by Grania
Good morning and welcome to Friday, even if it is a grey, rainy one like it is here in Ireland this morning.
11th May is the day Deep Blue defeated Garry Kasparov in 1997, Klaus Barbie went on trial for WWII crimes as the “Butcher of Lyons” in 1987 and in 1960 in Argentina Mossad agents captured Nazi Adolf Eichmann who was living under the alias of Ricardo Klement and returned him to Israel to stand trial.
It’s the birthday of artist Salvadore Dali (1904), and, apparently, in 1014 of Anawrahta, king of Burma and founder of the Pagan Empire. British writer Douglas Adams died on this day in 2001.
On Twitter this morning we have acrobatics and bugs.
Don’t try this at home kids, it rarely works out well.
https://twitter.com/41Strange/status/994482032162959360
Staying on the acrobatic note, this is an impressive cat fail.
https://twitter.com/BoringEnormous/status/994491041821724672
Marking the retreat of glaciers
More than 20 km shorter: that's how much Columbia Glacier in #Alaska has retreated in the last 30 years. But there is some good news: read it here 🗻🛰️🌍https://t.co/KUGoxGsFUi pic.twitter.com/xiBSvGrJki
— ESA EarthObservation (@ESA_EO) May 11, 2018
An ant? A beetle? (It appears to be Anthelephila)
Best thing I found this week: a beetle with a HUGE identity crisis – it's really determined to be an ant! The resemblance is uncanny, especially the sculpturing on the head and shape of the 'mesothorax'. Wicked! Appears to be an anthicid, though I'm no expert. Anyone? #HongKong pic.twitter.com/ao7ikurA44
— Mark Wong (@MarkKLWong) May 9, 2018
And another strange one.
目の白いひと。5- May-2018 Thailand pic.twitter.com/achmlo35i2
— カオヤイ (@hayashi19511112) May 9, 2018
Finally it’s over to Poland where the thoughts are many and the deductions few.
Hili: I’m walking and thinking.
A: Any conclusions?
Hili: Actually, none.
In Polish:
Hili: Idę i myślę.
Ja: Jakieś wnioski?
Hili: No właśnie żadnych.
Hat-tip: Harry S.; Matthew.
Richard Feynman was born 11 may 1918, probably worth mentioning
It is. My grandson is exactly 90 years younger.
I wonder if the placement of that swing involved any calculations, or did they just eyeball it? Any failed attempts?
I’ve put a video below showing the hours of prep for the house leap. As you can see the training was in stages & the landing side is somewhat easier because he’s only dropping to the flat roof of the extension – a drop, from the top of his leap to the mat of 15 ft. It’s a specially adapted Russian swing that can hold three men on the opposite side to Walters to give him the necessary momentum. Video:
Technical.
Glenn the cat shudda watched & taken notes before his wardrobe attempt
Oh, Glenn . . . .
Are the authorities searching for the sniper ifrom that cat gif?
Salvador Dali was best known for his ‘surrealist’ paintings, with ‘melting’ watches, humans with drawers and spriggy-legged horse-like animals (etc).
Personally I like his drawings and paintings that can be seen in several ways best, like the drawing of a weeping woman, which on closer inspection is composed of warring horsemen, or the nuns composing a portrait of Voltaire.
Did Glenn just get his claws trimmed? Everything looked “go”, but no rear tractioin whatsoever!
I know very little of the SE Asian beetle fauna, but I’d agree that Mark Wong’s beetle is probably an anthicid [“ant-like beetle”]. Some of the the US species of this family do a very good ant impression, though no where as well as this beauty. The apparent pedicel or mesosoma, BTW, is still part of the beetle’s pronotum. Similar trick in the most ant-like American species of Anthicidae.
Thanks Grania. I appreciate your work on the site. Fun to read.