Welcome to Katfrog's Corner

A Witch's Portal?  from the  Witches Vs Patriarchy subreddit  It feels like COVID-19 dominates the news cycle these days.  But there must be other things happening in the world, right? Right!  And you can find some of them here, a place where COVID new is verboten and anything else goes. Chinese Scientists Find Evidence of  More Recent Volcanic Activity on the Moon Recent is a bit of a misnomer.  The Chinese mission Chang’E-5  returned with moon rocks that place volcanic activity from around 2 billion   years ago, give or take 4 million years. Not exactly hot off the press.  But previously the scientific community believed that the last volcanic activity on the moon was around 3 billion years a go.  A billion years later does, in fact, mean more recent. The interesting find here, though, is the cause of the volcanic activity.  Or rather, the lack of causation.  There was an expectation that radioactive elements would be a heat source of any volcanic activity past after the 3 billi

Due to flooding, this couple floated to the temple in a large cooking pot. Alappuzha, Kerala, India @Shilpa1308/Twitter  

  The perfect gentle man  dog Last week, I received a terrifying phone call.  My son's dog, Kareem was hit by a car.  The entire situation does not bear repeating, because it was an unfortunate accident.  There was no way anyone without the ability to see the future could have prevented it. All Wednesday, we sat around on pins and needles as the status reports came in.  Kareem seemed to be okay; his front left leg wasn't working but didn't look broken.  Probably nerve damage that may or may not heal on its own.  His right eye was swollen - would he lose his eye? Kareem lasted for over 10 hours.  Then the call came in.  Kareem went into cardiac arrest. He died. Waiting for his daddy (my son) to come home Wednesday night was one of those times that demark a before and after time - an event that makes a lasting impression, creating an internal division in your personal history.  Before I had a grandpuppy named Kareem who loved it when I sang to him.  After ... well, after my f

A map of trade routes used from 1300 to 1600  I'm serious.  I mean, the man was completely mistaken about where he was, and he refused to believe otherwise.  Columbus' travels resulted in the enslavement of several groups of people, and the extinction of more than one civilization.  Plus, he was not the first person to discover the "New World"; the Vikings landed here centuries earlier.  And the Vikings were not the first people over here either. A modern replica of a Viking ship. This ship is of the  snekkja longship type. Attribution: archiwum własne wikingów, Jarmeryk But the alternative of calling today "Indigenous Peoples' Day"? That feels... like not enough.  Hundreds of thousands of people died because of the arrival of the European invaders.  The number is too large to truly comprehend.  So semi-dedicating a single day to recognize them feels like a token, a gesture offered to history that still rejects any hint of responsibility. Now I realize

 They are all coronaviruses.  The pictures represent (in order):  Influenza COVID-19 Measles Common Cold

 A)   B)   C)  D)  Answer tomorrow.