If you go down to the woods today
You’re sure of a big surprise.

I haven’t thought enough about cashews before now. Now, I’m really thinking about cashews.

Here’s my only serious religious/spiritual belief (although it’s actually a bit science-ish).

What we call love in all its forms, romantic, spiritual, or familial, is the leading edge of evolution — perhaps in the entire universe, perhaps only in this moment and place. It’s Life with a capital “L” moving counter to the drag of entropy. And thus the only real sin is to lessen, diminish, or impede love.

For various research reasons, I’ve been looking up obscure popes today. Here’s one you may not have known:

“Lando (913-14), a native of the Sabina, and the son of Taino, elected pope seemingly in July or August, 913; d. in February or March, 914, after a reign of a little over six months. Nothing more is known of him except that he was a worthy man, and granted a privilege to a church in his native Sabina.”

NOTE: Also, in a controversial bargain that is still much discussed, Pope Lando sold out his friend Han Solo to the Empire.

Oooooooh, baby!

SAY CHEESE: Japan’s Most Famous ‘Schoolgirl’ Is A Man
www.huffingtonpost.com
From the neck up, Hideaki Kobayashi is a middle-aged, bald man with a bushy mustache. From the neck down, this Japanese man could pass for a Japanese schoolgirl as he parades all over Tokyo dressed in “Seifuku,” the name for the sailor…

Gotta love this. This moth is a PHEROMONE GOD!

Meet Creatonotos gangis, the weirdest moth you’ve ever seen. This is a male, and the strange structures you can see are called corematas. They’re used to spread large amounts of pheromones which attract females. The size of these scent organs are dependent on the diet that the moth experienced as a caterpillar. Photograph by Juan Manuel

Can someone please explain the “friend request from Africa” thing? Don’t get me wrong, I do have Facebook friends in Africa, but I’ve been getting a wodge of requests lately from African people, male and female, who have almost no activity on their walls. I’m guessing it’s a scam, but why and to what purpose? Or am I being really unfair to potential African FB friends who are just a little inept with social media?

They have even discovered the world’s first drive-through restaurant. It’s so historically early, though, that the menu just lists “food” as the single option, although there is a kid’s meal, which is half a food and a toy rock.

During ongoing excavations in northern Sudan, Polish archaeologists have discovered the remains of a settlement estimated to 70,000 years old:
http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/07/2014/70000-year-old-african-settlement-unearthed

Just in case there was any part of your childhood that had not yet been ground to a bloody pulp beneath the boot heel of Time:

4 Ways Archie Comics Have Gone F***ing Crazy
www.cracked.com
Archie comics are as inoffensive and uncontroversial as possible — well, most of the time.

“It’s the greatest garbage truck of all time.” There you go. Only the important news from me. No filler.

1st Pterosaur: I’m already certain that the fact of this catastrophe will support all my previously held prejudices, so I need no further information.

2nd Pterosaur: Oh, crap.

My friend Corry passed this along with the note, “This is why The Onion is still America’s most trusted news source”.

Report: Majority Of UFO Abductions Committed By Alien That Person Knows
www.theonion.com
WASHINGTON—Challenging commonly held misperceptions, the U.S. Department of Justice published a report this week…

I know several people like this. I know several others who aren’t ready to admit it yet.

I was poor, but a GOP die-hard: How I finally left the politics of shame
www.salon.com
I hated government — even as it was the only thing trying to save me. Here’s how, one day, I finally saw the light

Johnny Winter has died. Here he is with two other awesome bluesmen.

From B.B. King: The Life of Riley:
“Maybe the most memorable moment comes from Johnny Winter, who went to see King in a little bar where whites seldom went—unless they were cops. Describing Winter as “extra white,” King was suspicious that he might have been an IRS agent (this at a time when he was being audited). Winter recalls that King demanded to see his musician’s union card before letting him on stage.” (David Luhrssen of EXPRESS MILWAUKEE http://bit.ly/1nEiIp0 )

RIP Johnny Winter
#JohnnyWinter
Photo courtesy of Bob Gruen (c) 1979
B.B. King, Johnny Winter & Muddy Waters, NYC, 1979

I’m in a benign mood. Enjoy it while you can.

I’ve just been reading Rajan Khanna’s book, FALLING SKY. I really enjoyed it. As I said in my reply after finishing, it’s got zombies, airships, and sarcasm, three of the best things there are. (If it wanted to have all four of the best things there are, ice cream would have had to be included, but I don’t remember much ice cream in the post-apocalyptic world of floating cities and fierce Ferals.)