Very nice, thanks. Love the sound of the cymbals.

Just looked it up on YouTube and someone in the comments called it “magick metal”. I’ve been out of the metal scene for a while now but I see the tradition of inventing goofy names for subgenres is still going strong lol

Yes and I will judge anyone who doesn’t recommend me their favorite demo tape

90s demo tapes hit different though. The crustiness really enhances the overall atmosphere of certain genres.

Ysigim - Ain Soph Or (1994) is a personal favorite. They did a digital rerelease recently and it’s too clean, I don’t like it.

Sphinx moth of some kind. Compare to Sphinx chersis.

It’s amazing how rich and ancient China’s literary history is. I should make more of an effort to get into Chinese writing, all I’ve read is Shi Naian’s Water Margin which was great fun. Maybe Confucius’ Analects would be a good place to start with the really old stuff.

I’m curious what piqued your interest in this book. Was it an engaging read?

My most expensive is probably Dindal’s Soil Biology Guide (1990), which cost around $300 as well. The print quality is pathetically bad given the price I paid, the spine came off only a few months after buying. Wiley Blackwell 🤢

Plant enjoyers should also appreciate the Sparganium inflorescence in the back

The word ‘quietly’ seems to be in every other headline lately, it really bugs me.

Government / company x quietly does y.

The colors are striking in among the flowers like that. Great shot

Do you have pet isopods?

Complaining about the neighbours maybe? They sure have a lot of them.

They sound absolutely fantastic:

https://ebird.org/species/commur

It’s more boreal in distribution, so you might be a tad too far south. Usually it grows in bogs and heathlands. You can check iNaturalist for a map and to see if it’s been reported near you:

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/53041-Kalmia-angustifolia

Kalmia angustifolia

A very interesting instrument. The pedal notes especially are very resonant which adds a lot of character to the performance.

Legend has it Bach’s favorite instrument was the lautenwerck aka the lute-harpsichord. They are similar to the clavichord but have a rounded body, which gives the instrument a much softer tone. Bach supposedly owned 4. Here’s a short recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8z31MbF89-8

Funny, I had the exact same thought process. It’s a corvid! …wait that’s a funny bill. Figures it’s something weird since it’s from New Zealand.