I.
From Hannah Ritchie at Our World in Data:
Humans and livestock make up 95% of the world’s mammal biomass; wild mammals are just 5%.
This is a one-two punch on how humans dominate Earth. We have proliferated with +8 billion of us roaming far and wide plus we have converted the animal kingdom to do our bidding as about 92% of the animal kingdom as measured by biomass is our livestock and pets (59% of 64%). This is kind of amazing and kind of tragic. The tragic part is that so much of this weight/animal count is industrial farming. Yes, that is how we’ve fed the (human) world, and that is a good thing. But it is also a bad thing in terms of the conditions for many of these animals. I’ve written before on this ethical problem arguing essentially for moral relativism in this regard.
II.
When it comes to mammals, humans are the GOAT. That is seen somewhat in the stat above. But let’s talk about one of the very few (only two?) humans who can lay legitimate claim to being the GOAT in the domain of basketball.
LeBron James has played against 35% of all players who have ever played in the NBA. — CBS Sports
Argue what you will about the greatest of His Airness, I don’t think MJ comes close to this achievement.
III.
I’ll end with something sad about something happy—no good deed is achieved without hardship.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs has confirmed that at least 468,000 dogs are currently kept on farms in cages nationwide, or at some 5,900 related businesses, including slaughterhouses, distributors and restaurants. Following the ban, there are few clear plans about how the dogs will be cared for, raising the possibility of some being left to fend for themselves in the wild.
That is from The Korea Times reporting on the happy thing (progress on ending dog meat consumption) that has a sad or at least worrisome outcome in getting from here to there.
A picture from the story:
