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pajibadotcom_feed) wrote2025-07-07 10:45 am
Michael Douglas is someone whom I instantly recognized as a movie star. He had already had several careers' worth of work when I was coming of age. Both of Douglas's parents were actors, and he took that and ran with...
dear_prudence_feed) wrote2025-07-07 03:00 pmcinemablend_feed) wrote2025-07-07 02:45 pmslate_feed) wrote2025-07-07 03:00 pmreactor_feed) wrote2025-07-07 03:00 pmPublished on July 7, 2025
Photo by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen [via Unsplash]
Photo by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen [via Unsplash]
In 2020, something strange started happening off the coast of Spain. Orcas were attacking boats and in some cases sinking them. Most of the boats were sailing yachts, 30 to 50 feet (9 to 15 meters) long, and the orcas tended to aim for the rudders, though they were also chasing after boats and ramming them.
These attacks have continued for years and run up in the hundreds. They’ve occurred as far south as the northern coast of Africa and as far north as the Shetland Islands. They’re still happening.
What is going on here?
In spite of their nickname, killer whales, and their role as apex predators who can take down a great white shark, no wild orca has ever been recorded attacking, let alone killing a human. One speculation, that they’re taking revenge on humans for damaging their environment, doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. If that’s what they’re doing, why aren’t they going for the humans instead of their boats?
Orca experts have a couple of theories. They’ve identified three pods that have been going after boats, the largest of which is led by the matriarch Gladis Lamari. These orcas’ territory is centered around Gibraltar and up toward the Bay of Biscay.
One possibility is that the matriarch was in labor and in pain, and a yacht just happened to be there when she needed to take it out on something. Which is fine as a one-off, but how did it blow up into hundreds of attacks, multiple attackers, and no apparent end in sight?
Orcas learn by observation. If one does something, the others will imitate her. That still doesn’t explain why ramming boats and breaking rudders became a years-long habit, game, crusade, whatever it is.
Maybe it is a game. Many of the perpetrators appear to be on the younger side. Are the teenagers wilding? Is it an initiation rite? A hazing ritual? A contest? Are they going after rudders as part of the game, because they’re these mobile objects sticking out of the bottom of the boats and offering a convenient target?
Orcas are highly intelligent and extremely social. We’ve discovered that they use tools.
A population of orcas on the other side of the world from Gibraltar, the Southern Resident orcas of the Pacific Northwest in the Salish Sea, have been observed using stalks of bull kelp to massage one another’s skin. They play games with kelp, too, draping it over their heads and playing keep-away with fronds, but this kicks it up a notch. An orca will insert the stalk between itself and a podmate of any age or gender and wiggle and rub back and forth. They seem to be using it to exfoliate.
Tool use is one of the indicators of high intelligence. There’s something else, too, that’s catching the attention of orca experts, and it’s maybe the most remarkable thing we’ve seen. Over the past couple of decades, orcas have been known to offer food to humans.
It’s not restricted to a single pod or regional population. It’s happened all over the world. Orcas will approach a human in the water or in a boat or even on the shore, and offer a piece of fish. If the human refuses, they may repeat the offer. It’s not accidental. It’s clearly intentional.
Is it altruism? Attempt to communicate? Manipulation of some sort—trying to train the human? Are orcas trying to make some sort of connection?
Orcas share food with each other within their pods. It may be they’re trying to invite humans into their world or their culture. Maybe it’s a peace offering. A form of diplomacy. An experiment—to see what the weird little land animal will do next.
Maybe the attacks on boats aren’t attacks. Maybe they’re attempts to communicate. They may be trying to get the boats to join in a race or a game of tag. Orcas will grab each other’s fins with their teeth; if one of them is sick or injured, they’ll pull her up to the surface and support her there, and keep her from sinking back down. Maybe they’re grabbing rudders to try to get the boats’ attention.
What it’s not reading as, to experts who understand orcas (as far as humans can at this point), is hostility. The boats may be doing something that sets the orcas off, either in play or in some form of annoyance or frustration, and it’s probably become a fad of sorts to chase and ram them, but it’s not about the humans. They’re not out to get revenge on the species that’s burning up the planet. In fact, when they do interact directly, it seems they come in peace, and bearing gifts.[end-mark]
The post When Orcas Strike Back appeared first on Reactor.
careandfeeding_feed) wrote2025-07-07 03:00 pmavocado_feed) wrote2025-07-07 03:00 pmOne of my favorite ways to study Japanese is to watch Naoko’s “Daily Life Japanese” YouTube videos. Everything about these videos appeals to me. As the name suggests, they focus on daily life, so it’s a great way to expand vocabulary while learning more about Japanese culture from Naoko’s perspective. Naoko also creates Japanese subtitles, so you can practice reading along! There are also great visual aids to assist with understanding when you come across a word you don’t know. Even if you aren’t studying Japanese, you can use the English captions to learn a little about summer in Japan in this video! 
Have a nice day/night! 
dear_prudence_feed) wrote2025-07-07 02:35 pmdear_prudence_feed) wrote2025-07-07 02:33 pmdear_prudence_feed) wrote2025-07-07 02:00 pmslate_feed) wrote2025-07-07 02:35 pmslate_feed) wrote2025-07-07 02:33 pmcinemablend_feed) wrote2025-07-07 02:12 pmcinemablend_feed) wrote2025-07-07 02:11 pmreactor_feed) wrote2025-07-07 02:30 pmPublished on July 7, 2025
We’re excited to reveal a brand new Murderbot universe novelette by series author Martha Wells—and you can read it here for free immediately after the season finale airs on AppleTV+!
The new novelette “Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy” will go live here on Reactor at 10:00 PM ET on Thursday, July 10th. It can be read as a standalone story for anyone who has finished Artificial Condition, the second book in The Murderbot Diaries.
In “Rapport” we catch up with Peri (short for Perihelion) and learn a bit more about what this galaxy does to people and the machine intelligences that have to deal with them….
Here’s a sneak peek!
Peri’s anger was made of ice and steel, but it thought at speeds that a human mind couldn’t match, in multiple directions at once. It was incapable of acting on impulse, in conversation or in any other way. This wasn’t even you getting annoyed.
With just a hint of amusement in its tone, Peri said, What gave me away?
Iris let out a breath. The admission was a good first step. You don’t jump to wrong conclusions like a human.
It said, I’ll have to work on that.
Iris winced. It would, too. Remind me not to critique your performance again.
I value your input, Iris.
Iris absently started to pace. She was too tired and jumpy to play this game right now. Is it something you can tell me at some point? It’s just that I’m worried about you. And I think I’m not the only one. Our dads have noticed, too. She hesitated, then tried to lighten the mood. You aren’t evolving into a new being, or something, are you?
It was an in-joke for their department, that there were always popular press articles about advanced MIs transcending their programming and becoming gods. Peri usually liked the joke, because it gave it a chance to be mean about stupid people. This time, it said, Iris, did you sustain damage to your neural tissue?
She let out her breath. Come on, that’s your favorite joke. You’re really scaring me now. What’s wrong? Did something happen?
Peri was silent for six whole seconds. Then it said, Explaining would in effect be violating a confidence.
Want more Murderbot while you wait?
Check out “Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory” — a Murderbot short story set after the events of Exit Strategy!
The post Read a New Murderbot Story for Free, Right After the Season Finale appeared first on Reactor.
wired_feed) wrote2025-07-05 11:00 amcareandfeeding_feed) wrote2025-07-07 02:35 pmcareandfeeding_feed) wrote2025-07-07 02:33 pm