🥝🐣 Just let it happen...

Second image generated quite lazily with ChatGPT.

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🐦‍🔥

Lurking at Zero
🔥 Waiting in Darknet
Violent Phoenix

You See Weakness
🔥 Artificial Sickness
Violent Phoenix

Violent Phoenix
🔥 Ashes to Ashes
Violent Phoenix

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🐯🔥 I have a "spotted coat" made up of light blonde, dark blonde, red, white, and gray hairs. This variety of colors reminds me of the patterns seen in animals like lynxes or tigers, where irregular colors serve the purpose of camouflage.

🦣 In prehistoric times, my multicolored hair structure could have served a similar function. The light and dark strands would have mimicked the interplay of light and shadow in the environment. Light hair, such as my blonde or white strands, would reflect the light filtering through the treetops, while darker hairs would have imitated the shadows of the vegetation. This irregular pattern would have helped me blend into the shaded surroundings of forests or open landscapes, making me less visible—similar to animals whose fur patterns merge with their environment.

🐅 In addition to camouflage, the striking hair color could have also played a social role, such as in group identification or mate selection. My "spotted coat" could therefore have been not only an aesthetic feature but also a remnant of a functional adaptation to nature.

🧬 Genetically, the variety in hair colors can be explained by complex inheritance patterns. Hair color is influenced by several genes, with the MC1R gene being the most important for red hair. This gene regulates whether the hair predominantly produces the red pigment pheomelanin or the brown/black pigment eumelanin. Variations in this gene lead to different hair colors, from red to darker or blonde shades. Other genes, such as the ASIP gene, influence the intensity and tone of hair color, particularly the production of dark hair.

🏔🏞 The genetic diversity in hair color could also be an adaptation to climatic conditions or habitats. In northern regions, where there is less sunlight, gene variants may have favored lighter hair colors to absorb more UV light and promote vitamin D production.

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🦬🦥 Why do I shave a yak? Because you humans bore me to death! – Just kidding! 🙃

🙋 The real reason behind the endless distractions isn’t boredom—it’s ADHD. Yak shaving, the term for getting caught up in small tasks before addressing the main goal, is something many with ADHD know well. It’s not a quirky habit, but how the ADHD brain works.

🕰 For someone with ADHD, even a simple task can spiral. You start cleaning your desk, notice a broken drawer, and decide to fix it. To do that, you need a screwdriver, but the toolbox is a mess, so you begin reorganizing it. Hours pass, and the desk is still cluttered. This is yak shaving: getting sidetracked by seemingly urgent tasks that pull you further from the original goal.

🧠 This happens because the ADHD brain craves novelty and stimulation, making it hard to prioritize long-term goals. While some romanticize yak shaving as a creative process, it’s mostly just a distraction. It’s not a superpower, nor a failure—just a reality of ADHD.

📆 Managing yak shaving isn’t about avoiding distractions, but staying focused on what matters. Writing down your goal, using a timer, and keeping visual reminders can help anchor your focus. When you drift, don’t beat yourself up—just redirect your attention.

🛤 Yak shaving isn’t a whimsical adventure or failure; it’s part of ADHD. With humor and practical strategies, you can navigate distractions and make progress. The goal isn’t to stop yak shaving, but to approach it with patience, so it doesn’t derail you. After all, whether or not the yak gets shaved, the key is to keep moving forward.

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👨‍💻🪳 Artificial Roach: Which video is real and which was completely AI generated?

One of my dubia roaches (Blaptica dubia) and it's artificial duplicate.

💻 In the beta version of Premiere Pro, you can easily enhance videos using AI (Adobe Firefly). Of course, you can still recognize what is real.

👀 How will we experience the world in our future?

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🐞🏘☃️ Why are ladybirds often found indoors in winter? Because the warmth attracts them. The problem is that there is no liquid or food in the house. A trap! Put ladybirds outside, even when it is cold. They will hibernate and wake up again in the spring. It is best to release them where they are not far from a protective hiding place, for example small gaps between objects outside that are protected from rain.

🔥✨️ Intuition isn't always positive or helpful. It relies on instinctive or automatic processes that don't always align with the current situation. The example of ladybugs seeking warmth in winter and dying because they end up in houses instead of going into hibernation illustrates well how intuitive responses can sometimes lead to negative or even fatal outcomes.

🧐 Why Intuition Can Be Flawed:

1. Evolutionary Basis: Intuition and instinctive behaviors are often rooted in mechanisms that have been evolutionarily advantageous. However, they are not always flexible enough to adapt to novel or artificial situations (like human homes).

2. Misinterpretation of Stimuli: Ladybugs perceive warmth in a house as a potential refuge, even though this misinterpretation of environmental cues can be deadly.

3. Automated Behavior: Intuition doesn’t involve conscious, reflective decision-making. It relies on patterns that often—but not always—lead to success.

Humans also experience flawed intuition. A well-known example is the availability heuristic, where people overestimate a danger because they've recently heard about a similar event, leading to irrational decisions.

Its effectiveness depends on how well the underlying patterns match the current situation.

In both cases—whether it's the ladybird seeking warmth in the wrong place or a person making a decision based on an emotional reaction rather than careful analysis—intuition can be both helpful and hazardous. Recognizing the limits of intuition, especially in new or unfamiliar situations, is key to making more informed decisions.

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🌬🦥 Life is like a feather in the wind. But sometimes, even the wind takes a break. In these moments, mindfulness allows us to observe the forces that move us and recognize patterns we might otherwise miss.

🕊🪺 Bias is one such force. It often operates silently, shaping our thoughts, actions, and decisions without our conscious awareness. Mindfulness is the practice of pausing, noticing, and becoming aware of these influences. It’s not about judging ourselves for having biases—bias is a natural part of being human—but about noticing them so we can choose how to respond.

🌬🪽 But mindfulness is not a constant state, nor should it be. It’s part of an inner cycle that includes trust in yourself and your instincts. While mindfulness offers clarity, it also helps us recognize when to let go of overthinking and trust in our natural ability to navigate life. Constantly questioning every thought or feeling can lead to doubt or inaction. Instead, mindfulness works best as a tool we pick up when needed, complementing moments of intuition and self-reflection.

🌬🍃 By weaving mindfulness into this cycle, we create a balance—aware of biases when they arise but confident in our ability to move forward. We pause to notice, but then we act with trust in ourselves. This rhythm ensures that we are neither carried blindly by the wind nor held motionless by fear of misstep. Instead, we move deliberately, awake and anchored, yet always free to soar.

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Is Dakota, my corn snake, giving you nightmares?

This is a synthesis of Cherokee stories told to James Mooney in the late 1800s, primarily by Ayúnini ("Swimmer"), a Cherokee storyteller.

🌽 The Story of Corn and Medicine

In the beginning, the world was all water and darkness. Animals lived above the sky but moved to earth when it was formed from mud brought up by the Water-beetle. The soft earth dried over time, shaped into valleys and mountains by Buzzard's wings. When the land was ready, animals and humans came to live there.

Some animals set the sun in the sky and stayed awake for seven nights, granting owls and other enduring animals the power to hunt at night. Similarly, evergreen trees gained the ability to stay green year-round.

Among the first humans were Kanáti ("The Lucky Hunter") and Selu ("Corn"), who had a son. They also adopted a "Wild Boy" born from game blood. The boys discovered Kanáti’s secret cave of animals and accidentally released all the game, forcing humans to hunt ever since.

When Selu’s secret for creating corn and beans was revealed—she produced them by rubbing her body—she and Kanáti knew they would die. Before her death, Selu instructed the boys to drag her body around a circle in front of their house seven times and then across the soil inside the circle. This act would bring forth a crop of corn. The boys, however, only partially followed her instructions, dragging her body twice and clearing just a few spots. As a result, corn only grows in specific places and requires cultivation. Still, the boys stayed awake all night, and by morning, corn had grown. To this day, it takes months to grow, symbolizing the lost ease of life.

As humans multiplied and harmed animals, the animals retaliated. Deer sent rheumatism to hunters who killed without asking for pardon. The Little Deer visits bloodstains to ensure hunters have prayed. If not, it cripples them with disease. Snakes resolved to plague humans with nightmares, and birds and insects created various illnesses. To balance this, plants offered remedies, introducing medicine to counteract the animals' revenge and help humanity survive.

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🤕🦎 Where is my tail? Oh, there it is!

🗓 The pictures show the regeneration from day 4 to 60 after his tail was shed.

🍃🌱 The cycle of life does not ask what was lost, but what can emerge from it.

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Bruce with Loki 🙃🙂

🗓⏰️😴 My leopard geckos are kept in the basement every winter from December to February. There I can ensure the optimal temperatures so that the geckos follow their internal clock. Many animals and plants take a break in the winter. This is called dormancy.

🌡📉😴 Dormancy, from the Latin dormire (to sleep), refers to periods during which the development of organisms or biological processes slows down or temporarily halts. These periods can be triggered by external factors but are also influenced by genetic and hormonal mechanisms. Dormancy plays a vital role in helping animals and plants survive harsh environmental conditions.

☃️🦎 For ectothermic animals like lizards, the cold-induced state of inactivity differs from the hibernation seen in endothermic species. To describe this distinct phenomenon, the term brumation was introduced in the 1920s.

🍁❄️ Reptiles typically enter brumation in late autumn, though the exact timing varies by species. During this state, they may periodically wake to drink water but refrain from eating and return to their dormant state. Prior to brumation, reptiles often consume larger amounts of food, but as temperatures drop, their appetite diminishes, and they may stop eating altogether. However, they must continue to hydrate. Brumation can last anywhere from one to eight months, depending on factors such as ambient temperature, the reptile's size, age, and overall health. In their first year, many young reptiles do not fully enter brumation; instead, they exhibit reduced activity and eat less frequently. Like hibernation, brumation is triggered by cooler temperatures and shorter daylight hours in winter.

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