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Gigantic Animals

~ beetleypete ~ 48 Comments

Thanks to the website ‘Daily Stuff’, for these quirky photos of exceptionally large animals.

A huge bull.

An enormous horse.

A very large cat.

Giant Red kangaroo, strong enough to crush a metal bucket.

Huntsman Spider, the largest by leg span.

A huge Vulture.

Flying Fox, the largest type of Bat. (Five feet long)

The biggest butterfly, The Atlas Moth Butterfly.

A very big Flemish Rabbit.

The world’s biggest ant, found in the Amazon Rainforest.

A Goliath Beetle, the largest beetle known.

Huge frog!

A Story You Won’t Hear in Florida – #4

~ beetleypete ~ 24 Comments

This tragic story of the reality of the American abortion ban in some states is one that everyone needs to read. Even if you are not American, similar laws could well be coming to your country. Have some tissues ready, it is heartbreaking.

toritto

Well it was a bad week for abortion rights advocates as Republican majorities in Nebraska and North Carolina continued to restrict abortion access.  Have you noticed that nowhere is this issue put up for a vote anymore.  Nah.  Put t to a vote and it gets defeated every time. The pro-life crowd is jubilant, out there saving babies.

So let me tell you a story.  Not too many folks have heard it.  Didn’t get a whole lot of attention.  Particularly here in Florida among the holier than thou crowd.

But it made the Washington Post and then got attention.  And it went down some 40 minutes from my home.

“Nobody expected Baby Milo to live for long.
He arrived in the world with no kidneys, underdeveloped lungs and a life expectancy of between 20 minutes and a couple of hours.”
He lived for 99 minutes.

Milo Evan Dorbert drew his…

View original post 1,022 more words

More Interesting Comparison Maps

~ beetleypete ~ 51 Comments

I always enjoy finding these, and have posted many previously. Here are some new ones.

California compared to the whole of Italy.

Forest distribution in the USA.

In 1279, the Mongolian Empire was the biggest empire by immediate landmass that the world had ever seen, and it retains this title to this day.

Light pollution recorded in the United States.

Texas compared to Africa.

The United States has a population size of just over 334 million. You would think that Americans would be evenly dispersed throughout the States, but this is not the case. This is the population dispersal.

The Second Amendment: 2023 Version.

~ beetleypete ~ 79 Comments

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear rocket launchers, shall not be infringed.”

They must have obviously foreseen rocket launchers in 1791. What other possible explantion could there be?
(I hope he was satisfied with his sandwich, or there could be trouble. Still want to visit America as a tourist? I don’t)

Fine dining in Ancient Greece

~ beetleypete ~ 7 Comments

Forget burgers, fries, and pizza. The ancient Greeks knew how to eat healthily.

Letters from Athens

We have all heard of the benefits of a Mediterranean diet—but it amused me to find out how far back this goes. What did people in antiquity eat?

The Ancient Greeks were not big eaters like the Romans. In fact they mocked the Persians, who were very much into gastronomy, and considered them gluttons. They believed eating was for the delectation of the palate, not for overfilling the stomach.

They ate a great variety of foods, but in small quantities. Most frugal were the Spartans, who on a daily basis subsided on a cup of MelasZomos (black broth, made with pork, salt, vinegar and blood) and a piece of bread, and for special occasions ate boiled pork, accompanied by pies and wine.

For the rest breakfast, Akratisma, was very light, consisting of barley bread dipped in wine, with a few olives and figs—often accompanied by a drink called

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A Short, Important Story

~ beetleypete ~ 22 Comments

Wise words from a long-dead Native American that still ring true today.

Filosofa's Word

I found this very short true story on the Jon S. Randal Peace Page.  It is a story that is well worth the retelling, for it is a story of immense importance and wisdom, one that should be remembered for all time, for in many ways, no matter how the world changes, some things never change.

He just wanted to dance one last time, he was old, and he wanted to celebrate the heritage that was being taken away from him. To many Native American tribes, the dance, known as the Ghost Dance, would allow Native people to return to the lands taken away from them and bring peace, prosperity, and unity to Indian peoples throughout the region.

But, the white man feared him, they feared his dance, they feared what they could not understand. So, on December 15, 1890, they came to arrest the 59-year-old chief, Sitting Bull …

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Chopsticks

~ beetleypete ~ 68 Comments

I admit this a personal rant, before anyone complains.

For more than the last 25 years, I have watched characters in British films and TV shows happily eating with chopsticks. They seem accomplished in what I consider to be an ‘Ancient Chinese Art’.

Now I have eaten in many Chinese restaurants since my late teens, including many of the best Chinese restaurants in London. This one, for example.

Home

But not once have I managed to master the art of eating any food with chopsticks. I am English, brought up to use a knife, fork, and spoon. Chopsticks have been a mystery to me for over 50 years, serving only to drop food onto my napkin, or worse, into my lap.

I love Chinese food, and I was able to eat it during my adult life by asking for a spoon and fork. (Occasionally a knife too, depending on the dish ordered.)

It now seems that I am uneducated in the ‘correct way’, to eat Asian food. What did I miss? Is it because I was never an actor?

Let me know if you think it is okay for English people to be expected to know how to use chopsticks.

Or is it just me? I hope not.

Picturesque English Villages

~ beetleypete ~ 64 Comments

The idea of the perfect English village has been promoted in books, films, and television series. Tourists from all over the world come to this country in search of them, and many still exist. Ironically, that fame has changed them in character, if not in architecture. Some can be crammed with tourists during the season, and property prices for the charming cottages in them have exploded.

Wealthy second-home owners snap up most houses that come onto the market, and local people find themselves unable to afford to live where they were brought up. Many of the villages are in the large area known as The Cotswolds, designated as an ‘Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty’. Because so many houses were built using the light-coloured Cotswold Stone, some of the villages are very similar in appearance.

These are considered to be the ‘Ten Best’.
(The photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.)

Bilbury, Gloucestershire.

Abbotsbury, close to the coast in Devon.

Bourton-On-The-Water, Gloucestershire.

Clovelly, Devon.

Polperro, Cornwall.

Naunton, Gloucestershire.

Painswick, Gloucestershire.

Port Isaac, Cornwall.

Castle Combe, Wiltshire.

Lower Slaughter, Gloucestershire.

Exclusivity At A Price

~ beetleypete ~ 62 Comments

Kensington Palace Gardens in London has the most expensive property prices in Britain. Many of the grand residences there house foreign embassies and diplomats, as well as private homes of the super rich, most of them foreign nationals. At each end of the street are private security guards and armed police checking vehicle access, and most of the diplomatic residences also have armed police officers guarding them.

It is in an ideal spot in London, next to the royal residence of Kensington Palace, and Kensington Gardens, a public park. Also close to Hyde Park and Buckingham Palace, and the shops of Kensington and Knightsbridge. But even a millionaire cannot afford to live there, as the average price for a house is £20,000,000. Some of the larger houses are worth over £145,000,000. No less than ten grand properties on the street are owned by the Saudi royal family.

At a time when many Britons are using food banks, struggling to pay gas and electricity bills, and millions here are barely getting by on the basic minimum wage, I personally find this obscene.

This graphic from a newspaper (The Daily Mail) shows the street and some of the houses that line it.