Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2017/11/04/flautist-vs-butterfly.html
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I feel bad that this clip will be used to torture music students in the future by parents demanding the same level of determination.
Wait, what! Bootheel as in squished? Nononooo… I will never be able to listen to that piece of music again.
RiP sweet Madama Butterfly, your life was so short.
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The butterfly was probably attracted to the light sweat on the flautist’s face, btw. Getting some moisture and minerals, and then it got squished? Ugh.
I think our Rob is just making that part up. A quick read of some reports from the time didn’t tell me anything about squished, and indicated the performer felt positively toward the butterfly…for example:
Strange as its sounds, Ota viewed the butterfly effect as a sign of good luck. It forced her to focus even harder on the task at hand.
“It left a good impression on the judges because they saw I had good concentration on the music,” said Ota…
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It has been described as a fairy tale event. Coincidentally, the concert hall during Ota’s encounter with the butterfly sits near the home of author Hans Christian Andersen (“The Little Mermaid,” “The Ugly Duckling” and more).
“I was thinking Hans Christian Andersen came in the form of the butterfly,” Ota said.
After the performance, Ota said she visited Andersen’s home.
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This fits in perfectly with my idea of sending a swarm of locusts to attack Dancing With The Stars contestants!
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Nobody EVER suspects the butterfly!!!
Unless it’s right there on your nose where everyone can see it, I guess?
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Apropos of anything, but I still have trouble accepting that “flautist” is not incorrect. It has the look of an inbuilt typo!
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Christ, what an asshole! Not her. The butterfly.
It’s a small mercy she wasn’t having to perform “Flight of the Bumblebee.”
James Galway, you are missed 
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Butterflies are lovely. It was like an endorsement. If it had been a cockroach I would have been impressed.
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Inachus io (sp?) sometimes said to be a good omen.
Is anyone noticing that this is proof she’s a Disney princess?
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next time wear a hat 
I had imagined slakemoths as being somewhat larger.
Or tears. The expert on lachyphagous moths is Dr Hans Bänziger:
10 cases of lachryphagous moths settling at human eyes were witnessed. The behaviour of 3 Chaeopsetis ludovicae (Thyatiridae), one Rhagastis olivacea (Sphingidae) and one Togarishachia albistriga (Notodontidae) attacking the author is detailed. C. ludovicae was particularly obnoxious due to clawing of the eyelid’s conjunctiva. R. olivacea drank lachrymation while hovering, the tip of the 4-cm long proboscis causing little discomfort.
Could have been worse, imagine if it was one of these 
https://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/Quantum_weather_butterflies
small mercy it wasn’t a bee!
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I went back 75 million years in a time machine and stepped on one of those, and came back to find myself in a time-line where time machines don’t exist.
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That must have tickled.
