abdication |The word has lots of meanings; e.g., “To give up, renounce, abandon, lay down, or withdraw from, as a right or claim, office, duties, dignity, authority, and the like, especially in a voluntary, public, or formal manner.” It does not have to be a high profile application as folks who follow British “royalty” already know. Others abdicate by withdrawing from duties innvisible. For instance, when a borough councillor finds it acceptable and convenient to absent herself from borough council meetings – yet “non-abdicate” at a Parks & Recreation Committee meeting.

giant bee | “World’s largest bee, once presumed extinct, filmed alive in the wild.” – National Geographic

Echoes from Crosley Field | “Thousands of fans will pass through the ‘Crosley Terrace’ monument area outside the stadium’s main entrance and see the statues of Reds stars Joe Nuxhall, Ernie Lombardi, Ted Kluszewski and Frank Robinson playing a game on the plaza. They may even note the detail in the bronzes — Kluszewski’s uniform sleeves are famously cut off to reveal his biceps. And hopefully the older fans among them — those who actually saw games at old Crosley Field — will stop and remember the park, and talk to some of the younger ones about the anomaly that was the real Crosley Terrace.”

“Praying Mantises | More Deadly Than We Knew” – The New York Times

“The Long Tail | The best-known chapters in the book of bankruptcy —  Chapters 7, 11 and 13 — each contain a different approach for businesses or individuals unable to pay their bills. With vast parts of the economy at a standstill, filings under all three are expected to increase in the coming months.

In Chapter 7 bankruptcies, the company is done for, while in Chapter 11 bankruptcies (up 26%, year over year, in April) businesses are allowed to reorganize in a bid to survive. Then there are Chapter 13 bankruptcies, used by debtors with a regular income. As people dip into their savings and spend relief and unemployment money, Chapter 13 consumer bankruptcies were down in April. But that’s likely to change.

In normal times, there are three leading causes of bankruptcies: job loss, sickness and divorce, according to bankruptcy attorney Ed Boltz. ‘We’ve got two out of the three already hitting,’ Boltz said. ‘And who knows what staying at home is going to do to relationships and marriages.”’ – MarketPlace

“Hitler came to power in January 1933, and Japan left the League of Nations that winter. Both of these were significant, intensely nationalistic events, full of ‘go it alone’ sentiment,” says historian Paul Jankowski.” (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

in the winter of 1933 | the world turned ‘inward.'” – Futurity

shadowland: explore the project | “Throughout history, conspiracy thinking has destroyed institutions, endangered democracies, and ended lives. Conspiracism threatens not just individual facts, but the idea that empirical truth exists at all. Now—fueled by the internet, partisan media, and a president who advances fantastical theories about a pandemic that has killed more than 82,000 Americans—conspiracy thinking is more powerful, and more dangerous, than ever.” – The Atlantic

“ … heavily armed and apparently quite insecure men | wearing camouflage and sporting really long rifles and automatic weapons as though they are heading into a firefight with ISIS in Kabul instead of a protest about having to stay home threatened” to be in Lansing, MIchigan again — resulted in a closed legislature. – various sources inlcuding Fast Forward