Oh ōʻō...

---

"The ōʻō was one of 21 species that the US Fish and Wildlife Service removed from the endangered species list in 2023 because they had vanished from the wild."

"Grief is a rational response’: the 21 US species declared extinct this year"...[Guardian] indeed, but let's not get carried away [obviously the Guardian gets VERY carried away: "Global heating has also fueled extreme weather, exacerbated drought and wildfire risk, further imperilling the islands' forest birds".] by the various reasons for this and blame it on something that isn't the case. 

Yes, nobody should be happy at this sad news but many have 'been extinct' for several decades, it's not as if it just suddenly happened this year: it has been DECLARED this year. Still not good. 

Also extinction is totally natural in the cycle of things: still not good but it has always and will always happen. 

Avian malaria is one reason given - linked to climate change, natch - but more people doesn't help and more people means more land taken out of natural habitat, more invasive species that are the usual followers of human 'civilisation': pesticides etc; dogs, cats (*how* many birds killed?), rats...and more recently - although obviously not in rural Hawaii - tower blocks [a BILLION yearly bird deaths in the USA alone] and wind turbines (low on quantity yes, but high on 'quality', oops).

Octonary oblivion...

---

Happy Thanksgiving to my US family and friends and of course all of our transatlantic cousins as well. Tommorrow is Black Friday and no doubt billions will be spent in the shops. One man who won't be celebrating Thanksgiving - probably because he's Welsh and in Wales and is more worried about looking like a turkey rather than eating one tonight - is James Howells from Newport who is desperately digging through rubbish to find his old computer hard drive which he threw away earlier this year. The reason? It contains 7,500 bitcoins now (Thursday 6:50pm GMT) worth over 8 million US dollars. Not quite in the Top 100 but he'd better get a move on: yesterday Zerohedge posted some scary charts that could point to a not unfamiliar fall. And, in agreement with ZH, as one comment HERE says, most Bitcoin owners are just speculating ON the currency and not actually using it as a currency. That spells "bubble".




Update: bursting...

Octonary oblivion...

---

Happy Thanksgiving to my US family and friends and of course all of our transatlantic cousins as well. Tommorrow is Black Friday and no doubt billions will be spent in the shops. One man who won't be celebrating Thanksgiving - probably because he's Welsh and in Wales and is more worried about looking like a turkey rather than eating one tonight - is James Howells from Newport who is desperately digging through rubbish to find his old computer hard drive which he threw away earlier this year. The reason? It contains 7,500 bitcoins now (Thursday 6:50pm GMT) worth over 8 million US dollars. Not quite in the Top 100 but he'd better get a move on: yesterday Zerohedge posted some scary charts that could point to a not unfamiliar fall. And, in agreement with ZH, as one comment HERE says, most Bitcoin owners are just speculating ON the currency and not actually using it as a currency. That spells "bubble".

Update: bursting...