Oh ōʻō...

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"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).

Obfuscation, oblivescence, obnubilation, obscurantism...

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Call it what you will. But Remember Remember the 5th of November...no Ows input, just a bunch of great quotes from V for Vendetta: 

"Since mankind's dawn, a handful of oppressors have accepted the responsibility over our lives that we should have accepted for ourselves. By doing so, they took our power. By doing nothing, we gave it away. We've seen where their way leads, through camps and wars, towards the slaughterhouse." 

"Where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission." 

"How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War, terror, disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense." 

"Knowledge, like air, is vital to life. Like air, no one should be denied it." 

"Equality and freedom are not luxuries to lightly cast aside. Without them, order cannot long endure before approaching depths beyond imagining." 

"No. This is only the land of take-what-you-want. Anarchy means 'without leaders', not 'without order'. With anarchy comes an age or ordnung, of true order, which is to say voluntary order... this age of ordung will begin when the mad and incoherent cycle of verwirrung that these bulletins reveal has run its course... This is not anarchy, Eve. This is chaos."

Update: early hours (before 2 a.m. on 6th November in UK...but I'm not there, still 5th November here. not telling you where, but been in 4 LatAm countries in the past 3 weeks: age-old readers of Owsblog, [all 3 or 4 or you hahaha] will know that hasn't changed for 20 odd years). Anyhoo, by complete coincidence A MIDWESTERN DOCTOR, who writes the Substack 'The Forgotten Side of Medicine' posted today that [he] Would Like To Take This Day To Honor A Masterpiece, yes, the aforementioned megamovie V for Vendetta: "How my favorite movie foreshadowed the beginning and end of COVID-19" [sic: yank spelling not typos]. 

And this should be the first quote; just fill in the blank re 'this country'...

And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there?

Orinoco oil output III...

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By way of celebration of the easing of sanctions on Venezuela last week (albeit temporarily for the present) here's an interesting blog from Latinometrics Substack today: Venezuela's Oil Potential and its History [LINK]. Some facts from the article: "Venezuela owns 18% of all of the world's oil"..."By 1950, Venezuela was the world’s 4th-wealthiest nation per capita." Unbelievable, right?

...and the image below shows how they are keeping most of their oil in the ground, not what they'd like to do!

And here's where I repeat a post from 5 years ago:

Hazard a guess at these two countries: 

The first country "is one of the region’s oldest and strongest democracies.
"It boasts a stronger social safety net than any of its neighbours and is making progress on its promise to deliver free health care and higher education to all its citizens. It is a model of social mobility and a magnet for immigrants from across Latin America and Europe.
"The press is free, and the political system is open; opposing parties compete fiercely in elections and regularly alternate power peacefully. It sidestepped the wave of military juntas that mired some Latin American countries in dictatorship. Thanks to a long political alliance and deep trade and investment ties with the United States, it serves as the Latin American headquarters for a slew of multinational corporations. It has the best infrastructure in South America. It is still unmistakably a developing country, with its share of corruption, injustice, and dysfunction, but it is well ahead of other poor countries by almost any measure... 

"The second country is one of Latin America’s most impoverished nations and its newest dictatorship. Its schools lie half deserted. The health system has been devastated by decades of underinvestment, corruption, and neglect; long-vanquished diseases, such as malaria and measles, have returned. Only a tiny elite can afford enough to eat. An epidemic of violence has made it one of the most murderous countries in the world. [sic]
"It is the source of Latin America’s largest refugee migration in a generation, with millions of citizens fleeing in the last few years alone. Hardly anyone (aside from other autocratic governments) recognizes its sham elections, and the small portion of the media not under direct state control still follows the official line for fear of reprisals. By the end of 2018, its economy will have shrunk by about half in the last five years. It is a major cocaine-trafficking hub, and key power brokers in its political elite have been indicted in the United States on drug charges. Prices double every 25 days. The main airport is largely deserted, used by just a handful of holdout airlines bringing few passengers to and from the outside world." 

The two countries? Answer: these two countries are in fact the same country: Venezuela. Forty years is a long time

(Highlight with cursor to see answer). 

Read the rest of the article HERE. 'Venezuela’s Suicide. Lessons From a Failed State.' By Moisés Naím and Francisco Toro at Foreign Affairs Magazine.

Orinoco Belt info, world's largest reserves isn't a joke. 

Opiate outrage...

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Well, the image below tells it's own story, and it's a horror story. In only two decades look how the leading cause of death has changed in the USA (by age and state). At the beginning of the century only the cesspool of a Federal capitol had anything other than the 'innocent' traffic accident deaths for ages UP TO 17; now suicide, homicide ad cancer (WTF!...surely not you know what?) is gaining ground. That is horrific. Then look at 18-44 year olds, oh my God! Suicide and substance abuse/addiction (presumably leading to many of the suicides!) 

Major massive epidemic that seems far worse than anyone imagines. And guess what? this week Suella Braverman (UK Home Secretary) admitted it was 'inevitable' the same would come to Britain. If you actually get to live more than 45 years then cause of death becomes more 'settled' and predictable.  

Hat-tip: Naked Emperor's Must reads today.

Obmutescent, obedible, omphaloskeptic ovines...

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Silent, docile navel-gazing sheep (OK, not sure sheep can do that easily!). We are become...nothing. 

All very depressing. The Naked Emperor's latest "A Picture is worth a Thousand Words": Or a survey result...yes, polls are notoriously more shite then ever but this definitely rings true, and in such a short time (2016-22):

Look at the wording, "definitely should...". We are lost. 

'To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life.' Robert Louis Stevenson

Ongoing ocean observations II...

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Source: Ocean Clean-up Paper: Science (Advances) Hat-tip: bad cat 

"and this is why i find the issues raised by so many of the self-described “greens” today who have been so subsumed and outright eaten by the “anthropogenic global warming” story so problematic:

 because they have become the enemies of actual environmentalism and ecology by setting their goals and demands in opposition to that which actually supports the environment. 

and this has become absurd and malformed to the point of being truly dangerous and counterproductive."

Ocean observation of opaque octopus...

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...or more accurately glass octopus. Ah nostalgia! Saw this Massimo* tweet and immediately thought of Paul (nearly 13 years ago!).

Massimo links to the Schmidt Ocean Institute with the story, photos and videos: 

"scientists made two rare sightings of a glass octopus, a nearly transparent species whose only visible features are its optic nerve, eyeballs and digestive tract. Before this expedition, there has been limited live footage of the glass octopus, forcing scientists to learn about the animal by studying specimens found in the gut contents of predators." 

* proof that Twitter isn't only a raging troll infested bear-pit free-for-all.

Older opium outlook...

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Image from RFI (France)

Interesting insights into the Afghanistan government's (AKA The Taliban) successful ban on opium production. William Byrd [Link to article] writing at The United States Institute of Peace [About] says "The ban is not a counter-narcotics victory and will have negative economic and humanitarian consequences, potentially leading to a refugee crisis." 

This isn't the first time; the previous successful ban was in 2000/01 (and we all know what happened just afterwards and Helmand is 'by far Afghanistan's largest opium-producing province'...complete coincidence though). 

Banning opium production sounds like it is a noble cause right, especially as "Unlike the Taliban's previous opium ban, the current ban encompasses trade and processing of opiates, not just poppy cultivation." BUT the cultivated and harvest bumper crop from last year is not only exempted from destruction but also the trade of it can carry on. That said it does mean they are aware that bankrupting much of the rural population isn't a good thing either, so again, they've learnt from last time! 

Also, the noble cause is further tainted by the possibility that it is an economic ruse to restrict supply to allow the market price to rise and they can cash in on their large stock (super simplified and not wholly accurate, as discussed in links below). 

The article sheds more light on the whole situation and is definitely worth a read, with many references and info from David Mansfield reports at Alcis, ("Truly Unprecedented") and the Chapter 'Repositioning a Pariah Regime' from Mansfield's book A State Built on Sand is excellent [PDF] 

The war/s, COVID crises and intermittently closed borders cause -and have caused- much hardship over the years (you don't say) and 'although numerous eradication programmes have been underway for several years' (from picture link), Afghanistan has continued to be the world's main producer of opium (over 80% of total), so any ban is very likely to be temporary...ahem.