Thoughts

This video is an epiphany. It explains how people’s conceptions of time affect their lives and societies — and vice-versa. My jaw kept dropping as I watched it. If you’re a sentient human being, you will think it’s the best 10 minutes you’ve spent in a long time.

RSA Animate – The Secret Powers of Time

The Secret Powers of Time by Philip Zimbardo

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Video Log

The plaster bagworm

We found this tiny little striped bug in South Florida, USA. It had a silken brown cocoon which it dragged behind it. It was a tiny little larva with minuscule legs, and its cocoon had two entrances. It would hide inside, then emerge out of either end to begin moving along.

I’ve never seen a bug like it, and would love to know what it is. Updated 6/4/10: it’s a plaster bagworm, and that wasn’t its cocoon, but its home — and it’s a pest. Thanks Andrew!

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Video Log

The larva of the asian ladybug

We found this strange-looking bug in our garden in Southern Transilvania, Romania. It’s about 1 cm in length, with small hairs that grow out of bumps on its back. It’s got six legs, and it moves fairly fast.

I found out, thanks to beansmail, that it’s the larva of the asian ladybug, also known as Harmonia axyridis.

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Thoughts

Trixie comforts Mitzi

As I promised in my post about the birth of our six new kittens, here is a video that shows how close our two cats, Mitzi and Trixie, really are. They are sisters, from the same mother, and they’ve been together since birth, but even we were surprised by how caring Trixie could be toward Mitzi the night we recorded this video.

You see, both of them were near the end of their pregnancies, and Mitzi was feeling a little sick. She was scared, and came to us to be comforted. We began to pet her, and Trixie came as well, and began to comfort her in ways we didn’t even know cats were capable of. We just sat there, moved by the display of love between them. Honestly, sometimes I think cats are capable of more empathy than most people.

I remember one time our tomcat, Felix, was feeling a little under the weather. I was sitting at my desk and he asked to come into my office. I opened the door, and he plopped himself down on the floor, letting out the sort of meow that gave me to understand he was a bit ill. His demeanor also told me the same thing. Just for fun, I thought I’d imitate his meow. He immediately jumped to his feet and came bounding toward me, chirping, with a look of concern on his face. He began to rub his nose on my leg, looking toward my face and trying to cheer me up. My jaw dropped. I had faked it, but he honestly thought I was sick and needed to be comforted. Never mind he was ill, his first concern was for me.

Some people say cats are egotistical creatures… What fools!

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Events

Keynote video from State of the Word 2010

If you haven’t yet seen the “State of the Word” keynote from WordCamp San Francisco, held on May 12, then it’s worth a watch. Matt Mullenweg, WP’s founder, talks about WP’s history, the challenges of a growing platform, and highlights the neat features of WordPress 3.0, which will soon be released.

I’ve been a big fan of WordPress, and have been using it since late 2005 (publicly since 2006). After more than three years of self-hosting a WP.org install, I moved to WP.com, so I could focus on writing and leave the hosting to the folks that made the platform.

Can’t wait to see (and use) the new features of WP 3.0!

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