Tom Waits "The Fly"

Parade's Rylan Fischer on July 31, 2026 introduced a superb new spoken-word piece "The Fly" by Tom Waits. It serves as the B-side to his stellar collaboration with Massive Attack, "Boots on the Ground". 

And this is what he wrote on Tom Waits. "...He is one of the most singular American artists of all time. He is a potent and sardonic songwriter who utilizes sounds and styles from the most unlikely places to create songs and stories that sound nothing like anything you'll ever hear. With instrumentation as down-and-out as the people he depicts in his music, Waits captures all corners of the idiosyncratic, deranged, depressed, and authentic that makes up America", as noted by Parade. 

And so, "The Fly" is already available digitally on July 31 and the physical eco-conscious vinyl scheduled for September 04.

A satirical, comically wry ode to the common housefly (Musca domestica), written out of a "begrudging admiration for the brief, unsung life of the insect", that's what it it!

 

Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. 

I’ve become a big fan of the new song. I'm fascinated by how he trains his singular focus on something as uncommonly common as the common housefly. And I find him to be such a fascinating voice to listen to, and his writing has a way of commanding my attention. 

The fact that Waits relies entirely on the gravel and rhythmic cadence of his own voice to build the tension, turning simple, stark spoken words into a percussive, theatrical performance, proves he doesn't need a band to create a brooding atmosphere.

Overall, the song is packed with all of Waits’ dark wit and gritty honesty. For sure, the choice to forego any instrumentation works brilliantly as well, putting me right in the room with Waits and making me feel like I’m staring right at the eponymous fly. 

I very much appreciate this particular track because I myself have given speeches on the cockroach and the frog! 

As with the housefly ditty, the speeches have stood out!

The Scuba-Suit Cyborg Roach

Two decades after the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), a specialized research and development branch of the US Department of War, started fiddling around with cyborg insects in their ⁠Hybrid Insect Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (HI-MEMS) program, Singaporean researchers are showing off the latest accomplishment in the area. 

The productive researchers are proudly presenting their potent new 3D-printed variant: a remote-controlled, cyborg cockroach equipped with IR cameras that can breathe underwater for hours on end. 

Although that description sounds like the start of a sci-fi or horror movie, the team led by Hirotaka Sato (left) at Nanyang Technological University have been working with the much-hated pest for a good while, outfitting them with infrared cameras in a bid to help rescue operations by steering the roaches in disaster areas to find survivors. 

To be clear, as the release notes, Cyborg insects are living insects that have been retrofitted with technology. 

Sato's team had already demonstrated an orchestrated swarm of the little beasties in 2024, but reportedly weren't happy with the fact that they couldn't send them through water, and went back to the drawing board to fix that. 

The result is an upgraded form that went underwater for three hours in stages, at a depth of 20" (50 cm); enough for most puddles and lightly flooded areas. Quite interestingly, the roaches' speed was only lightly affected, going from 3.5" (8.75 cm) per second on land to 3.1" (7.84 cm) a second while submerged in water. 

Cockroaches don't swim per se, but they can paddle-float, and are fine navigating water bodies in general, and it's possible they can go deeper than in the test. 

To achieve this, the creepy-crawlies wear a spiffy-looking bespoke 3D-printed scuba suit, complete with tubes that attach from the tank to their "nostrils", called spiracles. The tank has a sponge with both hydrogen peroxide and manganese dioxide, in a slow, carefully tuned reaction that outputs oxygen at a controlled rate. This choice was made to avoid the tricky task of providing a heavy, pressurized oxygen tank – though imagining a cockroach with a tiny tank backflipping into water from a tiny boat is amusing. 

The cockroach is pretty much the ideal platform for this type of endeavor, as their legs are easy to control with electrical impulses, and their locomotion characteristics let them navigate almost every type of terrain, oftentimes better than many miniature robots. 

Their biological batteries theoretically last for weeks on end, too. One roach needs food only every few weeks, a mission-critical feature given that scientists working with miniaturization of any sort keep butting their heads against energy limitations. The infrared cameras and wireless do use an actual mini battery pack, but the insects themselves can find sustenance on their own. 

In this particular case, they are leveraging the Madagascar hissing cockroach (Gromphadorhina portentosa) due to their unique combination of physical traits and survival abilities: 

Large Size and Payload Capacity

• Heavy lifters – Fully grown adults reach about 6 cm in length and weigh around 5 grams.
• Equipment ready – Their large size and strong musculoskeletal structure allow them to easily carry a 5.5-gram electronic "backpack" (containing microcomputers, sensors, batteries, and infrared cameras) without disrupting their natural movement.

Wingless Anatomy

• Less obstruction – Unlike many other cockroach species, Madagascar hissing cockroaches do not have wings.
• Easy mounting – The absence of wings gives scientists a flat, unobstructed surface on their thorax to securely glue the electronic hardware and flexible solar cell films. 

Incredible Physical Resilience 

• Indestructible nature – They can survive crushed environments, low-oxygen spaces, and harsh terrains that would destroy or immobilize a traditional wheeled robot. 
• Amphibious potential – They are robust enough to wear newly developed ⁠NTU 3D-printed miniature "diving suits".

Low Speed and High Agility

• Easy to steer – Their natural crawling speed is slow enough for a human operator or an AI automated system to safely steer them in real-time.
• Self-righting – If they get flipped upside down by shifting rubble, they have the innate ability to right themselves and keep moving.

Beyond search-and-rescue, the Singaporean researchers and global bio-robotics teams are targeting other potential applications for cyborg cockroach technology:

Future Space Exploration 

• Extra-planetary scouting – Because cockroaches can survive low-oxygen environments and extreme temperatures, scientists are looking toward using them to explore the surface of Mars.
• Tested testing – The ⁠NTU 3D-printed diving suits are being considered as a stepping stone toward designing miniature, oxygen-regulated "space suits" for insect swarms. 

Defence and Security 

• Covert reconnaissance – Defense startups, like Germany’s ⁠SWARM Biotactics, utilize cyborg insects for silent, undercover surveillance in high-risk zones.
• Critical infrastructure protection – Swarms can map out heavily contaminated, hazardous, or radioactive military zones too dangerous for human agents

Industrial Infrastructure Inspection – The insects can navigate tightly confined, hazardous industrial spaces. They are being tested to crawl through narrow, toxic, or flooded pipelines and structural foundations to inspect for cracks, gas leaks, or blockages without requiring expensive human or mechanical teardowns. 

Environmental Surveillance & Monitoring – These bio-hybrids can carry specialized temperature, chemical, or radiation sensors. They can be deployed into highly sensitive or dangerous ecosystems to track pollution, chemical spills, or radiation levels in real-time without causing the environmental disruption that larger, heavier robots would create.

Now you know, roaches are useful!

100,000 Cockroaches Seized

Wildlife officers have busted an illegal cockroach-breeding operation in rural Australia, seizing a skin-crawling haul worth more than $100,000 on the black market for exotic bugs. 

More than 100,000 contraband cockroaches were found in a raid on a commercial breeder in the town of Bathurst, 200km west of Sydney, Australia's environment department said on Friday. They found Madagascar "hissing" cockroaches (Gromphadorhina portentosa), a bulky insect named for its noisy defence mechanism, and dubia cockroaches (Blaptica dubia), an invasive critter bred as a snack for pet lizards.

Both species cannot be legally imported into Australia or kept, bred or sold. 

Photos showed one of the seized Madagascar cockroaches was almost big enough to completely cover the palm of an adult hand. 

"We take our job protecting Australia's unique biodiversity and breaches of national environment law very seriously", a spokesperson for the Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water (DCCEEW) said. "We're seeing illegal breeding and trading of exotic cockroaches and we're putting pet businesses and pet owners on notice". 

The department said the illicit insects had an estimated value of AU$200,000 ($140,000). 

Officials now have the unenviable task of euthanising the creepy-crawlies, an insect so hardy it spawned an urban legend they could survive a nuclear blast.

Cockroaches Arise!

What began as an Internet punchline is turning into something more serious. 

Indians online are rallying around the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP; lit. "Cockroach People's Party") – a parody political movement that started as online satire but has rapidly become a vehicle for venting anger over unemployment, corruption and the state of India’s democracy. 

The movement, a cheeky riff on the name of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has flooded social media with memes, mock campaign messaging and jokes carrying an edge of public frustration. 

“We have to understand that five years ago nobody was ready to speak up against Modi or the government”, said CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke (top right). “The times are changing”. 

Launched online on May 16, 2026, the movement’s rise traces back to controversial comments made by Supreme Court Justice Surya Kant, who compared some young people and critics of institutions to “cockroaches” and “parasites”. 

“There are youngsters like cockroaches, who don’t get any employment or have any place in the profession”, Kant said. The remarks quickly ricocheted across social media, drawing criticism and meme-making in equal measure. 

Kant later said he had not intended to insult young people and that his comments were directed at individuals with fraudulent degrees. 

But by then, the Internet had already done what it does best. On Instagram, the movement has amassed about 21 million followers – more than double the number for the BJP, which have approximately 9 million, and Congress, India’s main opposition party, which have about 13.4 million. Meaning, CJP have more followers than real political parties!

“Nothing of this was intentional”, Dipke said. “It is the younger people who were actually very frustrated. They don’t have any outlet. They were really angry at the government”. 

Dipke, a political communications strategist said the movement’s popularity reflects a shift in India’s political climate. He previously worked alongside the Aam Aadmi Party, which emerged from India’s anti-corruption movement in 2012. 

And he had reported that both his personal and CJP Instagram accounts were hacked or locked out, and Meta temporarily took down the party's backup page as well. The primary CJP X account is also inaccessible, having been officially withheld in India.

A real shame! The world's most populous democracy is afraid of cockroaches! 🪳🪳🪳

“I understand the frustrations of the youth and see why they are resonating with it”, wrote Shashi Tharoor, a member of the Congress party, calling the account’s inaccessibility on X “disastrous” and “deeply unwise”.

“There should be an outlet for the youth to express their feelings and so, let CJP’s account function instead of shutting it down”, he wrote. “Democracies need outlets for dissent, humor, satire, and even frustration”.

The Cockroach and the Frog

Senior Toastmasters would likely know about the speeches I've delivered that were inspired by the cockroach. In fact, one such speech qualified me for the District 51-level International Speech Contest at Kuala Terengganu in Terengganu, Malaysia in 2014. 

To a lesser but not insignificant degree, I've also presented speeches centered around the frog. 

These speeches, if you must know, were made during my Toastmasters heyday, between 2014-2019. [You can explore my personal odyssey in the blog post "Thank You, Toastmasters", published April 01, 2020]. 

The idea behind this post came up because today, March 20 is World Frog Day. 

[Regrettably, I had missed commemorating World Cockroach Day. I had a valid excuse. I was busy with World Speech Day 2026 Kuala Lumpur which was held on March 15. 

And World Cockroach Day is observed annually a day earlier. March 14. Initiated by researchers and enthusiasts, this day aims to educate the public on the ecological importance of cockroaches – which have existed for over 300 million years – and to highlight that only a small fraction of species are considered household pests.

FYI, March 14 was chosen to honor the birthday of Louis M Roth (1918–2003), a pioneering entomologist who contributed significantly to the scientific understanding of cockroaches]. 

Frogs may go largely unnoticed in our daily lives, but they are constantly at work behind the scenes – helping to control pests, recycle nutrients, and keep ecosystems in balance throughout the year.

Frogs and toads (Order: Anura) have inhabited Earth for hundreds of millions of years, but 40% of amphibian species are now at risk of extinction, according to the latest conservation assessments. 

Every year, roughly 150 new amphibian species are described. But many are immediately listed as threatened or endangered due to habitat loss, disease and climate change. 

“Some species may not even get named before they go extinct”, biologist Zeeshan Mirza told Mongabay in December 2025. 

If You Kill a Cockroach

A commonly cited, often paraphrased quote attributed to Friedrich Nietzsche regarding moral subjectivity is "If you kill a cockroach, you're a hero; if you kill a butterfly, you are evil. Morals have aesthetic criteria". 

This quote sums up society perfectly. It's not about the act; it is actually about the victim. 

The rules always bend to beauty, power and perception.

Liverpool gloom deepens! Their Premier League winless streak hit five games – their longest of the season – following an error-filled 3-2 defeat to Bournemouth on Saturday. 

Cherries pounced to score in the 26th minute after a Virgil van Dijk error, and quickly added a second, seven minutes later. 

Van Dijk redeemed himself when he steered a header into the back of the net from Dominik Szoboszlai's corner in the 45th minute. Then, Rio Ngumoha won a free kick on the edge of the penalty box and Mohamed Salah's planned back-heel opened up the angle for Szoboszlai to curl his effort around the Cherries' wall in the 80th minute. 

But a long throw at the death saw the Reds come unstuck again as a scramble in the six-yard box led to the inevitable, with Bournemouth ending Liverpool's 13-game unbeaten-but-underwhelming run (6 draws and 7 wins). 

You can say they got what they deserved because Bournemouth generated far more xG (2.3 to 0.83), created more big chances (6 to 1) and won more duels (38 to 33) as they dominated proceedings throughout.

And yesterday, Hearts of Midlothian hosted Celtic in top-of-the-table Scottish Premiership clash. 

And the two sides fought out a thrilling 2-2 draw that leaves the table leaders still six points clear of the reigning champions. 

Benjamin Nygren's stunning free-kick gave Celtic the lead on seven minutes. But the Jambos headed a deserved equalizer in the 48th minute. 

New signing Tomas Cvancara's low cross into the six-yard box was tapped home by Yang Hyun-jun in the 62nd minute. But the Jambos fired home inside a crowded goalmouth to level with four minutes of normal time remaining. 

And Celtic find themselves in a rare third place at this stage of the season after Rangers beat Dundee 3-0, also yesterday.

It was a day of twists and turns in what is becoming a fascinating three-way fight for the title.

The Cockroach Theory

A very telling speech attributed to Sundar Pichai, IIT-MIT Alumnus and Google's head honcho on "The Cockroach Theory for Self Development", as shared by A Suriakumar on WhatsApp yesterday:

At a restaurant, a cockroach suddenly flew from somewhere and sat on a lady. She started screaming out of fear. With a panic stricken face and trembling voice, she started jumping, with both her hands desperately trying to get rid of the cockroach. 

Her reaction was contagious, as everyone in her group also got panicky. The lady finally managed to push the cockroach away but... it landed on another lady in the group. Now, it was the turn of the other lady in the group to continue the drama. 

The waiter rushed forward to their rescue. In the relay of throwing, the cockroach next fell upon the waiter. 

The waiter stood firm, composed himself and observed the behavior of the cockroach on his shirt. When he was confident enough, he grabbed it with his fingers and threw it out of the restaurant. 

Sipping my coffee and watching the amusement, the antenna of my mind picked up a few thoughts and started wondering, was the cockroach responsible for their histrionic behavior? If so, then why was the waiter not disturbed? He handled it near to perfection, without any chaos. 

It is not the cockroach, but the inability of those people to handle the disturbance caused by the cockroach, that disturbed the ladies. 

I realized that, it is not the shouting of my father or my boss or my wife that disturbs me, but it's my inability to handle the disturbances caused by their shouting that disturbs me. It's not the traffic jams on the road that disturbs me, but my inability to handle the disturbance caused by the traffic jam that disturbs me. More than the problem, it's my reaction to the problem that creates chaos in my life. 

Lessons learnt from the story: I understood, I should not react in life. I should always respond. The women reacted, whereas the waiter responded. Reactions are always instinctive whereas responses are always well thought of. 

A beautiful way to understand LIFE. A person who is HAPPY is not because EVERYTHING is RIGHT in his LIFE. He is HAPPY because his ATTITUDE towards EVERYTHING in his LIFE is RIGHT! 

Pichai's speech should be shared. Anyway, let me restate the 5 key takeaways from the story as I see it.

1. Reactions vs. Responses: Reactions are instinctive and impulsive, often driven by emotions. Responses are well-thought-out and deliberate. 
2. Emotional Intelligence: The ability to understand and manage one's own emotions, as well as recognize and influence the emotions of others, is crucial for navigating challenging situations. 
3. Mindfulness: Being present and aware of one's thoughts and feelings allows for a more considered response rather than a knee-jerk reaction. 
4. Self-Mastery: Recognizing and managing personal triggers enables individuals to respond with clarity and purpose, even under pressure. 
5. Purposeful Action: By choosing responses over reactions, individuals can maintain composure, avoid unnecessary conflict, and find solutions to problems. 

In essence, the Cockroach Theory encourages individuals to cultivate emotional strength and develop the ability to respond thoughtfully to life's inevitable challenges, rather than reacting impulsively and creating unnecessary chaos.

Stowaways on Air India's San Francisco-Mumbai Flight

Air India have apologized for cockroaches on last Saturday's San Francisco-Mumbai (via Kolkata) flight due to which seats of some passengers had to be changed. 

The aircraft, a relatively new ex-Delta Boeing 777 (VT-AEH), had to be "deep cleaned" during its technical halt in Kolkata, India and the airline promised "a comprehensive investigation to determine the source/cause of this incident and implement measures to prevent recurrence". 

The aircraft had taken off from San Francisco, USA at 08:28 PM (local time) on August 02. The cockroach infestation was discovered as it flew to Kolkata, where it arrived after about 16 hours. 

"...Two passengers were unfortunately bothered by the presence of a few small cockroaches on board. Our cabin crew, therefore, relocated the two to other seats...", an Air India spokesperson said. 

I blame it on ICE, the ones responsible for covertly putting these roaches on the said flight. They had ascertained that they were not American roaches (Scientific name: Periplaneta americana) and so, they were deemed to be illegals! Budgetary constraints, I suppose, meant that they were not paying passengers but instead became stowaways! 😂😂😂

I forgot to mention that Liverpool played double-header friendlies as they ramp up their preparations for the upcoming season. The Premier League champions faced Athletic Bilbao twice on Monday, giving Arne Slot the opportunity to play his entire squad for as many minutes as possible. 

A total of 32 players featured as Liverpool rotated heavily between matches as they build up to the Community Shield at Wembley on Sunday. 

In the first game, Alexis Mac Allister featured for an hour and Darwin Nunez played 80 minutes, with the Uruguay striker finding the net in a 4-1 win. Slot then named a different starting XI and bench for the second match as Florian Wirtz, Milos Kerkez and Hugo Ekitike made their home debuts in a 3-2 victory. 

Fans could see back-to-back matches for the price of one match ticket, but weren't permitted to leave and re-enter the stadium between games.

Fossilized Roach That Is 35 To 40 Million Years Old

A fossilized cockroach has been discovered in a chunk of amber in Russia’s Kaliningrad Region. 

The specimen was found during manual sorting at the Kaliningrad Amber Combine, a facility operated by technology giant Rostech, the company announced on Thursday. 

The insect is encased in a 41x21 mm wedge of amber weighing just 7 grams. Rostech noted that the cockroach is preserved near the surface of the amber, allowing for detailed observation of its wings, legs, and head. 

Anna Dugina, a gemologist at the Kaliningrad Amber Combine, said the find is the largest cockroach-like specimen discovered by the facility in the past five years. She estimated its age at no less than 35 to 40 million years. 

The scientist explained that although the insect differs from cockroaches found today, similar species still live in tropical areas. 

The Kaliningrad Amber Combine is the only enterprise globally that mines amber on an industrial scale. The facility has developed unique extraction methods to preserve the integrity of amber pieces, especially those containing inclusions of flora and fauna. 

This discovery adds to the collection of the Kaliningrad Regional Amber Museum, which houses over 14,000 individual pieces, including more than 3,000 amber inclusions. Baltic amber, such as that found in Kaliningrad, is known for preserving ancient life forms in remarkable detail. FYI, the region holds over 90% of the world’s amber reserves.

Pet Cockroach Gets A Rude Shock

A Thai woman's well-intentioned act took an unexpected, if not bizarre turn. 

The incident, which occurred in Thailand, was first shared by the Facebook page "Kamphaeng Phet, what are your complaints? Tell us here" on April 25, 2025, following which it quickly went viral across all social media outlets. 

The video shows a woman approaching a foreign man when she spotted a large cockroach perched on his head. Thinking she was doing him a favor, she instinctively flicked off the insect. 

And, instead of gratitude, she was met with angry annoyance as the man exclaimed indignantly, "That's my pet!"

At the end of the clip, the man was seen furiously removing his face mask and searching for the six-legged insect.

The roach then emerged from the paved area, scuttling in his direction. The man then bent down and placed his palm on the ground, patiently waiting for his pet to crawl back to him. 

The type of cockroach was not identified. But I can betcha, it got a rude shock!

Take a look at the said video, courtesy of Bangkok Post below:

FYI, there are cockroach species that are popular as pets. The Madagascar Hissing Cockroach (Gromphadorhina portentosa) is a standout, known for its large size, docile nature, and the distinctive hissing sound they make when disturbed. Other common pet roaches include the Death's Head Cockroach (Blaberus craniifer) and the Indian Domino Cockroach (Therea petiveriana).

Another win for Malaysian women's doubles pair Pearly Tan-Thinaah Muralitharan today.

They cruised into the quarter-finals of the Malaysia Masters when they swept aside Thailand's world No. 85 Pichamon Phatcharaphisutsin-Nannapas Sukklad 21-13, 21-15 in 38 minutes. 

Pearly-Thinaah will next face Indonesia's world No. 9 Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma-Amalia Cahaya Pratiwi for a place in the semi-finals tomorrow. The Malaysians will go into the match as firm favourites, having won four of their five previous encounters against the Indonesians.

Live Cockroach Inside a Person's Belly

Cockroaches are known as hardy insects that can survive just about anything: sewers, decapitation, radiation after a nuclear war. And to prove the point, one cockroach had been spotted alive and well inside a 23-year-old man. 

 

At first the man thought his bloating and severe belly pain had something to do with the street food he'd eaten three days earlier. But when he finally got checked out at a hospital, doctors advised an Upper Gastrointestinal (GI) Endoscopy, a procedure that examines the upper part of the GI tract – which includes your food pipe (esophagus), stomach, and the first part of your small intestine (the duodenum) – to locate the cause of the abdominal pain and indigestion. And they were stunned to find a 3-cm cockroach living it up inside the man's small intestine. 

 

Doctors then decided to remove it using an endoscope with two channels – one for air and water infusion and the other for air suction, it was reported in Indian Express on October 11, 2024.

 

“We activated the suction button on the scope, effectively sucking the cockroach into the suction channel, leading to its removal from the body and saving the man’s life”, explained Dr Shubham Vatsya (right), Senior Consultant, Gastroenterology, who led the team of doctors at Fortis Hospital Vasant Kunj in New Delhi, India, in the 10-minute procedure, that assessed the case and successfully removed the invasive insect.

 

The patient was unaware that he had consumed the cockroach. “Even we were surprised as to how the cockroach managed to stay intact”, Dr Vatsya remarked. 

 

As for how the insect belonging to the order Blattodea wound up in the poor man's intestines, the Indian gastroenterologist speculated that it could have crawled down his throat while he slept, or the man accidentally swallowed it when visiting the night market.

 

It would appear that the adrenalin-pounding pressure-cooker competition has brought out the best in Pearly Tan-Thinaah Muralitharan, as they advanced to the Denmark Open quarter-finals.

 

Malaysia's world No. 7 triumphed 20-22, 21-18, 21-16 against South Korea's Lee Yu Lim-Shin Seung Chan in a gruelling 70-minute battle. 

 

Thursday's match extended Pearly-Thinaah's recent streak of endurance tests, totalling 344 minutes across their last four encounters.

A Funeral for a Roach

I came across this cool post on a cockroach funeral on Boing Boing today – and traced it to Instagram for the full photo story!

 

When a cockroach passed away in the hallway of an unidentified apartment building something unexpected, hilarious, and heartwarming happened. 

 

One of the neighbors made a little gravemarker for the roach on a piece of paper that said "RIP" and took a photo. Next thing they knew, someone had added a few stones and a small plastic plant to decorate the roaches "grave". 

 

In the next photo, we see that another neighbor added a "wanted sign" for the murderer of a roach. 

 

The next photo shows that the roach is now part of many different narratives. The roach is now resting in his grave, an alleged murder victim, and is somehow running for mayor. A few photos later, there are even more signs and decorations added to the roaches gravesite, including a sign advertising a memorial concert that will be starring the Beatles.

 

 

 

This all appears like something straight out of a sitcom. Can I please live in this apartment building? This seems like the most fun hallway of neighbors to ever exist!😀😀😀

Unhappy Americans

Mounting gloominess among younger people has seen the US tumble down a global well-being index, according to the World Happiness Report released on Wednesday. 

 

For the very first time in the ranking’s 12-year history, the country did not feature among the 20 happiest nations. The US dropped from 15th to 23rd overall, but was ranked 62nd when the views of people under 30 were exclusively taken into account.

 

Xiamen Customs in East China's Fujian Province intercepted an army of cockroaches on an incoming vessel during a health quarantine inspection on Monday. 

 

According to China's state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV), customs officers discovered the insects stacked in various areas of the ship, including the deck, cabin, restaurant, and food storage rooms. 

 

The officers immediately sealed off the vessel, issued the "Inspection and Quarantine Treatment Notice" to the ship owner, and instructed them to carry out pest control measures. They also supervised the sanitation process. 

 

Authorities counted over 20,000 dead cockroaches on the ship!

 

Due to their strong adaptability and reproductive capacity, roaches (Class: Insecta; Order: Blattodea; Phylum: Arthropoda) can easily cross borders through transportation vehicles, containers and goods. It is essential for transportation managers, port operators, and related personnel to strengthen daily prevention and control measures against cockroaches and other disease vectors to reduce the risk of invasive species and disease transmission, safeguarding the biological security of the country. 

 

The vessel has since passed the sanitation inspection and departed after unloading cargo.

3D Tattoos

3D tattoos are cool!

Creating the illusion of 3D really comes down to the tattoo artist's skills in working with light and shadows, as well as perspective. The tattoos should create a sense of depth and give the entire design a real-life quality. 

The tattooist needs to know how light falls and shadows work in the real world, how objects overlap, and how big or small something looks the closer and further it is from the viewer.

Scroll down for some magnificent ink inspiration. The details and shadowwork are absolutely awesome!

 

If ever, I decide to get a tattoo, it'll have to be a 3D tattoo. 

Hmmm, a cockroach, perhaps? 😉😬😁