I wonder if Hurricane Sandy will make people think a bit more seriously about the environment and climate change? My optimistic side says "maybe" but my pessimistic side says "probably not".....
"Under the bonnet, there's something big going on: we're damaging the planet and draining its resources, and it's starting to cost us big time. With growing confidence scientists are linking climate change to the increasingly freakish weather around the globe which is causing food prices to rise. Earlier this month the National Farmers' Union predicted more price rises when it revealed that wet weather had cut UK wheat yields by 15%."
New York Times: Dozens of whales beached themselves and died on North Andaman Island in the Bay of Bengal this week, the first time that such a large number of whales have died in the area. Scientists are still trying to figure out why. Individual whales have occasionally beached themselves in the Andamans, but never in these numbers... More @ http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/26/unexplained-death-of-dozens-of-whales-on-indian-island/?src=rechp
It's a Full Moon tomorrow and Halloween on Wednesday, followed by the Mexican Day of the Dead or Día de los Muertos on Thursday...all of which make me think of the Danse Macabre which, according to Wikipedia, "consists of the dead summoning representatives from all walks of life to dance along to the grave, typically with a pope, emperor, king, child and laborer. They were produced to remind people of the fragility of their lives and how vain were the glories of earthly life. Its origins are postulated from illustrated sermon texts; the earliest recorded visual scheme was a now lost mural in the Saints Innocents Cemetery in Paris dating from 1424-25."
The broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough says scientists and environmentalists have been cautious of overstating the dangers of global warming, but recent evidence of melting polar caps shows the situation is worse than had been thought. He also discusses population growth and disappearing habitats.....see following Guardian link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/video/2012/oct/25/david-attenborough-climate-change-video
Jane, Poppy and I came across more beaver damage at the Wooded Isle in Jackson Park this morning. It was unseasonably warm, around 79 degrees F, but considerably chillier tomorrow!
Enchanted staff at Bournemouth Oceanarium in the UK named these cute creatures Jess, Mo, Sophie after three of Britain's Olympic gold medal winners; heptathlete Jess Ennis, distance runner Mo Farah, and rower Sophie Hosking. The oriental or Asian small-clawed otter is the smallest otter species in the world, and is distinctive for its forepaws, which give the creatures a high degree of manual dexterity allowing them to feed on molluscs and crabs. Otters are members of the carnivorous mustelidae family which includes weasels, stoats, minks, martens, wolverines, badgers and polecats (not skunks). They are found on all continents except Australia and Antarctica. They have webbed feet and are aquatic, living in coastal areas, rivers, streams and lakes.
Just read that the controversial UK badger cull has been delayed until next summer. Farmers were expected to start shooting badgers in Somerset and Gloucestershire this week to stop the spread of bovine tuberculosis. In a statement to the House of Commons, Owen Paterson said the cull will have to be delayed because farmers are not ready. He explained that the cull had been delayed by the Olympics and Paralympics because not enough police were available to manage protests until after the events had finished. The rainy weather has also made it difficult for farmers to find the time to bait setts and carry out surveys.http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/oct/23/badger-cull-postponed-2013
In the first presidential debate, Romney's attack on Sesame Street's "Big Bird" sent the social media world into a frenzy. In the second debate, Romney's "binders full of women" comment kept people laughing for days, while last night's "horses and bayonets" Obama zinger caused another stir in the social media universe:
"You mention the Navy, for example, and the fact that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. Well Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets,"said the president. "We have these things called aircraft carriers and planes land on them. We have ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines... It's not a game of Battleship where we're counting ships, it's What are our priorities?" http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-news-blog/2012/oct/23/horses-and-bayonets-presidential-debate
This event at 8 p.m. on Wednesday October 24 @ Rockefeller Chapel, 5850 S. Woodlawn Ave., Chicago, IL 60637, looks interesting: A screening of F.W. Murnau’s epic 1926 silent film Faust, with Dennis James live on the E.M. Skinner organ, and Mark Goldstein, Theremin and Lightning. This version of the film is Luciano Berriatua’s restored and reconstructed version for Filmoteca Espanola: a great treat for Halloween. The musical texture underscores the fundamental struggle between the forces of good and evil by pairing the organ with electronic synthesis: the 1920 Soviet-era Theremin, and the Lightning (Don Buchla’s wireless synthesis controller developed in 1990). Murnau’s masterpiece runs for two hours (timed without intermission), in two parts. The first, based on the folk legend, shows Faust initially agreeing to the pact with Mephisto in order to banish the plague from the town, but subordinating himself to the devil in order to find eternal youth. The second part, closely based on Goethe’s drama, focuses more on the Gretchen tragedy. Tickets $10 general admission at the door, free to students with UChicago ID.
The Pope named seven new saints today, including the first ever Native American saint. Known
as the 'Lily of the Mohawks' Kateri Tekakwitha was born in 1656 to a pagan
Iroquois father and an Algonquin Christian mother. Her parents and only
brother died when she was 4 during a smallpox epidemic that left her
badly scarred and with impaired eyesight.
One of the new saints was Pedro Calungsod, a Filipino teenager who
helped Jesuit priests convert natives in Guam in the 17th century but
was killed by spear-wielding villagers opposed to the missionaries'
efforts to baptize their children. The other new saints are: Marianne Cope, a 19th-century Franciscan nun
who cared for leprosy patients in Hawaii; Jacques Berthieu, a
19th-century French Jesuit who was killed by rebels in Madagascar, where
he had worked as a missionary; Giovanni Battista Piamarta, an Italian
who founded a religious order in 1900 and established a Catholic
printing and publishing house in his native Brescia; Carmen Salles y
Barangueras, a Spanish nun who founded a religious order to educate
children in 1892; and Anna Schaeffer, a 19th century German laywoman who
became a model for the sick and suffering after she fell into a boiler
and badly burned her legs. The wounds never healed, causing her constant
pain.
In the movie, Madagascar, Marty the Zebra wonders whether he is black with white stripes or white with black stripes. The zebra above is neither - and was spotted in Kenya by wildlife photographer Paul Goldstein who says he has never seen a zebra with such an unusual coat in all his 25 years in Africa. He says, unlike most zebra, it has never travelled with a herd and has a nasty temper if ever anyone gets close...
Madagascar 3 (official trailer) featuring Marty the Zebra (voice of Chris Rock), Melman the Giraffe (David Schwimmer), Alex the Lion (Ben Stiller) and Gloria the Hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith):
Designer Vivienne Westwood renounces fur after learning from Peta that fur-bearing animals are often caught in bone-crushing steel-jaw traps. Some animals, especially mothers desperate to return to their young, chew off their own limbs to escape. After having a change of heart, Westwood donated the remaining fur items in her line to Peta, who gave them to a wildlife charity to provide orphaned animals with bedding. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/16/fur-natural-animal-abusive-farming
Some amazing photos at the following BBC link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/19978529 Junior overall winner Owen Hearn took this image 'Flight paths' at his grandparents' farm in Bedfordshire, UK. Owen, aged 14, photographed the red kite at the site chosen for London’s third airport in the late 1960s. "Opposition to the planned airport stopped it going ahead, which is why I can photograph the wildlife on the farm today" he explained.
Creativity is often part of a mental illness, with writers particularly susceptible, according to a study of more than a million people. More@http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19959565
Troubled minds
Novelist Virginia Woolf, who wrote A Room of One's Own and To the Lighthouse, had depression and drowned herself
Fairytale author Hans Christian Andersen, who wrote The Ugly Duckling and The Little Mermaid, had depression
US author and journalist Ernest Hemingway, who wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls, had depression and killed himself with a shotgun
Author and playwright Graham Greene, who wrote the novel Brighton Rock, had bipolar disorder
Just returned home after seeing the fascinating premiere of “The Believers“, the Cold Fusion documentary made by 137 Films which is part of the Chicago International Film Festival. It will be shown again on October 20th at 2pm. The AMC River East 21 is located @ 322 E Illinois St, Chicago, Illinois 60611
More info. on the Chicago International Film Festival at: http://www.chicagofilmfestival.com/ Synopsis of The Believers on 137 Films website:
"The Believers begins in March of 1989, when two respected scientists from the University of Utah stand in front of a wall of reporters; flashbulbs pop as the pair --- one shy, the other cracking jokes --- announce a startling claim: they can solve all the world’s energy problems using seawater, batteries, and the mysterious glass contraption they hold in their hands as they pose proudly for the US and international press. “Cold Fusion” is born. Within days, Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann are on the cover of Time Magazine. But, only three short months later, their careers in tatters and their reputations ruined, they flee the country and cold fusion becomes synonymous with "bad science." Everyone - the press, the public, and especially the mainstream science community - assume Cold Fusion is dead.
But there are those who refuse to accept that. More than twenty years after the infamous event, a band of professional and amateur scientists, a high school whiz kid and a Hollywood-based internet DJ are confident that Pons and Fleischmann were right after all and Cold Fusion will save the world. They're The Believers."
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is for China roughly what Homer is for Europeans: a swashbuckling adventure story, with lots of blood, excitement and craftiness on the battlefield. According to the following BBC article, it's a good thing to read if you want to discover how China really works! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19897371
The Ghent Altarpiece, also known as the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, is being restored at a cost of more than 1m euros (£800,000; $1.3m). More at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19885610
Bee numbers have seen a rapid decline globally in recent years
Bees in Ribeauville have been producing honey in mysterious shades of blue and green, which keepers believe is due to them eating the residue from containers at a nearby Mars M&M factory. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19835847
France is one of the largest producers of honey within the European Union, producing 18,330 tons annually, according to a recent audit conducted for national farm agency FranceAgriMer.
Ribeauville, situated on a scenic wine route southwest of Strasbourg, is best known for its vineyards. But living alongside winemakers are about 2,400 beekeepers in Alsace who tend some 35,000 colonies and produce about 1,000 tonnes of honey per year, according to the region's chamber of agriculture.
The Italians are seeking cheaper means of transport amid the ongoing economic crisis, which is good news for the environment. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19801599 For the first time since the end of the Second World War the number of bicycles sold in Italy has overtaken the number of cars. In a radical departure for the car-mad country, home to Fiat, Ferrari and Lamborghini, 1,750,000 bikes were bought in 2011 compared to 1,748,000 cars. With deep austerity cuts and record high petrol prices, the purchase of new cars has dropped to levels not seen since the 1970s. Families are buying bikes, car pooling, and ditching second cars – a major shift for a nation with one of the highest car ownership rates in the world (around 60 cars for every 100 people).
Shopping at my local grocery store today and came across the October edition of National Geographic magazine at the check out. I was stunned to read that "25,000 elephants were killed last year" and "elephants are being illegally killed across Africa at the highest rates in a decade, and the global religious market for ivory is a driving force." Catholic statues have been made with ivory for centuries, but the church now officially condemns the practice in a bid to prevent the slaughter of elephants for their tusks. Importing ivory has been (officially) banned in the Philippines since 1981 we are told. http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2012/09/26/blood-ivory-in-the-philippines/
On the following interactive map, see where elephants are losing ground -- and where the smuggled ivory is going:
A polar bear on pack ice in Svalbard archipelago, Norway. Photograph: Ralph Lee Hopkins
The Guardian: Environmental activists in the United States and Russia have come together to push for unprecedented protection for the polar bear, hoping to stave off the decline of its already dwindling population.
With Arctic Sea ice at a record low because of climate change, polar bears have been deprived of a key habitat and feeding ground. Legal trade in polar bears, mainly in the form of trophy skins and furs, remains legal under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, leading to the death of hundreds more each year.
Activists from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the Human Society International (HSI) are hoping to change that by supporting government initiatives to upgrade the polar bear's status from appendix two to one within the convention, thus banning all international commercial trade...
Grim news according to a new study published today: Australia’s Great Barrier Reef has lost more than half its coral cover since 1985, with two-thirds of that decline occurring since 1998. The loss has been caused by a combination of factors such as coral bleaching, hurricanes and storms, warmer seas and starfish colonies which kill off organisms. This study, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the most comprehensive survey of a reef system over such a long period. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/oct/01/great-barrier-reef-coral-cover
A recent story published in The Atlantic discusses the rise in toxic blue-green algae:
"Every summer, as temperatures rise, "blooms" of cyanobacteria like the one in Grand Lake St. Marys develop in lakes and rivers across the country, turning waters intense green and coating swaths of their surfaces with putrid-smelling blue-green algae that looks like pea soup. The blooms occur in nearly every state, peaking in August and September. Though no national agency tracks the blooms, experts say they are getting worse, driven by fertilizer and manure run-off into lakes and streams combined with a warming climate." http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/09/blue-green-algae-iridescent-but-deadly/261794/
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