Millipedes Are Not Photogenic

They're also kind of shy. Dig this character.

I found him on our side yard, so I put him on a sheet of white paper and got out the Nikon Artillery Piece. They move slowly, so I had time to take lots of shots, but he kept his head down and shuffled about. That was it.

The fluid, rippling motion of his legs was beautiful, but I didn't have time to take a video, so there he is in all his static glory.

I made the mistake of throwing him back into the garden instead of one of our raised beds. They eat decomposing plant material, so he's effectively a mulcher. He would have loved the cayenne bed. So moist and yummy!

If you want much better content and photography, here are Tim's entries on millipedes.

Books

I'm on the hunt for personal stories of people that lived through fiscal crises. I'm not as interested in the economics of the situation, but the descriptions of life as a paper money collapses. I ended up with This Time Is Different. It's a macroeconomic history of financial failures. It's very accessible and I'm going through it rapidly, but it doesn't quite fit the bill. Still, it's been helpful.

Note: I read the reviews and bought the Kindle version instead of the audiobook. It was generally agreed that without looking at the charts and tables, the book was not very useful.

When it comes to national defaults, the lead-up is characterized by huge deficits, a mounting debt and short-term borrowing by the government. It makes for an unstable situation. As soon as creditors decide you are no longer trustworthy, they bail out and you're left with a mountain of short term loans to refinance in an environment where no one wants to lend you any money.

Hmm. Instability. I keep coming across that lately.