You say it's your Earth Day.
It's my Earth Day too, yeah!
They say it's your Earth Day.
We're gonna have a green time!
I'm glad it's your Earth Day.
Well, "Happy Earth Day" to ya!

Lost Frogs and Hot Snakes: Herpetologists' Tales from the Field

–by herpetologist Martha Crump

https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501774485/lost-frogs-and-hot-snakes/

"Chachra, an engineering prof and materials scientist, offers a mind-altering reframing of the question of energy: we have a *material* problem, not an *energy* problem."

Read more in Cory Doctorow's Pluralistic: Electrons, not molecules (March 6, 2024). https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/06/exxonknew/#

This week on the Friday #80s Flashback, it's R.E.M.'s sophomore album, RECKONING. Featuring "So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)" and "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville," RECKONING has hit the big four-oh! What are your favorite tracks or memories from this album?
https://bookendedbycats.blogspot.com/2024/04/friday-80s-flashback-for-april-19-2024.html

// Removing PFAS will cost billions per year //

"PFAS – perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances – are now either suspected or known to contribute to thyroid disease, elevated cholesterol, liver damage and cancer, among other health issues...They can be found in the blood of most Americans and in many drinking water systems."

https://theconversation.com/removing-pfas-from-public-water-will-cost-billions-and-take-time-here-are-ways-to-filter-out-some-harmful-forever-chemicals-at-home-227670

April 17 is Bat Appreciation Day! Bats Are Cool!

Bats 101:
https://www.batcon.org/about-bats/bats-101/

Bat Appreciation Day on National Day Calendar:
https://nationaldaycalendar.com/international-bat-appreciation-day-april-17/

Help bats!
https://www.batcon.org/

Nat Geo Kids: Things You Wanna Know – Bats
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBCODnTUOrY&ab_channel=NatGeoKids

Image description: Frans de Waal's photo of a bat mom.

“Undaunted by opponents, Riley has sought to help them...[and] he decided to create a food pantry...If we’re a church, aren’t we supposed to feed the hungry?”

I met Terry Riley during the 2023 Parliament of the World's Religions. I'm not surprised he eventually forged acceptance for the Church of Wicca in the Bible Belt.

https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2024/04/15/here-come-the-witches-how-congregants-in-the-southern-delta-church-of-wicca-found-acceptance

"If I've learned anything, it's this: There's no problem that a photon torpedo can't solve."
-Abraham Lincoln 1861

This week on the Friday #80s Flashback, we're celebrating 40 years of GRACE UNDER PRESSURE, the 10th studio album from Canadian power trio, Rush! Come for a "Distant Early Warning," and stay for a song about an android (not the phone) on the run.
https://bookendedbycats.blogspot.com/2024/04/friday-80s-flashback-for-april-12-2024.html

Interreligious Prayer for the Earth
https://vimeo.com/930763307

From the video description: "In this video, CEIE invites you to receive the wisdom of diverse traditions, for nurturing a sense of reciprocity and mutuality with the more than human world, together with Seattle University and community partners..."

Allegedly, FB does not want people to read an article titled "When Facebook fails, local media matters even more for our planet’s future" because it is critical of the platform's climate change ad policy.
https://www.thehandbasket.co/p/kansas-reflector-meta-facebook-column-censored

"Spectacular nature and science images from Sony’s world photo awards." WaPo gift link:
https://wapo.st/3Ub7J0v

Image description: Collage of photos from the WaPo article. Clockwise from top left: Two bats; great blue heron about to swallow a fish; pair of otters playing just under the surface of the water; and a mother-daughter elephant pair.

What a punk rock move on the part of the museum employee: "German gallery fires employee for hanging own art in exhibition"
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68776528

Image: Vector Illustration of Do-It-Yourself Home Handyman Drills Hole in Wall with Electric Drill to Hang Picture Painting in Frame. Via Wannapik.com.

This was Traveling Mocha's pre-enactment of the total solar eclipse. Or ... monkeyclipse. #video https://www.facebook.com/TravelingMocha/videos/1391821141471001/

Eclipse tourism in the past as reported in the Manchester Evening News (30 June 1927):

"Isolated After Eclipse

TOURISTS MAROONED ON MOUNTAIN TOPS

FIVE MEN KILLED.

Avalanches and Floods in Norway"

“No sun, no moon / All dark amidst the blaze of noon.” WRTI has your classical and jazz playlist for the solar eclipse: https://www.wrti.org/wrti-spotlight/2024-04-04/no-sun-no-moon-a-classical-and-jazz-playlist-for-the-solar-eclipse

Image description: Photo of Sun Ra and his Arkestra | Leni Sinclair/Getty Images (Michael Ochs Archives).

"Members of the Choctaw Nation tell a tale about a day the sun began to disappear as if being eaten away by the hungry black squirrels known as Fʋni Lusa. People banged pots and shot arrows at the sky while yelling for the squirrels to go. As the sun started to return, the noise turned into cheers. Among the Cherokee, a giant frog is to blame for the darkness, while the Navajo (or Diné) view the eclipse as the death and rebirth of the sun (Jóhonaa’éí)."
READ MORE →
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/indigneous-solar-eclipse-stories-and-traditions

This week on the Friday #80s Flashback: Ultravox's 7th studio album, LAMENT, turns 40. Today may be "One Small Day," but it's always a good day for "Dancing with Tears in My Eyes." https://bookendedbycats.blogspot.com/2024/04/friday-80s-flashback-for-april-5-2024.html

Also...Perhaps today's earthquake was due to Vulcans landing their craft? No?

30 years ago, Kurt Cobain died (4/5/1994). 39 years from now, First Contact will occur between Humans and Vulcans (First Contact Day, 4/5/2063). Therefore, I still submit that Dr. Zefram Cochrane scheduled his historic warp drive flight to occur on the 69th anniversary of Cobain's death.

Anyway, I first wrote about a Cochrane-Cobain connection 11 years ago. At that time, Cobain had been gone for 19 years, and first contact was 50 years away.