The Noboa Way

 

An interesting thread on recent developments in Ecuador, which seem similar to Bukele´s crackdown on crime in El Salvador. Ecuadorian president Daniel Noboa currently has an approval rating of 76%. Still a bit lower than El Salvador in terms of percentage, but then, I assume Ecuador has a larger population...

A thread on X on Noboa and Ecuador

On an alien airport

 

This must be the most unserious cult leader alive today: the Indian national Nithyananda, who is a fugitive from justice and lives at an unknown location abroad. At this point, he is essentially just trolling both the world and his own followers with a lot of BS. 

For instance, his fictional nation of "Kailasa" or his claim to be "the Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism" (the *what* of Hinduism?!). In one of the videos above, he says he can make cows and bulls speak in Sanskrit and Tamil. He can certainly make his non-Tamil followers say musty insults in the Tamil language. Oh, and he wants to build an airport for aliens. Well, *that* claim isn´t so radical on the alternative fringe!

Just find the dude, arrest him and extradite him to Bharat, problem solved. Or maybe not, since he still has brainwashed followers all around the world... 

Paradox or predicament?

 

Nithyananda has a bold solution to the Fermi´s paradox here, but what is the solution to the Nithyananda predicament? 

If this wanted cult leader (with a fake nation, to boot) is actually hiding in Ecuador, maybe the recent state of emergency in that nation can bu used to smoke him out?

But perhaps we can ask some of the aliens to abduct him, LOL. Oh, and why is he trying to sound like Osho?

Down and out in Asunción

 

The cultic scam known as the United States of Kailasa continues. This time, they tricked some officials in Paraguay, a very real nation in South America. The Guardian tries to exenorate the Paraguayans with the absurd argument that "Kailasa" has tricked others before! 

Yeah, whatever. 

Have they never considered that bribe money might have been involved? Or that some local officials are incredibly stupid people? I mean, how hard is it to check Kailasa´s status on the web...  

Officials in Paraguay sign agreement with fake nation

A visit from planet Vulcan

For six days in January, the city of Newark in New Jersey had a friendship agreement with the planet of Vulcan. 

OK, maybe not, it was the United States of Kailasa, but point still stands. Kailasa doesn´t exist (at all). It´s a fictitious "nation" set up by an international fugitive, one Swami Nithyananda, an Indian national currently hiding somewhere in Latin America to avoid facing charges of rape and child abduction in his homeland. "Kailasa" is his front, still going strong (kind of) despite the rogue guru going rogue (pun intended). 

The audio in the clip above is inaudiable, and the Newark politicians look exactly like I imagine a certain kind (not the best kind) of US officials to look like. The "Kailasa" delegation look even worse, almost as if they are deliberately emulating the Star Trek T´Pau stereotype. 

The implications of this happening in 2023 is up to the reader to ponder...  

Sister city

Swami Nithyananda is an international fugitive and cult leader. Once very popular in India, his star began to dim when accusations surfaced of illicit sexual relationships, bisexuality, rape, child abduction and even murder. His fanaticized followers once beat up the man in the clip above, Canadian national Henri Jolicoeur, when he asked impertinent questions to their "avatar". The incident was even reported in the Indian press.

And speaking of incidents... 

The article linked to below tells the bizarre story (which broke earlier this year) about how the city of Newark in New Jersey was scammed by Nithyananda´s dwindling band of faithful. They have also tried to infiltrate UN conferences, always under the cover of the fictitious nation of Kailasa (evidently named after Shiva´s holy mountain Kailash). 

Newark mayor signs deal with Hindu nation that does not exist

Miljörörelsens skuld

Miljörörelsen försökte stoppa Michael Moores film "Planet of the humans". Sedan kom straffet. Men okej, fortsätt klaga på Moore, ni. Och på Bolsonaro... 

Vindkraft-boom leder till skövling av Amazonas

Jan Guillou om Julian Assange

Jan Guillou slår till igen, nu med en (tänkvärd) artikel om Julian Assange.  

Om Julian Assange döms är vi tillbaka före 1970

The other side of the pond

 

I´m shocked, shocked I say! It turns out that there is an entire genus of insects that is MARINE. Yes, they live in the freakin´ ocean!!! And no, I´m not confusing Insecta with Crustacea. They really are actual insects, "true bugs" in fact, related to the pond skaters we can find in our quiet little inland lakes. It seems the pond skaters found a much bigger pond to skate over! 

Wtf.

Below, I link to All-Knowing Nerd Site Wikipedia´s entry on these deeply disturbing creatures, and one of Wiki´s main sources. 

Halobates

Biology of Halobates (Heteroptera: Gerridae)

Back to Galapagos

 

"Oceans" is the fourth part of the five-part documentary "A Perfect Planet" from the BBC. Or rather ocean, since strictly speaking there really is just one large sea on planet Earth. As usual, we get to see spectacular footage of more or less bizarre creatures. There is the flightless cormorant on the Galapagos Islands (it´s an excellent swimmer and diver) and the sea iguanas, large lizards which seek their food in the oceans...but die of cold unless they swim back to shore within 30 minutes. When really hungry, they simply attack the nests of the cormorants, eating the algae the nest are made of! 

Meanwhile, somewhere else in the Pacific, surgeon fish gather to release their eggs and sperm into the water to be carried away by the streams from any threatening predators...except the giant manta rays, which gather at the same place at exactly the same time, gobbling up substantial amounts of the nutritious mix! Another pelagic glutton is Bryde´s whale, which we see in action somewhere off the Thai coast. "A Perfect Planet: Oceans" also features sharks, sting rays, bony fish of all kinds, and a very bizarre octopus (or is it a squid?). 

The episode ends with another look at how "A Perfect Planet" was made, concentrating on the first part of the series, "Volcano". The team, led by Richard Wollocombe, descend into the crater of the dormant volcano at Fernandina, one of the Galapagos Islands. More people have been in space than down this particular crater, and I can´t say I blame Buzz Aldrin for choosing the former option! The place looks like a cross between Mordor and Dante´s Inferno, with huge rocks constantly falling down the steep slopes. At the bottom of the crater is a mysterious blue-green lake. But why on earth does anyone want to film *there*, and did they ever get an insurance, and if so, how much did it cost? If you´ve seen "Volcano", you know the answer: female land iguanas regularly descend into the crater, despite all the dangers, to lay their eggs in the warm ash at the bottom. How on earth evolution took *this* course is never explained, and perhaps we don´t even want to know...

The next and last episode of this stunning series is, perhaps ominously, entitled "Humans". Let me guess. We get to see a lot of house crows, house sparrows and cockroaches? A perfect planet indeed! :D 

Trustafarians

 

Watching this as we speak. The first ten minutes are *extremely* funny. Then, it becomes much less humorous. A critique of the current ayahuasca craze, from a guy who took the drug himself and saw some serious shit... 

UPDATE: He becomes more serious later in the presentation. Quite good, actually!

Perfectly wild

"A Perfect Planet" is a new series shown on BBC Earth, narrated by David Attenborough. When shown on Swedish TV, however, we have to rest contented with Henrik Ekman! I recently watched the first episode, "Volcano".

It´s ostensibly an educational production about the pivotal role of volcanic activity in sustaining life on Earth. Except, of course, that it isn´t. The "educational" angle is just an excuse to show the most spectacular footage of wildlife the BBC could lay their hands on this season. No hard feelings, btw! I mean, who cares about geology, anyway?

First, we get to see Lake Natron in Tanzania, a large volcanic lake where literally millions of lesser flamingoes breed and nest every year. It looks like another planet. Unfortunately for the flamingoes, but fortunately for the ecological balance in nature, marabou storks also gather to feast at those young flamingoes which aren´t fit enough to run away. I assumed the truly spectacular footage from Lake Natron was made by drones (the lake seems to be strongly acidic) but actually it was shot by an actual human who reached the interior of the lake area with a hovercraft! The local Massai tribeswomen even had to help him repair the hovercraft´s skirt... 

Next, we get to see some bizarre footage from the Galapagos Islands. At the small island of Wolf, one of "Darwin´s finches" (actually tanagers) have evolved a truly remarkable behavior. The "vampire ground finch" sometimes attacks the Nazca boobies and literally sucks their blood, weirldy enough without the boobies even noticing. At the island of Fernardina, an iguana climbs down into a volcanic crater 800 meters deep to lay its eggs in the hot sands surrounding the volcanic lake. This almost literal descensus into hell is extremely dangerous for the lizard, due to steep cliffs and falling rocks. 

This first episode ends with scenes of otters and coyotes from Yellowstone and a large gathering of cute-looking but dangerous brown bears from Kamchatka in Russia. 

I´m not sure if "A Perfect Planet" really proves that the planet is perfect, but at the very least, it does seem to be perfectly wild! 

I will certainly continue watching this series with great interest. 

The arrest of Julian Assange

No, it wasn´t the cat that got Assange arrested 

Funny how Julian Assange was arrested just a couple of weeks after the Mueller probe de facto exonerated Donald Trump from suspicions of Russian collusion. A co-incidence? No idea, and we´ll probably have to wait a while to get the full truth, but it *does* look strange. 

Apparently, Mueller has indicted 16 Russians for collaborating with Wikileaks (the famous DNC leak). After the arrest of Mr Wikileaks himself, Trump´s opponents can continue the Russian Narrative for another one or two years – including the election year of 2020. After all, it was “thanks to Wikileaks” that Trump won the elections, according to the “liberal” pundits. In other words, “muh Russia”. 

This makes me wonder who is behind the arrest of Assange, and why. If Trump himself, he is extremely inept. Or at least it *looks* that way (you never know with this guy). Is it the Deep State to embarrass Trump and his new Attorney General? That sounds more likely. If so, how did the Deep State make a shady deal with Ecuador over Trump´s head to get Assange´s asylum revoked? By promising them more kickbacks in the event of a Dem-Never Trump victory in 2020? Of course, I suppose it´s possible that Trump made a deal with the military, who want Assange and Manning behind bars, in return for something else Trump wants. 

Two other things. One: Forget about Assange being extradited to Sweden to face rape charges, Sweden is a non-entity when the big guys fight it out on the world stage. Two: Wikileaks revealed that Hillary Clinton had tried to sabotage the primary election campaign of Bernie Sanders. That´s usually considered news-worthy, so why would our “responsible” journalists want to cover it up, I wonder…?

Oh, and three: it wasn´t the damn cat.

Åsa Linderborg om Julian Assange

Åsa Linderborg om Julian Assange. Hennes indifferens när det gäller våldtäkter är ju den gamla vanliga, men annars får hon in en del poänger... 

Linderborg om Assange

Debunk this, Condon my dear

"UFOs in South America" is a DVD brought to us by UFOTV. The first episode, which deals mostly with Ecuador and Brazil, is available free on Youtube. The second part about Mexico and Mayan prophecies is only available on this DVD, so unfortunately I haven't seen it. This review is therefore based on the first part only.

I admit I was fascinated by UFOTV:s magnum opus "Out of the Blue". "UFOs in South America" is built around the same concept: military personnel and other respectable people talk about their UFO encounters (occasionally spectacular ones), and it turns out that government authorities habitually classify UFO observations and even videos of purported UFOs sent in by the public.

In Ecuador, investigate reporter Jaime Rodriguez waged a sustained battle to get his government to declassify UFO reports. His dream finally came true when President Rafael Correa appointed an official UFO investigation, giving Rodriguez full access to previously classified material. A kind of Condon Committee in reverse, since Rodriguez is a "true believer" rather than a sceptic - he sounds new agey and believes in Mayan prophecies about a shift in consciousness around 2012. Some kind of political conflicts between Ecuador and the United States are hinted at. President Correa is left-wing and closed down all CIA operations in Ecuador, which coincided with his sudden pro-ufology turn. Interestingly, Rodriguez had also tried to lobby a previous left-wing president, Lucio Gutiérrez (who later turned to the right). The documentary hints at an explanation: the demand to classify all UFO reports came from the United States military. With a more nationalist government firmly in place, the secrecy could be broken.

I admit that I'm somewhat ambivalent towards the evidence shown in this documentary. Some of the UFO footage is just too good to be true! Footage, as we know, can be faked - not to mention the staggering amount of ridiculous flying objects humanity sends up into the air every day... Perhaps it's just me, but somehow I found the oral testimony of the military pilots more convincing. Why would an experienced military pilot lie about being worsted by fast, luminous objects in the sky? The fact that both the US and other governments habitually classify UFO observations is also intriguing. Somehow, that doesn't square with the official scepticism towards the phenomenon...

The most sensational part of "UFOs in South America" is about Brazil. The Brazilian military supposedly organized a veritable exploration of the Amazon in search of UFOs. They found lots and lots of them, and even made contact with the aliens, at which point the Brazilian high command ordered the investigation to stop! The problem? This "Operation Prato" is still classified, so nobody can talk about it openly...

I'm not sure how to assimilate the Hispanic flying saucer situation, but one thing's for sure. The Condon Committee really is yesterdays news... ;-)

Evolution in action?

If you are a hopeless conventionalist, this might be the show for you. A good introduction to Neo-Darwinism's view of mutations and natural selection, with all the usual suspects. Galapagos finches, fruit flies, lactose intolerant humans, cancer research, etc. New stuff: macaques at Sulawesi.

If you are of a more Fortean bent, you will at least love the first part of the documentary, featuring authentic photos of Elephant Man (Joseph Merrick) and a number of bizarre, two-headed reptiles, including a snake affectionately baptized "Golden Girls". Its present owner bought it (or them?) for 20,000 dollars! We also get to visit the small town of Olney in Illinois, famous for its population of albino squirrels. The squirrels are protected by the local police, and even have their own road crossing. Evolution in action?

Three-and-a-half stars for this educational, high school level material.

A hotspot of problems

This is the latest volume of Ecological Studies, a continuing series of technical monographs on various ecology-related topics, which began publication already in 1973. The publisher is German, but the books are in English (with the occasional error in grammar or vocabulary).

"Ecosystem Services, Biodiversity and Environmental Change in a Tropical Mountain Ecosystem of South Ecuador" is a meticulously detailed case study of environmental degradation in southern Ecuador. The research area is situated at the border of the Podocarpus National Park, in the San Francisco Valley. Both German and Ecuadorean scientists have been involved, and the book even contains old maps of the area made in the DDR!

The local inhabitants of the region are diverse: both Native groups and Mestizos (the Spanish-speaking majority population). The Andes of southern Ecuador are a hotspot of biodiversity, especially of vascular plants and birds. Thus, there are 280 species of trees and 337 species of orchids in the river valley. 98 species of moss have been recorded on one single tree! In the research area itself (christened RU 816), which only covers 11 square kilometres, a whopping 2,400 species of moths have been found, an almost absurd world record of some sort.

Unfortunately, southern Ecuador is also the area in South America with the largest rate of deforestation. Road construction, population pressure and economic development (including cash crops and oil extraction) are some of the reasons. An agrarian reform law adopted in 1964 and subsequent colonization of previously pristine state lands is another factor. The population in RU 816 grow food for subsistence, and raise cattle for sale on the market. They also make extensive use of the surrounding forests. Land destruction is common: an area is burned for pasture, overgrazing makes the pastures vulnerable to aggressive weeds, and the pastures and then abandoned. Unfortunately, the natural forests never return. The research team believe that the rearing of cattle in the San Francisco Valley is neither sustainable, nor sufficiently profitable for the local inhabitants themselves. In general, human land use is the biggest threat to biodiversity in Ecuador, with climate change relegated to second position.

"Ecosystem Services, etc" contain a number of technical papers on the ins and outs of everything from soil quality (including the presence of testate amoebae and oribatid mites), landslides, different kinds of pastures, the future effects of climate change, and possible solutions to the predicament. The researchers strike a positive pose, claiming that reforestation and local economic development can be combined. I can imagine what the Ecuadorean government might have done to their grants, had they claimed something else! Well, let's hope the RU 816 team is right. One problematic aspect of the papers included in this volume is the somewhat nebulous term "ecosystem services", found already in the book title. Several chapters suggest that one such "service" is the interest a certain area might have for scientists! Really?

Frankly, most of this book is somewhat over my head, so I mostly skimmed it. That being said, I don't doubt that this is a competent case study of an ecologically important area. Of course, if you are a budding ecologist, chances are you can't afford to buy this book! I mean, 179 dollars?

Hopefully available at a university library near you. ;-)

Shepherding the sharks

"Sharkwater" is a fascinating Canadian documentary featuring the scuba diver Rob Stewart and the controversial environmentalist activist Paul Watson, the leader of the Sea Shepherd organization. Together, Stewart and Watson want to save - wait for it - the sharks!

I've heard of people who want to save whales or dolphins, but this is the first time I encounter people who actually want to save sharks. I didn't even know sharks were particularly threatened. Shark the hunter, man the hunted, right?

Not so, according to "Sharkwater". 90% of the shark population is already gone, and several species are threatened with extinction, including the peaceful whale shark (the world's largest fish). The documentary even claims that the complete extinction of sharks might affect the global climate, since shark predation stops other fish from overconsuming plankton. And plankton is necessary to keep the climate in balance.

I'm not sure if I buy that particular argument, or the claim that most sharks are pretty harmless to humans, but it's pretty clear from the documentary that all sharks are threatened by overfishing from the absurd shark finning industry. Conservations efforts are hampered by a variety of factors: shark fin soup and other shark-derived products are part of East Asian culture, the oceans are difficult to control, and many people don't like sharks anyway!

The most interesting part of "Sharkwater" features Paul Watson and his notorious activist group Sea Shepherd. I've heard of Sea Shepherd already 25 years ago, when they were literally attacking whaling ships in Iceland and Norway. Sea Shepherd has always been considered a dangerous extremist group.

Or so I imagined.

In "Sharkwater", Sea Shepherd is actually invited by the president of Costa Rica to protect the Cocos Island from poachers. However, as Watson and his ship approaches Costa Rica, something goes dangerously wrong. The local authorities in the coastal town of Puntarenas suddenly turn coat and start prosecuting Sea Shepherd, placing the entire crew in house arrest! Stewart goes AWOL and soon discovers what's going on: the Taiwanese mafia controls large and illegal shark finning facilities in the town, complete with secret ports. Here we have another and more disturbing reason why conservation efforts fail: sheer corruption. The mobsters presumably bought off the courts in Puntarenas, making sure they turn against Sea Shepherd.

Watson, Stewart and the other activists see no other choice than to leave Costa Rica as fast as possible, which they also manage to do under dramatic circumstances, the Sea Shepherd ship being chased by the coast guard. Instead, they set sail to the Galapagos Islands, where they are on friendly terms with the local authorities (!). Undaunted, Stewart decides to go back to Costa Rica in secret, and even sneeks into Puntarenas where the people have started to protest against the Taiwanese mafia and their illegal activities. Taking advantage of the chaos, Stewart finally manages to visit the elusive Cocos Island, where he can be alone with his beloved sharks...

"Sharkwater" does get a bit too romantic for my taste at times, but it's nevertheless one of the best documentaries I've ever seen. Indeed, it often comes close to being an adventure or action movie. To some extent, it's also a propaganda movie for the Sea Shepherd organization. Indeed, this is the film's weakest point, since Paul Watson turns out to be a misanthrope who apparently thinks sharks are better than primates (i.e. us). Perhaps when the sharks are safe and sound, we could feed this man to them? Still, I admit that these guys and their chases make great television!

Five stars.

Where on earth are the sharks?

The shark on the photo has no connection to the book under review

The book "Sharkwater" is a companion to the documentary of the same name, also available from Amazon. The movie "Sharkwater" is one of the best documentaries I've ever seen, and it has received a lot of awards at various international film festivals. The movie follows the controversial action group Sea Shepherd as they try to save sharks from poachers in Costa Rica and the Galapagos. It also contains splendid footage of sharks.

I had expected the book to be pretty much the same. Sure, the photos are (mostly) excellent. Most are in colour. But where on earth are the sharks???

I'd say only about 10% of the photos in the book version show sharks. Instead, we are treated to pictures of starfish, jellyfish, barracudas, seals, iguanas and the Sea Shepherd crew. All very interesting, to be sure, but I wanted more hammerheads and whale sharks! Not to mention our old friend (and Spielberg's nemesis), the Great White. In that sense, the book was something of a disappointment.

Still, since the photos aren't bad, I nevertheless give "Sharkwater" four stars. But I prefer the movie documentary.