Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Korean Animals: this one's grim

I apologize. I normally offer pictures here of animals devoid of any meaning other than biological. Here, though, is a remarkable photo. Some warning; it is not a happy or cheerful photo and I am taking the remarkable step of putting it after-the-fold. It is a picture of dead birds. View at your own discretion.



Click to enlarge.

You are looking at two or possibly three dead siskins. They died from flying into a window. The reason I feel this image is remarkable is the tracks around the birds.

These birds died in flight. I hope it was quick. The tracks show their flock-mates joined them on the ground after they died.

What were they thinking? Were they saying goodbye? Checking for any sign of life?

As a student of biology, I know how intelligent birds are, even with their tiny brains. Crows - much larger but still with tiny heads relative to us- are great problem solvers. Does this picture show a spiritual life or understanding of death? I submit the birds that made the tracks were sad and showing respect for their friends before continuing with their own lives.
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Maybe I am thinking about such grim and wondrous things because I had another two or three seizures today. It has been nearly two years since I last experienced them. I described them here. An excerpt from that post
This condition started, I think, during a bout of food poisoning. between races to the toilet, I would relax and fall asleep. The dream would get weird and very realistic and I felt strong deja vu. Then my stomach would tighten and I would awaken trying to remember the dream.
But trying to remember also seemed like a trigger. For the next few years, I would be daydreaming and sometimes my train of thought would take me to a buried memory and as I tried to recall it, suddenly my stomach would cramp, I would feel weak and have trouble standing – just too tired. Then it would go away. I would get maybe five episodes over a day or a day and half and those episodes would start very intense but fade. I distinctly remember two things. 1) being afraid to remember something for fear it would trigger another attack and 2) trying to remember the scene or event that tantalized just before the attack.
I think the last attack was a year ago [in 2014], while at a sports camp.
Sometimes, I was unusually tired or sick when either of these attacks occurred but for some of them I can’t think of any specific trigger.

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