Rich people´s problems

 

Ååååkej. Låter som en parodi...

Husdjurs skärmtid ökar

Curiosity killed Schrödinger´s cat

 

Why haven´t we been told this before? Seriously.

Is God Needed to Collapse the Wave Function?

Catskin

 

Credit: The Fourth Way

There is a third one coming up in November, too! 

Singular

 

Five animals only seen once. OK, quite interesting! Note the implication for cryptozoology: if even species that are extremely rare can become known to science, why can´t we find cryptids which supposedly live in our very backyards? Cuz they´re not real, obviously. 

Unless they´re fairies. As per usual! 

Återfall

 

Credit: Aftonbladet 

Den här typen av händelser går att förebygga. Studier visar att pumor som vårdas inte återfaller i den här typen av beteende lika ofta som pumor som bara får springa lösa. Jo, ibland återfaller de förstås. Det är en tragedi för Colorado som samhälle. Men inte lika ofta, alltså. 

Catocalypse

 

- Rapture? What rapture? 

So Edward Dutton believes that histrionic Woke women are infected by a parasitic disease spread by cats. 

It struck me that the same analysis could be applied to histrionic conservative women who believe in the "Biblical" Rapture. Ever noticed how many of them *worry about their cats* in the event of apocalypse?

And no, I´m not saying this is true. My point is that what´s sauce for the goose, surely works just fine for the gander. Not to mention the old tom!

Curiosity killed the cat

 

Edward Dutton has stopped donning a false beard lately, but his speculations are still as "far out" as usual. Here, he claims that Woke women have a parasitical disease known as toxoplasmosis, the vector of which is...cats. Apparently, half of all domestic cats world-wide are infected with this disease. 

He also speculates that the witches of yore may have been infected by the same parasite, which is why the cat has always been the symbol of evil. It also explains the stereotype of the "cat lady". 

A lot of push back in the commentary section from right-wing cat owners... 

The last rally

 

Look what I found. 

This is a kind of follow up to the robot essay "Better than panpsychism". Rupert Sheldrake and Mark Vernon discusses the strange phenomenon of terminal lucidity in humans *and animals*. It seems dogs and cats also experience "the last rally". The commentary section is worth reading. 

At the end of the video, Sheldrake and Vernon try to wrap everything up by discussing the resurrection of Christ from a somewhat heterodox perspective. 

Actually quite interesting. Thank you, guys, you may have saved my faith!   

Tyger tyger burning bright

 

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.

Explanation:

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

Is the tiger a trichromat or dichromat? 

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.

How This Affects Their Vision:

• 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.

Where da cat at?

 

Overheard on the interwebs: 

“Science is when it’s a pitch dark night and you’re trying to find a black cat; Metaphysics is when it’s a pitch dark night and you are trying to find a black cat that isn’t there; Theology is when it’s a pitch dark night and you are trying to find a black cat that isn’t there and you find the cat anyway.”

Feralization

 

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  

Feral pigs, lynxes released in the Cairngorms

It´s a crazy, crazy, crazy world

 

- Yes, killer squirrels. I mean, come on...

Some random science articles from the site "Live Science".

Did the wildfires drive them mad, I wonder?  

Killer squirrels in California public park

Everything was better before Christianity. No, wait...

Decapitated woman found in Irish bog

This has apparently been debunked. Well, I hope...

Cats caught bird flue from their owners

Do we even know what´s in our very own cosmic backyard?!

Oort cloud finally confirmed?

A second Kuiper belt?

Does the Donald really want Greenland? And how far above the sea is Mar-a-Lago exactly?  

Greenland´s ice shelf will collapse next century

And finally, an old classic...

What if a meteorite had not wiped out the dinosaurs?

Alter Ego

 

So I just saw a French science documentary, "Alter Ego", on Swedish TV about cloning. Artificial human cloning of non-human animals, to be exact. Remember Dolly the cloned sheep? For whatever reason, the European Union bans this kind of cloning, so the industry thrives in the rest of the world. In the docu, they interview Americans and Argentinians who clone horses (including race horses), Chinese who clone pet dogs, and a hyper-modern lab in the United Arab Emirates financed by the Emir of Dubai which clone dromedaries (camel races are popular in some nations). In the United States, there are supposedly cloned deer with exactly the qualities a wild-game hunter wants!

There are also discussions to clone mammoths and other extinct animals, such as the dodo. Maybe this is a bit too much hype? One scientist actually believes that cloning birds is extremely difficult to impossible. Another opines that "cloned mammoths" would really be genetically enhanced elephants which can live in cold weather! However, the cloned foal of a Przewalski´s horse (this species or sub-species is extinct in the wild) is real, so here is a possible avenue to save endangered species. It seems cloning can even enhance the genetic diversity of a species. The two-humped Bactrian camel (which is almost extinct in the wild) is mentioned as the object of another possible rescue mission. 

The documentary doesn´t discuss human cloning and no Raëlians are interviewed. The production is clearly pro-cloning and I do wonder after watching it why the EU has banned cloning. How does this help us? How does it help the animals? Is it just some weird superstition? On our "enlightened" continent! In reality, the applications are almost endless. Imagine killing off all wolves, but keeping their DNA around for future re-creation just in case. 

Hmmm...    

Post kittens

 

Happy Valentine´s Day, LOL.  

Post bobcats

 

We are supposed to post pics of cute kittens in a crisis situation, so why not. Will a bobcat do? Sure, it´s adorable, but I can´t help thinking that "adopting" wild animals should be...you know...illegal. Is it at least inoculated against inflation?

Regression to the mean

 

 

Africa and Papua New Guinea still have a fertility rate above replacement level. Be afraid, White boy, be very afraid! :D

Oh, and the third clip shows one of "our" Western cultural deviations... 

It´s still a tuatara, dude

 

Dude, moths and plants aren´t vertebrates. I mean, plants aren´t even Animalia. Still, it´s interesting to note that the tuatara is the fastest evolving vertebrate (chordate?) in terms of its genotype, while its physical appearence has apparently remained pretty much the same since time freakin´ immemorial. In other words: it still looks like a lizard, despite not being one!

Which animals are evolving faster?

God loves split gill mushrooms (and, I suppose, beetles) but hates the Iberian lynx. Or something.

What is the genetically most diverse species?

Don´t tell the creationists, I´m sure they can do *something* with this factoid...

The Moon might still have active volcanoes

Posted here for no good reason whatsoever...

The cat killed curiosity

 

Come and meet Larry, the cat-scholar who killed science. And replaced peer review with, I don´t know, purr review? But it´s not really funny. As some of us already know. The second clip is Sabine´s diss of a trash paper in a non-purr reviewed on-line journal. 

Massacre on Marion Island

 

Credit: JJ Harrison

Some really bizarre information in this one. 

The remote Marion Island in the Indian Ocean is scene to a "zombie apocalypse" during which aggressive and hungry mice prey on the seabirds, including large albatrosses, and eventually kill them. Or, not to put too fine spin on it, eat them alive under torture-like forms. 

Homo sapiens has decided to come to the rescue, and in 2026, the plan is to kill off the mice instead. That is, to exterminate millions of them! So our response to the zombie apocalypse is mouse genocide. Not until 2028 will we know whether the pesky rodent is finally gone and our tubenose brethren saved. Oh, and in a previous hominid killing spree on the island, all cats were extirpated?! 

>>>A “zombie apocalypse” has been playing itself out on Marion Island in the Southern Indian Ocean for more than a decade, as flesh-eating mice massacre vulnerable seabirds, having already laid waste to invertebrates and otherwise tenacious vegetation.

>>>In the 20 years up to 2018, the number of mice on Marion increased by about 430%. As a result, says Anderson, “the frequency of mouse attacks is increasing very significantly. It’s exponential, and it’s related to the fact that the invertebrates on which the mice used to prey have been decimated, so the mice are feeding off the seabirds and their eggs as an alternative food source” to replace their diet of weevils, moths and seeds. 

>>>In a 2015 study, mice were found to be killing one in 10 albatross chicks. Not only has this escalated, says Anderson, but “one of our concerns is that the mice are now starting to feed on adult wandering albatrosses as well. “The loss of chicks obviously has a big impact, but once you start killing adult birds of breeding maturity, then the impact on populations increases. And this is a more recent phenomenon.”

Massacre at Marion: Mouse eradication project gathers pace

En miljon katter i Sverige är oregistrerade

 

"Registrera katten hos myndigheterna, din jääävel"