Neighbors' new border collie

My neighbors have a new border collie, named Buddy, and I took his photo in the snow last weekend.  He is a gorgeous bundle of fun!  More info. on the breed @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_Collie

Photo: Marge Ishmael

Great sea otter photo

Photograph: Caters News Agency

A sea otter gives the fish a fighting chance in Washington state, USA.

Polar bear reads a sign!

Wildlife photographer Sue Forbes managed to capture this polar bear on camera in Canada. He appears to be reading the sign on the back of a tourist bus! Churchill in Canada is the self-proclaimed 'Polar Bear Capital of the World'. Each winter the area is taken over by nearly 1,000 bears making their way to Hudson Bay as it begins to freeze over, as they hunt the seals which make up their staple diet.

More info. on polar bears @ http://endangeredpolarbear.com/

Seal attacks sharks

HGM Press photos

This rare event took place off the coast of Cape Point in South Africa and was witnessed and photographed by a group of shocked divers. The seal ate only the stomach and liver of its prey before moving on to its next victim. 'It was terrible to watch,' said South African photographer Chris Fallows, who owns a shark diving company. The Cape fur seal can weigh up to 700lbs (300 kilos).

Will We Go - Sara Watkins

Love this song "Will We Go" by Sara Watkins. Here it is accompanied by kindergarten drawings from Shepherd Christian School children. Sara Watkins is a singer-songwriter-fiddler. She sang with progressive bluegrass group Nickel Creek but is now pursuing a solo career. Here's her website: http://sarawatkins.com/

Is it ethical to eat quinoa?

A story highlighting the glaring paradox of quinoa, a wildly trendy grain popular among vegans and health-conscious consumers, is getting worldwide attention after being revisited this week in the UK. The Guardian poses an ethical dilemma to vegans and vegetarians who tout it as a superfood: the grain is high in protein, gluten-free and low in fat. As a consequence of its explosive popularity in the West, the grain that has been a staple in the Andean diet is experiencing soaring price hikes in producing nations like Peru and Bolivia. "The appetite of countries such as ours for this grain has pushed up prices to such an extent that poorer people in Peru and Bolivia, for whom it was once a nourishing staple food, can no longer afford to eat it" writes Joanna Blythman. "Imported junk food is cheaper. In Lima, quinoa now costs more than chicken."

http://news.yahoo.com/how-many-bolivians-are-dying-because-foodies-love-quinoa--184648929.html

Here's an article from "Slate" saying that it is o.k. to eat quinoa and suggesting we ignore the media hand wringing. I guess we'll have to make up our own minds. 

"The idea that worldwide demand for quinoa is causing undue harm where it's produced is an oversimplification at best. At worst, discouraging demand for quinoa could end up hurting producers rather than helping them.  Most of the world's quinoa is grown on the altiplano, a vast, cold, windswept, and barren 14,000-foot Andean plateau spanning parts of Peru and Bolivia. Quinoa is one of the few things that grow there, and its high price means more economic opportunities for the farmers in one of the poorest parts of South America." 

 

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/food/2013/01/quinoa_bad_for_bolivian_and_peruvian_farmers_ignore_the_media_hand_wringing.html

Hedgehogs in decline

I've noticed a significant decline in hedgehogs when I visit Britain. I used to see them in my father's garden but not for several years. Apparently there has been a 37% decline in the last decade. 'The biggest issue is the loss of habitat, such as hedgerows, and bigger intensively-farmed fields. In urban areas, the use of fences makes many gardens inaccessible, while paving and decking are not good hunting ground.'  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2268579/Fears-future-hedgehog-number-declines-past-decade.html

Wombats and the struggle for survival

I fell in love with wombats when I visited Australia in the 1980s. Despite their robust appearance, they are struggling to survive. Many have been infected by a foreign mite from foreign foxes, introduced for hunting by early English settlers of Australia. Scabby tissue forms over the wombats' eyes and ears, and infections occur, ultimately causing their death. They can literally scratch themselves to death.  Let's hope the conservationists can help them...

"Aborigines seem to have mixed feelings about them, using stories to try to explain why they are nocturnal and live underground. Legends describe the wombat as boastful, sometimes wise, but also stubborn and selfish. But another Aboriginal legend tells of how wise the wombat can be. He comforts the other animals in the forest, after their friend, a cockatoo, has died, explaining to them all about forest spirits."   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21161179

Continue reading the main story

Ice Age Art at British Museum

From antler batons to mammoth pendants, a new exhibit in London boasts a mind-blowing display of the world's oldest known sculptures, drawings and portraits, crafted by the hands of Homo sapiens as long as 40,000 years ago. Ice Age Art: The Arrival of the Modern Mind runs from 7 February until 26 May 2013 – but you can take a sneak preview at the following link: - http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/jan/24/ice-age-art-british-museum

Oldest known portrait of a woman - sculpted in ivory

Ice Age horse's head carved in ivory

Fire and ice in Chicago

Chicago firefighters battled the elements on two fronts yesterday as they sought to put out a massive warehouse blaze in glacial temperatures. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-extraalarm-fire-in-bridgeport-warehouse-20130122,0,1503582.story

Red-breasted Merganser in Chicago

Jane, Poppy and I spotted this female Red-breasted Merganser at Jackson Harbor in Chicago today. A large diving duck with a long thin bill, the Red-breasted Merganser is found in large lakes, rivers and the ocean. It prefers salt water more than the other two species of merganser.

Female description: Rusty brown head with long, ragged, double crest. Dark or pale chin, gradually merging with chest color. Breast, back, wings, tail are slate gray. Belly and flanks are white. Bill is scarlet-orange. White patch in wing is visible in flight.

Photo: Jane Masterson

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-breasted_Merganser

Humans are a plague on earth

Sir David Attenborough, the famous British naturalist and television presenter, has some harsh words for humanity. "We are a plague on the Earth," Attenborough told the Radio Times. "It's coming home to roost over the next 50 years or so."  Attenborough went on to say that both climate change and "sheer space" were looming problems for humanity. "Either we limit our population growth or the natural world will do it for us, and the natural world is doing it for us right now," he said. 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/9815862/Humans-are-plague-on-Earth-Attenborough.html

Welcome to your new prison, er home!

New housing in Lingshui, China

Stretching as far as the eye can see in row upon row of arrow-straight uniformity, this development conjures up images of a concrete slum or a prison block rather than a plush new housing estate. They are among more than 1,000 grey houses, each spaced just a few feet apart, that have been built in Lingshui County in the Hainan Province of China. When I saw the photo above, I was reminded of the back-to-back housing in the county of Lancashire where I grew up (photo below). These were built to house working class textile mill workers and coal miners during the Industrial Revolution.....and now we see very similar housing developments in China.....a case of history repeating!
More@http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2266377/Would-want-live-housing-estate-like-New-Chinese-villas-look-like-concrete-slums.html#ixzz2IkbwQMSW  

Old housing in Lancashire, England

Homesick Subterranean Blues in Trader Joe's

I was struck by U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) at yesterday's Presidential Inauguration. He started his remarks by quoting Roots author Alex Haley: “Find the good and praise it.” And today I was reminded of why I like shopping at Trader Joe's in Chicago's South Loop. I don't know if the checkout staff are hand-picked or specially trained but they are ALWAYS unfailingly nice, which makes the overall shopping experience extremely pleasant.  Another great part of the experience is the music. Today they were playing Bob Dylan's Homesick Subterranean Blues and I was reminded that Dylan is a poet and prophet as well as a singer-songwriter-musician:

I'm always amazed by the low prices at Trader Joe's. Today I bought my dogs' favorite treats (Charlee Bear Liver dog treats) for only $2.99. A large pack of triple ginger cookies was $3.99.  A large box of Medjool dates was $4.49. Wish we had a TJs in Hyde Park.

One Today - Richard Blanco

Here is the text of today's inauguration poem by Miami-based Cuban poet, Richard Blanco:
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/today-richard-blanco-poem-read-barack-obama-inauguration/story?id=18274653

http://www.richard-blanco.com/poetry-books/

One sun rose on us today, kindled over our shores,

peeking over the Smokies, greeting the faces

of the Great Lakes, spreading a simple truth

across the Great Plains, then charging across the Rockies.

One light, waking up rooftops, under each one, a story

told by our silent gestures moving across windows.

My face, your face, millions of faces in morning's mirrors,

each one yawning to life, crescendoing into our day:

pencil-yellow school buses, the rhythm of traffic lights,

fruit stands: apples, limes, and oranges, arrayed like rainbows,

begging our praise. Silver trucks, heavy with oil or paper --

bricks or milk, teeming over highways alongside us,

on our way to clean tables, read ledgers, or save lives --

to teach geometry or ring up groceries as my mother did

for 20 years, so I could write this poem for all of us today.

All of us as vital as the one light we move through,

the same light on blackboards with lessons for the day,

equations to solve, history to question, or atoms imagined,

the "I have a dream" we all keep dreaming,

or the impossible vocabulary of sorrow that won't explain

the empty desks of 20 children marked absent

today, and forever. Many prayers, but one light

breathing color into stained glass windows,

life into the faces of bronze statues, warmth

onto the steps of our museums and park benches

as mothers watch children slide into the day.

One ground. Our ground, rooting us to every stalk

of corn, every head of wheat sown by sweat

and hands, hands gleaning coal or planting windmills

in deserts and hilltops that keep us warm, hands

digging trenches, routing pipes and cables, hands

as worn as my father's cutting sugarcane

so my brother and I could have books and shoes.

The dust of farms and deserts, cities and plains

mingled by one wind -- our breath. Breathe. Hear it

through the day's gorgeous din of honking cabs,

buses launching down avenues, the symphony

of footsteps, guitars, and screeching subways,

the unexpected songbird on your clothes line.

Hear: squeaky playground swings, trains whistling,

or whispers across cafe tables. Hear the doors we open

each day for each other, saying: hello, shalom,

buon giorno, howdy, namaste; or buenos dias

in the language my mother taught me -- in every language

spoken into one wind carrying our lives

without prejudice, as these words break from my lips.

One sky: since the Appalachians and Sierras claimed

their majesty and the Mississippi and Colorado worked

their way to the sea. Thank the work of our hands:

weaving steel into bridges, finishing one more report

for the boss on time, stitching another wound

or uniform, the first brush stroke on a portrait,

or the last floor on the Freedom Tower

jutting into the sky that yields to our resilience.

One sky, toward which we sometimes lift our eyes

tired from work: some days guessing at the weather

of our lives, some days giving thanks for a love

that loves you back, sometimes praising a mother

who knew how to give or forgiving a father

who couldn't give what you wanted.

We head home: through the gloss of rain or weight

of snow or the plum blush of dusk, but always -- home,

always under one sky, our sky. And always one moon

like a silent drum tapping on every rooftop

and every window of one country -- all of us --

facing the stars

hope -- a new constellation

waiting for us to map it,

waiting for us to name it -- together.

Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir/Battle Hymn of the Republic

http://www.brooklyntabernacle.org/

For me, the highlight of this morning's second inauguration for President Obama was the 300-member Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir singing “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”.  It reminded me of why I decided to become an American Citizen in 2007, instead of remaining as a Resident Alien here. It also reminded me of two great quotations which are among those printed in my American passport:

"This is a new nation, based on a mighty continent, of boundless possibilities." 
[Theodore Roosevelt]

"We have a great dream. It started way back in 1776, and God grant that America will be true to her dream." [Martin Luther King]

English Lake District - a nuclear waste dump?

English Lake District

A £multi-billion underground facility is being proposed to hold Britain’s stockpile of spent radioactive fuel from the past 70 years.  Some people think it will create extra jobs...but at what cost to the environment and tourism in one of the most beautiful parts of Britain?  Read more @ http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jan/19/battle-for-soul-of-lake-district?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487

Idle No More

A seismic shift is happening among indigenous people in Canada.  “We are here to ensure the land, the waters, the air, and the creatures and indeed each of us, return to balance and discontinue harming each other and the earth,” Idle No More movement founders wrote on Monday. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-mckibben/idle-no-more--think-occup_b_2448552.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idle_No_More

http://idlenomore.ca/

Cycling is more popular in American cities

The following Al Jazeera video shows how cycling is increasingly popular in US cities such as Seattle:

The US has a car culture that includes many people driving big petrol-guzzling vehicles...but two wheels are starting to replace four wheels in some American cities.  Here is the city of Chicago's official cycling website: http://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/cdot/provdrs/bike.html

Rhino attack

When I saw this article about a South African woman being gored by a rhino on a safari, Darwin's theory of evolution sprung to mind: that inherent dynamic forces allow only the fittest persons or organizations to prosper... and it reminded me of the importance of respecting wild animals, particularly when encroaching onto their territory...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/15/chantal-beyer-south-africa-rhino-game-park_n_2477639.html

Kumbh Mela festival in India

Photograph: Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images

During this festival, which happens every 12 years and lasts for 55 days, people visit the city of Allahabad where two rivers, the Ganges and Yamuna, meet.  It's probably the biggest gathering of people in the world. Millions of devout Hindus led by naked ascetics with ash smeared on their bodies plunge into the frigid waters of India's holy Ganges River on Monday in a ritual they believe can wash away their sins. More info. on the festival: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumbh_Mela

Angel of the North in Snow

England is blanketed in snow today and I love this photo of the famous Angel of the North statue in Gateshead (in the north east of the country) :

More info. on the Angel of the North:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_of_the_North

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?"