7 extra blip shots remaining

This is a newly blooming dahlia from the same plant giving me such huge, gorgeous blooms. The light tonight was insane. It was beautiful and it was weird so I had to take pictures of something. 

I had the most delightful conversation with Kate the Third ("Kate A" and "Kate B" are taken) about my current favorite topic. 

Ukraine fights drones with ground-fired aircraft missiles, fighter jets, and soldiers with machine guns. This sounds insane and it is insane but even so, they are now shooting down more than 70% of the Iranian drones. They shot down the first on Sept 13 and, since then, have shot down at least 237. One pilot, nickname Karaya, is now a folk hero. He shot down five before he had to eject because he crashed into the debris from the third one. His jet crashed into some houses but no one was injured. He went and apologized. His uniform was tattered and he was missing his epaulets so he joked that it was a violation of military protocol and that he lost them while leaving the office. 

The US promised a small, compact counter-drone system that can be mounted on the back of an ordinary pickup. This is the "Vampire" system - but it won't arrive for a while. 

Iran is testing their drones in Ukraine. They were developed and intended for Israel. 

Finland is preparing its 10th military aid package. 

There are concerns that Belarus will help Russia in Ukraine. Belarus has some activists who have been sabotaging efforts to use the Belarus railway to send supplies to Russian troops. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has supported Russia in the war. Now there are thousands of Russian troops in Belarus. Most don't think Putin will attack from here because then he'd be fighting on three fronts instead of two. 

That said, Ukrainian border guards raised, along with their own flag, the historic Belarusian white-red-white flags. They are banned by Lukashenko and used by his opposition. Belarus state propagandists were so triggered they reported it on TV, called it an "outrageous provocation," and blurred out their flag. 

Learn a new word:  vatnik. It is a political insult used in post-Soviet states. It comes from a meme in 2011 by Anton Chadskiy, which denotes a jingoistic follower of propaganda from the Russian government. 

Also, for the first time since surgery, Samuel's tail was fully up for a lot of today. If I weren't running out of extras I'd post a picture of his cute curly tail.