Mitchell Loughlin > Recent Status Updates

L&S realize the address is for a Swiss bank. Getting inside the guard recognized them and calls interpol.
The figure out the account code is the fibbinachi sequence and discover a treasure chest filled with (liquid). The bank president interrupts before we see more.
He puts them in the back of a truck and smooth talks his way past security blockade.

He might be the Teacher because Silas gets a call right after

History involves finding a secret book with information that led to the power the POS developed. This is the holy grail referred to as a sangrial (WOT influence here which was fun)

Silas finds the slab under the rose line and it’s basically a fuck you note intended to tip off the other members of POS. If he hadent waited to confirm the story it would have worked. Silas killed the nun after she left a voicemail.

Langdon and Sophie confirm gramps was a part of the priority of Scion (POS) teehee. He left his key in the back of the maddona of the rocks. Sophie threatened to break the painting to get the security guard off there back.
They flee to the embassy but it’s blocked off so they instead buy fake tickets at the train station and head to an address left on the key. RL explains knights of Templar aka POS history

Sophie and Robert race upstairs to find any secrets left by gramps on the Mona Lisa. They see 6 words on the plexi glass.

Robert asks if Sophie recognized the letters PS or the symbol of a Lilly. They are the mark of a secret society based in France. Gramps had a key with that symbol in his bead room.

Silas is in the church looking for a keystone. The sister knows this is a sign for help from PS

SoPHIe reflects on how she and her grandfather had a falling out after she saw something she shouldn’t have. Hints that her family is important and in danger.

She comes up with the idea of throwing the tracker out the window onto a passing truck to trick the cops into following.

They bite.

Langdon thinks about PHI. The Devine number and realizes the text is an anogram for Leonardo da Vinci the Mona Lisa

We get some background about Silas in that he killed his abusive father at the age of 7 after his dad killed his mom. He left home and went out on his own. Eventually he ended up in prison where an earthquake set him free. The bishop finds him and connects that story to one from the Bible about a man named Silas.

He views himself as a ghost in many ways due to his albinanism. He heads to a church to find something

The message is the fibonacci sequence scrambled and message for his grand daughter to find RL. RL instantly becomes the prime suspect in police investigation because of this even goes as far to say that the curator would have written the name of his killer. Bad look here

Sophie, the granddaughter is a part of the police and warns RL about everything that has happened so far

The curator is a part of a secret org that is being hunted down by opas dei. They all know a fake story to tell incase they needed it and it seems all the living members told Silas the same story as they passed.

Silas views himself as a soldier for god and believes in self flagellation as a form of repentance. He is connected with the arch bishop of the sect

Langdon is a symbologist. The DVC is the 2nd book of 3

The museums curator of the louvre is attacks by a albino manes named Silas, a member of the religious cult Opas dei (best guess opas meaning work, dei short for dieaty so gods work) in his final moments he seals himself in the louvre and forms himself into a pentagon, the symbol of Venus, and leaves a message for Robert Langdon to find.

We now know that they made and used tools although they do not innovate to the same degree as humans. We also know that early humans bred with them, specifically non African humans. Due to genome mapping akin to that of Jurassic park we know modern (non African) humans have between 1-4% Neanderthal DNA

A project is in place to map the entire genome in the hopes of discovering the differentiator between them and us

Neanderthals and the like are another type of megafauna wiped out by humans. In facts humans are as well.

When the bones of a Nean…. Were found at a dig site in Germany many assumed it was an old decrepit man but his remote location in a cliff caused some to speculate. Examination of the skull revealed it was in fact a different species. Scientist of the day tried to dismiss it as dumb and sedentary

This led to the mass extinction of mega fuana across the globe all relatively closely timed with the spread of humanity.

Giant beavers, sloths, birds, rhinos, elephants, big cats, mammoths and the list goes on all died out in close proximity with the spread of people.

Now people are the only thing left that can save them as we try to encourage safe reproduction spaces with mixed results

Evolution created megafauna or large animals as a great strategy for survival. The idea is if you become large enough you lose natural predators who would be afraid to attack you. This makes up for the slower gestational periods of baring newborns.

This was a great strategy until faced with the human stomach. Due to our use of tools we do not fear any animal and therefore hunt them as a good of meat

Other highlights from the chapter.

Starlings which are little black birds were introduced to NYC by some Shakespeare enthusiasts who had read about them. Starting with 30 they now number 2M+

Hawaii didn’t used to have mosquitoes or rats until we showed up.

There is now a website for people to submit pictures of plants and animals to create a record against extinction
This feels ALOT like the SILO book

The new Pangea refers to the idea that despite oceans all land masses are intertwined by the travel of humans and life more or less has lost the barriers for travel.

Bats in New England have become endangered dude to the spread of the fungus causing white noses. In Vermont there was a cave that use to hold thousands of bats each winter however this number as of 2012 dropped to about 32. More are likely gone now

Start of the new Pangea.

Chapter follows th impact and spread of invasive species. Specific examples are of a fungus in New England that kills hypernating bats

In the Amazon Dr. Loveland urged the government to leave islands of forest around deforestation areas to study the affects. They have a couple hundred of these “islands” and over the course of the last 40 years they have studied the effects of this.

Major finding is that the specialization needed to thrive in the jungle is also the thing that is going to end up killing the jungle as global warming occurs

… as the numbers shrink the bad luck becomes more and more impactful untill they die out. While it may be logical for a new species to enter the creation of the island makes it less likely.

Enter humans.

We make islands everywhere but not land surrounded by water, instead we leave pockets of wildlife surrounded by urbanization

Furthering the idea of the previous chapter this chapter focuses on island “relaxing”.
When and island is formed the local critters will first be condensed into a smaller area, after a time the island will shed some of them trying to find an equilibrium. As the populations decrease it becomes more likely for them to experience bad luck (Like all male eggs or a severe storm) which hurts that generation.

If she never gave up swimming NP would be healthy, strong , outwardly confident and in control. She would also still be sad. She still takes anti depressants, has scars on her arm and people refer to a bad incident I. Portugal.

Her dad is alive but cheated on her mom, basically killing her.

She starts to appreciate Ms. elms advice and give it out to the masses on stage

Next book is the one where she moves to Australia with Izzy. They are not living together and instead she sells tickets to the whale watch. Learns she is a stoner and that Izzy died in a car crash

Back in the library she talks about her regrets with her dad and swimming career. As this is further back she has to move far in the library

When NP leaves a world the host remembers everything that happens as if it was them who said it however they don’t remember the motivation.

You ever enter a room and not remeber why? Implies she might not even be NP if she has hosted other Nora’s.

Next book still green is to see Voltaire. She learns he had a heart condition and it was not her fault that he passed. The regret fades from the book

This illustrates the intense competitive nature of the Amazon and how a trait that helps a species dominate one area is so specific that it becomes detrimental in another only slightly different.

What then happens when temperatures rise and the traits that caused dominant are now a hindrance?

The trees move uphill following the zone that they thrive in. Sometimes as much as 100 feet per year while the oldest die

In the amazon Dr. Miles Silman has set up 9 plots along the ridgeline of a mountain where he monitors the biodiversity of trees in a region. This region has 1,100+ species of trees compared to Vermont’s at 50 species.

Each ppit is separated by only a few miles from the last and a couple hundred feet of elavation however only about 10%-30% of the species found in one are found in the next closest

The world is warming, that much is painfully obvious at this point, why however, is that a bad thing when the warmest parts of our world have the most diversity.

The answer as always is timing. The tropics are some of the oldest unchanged parts of our world and have had time to evolve to this diversity. That diversity is created by forming competitive advantages over a very small area, say a couple miles.

Also worth noting once a year the normally harmaphrodic coral polyps have a massive “orgy” releasing eggs and sperm all at once which apparently looks like a reverse blizzard under water

Polyps have a symbiotic relationship with an algae that they let grow in them. The algae photosynthesizes and produces carbon dioxide which the polyp use to help tint the coral different colors.
Due to the heat increase the algae is creating too high a level of CO2 which is reacting to the water creating C2HO2 of carbonic acid. The polyps can’t handle that so they expel the algae and the resulting coral bleaches.

….the polyps are sensitive to changes in both measures and will stop working on building if they increase. 5 or higher saturation leveled promotes the most coral growth, the worlds highest measure right now is 4.

Tropical waters are so clear and pretty because they lack many nutrients found in other body’s of water. In many ways they act as a desert and reefs as the oasis recycling many of the resources

Chapter 7 ocean acidification

On the island of one tree a research station has been set up to follow the effects of carbon saturation on coral. TLDR is not good at all

The great barrier reefer has decreased in coral coverage by 50% in the last 30 years (2016) and other reefs have followed suit if not more aggressively

Acidification and saturation slowly eat away at the coral, fish and other creatures do as well

This “ocean acidification” is especially harmful due to the speed it’s occurring. The rough analogy was made if drinking a 6 pack in 20 mins versus a month