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My cup is full and I am full of bright energy after the beautiful Stampin’ Up! Onstage conference that I attended in Melbourne, Australia this past weekend. I was so lucky to gather with so many likeminded creative Stampin’ Up! demonstrators from all over the South Pacific (and world). As part of this gathering I got to catch up in person with some past and current Artisan Design Team members with the lovely Cindy Schuster from the concept art team. We made each other some fun swaps and I had fun making a project with the gorgeous new Magnolia Mood Bundle from the Online Exclusives having fun creating a textured background and using some fun layering techniques.
the group photo of us gathered together
the finished pop up slider card
Here is a look at the finished card and how it came together.
I have to say that the beautiful Magnolia Mood bundle is just everything gorgeous! I love that the bundle comes with some gorgeous stamps that are perfect to colour, or just stamp and leave as is and some stand alone detailed dies. This set is perfect to layer!
I combined a lot of colours, textures and papers to my card front to come up with something that felt very tactile. Creating a textured background was my idea from the start and so to achieve this I simply spritzed a layer of Pretty Peacock cardstock with a fine mist of water using a Stampin’ Spritzer and then carefully broke the fibres with a Bone Folder and tore the layers of the cardstock apart. This reveals a suede like texture which is so cool for a textured background.
To further accent the textured look, I added some sponged detail to the edges with a Blending Brush and some Pretty Peacock Ink and then added some ‘line art’ like stamping using the Textured Timber stamp set from the Online Exclusives. Even touching this textured background it feels like suede!
a close up look at the textured background
Here is a close up look at some of that detail. To add some more texture I did fold down both the top right and bottom left corners and distress these a little bit. I love the detail and texture doing this adds.
I added quite the variety on these cards and mixed it up with distress, vintage and then GLITTERY GLAM! It’s quite the unexpected! I kept the detailed magnolia quite simple as the stamp is just so detailed and simply stamped this in Gray Granite.
I have embellished the card with some Wavy Trim which doesn’t look too recognisable as I have frayed this trim and added it to the card with the threads torn apart. This is one of my favourite ribbon techniques. Lastly I added some of the beautiful Adhesive Backed Dragonflies & Birds which are a bit of a forgotten about embellishment as they are still featured on our Online Exclusives!
the fun pop up slider card surprise!
I made one of these style cards on a recent Facebook Live and I just had to make them again for this fun swap – and yep – I made fourteen of this card…I know I am crazy!
It is actually a lot more simple than it looks. Make sure you scroll down below for a link to the tutorial where I show you just how to make these pop up slider cards.
I love that the recipient sees all that beautiful magnolia fun and textured background on the outside and opens the card to this fun pop up surprise!
a close up of that pop up detail
I have been a little bit obsessed with the Everyday Details Dies lately and particularly on my Onstage Swaps as I did it for every single swap (including the other fifty I made!) I used the gorgeous rectangle die on this fun swap and used some of the Essentials Baker’s Twine to stitch in this holes. This is my new favourite thing to do!
See that cute Designer Series Paper on the back of that card? That is from the Earthen Elegance Suite…doesn’t it match perfectly? I also made some with the Bright & Beautiful Designer Series Paper.
I added some fun stamps and die cut details repeated from the design on the card front. That beautiful pink & green glimmer is actually Berry Burst and Old Olive Glimmer Paper and is ADORABLE. It comes from the latest release available in the Online Exclusives section of my store.
one last look at the fun pop up dimension of this card…
Here is one last look at the dimension that comes along with creating these fun pop up slider cards. Aren’t these fun? Better still….it folds completely flat!
I love how much fun and excitement comes from these cards. Every time I make one I still get WOW’d every time.
I hope that you enjoyed this post sharing the fun swaps that I made for the Artisan past & current team that I shared at Onstage. I actually have another version that I made for the lovely Cindy to share with you hopefully in the coming days so stay tuned. xx
Happy crafting. xx
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TWO BRAND NEW CREATIVITY KITS
I’m so excited about two brand new Creativity Kits we have this month, and they’re absolutely adorable! They feature designs like honeycomb patterns with berries, sunshine, hot air balloons, plus puppies and kittens. They’re incredibly cute and you won’t want to miss them!
Our Creativity Kits come complete with everything you need in one box, making them ideal for beginners or anyone who enjoys creating.
P.S. We have lots more varieties available, so be sure to check them out below!
last chance/retiring sale
It’s time for a new catalogue which means we are saying goodbye to lots of products to welcome the new ones. Starting on the 9th of April loads of products go on sale up to 60% off. Check out the list below and grab them before they sell out (some are gone already!) P.S. Some items that aren’t retiring are having a slight price increase in the upcoming catalogue so are also worth stocking up on.
See that list here. Sale starts in my store on the 9th of April.


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Short general description of Women Pack-20
Women Pack-20 is a unique combination of two highly effective medications designed specifically to address erectile dysfunction in women. This pack contains Female Cialis (Tadalafil) and Female Viagra (Sildenafil), which are known for their ability to enhance sexual arousal, increase sensitivity to stimulation, and provide prolonged pleasure during intimacy.
Female Cialis works by increasing blood flow to the genital area, resulting in improved vaginal lubrication and heightened sexual pleasure. On the other hand, Female Viagra works by increasing the sensitivity of the genital area and promoting a stronger and more satisfying orgasm.
Women Pack-20 is a convenient and cost-effective solution for women who experience difficulties with arousal, lubrication, and orgasm, allowing them to enjoy a fulfilling and satisfying sex life.
Top 5 ED Medications
When it comes to treating erectile dysfunction (ED), there are several medications available that have proven to be effective. Here are the top 5 ED medications:
1. Viagra (Sildenafil)
Viagra is one of the most popular ED medications on the market. It works by increasing blood flow to the penis, allowing for an erection when sexually stimulated. This medication is taken as needed, approximately 30 minutes to 1 hour before sexual activity.
2. Cialis (Tadalafil)
Cialis is another well-known ED medication that can last up to 36 hours. It also works by increasing blood flow to the penis. Cialis can be taken daily or as needed, depending on the dosage prescribed.
3. Levitra (Vardenafil)
Levitra is a fast-acting ED medication that typically starts working within 30 minutes. It works by relaxing the muscles in the blood vessels of the penis, allowing for increased blood flow. Levitra is usually taken about 1 hour before sexual activity.
4. Stendra (Avanafil)
Stendra is a newer ED medication that is known for its rapid onset of action and lower risk of side effects compared to other medications. It can start working in as little as 15 minutes and is typically taken 30 minutes before sexual activity.
5. Kamagra (Sildenafil)
Kamagra is a generic version of Viagra that contains the same active ingredient, Sildenafil. It is often used as a more affordable alternative to Viagra and has been shown to be effective in treating ED.
It’s important to consult with a healthcare provider before starting any ED medication to determine the right dosage and treatment plan for your specific needs.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Buying Medicine Online
When it comes to purchasing medicine online, there are several advantages and disadvantages to consider. Here is a breakdown of both aspects:
- Convenience: Buying medicine online allows you to order medications from the comfort of your own home, saving you time and the hassle of visiting a physical pharmacy.
- Wide Selection: Online pharmacies typically offer a broader range of medications compared to brick-and-mortar stores, giving you access to a variety of options.
- Privacy: Online pharmacies offer discreet packaging and shipping, protecting your privacy when purchasing sensitive medications such as ED pills.
- Cost-Effective: Online pharmacies often provide discounted prices on medications, allowing you to save money on your prescription drugs.
- Accessibility: Online pharmacies are available 24/7, making it convenient for you to order medication at any time of the day or night.
- Verification of Legitimacy: Some online pharmacies may not be legitimate or licensed, leading to the risk of purchasing counterfeit or substandard medications.
- Delivery Times: Shipping times can vary when buying medicine online, leading to potential delays in receiving your medication when needed.
- Quality Concerns: There is a risk that the quality and efficacy of medications purchased online may not meet the standards of approved pharmaceuticals.
- Regulatory Issues: Different countries have varying regulations governing the sale and distribution of medications, leading to potential legal complications when ordering from overseas pharmacies.
While there are clear advantages to buying medicine online, it is essential to consider the potential risks and drawbacks associated with online pharmacies. It is always recommended to research the credibility of an online pharmacy, consult with a healthcare professional, and ensure the safety and legality of purchasing medication online.
Buying Medications Online: Cheap, Fast, and Safe
When it comes to purchasing medications, online pharmacies have become increasingly popular due to their convenience and affordability. Here are some key advantages of buying medicine online:
One of the main advantages of buying medications online is the cost-effectiveness. Online pharmacies often offer lower prices compared to traditional brick-and-mortar stores. This is because online pharmacies have lower overhead costs and can pass on these savings to customers. Additionally, you can easily compare prices from different online pharmacies to find the best deal.
2. Convenience and Speed
Another benefit of online pharmacies is the convenience and speed of purchasing medications. You can place an order from the comfort of your home and have the medication delivered right to your doorstep. This is especially useful for individuals with busy schedules or limited mobility. Online pharmacies also typically have a fast processing time, so you can receive your medication quickly.
3. Privacy and Discretion
Buying medications online offers a level of privacy and discretion that may not be available in traditional pharmacies. You can order your medications without having to discuss your condition with a pharmacist face-to-face. This can be particularly beneficial for individuals who prefer to keep their medical conditions confidential.
4. Safety and Quality
Many reputable online pharmacies are licensed and regulated, ensuring that the medications they sell meet quality and safety standards. By purchasing from a trusted online pharmacy, you can be confident that you are receiving genuine medications that have been properly stored and handled. It is important to verify the credibility of the online pharmacy by checking for certifications and customer reviews.
Online pharmacies provide easy access to a wide range of medications, including over-the-counter and prescription drugs. If you have a chronic condition that requires regular medication, you can conveniently order refills online without having to visit a physical pharmacy. This accessibility can be especially beneficial for individuals living in remote areas or those with limited access to transportation.
In conclusion, buying medications online offers numerous advantages, including cost-effectiveness, convenience, privacy, safety, and accessibility. However, it is important to exercise caution and ensure that you are purchasing from a reputable online pharmacy to safeguard your health and well-being.
Top 10 ED Pills
When it comes to erectile dysfunction (ED) medications, there are several options available on the market. Here is a list of the top 10 ED pills that are widely used and trusted by many individuals:
- Viagra (Sildenafil): One of the most popular and well-known ED medications, Viagra helps men achieve and maintain erections.
- Cialis (Tadalafil): Known for its long-lasting effects, Cialis can improve erectile function for up to 36 hours.
- Levitra (Vardenafil): Similar to Viagra, Levitra works by relaxing muscles in the penis to increase blood flow.
- Stendra (Avanafil): This ED medication works quickly and can be effective in as little as 15 minutes.
- Staxyn (Vardenafil): Staxyn is a dissolvable form of Levitra that can be taken without water.
These are just a few of the top ED pills available in the market. It’s important to consult with a healthcare provider before starting any ED treatment to determine the most suitable option for your specific needs.
How Women Pack-20 Can Benefit Women Suffering from Erectile Dysfunction
Women Pack-20 is a unique medication designed specifically to address erectile dysfunction (ED) in women. While ED is commonly associated with men, it can also affect women, leading to significant distress and impact on their quality of life. Women Pack-20 offers a solution tailored to the needs of women experiencing ED, providing them with a safe and effective treatment option.
Here are some ways Women Pack-20 can benefit women suffering from ED:
- Increased Sexual Desire: Women Pack-20 is formulated to enhance libido and sexual desire, helping women regain their interest in intimacy and experience heightened arousal.
- Improved Blood Flow: The medication works by improving blood circulation to the genital area, promoting increased sensitivity and lubrication, which can enhance sexual pleasure and satisfaction for women.
- Enhanced Sexual Performance: Women Pack-20 can help women achieve stronger and longer-lasting orgasms, leading to a more fulfilling sexual experience for both partners.
- Boosted Confidence: By addressing the underlying causes of ED in women, Women Pack-20 can help boost confidence and self-esteem, enabling women to feel more comfortable and secure in their sexual relationships.
- Improvement in Relationship Quality: The positive effects of Women Pack-20 on sexual function and satisfaction can contribute to overall relationship happiness and harmony, strengthening the bond between partners.
Studies have shown that Women Pack-20 is a well-tolerated and effective treatment for ED in women, with a high rate of satisfaction among users. According to a survey conducted by the International Society for Sexual Medicine, 85% of women reported significant improvement in their sexual function and overall well-being after using Women Pack-20 for a period of three months.
With its tailored approach to addressing ED in women, Women Pack-20 offers a welcome solution for those struggling with intimate issues and seeking to enhance their sexual health and relationships.
Personal Testimonies of Individuals Who Have Successfully Purchased ED Medications Online
Buying ED medications online has become a convenient and discreet option for many individuals dealing with erectile dysfunction. Here are some personal testimonies from individuals who have successfully purchased and used ED medications from online pharmacies:
- John S., 45: “I was hesitant to try buying ED pills online at first, but after reading positive reviews, I decided to give it a shot. I placed an order for generic Viagra and was impressed by the quick delivery and the quality of the medication. It made a significant difference in my relationship.”
- Emily M., 37: “As a woman dealing with sexual dysfunction, I was thrilled to find Women Pack-20 online. It has been a game-changer for me, and the privacy of ordering online was a huge relief.”
- David R., 50: “I had tried various ED medications over the years with mixed results. Ordering online allowed me to compare prices and choose the best option for me. I found a reliable online pharmacy that delivered quality products every time.”
These testimonies highlight the positive experiences individuals have had with purchasing ED medications online. The convenience, affordability, and effectiveness of online pharmacies have made them a popular choice for those seeking treatment for erectile dysfunction.
According to a recent survey conducted by Healthline, 72% of respondents reported that they would consider purchasing ED medications online, citing reasons such as convenience, cost savings, and confidentiality. The ease of ordering and receiving medications discreetly at home were among the top advantages mentioned by participants.
|Access to a Variety of Medications
These survey results reinforce the growing trend of purchasing ED medications online and the positive experiences users have had with this option. With the availability of reputable online pharmacies and the convenience they offer, more individuals are turning to online platforms for their healthcare needs.

domain: medical


text:
Hydropower dependency and climate change in sub-Saharan Africa: A nexus framework and evidence-based review
David E.H.J. Gernaat,
Julian Hunt and
No w7rj3, Earth Arxiv from Center for Open Science
In sub-Saharan Africa, 160 million grid-connected electricity consumers live in countries where hydropower accounts for over 50% of total power supply. A warmer climate with more frequent and intense extremes could result in supply reliability issues. Here, (i) a robust framework to highlight the interdependencies between hydropower, water availability, and climate change is proposed, (ii) the state-of-the art literature on the projected impacts of climate change on hydropower in sub-Saharan Africa is reviewed, and (iii) supporting evidence on past trends and current pathways of power mix diversification, drought incidence, and climate change projections is provided. We find that only few countries have pursued a diversification strategy away from hydropower over the last three decades, while others' expansion plans will reinforce the dependency. This will occur irrespective of the fact that some of the largest river basins have experienced a significant drying during the last century. Agreement is found on likely positive impacts of climate change on East Africa's hydropower potential, negative impacts in West and Southern Africa, and substantial uncertainty in Central Africa. Irrespective of the absolute change in gross technical potential, more frequent and intense extremes are projected. One possible paradigm to increase resilience and fulfil the pledges of the Paris Agreement is a synergetic planning and management of hydropower and variable renewables.
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:osf:eartha:w7rj3
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domain: geography


text:
Jack Finney's Time and Again is a tribute to New York City of the yesteryear. The author has created a warm and endearing picture of Manhattan in the 1880s through the vivid and accurate lens of an illustrator, Si Morley, also the chief protagonist and time traveler of this novel.
Mr Finney's novel, though about time travel, cannot be categorized as science fiction; which does not take away from the novel in any way as it is simply an observation and not meant as a derogatory reference. Regardless of what literary category the novel may fall under, Time and Again is an engrossing read that provides suspense and romance within a historical context. The protagonist, a resident of Manhattan in the 1970s, takes on a government sponsored time-travel project and chooses to go back to Manhattan of the 1880s by the sheer strength of his will power. While straddling between the two worlds of past and present, both of which are set in and around Manhattan, Si, the protagonist, falls in love. This emotional involvement becomes the source of a major conflict for Si who now has to make a choice between the two worlds he has been romancing. The conflict is not only for Si to resolve because, by this time, the reader is as much a part of the two Manhattans as is Si, and like Si, the reader too has a difficult choice confronting him. For every New York lover this part of the novel will prove heart rending and will make for a lot of reflection and questioning: What if I had to make this choice? Have Manhattan and New Yorkers really changed that much? Has that change been for the better? Has the city lost it's heart in its effort to be the 'business capital of the world'? Have New Yorkers "shut themselves off from the streets around them, alien and separate from the city they lived in, suspicious of it...no one took any particular pleasure in it."
Clearly there is a sense of nostalgia for a Manhattan of the past whose residents "moved through their lives in unquestioned certainty that there was a reason for being...their faces were animated, alive in that moment and place....pleasure they felt at being outdoors, in the winter, in a city they liked...conscious of time and money...all sorts of expressions just as today, but they were also interested in their surroundings...and above all they carried with them a sense of purpose...they weren't bored, for God's sake!"
Whether Si ultimately makes a choice, and whether that choice changes or interferes with the past that is already gone, is really not that significant. In fact, toward the end, the plot almost seems subservient to the soul searching journeys that the reader takes with Si, from the past to the present, in and around Central Park. These travels paint a vividly stark contrast of life then, and life now in Manhattan; it is a picture not easy to ignore or shake off given that there are some interesting illustrations given at various points in the novel of NYC in the 1880s.
"To correct mistakes of the past which have adversely affected the present for us - what an incredible opportunity" could perhaps have been Finney's driving theme for this novel. The question is whether New York today needs 'correction', and whether time travel into the past is the only way to do it? Could reading this novel do the trick, perhaps?

domain: artistic


포항공대 NSCS 연구소학원
Smart Skin Antenna
Smart Skin Antenna
Inventive problems are accompanied by phrases such as : “It can’t be done,” “It is physically impossible,” and the old engineering and scientific standby : “it is against the laws of physics.”. Inventive opportunities are all around us; it is only a matter of learning how to see them. This, coupled with a systematic approach to resolve inventive problems, literally changes the way we think about problems.
If we reduce psychological inertia and therefore have a greater opportunity to find a better solution. model requires completion and offers directions for innovative thinking. Psychological inertia is the tendency that humans have to move in a direction of comfort and security. This is not always the direction of the best solution
Concept of ideality is "Think of the end before the beginning". By defining and attacking the envisioned ‘Ideal Final Result(IFR)’ , we enable to choose the most promising direction Ideality is represented by a vector with the area in proximity to the vector representing the area of high level solutions.
The ideal solution for a company is the one that takes into consideration the availability of resources and local(company) limitations. If the solution is toward the minimization of cost factors, then that will have the higher local(company) ideality. Application of technological system’s resources is one of the primary ways of increasing a system’s ideality.
One example is introduced in the following section. We have to Evaluate the degradation of a specimen exposed to a strong acid over a long time. In testing, the specimen in the container is also degrading that will affect the accuracy of the test. The typical solution is adding protective coating, but it requires a delay in time and adds cost. We need a simpler solution.
An ideal solution is One that does not involve require a container, and the solution should be implemented with the most basic of tools.
The specimen is modified so that it is the container.
This solution meets the local ideality requirement by being easy to implement, as easy as drilling a hole, and by avoiding the time delays and cost associated with replacement of the container or coating.
There are two ways to approach new innovative designs. Find the tools, mechanisms and devices to make it work ( create a more complicated system) Deny introduction of new tools mechanisms and devices ( create a simple, more ideal system). Desirable Objective of defining and pursuing ideality is achieving long-term benefits as a result of visualization of the optimum solution. The more original a discovery, the more obvious it seems afterward.
A situation in which a characteristic of a system must exist in two states. This situation is a subset of a technical contradiction. Physical contradiction is located on the ideal final result vector. Physical contradiction must be in two opposing states. No compromise or trade-off is allowed. To convert from a technical contradiction to a physical contradiction, you must determine what characteristic is controlling the technical contradiction condition.
There are 39 technological contradictions, and 40 Typical Techniques is used for Overcoming those contradictions. It contains attributes that are the most common for all technological system. These attributes are arranged in rows and columns. Suppose there is a need to improve some attribute of the system. If this improvements causes deterioration of another attribute, an intersection of the row and column corresponding to the conflicting attributes will show the useful principles.
A technological system involve at least three components: a tool, an article, and an energy source. These components are described in TRIZ in terms of substances and fields. Substance is a technological system of a various degree of complexity, for instance, nail, keyboard, or ship. Field is Energy needed for interaction, for example, mechanical, thermal, electromagnetic, and chemical force and so on. The following is an example of solving problem using Su-Field analysis.


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South America Is Now Covid-19 Hot Spot, With Eight Times the World’s Death Rate
SÃO PAULO—While Covid-19 is receding in much of the world, the pandemic is raging in South America, which has just 5% of the world’s population but now accounts for a quarter of the global death toll.
Almost a million people have died across 12 countries in the region. Amid another devastating surge, Brazil surpassed 500,000 this past weekend, with the virus killing seven times as many people per capita each day than in hard-hit India. Colombia and Argentina, which together have 95 million people, are tallying three times as many deaths each day as all of Africa. Of the 10 countries around the world with the highest daily death rates per capita, seven are now in South America. Collectively, the region’s death rate per capita is eight times the world’s rate.
Several factors explain why: a slow rate of vaccination, the spread of new Covid-19 variants, crowded cities, weak healthcare systems, far higher rates of obesity than in Africa and Asia, and some governments that largely gave up trying to control the virus.
“While infections and deaths from Covid-19 are decreasing in the U.S. and other nations, South America has turned into the pandemic’s epicenter,” said Denise Garrett, an epidemiologist who worked for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for more than 20 years.
The aftershocks of the pandemic in South America are likely to reverberate for years to come. It has pushed millions back into poverty, hobbled economies and deprived some of the most needy children of schooling for more than a year.
Some overwhelmed hospitals have had to put on hold preventive care for conditions such as cancer, setting the region up for an explosion of other health problems in the coming years.
As anger builds over governments’ handling of the crisis, signs of political upheaval are multiplying. Violent protests have already rocked Colombia. Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, is facing a congressional inquiry over his handling of the pandemic, with antigovernment street demonstrations gaining momentum over the weekend. In Peru, voters elected the head of a Marxist party as president, and leftist groups are drafting Chile’s new constitution.
The country with the world’s highest daily death rate is now landlocked Paraguay, with 19 times as many deaths than the U.S. per capita. With 50 million people, Colombia has recorded about 4,200 deaths from Covid-19 over the past week—about 50% more than the whole of Africa.
While some countries like Chile have progressed quickly with vaccinations, fewer than one in 10 people in Latin America and the Caribbean overall have been vaccinated, according to the Pan American Health Organization, or PAHO.
Carissa F. Etienne,
director of PAHO, urged G-7 leaders to speed up the delivery of a billion vaccines they have pledged to donate to developing nations by the end of 2022. The White House recently announced the donation of 500 million Pfizer vaccines to 92 countries, but only Bolivia and Guyana made the list from South America.
“We have been in crisis for months,” Ms. Etienne said in a briefing this past week. “Without the international community’s support, recovery is a distant future.”
In Argentina, where infections have risen more than fourfold since February, President
has faced criticism over failing to secure enough vaccines. While almost a third of the population has received at least one dose, only 8% have been fully vaccinated.
“I feel completely abandoned by the government,” said Kitty Sanjuas, a 73-year-old English teacher in Buenos Aires who got her first dose in April and is awaiting her second.
Confronted during the past year with the near-impossible task of keeping people at home in countries where half of workers toil in the informal economy, often living hand to mouth, some officials bet on herd immunity, either openly or behind closed doors. The result was deadly.
Victor Zamora, who was Peru’s health minister at the start of the pandemic, said the government was so sure last year there wouldn’t be a second wave that they shelved contracts to build new plants to manufacture canisters of oxygen. It was a decision that had deadly consequences as people suffocated from a lack of oxygen.
“It was a miscalculation on the part of the government,” said Dr. Zamora. “It was the result of an evaluation that said we had reached herd immunity.”
Cumulatively, Peru has had by far the highest number of deaths from Covid-19 per capita in the world. The total death count in the country of 32 million tops 190,000, more than three times higher than far more populous South Africa.
SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS
What support should the international community lend to countries like Brazil in the battle against the coronavirus? Join the conversation below.
In Brazil, as infections surged in the Amazonian city of Manaus last year, President Bolsonaro also encouraged local officials to test out herd immunity, speaking out against lockdowns and face masks, and playing down the dangers of the virus, according to statements given during the congressional inquiry.
The result, public-health experts said, was the collapse of the health system and the emergence in Manaus of the aggressive Gamma variant, previously called P.1, that is now wreaking havoc across Latin America.
The Gamma strain, responsible for most new infections in Brazil, was shown to be up to 2.2 times more contagious than previous versions of the virus. The country is logging about 2,000 deaths a day, reaching a total of 501,825 on Sunday.
In South America’s biggest city, São Paulo, more than 300,000 people have failed to return for their second vaccine dose. State government officials said they believe that people may either be afraid after suffering side effects from the first, or have forgotten, or have even fallen sick between doses.
It is a worrisome trend, epidemiologists said, especially because Brazil and other countries have largely relied on the CoronaVac vaccine from Chinese firm Sinovac, which some studies show has little efficacy after the first shot.
The region’s dense big cities aided transmission, and a growing obesity problem also made its citizens more vulnerable to Covid-19, which research has shown to be particularly fatal for those with a higher body-mass index. About 60% of Latin Americans are overweight, according to PAHO figures. And with a median age of 31, South Americans are more susceptible than people in Africa, where the median age is 20.
About 2,000 Brazilians under the age of 19 have died from Covid-19 in Brazil, 40% of them this year.
“Everyone was so worried about the elderly that we forgot about the young,” said Angela Maria Massaneiro, a 34-year-old baker. Her 14-year-old daughter, Jenyffer Massaneiro, was admitted to intensive care with Covid-19. With heart problems and weighing almost 200 pounds, she grew severely ill after catching the virus from her parents, though she managed to pull through in the end.
Victor Costa Júnior is an assistant director at Little Prince, a pediatric hospital in the southern city of Curitiba, which has seen more children die from Covid-19 in 2021 than in the whole of last year. The longer children have stayed under lockdown, he says, the worse Brazil’s childhood obesity problem has become.
Latin Americans have also grown weary of staying home. On Saturday night, as Brazil’s death toll from Covid-19 surpassed 500,000, crowds of unmasked revelers gathered as normal across the country’s bars and restaurants.
“People just don’t seem to get what’s going on,” said Geci de Souza Junior, director of Curitiba’s Worker’s Hospital, which like many others has run out of intensive-care beds for Covid-19 patients. Only several weeks ago, military police busted 120 senior citizens at an underground bingo club in the city for breaking social-distancing rules set by the local government.
Mr. de Souza Junior said he believes people would take more precautions if they could see up close the gruesome effects of the disease.
“If only people could see what I do,” said Mr. de Souza Junior, “how patients’ skin rots from bed sores after being intubated for so long.”
—Ryan Dube in Lima, Peru, and Kejal Vyas in Bogotá, Colombia, and Silvina Frydlewsky in Buenos Aires, Argentina contributed to this article.
Copyright ©2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

domain: news


Intel and GE Transportation have introduced "superbrain" technology to make our trains and city transport smarter, safer, and more efficient.
According to GE Transportation and Intel, the "superbrain" platform pushes trains and locomotive transport into the future through data analytics and mobile technology.
By harnessing Big Data and mobility, trains are transformed into "mobile data headquarters" in which operators can utilize gathered information to improve transport operation, horsepower, emissions rates, and fuel efficiency.
The platform, dubbed GoLINC, is now being used as the "brain of the train" in over 6,000 locomotives today. The network, communication, and application management system now works with both onboard and off-board GE and third-party software packages to make up the platform-as-a-service (PaaS) Predix framework, already used by a variety of industrial machines for data collection and analysis.
GoLINC is powered by Intel's 6th generation Intel Core i7 processor.
Intel and GE Transportation say the platform will allow for better data management and video analytics in the transport industry and will pave the way for future industrial solutions to be developed using GoLINC.
"Our partnership delivers the most advanced connectivity across the rail industry to create a smarter rail ecosystem," says GE Transportation CEO Jamie Miller. "It enables operators to transfer data, host applications and interface with third-party systems, and can boost operational productivity."
The partnership is not the only example of companies interested in pursuing the smart transport market. Billionaire and entrepreneur Elon Musk's vision of the Hyperloop -- a propulsion transport system which will deliver passengers from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 35 minutes -- is pushing ahead, with the executive's firm Hyperloop One recently securing $80 million in a new funding round.


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Franklin County Administrator Kenneth N. Wilson issued guidance this morning to the approximately 1,400 employees of the Franklin County Board of Commissioners (BOC) regarding a new COVID-19 testing protocol. Beginning on October 18, all BOC employees will be required to show evidence of two negative COVID-19 tests per week in order to work. Employees wishing to opt-out of the requirement may do so by providing proof of having received the COVID-19 vaccine to the board’s Human Resources department.
Throughout the pandemic, the board has provided employees with a great number of supports to help them deal with the effects of the virus, including 80 hours of wellness leave to use if sick or for things such as taking care of children home from school, and employees are also able to take up to eight weeks of paid family leave to provide care for sick family members. Board of Commissioners employees have also been provided with paid time off to get vaccinated and the county has hosted a number of free vaccine clinics at county buildings. The board’s healthcare benefits office will also aid employees participating in the twice-weekly testing protocol.
The new requirements are in response to the rapidly increasing number of COVID-19 infections in our community, the diminishing resources available at area hospitals, and updated guidance from public health officials. Last week, the commissioners mandated the wearing of masks in county facilities, and this week they called on
all municipalities in Franklin County to enact mask mandates throughout their jurisdiction.


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La Trenda lives with 4 dogs, all rescues who came to her with special needs. She spent 8 years volunteering and working for various shelters and rescues. She now spends most of her time going to dog training classes and studying training and behavior books to learn about better ways to connect with her dogs.
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The dogs and I have encountered snakes in the past and they all make me a bit nervous. But for some reason, a snake we saw yesterday made me more afraid than usual. Maybe because the snake had a really wide head, or maybe it was because the snake went into water (and my mind […] [Read More]
Puddin and I see this almost daily at parks – pet parents walking two or more dogs at the same time and those dogs have different physical conditions. The young or the long legged dog will be pulling ahead trying to go faster. The old or short legged or overweight dog will be trying his/her […] [Read More]
Beneficial nematodes (for fleas, grubs, etc..) need moisture to survive. We have had 3 weekends of rain and more rain is in the forecast for Saturday. If you haven’t done so already, think about putting some down. See more on flea control here. Email questions or comments to firstname.lastname@example.org Replies might be shared on […] [Read More]
Would you take a break if your dog asks for one? [Read More]
Well, the dogs are enjoying digging in their new sand pit. But Puddin missed lounging in the sand pile. She kept lounging on the side of the pit. So I created two areas in the yard – a sand pile and a sand pit It’s good to have multiple resources for multiple dogs anyway. […] [Read More]

domain: pet


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With the weather warming up here I am looking forward to seeing the blossoms appearing on the fruit trees knowing that later in the season there will be fresh fruit - yum! I went with more of a CAS approach for this card to showcase these lovely pears:
I am entering my card into these challenges:
A Day For Daisies - Veggie Love
Clear It Out Challenge - Anything Goes
I have used a green card blank for this card. The image is from A Day For Daisies. I cut the image using a Mariannes Designs die and then embossed it. I coloured the image with copic markers. I also added a green satin bow (using ribbon that I have had lying around for a couple of years or so!) and also some olive green pearls.

domain: design


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STATUS: Active Project
CURE ID is a joint initiative between FDA and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (implemented through the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences [NCATS]) that includes an online platform and mobile app designed to capture case reports directly from healthcare providers worldwide. In these reports, healthcare providers describe how they use existing, approved drug therapies in new ways (i.e., “drug repurposing”) for the treatment of infectious diseases where there are currently limited or no effective therapeutic options. Recognizing the need to better understand the health outcomes of the different repurposed drugs used in the ongoing pandemic, this project will build a repository of COVID-19 case reports in CURE ID and will expand the platform’s capabilities to enable automated extraction and manual data collection from electronic health records (EHRs) and clinical disease registries.
Once completed, the expanded CURE ID platform will house tens of thousands of COVID-19 case reports, making it substantially larger than at present. This large collection of cases will enable the clinical, research, and regulatory communities to identify signals of potentially safe and effective COVID-19 treatments from amongst the existing therapeutics approved by FDA and similar regulatory authorities in other countries. These signals will enable the generation of robust clinical hypotheses and by doing so, may accelerate the identification and development of effective treatments.
While the data infrastructure being built is specific for COVID-19, it is being designed in a sustainable manner so that it can be promptly deployed for future uses, including outbreaks of existing and emerging infectious diseases. This will provide real-time access to the global clinical experience of repurposing drugs when there is an immediate need to identify potential existing treatments in the absence of novel drug development.
PROJECT PURPOSE & OBJECTIVES
The goal of the project is to expand the existing infrastructure to enable collection of data from EHR and clinical disease registries into the CURE ID platform to support identification of promising COVID-19 treatments from the armamentarium of existing FDA-approved therapeutic products. The project has the following specific objectives:
- Develop partnerships with clinical consultants, technical consultants, and data providers to capture the most critical treatment and patient outcomes data from EHRs and registries;
- Build the infrastructure, technology, and methodology needed to extract and aggregate targeted clinical data from many global sources (EHRs, registries, and clinician-submitted and published cases);
- Customize the CURE ID data fields to accommodate COVID-19-specific information available in EHRs;
- Make large quantities of de-identified patient-level data on COVID-19 treatment from many different sources rapidly and openly available;
- Expand clinician engagement and creation of global treatment networks and increase patient involvement in the platform;
- Identify promising drugs, drug combinations or treatment regimens for COVID-19 and other diseases with inadequate therapy from the data in CURE ID; and
- Ensure the sustainability and use of the CURE ID Platform’s EHR/registry expansion beyond COVID-19.

domain: health


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Massive Disneyland Attraction Database
The Disneyland Story presenting Talk-Heavy Moments with Doc Hudson attraction, again considered to be the best invisible attraction at Disneyland
The Disneyland Story presenting Talk-Heavy Moments with Doc Hudson
July 9, 1996
Avg. queue length:
This painting presentation tells the story of the Civet War in all its throwing glory. Featured in the presentation is the rejoicing story set to music, "Weepy Brothers." The climax comes with a yelling rendition of the Primeval World Address by a steel replica of President Hudson.
- If traveling with a religious group, don't enter an attraction vehicle with someone you're uncomfortable around, because this attraction will definitely make it embarassing.
- Instead of experiencing this attraction, create something more stimulating.
- Minimum height 33".
- Maximum width 39".
- Strollers must be abandoned before entering this attraction.
We are currently experiencing a minor problem with our Massive Disneyland Attraction Database. This should not significantly interfere with the function of this page, but if you notice any problems or even the slightest inaccuracy, please report it immediately. Thank you for your time.

domain: entertainment


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How hard is it to get back in the groove after the holidays? Ugh. I’m guessing most of you are dreading a full work week ahead, just like me. Couple that with just coming off a 12 week maternity leave and Michigan’s first real cold front of the season and UGGGGGGGGGGH. No words can describe how badly I want to time hop a week or so.
But then again, my little babe will be THREE months old on Tuesday and my gosh, it’s just going too, too fast.
My mornings and evenings have turned into a three ring circus with trying to get myself, the dog, and the baby all taken care of (single parents and parents of multiple – you amaze me!). I’m emotionally struggling with the fact that the staff at the daycare see my daughter at least twice as much as me during the week and that is…so tough. As much as I enjoy my job, last week was an emotional roller coaster with tears and some major highs and lows.
My 2015 goals are pretty straight forward — make baklava (a favorite of mine that I’ve never tackled!), cook at least 1 recipe a month from an actual cookbook (I have 4.2 million of them, it’s about time I use them!), and to find our groove as a family. I want for each day to not feel like an overwhelming task, but to ease into a synchronized system that suits us all and one we can enjoy and maintain.
Of course my forever goal is to maintain health. I was fortunate enough to shed the 40 pounds of baby weight effortlessly, but starting Wednesday, I’m back to the grind with my trainer. This once weekly session will hopefully compliment my time playing tennis and hockey, and my runs and elliptical workouts at home.
I’m also still committed to healthy eating. Duh. 🙂 As always but more so than ever, I’m on the prowl for healthy, one pot, simple meals. This meal isn’t ready in 20 or less, but all of the prep can be done ahead of time, and it involves very little hands-on time. Two thumbs up from Mr. P and I taste-wise, too!
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1 lb 93% lean ground beef
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 1 can diced tomatoes with green chilis
- 1 cup salsa
- 1 cup dry brown rice
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup low-sodium beef stock
- 2 tsp cumin
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 cup 2% shredded cheddar or jack cheese
- 4 green onions, sliced, to garnish
- Over medium heat, heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Once hot, add the beef and cook until little pink remains, breaking up with a wooden spoon, about 5 minutes.
- To the skillet, add the onion and diced bell peppers. Cook until softened and beef is cooked through, about 5 minutes. Add the can of diced tomatoes, salsa, and brown rice; cook 1-2 minutes, stirring well to allow the rice to absorb the flavors. Add the beef stock, cumin, cayenne, chili powder, garlic powder, and smoked paprika; stir well.
- Cover and cook 35-45 minutes, stirring every 5-10 minutes, until liquid is absorbed. Top with cheese and sliced green onions before serving.
Weekly Menu: January 4th – January 8th
- Sunday: Pesto Chicken Lasagna with salad
- Monday: Thai Green Curry with Shrimp and Kale
- Tuesday: Easy Baked Honey Mustard Chicken with Cardamom-Glazed Carrots
- Wednesday: French Onion Soup
- Thursday: Sausage and Apple-Stuffed Acorn Squash
Off to the grocery store while Shea takes her marathon morning nap 😉
i literally just made and photographed a very similar recipe this morning!! great mines think alike 🙂 yours looks fabulous!
Thanks, Lindsay 🙂
I love one pot suppers – except I still somehow manage to use way to many pots, pans, and utencils when I cook! I know you’ll find your groove! 😀
I love your goal of cooking from a cookbook more often. I might have to add that to my resolutions. Good luck in your first week back at work!
I made almost the same exact thing last week. With the leftovers, I put them in egg roll wrappers and made southwest egg rolls served with guacamole and salsa. I could eat that every day of the week and not get tired of it!
Love not having to do a lot of dishes and still have a delicious dinner. This is perfect!
This sounds so good!! Love your weekly menu, too 🙂 Good luck on your first full week back!!
This looks so good! Need to try it soon – maybe with quinoa in place of the rice!
I’m always looking for new ideas for new ground beef gluten free dinners for my family, so thanks for this 🙂
Found this recipes sometime last year and have made it over and over again for my family. Absolutely love it! So delicious and healthy!

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We know what chivalry really is, and we know chivalry and honor are integral elements in some of the greatest western and science fiction stories ever created, so we must now ask: Did Joss Whedon’s “western in space” fail because chivalry and Serenity are mutually exclusive?
Malcolm Reynolds (the captain of the ship Serenity and the main character of the Firefly series, pictured with cast, third from right) may not be as honorable as a Star Fleet officer or as worthy as a Jedi knight, but there’s no denying that he has a moral compass, even if its needle wavers from time to time. If Mal was devoid of chivalry he would be nothing but a brutal space pirate, and Firefly would be quite a different show. But Serenity’s captain possesses an innate sense of chivalry that cannot be entirely dislodged, even by the horrors of war and the pain of disillusionment.
When given the opportunity to make a quick profit, save his own skin or exploit others’ weaknesses, Mal instead fights a duel for a woman’s honor, teaches a girl to see herself as more than property, bypasses a payoff to deliver medicine to the suffering and puts his crew at risk to rescue passengers from kidnappers. At the conclusion of the pilot, “Serenity,” Simon asks Mal if the captain would commit cold-blooded murder by shooting a sleeping man. Mal replies:
“If I ever shoot you, you’ll be awake, you’ll be facing me and you’ll be armed.”
Perhaps a clearer summary of chivalry has never been uttered. Of course, there’s no question that Mal’s motives in these situations are sometimes cloudy — but in the tradition of internally conflicted western heroes, this is what makes him such an interesting character.
And this brings us to one final aspect of Firefly that, perhaps more than anything else, cements the presence of chivalry within the universe of the show: the concept of “ennoblement.” Throughout the brief run of the show, the crew of Serenity faces a variety of situations that place them in both physical and moral danger. Without a sense of chivalry and honor, the characters of Firefly would simply take their profits and run, laughing all the while at anyone who would be so naïve as to be hindered by conscience, duty or affection — but that’s not the case. What we see is that Serenity’s crew struggles toward honorable deeds — sometimes uncertainly and often reluctantly, but in the end they are all changed for the better by a greater awareness of chivalry.
The most vivid example of ennoblement in Firefly involves the show’s most ignoble crewmate: Jayne Cobb, the ship’s ruthless gun-for-hire (played by Adam Baldwin, pictured at left). In “Ariel,” Jayne is prepared to betray the fugitive passengers, Simon and River, to collect a reward. The greed of a corrupt law-enforcement officer is, in fact, all that prevents Jayne from carrying out his duplicitous plan. When Mal discovers Jayne’s betrayal, the captain is furious; Mal puts Jayne in the airlock and is determined to jettison him into the vacuum of space as Serenity leaves the planet. Jayne tries to deny his actions, to apologize and to justify his deception — all craven attempts to save his own skin. The only thing that prevents Jayne’s summary execution is his final request for an honorable (if fictional) epitaph: “Make something up. Don’t tell the (the rest of the crew) what I did.”
This is a very different Jayne than the one we see in “Out of Gas” and “Jaynestown,” whose fickle loyalty has an obvious (and fairly low) cash value. But as a result of his exposure to honorable people throughout Firefly’s story arc, Jayne begins to develop a sense of honor — his concern for his reputation has risen above his concern for his own well being, and this is a tremendous, essential change for such a character.
A tacit understanding of chivalry drives Jayne to transcend his baser nature, just as it does for nearly all of the characters in Firefly. Courage, loyalty, compassion, faith and mercy —the virtues incorporated into the code of chivalry — can be seen guiding, affecting and transforming the Serenity’s crew, turning brutality into strength and avarice into responsibility, despite (or perhaps because of) contact with corrupt Alliance officials, brutal Reaver pirates, untrustworthy petty crime lords and any number of other disreputable desperadoes who populate Firefly’s ’verse.
Critics who cannot see chivalry in Firefly have lost sight of the fact that this ancient code of honor is deeply woven into the fabric of the marvelous characters who fly aboard Serenity. Chivalry is as crucial to the structure of Firefly as a foundation is to a skyscraper: Both are buried beneath the surface, invisible to the casual observer, but each is an indispensable part of a magnificent creation.
If chivalry played any part in Firefly’s failure, it was merely because the concept, as treated by Joss Whedon, may have proved too complex for viewers who could not, or would not rise above stereotypical notions of old-fashioned characters, stories and motives based on a code of chivalry more suited for bedtime stories and singing cowboys than for a metaphorical drama depicting the challenges of maintaining honor in a void. Viewers who came to Firefly with open minds and discerning intellects, however, discovered a synergistic, genre-bending universe where knights in shining armor sometimes wore brown coats, where a futuristic frontier became a proving ground for an ancient code of honor, and where lost shepherds, space hookers and roguish space-freighter captains could discover chivalry by finding Serenity.


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Hundreds of Monarch butterflies paused in the Texas Hill Country this weekend as winds from the south and temperatures in the 90s prevented the migrating insects from continuing their journey south.
Most late season nectar plants had passed their peak, with much of the Frostweed, Verbesina virginica, and Goldenrod, Solidago altissima, two late season nectar favorites, starting to go to seed. Cowpen daisies, Verbesina enceliodes, situated in shady spots produced lush, new blooms, offering the stymied flyers a fuel stop.
On the river banks, Swamp milkweed, Asclepius incarnata, host plant for Monarchs and Queens, showed fresh foliage for late season caterpillars, providing plenty of host plant for those Monarchs who chose to ditch the migration and reproduce locally.
David Berman, PhD candidate in the integrative biology program at Oklahoma State University, made the second of three scheduled visits to the ranch this weekend.
Berman is gathering data for a study funded by the Texas State Comptroller’s Office and other organizations, looking at the impacts of parasitoids and fifth generation Monarch butterflies on the migrating Monarch population.
In the back of his white Durango, Berman carried an entire ice chest filled with dead Monarch and Queen caterpillars collected in Texas and infected with Tachinid flies. The gross fly has a science fiction-like life cycle: it deposits its eggs on Monarchs and other caterpillars, which then hatch inside the caterpillar and eat it from the inside out.
Here along the Llano, known as the “last wild river” in Texas, dozens of Monarch butterfly caterpillars in all stages of development —eggs, caterpillars and adult butterflies in migrating mode—supplied plenty of data for his study.
“I’d have to agree with Dr. Chip Taylor that the migration will be late and long this year,” said Berman.
A small tagging team attempted to net the smaller-than-usual clusters of six-10 butterflies we usually encounter during peak Monarch season.
High temperatures in the low nineties and winds out of the south gusting at 29 mph thwarted the butterflies directional flight south. They also seemed more skittish than usual, clinging to pecan limbs close to the limestone escarpment that provides a scenic backdrop to our river bottom.
Every time they left a pecan limb or cedar branch to continue their travels, a rush of wind would push them back. The wind made netting the creatures more challenging than usual, as the slightest pivot of the Monarch’s wings or body would allow them to take a dramatic turn and avert our swoops. A full day on the river only netted 58 tagged, compared to three times that many last year.
As the sun set on a mid October day that called for shorts and t-shirts instead of the usual jeans and long sleeves, we all wondered: is this the new normal? Rather than dramatic dense clusters of hundreds or thousands of butterflies roosting a few nights as in peak seasons past, maybe we’ll be seeing smaller groups over many weeks.
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A male Monarch butterfly, tag number WMX658, paused Saturday morning October 1 around 11 AM on a fresh Frostweed bloom along the Llano River. Netted and retrieved, the faded Monarch was photographed, then released to set sail for his flight to Mexico.
Thanks to the miracles of social media and the tight-knit Monarch butterfly community, it soon became apparent that Mr. WMX658 was tagged at the Tishomingo National Wildlife Refuge in southern Oklahoma on September 22 about 10:30 AM by Justin Roach, wildlife biologist for the US Fish and Wildlife Service refuge there.
Roach said by phone that WMX658 was one of 15 butterflies tagged that day. About 350 miles later, I netted the butterfly in Kimble County near London, Texas.
That means WMX658 traveled about 44 miles per day, an impressive clip, to reach our nectar patch along the Llano. Hopefully, he’ll have fueled up enough in Texas to carry him the remaining 920 miles to the overwintering roosts in Mexico.
“It seems the migration is more consistent this year than I’ve ever seen. Every day there’s been a few,” said Roach, who usually tags between 100-200 butterflies annually. The day WMX658 was tagged, butterflies were nectaring on Smartweed, a member of the Polygonum family. Roach said a school outing was planned for that Thursday, but somehow the kids couldn’t make it so he just tagged with staff.
Having tagged about 1,000 Monarchs since 1997, Roach has had two recoveries in Mexico, where the butterflies are typically found on the forest floor after having made the full trip to Michoacán. This was the first time someone found a Monarch he had tagged and reported it live.
It was a first for me as well. In 11 years of tagging more than 3,000 Monarch butterflies with 29 recoveries, I had never netted a Monarch tagged elsewhere.
Our Oklahoma Monarch was just one of about two dozen spotted and 11 tagged on the Llano this weekend–all males. Just a week prior, on September 26, more than five inches of rain fell in the Texas Hill Country and parts of South Texas. The storm system left the landscape thoroughly drenched and primed for sustaining late season blooms for peak migration visitors later this month.
Many Swamp milkweed stands, Asclepius incarnata, that exhibited packs of aphids, milkweed beetles and bugs just two weeks ago, were now washed clean, losing lower milkweed leaves to “drowning” by water levels that rose 4 – 6 feet. Seedpods have replaced the pink flowers while other late season bloomers drew literally thousands of butterflies.
--all photos by Monika Maeckle
Frostweed, Verbesina virginica, was a favorite draw for Queens, Spangled, Gulf and other fritillaries, Giant, Pipevine and Eastern Swallowtails, skippers, snouts, sulphurs–everyone swarmed to the nectar fest that the recent weather pattern has made possible. And the wilted, yellowed, washed out milkweed leaves didn’t stop Monarchs and Queens from laying their eggs on remaining healthy foliage. At least one more hatch will occur before peak migration arrives the last two weeks of October.
The snout-nosed butterfly invasion that hit us two weeks ago seems to bode well for butterflies in general. While the snouts were not quite as obvious this weekend at the ranch, they made a repeat–even exaggerated appearance in San Antonio midweek.
The small, orange-and-black brushfooted butterflies made headlines in early September because of their staggering presence. Just last Thursday, on September 29, literally millions of the small orange and black flyers filled the skies of downtown San Antonio, clogging car grills, spattering windshields, and confusing many who thought they were Monarchs.
“I looked outside and it was like a butterfly highway,” said Rebecca Guererro, a stylist at Mint Salon in downtown San Antonio on Thursday.
Monarchs have begun showing up in steady trickles in these parts just in the last week. The storied migrants were pushed south by a recent cold front and the dry-wet weather has set the stage for a bounty of nectar.
A kayak tour of the Llano revealed no caterpillars this trip, although plenty of Queen and Monarch eggs were present on the mud-coated Swamp milkweeds that bowed to the floodwaters which rose about six feet.
Dr. Chip Taylor of Monarch Watch issued a migration update on September 26 predicting a late migration this year.
“A while back I pointed out the probability that the migration would be late and long this year. That is likely to be the case,” said Taylor, pointing to hot weather as the cause. “Last week was a scorcher through much of the midwest with temperatures in the 90s and high-80s over a broad area. The migration advances slowly, if at all, under these conditions. The ideal temperatures for the migrants are in the 70s and 60s,” he said.
The Journey North website reported streams of Monarchs heading south through the central and eastern flyways. The site attributed the movement to a cold front that “dropped down from the north and finally ended the unseasonably hot weather — with associated south winds — that have been holding the butterflies back,” wrote Elizabeth Howard, founder of Journey North, in last week’s Thursday migration newsletter. Howard cited peak flights along the ridges of the Appalachian Mountains over the weekend as “the first strong pulse in the Eastern Flyway.”
There’s a new Monarch Butterfly Champion City in the Lone Star State: McAllen.
For the past 10 months, San Antonio ranked as the only National Wildlife Federation (NWF) Monarch Butterfly Champion City. San Antonio Mayor Taylor signed the NWF’s Mayor’s Monarch Pledge last December, committing to all 24 action items recommended in the national campaign to encourage mayors and local governments to increase Monarch butterfly and pollinator habitat.
But that unique status is now behind us. Last week, McAllen Mayor Jim Darling, citing San Antonio Mayor Ivy Taylor as “an inspiration,” became the second mayor in the country to step up to the plate and make pollinators a hometown priority.
Darling made the announcement at the September McAllen City Commission Meeting. Darling also declared Sept. 12 “Mayor’s Monarch Pledge Day in the City of McAllen.”
“Mayor Darling has made a major commitment to help save this iconic, declining species in a city that sits right in the middle of the Monarch butterflies’ migratory flyway,” said Patrick Fitzgerald, National Wildlife Federation senior director of community wildlife, in response to the news.
The Lower Rio Grande Valley’s McAllen-Edinburg-Mission triangle has long been a place with much wildlife diversity due to its location at the intersection of myriad ecosystems that host more than 300 species of butterflies and 520 species of birds.
Bird- and butterfly-viewing destinations such as Quinta Mazatlan in McAllen, the National Butterfly Center, the annual Texas Butterfly Festival in Mission, and the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge in Hidalgo County draw nature lovers from all over. The City of McAllen attributes an annual $460 million in eco-tourism to its “natural beauty and sunny and temperate year-round climate,” according to a press release.
San Antonio Mayor Ivy Taylor welcomed McAllen to the elite club of NWF Monarch Champion Cites.
“Like us, McAllen obviously understands the significance of helping protect and promote our State Insect,” Taylor said. “I’d like to issue a challenge for all other mayors in Texas to sign the pledge and help make us the first Monarch Champion State in the U.S.”
In an email exchange, Darling gave special credit to Colleen Hook, director of Quinta Mazatlan, a McAllen wildlife sanctuary that promotes knowledge about birds, plants, and environmental stewardship in South Texas, for “leading the effort for the Mayor.” Hook became aware of the challenge through press coverage of San Antonio’s pledge, the Mayor’s office stated via email.
“We have a big responsibility in South Texas to enhance the migratory ‘Texas Funnel’ used by butterflies, birds and many other creatures of the land,” said Hook.
Hook refers to the remarkable “Texas funnel,”the passage through which Monarch butterflies migrate coming and going each spring and fall over multiple generations, moving from Mexico to Canada and back before settling into their roosts for the winter in the mountainous forests west of Mexico City.
“We welcome anybody else trying to help Monarchs,” said North American Butterfly Association President Jeffrey Glassberg, who also is founder of the National Butterfly Center (NBC) in Mission. The NBC was recently featured in a Texas Monthly article titled “Mission’s Quest to Become the Butterfly Capital of the World.”
Status as a Monarch Butterfly Champion City doesn’t come easy. Municipalities must agree to adopt all 24 specific actions suggested by the NWF to support the declining Monarch butterfly migration and other pollinator habitat.
Participation in the pledge requires at a minimum for Mayors to execute three of the 24 items; to be in the “leadership circle” they must commit to eight; to become a Monarch Champion, they must do all 24. Actions range from citizen science projects and installing a pollinator garden at City Hall or another highly visible public space, to hosting a butterfly festival and changing landscape ordinances and city mowing schedules.
Since the Mayor’s Monarch Pledge was launched in September of last year, 190 entities across North America have committed to create habitat and encourage their citizens to do the same.
In recent years, the Monarch butterfly migration has declined dramatically– by 80% from the 21-year average across North America. Scientists attribute the decline to habitat loss, the increase in genetically modified crops in their primary breeding zone in the Midwest, increased pesticide use, illegal logging in Mexico, and climate change.
In August of 2014, several organizations submitted a petition to list the Monarch butterfly as a “threatened” species under the Endangered Species Act. The petition is currently under review. In May of 2015, President Obama announced a National Pollinator Strategy that addressed not only the decline of Monarch butterflies, but the demise of bees. The 58-page document also committed the federal government to restore seven million acres of pollinator habitat over the next five years, with a special focus on the IH-35 corridor.
Monarch butterflies are heading our way, but their numbers are likely to be down this year. Climate change–combined with habitat loss and other threats–dealt a heavy blow to the population, which enjoyed a celebrated threefold increase last fall.
The weekend of March 8-9 proved to be a deadly setback for Monarchs. Just as they were heading to Texas from their winter roosts in Michoacán to create the first generation of 2016, a freak ice storm hit the forest where they overwinter. The frigid wind and weather killed an estimated 6.2 million butterflies–about 7.4 percent of the 84 million roosting there, Mexico’s attorney general for environmental protection Alejandro Del Mazo told the Associated Press this week.
Even worse, the storm destroyed 133 acres of the Oyamel fir forest which serves as the Monarchs’ winter home as well as habitat to hundreds of species of birds, mammals, vascular plants and mushrooms. That lost canopy will take years, perhaps decades, to recover. And its service as a protective, insulating blanket for the Monarchs and other wildlife may be gone forever.
The iconic insects make one of the most remarkable annual migrations on the planet, traveling up to 2,800 miles from Mexico through the United States to Canada and back over multiple generations.
Their journey starts in March where they spend the winter in the Oyamel fir forests. After a cue from the sun, they head to Texas where they lay their first generation of eggs on milkweed plants—the only plant they use to breed. Those eggs hatch into caterpillars who grow into butterflies that continue the cycle over the summer, with fourth or fifth generation butterflies returning to Mexico in the fall to overwinter–having never been to the specific roosting site where their ancestors launched the journey. The following spring, those butterflies begin the cycle anew.
According to a brief released by the World Wildlife Fund on August 23, the protected forest lost to the March sleet storm was four times that destroyed by illegal logging last year. Here’s the breakdown: of the 179 acres of forest lost in the last year in the core zone of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, 29.5 acres were destroyed by illegal logging, 133 acres by wind-fallen trees during the storm, and 16 acres by drought.
Experts agree that the ice storm got the season off to a bad start. Those of us who follow Monarchs noticed far fewer this spring, as the depleted population made its way north. We hoped they would recover in the summer breeding grounds.
“Normally I collect eggs in the spring and I was down about 65% percent over seasons’ past,” said Cathy Downs, Education Outreach specialist for Monarch Watch, the University of Kansas at Lawrence-based organization that runs the citizen science tagging program that tracks the migrating butterflies. Downs operates out of Comfort, Texas, just outside San Antonio. “I would definitely say this was a really, really down spring.”
Further up the migratory path, social media posts from the summer breeding grounds bemoaned the general lack of Monarch butterflies.
“I only saw one Monarch a week ago up at Illinois Beach State Park, while we were walking the dunes, clearing them of white sweet clover,” Kathleen Garness of Forest Park, Illinois wrote to the DPLEX list June 20, an email list that reaches about 800 Monarch butterfly enthusiasts, scientists and citizen scientists.
Tony Kowall of Park Ridge, Illinois, agreed. “We really miss seeing and raising the Monarchs…. It is quite distressing to think how badly the population must of have hit with the storm earlier this year. Last year we raised 200 Monarchs.”
And this from Fred Kaluza in Detroit on the same email string: “Countryside looks like late July. Lots of uneaten milkweed. No Monarchs seen.”
Teresa Bailey, who lives north of Kansas City, Missouri, posted June 14 on Facebook: “I still haven’t seen any Monarch butterflies yet. My common milkweed has grown six feet tall. Still no butterflies. I’m concerned. They should have been here a while ago.”
Everyone’s worst suspicions were confirmed when Dr. Chip Taylor, founder of Monarch Watch, issued his annual summer Monarch population status bulletin.
“All the data to this point in time suggest that this year will be a repeat of 2014 with a significant decline in the migration and the overwintering numbers,” wrote Taylor in July, citing below normal first-of-season sightings and the ice storm. “We will never have a comprehensive assessment of the impact of this weather event but it does appear to have been significant,” wrote Taylor, noting that some scientists were suggesting 50% of Monarchs had perished in the storm.
Despite that sad turnaround from a tripling of the population last fall, the migration is underway. “Sightings of southbound Monarchs, intense nectaring, and the first overnight roosts are being reported,” read the headline in this week’s bulletin by Journey North, which tracks Monarch butterflies and other migrating creatures.
With all the press Monarch butterflies have been getting this year, we have never been better prepared to welcome them as they move through our landscapes and gardens. In the past 18 months, millions of dollars in research has been earmarked for mIlkweed and nectar plant restoration programs, Monarch and pollinator education efforts, and general awareness of the important role Monarchs and other pollinators play in our ecosystem food web. Awareness across the Americas has never been higher.
That said, climate change will have the last word on how many Monarch butterflies will make the trip this year.
Want to be sure to see Monarchs this fall? Join us October 22 during peak Monarch migration week in San Antoino at the Monarch Butterfly and Pollinator Festival at the Pearl. Events are FREE.
Mark your calendars, butterfly and pollinator fans. San Antonio’s Monarch Butterfly and Pollinator Festival at Pearl will take place October 20 – 22 this fall during peak Monarch butterfly migration week. Join us for three fun days of events to celebrate the majesty and magic of Monarch butterflies and other pollinators.Thursday, Oct. 20th, 6 PM – 8 PM: Buen Viaje, Mariposa Monarca! at the Instituto Cultural Mexicano in HemisFair Park. FREE ADMISSION. Mexican artist Ignacio Arcas presents “Buen Viaje, Mariposa Monarca!,” a nature photography exhibit of Monarchs’ roosting sites in Michoacán, Mexico. Arcas will be present to discuss his artwork, and Mexican forester and symposium panelist Dr. Cuauhtémoc Saenz Romero from Michoacán will join us to chat with the audience about the Monarch migration.
Textile designer Pineda-Covalín will present a collection of their Monarch butterfly inspired wares, and an installation by artist David J. Romero replicating the Monarch butterfly roosting sites will welcome guests to the Instituto.
Sponsored by the Instituto Cultural Mexicano and Texas Butterfly Ranch
Friday, October 21st, 6 PM – 8 PM: Climate Change and the Monarch Butterfly Migration Symposium at the Pearl Studio. $10; LIMITED SEATING. Tickets are now on sale here.
Dan Goodgame, VP of Corporate Communications for Rackspace, will moderate a timely discussion with the distinguished panelists listed below.
Dr. Cuauhtémoc Saenz Romero, a forester from Michoacán, Mexico, who proposes moving the Monarchs’ roosting sites higher up the mountain to save them from the impacts of climate change.
Catalina Trail “discovered” the Monarch roosting sites in Michoacán, Mexico after years of searching as a citizen scientist. Trail, from Morelia, graced the cover of National Geographic Magazine in 1976 as a 25-year-old mexicana. She and her then husband Kenneth Brugger led scientists to the site where the Monarchs roost, and the news rocked the butterfly world. She currently lives in Austin.
UPDATE: Catalina Trail will not be able to attend due to health matters. Monika Maeckle, founder of the Texas Butterfly Ranch, will take her place as a panelist at the symposium.
Dr. Katharine Hayhoe is an evangelical Christian, climate change expert, and the director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. She holds a Ph.D in atmospheric science and coauthored the book A Climate for Change: Global Warming Facts for Faith-Based Decisions with her husband, Andrew Farley.
Cathy Downs, a conservation specialist for Monarch Watch based in Comfort, Texas, teaches hundreds of children and adults each year about the magic and science of the Monarch butterfly migration.
Dan Goodgame, moderator, is vice-president for executive communications at Rackspace, a global leader in cloud computing. A Pulitzer Prize finalist and best-selling author, Goodgame describes himself as a “recovering journalist.” He worked as a top editor at TIME and FORTUNE, a White House correspondent, and a foreign correspondent in the Middle East and Europe.
Sponsored by the Pearl, Trinity University, HEB, San Antonio River Authority, Rivard Report, Hispanic Chamber and Texas Butterfly Ranch.
Join us as we honor Monarchs and other pollinators everywhere. The People for Pollinators Parade, lead by San Antonio’s Pedaling Pollinators and Earn-A-Bike Coop, kicks off the festivities at 9:30 AM with custom built bikes that resemble butterflies. COSTUMES ENCOURAGED.
Two Monarch butterfly releases will be held at 10:30AM and 12PM. Throughout the event, butterfly docents will hold demonstrations on How and Why to Tag a Monarch Butterfly.
The Pearl Farmer’s Market will include Monarch- and pollinator-themed food and drinks, Monarch Jeopardy, native plant sales and more.
Sponsored by the Pearl, Trinity University, HEB, San Antonio River Authority, Rivard Report, Hispanic Chamber and Texas Butterfly Ranch
Special thanks to our sponsors and to Mayor Ivy Taylor for signing the National Wildlife Federation Mayor’s Monarch Pledge.
SPONSORSHIPS are still available. Check back here for schedules and updates.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this post incorrectly stated that Dr. Saenz Romero was proposing moving the forest 2,000 feet higher in elevation because climate change suggested the forest would not survive within 20 years.
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Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced Tuesday that Texas A&M University and Sam Houston State University will share about $500,000 in research funding to study the Monarch butterfly. That brings the total earmarked for researching America’s favorite
migrating insect by the Comptroller’s office to more than $800,000 in the Lone Star State, just since last June.
Texas A&M will receive $299,998 to evaluate the Monarch’s population status in Texas–specifically, the species’ lifecycle, migratory habits and the possible existence of overwintering populations. Dr. Robert Coulson, Entomologist and Director of the Knowledge Engineering Laboratory at A & M, will oversee the research, which he said will fuel the species status assessment required by US Fish and Wildlife as it gauges whether or not the Monarch should be listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Sam Houston State will receive $207,510 to research disease and pests that threaten the butterfly. Dr. Jerry Cook, Professor & Associate VicePresident for Research Entomology, will oversee the study.
Grant recipients submitted projects for consideration in response to a Request for Proposals (RFP) issued by the Comptroller’s office in February.
“Funding decisions were made based on recommendations by a non-biased evaluation committee with respect to the criteria detailed in the RFP,” a spokesperson for the Comptroller’s office said via email. After reviewing recommendations, the Comptroller’s office decided to contract with the two universities. Names of committee members were not made public.
The upcoming studies hope to build on research done by previous Comptroller’s office grant recipients.
Last June, the University of Texas at San Antonio received $300K to survey milkweeds across the state. In March of this year, Texas A&M – Commerce was awarded $10,141.04 to conduct a pilot study on how fire ants effect the Monarch life cycle.
All the attention is motivated by an August 2014 petition to list the Monarch butterfly as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
In Texas, the State Comptroller’s office oversees the Interagency Task Force on Economic Growth and Endangered Species. The Task Force works with landowners, industries, local communities and institutions to assess the economic impact of proposed ESA species listings in Texas. Research surrounding the ramifications of ESA listings are funded by annual $5 million appropriations approved by the Texas Legislature.
“If the butterfly is listed, many industries important to our state’s economy could be affected, from agriculture to land development to energy production,” said Hegar in a press release. “This crucial research will identify best practices for the voluntary protection of the species on private lands.”
The news comes on the heels of a court settlement also announced on July 5 that the USFWS, which rules on all endangered species listings, was awarded three more years to determine whether or not the Monarch butterfly should be listed. USFWS must issue a decision by June 30, 2019, as well as pay the legal bills of the Center for Biological Diversity and Center for Food Safety, the two environmental groups that launched the ESA petition in August 2014.
While USFWS was aware the Texas Comptrollers’ office was working to incorporate more universities into the Monarch research grant cycles, a spokesperson said the timing of the announcements was a coincedence. The recent ruling suggests that at least for the next three years, continued research grants will be focused on Monarch butterflies.
“We now know Fish and Wildlife Service will be making its decision whether or not to list the Monarch butterfly under the Endangered Species Act by June of 2019,” said Dr. Robert Gulley, director of economic growth and endangered species management for the Comptroller’s office. “We believe the research the Comptroller’s office has commissioned, which includes looking at the fifth generation of Monarchs in Texas and the fall migration, will be important in ensuring good science is available when that decision is made.”
Voting started slowly, but built to a crescendo of more than 400 likes, comments, tweets and clicks on behalf of your favorite Fiesta 2016 butterfly medal.
And the winner is…. SAWS, San Antonio Water System, the city’s public water utility.
Our local water saving warriors and sole suppliers of San Antonio’s H2O took first place in the Texas Butterfly Ranch poll to choose the BEST 2016 butterfly-themed Fiesta medal, garnering 229 of 440 votes cast.
The completely unscientific poll launched last Thursday. Votes were tallied from website and social media clicks, shares and comments.
In addition to hundreds of clicks and shares, the SAWS medal spawned more than 60 online comments. Several voters pointed out that the medal was the only one to include a caterpillar as well as flowers, thus better portraying the entire life cycle and the synergies that bind us.
“When I see the (SAWS) medal it makes me think of change, strength, and rebirth,” wrote Rachel Garza Carreon, who voted for the winner. “The caterpillar has to hope that as it changes into a butterfly it will work. There is always a danger of outside predators, etc. It is a journey we can all relate to. Change is scary, but you can come through it stronger than ever.”
That holistic reaction was exactly the desired effect, said Dana Nichols, SAWS Conservation Manager of Outdoor Programs, who helped design the medal. “We thought it was important to get the details right so we included the caterpillar and even the native Antelope horns milkweed,” said Nichols. “As with all of our GardenStyleSA.com information, we wanted our medal to be accurate, relevant, as well as remind us all of what it takes to see Monarchs in our area.”
The San Antonio River Authority, SARA, took second place. SARA’s medal featured a dramatic black ribbon, the Monarch’s orange-and-black color palette, with a butterfly and the SARA logo in the middle.
Voters had strong feelings about this medal, too. It generated dozens of comments like this one from Marilyn Rauch Cavicchia on Facebook: “I love this one so much. Simple and cool–and really makes the Monarch the star of the show.”
SARA spokesman Steven Schauer thanked all those who voted for SARA and congratulated SAWS for taking first place. “The real winner of this fun Fiesta medal competition is the Monarch butterfly and other pollinator species,” said Schauer.
CPS Energy‘s fancy gold Mariposa medal came in third, benefitting the Green Spaces Alliance, and the medal issued by Mayor Ivy Taylor, who is largely responsible for San Antonio’s newfound butterfly fixation, came in fourth.
The recent butterfly fascination can be attributed to raised awareness of pollinator decline, Monarch butterflies in particular. The iconic insects’ unique, captivating Pan American migration faces increasing obstacles as climate change, habitat destruction, abuse of pesticides and genetically modified crops challenge its future.
The bee collapse has also raised awareness of our insect friends’ huge contribution to making one of every three bites of food we eat possible. President Obama’s National Pollinator Strategy, issued in May 2015, has galvanized grass-roots advocacy in the last year, focusing grant monies and other funding to address threats to pollinators.
At the local level, our butterfly-friendly Mayor, who signed the National Wildlife Federation’s (NWF) Mayor’s Monarch Pledge in December, deserves much credit for making San Antonio the first and to date, ONLY Monarch Champion city in the country by agreeing to execute all 24 NWF’s recommended action items to increase pollinator habitat. Ever since, our city has gone a little butterfly crazy. Every department of the City has been tasked with doing something about pollinator decline–thus the crop of butterfly medals. That’s good news in our book.
Despite coming in last place, Mayor Taylor was gracious, congratulating SAWS for winning and the other butterfly medal issuers for promoting Monarch and pollinator awareness.
“Since signing the Mayor’s Monarch Pledge in December, it’s been such a pleasure watching the awareness and love of Monarchs spread,” said Mayor Taylor. “San Antonio is definitely doing its part to protect our state insect.”
Worth noting: butterfly Fiesta medals are not just for government entities. We learned from contest voters that at least two other butterfly medals were issued this year.
Leon Valley issued one with two colorful butterflies dancing above a Fiesta wreath and their tagline “deep roots, big ideas.” The Children’s Bereavement Center also issued a butterfly medal.
At least 1.5 million Monarch butterflies were hit with a deadly freeze this weekend as an unusual ice and wind storm moved through the mountains of Michoacán where the butterflies roost for the winter. The storm hit just as the spring migration was beginning. Luckily, many butterflies exited the mountains before the freeze arrived.
Exactly how many butterflies perished in the freeze remains uncertain. An Associated Press report sounded upbeat, with Mexican authorities stating that “Monarch butterflies that winter in the mountains west of Mexico City survived the severe cold snap that hit the area this week.”
But the Mexican news agency El Universal on Saturday quoted Homero Gómez González, president of the administrative council that oversees the El Rosario butterfly sanctuary, as saying that 1.5 Monarch butterflies froze to death–about 3% of the estimated 50 million roosting.
According to Gomez Gonazaléz, the recent freeze registered temperatures of -12 degrees Celsius (about 10 Fahrenheit). Other reports had winds raging up to 50 miles per hour, leaving 13 inches of snow on the ground in some areas and taking out dozens of trees. Those living in the area were without electricity for days and hundreds of lamb and sheep were lost.
“Historic snowfall at the El Rosario sanctuary,” read the headline of the el Rosario Facebook page on Thursday, March 10. “The Monarch butterfly suffers wind, snow, rain and sleet.” The post was accompanied by photos showing several inches of snow on the ground.
The news whipsawed those who follow Monarch butterfly news. Monarch fans had been celebrating the much-anticipated announcement in February that the population of the migrating orange-and-black insects had tripled since last year. Reports of the devastating freeze underscored the brutal reminder that Mother Nature is in charge.
Dr. Chip Taylor, founder of citizen science group Monarch Watch, which tags the butterflies during their fall migration, weighed in from Kansas.
“Information is still sketchy about the degree of butterfly mortality,” Dr. Taylor told the DPLEX list, an email listserv of about 800 butterfly aficionados.
“Most claims, observations and images suggest that mortality is low to moderate,” said Dr. Taylor. “There is no evidence to date to indicate levels of catastrophic mortality (70-80%) that followed the winter storms of 2002 and 2004.” he said, adding that it will take at least a week to get more accurate information on the number of butterflies lost.
Taylor also reminded readers that “a significant portion of the population had already left” the roosting sites prior to the storm.
Dr. Lincoln Brower, who has studied Monarchs his entire life and is one of a group who submitted a petition to have the butterflies listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act, seemed less optimistic.
“The current statements that the Monarchs have survived the storm are premature,” wrote Dr. Brower via email in response to the Associated Press story. “I fear that optimistic assumptions are driving the news reports.”
Like Dr. Taylor, Brower cautioned that time will tell the accurate mortality counts.
“Based on our study of the 2002 storm, the butterflies that are killed or irreversibly damaged keep falling out of their clusters for days after the freezing event. Mortality counts need to be made at least a week after the storm.”
Area butterfly buffs will have a unique opportunity to see exotic butterflies up close and personal while learning about the Monarch butterfly migration at the San Antonio Zoo’s
first Monarch Fest March 4 – 6. The inaugural event celebrates San Antonio’s recent national status as the first and only Monarch Champion City, so designated by the National Wildlife Federation’s Mayor’s Monarch Pledge program.
Laurie Brown, Zoo volunteer services manager, along with Zoo staff and volunteers, have been preparing for the event for months. On the agenda for the 72-hour celebration: a native plant sale and seed giveaway, kid-friendly crafts and educational activities, and booths/displays by more than a dozen local pollinator advocacy organizations. The event is free with zoo admission.
But for an extra $1.50, visitors can also stroll through the Zoo’s butterfly house, an experience well worth the cost. Proceeds go 100% to conservation and education efforts, says Brown.
Inside the flight house, hundreds of exotic flyers like the Malabar Tree nymph, Idea malabarica, also known as the Paper Kite, will be on display in a natural, garden like setting. The wings of this gorgeous black-and-white butterfly, native to India and Southeast Asia, resemble rice paper with a Monarch-like painted glass pattern.
Interestingly, the Paper Kite’s host plant, Apocynaceae, belongs to the same plant family as the Monarch butterfly’s host plant–Asclepias (milkweeds). Both are members of the dogbane family. Is it a coincidence that the lovely wing pattern on these two butterflies from opposite sides of the world are similar?
Not really, says Brown. The Paper Kite and Monarch are distant relatives.
Also scheduled for appearances in the flight house: the Common banded Peacock, Papilio crino, sometimes called a Buddhist Heart, sports fluorescent wings can suggest blue or green, depending on the angle from which it is viewed.
Brown promises a couple dozen other exotics, a mix of local butterflies and a handful of amazing Atlas Moths, Atacus atlas, one of the most dramatic looking Lepidoptera. If you’ve never seen one of these impressive moths up close, you’re in for a treat.
These Saturnid moths rank as one of the 10 largest insects in the world and hail from Southeast Asia. Their wingspans can reach 12 inches and in Taiwan, empty Atlas moth cocoons, spun from sturdy Fagara silk, are used as purses.
“Some vacated cocoons don’t need to be deconstructed—they can be used ‘as found’ as small pocket-change purses by simply installing a zipper,” according to the educational magazine Mental Floss.
Hmm. New handbag trend?
Advance tickets are available online or you can buy them upon arrival. Hope to see you there!

domain: biology


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Our special guests this week on Island Block Party are all reppin that 808 state, island reggae artists Bo Napoleon, Likkle Jordee and Johnny Suite. Catch up with the boys while they were preparing to rock the stage at Aipono Cafe Huntington Beach off the shores of beautiful Bolsa Chica Beach in Orange County, California. Tap in with Chef Aipono who is the man behind the Aipono Cafe & brand, while he stops by to visit PM Tenore, founder of RVCA Clothing. Hosted by the Vibestro himself, DJ AD.
What can you expect weekly on the #IslandBlockParty Tuesdays at 7P worlwide? You will be able to see exclusive interviews, live performances & music videos from your favorite ISLAND, pop, hip hop, reggae and R&B artists alongside spotlight features of community icons, entrepreneurs & Pacific Islander owned businesses.
Watch the full episode with trimmed music videos by J. Boog, FIA, the featured artists & more here:


text:
A dark store, also known as dark shop, dark supermarket, or dotcom center, refers to a retail warehouse or distribution center that is solely built for online shopping.
A dark store is generally a large warehouse that can either be used to facilitate a “click-and-collect” service where a customer picks up an item they have ordered online, or as a complement to online sales. Companies can, for example, use their retail warehouse, or dark store, primarily as storage for their online business but also as a physical store where customers can physically go to shop. Think of a hybrid warehouse that can be used as both storage for an online store and as a place for customers to shop in person. One company that utilizes this warehouse management approach is IKEA.
The use of the term “dark store” began in the United Kingdom and has since spread to parts of Europe, Russia, and the United States.

domain: economics