Lincoln

I love it when I see a movie and come out thinking "wow, I really did learn something from that". Couldn't face the Mongolian hordes at the shops on "Black Friday" and so we saw the new Steven Spielberg movie "Lincoln", with the formidable Daniel Day-Lewis in the title role.  As a naturalized American citizen, I enjoyed the useful lesson in American history, particularly the tumultuous period between January 1865 and the conclusion of the Civil War on April 9 and Lincoln's assassination five days later, on Good Friday. The movie documents the fight between the anti-abolitionist Democrats, Lincoln's moderates and the more zealous anti-slavery radicals of the young Republican Party. Good supporting cast including Sally Field as Mrs. Mary Todd Lincoln, James Spader as a rascally/roguish 19th-century lobbyist, and Tommy Lee Jones as a Republican abolitionist.

Stem cell research reverses paralysis in a dachshund

http://www.theworld.org/2012/11/jasper-the-dog-whos-walking-again-after-cell-therapy/

As the owner of two dachshunds, this story made my day! A ten-year-old dachshund has helped scientists achieve a medical breakthrough that could help treat paralysis in humans too. Injecting cells from the dog’s nose into the injured part of his spine helped repair the damage. After the treatment, Jasper the dachshund was able to move his previously paralysed hind legs and coordinate movement with his front limbs. The dog is now ‘whizzing around’ unassisted and can also swim. Early trials involving humans have taken place, and Professor Robin Franklin, co-author of the study from the Wellcome Trust-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, said: ‘Our findings are extremely exciting because they show for the first time that transplanting these types of cell into a severely damaged spinal cord can bring about significant improvement'. [Daily Mail].

Red panda-monium

This cute critter was enjoying a meal with its pals in Japan when a zookeeper stepped into the enclosure, terrifying the furry bundle....

Jaguars and monkeys to be cloned in Brazil

"Experts in Brazil at Brasilia Zoo, who have already successfully cloned cows and horses, are hoping to start creating their first copy of a wild animal next month. The eight at-risk species chosen are the jaguar, the maned wolf, the black lion tamarin monkey, the bush dog, the collared anteater, the gray brocket deer, the Brazilian aardvark and the bison."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/9680968/Jaguars-and-monkeys-to-be-cloned-in-Brazil.html

Generals Gone Wild

There is something tragic about the General Petraeus scandal...a 4 star general and director of the CIA brought down by two "ferociously opportunistic women" as someone described them. I usually try to adhere to that old biblical saying: "Judge Not, That You Be Not Judged" (Matthew 7:1), but this story just keeps getting stranger and stranger...with shirtless FBI agents, threatening e-mails, possible love triangles... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/14/what-paula-broadwell-tell_n_2130513.html

  
"So-called honey traps are typically used by foreign spy agencies to ensnare top men, such as General Allen and former General Petraeus, in order to try to extract information out of them,” Wall Street Journal reporter Maria Abi-Habib said yesterday in an audio dispatch from Afghanistan posted on WSJ.com. There is no evidence the generals’ female friends are spies, but Abi-Habib says the affair has raised concerns “of a so-called honey trap, which was a very famous spy tactic used by the KGB.”
Wow. Just when you thought the plot couldn’t get any thicker...

Ralph Peters is a blunt-speaking retired Army officer and author. “When a man becomes more reputation than substance, his reputation had better be invulnerable,” he said of Petraeus’ plight. “Every successful man has encountered at least one Paula Broadwell. The smart ones don’t take her calls.”
Read more: http://nation.time.com/2012/11/14/the-rise-and-fall-of-general-peaches/#ixzz2CFyajyEt

Mysterious death of migrating birds

In today's Daily Mail, an article about the mysterious deaths of disorientated migrating birds:

A fisherman grins as a lost song thrush sits on his shoulder

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2232285/RSPB-investigates-mysterious-deaths-thousands-migrating-birds-lost-sea.html

A murmuration of starlings

Migrating starlings visit Gretna in Scotland twice a year, in February and November...Starlings congregate for added security and to share warmth and their numbers are boosted by migrant birds from Europe, the RSPB reports. This group appeared just before dusk on Saturday in Gretna.