 years (a Stone Age cave painting of a bison is shown) and throughout most of its history, the area was teeming with wildlife, including enormous herds of the just mentioned bison. Even today, at least the bear population seems to be thriving, while many other animals have diminishing populations. The bison were actually extirpated in the wild at one point, but have been reintroduced. Plans to establish a new national park in the Carpathians are mentioned.
Personally, I have to admit that East European rural backwaters give me claustrophobia, but sure, maybe they are good for non-humane Animalia? Perhaps somewhere in that vast mountain wilderness, some lonely vampire is still stalking the hills…
This will never happen and is probably just another scam to part rich people and governments with their money. But nice try!
This is supposedly a "wild bear trap", but surely it should say "wild BOAR trap"? LOL.
“Hunt for the
Oldest DNA” is a recent release from PBS-Nova. The documentary discusses the
biggest scientific breakthrough of 2022. A team of scientists headed by Eske
Willerslev from Denmark managed to extract DNA from a soil sample taken at Kap
Köbenhavn on Greenland. The DNA turned out to be over 2 million years old! The
previous record holder was one million years old DNA from mammoth bones. Or, to
be more precise, the oldest *accepted* ancient DNA.
During the
1990´s, even more sensational claims were published, including a supposed discovery
of 80 million years old DNA from dinosaur bones (the creationists are still talking
about that one). This virtual “Jurassic Park” territory was soon abandoned,
however. As for Willerslev, he tried for 15 years to extract DNA material from
the Kap Köbenhavn samples, without success. His samples were even known as “The
Curse”, since grad students who tried their hand on them always failed (sometimes
with detrimental results for their careers). Then came the 2022 breakthrough,
and here we are.
Apparently,
certain kinds of minerals can “bind” ancient DNA and make it less prone to
degrade. The clay and quartz at the Greenland site have this effect. The discovered
DNA is from the Pliocene, the last warm period before the onset of the ice
ages. The most surprising find was the DNA of a mastodont. The docu also
discusses Greenland camels, known from the fossil record but not yet from the
DNA samples. The ecosystem uncovered was vast and complex. Despite the warm
climate, half of the year was still Arctic night, raising questions about how
the animals or plants survived.
Since the
Pliocene was much warmer than today, the issue of current climate change inevitably
comes up. Willerslev and his team believes that the quest for ancient DNA could
have practical applications. Apparently, scientists have managed to identify an
ancient poplar gene that made that particular tree adapted to growing in the
darkness of the long Arctic night. This gene has been successfully implanted in
barley, perhaps giving rise to a specimen that could be grown on Greenland if
it ever becomes ice-free again due to man-made climate change. Similar experiments
with wheat and other food crops are underway.
And yes,
one of the US scientists featured sits in meditation posture on a chair throughout
the interview. A real weirdo, if you ask me. The expert on camelids, I believe.
Slow-paced,
and I had to watch it twice to really get it. But yeah, probably worth the
research grants. Even so, most people probably prefer “Jurassic Park”…
I´ve heard about the red heifers before (cuz of course I have). However, I assumed that the Hamas-heifer connection was a conspiracy theory of the kookier kind. Now, click on the link below. Yes, it´s from CBS News. So I presume Hamas really did mention the red cows from Texas in one of their "official" statements.
Holy moly. Or should I say: holy cow?
On one point, I suspect CBS might be wrong. They don´t mention that Christian fundamentalists have been breeding red heifers in Texas to "aid" the Jewish ditto in their attempts to rebuild the Temple. But surely that´s where the "pet cows" come from?
What these red cows from Texas have to do with war and peace in the Middle East
See also here:
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| "Excuse me, dear sir, is this the way to the heartland?" |
“Wild Scandinavia” is a three-part BBC series about nature in the Nordic countries. I just glanced at the episode titled “Heartland”. In Sweden, it has been given a somewhat different title: “Sveriges hjärta” or The Heart of Sweden. Which is kind of odd, since some parts of the docu were apparently filmed in Norway and Finland! Cough, cough, cough…
“Heartland” takes us to the Scandinavian and, I suppose, Finnish boreal forests. For some reason, the winter section is more extensive than the summer ditto. Perhaps the Nordic winters are more fascinating for an international audience? Animals featured include lynxes, bears, beavers, reindeer, wolverines and wolves. One high point of the documentary is a struggle between bears and wolves over a reindeer carcass. Another is a similar struggle involving golden eagles and ravens. Ospreys are also shown. We even get to meet human ice-skaters! A strange oversight is that no deer or moose are shown.
The production ends with
the lekking (mating rituals) of the black grouse, a relatively large galliform
living in the “heartland” forests. The film team had to spend the night at the
lek grounds in freezing winter temperature. Geezus, can´t footage of this kind
be obtained with drone technology these days? Or no?
I admit
that “Wild Scandinavia: Heartland” could be of some interest to somebody who is
completely uninformed about “our” local wildlife. Personally, I tend to avoid
the wilder parts of our land, preferring more urban congregations, but I
suppose YMMV!
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| No deer were harmed when generating this picture! |
"Vilda Småland" is a Swedish nature documentary only available for viewers in Sweden at SVT Play. Småland is a region in southeastern Sweden. Over 100 years ago, a maverick ethnologists actually claimed that the dragon-like lindorm was a real cryptid living somewhere in the Smålandese forests but, alas, nobody took him seriously! The real wildlife in the region in question is featured in this production.
I admit that I got a bit bored after a while, since most of the docu is about deer. But sure, they show three different species, so if Cervidae is your main interest in life and you live within the borders of our kingdom, I suppose you´ll get your treat. Other animals shown include white-tailed eagles (munching on a dead deer!), whooper swans, grebes, the capercaillie, foxes, badgers, boars and lynxes. Weirldy, the sound made by the lynx sound like dog barks?!
While it´s kind of interesting to watch animals you *almost* see when out strolling, the deer aspect soon got to me. But then, I´m not a hungry lindorm, so there´s that, I suppose!
