Flying squid

Are fascinating.

Even when they're terrifying in their sexual assault of humans.

That is all.

Ugly = Fascinating.

Courtesy of Breda, I find Ugly Overload.

I had to go back, following each link, watching each video....

I have to link this site. It's too amazing.

Think of what an amazing world this is, beyond what we know and think of. Species are like names. After a while, we get used to the Matts, Chrises, Johns, Marys, Jameses, Lisas, Davids, etc, and we get to where names like Ausanat and Adirake sound strange and bizarre to us. Even "wrong."

But it's something we haven't encountered before, and nothing more.

Unsurprisingly, most of the best finds are from deep under the ocean, which is the last place which we haven't really explored thoroughly. To me, beauty is as beauty does. Creatures that live 1000m under the surface, have enhanced abilities to pull oxygen out of the water, have iridescent countermeasures to stop attacks, and go mostly undetected are pretty damn cool, in my book.

And how could this be considered "ugly"?

Harvest time.

We tend to associate the term with autumn, but it's now harvest time on the north Texas prairie. Quarter-million dollar combines churn through the fields, taking up to 45 bushels an acre of golden grain. In an area where wheat fields are routinely several hundred acres apiece, there's some serious Wonder Bread potential going on around here.

I stopped a grain hauler for a minor equipment violation, and as men who are a little bored of an afternoon will do, we got to chatting.

"What're y'all doing with all that wheat straw that I'm seeing baled out in the fields?" I asked him. "Surely there's no nutrition in it for hay?"

"Naw-- it wouldn't make very good feed," he guffawed. "It's the damndest thing, though-- we're getting $22 a large square bale for it, plus $12 just to haul it!"

"Okay. . . what are they using it for, then?" I pondered.

"Two things: they use it in mushroom farming, so long as it's clean and never rained on, like this straw," he said, gesturing toward the field of giant square bales next to the road.

"Okayyy.... and?"

"And they've got this plant --you're never gonna believe this-- where they make insulation out of it," he said.

"For what?" I actually was surprised.

"Mobile homes and trailer campers," he said. "Now I know what you're wondering, and I asked the same thing."

"Yeah: isn't that about the most flammable insulation a person could put in their walls?!?" I asked.

"Like I said, I thought the same damn thing. Apparently, they've got this process where they compress it into wafer boards, and affix a fire-proof coating on it, and if a spark ever does get inside, it's so starved for oxygen, it can't burn. They claim that it can last for 8 hours to a wood flame and not catch," he said.

"No kidding. I never would've guessed," I proclaimed.

"Me neither. And for us, it's like selling trash off the ground. This stuff was just cast aside or tilled under, before, and now it's a supplemental crop," he said.

"Does it make any difference with the quality of the earth, now that it's not being tilled under?" I asked.

"Naw. We quit tilling, anyhow, " he said. "We've got this new method that drills the seed in and covers it up. That way, the soil holds water better when it's dry out."

You can learn a lot from a farm trucker, if you'll take the time to listen. I'd never heard this stuff before.

Every Damned Day...

...I learn something new.

Like this:

The complaint said Craig then tapped his right foot several times and moved
it closer to Karsnia's stall and then moved it into the area of the officer's
stall to where it touched Karsnia's foot. Karsnia recognized that "as a signal
often used by persons communicating a desire to engage in sexual conduct," the
complaint said.

Craig then passed his left hand under the stall divider into Karsnia's
stall with his palms up and guided it along the divider toward the front of the
stall three times, the complaint said.

They signal each other by doing that? Really?

I had no clue.

Without regard to the whole sex with strangers thing (ew!), or the sex with promiscuous gay guys thing (double ew!), who the hell wants to do it in a public toilet?

Da's nasty, right there.