BITS ‘N’ PIECES

A team of researchers from  India, upon discovering a new species of green pit vipers, have decided to name the snake after the one, the only Salazar Slytherin. Their findings were published this month in the journal Zoosystematics and Evolution.

For those not familiar with Harry Potter, a quick history lesson. Salazar Slytherin was one of the founders of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, along with his pals Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Helga Hufflepuff. The four Hogwarts houses were named after them. The researchers chose the name Trimeresurus Salazar because Slytherin was known for his ability to talk to snakes; the reason it is the symbol of the Slytherin house.

In the research, the team suggests the snake commonly be known as Salazar’s pit viper. One of the things that makes this particular pit viper stand out, though, is the orange-reddish stripe found on the side of the head in males.

The pit vipers in the genus Trimeresurus are venomous, and found throughout East and Southeast Asia. This species was found in India, but there are at least 48 total species of this genus found in the region.

Everyone you know just signed up for Netflix

It’s official. Everyone IS only watching Netflix and not actually doing the craft project they bought on Amazon in a fit of despair on a Tuesday night.

Buoyed by a house-bound public with a voracious appetite for streaming content, Netflix zoomed past its own expectations in signing up 15.8 million new global subscribers in the first quarter of 2020. The emphatic result — last year it added 9.6 million subscribers in the same period — pushed quarterly revenue to $5.77 billion, up from $4.52 billion a year earlier. Most growth was derived from overseas markets with almost 7 million new subscribers signing up in Europe and the Middle East, and 3.6 million in Asia.

The path to happiness hasn’t changed

Have you ever thought, “I’ll be happy when {insert event} happens?” If so, you are probably guilty of pursuing the wrong path to happiness.

The path to happiness is to be happy.

Don’t make your happiness dependent on certain events. “I’ll be happy when I can go out to eat again” will keep you sullen day after day after day. Happiness is a mindset, not an outcome.

If you are not happy, it is because - at some level - you have chosen unhappiness.

Yes, horrible things can happen. But you can try and be happy whenever humanly possible, not just when {insert event} happens.