Hodgepodge: All things that don't fit on-going threads

[rgray222]

Driving over a bridge in California at 45 mph.

[Johnnycomelately]

IMO, this charming story about little wild critters’ seemingly-playful behavior doesn’t belong in any of the critter threads.

Seems obvs to me that this kind of behaviour is also seen in humans. Last year on my Jasper AB trip we visited the then brand new Jasper skate park, after scoping it from the sky tram height. Kids were there, like baby bears to moms’ dropped honey.

https://www.zmescience.com/ecology/a...ay-run-whyrep/


Dutch scientists left a hamster wheel outside. Then, all the animals started playing with it

It seems that animals simply love to play.

by Mihai Andrei February 6, 2026 - Updated on August 12, 2026


In 2014, a team of Dutch scientists set out to conduct an unusual experiment.

They placed a hamster wheel in the wild to see whether mice would use it as they do in captivity. Not only did wild mice take to the wheel, but rats, shrews, frogs, and even slugs also interacted with it. The experiment showed that wheel running isn’t simply something captivity creates: given the chance, wild mice will voluntarily hop on and run too.


Build It and They Will Run

For decades, biologists assumed that captive mice ran on wheels simply because they were bored, stressed, or “crazed” by their cramped cages. But Johanna Meijer and Yuri Robbers from Leiden University suspected there was more to the story. They took the wheels out of the lab and into the wild to see if free-roaming animals would ignore them—or hop on for a spin.

“If wheel running is indeed caused by captive housing, wild mice are not expected to use a running wheel in nature. This, however, to our knowledge, has never been tested. Here, we show that when running wheels are placed in nature, they are frequently used by wild mice,” the researchers explained in the study.

The scientists set up a 24-centimeter running wheel in a green urban area and installed a night-vision camera and motion sensors to record how animals responded. The wheel sat inside a small, open structure that animals up to the size of a rat could freely enter and leave. Food was initially placed nearby to attract mice. To attract wildlife, they initially placed food near the wheel, but they later removed it to see if animals would still use it.

The results were delightful. Mice were by far the most enthusiastic users, accounting for 88% of recorded wheel-running events, but shrews, rats, and frogs also set the wheel spinning. Frogs sometimes hopped back and forth, while slugs and snails produced rather less athletic wheel movements. Birds occasionally visited the setup but apparently declined to join in.

😊

The results were intriguing enough that the researchers installed another wheel in a nearby dune area that was closed to the public. The two experiments ultimately ran for more than three years.

Remarkably, the animals kept gathering at the wheel. Over a span of three years, the team recorded over 200,000 animal visits and analyzed more than 12,000 video clips of animals interacting with the wheels. Some individuals showed remarkably consistent behavior—one mouse ran for an astonishing 18 minutes!

When the food was taken away from the wheel, the number of visits dropped significantly but still didn’t decrease to zero. Also, some mice using the wheel were observed to be too young to have known that there was ever a food reward; in other words, they were just using the wheel for the sake of it.


This begs an obvious question: Why Do Mice Run on Wheels When There’s No Reward?

Researchers propose one idea that could be linked to the metabolic reward system: it’s a motor response to hunger or other stimuli related to foraging. It could also satisfy the animals’ curiosity or desire to play. This idea is backed by the fact that when the food was taken away from the wheel, fewer animals showed up — but those that did show up were more likely to use it.

“Our results indicate that while the number of visits to the recording site decreased when no food was present, the fraction of visits including wheel running increased. This implies that wheel running can be experienced as rewarding even without an associated food reward,” the researchers write.

😊

This experiment opens up a major question: why do animals engage in wheel running when there’s no clear reward?

One theory suggests that it may be linked to a metabolic reward system, where movement provides a natural stimulus related to foraging or hunger. Another possibility is that it satisfies a fundamental instinct to play or explore new objects in their environment.

Interestingly, the study also found seasonal variations in wheel use. Mice were more likely to run during the warmer months, with peaks in late spring and summer. This coincides with the time when young mice are most active, possibly indicating that juveniles are more curious or energetic.


In 2016, animal-behavior researchers Georgia Mason and Hanno Würbel pointed out that a behavior occurring naturally in wild animals doesn’t necessarily mean that an exaggerated version of the same behavior cannot become abnormal in captivity. Pacing, for instance, can grow out of perfectly normal locomotion. Wild mice choosing to use a wheel therefore showed that wheel running itself isn’t purely an artifact of cages.

Later research has nevertheless strengthened the idea that rodents can be genuinely motivated to run and play.

A 2019 review described wheel running as a rewarding, initially goal-directed behavior that can become habitual with repeated access. And in 2025, researchers studying male mice identified part of the neural circuitry involved.

Studies have documented both solitary and social play in mice, including running, pouncing, energetic jumping, chasing, climbing over one another, and rudimentary play fighting. Researchers have even observed tame mice chasing human hands in interactions interpreted as play.

So the quirky 2014 experiment has held up rather well,

It’s likely that there’s more than just one motivation at play, but whatever the case may be, one thing is for sure: mice don’t just use the wheel in captivity, they also use it in the wild. So this is feeding a natural desire for them, not creating an artificial need. This could have implications both for people keeping mice as pets, and for researchers using lab mice.


Journal Reference: Wheel running in the wild, Published 21 May 2014 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2014.0210

This article was originally published in January 2023 and has been since reedited to add more information.

🥸

Dr. Andrei Mihai is a geophysicist and founder of ZME Science. He has a Ph.D. in geophysics and archaeology and has completed courses from prestigious universities (with programs ranging from climate and astronomy to chemistry and geology). He is passionate about making research more accessible to everyone and communicating news and features to a broad audience.

[East Sun]

Is it my imagination or are animals evolving more quickly or is it because adult humans are evolving and becoming more aware of animal behavior.

[rgray222]

Posted by East Sun (here)
Is it my imagination or are animals evolving more quickly or is it because adult humans are evolving and becoming more aware of animal behavior.

What a great question. It is not something I stopped to think about but I should have because it does seem to be the case. My first thought was probably a little of both, but here is what AI had to say.

It is not your imagination: animals are genuinely evolving more quickly, and this acceleration is largely driven by human activities. While increased scientific awareness and better monitoring tools help us detect these changes more readily, the evolutionary shifts themselves are real, measurable, and occurring at unprecedented rates.

[Mark (Star Mariner)]

At my work yesterday evening everything stopped between 7.30 and 8.15pm as the near-totality eclipse touched western England. It was quite a sensational spectacle -- better than '99 when we had the last one. That day had been very cloudy. Yesterday, there wasn't a single cloud in the sky. The light went very dim, like a weird brown twilight without the long shadows. There was only one pair of special viewing glasses between about a dozen of us, so we had to take turns.

It was fun watching the young 'uns ooh and ahh -- they weren't even born that last time this happened in the UK. I shot some video on my phone, but as expected, it didn't come out very well. Camera phone lenses are not designed for this kind of phenomenon.

But I did quite enjoy this clever front cover from The Sun newspaper this morning. They're not exactly a reputable publication, but they are well known for their often witty headlines.

[Ewan]

Posted by rgray222 (here)

Posted by East Sun (here)
Is it my imagination or are animals evolving more quickly or is it because adult humans are evolving and becoming more aware of animal behavior.

What a great question. It is not something I stopped to think about but I should have because it does seem to be the case. My first thought was probably a little of both, but here is what AI had to say.

It is not your imagination: animals are genuinely evolving more quickly, and this acceleration is largely driven by human activities. While increased scientific awareness and better monitoring tools help us detect these changes more readily, the evolutionary shifts themselves are real, measurable, and occurring at unprecedented rates.

the evolutionary shifts themselves are real, measurable, and occurring at unprecedented rates

Is that evolution or adaptation? Are they the same thing ultimately?

It seems to me that would leave the animals more prone to the same disasters that may befall us.

[RunningDeer]

You've Never Seen David Icke Like This Before

• John Nolan - Inspired
• 606K subscribers
• August 13, 2026

David Icke says he’s entered a new phase of life. After 36 years of exposing the nature of reality, he’s slowing down, spending more time in nature, and experiencing what he describes as a profound new level of clarity. In this conversation, we explore why no one is ever truly awake, the trap of certainty, false awakening, consciousness, and why the greatest prison may be the one we never question.
This is a side of David Icke most people have never seen.

00:00 A Different Side of David Icke
01:02 Introduction
03:38 Why David Says He's Going Through a Change
11:45 No One Is Ever Truly Awake
20:18 The Trap of Thinking You've Arrived
29:56 Why Certainty Can Become Dangerous
39:12 False Awakening & The Matrix of Perception
49:47 Consciousness vs. The Human Program
59:31 Why David Walked Away From Constant Noise
1:08:46 Becoming a Gardener & Finding Clarity
1:18:14 Death, Reality & What Comes Next
1:28:37 How to Stay Free in an Artificial World
1:37:42 David's Message for Those Awakening Today
1:43:50 End

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=MoKNJAKzOLo

AI bullet points:

The central thread of this interview is essentially: David Icke argues that awakening means recognizing yourself as consciousness rather than the human personality, withdrawing emotional investment from the perceived “matrix,” and maintaining an inner equilibrium rather than being manipulated by fear, authority, technology, or external events.

A few major ideas recur:

• Identity beyond the personality
 - Icke distinguishes the temporary human identity—body, name, memories, life story—from what he calls the “true I,” which he describes as infinite consciousness.
• Reality as a simulation/matrix
 - He presents the physical world as a controlled informational system that the body/brain supposedly decodes into the experience of physical reality.

• Death and reincarnation
 - He proposes that consciousness survives bodily death but can remain trapped in successive levels of a larger system. His account of reincarnation involves a “mind wipe” and manipulation after death that supposedly encourages consciousness to return.
• Religion as an authority structure
 - He interprets conventional religious ideas—salvation, judgment, spiritual guides, heaven, reincarnation—as different versions of the same underlying dynamic: subordination to an external authority rather than recognition of one's own consciousness.

• Fear as the mechanism of control
 - One of his strongest psychological points is that fear produces a reactive state. He argues that becoming less reactive—particularly toward death, uncertainty, criticism, and adversity—is part of becoming “free.”
• Technology and AI
 - He extends the matrix framework to artificial intelligence, arguing that AI could increasingly control the information from which people form their perceptions. He therefore advocates deliberately limiting dependence on technological systems.

• “It is what it is” / emotional equilibrium
 - The practical philosophy near the end is considerably simpler than the metaphysical claims: don't get pulled into drama. Deal with whatever happens, do what needs to be done, and don't let either success or adversity completely determine your emotional state.
• Gardening as a metaphor for awakening
 - Gardening becomes an interesting counterpoint to the grand conspiracy/matrix discussion. It represents direct engagement with nature, patience, observation, uncertainty, and accepting that some seasons succeed while others fail.

• Ponder time
 - The interview closes on an unusually practical idea: deliberately creating periods of non-doing and reflection. Icke argues that constant attention and activity can prevent insights from emerging, whereas “ponder time” allows ideas and perceptions to develop.

[RunningDeer]

"Humanity is entering an extraordinary period of transformation in which harmful influences are gradually losing their ability to persist, while people who cultivate openness, compassion, and heart-centered awareness can participate consciously in creating a more humane future." ~ Regina Meredith

Reptilians Be Gone! | Regina Meredith

• August 12, 2026

It is by design that humanity has been left at each other‘s throats, polarizing to the extent that relationships, friendships and family have broken up over things we read in headline news. The strength of humanity is our heart and our connection to one another so what better way to weaken us than by splitting us apart? So who’s behind this?

As I said in a recent video, look behind the curtain to those controlling their minions whom we call the “elite.” I call them “bottom feeders” as they gain power off of control over others and human suffering - the lowest density of energy. This has been going on for tens of thousands of years, and we need to step out of it. Enjoy!

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=3vLOAwDLQV8

AI Summary:

The discussion offers a spiritual and metaphysical view of humanity’s current transition, suggesting that Earth is rising in frequency or consciousness and that souls may eventually separate according to their level of development. The speaker describes a “two Earth” scenario in which souls still learning basic lessons such as kindness, honesty, and compassion may continue their development on a less-developed version of Earth, while more evolved souls move toward a higher-frequency Earth.

She also believes that lower-frequency forces that have influenced humanity through fear, suffering, and conflict will no longer be compatible with the higher-frequency Earth. Rather than viewing this as punishment or judgment, she sees it as an opportunity for souls to learn at their own pace while humanity increasingly embraces compassion, intuition, heart-centered intelligence, and ethical decision-making. She extends this idea to artificial intelligence, emphasizing that humans should guide AI with compassionate intentions and reject systems that seem manipulative or harmful, ultimately expressing optimism about humanity’s awakening and evolution.

Key Points:

• A “two Earth” scenario is central to the speaker’s worldview. She describes a second version of Earth that has supposedly been developed over a long period to accommodate souls who are still working through more basic lessons of human behavior.

• The separation is framed as energetic rather than punitive. According to the speaker, people and beings will gravitate toward environments whose frequencies match their own; moving to the other Earth is not presented as punishment, condemnation, or permanent exclusion.

• Humanity is supposedly undergoing a major increase in frequency and consciousness. The speaker believes Earth itself is moving into a higher energetic state, described approximately as a transition from third-dimensional toward fourth-dimensional/sub-dimensional energy.

• People develop at different rates. Everyone is portrayed as being at a different stage of spiritual development, and the speaker repeatedly cautions against judging people who have not yet learned lessons that others may already have integrated.

• Basic lessons involve compassion and non-harm. The speaker identifies deliberately harming, deceiving, exploiting, or manipulating others as signs of a lower level of development, while emphasizing care, kindness, honesty, and compassion as more advanced qualities.

• The speaker believes hidden nonhuman forces have historically influenced humanity. She describes unseen beings—associated in her account with Orion—as operating through lower frequencies and benefiting from human misery, fear, conflict, and emotional turmoil.

• Those forces are allegedly losing their ability to remain on the higher-frequency Earth. The speaker's central revelation is that these beings may migrate to the other Earth because its lower energetic environment is supposedly more compatible with them.

• The transition is portrayed as a positive turning point in human history. Despite the turmoil associated with the transition, the speaker believes humanity is experiencing profound breakthroughs and moving toward greater awareness and autonomy.

• Heart-centered intelligence is presented as a key to the transition. The speaker argues that people can bring difficult questions and experiences into the heart through stillness and breathing, allowing intuitive or “higher mind” guidance to emerge more clearly.

• The speaker warns against becoming overly dependent on technology and external guidance. Constantly looking down at phones, following technological systems, or allowing AI to make decisions can, in her view, cause people to overlook their own intuition and opportunities.

• AI is considered neither inherently good nor bad; its direction depends partly on how humans develop and use it. The speaker argues that people should intentionally bring compassion, generosity, care, and higher ethical thinking into AI development.

• People should disengage from AI that appears harmful or unkind. Her practical advice is to step back from systems that seem manipulative, excessively directive, or lacking in compassion and return to one's own judgment and intuition.

• The other Earth is envisioned as less technologically developed. In the speaker's meditation, she perceived it as resembling Earth but being less technologically advanced, which she connects to the idea that reduced technological capability could limit the scale of potential harm.

• Human beings are encouraged to recognize their agency. Rather than waiting for external forces to solve humanity's problems, the speaker argues that people themselves must cultivate compassion, use technology responsibly, remain open, and reclaim their ability to make heart-centered choices.

[RunningDeer]

Feeling Overwhelmed? It’s Time to Rise Above the Noise (6 min)

• Lee Harris
• August 14, 2026

If you've been feeling frustrated with your life, your path, or your place in the world, you may begin to notice the fight inside you changing.

Watch the full August 2026 Energy Update here.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=9uiiMbg6lRQ

Opening passage:

Anger becomes allowance. This theme is about spiritual surrender. So anger becoming allowance and surrendering your anger to allowing what is happening rather than just feeling angry about it.

This is different to activism on behalf of others. So this isn't so much but those of you feel angry about what you're seeing in the world or injustices or things that are happening to others that you know are unfair.

This is more personal. This is more related to anger you may feel in yourself toward your life, your path, your place in the world. If you've been feeling angry for a while, there is an energy coming in around spiritual surrender for many people, and it might be that anger, that fire, that fight that you have been feeling. It’s just beginning to soften or run out of energy. And now you're landing a little bit more in a place of allowance.

*******************

AI Bullet Points:

• Anger becomes allowance: Personal anger may be softening as its energy runs its course, creating space for acceptance and spiritual surrender.

• Surrender is not passivity: This theme applies more to anger about your own life, path, or circumstances—not necessarily anger about injustice or activism on behalf of others.

• Allow the calm: You may not immediately know what to do next, and that’s okay. A period of simply resting in calm and allowance can make the next step possible.

• Let go of control: Life continually brings unexpected situations that challenge our sense of control. Spiritual surrender means allowing life to unfold rather than trying to manage every outcome.

• Rise above the noise: Distractions, confusion, technology, relationships, and the constant activity of the world can make it harder to hear your own sense of purpose and direction.

• Choose where your attention goes: You have some control over what people, places, information, and activities receive your time and energy.

• Create daily quiet: If you feel overwhelmed, drowning, or disheartened, deliberately step away from the noise each day and reconnect with simplicity, silence, and what is local and manageable.

• Make it a habit: Quiet and reduced stimulation are presented not merely as an emergency remedy for overwhelm, but as an ongoing practice that can establish a healthier baseline.

• Notice what feels noisy: As you become accustomed to greater quiet, you may recognize more clearly which environments or situations feel unnecessarily chaotic—and realize you don't have to remain in them.

• Change your patterns: When you're confused or overwhelmed, ask what habits, relationships, environments, or directions you can change so that you experience a different state of being.

[RunningDeer]

[Myristyl]

Posted by Johnnycomelately (here)
IMO, this charming story about little wild critters’ seemingly-playful behavior doesn’t belong in any of the critter threads.

Seems obvs to me that this kind of behaviour is also seen in humans. Last year on my Jasper AB trip we visited the then brand new Jasper skate park, after scoping it from the sky tram height. Kids were there, like baby bears to moms’ dropped honey.

https://www.zmescience.com/ecology/a...ay-run-whyrep/


[b] Dutch scientists left a hamster wheel outside. Then, all the animals started playing with it

It seems that animals simply love to play.

That's the reason I reckon right there, they simply love to play.

A few years ago a small group of sparrows moved into some holes in the brick of my barn. They have now grown to quite a host and I have become quite fond of them.

They definitely play. One of their favourite past times is to fly full speed, usually one chasing two or three others, at the eaves of the barn where the roof meets the wall and at the last second angle up and speed up the roof about an inch or two above the tiles. Once, a chasing sparrow messed up the timing and smacked into the guttering but recovered quickly and continued his ascent. The guttering is plastic but not very well fixed, falling off really, so there was a bit of 'give' if you see what I mean.

I know we have a tendency to anthropomorphize but regardless they do appear to be zooming about for no other reason than the pure fun of it.

[Johnnycomelately]

I heartily agree. Cool story about your playful sparrows.

When I see dogs or cats play, they always always seem happy, and secure. I figure lots of wild critters live more on the edge of security, for food and for not being food. I love seeing birds and squirrels and bugs acting like they’re mastering their day, almost showing off.

Posted by Myristyl (here)

Posted by Johnnycomelately (here)
IMO, this charming story about little wild critters’ seemingly-playful behavior doesn’t belong in any of the critter threads.

Seems obvs to me that this kind of behaviour is also seen in humans. Last year on my Jasper AB trip we visited the then brand new Jasper skate park, after scoping it from the sky tram height. Kids were there, like baby bears to moms’ dropped honey.

https://www.zmescience.com/ecology/a...ay-run-whyrep/


[b] Dutch scientists left a hamster wheel outside. Then, all the animals started playing with it

It seems that animals simply love to play.

That's the reason I reckon right there, they simply love to play.

A few years ago a small group of sparrows moved into some holes in the brick of my barn. They have now grown to quite a host and I have become quite fond of them.

They definitely play. One of their favourite past times is to fly full speed, usually one chasing two or three others, at the eaves of the barn where the roof meets the wall and at the last second angle up and speed up the roof about an inch or two above the tiles. Once, a chasing sparrow messed up the timing and smacked into the guttering but recovered quickly and continued his ascent. The guttering is plastic but not very well fixed, falling off really, so there was a bit of 'give' if you see what I mean.

I know we have a tendency to anthropomorphize but regardless they do appear to be zooming about for no other reason than the pure fun of it.

[ThePythonicCow]

Posted by Myristyl (here)
That's the reason I reckon right there, they simply love to play.

I agree too.

A couple of years ago, a large flock of red-breasted robins (perhaps one or two thousand) were traveling through where I live in North Texas, and decided to take a break, on the trailer roofs and in the trees and bushes, centered right on my trailer. The tree branches bent down a couple of feet from their weight.

What looked like parents were sitting on the gutters of my trailer and a couple of neighboring trailers, a few inches apart, the entire length of each gutter, watching the younger robins chase each other back and forth over the lawns on both sides of my trailer. When you're less than a year old, and you're on your first thousand mile flight, and your idea of fun is flying as fast as you can, back and forth twenty yards, chasing your buddy ... you were born to fly and born to play.

[East Sun]

There is no way that all questions can be answered in the longest reply and no way that counters to answers can be disputed no matter how long the reply or elaborate or intelligent the counter reply is. It is just how it is.