Bug Lab #2, Dragonfly

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Dragonflies are cool, they come from the worlds of SciFi AND Fantasy but live in ours
Dragonfly, Procordulia smithii
(Dragonfly, Procordulia smithii)

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The Difference Between One Million And One Billion

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It feels like a billion is just a bit bigger than a million. Obviously it's bigger but it fits on the same scale as a million, surely. It doesn't. A billion is so so so much bigger than a million. I've trawled the internet finding graphics and videos that show the VAST difference between one million and one billion. Oh, and just to finish with a different misconception about space starting with the classic opening line from the great Douglas Adams and The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy : “Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.”

Who Reads Your Messages Without You Knowing?

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We all send messages, a lot of us call them texts even though we might not be actually sending them via SMS. Not only do some of us send a lot of messages we now rely on them instead of phone calls, which might also not really be phone calls but you know what I mean. SMS ("text") - least secure The one we all started with, that we fall back to when nothing else works, the basic, the granddaddy of all messages. SMS / text is the one we know will get through when other fancy messaging systems may not, it covers the world. It's also totally insecure. Your message is sent unencrypted. You message carries all it's metadata (who from, who to, date & time sent, where sent from) is unencrypted. Think of text as sending a postcard in the post. Yes, it will get there but anyone and everyone can read it on the way, including it's address, stamp, and who from. If you have set-up 2FA / multi-factor authentication - you absolutely should for your Google , Apple ,  Facebo...

"Right Wing" Comedians

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Too many people comfortably plump themselves into an army of one type or another . Surrounded by those that sound like you, listen to you intently whilst nodding, and echo your thoughts on why the fight is a good fight and that the other side are such bad terrible people. I used to be more like that than I am nowadays ... hmmmm, aren't we humans meant to become more conservative and reactionary as we age, strange Mike. These thoughts have me thinking of two UK comedians that have been tagged as "right wing", which is putting them into an army for the benefit of someone but, I suspect, not them. First up,  Simon Evans who makes me laugh when he's talking about his family, kids, and life in Brighton. He then hit my ears big time with: Simon Evans Goes to Market , has had six seasons, delighting audiences with his witty and insightful take on the comedically unpromising territory of economics, all of which prove among the most popular downloads on the Sounds App. On the...

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Last month I collected a bunch of "Which Are You Today?" images for online meetings and during that I stumbled across a friend sharing  Gift A Safe Night with Women's Refuge, what a simple and helpful thing to do. A $20 Safe Night helps a woman and her children escape family violence. I've joined the Safe Night's Club by popping $20 to them every fortnight for someone to use in their moments of absolute scary needs. One night of safety at Women's Refuge for a woman and child costs just $20 and includes: A safe, clean bed Secure transport Hot meals Supportive staff 24/7 crisis line Helpful advice We all do what we can to help when we can - if you can afford $20 every fortnight / monthly, then I would strongly urge you to sign up and help Women's Refuge support women and children when the shit really hits the fan and they need support and safety.

Break The Chains And Be Your Own Person With RSS

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We like to think that information ("content") on the Web comes at us from every angle and at speeds that our poor brains just can't take, stooooppp, it's all too much. Nope, most people get small amounts of Web information in very limited ways, Facebook, YouTube, maybe Twitter (ick) or something more wholesome but similar like Bluesky or Mastodon. You'll likely also get messages (through something) with a link to something wonderful and glorious, but I'd say that's mostly it for the vast unwashed. You, are much better than those ignoramus though, and also visit the BBC, RNZ, Stuff, or some other old skool media website (or app, different but same). I applaud you, but what about all those other websites that you like the look of but forgot. You should be using an RSS reader ... yup! This conduit is anti-lock-in, it works for nearly the whole internet. It is surveillance-resistant, far more accessible than the web or any mobile app interface. It is my secre...

W. C. Fields quotes

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Further to my Who Are The Boyles? post, this website is great to find out where your surname is in the UK. https://named.publicprofiler.org/

Do We Live Better Than Medieval Royalty?

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[UPDATED] Listen to an audio summary of this post and all the outbound links, created using "AI", enjoy. It's an almost common phrase, "We live better than a king of old!" Ok, let's do some a lot of searching and see if that's true in any sense at all BUT first ... Some definitions ... "We all" Almost exclusively this is white, middle-class / middle-level, in the top 10-15%, sort of people. Also, European or of European descent, i.e. those that think being a medieval king is a thing to emulate. "live" Doing our general stuff but not one-off things like wars, marriages, and deaths. Think of it as the life we live on a Tuesday afternoon. "better" Hmmm, I think this is a combination of ease, ability, availability, and cost. "Medieval" The medieval period , also known as the Middle Ages or the Dark Ages, began around 476 A.D. and ended between 1400 and 1450. The term was first used by 15th-century scholars to descri...