Day 4077: Sphere and Fat Bears.

    

"Souls Hurting": junk mail collage, china marker.

 

Want music?

    Click here: Michael Buble, 

Haven't Met You Yet.

 

2GN2S ...

The outside of The Sphere during the U2:UV Achtung Baby Live concert on September 29th, 2023.

The Sphere show- a new concert experience.

U2 played the first-ever show at the Las Vegas Sphere, a massive, dome-shaped venue wrapped in over a million LEDs. The concert, a live performance centered on the band’s Achtung, Baby album, was also the band’s first in a series of performances it will put on at the venue through the end of December. The cheapest tickets for the shows that haven’t sold out yet start at about $400, as of this writing.

A review in The New York Times says the concert alternated between gigantic, trippy visual effects sweeping across the domed display and the more standard concert screen fare of band close-ups.

In trip to Nevada in the past two years, I have seen the Sphere in progress, and then joining the skyline of Las Vegas. Since it's completion I have seen the sphere's eyeball! here. The Wynn hotel golf course is below and golfers said it was weird having the eye on them as they played. For six different Sphere videos, go here.

 

The winner of Katmai’s Fat Bear Week contest for 2023 is …

#128 Grazer was sporting an impressively portly body on September 14.

On a post a few days ago, here, We mentioned the FAT BEAR contest, and the candidates, well voting is in.

Voting is over in Katmai National Park & Preserve’s annual Fat Bear Week contest, in which the public picks from 12 big ‘n’ bulky bears in an online brackets-style tournament.

Grazer was first identified as one the bears dining in Katmai’s Brooks River in 2005 as young cub. “Since then, she’s become one of the best anglers at Brooks River. She can fish successfully in many locations,” the Park Service says.

The 2023 winner is a defensive mama bear who has successfully raised two litters of cubs and who “often preemptively confronts and attacks much larger bears — even large and dominant adult males,” according to the National Park Service.

#128 Grazer, is FAT BEAR Champion

The year, Grazer was flying solo with no cubs to protect, but the other bears remembered her fierce devotion to her litter. They gave her a lot of leeway, allowing her prime spots and opportunities to fatten up on salmon. 

 The runner-up

    

Grazer’s competition in the final round was Chunk, an up-and-comer with an “enigmatic” history with other bears.

The male was first identified in 2007 as “an independent, chunky-looking 2.5-year-old bear.” He sometimes played with other bears or would patiently wait to scavenge leftover salmon. He was often unwilling to challenge other bears for top feeding spots, though.

Chunk got more assertive in 2023, the NPS said, and it really paid off. Even Bear 747 – the 2022 Fat Bear Week champ – yielded fishing spots and salmon to him. It was enough to get him a low-hanging belly and a spot in the final round.

Meanwhile, Bear 747 was eliminated in his first round of play this year, showing again no bear can rest on his or her feasting laurels. With winter hibernation looming, it’s truly a bear-eat-bear world out there.

 

 

 

 

A 6 minute video, fish teamwork, here.

 

Just because ...

 

White-cheeked Tuaco

 

Friday's Smiles ...