Coffee and Provocation

Good Doggie
South Africa sniffer dog intercepts 256 pounds of rhino horn.

The Old, the Gullible, and the Ignorant
Age, not politics, is biggest predictor of who shares fake news on Facebook. People 65 years of age and over are seven times more likely to share fake news than those aged 18-29.

The Good Stuff Has Caffeine
Commercially sold fake urine, used to fool doctors and drug tests at work, can be exposed as fake by the absence of caffeine, nicotine, and other common chemicals found in food and over the counter medications.

AirPods as Listening Devices
Leave your iPhone in a room and listen to what people say while you are away (requires iOS 12 or later).

The Three Bears

Chris Wemmer is a deeply knowledgeable wildlife man who used to be director of the Smithsonian National Zoo's Conservation Biology Institute. He blogs as "Camera Trap Codger," and his blog is in my permanent feed. See his recent "Three Bears" post for a little fun.

Killer Tits
Great tits are killing birds and eating their brains.

Cannibal Hares
Hares have been known to eat meat (as do squirrels, chipmunks, and deer) as far back as 1921, but this is the first time a meat-eating hare has been caught on camera.

Not Getting Sleepy
A man who was trying to hypnotize an elephant was, instead, trampled to death.

Africa as Europe in the 1950s
In 1800 every 2nd or 3rd child died before reaching their 5th birthday. This was true everywhere. By 2015 this number had fallen to less than 1-in-20 globally. No country is an exception to this progress, and infant mortality rates in Africa are now lower than they were in Europe in the 1950s.

Sauce for the Goose
I'm looking forwards to President Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez using an “emergency” declaration to ban assault weapons, nationalize prescription drug companies, mandate Medicare for All, impose a Green New Deal, and force white supremacists to wear ankle monitors the rest of their lives.