ztraffer

Deer Cave , in Borneo, is home to three million bats. The bats have produced a massive mountain of guano a hundred meters tall covering the cave floor, which sustains the cave ecosystem. The guano is litteraly carpeted by cockroaches and artropods of all kinds, feeding on it. In order to document this ecosystem, a crew had to spend a lot of time filming inside the cave. In an addendum to the documentary , the crew described their misery in detail -how the guano and the cockroaches got inside their clothes, their underwear, and everywhere else. They had to do this every day for an entire month. Makes you rethink the whole concept of "being uncomfortable", doesn't it?

On this barren desert I stand overwhelmed by a rapturing tide Where is my strength to flee fast and free this ethereal charm? To that bittersweet feeling, my free will is bound ...for no reason at all

European Union leaders just agreed on a new treaty that would replace the failed Constitution of a couple of years back. One of the keys of the new treaty is that the word "constitution" does not appear in it. It has no anthem and it gives more power to members and less to Brussels. You could say its key denominator is more autonomy and less union -in appeareance. The failure of the constitution-though rejected by only two members- speaks about the fear of giving up local power -is the tribal instinct whispering in Europe's collective ear. The old "us vs. them". Granted, more sovereign power may have advantages for a member state in a particular situation -at least on the short term; that's its selling point, however, a Union with a single, solid foreign policy -eventually backed by a European armed forces- would be enormously beneficial, not only for Europe itself, but for the world at large. In my view, Europe has been, at least in the last decades, a te...

For a long time I've been only taking casual pictures with my phone. Today I decided to try taking pictures with a real camera. Reawakening old habits was easier than I thought...

Looking back at all the years past, I wonder at the routine of every-day life. How can people do pretty much the same thing, day after day, month after month, and remain sane? Some don't -but for most of us (...ahem), the fact is we do a lot of different things, but the details get blurred and we tend to forget all but the memorable events. If I had to name a single thing that makes life what it is, however, is the unpredictability of the universe. Yesterday, I heard a snapping sound... a string in my racquet had broken. Had I had to guess ten thousand things that could have happened that day, this wouldn't have made it to the list. I can't help but wonder -whatever will happen tomorrow?