Avoir Trois Métros de Retard

The Overton Window, in political theory, describes a “window” in the range of public reactions to ideas in public discourse, in a spectrum of all possible options on a particular issue.  It is named after its originator, Joseph P Overton, former vice president of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.  At any given moment, the “window” includes a range of policies considered to be politically acceptable in the current climate of public opinion, which a politician can recommend without being considered too extreme or outside the mainstream to gain or keep public office.  Proponents of policies outside the window seek to persuade or educate the public so that the window either moves or expands to encompass them (like legalisation of marijuana).  Opponents of current policies, or similar ones currently within the window, likewise seek to convince people that these should be considered unacceptable (such as abortion).  The novel Boomsday by Christopher Buckley, applies the Overton Window to the subject of Social Security reform in the United States.  The technique used was to agitate for “voluntary transitioning,” that is, suicide at age 70 in exchange for benefits, as a method of reducing the cost of Social Security.  Ultimately, the goal was a more modest form of reducing the burden on younger people for those costs.

Identity wars are conflicts between groups with different cultural, religious and/or ethnic backgrounds who inhabit the same stretch of land.  A scary idea is that identity wars may now be spreading from Europe and the Middle East into the rest of Asia and Africa.  These wars started in early modern Europe around the time of the Protestant Reformation.  After a century of genocidal violence that left most of Germany ruined and depopulated, they subsided until the French Revolution set off an even more devastating wave.  Closely connected to the industrial revolution and the rise of democracy, nationalism emerged as a dominant political force in 19th century Europe.  Over the next century, more than a 100 million people died as multinational empires in Europe and the Middle East ripped themselves apart in paroxysms of war, genocide and ethnic cleansing.  Are identity wars a fundamental aspect of modernisation or did they arise out of specific European and Middle Eastern characteristics that don’t apply elsewhere in the world?  If they’re endemic, cruel and bloody convulsions from southern Africa through the Indian subcontinent and Central Asia may occur in the next 50 to 100 years, reordering the continent into smaller and more ethnically and religiously homogenous countries.  World War I and World War II, both wars of identity driven by a mix of nationalist and ideological politics, were unprecedented in ferocity and scale.  More than 200 years after the French Revolution unleashed the modern wave of identity wars, the world has developed vastly more powerful weapons and techniques of war.  Advancements in warfare technology will only continue.  But we are no closer now than we were 200 years ago to resolving the question of nationalism and the death struggles between people that often entails.

There are many ways in which Social Media has been used by the military across the world.  Key security issues faced when dealing with social media platforms include the fact that, in a hostile environment, it is important military personnel don’t provide sensitive information while online.  This has led to significant pressure by governments to improve training that military personnel receive on social media tools.  [Unlike a telephone, it leaves a more permanent record?]  The Pentagon sees the advances in social media as a new battlefield that needs to be looked at to track information being provided about military operations on the web.  But with cuts to military budgets, social media is welcomed as a cost-saving tool and many armed forces use it to drive recruitment, especially in the UK.  The US military’s high-tech research arm, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), has put out a request for experts to look at "a new science of social networks" to attempt to get ahead of the curve.  The programme’s goal is to track “purposeful or deceptive messaging and misinformation” and pursue “countermessaging of detected adversary influence operations.”  Changes to the nature of conflict resulting from the widespread use of social media are likely to be profound.  Under the proposal, researchers would unearth and classify the formation, development and spread of ideas and concepts (memes).  DARPA plans to spend $42 million (£25 million) on this.  One possible experiment could involve a “closed social media network” of 2-5 thousand volunteers.

CIA drones kill large groups without knowing who they are.  Once, the standard for targeted killing was top-level leadership in al-Qaeda or one of its allies.  That’s long gone, especially as the number of people targeted at once has grown.  The new standard: “men believed to be militants associated with terrorist groups, but whose identities aren’t always known.”  The CIA is now killing people without knowing who they are, on the suspicion that they associate with terrorist groups.  There was no definition given for “suspicion” and “associate.”  Targeting groups of associates are known as "signature" strikes.  CIA officials defend these strikes by saying they frequently net top terrorists, not just foot soldiers.  Twice as many wanted terrorists have been killed in signature strikes than in “personality” strikes, a US counterterrorism official said.  [Personality strikes?  Does this just mean knowing who they’re killing?]  Independent information about who the CIA kills in signature strikes in Pakistan is scarce.  The CIA says that there have been very few civilian deaths — only 60 over the years.  But some senior officials in both the US and Pakistan governments privately say they’re skeptical civilian deaths are that low.  When the agency expects to kill 20 or more people at once, then the CIA is supposed to give the Pakistanis notice.  If the US ambassador to Pakistan objects to a strike, the CIA director or his deputy first try to talk through their differences with the ambassador.  If the conflict is unresolved, the Secretary of State can appeal directly to the CIA director.  If they can’t reach agreement, however, the CIA director retains the final say.  [I guess that tells you where the real power lies.]  The CIA does not have to account for its actions to anybody, least of all the US or Pakistani publics.

Freaked out about the insecurity of its nuclear arsenal, the Pakistani military’s Strategic Plans Division has begun carting its nukes around in clandestine ways.  That might make some sense on the surface: no military wants to let others know exactly where its most powerful weapons are at any given moment.  But Pakistan is going to an extreme.  The nukes travel “in civilian-style vehicles without noticeable defenses, in the regular flow of traffic,” according to The Atlantic.  Tactical nuclear weapons travel down the streets in “vans with a modest security profile.”  Somewhere on a highway around, say, Karachi, is the world’s most dangerous 1-800-FLOWERS truck.  Pakistan isn’t trying to safeguard its nukes from terrorists — it’s trying to safeguard its nukes from the USA.  Pakistani generals think that the US military may target Pakistani nukes.  So off the vans go, along congested and dangerous roads, trying to throw the US off the scent, with little more than hope to keep them safe.

From a review of the book, The Black Banners, by FBI agent Ali Soufan: Soufran describes his and his colleagues’ consternation when confronted with the snake oil salesmen who peddled “enhanced interrogation techniques” — a pseudo-expert the CIA brought in to oversee interrogations, whom Soufan gives the appropriately menacing and foolish sobriquet “Boris” — who had never conducted an interrogation, knew nothing about terrorism, and nothing about intelligence work.  “Why is this necessary” Soufan asked when first confronted with such measures as sensory deprivation, overload, or humiliation, “given that the prisoner is cooperating?”  As Boris tinkered with ever-increasingly harsh and ineffective ways to break detainees, Soufan and his colleagues tried to oppose them, but failed.  So Soufan and the FBI formally ceased any involvement.  It is telling that 4 individuals with first-hand experience in interrogations during the “War on Terror” have spoken out about enhanced interrogation methods: 2 Air Force officers (Steve Kleinman and another officer writing under the pseudonym Matthew Alexander), an FBI officer (Soufan), and a CIA officer (Glenn Carlke).  All independently make the same points: interrogation must be based on rapport; enhanced interrogation methods are ineffective, counterproductive, immoral, illegal, and unnecessary, and they have nothing to do with obtaining much, if any, information not otherwise obtainable.  It’s only apologists for the Bush Administration, or the policymakers themselves, who assert that “enhanced interrogation techniques” are legal or that they work.  Soufan is devastating about these methods: “The person or persons running the programme were not sane and the interrogation was stepping over the line bordering torture — way over the line.  What Boris was doing was un-American as well as ineffective.”

Nancy Wake, a French Resistance fighter, has died in London at the age of 98.  Born in Wellington, New Zealand and raised in Sydney, she was nicknamed “The White Mouse” by the Gestapo because she was so hard to capture.  Ms Wake left Australia and moved to France in 1932.  Joining the Resistance after the German invasion in 1940, she sheltered displaced Jews fleeing the Nazi regime.  Credited with helping to save thousands of lives, Ms Wake was placed at the top of the Gestapo’s most wanted list and fled France alone for England in 1943.  (Meanwhile, her French husband was seized, tortured and executed by the Gestapo.)  Trained as a spy by Britain’s Special Operations Executive, she parachuted back to Nazi-occupied France to work with the Resistance in preparation for the D-Day landings in Normandy in June 1944.  Her job was to distribute weapons among Resistance fighters hiding in the mountains.  To arrange delivery of weapons and supplies, messages had to be sent via radio phones.  Her group lost theirs during a German raid, so Ms Wake pedalled more than 200 kilometres to another radio.  “I volunteered not because I’m brave but because, being a woman, I was the only one who could do it.  When I got there, I couldn’t stand up, I couldn’t sit down, I couldn’t do anything.  I just cried.”  Ms Wake was awarded Britain’s George Medal and the US Medal of Freedom.  France decorated her with its highest award, the Legion d’Honneur.  She continued working for British intelligence in Europe until 1957, when she moved back to Australia and married British fighter pilot John Forward.  She returned to Britain after his death.  She had no children.  In 2004, Australia finally awarded her the Companion of the Order of Australia.

China is expected to expand 8.7% next year, 6.6% in the following 4 years, but only 3.5% in the 2017-2025 period.  It has long been an article of faith inside China and among most China watchers that the country needs 9% growth per year to avoid widespread instability.  If China’s growth decelerates that fast, that far, the biggest question in world politics won’t be how to accommodate China’s rise, but how long China can last.  Overall, world growth is expected to decline; both China and India will lead this decline.  Advanced countries are expected to recover from the current slump, but growth could remain anemic for years.  Forecasts almost never come true, and economic forecasts are less reliable than weather reports, but the inexorable rise of the supergiants has been a dominant meme in talks about global economic and geopolitical trends for some time.  However, this new view is more textured.  If growth deceleration results in serious instability, blows out the financial system (a distinct possibility), or simply ties the hands of China’s policymakers so that they can’t respond in a timely fashion to changing circumstances, deceleration could turn into something dramatic.

Some words you should never use with sales prospects:

• “Customer focused.”  Talk about redundant!  Should you be anything but customer focused?
• “Exceed expectations.”  Tell me you’ll exceed expectations and this will become an expectation — see?
• “Best in class.”  Who defines the “class” and who determines you’re the “best” in it?
• “Unique.”  If I hire your firm or buy your products, unique means nothing.  Tell me how you are better.
• “Value added.”  Tell me the deal, explain the options and add-ons, and let me be the one who decides what value you add.
• “Expert.”  Margaret Thatcher said, “Being powerful is like being a lady; if you have to say you are, you aren’t.”

"Jeff Bezos is an infamous micro-manager.  He micro-manages every single pixel of Amazon’s retail site.  He hired Larry Tesler, Apple’s Chief Scientist and probably the very most famous and respected human-computer interaction expert in the entire world, and then ignored everything Larry said for 3 years until Larry finally — wisely — left the company.  Larry would do big usability studies and demonstrate beyond any shred of doubt that nobody can understand the Amazon website, but Bezos just couldn’t let go of those pixels, all those millions of semantics-packed pixels on the landing page.  They were like millions of his own precious children.  So they’re all still there; Larry is not.  We’re talking about a guy who hands out little yellow stickies with his name on them, reminding people “who runs the company” when they disagree with him.  The guy is a regular, well, Steve Jobs, I guess.  Except without the fashion or design sense.  Bezos is super smart; don’t get me wrong.  He just makes ordinary control freaks look like stoned hippies." — excerpt from a rant by Google Software Engineer Steve Yegge.  His equally-interesting subsequent apology here.  “People like Jeff are better regarded as hyper-intelligent aliens with a tangential interest in human affairs.”

Google Flight Search is only good (for now, anyway) on flights within the US.  That’s too bad, because I can see how this could save me hours of time and hundreds of dollars after only a couple of international trips (NZ being so far away from most other places in the world).  When you’re planning to travel, whether you have a specific destination with dates in mind or not, Flight Search can help you find the best options for your trip.  You can review an easy-to-browse list of flights against which you apply filters.  If you aren’t sure where you want to travel, just type in your departure city and surf around the map to see ticket prices for various destinations.  You can filter by price, airline, or flight duration.  Click the calendar icon to see which dates will give you low prices on flights.  Drag the date picker forward or back, or check out the bar chart to see if traveling different dates will get you a better price (like a travel agent, only free).  The application does not yet include many smaller cities for searches and only shows US domestic round-trip airfares — multicity trips and one-way fares are not yet included.  And since Google will not be selling tickets, customers will have to head elsewhere to actually complete the purchase.  For help.

Researchers from The Roslin Institute at the University of Edinburgh have found that brain cells alter their genetic make-up during a person’s lifetime.  Genes known as retrotransposons are responsible for thousands of tiny changes in the DNA of brain tissue.  By mapping the locations of these genes in the human genome, scientists can identify mutations that impact on brain function and may cause diseases to develop.  The study shows for the first time that brain cells are genetically different from other cells in the body and are also genetically distinct from each other.  Scientists are now researching whether brain tumour formation and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s are associated with a change in retrotransposon activity.

The eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991 was the 20th century’s second most powerful volcanic explosion after Katmai, though its effects were more devastating.  The colossal explosion sent around 10 cubic kilometres of debris into the air, a hazard exacerbated by the simultaneous arrival of a tropical storm.  Around 800 people were killed, many as homes collapsed under the weight of raining wet ash.  However, the eruption was predicted in the days preceding it, and thousands of lives were saved by evacuation.

The railroads were the first to set the time in the 19th century, coordinating distant clocks so trains could be more precise, thus reducing crashes.  They’re also responsible for time zones (geographic swaths set to the same hour).  But it was evening-time activists like entomologist George Vernon Hudson and golfer William Willett who can be blamed for Daylight Saving Time.  Noting that a little extra well-lit time on a balmy evening would be nicer than in the morning when everybody’s asleep anyway, the two independently proposed shifting clocks forward for the spring and summer.  Governments seized upon the idea as a way to cut down on energy use — more sunlight in the evening means less fuel expended to provide artificial alternatives.  Unfortunately, this doesn’t hold up well.  Changing back and forth to Daylight Saving Time twice a year seems to be bad for human health — from increased risk of heart attack to more mine accidents.  Nevertheless, in 2007, the US Congress saw fit to extend Daylight Saving Time from earlier in spring to deeper into fall in 2007.  Would it make more sense to either scrap Daylight Saving Time or turn it into standard time — in effect, make it permanent?  Many think so.

When a person performs an act of kindness the brain produces dopamine, associated with positive thinking.  Secondly, the brain has its own natural versions of morphine and heroin: endogenous opioids (such as endorphins).  When a person does an act of kindness they feel good on a chemical level thanks to the production of these endogenous opioids.  Physically, the benefits come from the relaxation of your nervous system and your cardiovascular system.  If you do an act of kindness face-to-face with someone – for instance you help someone carry their shopping – you create an emotional bond because the body produces oxytocin, the bonding hormone, which binds to blood vessel lining causing dilation of arteries.  This reduces blood pressure (oxytocin is a cardio-protective hormone).  At the same time, kindness benefits the nervous system.  The longest nerve in the human body the vagus nerve, which controls inflammation in the body, thus playing a role in keeping the cardiovascular system healthy.  People who practice compassion have a more active vagus nerve.

Spanish designer Martin Azua has combined the romantic notion of life after death with an eco solution to the dirty business of the actual, you know, transition.  His Bios Urn is a biodegradable urn made from coconut shell, compacted peat and cellulose and inside it contains the seed of a tree.  Once your remains have been placed into the urn, it can be planted and then the seed germinates and begins to grow.  You even have the choice to pick the type of plant you would like to become, depending on what kind of planting space you prefer.  (Will it be devastating all over again for the survivors if the tree dies?)

The awesome power of this tornado, just south of Parker, Colorado, is evident by the amount of earth being consumed in its vortex.  Despite this power, Mother Nature was just putting on a spectacular show; only a single tree was damaged.  Rare is the chance to witness the stupendous power of a tornado.  This image shows how gracefully the force descends from the clouds and precisely targets one spot on the ground.  The rest of he scene remains oddly tranquil.

“There had been a fresh snowfall the previous night, and the deep red rock faces of Zion were attractively patterned with snow.  Given the harsh sunlight of mid-afternoon, shots of shadowed faces catching reflected light seemed the best bet, and we stopped just after passing through a narrow canyon section on the eastern plateau leading to the tunnels down to the main canyon.  I got some images, which turned out not to be very special.  But, walking back to the car I spotted some trees far away on a high ridge that were intensely backlit by the sun hitting ice rime and snow on the trunk and branches.  By good chance, the angle of the sun was such that the shadow of the ridge exactly intersected with the road, and by walking up and down to get the correct alignment it was possible to hide the direct sunlight behind the ridge while preserving the backlight on the most photogenic tree.

David Garrett, 26, one of the nation’s foremost young concert performers, had an accident that every world-class musician must dread: at the end of a concert at the Barbican he tripped and landed on his violin.  The instrument was a 290-year-old Stradivarius, so rare that it would be almost impossible to estimate its value.  Certainly there are people who would have gladly paid hundreds of thousands of pounds for it, before its glamorous owner did a turn as Mr Bean.  Now he has a badly damaged violin that will be out of use for at least 8 months, and may never sound the same again.  He is also facing a £60,000 repair bill.  “I was all packed up and ready to go when I slipped,” Garrett said.  “People said it was as if I’d trodden on a banana skin.  I fell down a flight of steps and on to the case. When I opened it, the violin was in pieces. I couldn’t speak and I couldn’t get up.  I didn’t even know if I was hurt – I didn’t care.  I’ve had that violin for 8 years.  It was like losing a friend.”  The violin, known by its sobriquet San Lorenzo, is one of about 600 surviving instruments made by Antonio Stradivari.  (Make that 599?)

From a job description written by the NZ Ministry of Education: “The Ministry of Education is the government’s lead advisor on the education system, shaping direction for education agencies and providers.  The overarching outcome to which the Ministry contributes is to build a world-leading education system that equips all New Zealanders with the knowledge, skills and values to be successful citizens in the 21st century and shapes, leverages and influences Māori enjoying education success as Māori.”  One of the key deliverables in the “Mandatory achievement areas for all Ministry staff positions” is “Have an awareness of and an understanding of the Organisational Potential Framework, and applies this knowledge and understanding of Māori enjoying success as Māori, to day to day work.  Takes responsibility for developing their skills and knowledge to: develop transform participate and to influence in their day to day work, Māori enjoying education success as Māori.”  If understanding such vacuous (and poorly proofread) babble is necessary to be a successful citizen in the 21st century, then I’m afraid I’m going to fail the course.  This kind of froth is nationalism at its worst.

Hans Langseth of Norway, called King Whiskers, holds the record for the world’s longest beard, 18 feet 6 inches long.  A misconception is that his beard was only 17.5 feet long, because, when he died in 1927, his family (probably son Bill, to the displeasure of the other children) cut it, leaving about 12 inches of it on him when he was buried.  The part that was removed was eventually given to the Smithsonian Institute where it was displayed to the public.  In the late years of his life, Hans made the decision to cut his beard off, got part way through and couldn’t finish.  That explains in part, why most of it is narrower.  He used to roll it up and tuck it into his coat or vest, which hid much of it.  Hans immigrated to the US in 1867 where he lived in Iowa, Minnesota, and then North Dakota.  He is buried in the Elk Creek Church Cemetery in Kensett, Iowa.

Minnie Woolsey, born in Georgia in 1880, was afflicted with a unique form of “bird-headed” dwarfism or nanocephaly.  In addition to her unusual facial features, she was almost blind, mentally handicapped, toothless, and had only fine wisps of hair on her oddly-shaped head.  The story goes that she was rescued from a dismal life in a Georgia insane asylum by an enterprising showman, and began her showbiz career as “Minnie Ha-Ha”, a play on North Carolina’s Minnihaha Falls.  Minnie Ha-Ha dressed in a phony American Indian costume and spoke jibberish to sideshow audiences.  By the time she landed a role in Freaks in 1932, the sideshow world already had a “Koo Koo, the Bird Girl” — Betty Green — but this didn’t stop Minnie’s managers from dressing her in a feathery costume, too.  Though she has no lines in Freaks, she made a lasting impression on moviegoers when she shimmied on the table during the wedding feast of Cleopatra the aerialist and Hans the dwarf.  Later, Minnie worked at Coney Island as “Koo Koo, the Blind Girl from Mars.”  It’s unknown exactly how long Minnie was with the circus or when she died, but some accounts claim she was still living (and was nearly run over by a car) in 1960, making her at least 80 years old.  I have mixed feelings about mentioning her.  She did little work, had no responsibilities, no debt, good care, and lived to 80.  Perhaps some would consider her life a success?

A North Korean man on a bus waves his hand as a South Korean man weeps after a luncheon meeting during the 31 October 2010 inter-Korean temporary family reunions at Mount Kumgang resort where 436 South Koreans visited North Korea to meet their 97 North Korean relatives, from whom they’ve been separated since the 1950-53 war.  They were together for 3 days.  I found this photo touching and sad.  They will likely not meet again.

Are you Oxbridge material?  Can you answer these questions?

• Are you cool?  (Philosophy, politics and economics, Oxford)
• At what point is a person “dead”?  (Medicine, Cambridge)
• Put a monetary value on this teapot.  (Philosophy, politics and economics, Oxford)
• Why can’t you light a candle in a spaceship?  (Physics, Oxford)

More:

• Should the use of mobile phones be banned on public transport?  (Law, Oxford)
• Is it more important to focus on poverty at home or abroad?  (Land Economy at Cambridge)
• Where does honesty fit into Law?  (Law at Cambridge)
• Are fair trade bananas really fair?  (Geography at Cambridge)
• On a hot day, what should you do with a fridge?  (Natural Sciences at Cambridge)
• “Emma has become a different person since she took up yoga.  Therefore she is not responsible for anything she did before she took up yoga.”  Discuss.  (Classics at Oxford)
• If you entered a teletransporter and your body was destroyed and instantly recreated on Mars in exactly the same way with all your memories intact, would you be the same person?  (PPE at Oxford)
• Should there be an intelligence test to decide who could vote?  (PPE at Oxford)

More:

• Should we have laws for the use of light bulbs?  (Law, Cambridge)

• What happens if I drop an ant?

More:

• Would history be worth studying if it didn’t repeat itself?
• Does the past exist?
• If someone is acquitted in Criminal proceedings, can they, and should they still be liable to be sued in Civil Law?
• If A gave B £100 thinking it was a loan, but B though that it was a gift, should he have to give it back?
• Why is it that cancer cells are more susceptible to destruction by radiation than normal cells?

The last DeLorean automobile rolled off the assembly line in Northern Ireland in 1982.  But like Duran Duran, the Rubik’s Cube and other Reagan-era icons, the car retains a following.  Of the 9,000 built in 1981 and 1982, about 6,500 are still on the road.  Enthusiasts gather at clubs from Cleveland to Norway.  [One DeLorean lives in Wellington.  I almost bought one in Cornelius, North Carolina about 1990.  I passed it up because I feared it would be difficult to get spare parts and repairs.]  From the start, the DeLorean seemed destined for cult status.  Its gull-wing doors and rakish lines stood out in an auto market that was still living down the AMC Pacer.  And the stainless steel exterior looked like it belonged on a jet fighter.  Then there was the man himself.  John DeLorean had been a rising star at General Motors Corp in the 1960s — he’s credited with conceiving the GTO and the Firebird — when he decided to chuck it all and start his own car company.  He couldn’t sell enough of the $25,000 cars to stay afloat and by 1982 his company was in receivership.  He was busted on charges of cocaine trafficking.  He was later acquitted, but the ordeal ended his business career.  He died in 2005, but his cars lived on, thanks primarily to Back to the Future, the top-grossing film of 1985.  Ditching their original idea of using an old refrigerator as a time machine, the scriptwriters opted for a modified DeLorean because of its futuristic look, particularly the doors.  The movie launched the DeLorean pop cult.  The current owner of the DeLorean Motor Company, Stephen Wynne, is developing the iconic car for production again and it will be 100% electric.  Also, there are 200 of the original 2.8-litre V-6 engines still in stock and, facing a dwindling supply of cars suitable for rebuilding, a few new originals will be made from scratch — 20 or so cars a year.  This is quite a comeback for a car given up for dead more than a quarter of a century ago.

This small desktop mill can rapidly prototype small objects.  The price is around US$1,000.  It precisely mills 3D shapes, patterns and designs out of foam, wax, balsa wood and plastic.  3D design software is included to allow users to accurately mill shapes, holes, textures and patterns right out of the box.  A specially designed spindle motor unit supports a variety of milling tools commonly available at model shops and do-it-yourself (DIY) retailers.

I must admire the dog’s persistence in this video clip.  Via Tywkiwdbi.

The best stats question ever?  From Ryan Grover by way of Raymond Johnson.  Attempt to reason through it if you can.  There are over 200 comments there and another 750 or so more here which add perspective.

Strolling through one second of every travel destination took 3 guys, 44 days, 11 countries, 18 flights, 38,000 miles, 1 exploding volcano, 2 cameras, and almost a terabyte of footage, all to turn 3 ambitious linear concepts based on movement, learning, and food into short films.  (I found Move rather compelling — one of the best editing jobs I’ve seen, or maybe they filmed it just like they wanted it to look — the other two not so much.)  Via My Modern Met.

A 52-year-old fisherman has caught a 5-foot-long goliath tigerfish and is holding it with both arms for fear of being bitten by its 32 razor-sharp teeth that have the same dimensions as those of a white shark.  The goliath tigerfish is well known as being one of the most dangerous freshwater fish in the world, so he was extremely cautious when he pulled it out of water.  Similar 100-pound monsters have been caught before, but rarely due both to its ferocity and to its habitat (quite hard to reach).  The giant piranha seems to consume prey the same size at itself.  There have even been incidents when it has been seen tearing apart crocodiles and even people.

The pronghorn , a species of artiodactyl mammal endemic to interior western and central North America, is not an antelope, though it is often known colloquially in North America as the pronghorn antelope as it closely resembles them and fills a similar ecological niche.  It is the only surviving member of its family.  About 5 different members existed when humans entered North America 13,000 years ago; all but this one are now extinct.  They have a close phylogenetic relationship with the giraffe.  Both are members of the suborder Ruminantia , which also includes okapis, deer, chevrotains, cattle, antelopes, sheep, and goats (but not the so-called giraffe-necked antelope).  Pronghorns have a distinct, musky odour.  They also have very large eyes, with a 320° field of vision.  They are generally accepted to be the fastest land mammal in the Western Hemisphere — up to 86 kilometres (53 miles) per hour and can sustain this speed longer than cheetahs.  They have very large hearts and lungs and hollow hair.  Although built for speed, they are poor jumpers.  Their ranges are often affected by sheep ranchers’ fences.  However, they can be seen going under fences, sometimes at high speed.  Their longevity is typically up to 10 years, rarely 15 years.

The Nubian ibex , is a desert-dwelling goat antelope found in mountainous areas of Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Egypt, Yemen, Sudan, and Pakistan.

The maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus), the largest canid of South America, resembles a large fox with reddish fur.  This mammal is found in open and semi-open habitats, especially grasslands with scattered bushes and trees, in south, central-west and south-eastern Brazil, Paraguay, northern Argentina, Bolivia east and north of the Andes, and far south-eastern Peru.  It is very rare in Uruguay, being possibly extinct there.  The adult animal stands up to 107 centimetres (42 inches) tall at the shoulder and weighs up to 34 kilograms (75 pounds).  Via 22 words by way of Tywkiwdbi.

Regina Mayer, a 15-year-old girl from Laufen, Southern Germany, rides her pet cow Luna as if she were a well-trained show horse.  The young girl always wanted her own horse, but her parents kept saying “no”, and since she had a stable full of cows at her disposal, Regina decided she was going to try and ride one.  After hundreds of hours of training and many baskets of treats, she managed to teach Luna to jump over home-made hurdles, just like a show horse.  Regina remembers that she knew Luna was special ever since she was born 3 years ago.  The calf came right up to her, she wasn’t shy like most other young cattle, and they developed a special friendship.  The 15-year-old began riding Luna about 6 months ago and even contacted a riding school in Switzerland, receiving tips on how to train and equip the bovine in a way similar to a show horse.  The two went for long rides around the countryside of Southern Germany and Luna become more and more comfortable, especially since her friend Regina made sure to give her delicious carrots during each outing.  Right now she’s able to jump over metre-high hurdles.  Now, Regina wouldn’t trade Luna for a horse; the cow has become her best friend, following her around wherever she goes, something a horse would never do.

World’s biggest seagull?  A curious creature in Riga, Latvia.

“Somebody Just Goosed Me!”  Do you suppose these geese like to dress up?  They certainly don’t look very stressed.

Murmuration shows a chance encounter and shared moment with one of natures greatest and most fleeting phenomena — a large flock of wheeling, diving starlings.

A scruffy-looking horse limps into a bar with a bandage round his head.  He orders a glass of champagne, a vintage brandy and two pints of Guinness.  He downs the lot and says to the barman: “I shouldn’t really be drinking this with what I’ve got.”

“Why, what have you got?”

“About $2 and a carrot.”