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[Explored] #22 June 8, 2011
Egyptian goslings searching for foods!
Egyptian goose (Alopochen aegyptiacus) breeds widely in Africa except in deserts and dense forests, and is locally abundant. They are found mostly in the Nile Valley and south of the Sahara. It has also been introduced in Great Britain dating back to the 18th century, though only formally added to the British list in 1971. In Britain, it is found mainly in East Anglia, in parkland with lakes. This species will nest in a large variety of situations, especially in holes in mature trees in parkland. The female builds the nest from reeds, leaves and grass, and both parents take turns incubating eggs. Egyptian Geese usually pair for life. More: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_Goose
Round Pond
Kensington Gardens, London
Please press L (or simply click the image) to view on black
Red Old Barn, Palouse, WA.
Having grown up around fertile paddy fields, harvest times used to be very exciting for us kids! After a year of hard work, they represented the joys of reaping in the bounty! I was very happy when I saw this wheat field ready to be harvested. It gave me the ‘pongal’ (Harvest Festival of India; in Tamil ‘pongal’ literally translates to overflowing) feeling signifying abundance and prosperity! Harvest festivals are universal indeed. They are a part of our DNA--we perhaps still retain our genetic memory of our distant or not so distant agrarian society!
Many thanks goes to my Flickr contact - Mike (www.flickr.com/photos/mwb-photos/) who provided me the place information.
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Physical reality is a consciousness program created by digital codes. Numbers, numeric codes, define our existence. Human DNA, our genetic memory, is encoded to be triggered by digital codes at specific times and frequencies. Those codes awaken the mind to the change and evolution of consciousness.
11:11 is one of those codes, meaning activation of DNA.
You will note that seeing 11 11 frequently creates synchronicities in your life.
Master or Power Number. In Numerology 11 represents impractical idealism, visionary, refinement of ideals, intuition, revelation, artistic and inventive genius, avant-garde, androgynous, film, fame, refinement fulfilled when working with a practical partner.
Eleven is a higher octave of the number two . It carries psychic vibrations and has an equal balance of masculine and feminine properties.
Because eleven contains many gifts such as psychic awareness and a keen sense of sensitivity, it also has negative effects such as treachery and betrayal from secret enemies.
All About 11:11
11:11 Synchronicity- Repetitive Numbers and Their Meaning
Number Sequences from Our Spirit Guides
11:11 And Other Repetitive, Synchronistic Numbers
Many associate 11:11 with a wake-up code/alarm as they see it on digit clocks and watches. It can Many associate 11:11 with a wake-up code/alarm as they see it on digit clocks and watches. It can also be seen as a key to unlock the subconscious mind, our genetic encoded memories, that we are spirits having a physical experience, not physical beings embarking on a spiritual experience. also be seen as a key to unlock the subconscious mind, our genetic encoded memories, that we are spirits having a physical experience, not physical beings embarking on a spiritual experience.
11:11 or derivatives of these numbers, 111 and 11, are digits that repeat in time thus a metaphor for reality as patterns that repeat in time for us to experience. This can refer to the rise and fall of civilizations, our personal experiences and lessons, loops in time. They are cycles of time that create and recreate following the blueprint.
Ellie Crystal and 11:11
In 1991, when I was hosting the talk show “The Metaphysical Experience”, a woman named Solara was my guest. Her topic was Activation of the 11:11 Doorway. It was all about ascension and the beginning of awareness of the 11:11 code. In 1995, a Crystalinks’ reader named Joe emailed about his experiences with the numbers 111:111, hence the file you are reading was first created and in so doing I took a long hard look at this phenomena experienced by those around me. Each time Joe was about to go through another major spiritual awakening, an epiphany of some kind, those numbers would appear in his physical experience to signal the upcoming change. The numbers say, “Pay attention!”
SPIRITUAL PSYCHOLOGY: Carl Jung, the father of analytical psychology, was fascinated by numerology. Not only did he study various numbers and their meanings, but he also looked at how (and why) our culture was (and still is) fascinated with numbers.
11 represents spiraling twin strands of human DNA moving into higher frequency of consciousness.
11 represents balance.
11+11=22=4=Time. 22 is a Master or Alchemic Number.
Some souls see a Golden Age emerging, as told by the ancient prophets. Gold refers to Alchemy , the alchemical changes that are taking place in our bodies in the evolution of consciousness.
Reality as a geometric design is based on numbers (universal language) that repeat in cycles to create the linear time experiment. In Pythagorean Numerolgy, a cycle is based on 9. 9 = End. 9/11 = end of the DNA biogen(et)ic program running at the moment.
We all have one or more numeric codes that follow the blueprint of Sacred Geometry. It is about the spirals of consciousness, Fibonacci Numbers, the Golden Spiral, also found in perfection, in the exact proportions in the Great Pyramid . We all have one or more numeric codes that follow the blueprint of Sacred Geometry. It is about the spirals of consciousness, Fibonacci Numbers, the Golden Spiral, also found in perfection, in the exact proportions in the Great Pyramid .
Most digital codes that evoke memory are double digits or countdowns such as 1, 2, 3, 4 ,5 or 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, which goes to Zero Point Merge
You will experience a sudden awakening after which reality is never the same. You are going to create clarity, healing and balance for yourself. Do not expect others in your life to be on this journey with you. It is yours alone as it is for most souls. You will have to seek new friends of like mind who are also being triggered by the digits. Once you open the Digital Door, there is no going back. Your soul will automatically and quickly move you from level to level of experience until you ‘get it’. Your consciousness is expanding and therefore you will, manifest faster and with greater comprehension, becoming more aware of the meaning of synchronicities that will become more and more frequent. They are created by your soul creates to help you remember that you are a soul spark in a physical program that is about to end, evolve back to higher consciousness.
Once you see your numeric codes, you have activated something in your DNA codes and they will continue to appear until you ‘get the message’ … it is ‘time’ to move on.
Upon seeing your digit encoded numbers, you may feel a sense of urgency or related emotions. Chill out! For NOW there is TIME!
The numbers usually signal changes in the patterns of your life.
They may confirm something that you are experiencing whenever the numbers appear to you.
You may dream also about the numbers, linked with things you do not as yet understand, or wake up at the same time every night with those numbers on your digital clock, ie. 11:11
Paranormailist Uri Geller on 11:11
The Doorway, The 11: 11
This can presently be perceived as a crack between two worlds.
As we unite together as One, bringing together our fragments of the key, we not only create the key, but we make visible the Doorway.It is like a bridge which has the inherent potential of linking together two very different spirals of energy.
As we unite together as One, bringing together our fragments of the key, we not only create the key, but we make visible the Doorway.
Thus this bridge functions as an invisible door or a doorway into the Invisible realm.
The 11:11 is the bridge to an entirely different spiral of evolution.
The symbol of 11:11 was pre-encoded into our cellular memory banks long ago.
The 11:11 is the bridge to an entirely different spiral of evolution.
The symbol of 11:11 was pre-encoded into our cellular memory banks long ago.
Returning our cycle of incarnations upon the Earth. The 11.11 has rested dormantly within us since that faraway position under time-release mechanization, combined with sealed orders which would only open when the 11.11 was fully activated. It has been gently sleeping, awaiting the moment of triggering. And now the 11:11 is finally activated…
11:11 is the pre-encoded trigger and the key to the mysteries of the universe and beyond.
Some of you have recognized this symbol as something of significance, yet have been unaware of its true meaning. With the advent of digital clocks many years ago, the significance of 11:11 began to make itself felt, often appearing on clocks at times of accelerated awareness. For those of you who have know that 11:11 was something special, we now need you to come forth into positions of leadership. For you are important parts of the key.
11 isn’t just a precursor to danger etc – it’s the whole point! 1+1 = 2 – unity, togetherness, peace. September 11 was a tragic event – no-one would question that – but if it leads to people realizing that the only way for this race to survive is togetherness and peace, maybe those deaths will not be in vain.
Number Sequences From The Angels
by Doreen Virtue, Ph.D.
The angels do their best to get our attention and to communicate with us. In this way, they help us heal our own lives. However, we often discount the signs they give us, writing them off as mere The angels do their best to get our attention and to communicate with us. In this way, they help us heal our own lives. However, we often discount the signs they give us, writing them off as mere coincidences or our imagination. The angels say: “We can’t write our messages to you in the sky. You’ve got to pay attention and believe when you see any patterns forming in your life — especially in response to any questions or prayers you’ve posed. When you hear the same song repeatedly or see the same number sequence, who do you think is behind this?coincidences or our imagination. The angels say: “We can’t write our messages to you in the sky. You’ve got to pay attention and believe when you see any patterns forming in your life — especially in response to any questions or prayers you’ve posed. When you hear the same song repeatedly or see the same number sequence, who do you think is behind this? Your angels, of course!”
Your angels often communicate messages to you by showing you sequences of numbers. They do this in two ways. First, they subtly whisper in your ear so you’ll look up in time to notice the clock’s time or a phone number on a billboard. The angels hope you’ll be aware that you’re seeing this same number sequence repeatedly. For instance, you may frequently see the number sequence 111, and it seems every time you look at a clock the time reads 1:11 or 11:11.
The second way in which angels show you meaningful number sequences is by physically arranging for, say, a car to drive in front of you that has a specific license plate number they want you to see. Those who are aware of this phenomenon become adept at reading the meaning of various license plates. In this way, the angels will actually give you detailed messages. Here are the basic meanings of various number sequences. However, your own angels will tell you if your situation holds a different meaning for you. Ask your angels, “What are you trying to tell me?” and they’ll happily give you additional information to help decode their numeric meanings.
111 — Monitor your thoughts carefully, and be sure to only think about what you want, not what you don’t want. This sequence is a sign that there is a gate of opportunity opening up, and your thoughts are manifesting into form at record speeds. The 111 is like the bright light of a flash bulb. It means the universe has just taken a snapshot of your thoughts and is manifesting them into form. Are you pleased with what thoughts the universe has captured? If not, correct your thoughts (ask your angels to help you with this if you have difficulty controlling or monitoring your thoughts).
222 — Our newly planted ideas are beginning to grow into reality. Keep watering and nurturing them, and soon they will push through the soil so you can see evidence of your manifestation. In other words, don’t quit five minutes before the miracle. Your manifestation is soon going to be evident to you, so keep up the good work! Keep holding positive thoughts, keep affirming, and continue visualizing.
333 — The Ascended Masters are near you, desiring you to know that you have their help, love, and companionship. Call upon the Ascended Masters often, especially when you see the number 3 patterns around you. Some of the more famous Ascended Masters include: Jesus, Moses, Mary, Quan Yin, and Yogananda.
444 — The angels are surrounding you now, reassuring you of their love and help. Don’t worry because the angels’ help is nearby.
555 — Buckle your seatbelts. A major life change is upon you. This change should not be viewed as being “positive” or “negative,” since all change is but a natural part of life’s flow. Perhaps this change is an answer to your prayers, so continue seeing and feeling yourself being at peace.
666 — Your thoughts are out of balance right now, focused too much on the material world. This number sequence asks you to balance your thoughts between heaven and earth. Like the famous “Sermon on the Mount,” the angels ask you to focus on spirit and service, and know your material and emotional needs will automatically be met as a result.
777 — The angels applaud you…congratulations, you’re on a roll! Keep up the good work and know your wish is coming true. This is an extremely positive sign and means you should also expect more miracles to occur.
888 — A phase of your life is about to end, and this is a sign to give you forewarning to prepare. This number sequence may mean you are winding up an emotional career, or relationship phase. It also means there is light at the end of the tunnel. In addition, it means, “The crops are ripe. Don’t wait to pick and enjoy them.” In other words, don’t procrastinate making your move or enjoying 999 — Completion. This is the end of a big phase in your personal or global life. Also, it is a message to lightworkers involved in Earth healing and means, "Get to work because Mother Earth needs you right now."fruits of your labor.
999 — Completion. This is the end of a big phase in your personal or global life. Also, it is a message to lightworkers involved in Earth healing and means, “Get to work because Mother Earth needs you right now.”
000 — A reminder you are one with God, and to feel the presence of your Creator’s love within you. Also, it is a sign that a situation has gone full circle.
source
George Barnard’s 11:11 Theory
Essentially, George Barnard explains that 11:11 is the calling card for brings that are half angels and half humans. 1,111 were the ones left faithful the the Divine after rebellion and throughout the centuries their numbers have increased. They bring a message to humanity. When these beings are around, try to watch for them messing up electricity at the same time you see the numbers. They come in and out to this dimension very fast. The book that first identified these beings is the Urantia book.
In his decades of research, these beings have identified themselves with their individual names. Why do they contact you?
George’s theory:
Well we only have theories on this. They have not yet explained who they pick. It could be as simple as:
because they can prompt you, and others are not receptive. It does seem that most contactees have excellent latent psychic abilities. This follows – if they can trigger your brain to look somewhere, or at a clock at the right time, then they can impress a wider range of thoughts into your mind too.
or because you have unique skills or abilities that they would like to utilize
or because you are either already in an important role, or will be in an important role. We are not suggesting you are running the country, but you might be a teacher, or a painter, or a musician – someone who will influence many people. The Correcting Time will be a time when orthodoxy fails, and folks will be looking for answers. And they will be fearful. They will need reassurance. You may thus be the leading edge – the early adopters of new paradigms.
Their courtesy call is an invitation to raise awareness that spirit need to progress.
source
The Nature of Synchronicity
by Scott Rabalais
Patience is good. Synchronicity is better. Patience can be defined as bearing or enduring without complaint. It is the act of “giving time” to that which will come to fruition. It is the hope of things to come.
Note that patience implies the waiting game, that is, “I don’t have it now, but with time it will come to me.” For example, suppose I have plans to work in my garden this morning. However, a storm has appeared and the weather prohibits me from tending to the garden. I can say to myself, “I will be patient and in due time I will be able to work in my garden.” And wait I will. And I can easily become anxious, as I sit and watch the weather pass by, waiting, waiting and waiting furthermore.
On the other hand, synchronicity is that which knows no waiting or enduring. It recognizes that all is complete in the moment. It provides all in this very moment. It knows there is a perfect time and place for all, and one who experiences synchronicity knows of the harmony between the person and the completeness of the moment. One in synchronicity is not waiting for the rain to stop so that the garden may be tilled, but instead appreciates the rain in all its splendor, along with the situation that it creates in the moment.
Instead of tending to the garden, the fall of the rain may give me reason to sit down a write a letter to an old friend. So rather than focusing on what could be done, I instead focus on that which is in the moment and what is given to me irrespective of my plans or wishes.
From a separation consciousness point of view, patience is that which fills the chasm of time. From the position of now, I project that I want something to occur that is currently in the position of later. There is a chasm — between the present and the future. That is the “reality” of time that we create in our heads, and yet time is not real. Or, it is real only so far as we construct it out of our separation consciousness.
Synchronicity works in the now and only in the now. It is the result of full acceptance and allowance of life and its quality of flow. It is born from the stillness of the mind, in listening to that which is brought to us by the universe. It is the natural flow of life, irrespective of our conditioning, our wants and our plans. When we drop the thinking, that which is beyond thought is allowed to manifest itself in our experience. And the quality of such manifestation is Perfection, is synchronistic and is divine. It's getting out of the way for The Way.Synchronicity works in the now and only in the now. It is the result of full acceptance and allowance of life and its quality of flow. It is born from the stillness of the mind, in listening to that which is brought to us by the universe. It is the natural flow of life, irrespective of our conditioning, our wants and our plans. When we drop the thinking, that which is beyond thought is allowed to manifest itself in our experience. And the quality of such manifestation is Perfection, is synchronistic and is divine. It’s getting out of the way for The Way.
Synchronicity is the essence of unity consciousness, a quality of the natural flow of life. The flower blooms in perfect synchronicity with the natural elements of the sun, the water, the wind and the soil. It does hope to bloom in the winter, nor does does it have plans or wishes to bloom during the cold months. Instead, it lives in a synchronistic relationship with all elements in its experience and grows when it is best for it to be supported by the elements, and vice versa. It blooms at its perfect time, in harmony with that which surrounds it and interrelates with it.
Patience is waiting. How can one be complete if one is waiting for that which is not yet evident? Even patient waiting is waiting. Like the passenger in the train station awaiting the arrival of his train, he may be on the constant outlook for the appearance of the train down the tracks. In his constant glances down the track, he is anxious and in desire of that which is not yet in his experiential field. Instead, he may have a seat on a station bench, taking pleasure in watching lilies sway in the field across the tracks. And as he does so, lo and behold, the train will come into his awareness in its own time. And it is in that moment he can bring his awareness to the arrival of the train. It is in the moment.
Synchronicity is a gift of the universe, available to use in every moment. It is the subtle and sweet music of existence that we can hear if we only listen. If we attend only to the clamoring of our minds, we will be unable to manifest the harmonious flow of synchronicity from unity consciousness. Our dance to this synchronistic flow is experiential ecstasy. It is the effortless dance of the of the self with the universe.
in5d.com/1111-synchronicity-repetitive-numbers-and-their-...
Top left: A corniform above a rectangle, with four thin lines stretching away as if the legs of a cow. This may be an attempt to add detail to the description of cow, or a visual description of a raw-hide pelt being stretched. An alternative might be that the rectangular body is a hut with the 'legs' as tethering ropes and the horns are entrance fencing delimiting and protecting from wind and sun - a 'farmyard' work area.
Top right: one of Mont Bégo's most enigmatic petroglyphs comes from Fontanalba's 'Voie Sacrée' and seems to defy analysis. The lines are thought through, and with so much lifestyle description assigned to the Mont Bégo petroglyphs, one feels that there must be a slot for the image in a pastoral context: Stretching leather? A hut with guide ropes? And so on. One of the problems here is the 'boundary line' that goes through the design and appears to be part of the image rather than a superimposition.
Possible explanations:
1. A fridge. There is a simple mountain structure of the Pyrenees called a 'houn'. Here, a cold spring of mountain water flows through a dark stone hut, and any heat inside is transferred to the flowing water. Naturally, the environment inside the hut becomes cold enough to preserve milk products, often as they are assembled prior to transformation into curd, butter and cheese. The principle of heat transfer is similar to that at the back of a fridge and indeed 'houns' are archaic fridges. The pilgrims of Mont Bégo had cows in their lifestyle and transforming their milk into cheese would be within the date range. Just such a proto-houn might assure quantities necessary for cheese production during hot periods, and the stone steps or ledges aside the directed spring water may be pictured here covered by a stretch of taught leather attached to two long poles.
2. A ceremonial space. It seems safe to say that Mont Bégo's largely Bronze age population were walking into the barren non agricultural zone around Mont Bégo to show the mystical mountain the proud qualities of their life and culture - in effect asking for blessing and 'dialogue'. Today we see the zone's favoured rock surfaces ornamented with a diverse array of schematic images. With the weather shutting down the area for seasons of snow and storms, it becomes possible to suspect that there was a preferred period of pilgrimage - lets say at the time of the golden larch trees around October. Tools and people might all wish to be 'seen' and blessed and one of the mankind's traditional means of blessing is with water. Might this be the image of a temporary shrine for seasonal pilgrims? Here the image may be of a natural spring directed into a ditch and made to pass through a very simple roofed building. It is possible that there are two long poles and that an attempt was made to describe 'uprights' - here drawn vastly before the rules of perspective as flattened right angles. Flat representations of dimension can be verified from an Iron age site to the north (rock 23 Naquane) which depicts an early cart and as the wheels are easy to identify and less ambiguous than straight lines, the principle of 'flat' depiction of height is observed. With this interpretation, the roof is held-up by six posts aside a second smaller building, away from the stream, which would in turn be held up by four posts.
With 'pilgrims' leaving very little outside of the petroglyphs, there is also a possibility that a sacred water spring was located away from Mont Bégo, and that the element was in truth as far away as the described field systems and tools and simply 'taken' to the sacred site as an image idea. Tools, children, young animals might all have been offered sacred water aside rites and ritual.
3. Tanning. Cattle can be used for reserves in extreme conditions, they can be used for their meat, they can be used for their manure (manure cob etc), they can be used for their horns (drinking goblets and measuring devices), and they can be used for their pelt - probably the largest readily available. A large pelt can be one trimmed cover without seams, or a source for multiple smaller products apt for the lifestyle of the whole clan. Leather cord, leather ornament, leather cloths, leather coverings and full leather covered huts can all be envisaged by crofters as they look after even a small number of domesticated cows.
I only saw a small selection of the petroglyphs of Mont Bégo, and in the literature there are discussions of subsets of glyphs that may show stretched pelts. With this image, the stretching, if that is the case, is not as one might expect. The classic image is of a hide stretched evenly on a frame or with multiple pegs (Roberto Rosselini recreated a prehistoric village for one of his films where the stretching leathers were integrated onto hut roofs). If huts were covered in leather, and many of the corniforms are in fact depictions of huts with fence 'farmyards', then cow leather will have been used at its maximum size. Tanning requires large quantities of water, a product (urine, salt solutions, lime) and plenty of repeated 'lissage'. Here a large pelt may have been made temporarily manageable for one 'tanner' by being temporarily sewn into a cylinder. Two long poles could thread through the cylinder and be pulled taught. With this interpretation a drainage ditch or 'rigole' passes under the pelt so that fresh water can constantly be scooped.
Here, the canal here would have been a straight line with a right angle and this does not seem immediately logical. I have seen drainage canals on mountain slopes doing just this. A spring feeds the ditch rather than making the field generally boggy. The ditch then cuts perpendicular across the slope, and in so doing, it catches additional ground water that can be riddling down the slope. Before it overflows the ditch turns back down the slope at an angle and drier pastoral land is preserved within.
Of the three options, the 'fridge' needs data on ancient cheese production in the area. The ceremonial holy spring needs data on this potential representation of vertical posts, and the tanning loop is weakened by depictions of central 'ropes' that seem difficult to explain.
Lower left. Hyperbolic horns, a square body shape, legs like guide ropes and an apparent 'farmyard' where there might be a tail, all suggest that the abstract form of a cow might have been employed as a hut archetype. My work on 'transport dragons' explains how pelts over frames might have helped man navigate the extremes of the ice age. That these mobile structures took on the character from fauna and myth is also to be expected. Culture is not genetic and can survive as a memory even after waves of migration. Sedentary populations holding onto the traditions of a collective consciousness may feel that it is quite natural for their practical huts to resemble an animal. Domestication also added the mind of man to the animal, and was a lifestyle that required constant training and reflection. The cow/hut symbol may have perfectly reflect this inter relation.
Lower right: The closest of the four images to the pelt of a cow - but there are still differences: the horns, the tail and even the general shape do not alight to an image of a pelt. The argument here is that the image is not descriptive but instead communicates the principles of 'cow', and this may well be the case. An alternative explanation may seem idiotic, but needs to be considered, and is that the square of the 'cows' body is once again a small building, but this time for the distribution of feed for young calves or winter hay, and that the legs and tails are calves feeding with their heads tucked into the building's sweet smelling feed, in what may have been at the time an amusing image from the cycle of life.
AJM 6.2.19.
On a new square by one of the old warehouses in the Copenhagen Harbour, 'Dahlerups Pakhus', the Danish professor Bjørn Nørgaard has created a sculpture group called 'The Genetically Modified Paradise'.
The square itself is formed in granit stone with a 400-square-meter fountain. In the fountain Bjørn Nørgaard's sculpture gives his provocative and humouristic view of the postmodern society.
In the centre is a 40 ton triumphal arc with a nine meter tall figure of a genetically modified Madonna. Around her are six other figures: Adam, Christ, Maria Magdalena, Eve, The Tripartite Capital and the Pregnant Man.
The last sculpture has moved into the water bassin on its own small island. This is the abovementioned Genetically Modified Little Mermaid and her location is only a few hundred meters from that of her 'older sister' the well-known Copenhagen landmark of The Little Mermaid.
I have been talking with a fascinating scientist who’s working on genetically-modified neurons to innervate the brain from a silicon substrate. The goal — connect prosthetics to the cranial nerves and eventually, replace all sensory input to the brain with a computer interface. Well… how complicated would this be? While the human brain has 86 billion neurons, he estimates that there are only 4 million cranial nerves to connect, and 3 million of them come from the retina (the color-coded photoreceptors).
Who might volunteer to have their head and spinal cord cut out of their body and their skull removed, to be reborn as a cyborg, fed by an ECMO machine? Many terminally ill cancer patients have not suffered a neurodegenerative disease. Their body will die while the mind is still ripe.
I do not believe we will be able to upload our consciousness to a silicon substate, as Ray Kurzweil has long predicted, at least not any time earlier than we will grow an AI that exceeds human intelligence. The brain in a vat is very different. A prosthetic hijacking of the interface to the sensory cortex is a much simpler task. The inscrutable complexity of the cortex remains just that. We just need to couple to the extant external interface to the body.
He makes it sound… imminent. While the sensory cortex is notable for its neuroplasticity, (the ability to remodel sensory input), can it be this dramatic — from body to borg?
I thought of the adage from Hunter S. Thompson that arose while watching a boxing match on an ether binger: “Kill the body and the head will die.”
Thanks to Genevieve being an MIT alumnus, I can get behind the paywall of the MIT Technology Review October issue on the Mind. Professor Lisa Feldman of Northeastern postulates a problem: “Your brain did not evolve to think, feel, and see. It evolved to regulate your body. Your thoughts, feelings, senses, and other mental capacities are consequences of that regulation. Since allostasis [regulation of body systems] is fundamental to everything you do and sense, consider what would happen if you didn’t have a body. A brain born in a vat would have no bodily systems to regulate. It would have no bodily sensations to make sense of. It could not construct value or affect. A disembodied brain would therefore not have a mind. I’m not saying that a mind requires an actual flesh-and-blood body, but I am suggesting that it requires something like a body, full of systems to coordinate efficiently in an ever-changing world. Your body is part of your mind—not in some gauzy, metaphorical way, but in a very real brain-wiring way.
Your thoughts and dreams, your emotions, even your experience right now as you read these words, are consequences of a central mission to keep you alive, regulating your body by constructing ad hoc categories. Most likely, you don’t experience your mind in this way, but under the hood (inside the skull), that’s what is happening.”
She elaborates, as you might assume: “When your brain remembers, it re-creates bits and pieces of the past and seamlessly combines them. We call this process ‘remembering,’ but it’s really assembling. In fact, your brain may construct the same memory (or, more accurately, what you experience as the same memory) in different ways each time. I’m not speaking here of the conscious experience of remembering something, like recalling your best friend’s face or yesterday’s dinner. I’m speaking of the automatic, unconscious process of looking at an object or a word and instantly knowing what it is. Every act of recognition is a construction. You don’t see with your eyes; you see with your brain. Likewise for all your other senses. Just as your memory is a construction, so are your senses. Everything you see, hear, smell, taste, and feel is the result of some combination of stuff outside and inside your head. Affect is just a quick summary of your brain’s beliefs about the metabolic state of your body, like a barometer reading of sorts.
Brains evolved to control bodies. Over evolutionary time, many animals evolved larger bodies with complex internal systems that needed coordination and control. A brain is sort of like a command center to integrate and coordinate those systems. It shuttles necessary resources like water, salt, glucose, and oxygen where and when they are needed. This regulation is called allostasis; it involves anticipating the body’s needs and attempting to meet them before they arise. If your brain does its job well, then through allostasis, the systems of your body get what they need most of the time.
To accomplish this critical metabolic balancing act, your brain maintains a model of your body in the world. The model includes conscious stuff, like what you see, think, and feel; actions you perform without thought, like walking; and unconscious stuff outside your awareness. For example, your brain models your body temperature. This model governs your awareness of being warm or cold, automatic acts like wandering into the shade, and unconscious processes like changing your blood flow and opening your pores. In every moment, your brain guesses (on the basis of past experience and sense data) what might happen next inside and outside your body, moves resources around, launches your actions, creates your sensations, and updates its model. This model is your mind, and allostasis is at its core.”
Anil Seth from the University of Sussex phrases it more strongly in Our brains exist in a state of controlled hallucination: “The brain is always constructing models of the world to explain and predict incoming information; it updates these models when prediction and the experience we get from our sensory inputs diverge.
The entirety of perceptual experience is a neuronal fantasy that remains yoked to the world through a continuous making and remaking of perceptual best guesses, of controlled hallucinations. You could even say that we’re all hallucinating all the time. It’s just that when we agree about our hallucinations, that’s what we call reality.”
P.S. photo above is a movie prop from Robocop 2
The offspring from this illicit union between angels and human women were giants who “became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.” (Genesis 6) The fact that they were giants, is also proof in and of itself that their parentage was superhuman. But these giants were evil. Having been born of corrupted, Satanic angels they dominated the Earth and filled it with violence. It is also interesting to note that the Bible calls them “men of renown.” The Hebrew word here, shem, refers to being famous and legendary. It is as if the Bible is indicating that when the reader hears of legends of “demigods”, titans or legendary heroes who were part god, that this is who those “myths” were referring to. These were ‘men’ of superhuman ability and strength. In addition to causing violence and sin in the world, the Nephilim were also corrupting the human bloodline.
The Nephilim giants spread violence and sin that: “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Humanity was on the verge of being wiped out with no hope of being saved from sin if every person born became part fallen angel. Thus God judged the Earth with the flood.
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise
thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel… - Gen. 3:15 (KJV)
The word seed, in this above verse, means “semen virile;” hence “offspring,” “posterity,” and “descendants.”[2] We know there were groups of human beings with truly human blood: Adam, the Adamites, and other pre-Adamites. We also know there had begun to be offspring on the earth with mixed
blood - those with blood of the Serpent (such as Cain). We’ll now discover there would be more crossbred-offspring - via these fallen angels, as well; and we’ll discover what it all would mean to the Genesis 3:15
Prophecy.
To begin, the mixing of human and fallen angelic blood was not in God’s plan for the human race, as far as “kind after kind.” There would be entirely new groups of people emerging.What was so wrong with the mixing of humans and Nephilim, other than this? First off, we’ve already mentioned that these crossbred offspring weren’t really meant for this earth. The reason? A number of genetic disturbances developed because of it. Some of these mixed offspring could have turned out normally - similar to other human beings; many others did not. There were a number of those either
much bigger or smaller than their human counterparts.Many were giants, physical giants: On the earth there once were giants.- Homer (circa 400 B. C.)[20]
The ancient genomes, one from a Neanderthal and one from a different archaic human group, the Denisovans, were presented on 18 November at a meeting at the Royal Society in London. They suggest that interbreeding went on between the members of several ancient human-like groups living in Europe and Asia more than 30,000 years ago, including an as-yet unknown human ancestor from Asia.
“What it begins to suggest is that we’re looking at a ‘Lord of the Rings’-type world — that there were many hominid populations,” says Mark Thomas, an evolutionary geneticist at University College London who was at the meeting but was not involved in the work.
The first Neanderthal and the Denisovan genome sequences revolutionized the study of ancient human history, not least because they showed that these groups interbred with anatomically modern humans, contributing to the genetic diversity of many people alive today.
All humans whose ancestry originates outside of Africa owe about 2% of their genome to Neanderthals; and certain populations living in Oceania, such as Papua New Guineans and Australian Aboriginals, got about 4% of their DNA from interbreeding between their ancestors and Denisovans, who are named after the cave in Siberia’s Altai Mountains where they were discovered. The cave contains remains deposited there between 30,000 and 50,000 years ago.
Those conclusions however were based on low-quality genome sequences, riddled with errors and full of gaps, David Reich, an evolutionary geneticist at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts said at the meeting. His team, in collaboration with Svante Pääbo at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, have now produced much more complete versions of the Denisovan and Neanderthal genomes — matching the quality of contemporary human genomes. The high-quality Denisovan genome data and new Neanderthal genome both come from bones recovered from Denisova Cave.
The new Denisovan genome indicates that this enigmatic population got around: Reich said at the meeting that they interbred with Neanderthals and with the ancestors of human populations that now live in China and other parts of East Asia, in addition to Oceanic populations, as his team previously reported. Most surprisingly, Reich said, the new genomes indicate that Denisovans interbred with another extinct population of archaic humans that lived in Asia more than 30,000 years ago, which is neither human nor Neanderthal.
The meeting was abuzz with conjecture about the identity of this potentially new population of humans. “We don’t have the faintest idea,” says Chris Stringer, a paleoanthropologist at the London Natural History Museum, who was not involved in the work. He speculates that the population could be related to Homo heidelbergensis, a species that left Africa around half a million years ago and later gave rise to Neanderthals in Europe. “Perhaps it lived on in Asia as well,” Stringer says.
The earliest known Egyptian pyramid is the Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara. It was built during the third dynasty, 2630-2611 BC and the pyramid and its surrounding complex are said to have been designed by Imhotep. Not the scary figure from the Mummy-movies but the architect and vizier of pharaoh Djoser. Imhotep was skilled in all areas of administration and royal enterprises and he was also a priest, writer, a doctor and the founder of the Egyptian studies of astronomy and architecture. Imhotep was also seen as a god, the God of Healing, and he was called the son of Ptah. Ptah was one of five major Egyptian gods with Re, Isis, Osiris and Amun. The name Imhotep means "the one that comes in peace" but where he came from is unknown. From statues of him we can see that he had Caucasian features and the long head of the pharaohs even if he was not a pharaoh.
Djoser's mummy has not been found, but what is remarkable about his pyramid is all the storage rooms plus a large maze of corridors and chambers dug beneath it. Massive amounts of seeds like wheat, barley, grape, tomato and figs - along with 40.000 storage vessels has been found so far. Egyptologists claim this to be for the king's afterlife but would he need such a large amount of seeds in a theological heaven?
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, made by the government of Norway deep inside a mountain on the remote and cold island of Svalbard, is a "doomsday" seed bank that stores backup copies of millions of different crop varieties in case of a worldwide catastrophe. Is it possible that also all the seeds in Djoser's storage rooms were meant to be in case of catastrophe - to restart the Egyptian civilisation?
Imhotep diagnosed and treated over 200 diseases; he performed surgery and practiced some dentistry. He has a remarkable degree of medical knowledge. The prescriptions in his ancient documents not only can compare with pharmaceutical preparations of today but many of the remedies also had therapeutic merit, Yes, many of his ancient remedies survived into the 20th century and some remain in
Akenaten.Semen and ejaculation are actually a strong part of ancient Egyptian god myths: there's an extended episode in which Set and Horus, two male gods, have what's essentially a semen-battle. Set tries to seduce Horus, but Horus throws Set's semen in the river, and then tricks him into eating lettuce smeared with Horus's semen. When the other gods try to figure out who "won" this particular fight, they summon both bits of sperm, and Horus wins, because he got Set to "swallow". Horus's semen becomes a lovely gold disc of shame around Set's head.The Horus and Seth story ends with the father, Osiris, declaring his son, Horus, his legitimate heir. Seth is brought as a bound prisoner, a game that was played by post-pubescent boys, and Isis closes the ceremony with a declaration of Horus’s new identity.
Hathor’s role in the Horus and Seth story may be that of the female entertainer, because, at a time when Pre Harakhty was sulking “she uncovered her nakedness before him, thereupon the great god laughed at her.” Literally, she ‘uncovered her vagina’, and judging from the lion’s flank determinative, she exposed her vagina by bending forward, a popular pose among the relatively few pornographic pictures we have from ancient Egypt. The way the words are written, the sexual act is implied, but not expressly stated. The sun-god nevertheless emerges from his depression with satisfaction. Perhaps someone can come up with another example where laughter is a euphemism for orgasm.
The point here is that Hathor used her sexuality here not for reproduction, but for entertainment, or, perhaps healing, in the sense of curing a depression
Did Imhotep also have knowledge of genetics? Is it possible that he with his superior medical skills tried to restore the pharaoh's dwindling power and knowledge? Had interbreeding with local people changed the divine pharaohs mental capacities, did their long skulls get shorter and shorter and the brain capacities smaller and smaller? Did he try to recreate the former race that once had come from the north - the race that he himself most probably had inherited his impressive brain capacities from? Is that why the pharaoh Akenaten not only had a long skull but also female features like breasts and a wide hip? And Akenaten's daughters had even longer skulls and that his son Tutankhamun's DNA (from his mummy) has revealed that he was not an Egyptian but had come from the north?
Denisovans are the famous Nephilim?
back
The world, thanks to Cain and the Serpent, was now on the slow pathway to self-destruction. We also know Cain, through his “ways,” was doing the exact opposite that God had planned for him. Adam had fallen a long time before this. The whole working world of the Garden had forever changed. The other fallen, corporeal angels of the Garden probably felt vindicated, at least in their minds. Cain began to influence the developing societies around him with these anti-God religious beliefs. Cain, the Serpent, and now these other fallen angels were being held in high regard - for their “other worldly” knowledge. This would, eventually, give them their “bargaining chips,” to get themselves whatever they wanted.
The rest of the fallen angels, also known as the Nephilim, wanted their place in this post-Adamic world.
The power grid had changed; and these fallen angels aimed to keep it that way. We recall the prophecy, as stated by God to the Serpent: Here we finally arrive at the Nephilimas a means of addressing the genetic evidence that the effective human population never dropped below a few thousand.27 Genesis 6 is the enigmatic story leading up to Noah’s flood,
in which the “sons of God” found the “daughters of
men” to be beautiful and took them as wives. These
unions were an anathema to God, and the offspring
are identifi ed with their own name, the Nephilim,
of which some became known as “mighty men” or
“men of renown.” There are three common explanations
offered: angels marrying human women, noblemen or tyrant rulers marrying commoners, or the righteous line of Seth intermarrying with the unrighteous line of Cain.28 Substantive objections can be raised for each of these arguments. Angels intermarrying with humans fails because Christ explicitly
stated that angels neither marry nor are given in
marriage (Mark 12).29 Noblemen intermarrying with
commoners is a stretch because this would not have
been objectionable to God, and would not have produced
offspring with any unusual physical attributes.
www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/19/ancient-humans-sex-myst...
This is one of my final pieces for A2 art and is a face which has been created by overlaying 11 people from my sixth form [male and female] It creates some strange androgynous face that no one could recognise, yet they could see someone in it
Photo from my private photoshoot at Sakura-con 2016 with Buneary Cosplay as Amber Sweets from Repo! The Genetic Opera.
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Explore #272
Red pandas are not closely related to giant pandas. Although previously placed in the raccoon and bear families, genetic research shows them to be most closely related to the weasel family (weasels, otters, badgers, etc.).
They are native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China but are threatened by habitat loss and poaching, with the wild population estimated at less than 10,000. Red pandas feed mainly on bamboo, but also eat eggs, birds, insects, and small mammals. They are solitary and are mainly active from dusk to dawn.
The cell imagery on the left was inspired by a page out of one of my mom's medical books from the 60s. (AVAILABLE)
The Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) is a fascinating species known for its spectacular annual migration and vibrant orange and black wings. Its evolution and history can be traced back millions of years, and its story encompasses adaptations, ecological relationships, and conservation challenges.
The evolutionary history of the Monarch butterfly begins in the Late Cretaceous period, approximately 90 million years ago. Fossil evidence suggests that ancient ancestors of the Monarch belonged to a diverse group of butterflies called the Nymphalidae family. Over time, these butterflies evolved and diversified, eventually giving rise to the genus Danaus, which includes the Monarch.
The Monarch butterfly we know today likely emerged around two million years ago. It is believed to have originated in the Americas, with its range extending from southern Canada down to South America. This widespread distribution allowed for genetic diversity and the development of different populations with unique adaptations.
One of the most remarkable aspects of the Monarch's life cycle is its long-distance migration. In the late summer and early fall, Monarchs from the eastern and northeastern parts of North America embark on an incredible journey spanning thousands of miles to overwintering sites in central Mexico. Western populations of Monarchs in North America migrate to the California coast for the winter. These migrations are driven by seasonal changes, photoperiod cues, and a complex interplay of genetic and environmental factors.
During the migration, Monarchs rely on nectar-rich flowers as a source of energy. They also require milkweed plants (Asclepias spp.) as their larval host plants. Monarch caterpillars exclusively feed on milkweed leaves, which contain toxins called cardiac glycosides. Through a process known as sequestration, Monarchs store these toxins in their bodies, making them unpalatable to many predators.
The relationship between Monarchs and milkweed is a critical ecological link. Monarchs lay their eggs on milkweed plants, and the toxins in the leaves protect the caterpillars and adult butterflies from predation. Additionally, milkweed serves as a habitat and a food source for other insect species, making it an important part of many ecosystems.
In recent years, Monarch populations have faced numerous challenges. Habitat loss due to urbanization, agriculture, and the use of herbicides has significantly reduced milkweed availability. Climate change and extreme weather events also impact the butterflies' breeding and migratory patterns. Furthermore, illegal logging in the overwintering sites in Mexico and the loss of forest cover pose additional threats to their survival.
To address these conservation concerns, efforts have been made to protect and restore Monarch habitat. Organizations and individuals work to establish milkweed corridors, plant native flowers, and promote sustainable land management practices. International cooperation has been crucial in protecting the overwintering sites, including establishing biosphere reserves and promoting ecotourism to support local communities.
Understanding the Monarch butterfly's evolution and history provides insights into the intricate web of life and the importance of preserving biodiversity. By conserving Monarchs and their habitats, we not only protect a remarkable species but also contribute to the well-being of entire ecosystems and the delicate balance of nature.
In North America, monarchs migrate both north and south on an annual basis, making long-distance journeys that are fraught with risks. This is a multi-generational migration, with individual monarchs only making part of the full journey. The population east of the Rocky Mountains attempts to migrate to the sanctuaries of the Mariposa Monarca Biosphere Reserve in the Mexican state of Michoacán and parts of Florida. The western population tries to reach overwintering destinations in various coastal sites in central and southern California. The overwintered population of those east of the Rockies may reach as far north as Texas and Oklahoma during the spring migration. The second, third, and fourth generations return to their northern locations in the United States and Canada in the spring.
Captive-raised monarchs appear capable of migrating to overwintering sites in Mexico, though they have a much lower migratory success rate than do wild monarchs (see section on captive-rearing below). Monarch overwintering sites have been discovered recently in Arizona. Monarchs from the eastern US generally migrate longer distances than monarchs from the western US.
Since the 1800s, monarchs have spread throughout the world, and there are now many non-migratory populations globally.
Flight speeds of adults are around 9 km/h (6 mph).
In both caterpillar and butterfly form, monarchs are aposematic, warding off predators with a bright display of contrasting colors to warn potential predators of their undesirable taste and poisonous characteristics. One monarch researcher emphasizes that predation on eggs, larvae or adults is natural, since monarchs are part of the food chain, thus people should not take steps to kill predators of monarchs.
Larvae feed exclusively on milkweed and consume protective cardiac glycosides. Toxin levels in Asclepias species vary. Not all monarchs are unpalatable, but exhibit Batesian or automimics. Cardiac glycosides levels are higher in the abdomen and wings. Some predators can differentiate between these parts and consume the most palatable ones.
Butterfly weed (A. tuberosa) lacks significant amounts of cardiac glycosides (cardenolides), but instead contains other types of toxic glycosides, including pregnanes. This difference may reduce the toxicity of monarchs whose larvae feed on that milkweed species and affect the butterfly's breeding choices, as a naturalist and others have reported that egg-laying monarchs do not favor the plant. Some other milkweeds have similar characteristics.
Types of predators
While monarchs have a wide range of natural predators, none of these is suspected of causing harm to the overall population, or are the cause of the long-term declines in winter colony sizes.
Several species of birds have acquired methods that allow them to ingest monarchs without experiencing the ill effects associated with the cardiac glycosides (cardenolides). The black-backed oriole is able to eat the monarch through an exaptation of its feeding behavior that gives it the ability to identify cardenolides by taste and reject them. The black-headed grosbeak, though, has developed an insensitivity to secondary plant poisons that allows it to ingest monarchs without vomiting. As a result, these orioles and grosbeaks periodically have high levels of cardenolides in their bodies, and they are forced to go on periods of reduced monarch consumption. This cycle effectively reduces potential predation of monarchs by 50% and indicates that monarch aposematism has a legitimate purpose. The black-headed grosbeak has also evolved resistance mutations in the molecular target of the heart poisons, the sodium pump. The specific mutations that evolved in one of the grosbeak's four copies of the sodium pump gene are the same as those found in some rodents that have also evolved to resist cardiac glycosides. Known bird predators include brown thrashers, grackles, robins, cardinals, sparrows, scrub jays, and pinyon jays.
The monarch's white morph appeared in Oahu after the 1965–1966 introduction of two bulbul bird species, Pycnonotus cafer and Pycnonotus jocosus. These are now the most common avian insectivores in Hawaii, and probably the only ones that eat insects as large as monarchs. Although Hawaiian monarchs have low cardiac glycoside levels, the birds may also be tolerant of that toxin. The two species hunt the larvae and some pupae from the branches and undersides of leaves in milkweed bushes. The bulbuls also eat resting and ovipositing adults, but rarely flying ones. Because of its color, the white morph has a higher survival rate than the orange one. This is either because of apostatic selection (i.e., the birds have learned the orange monarchs can be eaten), because of camouflage (the white morph matches the white pubescence of milkweed or the patches of light shining through foliage), or because the white morph does not fit the bird's search image of a typical monarch, so is thus avoided.
Some mice, particularly the black-eared mouse (Peromyscus melanotis), are, like all rodents, able to tolerate large doses of cardenolides and are able to eat monarchs. Overwintering adults become less toxic over time making them more vulnerable to predators. In Mexico, about 14% of the overwintering monarchs are eaten by birds and mice and black-eared mice can eat up to 40 monarchs per night.
In North America, eggs and first-instar larvae of the monarch are eaten by larvae and adults of the introduced Asian lady beetle (Harmonia axyridis). The Chinese mantis (Tenodera sinensis) will consume the larvae once the gut is removed thus avoiding cardenolides. Predatory wasps commonly consume larvae. Many Hemipteran bugs including predatory stink bugs in the subfamily Asopinae and assassin bugs in family Reduviidae eat monarchs. Larvae can sometimes avoid predation by dropping from the plant or by jerking their bodies.
Parasitoids, including tachinid flies and braconid wasps develop inside the monarch larvae eventually killing it and emerging from the larvae or pupa. Non-insect parasites and infectious diseases (pathogens) also kill monarchs.
1) Fourth-instar monarch larvae killed and being consumed by a stink (shield) bug. 2) Mature fifth instar larvae jerks to dislodge a large milkweed bug (a herbivore). 3) Fourth-instar larvae killed by insect parasitoids, non-insect parasites or a pathogen.
Aposematism
Chemical structure of oleandrin, one of the cardiac glycosides
Monarchs are toxic and foul-tasting because of the presence of cardenolides in their bodies, which the caterpillars ingest as they feed on milkweed. Monarchs and other cardenolide-resistant insects rely on a resistant form of the Na+/ K+-ATPase enzyme to tolerate significantly higher concentrations of cardenolides than nonresistant species. By ingesting a large amount of plants in the genus Asclepias, primarily milkweed, monarch caterpillars are able to sequester cardiac glycosides, or more specifically cardenolides, which are steroids that act in heart-arresting ways similar to digitalis. It has been found that monarchs are able to sequester cardenolides most effectively from plants of intermediate cardenolide content rather than those of high or low content. Three mutations that evolved in the monarch's Na+/ K+-ATPase were found to be sufficient together to confer resistance to dietary cardiac glycosides. This was tested by swapping these mutations into the same gene in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster using CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing. These fruit flies-turned monarch flies were completely resistant to dietary ouabain, a cardiac glycoside found in Apocynaceae, and even sequestered some through metamorphosis, like the monarch.
Different species of milkweed have different effects on growth, virulence, and transmission of parasites. One species, Asclepias curassavica, appears to reduce the symptoms of Ophryocystis elektroscirrha (OE) infection. The two possible explanations for this include that it promotes overall monarch health to boost the monarch's immune system or that chemicals from the plant have a direct negative effect on the OE parasites. A. curassavica does not cure or prevent the infection with OE; it merely allows infected monarchs to live longer, and this would allow infected monarchs to spread the OE spores for longer periods. For the average home butterfly garden, this scenario only adds more OE to the local population.
After the caterpillar becomes a butterfly, the toxins shift to different parts of the body. Since many birds attack the wings of the butterfly, having three times the cardiac glycosides in the wings leaves predators with a very foul taste and may prevent them from ever ingesting the body of the butterfly. To combat predators that remove the wings only to ingest the abdomen, monarchs keep the most potent cardiac glycosides in their abdomens.
Mimicry
Monarchs share the defense of noxious taste with the similar-appearing viceroy butterfly in what is perhaps one of the most well-known examples of mimicry. Though long purported to be an example of Batesian mimicry, the viceroy is actually more unpalatable than the monarch, making this a case of Müllerian mimicry.
Human interaction
The monarch is the state insect of Alabama, Idaho, Illinois, Minnesota, Texas, Vermont, and West Virginia. Legislation was introduced to make it the national insect of the United States, but this failed in 1989 and again in 1991.
Homeowners are increasingly establishing butterfly gardens; monarchs can be attracted by cultivating a butterfly garden with specific milkweed species and nectar plants. Efforts are underway to establish these monarch waystations.
An IMAX film, Flight of the Butterflies, describes the story of the Urquharts, Brugger, and Trail to document the then-unknown monarch migration to Mexican overwintering areas.
Sanctuaries and reserves have been created at overwintering locations in Mexico and California to limit habitat destruction. These sites can generate significant tourism revenue. However, with less tourism, monarch butterflies will have a higher survival rate because they show more protein content and a higher value of immune response and oxidative defense.
Organizations and individuals participate in tagging programs. Tagging information is used to study migration patterns.
The 2012 novel by Barbara Kingsolver, Flight Behavior, deals with the fictional appearance of a large population in the Appalachians.
Captive rearing
Humans interact with monarchs when rearing them in captivity, which has become increasingly popular. However, risks occur in this controversial activity. On one hand, captive rearing has many positive aspects. Monarchs are bred in schools and used for butterfly releases at hospices, memorial events, and weddings. Memorial services for the September 11 attacks include the release of captive-bred monarchs. Monarchs are used in schools and nature centers for educational purposes. Many homeowners raise monarchs in captivity as a hobby and for educational purposes.
On the other hand, this practice becomes problematic when monarchs are "mass-reared". Stories in the Huffington Post in 2015 and Discover magazine in 2016 have summarized the controversy around this issue.
The frequent media reports of monarch declines have encouraged many homeowners to attempt to rear as many monarchs as possible in their homes and then release them to the wild in an effort to "boost the monarch population". Some individuals, such as one in Linn County, Iowa, have reared thousands of monarchs at the same time.
Some monarch scientists do not condone the practice of rearing "large" numbers of monarchs in captivity for release into the wild because of the risks of genetic issues and disease spread. One of the biggest concerns of mass rearing is the potential for spreading the monarch parasite, Ophryocystis elektroscirrha, into the wild. This parasite can rapidly build up in captive monarchs, especially if they are housed together. The spores of the parasite also can quickly contaminate all housing equipment, so that all subsequent monarchs reared in the same containers then become infected. One researcher stated that rearing more than 100 monarchs constitutes "mass rearing" and should not be done.
In addition to the disease risks, researchers believe these captive-reared monarchs are not as fit as wild ones, owing to the unnatural conditions in which they are raised. Homeowners often raise monarchs in plastic or glass containers in their kitchens, basements, porches, etc., and under artificial lighting and controlled temperatures. Such conditions would not mimic what the monarchs are used to in the wild, and may result in adults that are unsuited for the realities of their wild existence. In support of this, a recent study by a citizen scientist found that captive-reared monarchs have a lower migration success rate than wild monarchs do.
A 2019 study shed light on the fitness of captive-reared monarchs, by testing reared and wild monarchs on a tethered flight apparatus that assessed navigational ability. In that study, monarchs that were reared to adulthood in artificial conditions showed a reduction in navigational ability. This happened even with monarchs that were brought into captivity from the wild for a few days. A few captive-reared monarchs did show proper navigation. This study revealed the fragility of monarch development; if the conditions are not suitable, their ability to properly migrate could be impaired. The same study also examined the genetics of a collection of reared monarchs purchased from a butterfly breeder, and found they were dramatically different from wild monarchs, so much so that the lead author described them as "franken-monarchs".
An unpublished study in 2019 compared behavior of captive-reared versus wild monarch larvae. The study showed that reared larvae exhibited more defensive behavior than wild larvae. The reason for this is unknown, but it could relate to the fact that reared larvae are frequently handled and/or disturbed.
Threats
In February 2015, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported a study that showed that nearly a billion monarchs had vanished from the butterfly's overwintering sites since 1990. The agency attributed the monarch's decline in part to a loss of milkweed caused by herbicides that farmers and homeowners had used.
Western monarch populations
Based on a 2014 20-year comparison, the overwintering numbers west of the Rocky Mountains have dropped more than 50% since 1997 and the overwintering numbers east of the Rockies have declined by more than 90% since 1995. According to the Xerces Society, the monarch population in California decreased 86% in 2018, going from millions of butterflies to tens of thousands of butterflies.
The society's annual 2020–2021 winter count showed a significant decline in the California population. One Pacific Grove site did not have a single monarch butterfly. A primary explanation for this was the destruction of the butterfly's milkweed habitats. This particular population is believed to comprise less than 2000 individuals, as of 2022.
Eastern and midwestern monarch populations
A 2016 publication attributed the previous decade's 90% decline in overwintering numbers of the eastern monarch population to the loss of breeding habitat and milkweed. The publication's authors stated that an 11%–57% probability existed that this population will go almost extinct over the next 20 years.
Chip Taylor, the director of Monarch Watch at the University of Kansas, has stated that the Midwest milkweed habitat "is virtually gone" with 120–150 million acres lost. To help fight this problem, Monarch Watch encourages the planting of "Monarch Waystations".
Habitat loss due to herbicide use and genetically modified crops
Declines in milkweed abundance and monarch populations between 1999 and 2010 are correlated with the adoption of herbicide-tolerant genetically modified (GM) corn and soybeans, which now constitute 89% and 94% of these crops, respectively, in the U.S. GM corn and soybeans are resistant to the effect of the herbicide glyphosate. Some conservationists attribute the disappearance of milkweed to agricultural practices in the Midwest, where GM seeds are bred to resist herbicides that farmers use to kill unwanted plants that grow near their rows of food crops.
In 2015, the Natural Resources Defense Council filed a suit against the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Council argued that the agency ignored warnings about the dangers of glyphosate usage for monarchs. However, a 2018 study has suggested that the decline in milkweed predates the arrival of GM crops.
Losses during migration
Eastern and midwestern monarchs are apparently experiencing problems reaching Mexico. A number of monarch researchers have cited recent evidence obtained from long-term citizen science data that show that the number of breeding (adult) monarchs has not declined in the last two decades.
The lack of long-term declines in the numbers of breeding and migratory monarchs, yet the clear declines in overwintering numbers, suggests a growing disconnect exists between these life stages. One researcher has suggested that mortality from car strikes constitutes an increasing threat to migrating monarchs. A study of road mortality in northern Mexico, published in 2019, showed very high mortality from just two "hotspots" each year, amounting to 200,000 monarchs killed.
Loss of overwintering habitat
The area of Mexican forest to which eastern and midwestern monarchs migrate reached its lowest level in two decades in 2013. The decline was expected to increase during the 2013–2014 season. Mexican environmental authorities continue to monitor illegal logging of the oyamel trees. The oyamel is a major species of evergreen on which the overwintering butterflies spend a significant time during their winter diapause, or suspended development.
A 2014 study acknowledged that while "the protection of overwintering habitat has no doubt gone a long way towards conserving monarchs that breed throughout eastern North America", their research indicates that habitat loss on breeding grounds in the United States is the main cause of both recent and projected population declines.
Western monarch populations have rebounded slightly since 2014 with the Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count tallying 335,479 monarchs in 2022. The population still has much to go for a full recovery.
Parasites
Parasites include the tachinid flies Sturmia convergens and Lespesia archippivora. Lesperia-parasitized butterfly larvae suspend, but die prior to pupation. The fly's maggot lowers itself to the ground, forms a brown puparium and then emerges as an adult.
Pteromalid wasps, specifically Pteromalus cassotis, parasitize monarch pupae. These wasps lay their eggs in the pupae while the chrysalis is still soft. Up to 400 adults emerge from the chrysalis after 14–20 days, killing the monarch.
The bacterium Micrococcus flacidifex danai also infects larvae. Just before pupation, the larvae migrate to a horizontal surface and die a few hours later, attached only by one pair of prolegs, with the thorax and abdomen hanging limp. The body turns black shortly thereafter. The bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa has no invasive powers, but causes secondary infections in weakened insects. It is a common cause of death in laboratory-reared insects.
Ophryocystis elektroscirrha is another parasite of the monarch. It infects the subcutaneous tissues and propagates by spores formed during the pupal stage. The spores are found over all of the body of infected butterflies, with the greatest number on the abdomen. These spores are passed, from female to caterpillar, when spores rub off during egg laying and are then ingested by caterpillars. Severely infected individuals are weak, unable to expand their wings, or unable to eclose, and have shortened lifespans, but parasite levels vary in populations. This is not the case in laboratory rearing, where after a few generations, all individuals can be infected.
Infection with O. elektroscirrha creates an effect known as culling, whereby migrating monarchs that are infected are less likely to complete the migration. This results in overwintering populations with lower parasite loads. Owners of commercial butterfly-breeding operations claim that they take steps to control this parasite in their practices, although this claim is doubted by many scientists who study monarchs.[
Confusion of host plants
The black swallow-wort (Cynanchum louiseae) and pale swallow-wort (Cynanchum rossicum) plants are problematic for monarchs in North America. Monarchs lay their eggs on these relatives of native vining milkweed (Cynanchum laeve) because they produce stimuli similar to milkweed. Once the eggs hatch, the caterpillars are poisoned by the toxicity of this invasive plant from Europe.
Climate
Climate variations during the fall and summer affect butterfly reproduction. Rainfall and freezing temperatures affect milkweed growth. Omar Vidal, director general of WWF-Mexico, said, "The monarch's lifecycle depends on the climatic conditions in the places where they breed. Eggs, larvae, and pupae develop more quickly in milder conditions. Temperatures above 35 °C (95 °F) can be lethal for larvae, and eggs dry out in hot, arid conditions, causing a drastic decrease in hatch rate." If a monarch's body temperatures is below 30 °C (86 °F), a monarch cannot fly. To warm up, they sit in the sun or rapidly shiver their wings to warm themselves.
Climate change may dramatically affect the monarch migration. A study from 2015 examined the impact of warming temperatures on the breeding range of the monarch, and showed that in the next 50 years the monarch host plant will expand its range further north into Canada, and that the monarchs will follow this. While this will expand the breeding locations of the monarch, it will also have the effect of increasing the distance that monarchs must travel to reach their overwintering destination in Mexico, which could result in greater mortality during the migration.
Milkweeds grown at increased temperatures have been shown to contain higher cardenolide concentrations, making the leaves too toxic for the monarch caterpillars. However, these increased concentrations are likely in response to increased insect herbivory, which is also caused by the increased temperatures. Whether increased temperatures make milkweed too toxic for monarch caterpillars when other factors are not present is unknown. Additionally, milkweed grown at carbon dioxide levels of 760 parts per million was found to produce a different mix of the toxic cardenolides, one of which was less effective against monarch parasites.
Conservation status
On July 20, 2022, the International Union for Conservation of Nature added the migratory monarch butterfly (the subspecies common in North America) to its red list of endangered species.
The monarch butterfly is not currently listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora or protected specifically under U.S. domestic laws.
On August 14, 2014, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Center for Food Safety filed a legal petition requesting Endangered Species Act protection for the monarch and its habitat, based largely on the long-term trends observed at overwintering sites. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) initiated a status review of the monarch butterfly under the Endangered Species Act with a due date for information submission of March 3, 2015, later extended to 2020. On December 15, 2020, the FWS ruled that adding the butterfly to the list of threatened and endangered species was "warranted-but-precluded" because it needed to devote its resources to 161 higher-priority species.
The number of monarchs overwintering in Mexico has shown a long-term downward trend. Since 1995, coverage numbers have been as high as 18 hectares (44 acres) during the winter of 1996–1997, but on average about 6 hectares (15 acres). Coverage declined to its lowest point to date (0.67 hectares (1.66 acres)) during the winter of 2013–2014, but rebounded to 4.01 hectares (10 acres) in 2015–2016. The average population of monarchs in 2016 was estimated at 200 million. Historically, on average there are 300 million monarchs. The 2016 increase was attributed to favorable breeding conditions in the summer of 2015. However, coverage declined by 27% to 2.91 hectares (7.19 acres) during the winter of 2016–2017. Some believe this was because of a storm that had occurred during March 2016 in the monarchs' previous overwintering season, though this seems unlikely since most current research shows that the overwintering colony sizes do not predict the size of the next summer breeding population.
In Ontario, Canada, the monarch butterfly is listed as a species of special concern. In fall 2016, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada proposed that the monarch be listed as endangered in Canada, as opposed to its current listing as a "species of concern" in that country. This move, once enacted, would protect critical monarch habitat in Canada, such as major fall accumulation areas in southern Ontario, but it would also have implications for citizen scientists who work with monarchs, and for classroom activities. If the monarch were federally protected in Canada, these activities could be limited, or require federal permits.
In Nova Scotia, the monarch is listed as endangered at the provincial level, as of 2017. This decision (as well as the Ontario decision) apparently is based on a presumption that the overwintering colony declines in Mexico create declines in the breeding range in Canada. Two recent studies have been conducted examining long-term trends in monarch abundance in Canada, using either butterfly atlas records or citizen science butterfly surveys, and neither shows evidence of a population decline in Canada.
Conservation efforts
See also: Monarch butterfly conservation in California
Although numbers of breeding monarchs in eastern North America have apparently not decreased, reports of declining numbers of overwintering butterflies have inspired efforts to conserve the species.
Federal actions
On June 20, 2014, President Barack Obama issued a presidential memorandum entitled "Creating a Federal Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators". The memorandum established a Pollinator Health Task Force, to be co-chaired by the Secretary of Agriculture and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and stated:
The number of migrating Monarch butterflies sank to the lowest recorded population level in 2013–14, and there is an imminent risk of failed migration.
In May 2015, the Pollinator Health Task Force issued a "National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators". The strategy laid out federal actions to achieve three goals, two of which were:
Monarch Butterflies: Increase the Eastern population of the monarch butterfly to 225 million butterflies occupying an area of approximately 15 acres (6 hectares) in the overwintering grounds in Mexico, through domestic/international actions and public-private partnerships, by 2020.
Pollinator Habitat Acreage: Restore or enhance 7 million acres of land for pollinators over the next 5 years through Federal actions and public/private partnerships.
Many of the priority projects that the national strategy identified focused on the I-35 corridor, which extends for 1,500 miles (2,400 km) from Texas to Minnesota. The area through which that highway travels provides spring and summer breeding habitats in the United States' key monarch migration corridor.
The Task Force simultaneously issued a "Pollinator Research Action Plan". The Plan outlined five main action areas, covered in ten subject-specific chapters. The action areas were: Setting a Baseline; Assessing Environmental Stressors; Restoring Habitat; Understanding and Supporting Stakeholders; Curating and Sharing Knowledge.
In June 2016, the Task Force issued a "Pollinator Partnership Action Plan". That Plan provided examples of past, ongoing, and possible future collaborations between the federal government and non-federal institutions to support pollinator health under each of the national strategy's goals.
The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) publishes sets of landscape performance requirements in its P100 documents, which mandate standards for the GSA's Public Buildings Service. Beginning in March 2015, those performance requirements and their updates have included four primary aspects for planting designs that are intended to provide adequate on-site foraging opportunities for targeted pollinators. The targeted pollinators include bees, butterflies, and other beneficial insects.
On December 4, 2015, President Obama signed into law the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act (Pub. L.) The FAST Act placed a new emphasis on efforts to support pollinators. To accomplish this, the FAST Act amended Title 23 (Highways) of the United States Code. The amendment directed the United States Secretary of Transportation, when carrying out programs under that title in conjunction with willing states, to:
encourage integrated vegetation management practices on roadsides and other transportation rights-of-way, including reduced mowing; and
encourage the development of habitat and forage for Monarch butterflies, other native pollinators, and honey bees through plantings of native forbs and grasses, including noninvasive, native milkweed species that can serve as migratory way stations for butterflies and facilitate migrations of other pollinators.
The FAST Act also stated that activities to establish and improve pollinator habitat, forage, and migratory way stations may be eligible for Federal funding if related to transportation projects funded under Title 23.
The United States Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency helps increase U.S. populations of monarch butterfly and other pollinators through its Conservation Reserve Program's State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement (SAFE) Initiative. The SAFE Initiative provides an annual rental payment to farmers who agree to remove environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production and who plant species that will improve environmental health and quality. Among other things, the initiative encourages landowners to establish wetlands, grasses, and trees to create habitats for species that the FWS has designated to be threatened or endangered.
Other actions
Agriculture companies and other organizations are being asked to set aside areas that remain unsprayed to allow monarchs to breed. In addition, national and local initiatives are underway to help establish and maintain pollinator habitats along corridors containing power lines and roadways. The Federal Highway Administration, state governments, and local jurisdictions are encouraging highway departments and others to limit their use of herbicides, to reduce mowing, to help milkweed to grow and to encourage monarchs to reproduce within their right-of-ways.
National Cooperative Highway Research Program report
In 2020, the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCRHP) of the Transportation Research Board issued a 208-page report that described a project that had examined the potential for roadway corridors to provide habitat for monarch butterflies. A part of the project developed tools for roadside managers to optimize potential habitat for monarch butterflies in their road rights-of-way.
Such efforts are controversial because the risk of butterfly mortality near roads is high. Several studies have shown that motor vehicles kill millions of monarchs and other butterflies every year. Also, some evidence indicates that monarch larvae living near roads experience physiological stress conditions, as evidenced by elevations in their heart rate.
The NCRHP report acknowledged that, among other hazards, roads present a danger of traffic collisions for monarchs, stating that these effects appear to be more concentrated in particular funnel areas during migration. Nevertheless, the report concluded:
In summary, threats along roadway corridors exist for monarchs and other pollinators, but in the context of the amount of habitat needed for recovery of sustainable populations, roadsides are of vital importance.
Butterfly gardening
A monarch waystation near the town of Berwyn Heights in Prince George's County, Maryland (June 2017)
The practice of butterfly gardening and creating "monarch waystations" is commonly thought to increase the populations of butterflies. Efforts to restore falling monarch populations by establishing butterfly gardens and monarch waystations require particular attention to the butterfly's food preferences and population cycles, as well to the conditions needed to propagate and maintain milkweed.
For example, in the Washington, DC, area and elsewhere in the northeastern and midwestern United States, common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) is among the most important food plants for monarch caterpillars. A U.S. Department of Agriculture conservation planting guide for Maryland recommends that, for optimum wildlife and pollinator habitat in mesic sites (especially for monarchs), a seed mix should contain 6.0% A. syriaca by weight and 2.0% by seed.
However, monarchs prefer to lay eggs on A. syriaca when its foliage is soft and fresh. Because monarch reproduction peaks in those areas during the late summer when milkweed foliage is old and tough, A. syriaca needs to be mowed or cut back in June through August to assure that it will be regrowing rapidly when monarch reproduction reaches its peak. Similar conditions exist for showy milkweed (A. speciosa) in Michigan and for green antelopehorn milkweed (A. viridis), where it grows in the Southern Great Plains and the Western United States. Further, the seeds of A. syriaca and some other milkweeds need periods of cold treatment (cold stratification) before they will germinate.
To protect seeds from washing away during heavy rains and from seed–eating birds, one can cover the seeds with a light fabric or with an 0.5-inch (13 mm) layer of straw mulch. However, mulch acts as an insulator. Thicker layers of mulch can prevent seeds from germinating if they prevent soil temperatures from rising enough when winter ends. Further, few seedlings can push through a thick layer of mulch.
Although monarch caterpillars will feed on butterfly weed (A. tuberosa) in butterfly gardens, it is typically not a heavily used host plant for the species. The plant has rough leaves and a layer of trichomes, which may inhibit oviposition or decrease a female's ability to sense leaf chemicals. The plant's low levels of cardenolides may also deter monarchs from laying eggs on the plant. While A. tuberosa's colorful flowers provide nectar for many adult butterflies, the plant may be less suitable for use in butterfly gardens and monarch waystations than are other milkweed species.
Breeding monarchs prefer to lay eggs on swamp milkweed (A. incarnata). However, A. incarnata is an early successional plant that usually grows at the margins of wetlands and in seasonally flooded areas. The plant is slow to spread via seeds, does not spread by runners and tends to disappear as vegetative densities increase and habitats dry out. Although A. incarnata plants can survive for up to 20 years, most live only two-five years in gardens. The species is not shade-tolerant and is not a good vegetative competitor.
This white poppy is a genetic variation of the California poppy which is a golden flower and the official state flower of California. We picked this at my sister's house a few days ago.
Lighting: Simple one light setup with a Yongnuo flash in a 24 inch soft box at camera right, The flash and my tripod mounted camera were triggered with a Yongnuo RF-603N.
I've photographed a lot of plants and flowers, because they're all around us, work cheap, and never complain. I have an album of these images with over 1100 pictures, and for each one, I have described how I lit them, in case you're interested in that kind of thing.
The Genetically Modified Little Mermaid, located only a few hundred meters from her 'older sister', the well-known Copenhagen landmark, The Little Mermaid, is part of a sculpture group called 'The Genetically Modified Paradise' created by the Danish professor Bjørn Nørgaard. It is sited on a new square by one of the old warehouses in the Copenhagen Harbour, Dahlerups Pakhus.
I always wondered how McDonald's made their McNuggets! Every bite is hand crafted.
Lighting:
58EXII in Westcott 28" softbox @ 1/4 power camera right
430EXII @ 1/32 power with red gel 10 o'clock
430EXII @ 1/16 power in snoot directly overhead subject 1 ft up
Day 83/365
The Little Mermaid (Det Lille Havfrue) (1913) by Edvard Eriksen (1876-1959) is the most famous sculpture in Copenhagen. However, not far away is the Genetically Modified Mermaid (Den Genmodificerede Havfrue), which is part of a larger “Genetically Modified Paradise” (Det Genmodificerede Paradis) sculpture group by Bjørn Nørgaard (2000) at Dahlerups Torv off Pakhuskaj. Further statues in this group include Adam, Eve, the Madonna, Christ, Mary Magdalen, the Holy Trinity, and the pregnant man. During much of the day, the DFDS Oslo ferry forms the backdrop.
Lagarta de Borboleta-monarca
(Danaus plexippus)
"A borboleta monarca começa a sua vida com um ovo posto por uma fêmea adulta numa folha de planta de serralha. É do tamanho da cabeça de um alfinete e quando choca, três a doze dias depois, nasce a pequena lagarta com riscas brancas, amarelas e pretas, com oito pares de pernas curtas para trepar e partes da boca desenhada para mastigar folhas. Mas somente as folhas das plantas de serralha têm uma seiva branca e pegajosa que é altamente tóxica para os outros animais, mas não afetam em nada a lagarta, apenas tornando o seu corpo altamente tóxico para os predadores, como pássaros. Três mutações genéticas são a chave para este insecto se tornar imune à sua dieta venenosa."
....
"The monarch butterfly begins its life with an egg laid by an adult female on a milkweed plant leaf. It is the size of the head of a pin and when it hatches, three to twelve days later, the small caterpillar with white, yellow and black stripes is born, with eight pairs of short legs for climbing and parts of the mouth designed for chewing leaves. But only the leaves of milkweed plants have a white, sticky sap that is highly toxic to other animals, but does not affect the lag at all, the caterpillar swims, only making its body highly toxic to predators such as birds. Three genetic mutations are the key to this insect becoming immune to its poisonous diet."
Portugal
2007
Canon EOS 350D Digital
Last photos of the Genetically Modified Paradise about 15 minutes walk from the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen. (Thank goodness, I hear you say!!)
I wonder how long will it be before this will be introduced as a bouquet of roses... I wouldn't be shocked to learn that it already has.
Would have been way easier with another person sitting in the chair, but i think i lined it up pretty well for a quickie between work shifts.
Contributor(s): Nirenberg, Marshall W.
Publication: Produced: [1964]
Language(s): English
Format: Still image
Subject(s): Genetic Code
Genre(s): Archival Materials
Charts (graphic documents)
Laboratory notes
Extent: 1 pages
NLM Unique ID: 101584910X477 (See in Profiles in Science)
Profiles in Science ID:
JJBCCY
Permanent Link: resource.nlm.nih.gov/101584910X477
Archival Collection: The Marshall W. Nirenberg Papers (Profiles in Science)
A sign showing displeasure in the practices of agribusiness, Monsanto, rests on the head of a protester during a gathering in Holladay Park. Portlanders did their part in the worldwide march that took place on 05/25/13. Portland was one of nine Oregon cities to host anti-Monsanto protests to express concern over genetically modified foods.
See more photos and video of the entire outfit on www.FashionSnag.com! Shop the look below.
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Photographed in Dengkil, Malaysia
Colour : Genetic Silver
Assembly : Proton City / Tanjung Malim, Perak, Malaysia
The Royal Malaysia Police (RMP), or Polis Di-Raja Malaysia (PDRM) in Malay, has been keeping the peace in the Malay Peninsula for over 200 years, or since 25 March 1807 to be exact. The Royal Malaysia Police is closely modelled on British law enforcement agencies, owing to Malaysia's former colonial ties with Britain. The RMP currently operates a large and varied fleet of police cars, with the vast majority being from Malaysia's own Proton marque. Indeed, Malaysia is currently 1 of only 6 countries in the Asia-Pacific region to field mass produced, indigenously designed police cars, with the others being Australia, China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Countries that have used Proton cars in their police force include the United Kingdom, Indonesia and Brunei.
The Prevé is the latest in a long line of Proton vehicles to serve in the Royal Malaysia Police fleet. The police force in Sabah received 93 Prevés in July 2013, and Penang state received 103 Prevés in December 2013. Countless more have been issued since 2013 to the various police districts across Malaysia. As of late 2014, the Proton Prevé is still primarily used by the Criminal Investigation Departments (CID), and are either unmarked, semi-marked or in low-visibility livery. The Proton Prevé is expected to succeed the Proton Waja as the RMP's bread & butter police cruiser.
Throughout its history, the RMP has used almost every Proton model produced. Historically, the Proton Saga, Iswara, Wira and Perdana were among the most widely used models. Currently, the Proton Waja and Inspira make up the bulk of the fleet. The RMP also used several Perodua models and a range of imported cars in the past. Presently, the RMP fields quite a few imported units, including the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X (for their Eagle Highway Patrol division) as well as the current generation Mitsubishi Lancer and several other much less commonly used models, like the second generation Volvo S80.
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