Dead stingrays washed up on Gaza beach

Palestinian fishermen collect several Manta Ray fish that were 

washed up on the beach in Gaza City on February 27, 2013. 

(MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/Getty Images)

Around 220 mobula rays were discovered at the Gaza City beach yesterday, the Times of Israel reports. The sea creatures were promptly gutted and carted off to market where a fisherman said they could fetch up to $1.50 per kilo. The rays have not visited the waters off the disputed territory for six years, according to a local fisherman. It is unclear how the enormous fish ended up on the beach. Bob Rubin, an expert on stingrays from Santa Rosa Junior College in California, said the rays’ fins could have been bloody because they slapped into something such as "boats, rocks, sand, each other".  "Large underwater noises or electrical signals may have caused some state of disorientation but that is only a guess on my part" Mr Rubin said. A Gaza fisherman said God had provided the rays and he hoped to find more at the beach the next day.

MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/Getty Images

Two gowns at the Oscars 2013

For what it's worth, here are my two favorite gowns at last night's Oscars: Charlize Theron in a white Dior gown and Jessica Chastain in a copper Armani gown.  Stunning!

Adele wins Best Original Song

So glad that Adele won the Best Original Song - from the James Bond Skyfall movie - at last night's Oscar ceremony!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Donkey meat in UK burgers?

Just when the British thought it couldn't get any worse in the recent scandal of horsemeat masquerading as beef in various food items available in major UK supermarkets, it now seems that Romanian donkey meat has been found in burgers in England, Sweden and France!

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/horsemeat-found-in-british-supermarkets-may-be-donkey-8489030.html 

"Preliminary investigation by the French agency that combats consumer fraud had uncovered the Byzantine route taken by the “fake” beef. It came from abattoirs in Romania through a dealer in Cyprus working through another dealer in Holland to a meat plant in the south of France which sold it to a French-owned factory in Luxembourg which made it into frozen meals sold in supermarkets in 16 countries."  Oh boy!

Indonesian snakes slaughtered for fashion

Snakes being dried on a board before being made into handbags

Just after the start of Chinese Year of the Snake, here's an article about snakes which are killed, skinned and turned into handbags in Indonesia. When they reach Western fashion houses these snakeskin bags or purses sell for up to $4,000 (£2,500).

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2277475/From-slaughterhouse-shop-shelf-Inside-factory-snakes-killed-skinned-turned-handbags.html#axzz2KkVNGRI6 

Madeline squeals with delight at Amtrak train

The delight and wonder of this three-year old girl catching her first Amtrak train ride is such a pleasure to watch!

Can we trust the food we are eating?

Photograph: Alamy

The recent debacle about horse meat masquerading as beef in various major supermarket chains in Britain...not to mention Mad Cow Disease or Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in beef in the UK not so long ago...begs the question "can we trust the food we are eating?"  http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/08/no-horsemeat-please-british

The following article is from http://www.farming.co.uk

"The controversy surrounding major suppliers of processed meat products in the UK and Ireland has deepened today, as horse meat has been discovered in burgers manufactured by two more companies. The news comes after a supplier to the prison service was found to have distributed pies labelled as Halal but containing pig meat to prisons in England and Wales.

Traces of equine DNA were found in beef-burgers from Rangeland Foods in the Republic of Ireland and Freeza Meats in Northern Ireland. In the Rangeland burgers, horse meat accounted for up to 75 percent of meat, whilst horse accounted for 80 percent of meat in Freeza Meats' burgers.
The manufacturers said the meat used in their burgers had been imported from Poland via a meat trader in Ireland. Meat companies supplying Lidl, Asda and Tesco, whose 'beef-burgers' were found to contain horse and pig meat last month blamed suppliers in Spain and the Netherlands for the contamination.

In light of the lack of transparency demonstrated by the discoveries, the Gardai in Ireland have been called in to help Food Standards officials with enquiries as the scandal deepens. Agriculture minister Simon Coveney announced on Monday that police had been called in to investigate whether aspects of the debacle constitute fraud."

Chinese Year of the Snake

2013 is the Chinese year of the Snake and begins tomorrow - February 10th -  shortly after the new moon in Aquarius. This 2013 year of the Snake signifies steady progress and attention to detail. Focus and discipline will be necessary for you to achieve what you set out to create. The Snake is the sixth sign of the Chinese Zodiac, which consists of 12 animal signs. It is the enigmatic, intuitive, introspective, refined and collected of the animal signs. Ancient Chinese wisdom says a Snake in the house is a good omen because it means that the family will not starve. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21378306

Mushing Season in Alaska

New York Times: It has been an unusually warm winter in Alaska, causing problems for mushers and their sled dogs: http://www.nytimes.com/video/2013/02/05/sports/100000002036851/warm-mushing-season.html

More about Mushing@http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mushing

Three tiger stories in the news

I've noticed that tigers are in the news a lot at the moment. In Asia the tiger is associated with the power and might of kings. Koreans named the tiger "King of the Animals". In India, the god Shiva was seen in the aspect of the destroyer and was depicted wearing a tiger's skin and riding on a tiger. Universally, the tiger is a symbol of power and strength and can also be a power of destruction and violence. The Chinese have images of tigers in their charms when casting away evil spirits.

The spiritual movie "Life of Pi" is about a young man who survives a disaster at sea and is hurtled into an epic journey of adventure and discovery. While cast away, he forms an amazing and unexpected connection with another survivor...a fearsome Bengal tiger.

A circus trainer has been killed by a Bengal tiger during a live performance in Mexico:
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/tiger-attack-circus-trainer-killed-mexico-192938572.html

And here's an article about a rare Golden Tabby Tiger (they no longer exist in the wild):
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2273858/Not-average-tabby-cat-Stunning-Golden-Tabby-tiger-coat-domestic-moggie-thirty-left-world.html#axzz2JytmFu2v

No bones about it -- it is Richard III

Photo: Daily Mail

In an extraordinary discovery which rewrites the history books, the skeleton of the last of the Plantagenet kings (Richard III) was identified by DNA analysis after researchers traced his living descendants. Investigators from the University of Leicester have revealed their dramatic findings. DNA tests on bones recently unearthed in an archaeological dig in Leicester matched samples taken from two living descendants of King Richard's sister. A separate skeletal analysis showed striking similarities between the unearthed bones and features Richard was said to have had.They showed the curved spine which proves that Shakespeare's interpretation of the monarch was at least partly true and that he did have a hunchback (as played by Kevin Spacey, right). They also found evidence of 'humiliation' injuries, including several head wounds - part of the skull was sliced away - a cut to the ribcage and a pelvic wound likely caused by an upward thrust of a weapon.

British moths in calamitous decline

Photograph: Maarten Jacobs

The moth population in southern UK is down 40% in 40 years and three native species have become extinct since 2000.  Moth numbers have held up well in northern England and Scotland, with no overall decline in the abundance of larger moths north of Lancaster and York, compared with the 40% fall in the southern half of Britain. The Garden Tiger Moth pictured here was once common in British gardens but its numbers have fallen by 92% over 40 years. "There is some good news but overall the pattern is very gloomy," said Richard Fox of Butterfly Conservation. "Our suspicion is that the primary thing driving the decline in the south is habitat loss."

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/british-moths-have-crashed-in-numbers-over-past-40-years-as-part-of-widespread-decline-8475763.html

http://www.mothscount.org/uploads/SOBM%20final%20version.pdf

56-Up at the Music Box

Saw a British documentary movie "56-Up" yesterday afternoon at the Music Box Theater.  The director, Michael Apted, wanted to show how class determines your fate and so on....  it started in 1964 as a profile of fourteen seven-year-olds for World in Action on British TV. They revisit the subjects every seven years and now they're 56. It seems to prove that the British class system is alive and well and that the first seven years of life are the most crucial in determining your fate.  One of the subjects is a barrister in London and he seemed to know that he would go to Cambridge and be a barrister even at 7! The premise of the film was taken from the Jesuit motto "Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man" which is based on a quotation by Francis Xavier.

Here's a Chicago Tribune review of 56-Up:
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-01-31/entertainment/sc-mov-0129-56-up-20130131_1_documentary-features-private-lives-kim-horton 

Between Heaven and Earth: Birds in Ancient Egypt

I saw this fascinating exhibit at the Oriental Institute in Chicago and would highly recommend it. It is the first American exhibit devoted to birds of the Nile Valley and it runs until July 28th, 2013.  It explores the impact and importance of birds on the ancient Egyptian culture and includes 40 artifacts.  I learned that some Egyptian gods took the form of the falcon (Horus) or the ibis (Thoth). Birds were a key part of the life-and-death cycle of Ancient Egypt and I spotted a mummified eagle and a coffin for an Ibis mummy (below) in wood, gesso, silver, gold, rock crystal. 332-30 BC from the collection of the Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund.

More @ http://oi.uchicago.edu/museum/special/birds/

Les Misérables @ Harper Theater

Saw Les Misérables at the new Harper Theater in Hyde Park, Chicago, this week.  Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe are superb as Jean Valjean and Javert. Anne Hathaway nails the song "I Dreamed a Dream." Eddie Redmayne (as Marius) and Samantha Barks (as Eponine) are two very talented young actors to watch out for in future. Les Miserables tells an enthralling story of broken dreams, unrequited love, passion, sacrifice and redemption...it is a timeless testament to the survival of the human spirit. Written in 1862, Victor Hugo's novel is considered one of the greatest of the 19th Century. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Misérables

The Guardian : "Based on the hit stage show adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel set among the deserving poor in 19th-century France, which climaxes with the anti-monarchist Paris uprising of 1832. Even as a non-believer in this kind of "sung-through" musical, I was battered into submission by this mesmeric and sometimes compelling film, featuring a performance of dignity and intelligence from Hugh Jackman, and an unexpectedly vulnerable singing turn from that great, big, grumpy old bear, Russell Crowe. With the final rousing chorus of "Do you hear the people sing?", the revolutionary-patriotic fervour is so bizarrely stirring, you'll feel like marching out of the cinema, wrapped in the tricolour, and travelling to Russia to find Gérard Depardieu and tear him limb from limb."

Weird and wonderful legendary plants

Enjoyed this picture gallery of weird and wonderful legendary plants in the Telegraph: 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/gardeningpicturegalleries/9834846/Weird-and-wonderful-legendary-plants.html

Below is the Yggdrasil, a huge tree in Norse mythology, in which the nine worlds that the Vikings believed in were thought to exist. It was considered very holy and the branches extended into the heavens.

Picture: Alamy