The post Blue Maine Coon Cat: Facts, Origin & History (with Pictures) by Ashley Bates appeared first on Catster. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it, but all of these articles were assigned, contracted and paid for, so they aren't considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article, then linking out to the rest of the piece on Catster.com. Click to Skip Ahead Characteristics History How They Gained Popularity Formal Recognition Facts Do They Make Good Pets? If you’ve ever seen a Maine Coon in person, it might immediately take your breath away. These are massive, gorgeously stunning creatures. It is no wonder that you’re attracted to them in general, but the blue color is something spectacular! If you have just witnessed one for the first time, you probably want to learn all you can about this feline. Here are all the details about this lovely blue and all the perks of the breed itself. Breed Overview Height:10–16 inches Weight:10–25 pounds Lifespan:10–15 years Colors:Blue, but also a wide range of other colors Suitable for:Virtually any cat-loving home Temperament:Docile, gentle, adaptable The blue color in the Maine Coon is a diluted gene that produces a smoky lavender-gray color. Against their penetrating pair of eyes, you can imagine how the contrast could make the coat truly pop. In this article, we’re not only going to be discussing the blue color, as it is not a breed itself, but merely one of the potential coat colors. We will also be exploring the Maine Coon breed entirely. Blue Maine Coon Characteristics The Earliest Records of Blue Maine Coon in History Maine Coons were said to have originated in the mid-19th century. You may be able to tell by the name alone that the Maine Coon originated in the state of Maine. These hardy cats were capable of withstanding even the most frigid temperatures of Maine winters. These cats not only survived, but they also thrived, proving to be a versatile and adaptable animal. These kitties are naturally occurring, meaning no one really put effort into creating them. The creation of the Maine Coon was a spontaneous one. Researchers seem to believe that the Maine Coon originated from long-haired Angoras that came overseas with travelers. Those cats mixed with domestic cats here, resulting in a massive, fiercely incredible breed. Because of their size, it has often been rumored that these cats are mixed with some type of wildcat. Because of their pointy ears, size, and markings, they greatly resemble the North American bobcat. It has been long since rumored that the Maine Coon has true bobcat DNA. Researchers definitively disagree with this ideology. However, it would be pretty cool to know that these massive beasts had wild lineage to match their overall appearance. Image Credit: Nikola Cedikova, Shutterstock How Blue Maine Coon Gained Popularity How could you look at a beautiful blue Maine Coon and not think they would be the most popular pick around? These stunning animals are one of a kind with large bodies, tufted ears, and a presence that beats all others. It is no wonder that Maine Coon cats are incredibly popular today. People are very attracted to their robust size, extremely calm, demeanor, and overall presence. The Maine Coon is an incredibly hardy cat, which means they adapt to many different types of environments. This helps the breed thrive and eliminate a lot of potential issues. Formal Recognition of Blue Maine Coons The American Cat Breeders Association recognized the Maine Coon cat breed in 1976. On the other hand, the Cat Fanciers’ Association informally recognized the Maine Coon in 1975, and then officially recognized them in 1976. Blue is one of the many recognized colors of Maine Coons according to the breed standard. Since then, the breed standards have grown tremendously, creating the overall visual of the ideal Maine Coon we know and love today. There are breeders all across the United States, and even in some other parts of the world now. They are a favorite for many reasons, and it is no wonder that these associations took an interest in this self-developed breed. Image Credit: pix-l passion, Shutterstock The Top 6 Unique Facts About Maine Coons So, what would you like most about Maine Coons? Let’s find out.  1. Maine Coons Hold a Record for Being the Longest Cat in the World We already know that Maine Coons are a massive size. An adult Maine Coon can weigh as much as 25 pounds. On top of that, however, they have gotten actual awards for being the longest-domesticated cats in the world. Image Credit: Nils Jacobi, Shutterstock 2. Maine Coons Are Widely Revered as Gentle Giants They are widely known for their incredible and gentle demeanors. These cats are exceptional animals, being the Newfoundland dog of the cat world. 3. A Maine Coon Has a Waterproof Coat One really interesting thing about a Maine Coon is that they have a waterproof coat. This feature protects them from inclement weather. Since these cats were developed to withstand the frigid environments of Maine winters, their coat helps them adapt accordingly. Image Credit: Heidi Bollich, Shutterstock 4. Most Maine Coons Have Interesting Paws Most Maine Coon cats are polydactyl, meaning they have extra toes. 5. There Are Over 75 Colors of Maine Coon Cat When it comes to a Maine Coon, blue is certainly not the only variety. There are over 75 colors and patterns that exist in the Maine Coon breed alone. Image Credit: Nils Jacobi, Shutterstock 6. Maine Coons Take a Long Time to Mature What is interesting about this particular cat is that they take longer to grow than any other feline. A Maine Coon does not completely fully develop until they are at least 3 to 5 years of age. After the first year of life, growth does slow down significantly, but they continue to add length and weight over time. Does a Blue Maine Coon Make a Good Pet? A blue Maine Coon, or any Maine Coon, for that matter, would make a tremendous pet for virtually any lifestyle. These cats are highly adaptable and extremely agreeable in almost any setting. They can easily make friends with children, seniors, folks with disabilities, other cats, and even dogs! Granted, you should never leave your Maine Coon alone around your gerbil because they are vicious predators. But when it comes to your average everyday household, these cats fit the mold perfectly. Something to consider is that the Maine Coon does have an overabundance of hair. This can cause an uptick in shedding, which can trigger even folks with mild allergies. So, even if you’re highly attracted to the breed itself, it might be extremely irritating if you suffer from cat allergies. A Maine Coon tends to be an adventurer and loves exploring the outdoors. So, if you thought about getting a cat you’re able to leash train, these cats would be ideal candidates. Their protective coats also keep them insulated in extreme temperatures. We never recommend keeping your cat outdoors full time. Conclusion Now you know a little bit more about the Maine Coon breed. The blue color is absolutely exceptional, but certainly not the only one that exists. If the Maine Coon sounds like a cat that’s right up your alley, you can look for local breeders in your area. Keep in mind that rescues and shelters also get purebred cats or mixes thereof. You could always check in to see if you could find a beautiful blue kitty to call your own. Sources https://www.aspcapetinsurance.com/resources/maine-coon-cat-facts Featured Image Credit: Nils Jacobi, Shutterstock The post Blue Maine Coon Cat: Facts, Origin & History (with Pictures) by Ashley Bates appeared first on Catster. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it, but all of these articles were assigned, contracted and paid for, so they aren't considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article, then linking out to the rest of the piece on Catster.com.

Column Rose-Colored Campus Delusions: Surrealism and The Tatami Galaxy  An absurd, inexplicable coming-of-age story that’s also a near-transcendent piece of arthouse television…. By Leah Thomas | Published on June 27, 2024 Comment 1 Share New Share I did not enjoy my college years. I did not make many friends and I did not attend many parties. My weekends consisted of washing dishes in the cafeteria until midnight and then huddling in a corner rewatching Buffy while fried food crusted on my soaked jeans. I obsessed over Radiohead and posted terrible Supernatural fanvids on YouTube so that I could avoid having to think about my burgeoning mental illness and how much I regretted not just my choice of major but my choice of alma mater. Seriously, why does anyone give a flying shit about football? But if a whimsical god one day sat down beside me at a ramen stand and offered me the magical opportunity to redo my college experience and make better decisions, my response would be a shrill and immediate “No!”  Because however miserable my overall experience, my university also happened to offer a full-ride scholarship to students accepted into the Clarion Writing Workshop. If I had not gone to my exact university at that exact time under those exact circumstances, who knows when or if I would have become a novelist? And besides, college is destined to be disappointing. The overhype is real. Parents and mentors regale their kids with varsity stories of young love, success, failures and faux pas. Eager grandads buy their still-gestating grandbabies Big Ten jerseys. For some families, tailgating is a form of pilgrimage. Over holiday dinners, drunken uncles make smirking allusions to mischief they engaged in as underclassmen. Movies deify the terrible behavior of alcoholic frat boys while courts (not often enough) prosecute them. All of this noise contributes to the upbringing and expectations of countless American children (although of course not every family has access to secondary education and the system is broken and—well, that’s a whole ’nother can o’ worms.)   Literature is just as guilty. We read again and again that being nineteen is formative, that after high school we will suddenly discover and nurture our hidden genius or at the very least fall in love and, ultimately, achieve some weird unspoken enlightenment by graduation. The College Years as a concept attains a tantalizing mythos. Eventually young people come to believe that the collegiate era is emphatically other, an epoch that somehow exists outside of the wider scope of a lifetime. If a lifetime is the Earth, then college is the moon.  Credit: Madhouse Young adulthood is fundamentally a weird, transitional time during which decisions have rippling repercussions, where identity can be established or destroyed. Yet in those brief manic years between high school and “true” adulthood, society expects teens to become fully-functional self-sufficient creatures. Is it any wonder that young people fall into the trap of thinking their future selves will be responsible enough to cope with the misguided choices of their current selves? We are all primed for delusion. Fortunately, where there is delusion there is also sometimes art, and few works encapsulate the disillusionment with the collegiate dream so aptly as surrealist anime dramedy The Tatami Galaxy. Welcome to The Tatami Galaxy Credit: Madhouse Magical realism has undergone many definitions and, perhaps fittingly, failures to define it. As a specific literary movement, it remains the jurisdiction of Latin American authors, but nearly every culture nurtures its own unique form of something similar, in the sense of fantastical stories in which magic is an accepted part of the world, unexplained and often unremarked upon by the characters who encounter it, manifest it, or contend with it. Storytelling that presents magic as an inherent part of life is downright common in Japan, a country that nurtures a robust conglomeration of ancient and modern folklore. I cannot wait to write more about the ghosts and monsters of Japan (expect articles on Shigeru Mizuki, Natsume’s Book of Friends, and Mushishi in the future!), but The Tatami Galaxy is not a youkai story. This series is its own unquantifiable thing, a deliberately absurd and inexplicable coming-of-age story that is definitely speculative but also magical. Based on a varsity novel written by acclaimed author Tomihiko Morimi, the anime adaptation of The Tatami Galaxy was directed by anime auteur Masaaki Yuasa, known for everything from a bizarro Netflix modern cult classic adaptation of Devilman Crybaby to critical gems like Ping Pong the Animation and Keep Your Hands Off  Eizouken!  The premise is straightforward enough: The nameless protagonist (from here on in I’ll call him Watashi), while bemoaning his poor life decisions over ramen, meets a large-chinned man named Higuchi-san who may or may not be the god of matchmaking, and this meeting somehow grants Watashi the opportunity to relive his college years. Watashi chooses to go back to his first day of undergrad and pick a different student club to join, sending himself down a different leg of the trousers of time in order to pursue his ideal rose-colored campus life. Inevitably Watashi utterly fails to improve his lot, and goes back in time once again and chooses a different club again…and again, and again, only to end up just as dissatisfied in every newly chosen universe. It isn’t clear how aware Watashi is that he is caught in a loop of humiliation. Beyond meeting Higuchi-san at the ramen shop in episode one, no proper explanation is given for the conceit that allows Watashi to try on another universe; each episode starts back at the beginning and ends with a clock turning back time.  The myriad universes Watashi occupies are not definitely magical, but they are surreal. Over the course of the series, Watashi joins a tennis circle, becomes trapped in a honey-obsessed doomsday cult, babysits a sex doll for a riotous upperclassman, sabotages a film club, dresses as a TV mascot for a super sentai series, works for a Kafkaesque library police squad, crashes an airship, and has the inside of his mouth groped by a dental student after a night of drinking goes awry. Nothing is entirely impossible, but everything is highly improbable, bordering on zany, anchored only by repeating motifs, characters, phrases, and settings.  A classmate’s missing keychain hangs from Watashi’s lamp in every lifetime. A stale castella gifted by a frenemy is omnipresent in his 4.5 tatami mat apartment. No matter the universe, Watashi always narrates his life events at a pace so rapid that even Japanese-speaking viewers may have to pause the anime and listen again. Watashi is always pursuing an idealized raven-haired beauty who does not exist. He always meets a fortune teller who raises her prices with every subsequent episode. And always, Watashi ends each episode convinced that if he could just try reliving his campus life one more time, he would get it right.  Eventually Watashi finds himself trapped inside a labyrinthine maze of his own parallel 4.5 tatami apartments, and the mirrored rooms of all his possible lives lock him in a cage of straw mats and garbage and castella and regret and voila! The story earns its fantastic title. Credit: Madhouse The Tatami Galaxy, odd and colorful and absurd as it is, is not unpredictable. The audience knows from episode one that no single club is going to lead Watashi to happiness. Obviously, Watashi is unhappy being himself, and we all know the ideal college life does not exist, and obviously Watashi needs to return that damn keychain to that badass girl Akashi and ask her out because she is the single best recurring aspect in each and every one of his endless flubbed lives.  But if the conclusions are obvious, what makes this story so compelling? Why is The Tatami Galaxy widely considered a modern arthouse masterpiece? There are many reasons, and an essay is too short a format, and arguably the series is not beloved so much as it is admired, but I am lucky enough that I get to share some of my favorite elements of this singular show right here and now in a speculative fiction anime column, so ha! There! Ozu’s Curse Credit: Madhouse Throughout the series, it is all too easy for Watashi to blame his woes on a single presence that invades all of his lives—his classmate Ozu, a weird little weasel of a guy who may not even be a human being: “My soul would surely have stayed unblemished had I not met him.” But who or what, precisely, is Ozu? He is drawn with the spooky features of an actual yōkai, and sometimes even depicted as a wolf. He hates vegetables and loves mischief and seems privy to details about Watashi’s parallel universes that the audience isn’t even aware of. Ozu has sneakily cornered the dramatic irony market.  When Watashi asks, time and again, “Why do you haunt me so?” Ozu always answers, “It’s the way I show my love.”  Credit: Madhouse Ozu claims to be tied to the protagonist by the black string of fate, and indeed no matter what path Watashi takes, Ozu is always his reliable companion. It is Ozu who inspires Watashi to sabotage the romantic partners in the tennis circle, and Ozu who convinces another classmate to pretend to be a raven-haired pen pal in order to catfish Watashi. But it is also Ozu who tolerates Watashi’s endless insults and complaints, who brings Watashi a castella when he is sad. Perhaps Ozu is a pain in the ass rascal of a college guy having too much fun making messes and living in the moment, or perhaps he is a demon from the underworld who is intent on tormenting the protagonist. Really, it doesn’t matter, because if nothing else Ozu is consistent. The friends we make in our university years are often those who exist in close proximity to us; the roomie we put up with, the students studying in our majors, that one guy who hands out fliers in the lobby. It is rarer to find true friendships that run deeper, and whatever else may be true of Ozu, he is undeniably loyal to Watashi. Credit: Madhouse Watashi’s failure to see Ozu as a person rather than a menace ultimately says more about Watashi than it does about Ozu. In fact, Watashi’s failure to see any other people as fully three-dimensional beings in their own right, rather than characters in the story of his own life, is likely another biting critique of a prevalent campus-life mindset. Akashi  Credit: Madhouse Ozu is not the only casualty of Watashi’s self-centered headcanon. Akashi is an engineering student and the obvious romantic interest in this story, but this story isn’t really a romance. Akashi is blunt and outspoken, a little odd, and her trademark attributes are her fear of moths and her beloved mascot keychains.  It might be a fair criticism to call her a flat character, but that is only if the audience views her through Watashi’s limited lens. Credit: Madhouse Any illusion that Akashi is less than a fully-realized person is gradually, cleverly dissolved as the series progresses. In every universe that Watashi experiences, Akashi is doing her own thing, often up to shenanigans or engaging in deceit herself, living in her own adjacent universe that could be its own tatami galaxy. Even though self-absorbed Watashi fails to see the nuances and charms of Akashi at many turns, just as he fails to appreciate Ozu as a friend, the audience appreciates Akashi and her forthright nature from the start. The Matchmaking God? Credit: Madhouse Last fall I took a little road trip with some coworkers to Izumo Taisha, thought to be the oldest shrine in all of Japan, and also the resting place of a Shinto creation god known as Ōkuninushi. Izumo Taisha is also thought to be a fortuitous place for couples to visit if they’re hoping for healthy matrimony. In November it is said that all the gods convene in Izumo for an annual meeting. Priests greet the gods as they arrive on Inasa Beach and guide them to their temporary lodgings on the shrine grounds. During this time, it is said that Izumo is extremely godly and the rest of Japan is momentarily godless, a land devoid of heavenly powers. College has an insulating effect on many young people, and it can feel as though the rest of the world does not exist, or that the moments taking place in the microcosm of a campus or college town are all-encompassing. When Watashi meets Keitaro Higuchi at Neko Ramen in the first scene of the series, Higuchi claims to be a local god who will be attending the annual meeting in Izumo. Later we learn he may be just an eighth-year burnout student. What’s the truth, and does it matter? Credit: Madhouse Higuchi is the catalyst that sends Watashi scrambling to change his past. Higuchi, somehow, embodies both heavenly omnipotence and slacker ethos simultaneously, and he delivers words of wisdom throughout the series. Godly or godless, he gets things moving. The Art of a Claustrophobic Multiverse  Credit: Madhouse It is impossible to talk about this series without bringing up the artistry. No anime has ever looked like The Tatami Galaxy, which uses a unique combination of highly stylized art, rotoscoping, live-action footage, and classic cartooning throughout. This is a show that can be recognized instantly based on any single screenshot. Director Masaaki Yuasa is arguably the king of arthouse anime, and with screenwriter Makoto Ueda adapting Tomihiko’s quirky novel, the show stands as a semi-transcendent piece of television. Madhouse, Inc., the animation studio, has established a solid reputation for producing groundbreaking anime (see also: the sublime films of Satoshi Kon, Death Parade, Trigun, Frieren, Death Note, etc.). And with character designs from iconic illustrator Yusuke Nakamura, perhaps best known for his album art, it is hard to imagine this series being created by a more accomplished artistic team.  The tatami multiverse in which Watashi finds himself ultimately trapped is simultaneously expansive and painfully claustrophobic. The creators wanted the show to feel as unique as the protagonist longs for his life to be, and when this all culminates in the repetition of endless tatami rooms reaching into infinity, the effect is dizzying, impressive, and depressing all at once. These creators and this studio with this story formed a perfect marriage. Credit: Madhouse When the multiverse is reimagined as a series of tatami mat apartments, each one has been altered ever so slightly by the protagonist in that world’s decisions. Watashi breaks through wall after wall only to find himself alone in each room, and as he wanders he survives on instant coffee and the stale castella Ozu gifted him in every existence. It takes being truly stuck inside with his own ego for Watashi to realize how little he appreciated the miniscule, meaningful wonders of every life he ever lived. To the version of himself trapped inside the labyrinth, every parallel version of himself appears to be living a fun, full campus life. All his failures and doomed club experiences appear fantastical. Watashi envies the exact versions of himself that considered themselves miserable in every episode prior. So much expectation is placed on the college experience that they are inevitably a letdown for many, if not most, people. But that’s probably okay. Even the sucky, worthless moments are vital; they too are part of what comprises a life. Growing up does not mean emerging fully-formed from the cocoon of college; growing up is a never-ending, arduous process, and requires us to relinquish any expectation of controlling what the world will throw at us. There’s a fine line between indulging in toxic nostalgia and appreciating the mess that is young adulthood. We can either regret the choices we made or delude ourselves that we lived a fabulous campus life or, maybe, realize it does not matter and appreciate it for what it is.  After all, no matter what choices we made, we were always going to be ourselves.  Kyoto, I Love You Credit: Madhouse Author Tomihiko Morimi is a proud graduate of Kyoto University, and his novels are often based in Kyoto (I will be writing about his other masterpiece, The Eccentric Family, and its anime adaptation in the near future). Kyoto is Japan’s former capital, and while recently it’s been in the news because the yen is weak and tourists are misbehaving on the storied streets of Gion, Kyoto maintains a little aloof. An almost otherworldly atmosphere sets it apart from most famous cities. The cobbles are old and careworn, the temples renowned, the gardens ethereal. Old traditions have not left this city, even as newcomers move in. Kyoto changes people, and not the other way around. It is the perfect setting for a story in which time and space are not behaving as they usually do. Throughout The Tatami Galaxy, Kyoto is another unspoken constant. In parallel lives, Watashi gets wasted along Pontocho alley, sets off fireworks along the Kamo River, and finally, when he appreciates the selves he abandoned and emerges at last from his tatami prison, trailed by an infinite cloud of moths, Watashi realizes that it is August. Watashi looks down the alleyway and sees a family lighting fireworks. The Daimonji Gozan Okuribi festival is underway. For once, all his narration stops. Watashi goes quiet and stares in open wonder at the mundane world outside his own head.  Credit: Madhouse During the festival, enormous bonfires are traditionally ignited on the mountainsides that surround the city. These bonfires signify a farewell to ancestors at the end of the Obon season, a fiery tribute to lives already lived. And no matter where a person stands in the old city, no one can see all of the burning characters at the same time. No one but the gods can be everywhere or everything at once. Eventually, you have to learn to be grateful for the view in front of you, despite or because of its inevitable limitations. That’s life, folks, and it is more than poignant enough. Note from the blogger: Hi, again! I’m Leah, author and long-time otaku currently living in Tottori, Japan. I’m covering anime here on Reactor. Whether you’re a fan already or this is your introduction, welcome! So… it turns out a single article to cover the anime adaptations of the brilliant Tomihiko Morimi isn’t feasible, so I’ll be writing a separate article on The Eccentric Family soon. However, next time, for a change of pace, expect the next article to be all about the weird, gross brilliance of Chainsaw Man and a reflection on how dystopias have rarely been better settings for coming-of-age stories than they are now. After that, back to Morimi, and then a special look at Delicious in Dungeon, because people keep assigning that show as homework! Thank you for reading, and for your thoughts! Again, comments, suggestions, discussions encouraged! In this article: The Tatami Galaxy (Madhouse, 2010) Available via Crunchyroll, Amazon Prime, and Hulu. Up next:  Chainsaw Man (MAPPA, 2022- ) Available via Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu. The Eccentric Family (P.A. Works, 2013-2017) Available via Crunchyroll, Amazon Prime, and Hulu. Delicious in Dungeon (Trigger, 2024 -) Available via Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu. The post Rose-Colored Campus Delusions: Surrealism and <i>The Tatami Galaxy</i>  appeared first on Reactor.

Trump Lowering Expectations for Debate?

Humans have been living continuously in space for nearly 24 years, with astronauts and cosmonauts living aboard the spacecraft since astronaut Bill Shepherd and cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev first boarded the International Space Station (ISS) on Halloween, 2000.All good things must come to an end, and NASA is now planning for the demise of humanity's orbiting laboratory. The American space agency announced on Wednesday that it has selected SpaceX to develop and build the Deorbit Vehicle that will be used to deorbit the space station at the end of its operational life, bringing it safely down to Earth. “Selecting a US Deorbit Vehicle for the International Space Station will help NASA and its international partners ensure a safe and responsible transition in low Earth orbit at the end of station operations. This decision also supports NASA’s plans for future commercial destinations and allows for the continued use of space near Earth,” Ken Bowersox, associate administrator for Space Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said in a statement. “The orbital laboratory remains a blueprint for science, exploration, and partnerships in space for the benefit of all.” The initial pieces of the ISS were launched in 1998, and by the time operations are over in 2030 they will have been in space for two years longer than their planned lifespan. It is these parts, forming the structure of the space station, that mean the ISS can not continue beyond 2030. "Much of the space station can be repaired or replaced in orbit, while other parts can be returned to the ground for repair and relaunched. These parts include the solar arrays, communications equipment, life support equipment, and science hardware," NASA explains. "However, the primary structure of the station, such as the crewed modules and the truss structures, cannot be repaired or replaced practically."As spacecraft dock and undock to the ISS, and the space station moves in and out of sunlight, this places stresses on those structures."These forces were accounted for in the original 30-year structural life estimate, and while NASA’s flown experience indicates the actual forces imparted to the station have been less than originally forecast, there is still a finite lifetime available in the primary structure," NASA continued.Though the space station has functioned incredibly well over its lifespan, as it has aged leaks have begun to spring up. NASA is now planning for the end of an incredible project, which saw five space agencies collaborate to operate a laboratory soaring above our heads at around 28,000 kilometers per hour (17,500 miles per hour). Though SpaceX will operate the project, with a potential value of $843 million, NASA will run and take ownership of the Deorbit Vehicle and mission to deorbit the aging space station.

A prehistoric wolf that’s been frozen like a popsicle for over 44,000 years has undergone a post-mortem in Russia, set to reveal all kinds of insights into its life as an apex predator in the Ice Age. The wolf was discovered in 2021 beneath around 40 meters (131 feet) of permafrost on the Tirekhtyakh River in the Abyysky District of Russia’s Far East. Its body was transferred to the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and has since undergone an autopsy by scientists at the Mammoth Museum of the North-Eastern Federal University and the European University at Saint Petersburg.Under sterile conditions, the team cut open the carcass and took samples of its internal organs, as well as the contents of the gastrointestinal tract. By looking at the bacteria in its guts, it could be possible to learn about the wolf’s diet and health. “His stomach has been preserved in an isolated form, there are no contaminants, so the task is not trivial. As a result of the preparation, we hope to obtain a snapshot of the biota of the ancient Pleistocene. It was an active and large predator, we have the opportunity to find out what it ate. In addition, the objects that his victims consumed also ended up in his stomach,” Albert Protopopov, head of the department for the study of mammoth fauna of the Academy of Sciences of Yakutia, said in a statement.The inner organs of the wolf specimen are remarkably well-preserved - which is good news for the researchers.Image credit: North-Eastern Federal University“In addition, we selected one premolar tooth in order to determine the biological age of the find. Judging by the wear of the teeth and the development of the sagittal ridge, we can say that this is an adult male,” added Maxim Cheprasov, head of the laboratory at the North-Eastern Federal University Mammoth Museum. The researchers hope that some of the microorganisms that inhabit the animal’s insides might even still be living, suspended in a hibernation-like state for thousands upon thousands of years under sub-zero temperatures. If they have survived, there’s a chance they could even be used to inform modern-day biomedicine. "Our scientific cooperation with the NEFU Mammoth Museum has allowed us to learn more about the bacteria that inhabited the mammoth steppe, starting from the Pleistocene period. We see that living bacteria can survive in fossil animal finds for thousands of years, which are a kind of witnesses of those ancient times,” noted Artemy Goncharov, a professor in the Department of Epidemiology, Parasitology, and Disinfection at North-Western State Medical University.The guts of the frozen wolf may contain bacteria that have survived since the Ice Age.Image credit: North-Eastern Federal University“We hope for good results that will allow us to advance a little further in understanding what ancient microbial communities were, what function they performed, and to what extent dangerous pathogenic bacteria were represented in their structure. Perhaps, microorganisms will be discovered that can be used in medicine and biotechnology as promising producers of biologically active substances,” Goncharov added. This isn’t the only exciting specimen held by the North-Eastern Federal University; they also recently acquired another frozen wolf found in the Nizhnekolymsk region of Yakutia, Siberia, and plan to begin studying it after wrapping up research on the current carcass.This part of the world is abundant in permafrost, a permanently frozen layer of soil under the Earth's top surface, which acts as an ideal material to hold and preserve living specimens from the Ice Age. A diverse menagerie of ancient animals have been discovered in this desperately cold patch of Siberia in recent times, including a 49,000-year-old bird and a beautifully preserved puppy named “Dogor”.

On Wednesday, ABC’s Good Morning America decided to show their unwavering support for President Biden once again before the presidential debate on Thursday. Chief White House correspondent Mary Bruce also expressed her strong appreciation for former republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger endorsing Biden. Meanwhile, senior congressional correspondent Rachel Scott seemed amused by former President Trump’s frustration with a gag order. Bruce began the segment by stating that Biden was doing “90-minute mock debates at Camp David” this week. Bob Bauer, Biden’s personal attorney, is supposedly playing the role of Trump for Biden’s debate preparation. Unsurprisingly, Bruce declared that the Biden team will hammer Trump “where they feel he is most vulnerable” and that he’s “a danger to democracy.”     Continuing to advocate for the Biden campaign, Bruce noted that “they're now getting some backup from a Republican former Congressman Adam Kinzinger” who had endorsed President Biden. Bruce went on to say that he “is now officially endorsing the president citing Trump's role and inciting the January 6th attack on the Capitol.” Bruce emphasized how Kinzinger was a “lifelong conservative” but has recently been a “vocal critic” of Trump. Bruce stated that his reasons for endorsing Biden was because “the stakes are simply too high in this race” and because Biden has “unwavering support for democracy.” Once she finished praising Kinzinger, she quickly noted that Biden may bring up “his actions on immigration” at the debate. Looking to boost the Biden campaign once more before concluding, she added “the president's recent executive action on asylum has cut border encounters by more than 40 percent while they say Republicans continue to block border security measures.” Co-anchor Linsey Davis asked Scott about Trump's judge partially lifting his gag order before the debate. Scott stated “the timing here is critical because we know that Donald Trump has been speaking with his advisers about how he should handle questions about his conviction.” She was seemingly amused by Trump’s frustration about the gag order: “Trump though still not happy about this, calling it ridiculous, insisting that the gag order needs to be lifted entirely. He is still barred from going after prosecutors and their families ahead of his sentencing.” Scott ended by sharing that “Something the former president is also frustrated about -- that there will be no live studio audience at that debate. He says it will be harder for him to gauge how he's doing, though aides and allies think it might keep him more on message.” Click "Expand" to view the transcript: ABC Good Morning America 6/26/2024 7:05:01 – 7:07:25 a.m. Eastern LINSEY DAVIS: Now to the countdown to the first presidential debate set for tomorrow night. Our chief White House correspondent Mary Bruce and Rachel Scott, who's following the Trump campaign, are tracking the very latest. Mary, we'll start with you. President Biden has been hunkered down at Camp David practicing for the big showdown. What can you tell us? MARY BRUCE (CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT): Well that intense prep continues today. The final day for him to prepare. The president is doing 90-minute mock debates at Camp David. His personal attorney, Bob Bauer, filling in, playing the role of Donald Trump. And while the president remains behind closed doors publicly, his campaign is continuing to give us a preview of what's to come tomorrow night. They are hammering Trump where they feel he is most vulnerable. Today, arguing that he is a danger to democracy and today they're now getting some backup from a Republican former Congressman Adam Kinzinger is now officially endorsing the president citing Trumps role and inciting the January 6th attack on the Capitol. Now Kinzinger has been a vocal critic of the former president and he says that while he certainly doesn't agree with President Biden on everything and that as a lifelong conservative he never thought he would see himself endorsing a Democrat, but he says that the stakes are simply too high in this race saying he is backing Biden because of his, quote, “unwavering support for democracy.” And another issue that the president is likely to tout tomorrow night, his actions on immigration. The White House this morning says that the president's recent executive action on asylum has cut border encounters by more than 40 percent while they say Republicans continue to block border security measures, Linsey. DAVIS: Mary, we will be watching that debate together, thank you. Rachel, wanna bring you in here. We know Donald Trump has been holding policy sessions with his advisers and now we're learning that the judge in his hush money trial has partially lifted the gag order ahead of the debate. What will that mean? RACHEL SCOTT (SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT): Yeah and the timing here is critical because we know that Donald Trump has been speaking with his advisers about how he should handle questions about his conviction and so now the judge partially lifting this gag order, which will allow the former president to talk about the witnesses in the case including his former fixer Michael Cohen, and also about the jurors who found him guilty on those 34 counts of falsifying business records. Trump though still not happy about this, calling it ridiculous, insisting that the gag order needs to be lifted entirely. He is still barred from going after prosecutors and their families ahead of his sentencing. Something the former president is also frustrated about, that there will be no live studio audience at that debate. He says it will be harder for him to gauge how he's doing, though aides and allies think it might keep him more on message, Linsey. DAVIS: We will be watching intently tomorrow, Rachel thank you so much and Mary as well. (...) 

Like most political exiles, Alvin Lui and his wife were happy with their life and didn’t expect it to change. His career as an illusionist had made him a local celebrity in the pleasant San Francisco suburb of Dublin, and he took any opportunity he could to give back to the community. The way he saw it, it was a long-term investment. “My wife and I are planning on staying in this city for quite a while, so it's our privilege to be able to donate our time and money to the very schools our future children will be attending," Lui told a reporter at a 2014 fundraiser to benefit a local educational charity. Lui and his wife eventually had a daughter. It was when it came time for her to attend the local schools that Lui realized how much everything had changed. Gender ideology — the notion that children should "choose" whether they feel like a boy, a girl, or something in between — had crept into the curriculum for even the youngest students. For Lui, a first-generation Chinese-American whose parents fled Communist China, this LBGT-powered cultural revolution was disturbingly familiar. So he packed up his family and headed for Carmel, Indiana, lured by the excellent schools and the promise of a sensibly traditional small-town life. When Lui noticed the same ideology beginning to undermine the Carmel school system, he decided that he had to act. As president of the parental rights advocacy group Courage Is a Habit, Lui offers educational materials that simplify and expose the machinations of the transgender activists’ playbook. Courage Is a Habit also fights local legislation around the country that attacks parental rights. The group recently scored a victory over a bill in Maine that, as Joe MacKinnon reported for Blaze News, "would allow the state to take custody of children whose families refuse to subject them to sex-change mutilations and other irreversible medical interventions." The narrative surrounding the bill’s collapse was, predictably, head-spinning. The Advocate blamed conservative account Libs of TikTok and other “right-wing extremists online” for targeting “lawmakers who were considering the legislation.” Yahoo! News reposted another article from the Advocate claiming that the “bill aimed to protect transgender youth’s access to care trigger[ed] outlandish claims of child-snatching as right-wingers wage a war of words on the proposed legislation.” Even local news furthered the myth of “gender-affirming care.” In this endeavor, Lui has had to contend with EqualityMaine, which he describes as “the most radical transgender cult organization.” On the national level, he has drawn more formidable, and more well-funded, adversaries, including the Southern Poverty Law Center. That group recently put Lui on its Hatewatch list, arguing that “radical parents’ groups including … Courage Is a Habit also took the opportunity to purchase some ersatz blue-tick legitimacy” on X. “Each is part of a wave of such parent groups that galvanize followers to attack members and allies of the LGBTQ community, mask and vaccine mandates, and inclusive curriculum, such as critical race theory.” For his part, Lui remains unbowed. As he often says, “you may not care about politics, but politics cares about your children.” Lui recently spoke with Align about the lure of the Midwest, finding a voice as an activist, and why he believes that courage is a habit. ALIGN: You grew up in California, right? ALVIN LUI: I did, I did. I was born in California. I lived there most of my life except for about four years in the East Coast, you know, early on. But other than that, yeah, I'm a California boy. ALIGN: So it must've been pretty serious for you to pack up everything and move to Indiana. LUI: Nobody just picks up and moves like that. It's tough, of course. But we didn't want to raise children there for a lot of reasons. I think your audience would probably understand that. 'All parents know how to defend their kids. They've crossed rivers and oceans, deserts to give their child a chance of a better life. So what makes this time so special that someone can point a finger in your face and call you a bigot and it makes you stand down?' But when I got to Indiana ... people asked me why I would move. Because a lot of people who grow up in Indiana take it for granted. They don't understand how amazing it is to grow up in the Midwest. Because all they see of California is Hollywood and the media. They don't see how it really is. And so, the easiest way I would [explain it] if I had 10 seconds is I would say, “Well, if I were to raise a daughter there, they would tell her the two most important things in her life are that she's female and she's Asian. And that everything bad that happens to her, every failure she'll ever have is because of one or both of those things.” And that's just the culture. That's the entire culture of California. And at the time, I didn't understand why. I just knew it was really bad on top of the crime and the sanctuary states and the taxes going to everybody but the taxpayers. Coming to Indiana was like going back in time 20 years ... in a good way, a very good way. So it's been a blessing for sure ALIGN: Was it a slow boil, or was there a particular incident that changed your mind and made the decision for you? LUI: It was pretty sudden. [It's like that saying], a fish doesn't know [it's] wet. And so, when you're living in California, you don't realize it until you have a family, until you start being a business owner. They want to get to the kids very early on. They want to get a 16-year-old to vote. Because you simply have no rearview mirror of life [at that age]. Let's face it: When you're 25, you barely have a rearview mirror of life. And until you start failing in life; until you start paying taxes; until you start building something, then failing, then building again; until you have something to worry about other than yourself; until life knocks that narcissism out of you, you don't really understand. . [Look at] the way they throw up all this red tape, to make it as difficult as possible for you to be successful and to be financially independent. But if you're a failure, they make it as easy as possible for you to stay a failure. And those are the policies in California. For me, it was two things. It was the sanctuary state, sanctuary city, opening up the borders. I know today you and I are having this conversation — today in 2024 and the whole country is talking about it, but this has been a problem in California for 20 years. And then when transgenderism came again and they started really saturating our young people with it. Your family, your safety, and keeping a child's innocence are the most paramount. You could be poor. You could always make money. But when you rob somebody's physical safety, which is what illegal aliens do, and then you take a child's innocence — those two things. If it goes wrong, you don't get those things back. A girl in a city right next to mine got killed by an illegal alien in San Francisco walking around with her dad. It was heartbreaking. She died in his arms, and she was in her late 20s. And I thought, "God, this man raised her through all the barfing and the diaper-changing and then hurting herself and then worrying about her friends and worrying about her grades and making sure she came home on time and graduating high school and maybe she went to college. "But then she's 27 and he's thinking, 'I've done it, she's a woman and she's moving on with her life and she's doing great.' And they're spending time together walking around San Francisco in Pier 39 — a touristy place — and she died in his arms." And it was because of an illegal alien who had been was deported five times. They kept letting him come back into San Francisco because it's a sanctuary city at the time. San Francisco was the first sanctuary city in the country, and they would not work with ICE to arrest him. And he shot her. ALIGN: What you're doing with Courage Is a Habit is offering educational tools to people and letting them decide for themselves. Talk to me about that mission and what pulled you in that direction, where the idea came from, and what you offer with Courage Is a Habit. LUI: So I guess let's start with the name. When I got to Indiana, I was quite naive, because I really loved Indiana. But [I realized] that the one thing that makes no difference in a red or blue state is public education, K-12. There's no difference when it comes to red and blue states. The indoctrination is the same, and that's one of the things that parents have a hard time accepting. So I saw a lot of the same seeds that were planted in Indiana that will eventually grow to the policies that destroyed my old home in California. Obviously to a lesser degree because we're not as far along in Indiana as California, but all the pillars and the foundations were already laid in K-12. It just hasn't saturated yet into the community and into legislation. It was starting already, and even in the four years that I've been here, we can already see a difference. This was something people didn't know. So I was very naive when I got here and I said, “Oh, I know what's going on. These people just don't know. I'm a nobody. I'm just gonna say, ‘Hey, look, I'm gonna be super honest. I'm from California and here's the reason why I left: You guys are already having these things in there.'" And so I thought that if I would just get my dumb ass on the radio and maybe in some newspaper articles and just say, “Hey, I love Indiana. Love you guys. You guys have been great. You've welcomed us. I just want you to know, just to say thank you. "And, look, you guys aren't racist. Don't fall for that. Don't go down that path. Don't go down that path because this is where it leads.” I thought that if I said that, people would go, “Oh, man, yeah,” and then they'd rise up and speak out. I was wrong. People reacted the same way that we did in California when people told us this 25 years ago. It won't happen here, you're fear-mongering, it's just white privilege, it's all that stuff. So I was really taken aback by how afraid people were. How afraid people were to speak up even though the people knew what I was saying was true. But waiting for it to happen was better than speaking out and having an insufferable white woman in your neighborhood call you a racist and a bigot, right? So anyway, I found myself starting to go around speaking to parents, mostly focused on education. And I eventually started off my speech with this little blurb. I said, “Isn't it kind of funny that all of you very wonderful, successful people find yourself on a Friday night or Saturday night in a strange auditorium listening to a stranger from another state tell you how to defend your children? This has never happened before in the history of parenting, right?" And I said, “Why is that? You know, all parents know how to defend their kids. They've crossed rivers and oceans, deserts to give their child a chance of a better life. This is what the American dream is made out of, inviting immigrants, legal ones, to come here. So what makes this time so special that someone can point a finger in your face and call you a bigot and it makes you stand down? Why is that?” Then I said, “Well, in order to understand why that is, you have to go back a little bit as to how you got here over the last, let's say, five to seven years. "And it started with something very simple. Maybe it was at your workplace. They asked you to put up a Black Lives Matter or a rainbow flag, or asked you to take this anti-bias training and said you had unconscious this and unconscious that. And you knew this was wrong. You knew that wasn't true, but you went along with it. "So over time, you've made fear a habit. "It wasn't one or two things, it wasn't four or five things, but it was just over time, you made fear a habit. "So now, they're coming after your kids, and you told yourself, 'When it really counts, I'll be able to stand up.' "But the problem is, that's not how habits work. If you make fear a habit, even when they come after the thing that you love most in life, which everybody in this room," I said, "obviously it's your children and grandchildren, because you would run into a burning building for them. "But you wouldn't go fight for them if someone calls you a bigot. And now, you find yourself in an auditorium asking me how you defend your children." I said, "You know how to defend your children. You just have to make courage a habit. And every time you want to speak up and your heart's coming out of your chest, and you know someone's going to call you a bigot or a transphobe or whatever, and you say it anyway. "The next time is not gonna feel easier, and the next time after that it won't. And I can't tell you, because I don't know your psychological makeup, how many times it'll take, but I can promise you, one of those times, it might be the 15th time or the 25th time, you will not feel fear any more, because you've made courage a habit instead of fear. But those first six times are gonna suck. "No matter who you are, those first six times are gonna really suck. But when you can push past that, once you make courage a habit, you will never go back. You will never one day say, you know what, I think I'm gonna shut up again." So that was how I used to start my little talks in Indiana. When I saw that this education issue was not just isolated to big cities like Indianapolis, I started to realize that the thing that destroyed California has now escaped from the lab, so to speak. It escaped Wuhan. And now it's everywhere. Now it's everywhere. My great-grandfather ran from communism. He was an older man, you know, the Red Guard dragged him out of his little bakery. He wasn't rich; he was just a small business owner. He had two bakeries. They dragged him out and beat him. And he ran from communism so that his family could have a chance of not growing up in China, in Mao's China. I never thought that I would have to move my family from one place to another because I was fearing the same thing. Obviously, it's nowhere near life and death as it was for my great-grandfather, but the idea was the same thing. My father always made sure that my siblings and I felt very lucky to be born here. He never let us forget that. If America goes the way of the Cultural Revolution, your children and my children will have nowhere to go. I wanted to do something that would spread nationally and not just locally, and that's how Courage Is a Habit was born. When it was time to think of a name, I thought about that little opener I had; I also wanted a name that every time someone said it would give encouragement. Those are the kind of subtleties we don't do enough of; our opponents do. They see the message in a name. And I wanted a name that every time someone said it, even if in a negative way, it reminded people that you don't need an organization. You know how to defend your children. This is in you. This is why I very rarely say courage is contagious. That's a great saying, by the way. I love that saying. It's a beautiful saying, courage is contagious. The reason why I don't say it is when you say something is contagious, it inherently means you need other people around for that contagion. So it means that if you don't have enough people to spread that courage contagion, then you don't have it. Or you might have it, but then when enough people fall away, and you look around and you go, "Oh, I only got like two people that believe me," then you start to be silent again. But when you make courage a habit, it doesn't matter if you have a thousand people behind you or nobody behind you.

CNN Demonstrates 'Sudden Innovation in Debate Technology' in Use for Biden vs. Trump

Thursday Morning Minute

NATO plans to offer Ukraine a new headquarters to manage its military assistance as a sign the alliance is committed long-term to the country's security, The New York Times reported.