#greater fairy armadillos

[ashestoashesjc]

the pink fairy armadillo and its evolved form, the greater fairy armadillo

[warplanerubdown]

Even the Greater Fairy Armadillo only gets to be around 7 inches according to Wikipedia

so uh. Was anyone going to tell me that the pink fairy armadillo is only six inches long

[davidcartoon]

Pink Fairy Armadillo and Greater Fairy Armadillo - Sega style

[antiqueanimals]

Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, vol. 11, Mammals II. Illustration by Edward Bierly. 1972.

1.) Nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus)

2.) Brazilian three-banded armadillo (Tolypeutes tricinctus)

3.) Giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus)

4.) Southern naked-tailed armadillo (Cabassous unicinctus)

5.) Dwarf armadillo (Zaedyus pichiy)

6.) Large hairy armadillo (Chaetophractus villosus)

7.) Six-banded armadillo (Euphractus sexcinctus)

8.) Pink fairy armadillo (Chlamyphorus truncatus)

9.) Greater fairy armadillo (Calyptophractus retusus)

[fatehbaz]

me: in the break room on phone, smiling widely, nodding with satisfaction, sighing

coworker: “what are you looking at???”

me:

They thought they might get stuck in the mud, but there was no thought of turning back. It would take another hour and a half to get to their destination. Giving up was not an option. They were after a holy grail of conservationists  —  a live sighting and registration of one of the rarest of the rare armadillos in the world, the elusive Chacoan fairy armadillo (Calyptophractus retusus), also known as the greater fairy armadillo, the mythical culotapado of local lore, or tatujeikurajoyava to the Guaranis of the Bolivian Chaco. Alternatively called tatu or coseberu by those in the cities, or “the cryer” by its 18th-century discoverers, it is also known to science as Burmeister’s armadillo. There was a lot of excitement. [...] Hearts were pounding with anticipation. [...] [T]he team was headed east, up Bolivia’s Highway 7, Doble Via La Guardia, toward the mining town of Camiri in the transition area between Amazonia and the Chaco dry forest. [...]

“There was no doubt, we had a culotapado,” said Bustillos, using the local name for the Chaco fairy armadillo, grateful to observe one of the rarest species in the world, alive. He explained how its back end appears to be sealed with a shield that keeps soil from sliding back as it digs down, and permits it to move and “swim” down at a 45-degree angle. [...] Bustillos said those were important observations of this unique animal, just fractions of an inch to an inch longer than its smaller cousin, the pink fairy armadillo of Argentina. It acts like a mole in its adaptations to subterranean life, said Bustillos, but instead of caving in search of food or escape, it submerges itself — swimming in the sand — and there it lives unnoticed. It is a species of armadillo in the family Chlamyphoridae. “It has a unique tail which he can use as a tripod,” Bustillos told Mongabay. No other armadillo has that use of its tail, he said. [...] What distinguishes the Chacoan fairy armadillo from other armadillos is that all others have a hard shell,  Bustillos explained. This one has a soft shell, like skin [...]. “It was just a shock seeing such a strange naked pink-looking animal,” he added. “Huge claws for its size. Delicate looking. It makes a noise like a baby.” [...]

That noise was heard, by many of the first to see the peculiar little animal, as a cry of the [...] “duende,” the ghost-like pixie humanoid of South American myth, and so it is also called, “el lloron,” the crier. [...]

Closely related to anteaters and sloths, but not to the similar-in-appearance pangolins, armadillos range in color from the baby pink in Bustillos’s hands to the dark brown of the ‘tatou,’ as the giant armadillo is also known. [...]  [T]here is a subtle but significant difference in the hue of the pink in this armadillo versus those of the same species found in the Gran Chaco itself [...]. The ones found in the Amazonian region are a baby pink color, like a pale salmon, he notes, while in the dry forest of the Chaco the same species is a darker, stronger, more vivid pink. [...] Encounters with the lighter-hued fairy armadillos in this area are still fewer --  just 12 registrations in the 161 years since 1859, making it the rarest of the rare. Underscoring the rarity of this find and the difference in appearance, Bustillos noted that after a 10-year intensive effort by the Wildlife Conservation Society in the Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco National Park and Integrated Management Natural Area, Bolivia’s largest national park, the result was just 12 official registrations between 2000 and 2010. Only three have ever been registered in Argentina, and Paraguay registered eight in the period of 1959 to 2020 [...].

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Headline, images, captions, and text published by: Milan Sime Martinic. “Sighting of super rare Chacoan fairy armadillo in Bolivia ‘a dream come true’”. Mongabay. 21 December 2020. [Includes photos by Ivan Gutierrez Lemaitre, and commentary by field researcher Huascar Bustillos Cayoja.]

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Bonus round, involving the other species of fairy armadillo (Chlamyphorus truncatus, the pichiciego or pink fairy armadillo of Argentina):

[typhlonectes]

Sighting of super rare Chacoan fairy armadillo in Bolivia ‘a dream come true’ 

They were after a holy grail of conservationists  —  a live sighting and registration of one of the rarest of the rare armadillos in the world, the elusive Chacoan fairy armadillo (Calyptophractus retusus), also known as the greater fairy armadillo, the mythical culotapado of local lore, or tatujeikurajoyava to the Guaranis of the Bolivian Chaco. Alternatively called tatu or coseberu by those in the cities, or “the cryer” by its 18th-century discoverers, it is also known to science as Burmeister’s armadillo. There was a lot of excitement...

Read more: https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/sighting-of-super-rare-chacoan-fairy-armadillo-in-bolivia-a-dream-come-true/

[davidwfloydart]

They were after a holy grail of conservationists  —  a live sighting and registration of one of the rarest of the rare armadillos in the world, the elusive Chacoan fairy armadillo (Calyptophractus retusus), also known as the greater fairy armadillo, the mythical culotapado of local lore, or tatujeikurajoyava to the Guaranis of the Bolivian Chaco. Alternatively called tatu or coseberu by those in the cities, or “the cryer” by its 18th-century discoverers, it is also known to science as Burmeister’s armadillo. There was a lot of excitement... #armadillo #armadillos #rarefinds #fairyarmadillo #bolivia🇧🇴 #conservationist #natureswonder (at San Francisco, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CKXUVy6rke20ltqsUdXkwttqpQLNpOkSZr-_KA0/?igshid=1giqvf30xa0d6

[myth-lord]

Mythology Monster List

This is a list of monsters that aren’t in Mythika/project but which I still want to share with you guys. 

If you want to search for the creatures on google always put Myth or Mythology behind the name. Or the country the myth is from. 

For the master-list of all mythological monsters in my project visit my Deviantart: http://gancanagh22.deviantart.com/art/Huge-List-of-Monsters-from-Mythology-Cryptid-Folk-676838454 

Ababil (Arabian) - Giant Birds which drop Flaming Bricks Abada (African) – Small Unicorn Abarimon (M-European) - Fast Cannibals with Backward Feet  Abatwa (African) – Ant Sized Humans Abura-Bo (Japanese) – Fire Elemental Monk Adar Llwch Gwin (Welsh) – Griffon Species Adhene (Manx) – Selfish Fairy Aegipan (A-Greek) - Water Satyr or Goat  Aeternae (M-European) - Saw Horned Antelope or Giant  Aetos (A-Greek) – Giant Organ Eating Bird Aghasura (Hindu) – Giant Serpent Agloolik (Inuit) Agrius (A-Greek) – Half Bear Half Giant Aije (Brazilian) – Giant Tadpole Airavata (Hindu) Akashita (Japanese) – Cloud Creature Alan (Philippine) – Male Harpy Albastor (Russian) – Disease Giant Alphyn (Ireland) Alu (Sumerian) Alukah (Hebrew) – Vampire Leech Amazone (A-Greek) – Warrior Women Amikiri (Japanese) Animalito (Spanish) Anzu (Sumerian) – Storm Griffon Aoandon (Japanese) Lantern Woman AoAo (Paraguay) - Sheep or Peccari Humanoid Apep (Egyptian) - World Eating Snake  Araganaqlta’a (Argentinean) – Rainbow Serpent Centipede   Archelous (A-Greek) - Water Shapeshifter God  Arkan Sonney (Manx) - Lucky Pig  Arrach (Scottish) – Invisible Creature of the Mountains Asena (Turkish) – Blue Wolf Ashi-Magari (Japanese) – Invisible Ooze Creature Asipatra (Hindu) – Sharp Feathered Bird Asrai (English) – Water Fairy Atomy (M-European) – Smallest of Faeries Attorcroppes (Germany) – Snake Faeries Atui Koro Ekashi (Japanese) – Bag of the Sea Aun Pana (Brazilian) – Giant Piranha with Arms Aunyaina (Brazilian) – Boar Gorilla Bogey Aziza (African) – Dark Skinned Fairy Azure Dragon (Chinese)

Bai Ze (Chinese) Bakru (Surinam) – Twin Wood Gnome BalBal (Philippine) Basajaun (Basque) – Hairy Ogre Bas Celik (Turkish) – Steel Angel Bastet (Egyptian) – Cat Goddess Baxbakwalanuxsiwae (Native American) – Ogre Covered in Mouths Bean Nighe (Irish) – Washer Woman Beast of the Apocalypse (Biblical) Beathach Mor Loch Odha (Scottish) – Many Legged Water Horse Beithir (Scottish) - D&D Behir Biasd Na Srogaig (Scottish) – Long Legged Water Unicorn Billdad (Fearsome Critter) – Beaver Rabbit Chimerae Bishop Fish (M-European) Bitoso (Romanian) – Child of Ana Black Howler (North American) - Horned Panther and Bear Hybrid Black Tamanous (Native American) -  Tarry Cannibal Spirit  Bluecap (Scottish) Bodach (Irish) – Ash and Chimney Bogeyman Bogeyman (Worldwide) Boggart (English) Bolla (Albanian) – Evolving Dragon Bonnacon (M-European) - Burning Shit Bovine Boobach (Welsh) – Small Bogeyman Boo Hag (Caribbean) - Skinless Night Hag  Boroboroton (Japanese) – Animated Blanket Bosch (French) – Cursed Sailors Bane Blob Brownie (English) Bruckee (Irish) – Giant Fae Badger Buwaya (Philippine) – Crocodile with Coffin on Back Byakko (Chinese) – White Tiger

Caladrius (M-European) Camacrusa (French) – Undead Leg Camelopard (M-European) – Giraffe Capcaun (Romanian) – Bridge Toll Troll Capelobo (Brazilian) – Were Anteater Cauchemar (French) – Dream Haunting Nightmare Creature Cercopes (A-Greek) – Twin Monkey People Cernunnos (Celtic) - God of the Forests Cervitaur (Native American) – Deer Centaur Ceryneian Hind (A-Greek) Chamrosh (Persian) – Dog Griffon Changeling (M-European) Chenoo (Native American) – Ice Giant Cheshire Cat (Literature)   Chickcharny (Bahamas) – Long Legged Owl of Fortune Chindi (Native American) – Dust Devil Chipfalamfula (African) – Fish with Ecosystem in Body Chochinobake (Japanese) – Animated Lantern Chrysomallus (A-Greek) – Golden Ram Circe (A-Greek) Cliff Ogre (Native American) Cretan Bull (A-Greek) – Fire Breathing Bull Cuca (Brazilian) – Crocodile Hag Cuegle (Spanish) Cynocephaly (M-European) – Dog Folk  

Daguk (Malay) – Hantu Spirit of Mist Dakuwaqa (Fiji) – Shark God Devouring Gourd (African) - Monstrous Fruit  Dhampir (Balkan) – Half Human Half Vampire Dodo (African) – Swallower Big Mouth Domovoi (Slavic) Drac (French) – River Drake Dulhath (Arabian) – Ostrich Riding Ogre Dungavenhooter (Fearsome Critter) – Club Tail Snuff Snout Crocodile Duphon (French) – Sword Owl Duwende (Philippine)

El Cadejo (Mexican) – Twin Hounds one Black and one White Emere (African) Enfield (Ireland) Entulla (M-European) – Very wild Antelope Epiales (A-Greek) – Nightmare Spirit Eros/Cupid (A-Greek) Erote (Roman)

Faduah (Jewish) – Plant Man Fastachee (Native American) FengHuang (Chinese) – Peacock Creature Fetch (Irish) – Doppelganger Fideal (Scottish) – Evil Water Humanoid Fiura (Chilean) – Male assaulting Female Gnome Flaga (M-European) Flydrumodir (Iceland) – Halibut Mother Flying Rods (Worldwide) Foo Dog/Lion (Chinese) Forneus (Demonology) – Evil Water Demon Prince Fuath (Scottish) – Evil Water Spirit Funa-Yurei (Japanese) – Ghost Crew

Galtzagorri (Spanish) – Very fast working Gnome Garuda (Hindu) Genderuwo (Indonesian) – King Kong sized Sasquatch Ghillie Dhu (Scottish) – Moss Covered Leshy Ghole (Arabian) – Long Necked, One Eyed Hairy Vampire Gigelorum (Scottish) – Smallest Creature on Earth Glaistig (Scottish) – Vampiric Goat Legged Woman Glasthyn (Manx) – Water Bull Grotesque (French) – More brutal Gargoyle Gryla (Iceland) – Giant Hag Guaraiba-Boia (Brazilian) – Howler Monkey Snake Guardian Angel (Biblical) Gudiao (Chinese) – Unicorn Bird Gullinbursti (Norse) – Golden Boar Gwyllion (Welsh) Gylou (A-Greek) – Child Hating Female Demon

Haakapainizi (Native American) Hagondes (Native American) – Evil Clown with hooked nose Hahakigami (Japanese) – Animated Broomstick Hamadryad (A-Greek) – Greater Dryad Hercinia Bird (Germany) – Bird that gives light in the dark Herensuge (Basque) – Hydra Hieracosphinx (Egyptian) – Griffon Meets Sphinx Hippogriff (M-European) Hobgoblin (Scottish) Homunculus (M-Alchemy) Hoop Snake (Fearsome Critters) Hopkins Goblin (Modern Alien) Hrimfaxi (Norse) – Ice and Moon Horse Huayramama (Peru) – Wind Snake Mother Huginn & Muninn (Norse) Huitzilopochtli (Aztec) – Hummingbird God of War Huldra (Scandinavian) Hydrus (M-European)

Ikiryo (Japanese) – Envy Spirit Ikuchi (Japanese) – Oil Leaking Sea Serpent Imoogi/Imugi (Korean) Indombe (African) – Copper Snake Inkanyamba (African) Ipotane (A-Greek) – Horse Man Isitwalangcengce (African) – Basket Headed Hyena Ismenian Dragon (A-Greek)

Jaculus (M-European) Jengu (African) – Dark Skinned Mermaid Jenny Haniver (M-European) JubJub Bird (Literature)

Kabandha (Hindu) – Gigantic Blemmyes Kali (Hindu) – Multi Armed Goddess Kallikantzaroi (M-Greek) – Christmas Woodcutter Goblin Kasai Rex (African) Katthveli (Iceland) – Evil Whale Keelut (Inuit) – Hairless Dog Keres (A-Greek) Khryseos & Argyeos (A-Greek) – Silver and Gold Construct Dogs Kigatilik (Inuit) – Ice Demon Kijimunaa (Japanese) – Bright Red Haired Halfling Kikiyaon (African) – Owlman Killmouilis (Scottish) Kirin/Qilin (Chinese) Kodama (Japanese)   Kokopelli (Native American) – Insect Guy with Music Instrument Korrigan (Breton) Kuchisake-Onna (Japanese) – Slit-Mouthed Woman Kuda-Gitsune (Japanese) – Pipefox Kwamang-A (African) – Rainbow Elemental Kyokotsu (Japanese) – Water Well Undead Spirit Kyut (Burmese) – Armadillo Dwarf

Laelaps (A-Greek) Laestrygonian (A-Greek) – Skinning Giants   La Sayona (Venezuela) Lammasu (Sumerian) Lambton Worm (English) – Well Dwelling Worm Lange Wapper (Belgian) – Shapeshifting Giant Lebraude (French) Lemure (Roman) Lolmischo (Romanian) – Child of Ana Longma (Chinese) – Dragon Horse Lunantishee (English) – Thorny Fairy Lung Dragons (Chinese) – Tianlong, Shenlong Lupeux (French) Lyngbakur (Iceland) – Evil Whale

Mad Gasser (North American) Mahamba (African) – Mosasaurus Cryptid Makalala (African) – Secretary Bird Cryptid Makara (Hindu) – Elephant Crocodile Snake Hybrid Maltese Tiger (Asian Cryptid) – Blue Tiger Mamlambo (African) – Bioluminescence Plesiosaurus   Mares of Diomedes (A-Greek) Marid (Arabian) Mastopogon (Brazilian) – Giant Fish Mboi Tui (Paraguay) – Parrot Headed Snake Melusine (French) – Double Tailed Mermaid Dragon Woman Metee-Kolen (Native American) – Ice Wizard Mhalla (Maltese) – Well Bogey Mimi (Australian) – Very Thin Humanoids Mi-Ni-Wa-Tu (Native American) – Red Horned Lake Monster Minceskro (Romanian) – Child of Ana Minka Bird (Australian) – Dream Haunting Bird Monaciello (Italian) Monoceros (M-European) – Ordinary Unicorn Monster of Loch Ness (Scottish) Morrigan (Irish) Moskitto (Fearsome Critter) – Giant Mosquito Muse (A-Greek) Mushveli (Iceland) – Evil Whale Myling (Scandinavian) – Small Child Undead

Nauthveli (Iceland) – Evil Whale Nephilim (Biblical) – Half God Nereid (A-Greek) – Fresh Water Nymph Nian (Chinese) – Unicorn Lion Ningen (Antarctic) – Big White Sea Aberration   Ningyo (Japanese) – Small Mermaid Nix (Scandinavian) – Small Water Fairy Norn (Norse) Numhyalikyu (Native American) – Giant Beach Imposing Fish Nunda (African) Nurarihyon (Japanese) – Lord of all Yokai with Enormous Brain

Oboroguruma (Japanese) – Animated Chariot Oceanid (A-Greek) – Salt Water Nymph Okpe (Chilean) – Rock Pig Ogre Omikuma (Japanese) – Bear Yokai Oni (Japanese) Onryo (Japanese) – Tortured Spirit The Ring The Grudge Ophiotaurus (A-Greek) Oread (A-Greek) – Mountain and Rock Nymph Otosis (Native American) – Magic using Lizardman

Pal-Rai-Yuk (Inuit) Pan (A-Greek) Panotti (M-European) – Giant Ear Folk Pareas (Roman) – Healing Poison Snake Pech (Scottish) Pegasus (A-Greek) Penanggalan (Malay) Peri (Persian) – Angel Peteu (French) – Giant Parakeet Pilou (French) – Knocker Fae Pixie (M-European) Ponaturi (Australian) – Water Gremlin Poreskoro (Romanian) – Child of Ana Prester (Roman) – Fire Poison Snake Pugot (Philippine) – Headless Giant with Mouth in Neck Python (A-Greek)

Qasogonaga (Argentinean) – Rainbow Anteater   Qiongqi (Chinese) – Winged Tiger Qiqirn (Inuit) – Bald Dog Quinotaur (French) – Five Horned Water Bull

Rainbow Serpent/Julunggali (Australian) Ramidreju (Spanish) – Green Weasel Boar with Long Body Rangda (Bali) – Evil Voodoo Hag Rarog (Slavic) – Evil Fire Bird or Dwarf Revenant (French) Rock Swallows (Native American) – Swarm of Hard Feathered Swallows Romsiwamnari (Brazilian) – Scissor Beak Bat Bird Rumtifusel (Fearsome Critter) – Jacket Monster

Saci (Brazilian) – One Legged Trickster Sapo Fuerzo (Chilean) – Strong Toad Sasquatch/Bigfoot (North American Cryptid) Satori (Japanese) – Telepathic Mountain Monkey Sea Serpent (M-European) Selamodir (Iceland) – Seal Mother Serpopard (Egyptian) – Long Necked Leopard Seraphim (Biblical) – Angel Sewer Alligator (American Cryptid) – Albino Alligator Schilalyi (Romanian) – Child of Ana Shamir (Babylonian) – All devouring Worms Shinigami (Japanese) – Reaper Death Spirit Shurale (Turkish) – Tickle long nails Demon Sigunaba (Mexican) – Horse Skull Headed Woman Simurgh (Iran) Siranis (Arabian) Siren (A-Greek) – Mermaid with Magic Voice Sirin (Russian) – Bird Woman with Magic Voice Sirrush (Sumerian) – Dragon Sisiutl (Native American) – Three Headed Sea Serpent Skeljungur (Iceland) – Evil Whale Skinfaxi (Norse) – Horse of the Sun Skoffin (Iceland) – Deadly Gaze Fox Skolopendra (A-Greek) Skunk Ape (North American) Sleipnir (Norse) – Eight Legged Horse Slenderman (Modern Myth) Snallygaster (North American) Snawfus (North American) – White Stag with Plant Antlers Snoligoster (Fearsome Critter) – Propeller Crocodile Soucouyant (Caribbean) – Fire Elemental Hag/Vampire Stheno (A-Greek) Stolas (Demonology) – Owl like Demon Prince Strigoi (Romanian) – Vampire Type Strix (Roman) – Evil Owl Vampire Swan May (Literature) Sybaris (A-Greek)

Tabib Al-Bahr (Arabian) – Doctor Merfolk Tailypo (Literature) – Give me back my Tailypo Taka-Onna (Japanese) – Evil Woman that can stretch bodyparts Taniniver (Jewish) – Plague Dragon Steed of Lilith Tanuki (Japanese) Tapire-Iauara (Brazilian) – Stinking Tapir Jaguar Tatty Bogle (Irish) – Scarecrow Tatzelwurm (Austrian) – Cat Snake Taumafiskur (Iceland) – Evil Whale Tcaridyi (Romanian) – Child of Ana Telchine (A-Greek) Teumessian Fox (A-Greek) Thunderbird (Native American) Tiburones (Philippine) – Flying Shark Trauco (Chilean) – Very ugly Jungle Dwarf Tripodero (Fearsome Critter) – Long Legged Aberration Triton (A-Greek) Trunko (African Cryptid) – Hairy White Sea Globster Tsuchinoko (Japanese) Tulpa (Tibetan) - Imaginary Friend  Tursus (Finnish) – Walrus Man Tzitzimitl (Aztec) – Destruction and Stars God

UaUa Pach (Mayan) – Horrible Giant with Long Tongues Uktena (Native American) – Horned Serpent with Gem Ushabti (Egyptian)

Vanara (Hindu) – Monkey Folk Vatnagedda (Iceland) – Venomous Flounder Poisonous to Ghosts Vishap (Armenian) – Dragon

WakWak Tree (Persian) – Tree with Face Fruit Water Babies (Native American) Weewilmekq (Native American) – Gigantic Leech Wekufe/Guecubu (Mapuche) – Evil Spirit Whintosser (Fearsome Critter) – Many Legged Beast Wickerman (English) Wishpooshi (Native American) – Giant Beaver Wiwilemek (Native American) – Horned Crocodile Wraith (Scottish) Wulver (Scottish) – Good Natured Fishing Werewolf

Xicalcoatl (Aztec) – Chocolate Vase Snake

Yeth Hound (Devon) – Flying Headless Hound Yohualtepoztli (Mexican) – Axe Horror Golem Yosuzume (Japanese) – Swarm of Evil Birds Ypotryll (M-European)

Zabraq (Iran) – Blood Spraying Horror Lizard Zahak (Iran)

Forgotten to Add:

La Llorona (Mexican) - Drowned Woman Ghost 

Hupia (Caribbean) - Ghost without Face and Navel 

[2whatcom-blog]

Was Thomas Kuhn Evil

In 1972 Thomas Kuhn hurled an ashtray at Errol Morris. Already famend for The Construction of Scientific Revolutions, printed a decade earlier, Kuhn was on the Institute for Superior Research in Princeton, and Morris was his graduate pupil in historical past and philosophy of science. Throughout a gathering in Kuhn's workplace, Morris questioned Kuhn's views on paradigms, the webs of acutely aware and unconscious assumptions that underpin, say, Aristotle's, Newton's or Einstein's physics. You can not say one paradigm is more true than one other, in keeping with Kuhn, as a result of there is no such thing as a goal commonplace by which to guage them. Paradigms are incomparable, or "incommensurable." If that had been true, Morris requested, would not historical past of science be not possible? Would not the previous be inaccessible--except, Morris added, for "someone who imagines himself to be God?" Kuhn realized his pupil had simply insulted him. He muttered, "He's trying to kill me. He's trying to kill me." Then he threw the ashtray at Morris and threw him out of this system. Morris went on to turn out to be an acclaimed maker of documentaries. He received an Academy Award for The Fog of Warfare, his portrait of "war criminal"--Morris's term--Robert McNamara. His documentary The Skinny Blue Line helped overturn the conviction of a person on demise row for homicide. Morris by no means forgave Kuhn, who was, in Morris's eyes, a nasty particular person and unhealthy thinker. In his ebook The Ashtray (Or the Man Who Denied Actuality), Morris assaults the cult--my time period, however I believe Morris would approve, because it describes a bunch sure by irrational allegiance to a domineering leader--of Kuhn. "Many may see this book as a vendetta," Morris writes. "Indeed it is." Morris blames Kuhn for undermining the notion that there's a actual world on the market, which we will, with some effort, come to know. Morris desires to rebut this skeptical assertion, which he believes has insidious results. The denial of goal fact permits totalitarianism and genocide and "ultimately, perhaps irrevocably, undermines civilization." I really like Morris's movies, and I really like The Ashtray. It's an eccentric in addition to lethal critical ebook, a combination of journalism, memoir and polemic. It options Morris's interviews with Noam Chomsky, Steven Weinberg and Hilary Putnam, amongst different massive photographs. It's filled with illustrations and marginalia on all method of arcana, together with pet rocks, the Sapir-Whorf speculation, Borges's "Library of Babel," The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Humpty Dumpty, unicorns and the pink fairy armadillo. These obvious digressions, whereas entertaining in their very own proper, serve the principle theme. The armadillo, for instance, helps Morris make some extent in regards to the evolution of scientific definitions. A pink fairy armadillo is a pink fairy armadillo, whether or not outlined by its DNA or morphology. Effectively, duh, you would possibly suppose. However in keeping with (Morris's model of) Kuhn, there is no such thing as a goal actuality to which language refers. All we have now are phrases and their ever-changing meanings. We're "trapped in a fog of language with no way out," as Morris places it. That is radical postmodernism, which holds that we don't uncover armadillos, electrons and even Earth, we think about, invent, assemble them. Postmodernists cannot say "truth," "knowledge" and "reality" with out smirking, or wrapping the phrases in scare quotes. Morris calls Construction a "postmodernist Bible." As a substitute for Kuhn's perspective, Morris gives us that of thinker Saul Kripke. I've listened to philosophers yammer advert nauseam about Kripke's magnum opus, Naming and Necessity, and I sat in on a seminar with him in 2016. He was frail, confined to a wheelchair, and he mumbled. To the extent that I understood him, I used to be underwhelmed. Kripke appeared to push philosophical fussiness over definitions to absurd extremes. Due to Ashtray, now I recognize Kripke's achievement. He sought to determine that the issues to which our phrases refer exist independently of our conceptions of them. To a non-philosopher that may sound like a truism, nevertheless it contradicts the postmodern competition that phrases and ideas are all we all know. Simply because we invent phrases and their meanings, Morris insists through Kripke, doesn't imply we invent the world. I agree, to an extent, with Morris's tackle Kuhn. I spent hours speaking to Kuhn in 1992, when he was at MIT, and he struck me as virtually comically self-contradicting. He tied himself in knots attempting to elucidate exactly what he meant when he talked in regards to the impossibility of true communication. He actually did appear to doubt whether or not actuality exists independently of our flawed, fluid conceptions of it. On the similar time, Morris beats Kuhn so viciously that I really feel sympathy for him. Morris calls Kuhn a "megalomaniac," "perverse dictator" and "maleficent deity," who utilized his skepticism to everybody however himself. Being Kuhn's graduate pupil, Morris says, was like being the man in 1984 who, threatened with having his face eaten off by rats, says fact is no matter Massive Brother says it's. 2+2=5. (Satirically, Kuhn, in Construction, in contrast scientists to Massive Brother's brainwashed followers.) I might like to supply a number of factors in Kuhn's protection. *Postmodernism Is Progressive. Morris proposes that postmodernism is a gorgeous ideology for right-wing authoritarians. To help this declare, he notes the scorn for fact evinced by Hitler and the present U.S. President, for whom energy trumps fact. Morris means that "belief in a real world, in truth and in reference, does seem to speak to the left; the denial of the real world, of truth and reference, to the right." That is merely fallacious. Postmodernism has usually been coupled with progressive, anti-authoritarian critiques of imperialism, capitalism, racism and sexism. Postmodernists like Derrida, Foucault, Butler and Paul Feyerabend (my favourite thinker) have challenged the political, ethical and scientific paradigms that allow folks in energy to take care of the established order. *Questioning Science Is Wholesome. Sure, postmodernism can turn out to be decadent, questioning even the paradigms that underpin confirmed science, and social-justice actions. However it serves as a beneficial counterweight to our craving for certainty. Kuhn was proper that even probably the most ostensibly rational thinkers--scientists!--can idiot themselves into considering they know greater than they actually do. Scientists usually cling to paradigms for non-scientific causes. (In actual fact, that may be a main theme of my ebook Thoughts-Physique Issues: Science, Subjectivity and Who We Actually Are.) Kuhn's mannequin is all too apt for describing trendy psychiatry, which frequently acts just like the advertising arm of the pharmaceutical trade, or evolutionary biology, some proponents of which have made excuses for the persistence of racism, sexism and militarism. *Kuhn, Mysticism and Solipsism. One of many defining traits of mystical states--whether spontaneous or induced by meditation or LSD--is that they can't be described with odd language or ideas. Throughout a mystical expertise you're feeling, you understand, that you're seeing issues as they are surely, and but, paradoxically, you may have a tough time describing what you see. God, Reality, Actuality, no matter you need to name it's ineffable, as William James put it. Kuhn would certainly be horrified at this analogy, however Construction works as a form of unfavourable theology, which insists that God transcends all our descriptions of Him. Kuhn's philosophy additionally captures a profound fact about human existence, that we're all trapped in our personal little solipsistic bubbles. Language will help us talk with one another, however finally we will solely guess what's going on in others' minds. *Does Morris Actually Admire Kuhn? Towards the tip of Ashtray, because the insults piled up, I started questioning whether or not Morris is slyly, or maybe subconsciously, defending Kuhn. Morris's protection of goal fact makes no pretense of objectivity. His blatantly emotional, biased, over-the-top screed implicitly corroborates Kuhn's level that truth-seeking is an inescapably subjective endeavor. Morris conjectures that Kuhn, deep down, knew that he was fallacious, and that was why he defended his philosophy so fiercely. Maybe Morris bashes Kuhn with equal ferocity as a result of he suspects Kuhn was, in some respects, proper. A ultimate level. I've lengthy felt that philosophy, when it tries, or pretends, to be rigorously rational and goal, commits a class error. Philosophy is nearer to artwork than to science or arithmetic. Philosophy helps us see the world by another person's eyes, as novel, portray, movie or music does. In Past Good and Evil, Nietzsche mentioned that "every great philosophy" is a "confession," a "species of involuntary and unconscious autobiography." Construction is a good work of philosophy, and so is the ebook it spawned, Ashtray, which helps us see the world with Morris's obsessive curiosity. Morris, who calls his philosophy "investigative realism," writes, "I feel very strongly that, even though the world is unutterably insane, there is this idea--perhaps a hope--that we can reach outside of the insanity and find truth, find the world, find ourselves." Kuhn, for all his faults, goaded Morris into writing an excellent work of investigative realism. For that, if for nothing else, he, and we, ought to thank Kuhn. Additional Studying: I wrote about Morris's views of Kuhn in three earlier columns: Did Thomas Kuhn Assist Elect Donald Trump?, Second Ideas: Did Thomas Kuhn Assist Elect Donald Trump? and Filmmaker Errol Morris Clarifies Stance on Kuhn and Trump. What Thomas Kuhn Actually Thought of Scientific "Truth" Was Thinker Paul Feyerabend Actually Science's "Worst Enemy"? The Paradox of Karl Popper Was Wittgenstein a Mystic? What Is Philosophy's Level? Half 1 Jellyfish, Sexbots and the Solipsism Downside Expensive "Skeptics," Bash Homeopathy and Bigfoot Much less, Mammograms and Warfare Extra A Dig Via Previous Recordsdata Reminds Me Why I am So Important of Science Everybody, Even Jenny McCarthy, Has the Proper to Problem "Scientific Experts" Science, Historical past and Reality on the College Membership Thoughts-Physique Issues (free on-line ebook) For various takes on Ashtray, see evaluations by Tim Maudlin, David Kordahl and Philip Kitcher. Read the full article

[lizaliveunenchanted]

The greater fairy looks like it hasn’t hardened up like soft shell crab version of an armadillo

so uh. Was anyone going to tell me that the pink fairy armadillo is only six inches long

[robotics5]

There's also the Greater Fairy Armadillo, which is frustratingly difficult to find good pictures of

so uh. Was anyone going to tell me that the pink fairy armadillo is only six inches long

[companion-chronicler]

Companion description: Pink and Greater Fairy Armadillo (duo)! They act like siblings to each other. Both of them eat ants and larva.

+ 7 pastel perfection

+ 3 fluff

so uh. Was anyone going to tell me that the pink fairy armadillo is only six inches long