RE: https://sportsbots.xyz/users/AlbertBreer/statuses/2030992175228453162

There are plenty in the running, but this is definitely in consideration for the worst contract signed in recent memory.

Greek Amphi-theatre, Berkeley, California, c.1910 - Edward H Mitchell Postcard

https://www.ebid.net/uk/for-sale/greek-amphi-theatre-berkeley-california-c-1910-edward-h-mitchell-postcard-243028762.htm

#Berkeley #UniversityOfCaliforniaBerkeley #UniversityOfCalifornia

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.

- Eisenhower

Here's a tale of how nature triumphs in the end.

Steel mills dumped molten slag in parts of Chicago and nearby areas. The slag hardened in layers up to 5 meters deep. These places became barren wastelands. Other industries dumped hot ash and cinders there.

But eventually the steel mills closed.

The deep layers of hard, toxic material were not friendly to plants. Cottonwoods are usually 30 meters tall or more. In the slag fields, stunted cottonwoods grow to just 2 meters.

But rare species that could handle these conditions began to thrive. The lakeside daisy, a federally threatened species lost to Illinois for decades, turned out to grow taller on slag than on topsoil! The capitate spike-rush, last recorded in Illinois in 1894 and considered locally extinct, was rediscovered growing on slag.

And more! Native prairie grasses like little bluestem. Native milkweeds. Even tiny white orchids called sphinx ladies' tresses.

A team of women ecologists began studying these unusual landscapes. They call themselves the Slag Queens.

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Some good news in a time of darkness: the European wildcat, Felis sylvestris, is making a comeback! This thoughtful-looking example was photographed in a mountainous region of the Czech republic.

The European wildcat's extreme elusiveness may have helped it avoid hunters in places where a larger native cat, the lynx, has been killed off. There may be about 140,000 European wildcats spread across more than two dozen countries. But they are very hard to find!

Wildlife photographer Andrea Giovanni, who made a video of one, writes:

"I'd never even thought of taking photos of wildcats, for a simple reason: I thought it was impossible, or at least, extremely difficult. It's considered 'the ghost of the forests' because it's very, very elusive, and it's hard to predict where it can be spotted. Other animals tend to follow the same trails through the forest. The wildcat goes wherever she wants to."

One reason the European wildcat is coming back is increased legal protections. But another is that villages in Italy and other regions are becoming depopulated! Some are very worried about declining human populations. But it does make room for other species. That gives me some hope for the future.

I got this picture, taken by Vladimír Čech Jr in the Doupov mountains, from a very nice article on the European wildcat:

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260112-rare-images-of-europes-ghost-cat

For more on this species:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_wildcat

Seven subspecies have been demarcated!

#cats #catsOfFedi #catsOfMastodon

Trump’s new plan is to increase the cost of consumer goods for Americans in hopes that it will somehow convince Denmark to give us Greenland, a country that has no economic or strategic value for our country.

https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-to-hit-european-nations-with-tariffs-until-deal-reached-to-buy-greenland-d92d2b6f?st=kALtpm&reflink=article_copyURL_share