Things are looking up

Things are looking up for these DPRK generals, for
their missiles just successfully launched and
they're not going to die today.

      "Hey there goes another one," Warren exclaimed. "That makes 34 this year, way up from the 14 we spotted in each of the last two years."
     Marty, tripping over their "Easy" button, scrambled to grab the camera. By the time he's ready and out the door, the monarch butterfly was nowhere to be seen.
     "Rats, missed another one," Marty said. "How will The Copy Desk illustrate the post now."
     Marty had been trying for weeks to get a good picture of an endangered monarch butterfly flitting through the yard. There's really not a lot of them anymore (thanks Monsanto) and they winter in a mountainous area of Mexico, where each year the wintering monarch population is counted.
     "I wonder if this year's increased numbers around the burrow are a predictor of a winter monarch population increase," Marty said. "That data point comes out in January, I think."
     "Actually it comes out in February," Warren said. "And maybe this year's higher local number reflects last year's population rebound. Two years ago there where only 42 million overwintering butterflies - down from the 20 year average of about 225 million. In 2016 there were 150 million and in 2017 the numbers dipped to 125 million. For the details, see Center for Biological Diversity"
     "How do you do that," Marty said. "How do you insert a hyperlink into your speech. It's not natural. We may have to burn you as a witch at some point."
     From The Copy Desk: As to Warren's 'witchiness" we're not going to divulge what we know, but we will hint at the possibility that he may in fact be drinking Guinness and watching hurling or something .... somewhere. If only there were pictures.