The End of Courtship?

Loved this article by Alex Williams in today's New York Times fashion section and, from what single friends tell me, it is SO TRUE....
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/fashion/the-end-of-courtship.html?pagewanted=all

Jennifer S. Altman for The New York Times

“Dating culture has evolved to a cycle of text messages, 

each one requiring the code-breaking skills of a cold war spy to interpret.”

Orca whales break free in Canada

What a relief to hear that a dozen orca whales have broken free of their icy prison in Canada's Hudson Bay:http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/whales-break-free-icy-prison-canadas-hudson-bay

Pacific bluefin tuna levels drop 96%

Photo: Getty

"The bluefin tuna, which has been endangered for several years and has the misfortune to be prized by Japanese sushi lovers, has suffered a catastrophic decline in stocks in the Northern Pacific Ocean, of more than 96%, according to research published on Wednesday.

Equally concerning is the fact that about 90% of specimens currently fished are young fish that have not yet reproduced." http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/jan/09/overfishing-pacific-bluefin-tuna?intcmp=122

German raven plays with a twig

• Raven caught lying on its back in the grass playing with a twig.
• Amateur photographer captured the images in park in Schleswig, Germany.
• Bird clearly appears to be enjoying itself with its new toy.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2259232/Ive-just-twigged-fun-Raven-lays-enjoys-playing-new-toy.html

Russian wolves preying on reindeer herds

Experts in Russia believe a shortage of hares and rabbits in the nearby mountains has led hungry wolves to prey on Sakha’s reindeer pastures. Reports say that a total of 16,111 reindeer were killed by wolves last year, amounting to $5 million in losses for herders.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20932461

Consumer culture and teenage girls in distress

Recent research has shown the influences of rampant corporate commercialism and celebrity are having a massively negative effect on girls.  This new book "Raising Girls" by Steve Biddulph is a guidebook and a call to arms for parents...there has been a sudden and universal deterioration in girls' mental health, starting in primary school and devastating the teenage years. 

"We are in the process of making our schools an extension of the HR departments of big corporations and allowing into education the constant testing and pressures that are destroying girls' lives."

http://quantumsciencenews.blogspot.com/2013/01/aunties-are-girl-best-friend-can-they.html

What we can learn from tribal life

Photo of Easter Island: Art Wolfe/Getty Images

The west's dwindling connection with the natural world puts it in increasing peril, says a distinguished anthropologist (Jared Diamond) in his new book The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies? Many of the practices of tribal cultures can help us to rediscover our way. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/jan/06/jared-diamond-tribal-life-anthropology

"Why did the Vikings perish in 16th-century Greenland while the Inuit flourished? Why did the ancient Mayans wreck their own ecology by stripping their lands of forests, thus triggering the soil erosion and starvation that caused the collapse of their civilisation? And, most poignantly of all, why did the people of Easter Island chop down every tree on their remote island and so maroon themselves in the middle of the Pacific, where they eventually descended into civil war and cannibalism?"