The storm is over. That doesn’t mean we’re safe...
Your daily dose of natural disasters and amazing phenomena for January 22, 2026...
🧲 Auroras Where They’re Not Supposed to Exist
After three straight days of intense geomagnetic chaos, Earth’s magnetic field has finally calmed down.
From Jan 19–21, storm levels hit:
Severe (G4) for ~15 hours
Strong (G3) for more than 18 hours
This will go down as one of the biggest events of Solar Cycle 25.
During the storm, observers spotted auroras inside the South Atlantic Anomaly — one of the weirdest things to happen all week.
A purple band appeared over southern Brazil, inside Earth’s weakest magnetic shield zone.
Normally:
Auroras are suppressed in the Anomaly
Magnetic fields there are too chaotic to focus particles
So what was it?
Possibly an SAR arc — a rare red band caused when Earth’s ring current leaks heat into the upper atmosphere.
Either way:
Something happened where something usually doesn’t.
And that’s always worth paying attention to.
🌏 Earthquake Check-In (Because of Course)
While the Sun was busy:
6.2M earthquake struck off Kamchatka, Russia
6.1M earthquake hit near the Volcano Islands, Japan
No apocalypse.
Just tectonic plates quietly reminding us they exist.
🥛 Milk for the Gods, Hunger for the Kids
A man performed a milk-offering ritual in the Ganges — pouring gallons into the river — while hungry children tried to collect it to drink.
It looked less like devotion and more like a scene from The Hunger Games.
Apparently:
Milk pleases the gods
Feeding hungry children… less so
An uncomfortable snapshot of ritual without empathy…
🐈 Why Is There a 1,000-Year-Old Mummified Cat in Turkey?
In Aksaray, Turkey, a museum holds Byzantine-era Christian mummies preserved using ancient Turkic techniques.
Organs removed.
Bodies sealed in melted beeswax.
Perfectly preserved in volcanic caves for a millennium.
The standout?
A mummified cat.
Animal mummification is almost unheard of in Christian Anatolia.
The leading theory:
Someone loved their cat enough to preserve it like family.
High strangeness doesn’t always mean horror.
Sometimes it’s just… devotion…
🚂 If There’s a Train to Hell, This Is It
Footage from China shows a JS-class steam locomotive having its firebox cleaned without a spark arrestor.
Result:
A roaring jet of sparks shooting directly into the landscape.
There will be a black burn scar along those tracks for a while.
Somewhere, a safety manual is screaming.
If there’s a train to Hell, this is it!
🏅 The Peace Prize Problem
A Nobel Peace Prize winner is now publicly calling for military raids.
And once again, the Nobel Peace Prize proves it is the black sheep of the Nobel family.
Maybe it should only be awarded posthumously.
Or at least come with a recall button.
History keeps making this argument for us…
🐢 X-Ray of a Pregnant Turtle
Someone X-rayed a pregnant turtle.
Which means:
Yes — the unborn turtles were irradiated in vitro.
Do you want mutant turtles?
Because this is how you get mutant turtles.
Cowabunga.
This is what a pregnant turtle looks like under an X-ray.
So you irradiated the babies in vitro... Do you want mutant turtles!? Because this is how you get mutant turtles.
Ninja turtles in the making?
Meanwhile, elephants use their ears as radiators…
Thermal imaging reveals the dense blood vessels in an African elephant’s ears.
They flap them to dump heat — basically running biological cooling fans.
Nature solved thermodynamics first.
⚖️ Uvalde Trial Update
Former school officer Adrian Gonzales was found not guilty on all counts.
Important context:
He was charged over the first 3 minutes, not the infamous 77-minute delay
Prosecutors couldn’t prove he knew the shooter’s location
The sheriff’s trial is next — and the 77 minutes will be on trial.
This isn’t closure.
It’s process…
🌕 Perfect Moon Shot (Minus Half the Moon)
A rocket launch photobombed the Moon so perfectly it looked like the Moon was cut in half.
Space said: “Nice photo. Mine now.”
🛰️ Jeff Bezos Enters the Satellite Arms Race
Blue Origin announced TeraWave — a planned 5,408-satellite internet network.
Translation:
Bezos is no longer content with packages, rockets, or billionaires-in-space selfies.
He wants the sky.
The orbital parking lot continues to fill…
🧊 Iceberg Drifts Past a Greenland Village
Just a normal iceberg casually sliding past homes in Greenland.
Even the iceberg looks like it’s trying to leave
before someone tries to claim it…
👗 Patagonia vs. Pattie Gonia
Patagonia sued drag activist Pattie Gonia over trademark use.
They tried collaboration first.
They avoided monetary damages.
They defended their brand because legally, they had to.
This is how boring-but-necessary corporate reality actually works…
🧻 Paper Sculptures That Look Alive
Artists are stacking sheets of paper into honeycomb structures — by hand.
At first glance, it looks like a giant snake in a vase.
Your brain does not enjoy being fooled this effectively…
🖐️ The World’s Oldest Known Rock Art
A 67,800-year-old hand stencil was found in an Indonesian cave — older than modern humans in Europe.
A message across deep time:
“We were here.”
Culture predates borders.
Art predates civilization.
Hands came first…
✨ Glow Worms Are Not From This Planet
Glow worms in New Zealand use bioluminescence and sticky threads to trap prey.
Caves lit like galaxies.
Forests glowing softly.
Tiny larvae doing cosmic cosplay…
📡 How Iran Jammed Starlink
After cutting off the internet, Iran attempted to jam Starlink, the last open communication link for protesters.
Satellite internet was supposed to be censorship-proof.
Turns out: nothing ever fully is.
People are now racing to stay one step ahead of the signal blockers…
❄️ This Is Siberia at –35°C
Novosibirsk, Siberia’s largest city, operating normally at –35°C.
People commuting.
Buses running.
Life continuing.
Record low: –51°C
Record high: +37°C
That’s almost 90 degrees of chaos.
You can feel this image…
🛒 MYSTERY PICKS OF THE DAY
(Because Earth just finished one storm and is clearly queuing the next)
🧲 Personal Geomagnetic Storm Alert Device – buzzes when the Sun decides to emotionally unload on Earth again
📡 Satellite Signal Finder / Jam-Detector – for when governments and orbiting routers start beefing
🧤 –40°C Extreme Cold Survival Gloves – Siberia-rated, Novosibirsk-approved, dignity optional
🐈 Egyptian Cat Mummy Replica (Museum-Grade Weird) – because apparently humans have always been like this
🥛 Stainless Steel Reusable Offering Bowl – for ritual purity without starving nearby children
🌕 Moon Photography Filter Kit – protects against rockets, photobombing satellites, and half-moon incidents
☠️ OUTRO
The Sun calmed down.
The ground kept moving.
The sky glitched.
Rituals clashed with reality.
Ancient hands reached forward.
Satellites fought governments.
If this feels like too much —
good. That means you’re still awake.
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Thank you,
Manuel
-32 Celsius in Winnipeg today. -40 with windchill. Expected to be even colder by Saturday.
Grew up in the 'Peg and am quite familiar with this extreme cold. Your car tires are almost flat on the bottom and when you blow your breath into the air,tiny ice crystals form in the air.
You get to know first hand that -40° C = -40° F
That split milk story says a great deal about religions/customs proforma missing the point. Very sad.
I find the auroras very disturbing on some visceral level, an ancient ancestor of mine is tugging on my mental sleeves saying, "RUN."
I was delighted that Iran, with tech from both Russia and China as I understand it, blocked Starlink. Based on the videos I've seen from Iran that were shown to multiple foreign embassy officials, they were being used to coordinate some very violent activities.
That paper vase is fabulous, that sort of think would scare my dog senseless. He is a great worrier, any deviation from the norm is a source of significant anxiety.
Thank you for bringing us the odd, sad, and/or wonderful, as always!