This is Achrioptera manga, a giant phasmid or stick insect native to Madagascar.

The specific epithet, "manga" means blue in Malagasy & it's not hard to see why. Only males are blue.

The tiny back wings ("alae") are an example of brachyptery: they're useless for flight, but have other functions.

Building automated AWS Regional availability checks with Amazon S3 AWS now provides programmatic access to Regional availability data for services, APIs, and CloudFormation resources through Amazon S3, enabling organizations to automate deployment validation and multi-region planning workflows.

AWS now provides programmatic access to Regional availability data for services, APIs, and CloudFormation resources through Amazon S3, enabling organizations to automate deployment validation and multi-region planning workflows.

20% of British electricity coming from solar power at six in the evening in early April is absolutely remarkable.

And we’re just getting started…🇬🇧♻️⚡️💡🔋😎

Strands #754
“Just right”
🔵🔵🔵🔵
🔵🔵🟡

Chuck Norris RIP. I reckon the immortal snail finally got out of the tungsten sphere

Love how every time I get a EMR train between Norwich and Stockport it's a complete gamble if it'll be the front 2, rear 3, front 2 coaches. Told 3 different things including just over the train as we pull in. Starting to think this is to keep us all fit as we do a mad dash between carriages.

Happy #PiDay! π

Last year, we shared a recipe that explained how you can bake Home Assistant onto a Raspberry Pi. This year, @adorablecyb.org shows you! 🥧 Ingredients list in the reply 👇🏼

#HomeAssistant #SmartHome #HomeAutomation

My heart is with Glasgow today. So many beautiful historic buildings. #glasgowfire

Wondering when Amazon Leo is reaching Ipswich to Norwich leg of my train journey.....

Amazon SageMaker Unified Studio now supports AWS PrivateLink Amazon SageMaker Unified Studio now supports AWS PrivateLink, enabling secure VPC connectivity without routing customer data through the public internet.

Amazon SageMaker Unified Studio now supports AWS PrivateLink, enabling secure VPC connectivity without routing customer data through the public internet.

IAM Identity Center now supports IPv6 AWS IAM Identity Center now supports IPv6 connectivity through new dual-stack endpoints, enabling users to access identity and authentication services over IPv6 networks without requiring network address translation.

AWS IAM Identity Center now supports IPv6 connectivity through new dual-stack endpoints, enabling users to access identity and authentication services over IPv6 networks without requiring network address translation.

In London for @yvconcerts.bsky.social 2026!

‘The way it should be’: Monks on ‘Walk for Peace’ draw massive crowds in Columbia Monks on a Walk for Peace from Texas to Washington, D.C. arrived in Columbia, South Carolina on Jan. 10, drawing some of the largest crowds the city has seen in recent memory.

10,000 strong crowd.

#WalkForPeace

www.postandcourier.com/columbia/new...

Strands #679
“Yay!!!”
🔵🔵🔵🟡
🔵🔵🔵

Splitgate: Arena Reloaded Is Just A Joy On The Steam Deck - Steam Deck HQ Splitgate: Arena Reloaded has just been released, and it runs like a charm on the Steam Deck, even at the lowest settings.

Splitgate: Arena Reloaded has just been released, and it runs like a charm on the #SteamDeck, even at the lowest settings:

steamdeckhq.com/splitgate-ar...

Creating apps like Signal or WhatsApp could be 'hostile activity,' claims UK watchdog It's the latest blow to encryption in the UK

Encryption isn't hostile. It's a bedrock of our cybersecurity 🔐

The UK's national security laws join a long line of attempts to frame encrypted messaging as something to be broken into pieces.

Without it, we're more open to threats from hackers and criminals.

www.techradar.com/vpn/vpn-priv...

Just 0.001% hold three times the wealth of poorest half of humanity, report finds Data from World Inequality Report also showed top 10% of income-earners earn more than the other 90% Fewer than 60,000 people – 0.001% of the world’s population – control three times as much wealth as the entire bottom half of humanity, according to a report that argues global inequality has reached such extremes that urgent action has become essential. The authoritative World Inequality Report 2026, based on data compiled by 200 researchers, also found that the top 10% of income-earners earn more than the other 90% combined, while the poorest half captures less than 10% of total global earnings. Continue reading...

Just 0.001% hold three times the wealth of poorest half of humanity, report finds

Reduce testing time by up to 90%: Introducing native testing and simulation for Amazon Connect Amazon Connect now offers native testing and simulation capabilities that reduce contact center validation time by up to 90% through an intuitive visual designer for automated workflow testing.

Amazon Connect now offers native testing and simulation capabilities that reduce contact center validation time by up to 90% through an intuitive visual designer for automated workflow testing.

Prometheus MCP Server: AI-Driven Monitoring Intelligence for AWS Users AWS launched an open source Prometheus MCP Server that enables AI assistants to query Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus using natural language, eliminating the need for PromQL expertise and accelerating monitoring, troubleshooting, and incident response.

AWS launched an open source Prometheus MCP Server that enables AI assistants to query Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus using natural language, eliminating the need for PromQL expertise and accelerating monitoring, troubleshooting, and incident response.

Home Assistant 2025.12 🎄

www.home-assistant.io/blog/2025/12...

Labs with Winter mode ❄️, purpose-specific triggers and conditions for automations 🧠, system-wide default dashboards 📱, real-time power monitoring ⚡ and much more to close out 2025!

#HomeAssistant

#2025#duolingo

Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Runtime now supports bi-directional streaming Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Runtime now supports bi-directional streaming, enabling real-time two-way conversations where agents can listen and respond simultaneously while handling interruptions and context changes mid-conversation.

Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Runtime now supports bi-directional streaming, enabling real-time two-way conversations where agents can listen and respond simultaneously while handling interruptions and context changes mid-conversation.

Amazon SageMaker Catalog now exports asset metadata as queryable dataset Amazon SageMaker Catalog now exports asset metadata as queryable Apache Iceberg tables through S3, enabling data teams to query catalog inventory using standard SQL without custom ETL infrastructure.

Amazon SageMaker Catalog now exports asset metadata as queryable Apache Iceberg tables through S3, enabling data teams to query catalog inventory using standard SQL without custom ETL infrastructure.

Introducing Database Savings Plans for AWS Databases AWS launches Database Savings Plans, offering up to 35% cost savings on managed database services with flexible 1-year commitments across multiple database engines and deployment types.

AWS launches Database Savings Plans, offering up to 35% cost savings on managed database services with flexible 1-year commitments across multiple database engines and deployment types.

Build multi-step applications and AI workflows with AWS Lambda durable functions AWS Lambda durable functions enable developers to build reliable multi-step applications and AI workflows with automatic state management, failure recovery, and efficient suspension without compute charges during waits.

AWS Lambda durable functions enable developers to build reliable multi-step applications and AI workflows with automatic state management, failure recovery, and efficient suspension without compute charges during waits.

AWS Lambda announces durable functions for multi-step applications and AI workflows AWS Lambda introduces durable functions that enable developers to build reliable multi-step applications and AI workflows with automatic checkpointing, long-term suspension, and failure recovery without managing additional infrastructure.

AWS Lambda introduces durable functions that enable developers to build reliable multi-step applications and AI workflows with automatic checkpointing, long-term suspension, and failure recovery without managing additional infrastructure.

AWS Security Agent (Preview): AI agent for proactive app security AWS Security Agent is an AI-powered agent that proactively secures applications by automating security reviews, validating organizational requirements throughout development, and delivering context-aware penetration testing from design to deployment.

AWS Security Agent is an AI-powered agent that proactively secures applications by automating security reviews, validating organizational requirements throughout development, and delivering context-aware penetration testing from design to deployment.

Announcing Database Savings Plans with up to 35% savings AWS introduces Database Savings Plans offering up to 35% savings on database services with flexible commitments across Aurora, RDS, DynamoDB, ElastiCache, and other databases with no upfront payment required.

AWS introduces Database Savings Plans offering up to 35% savings on database services with flexible commitments across Aurora, RDS, DynamoDB, ElastiCache, and other databases with no upfront payment required.

Amazon CloudWatch launches unified management and analytics for operational, security, and compliance data Amazon CloudWatch now unifies operational, security, and compliance data from AWS and third-party sources in a single store, enabling teams to analyze logs across accounts and regions without maintaining separate data stores or complex ETL pipelines.

Amazon CloudWatch now unifies operational, security, and compliance data from AWS and third-party sources in a single store, enabling teams to analyze logs across accounts and regions without maintaining separate data stores or complex ETL pipelines.

AWS Support transformation: AI-powered operations with the human expertise you trust AWS Support introduces three AI-powered support plans—Business Support+, Enterprise Support, and Unified Operations—that combine artificial intelligence with human expertise to deliver faster response times, proactive guidance, and streamlined cloud operations.

AWS Support introduces three AI-powered support plans—Business Support+, Enterprise Support, and Unified Operations—that combine artificial intelligence with human expertise to deliver faster response times, proactive guidance, and streamlined cloud operations.