All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

Reportage: sketching on outdoor conference – Frits Ahlefeldt: Nomad & Walking philosopher

Square Drawing of people around an overview of Denmark, all heading outdoors. Illustration by Frits AhlefeldtSource: Reportage: sketching on outdoor conference – Frits Ahlefeldt: Nomad & Walking philosopher

Celeste, the Jamaican Giant Galliwasp, has arrived home: a historic repatriation – Petchary’s Blog

Celeste is home! Elizabeth Morrison (left) Curator of Zoological Collections at the Natural History Museum of Jamaica and Nicole Patrick-Shaw, Deputy Executive Director, the Institute of Jamaica, holding the treasured Jamaican Giant Galliwasp, who returned to Jamaica with them on April 24, 2024. (Photo: Natural History Museum of Jamaica)

…The joint team, which travelled to Scotland on a  six-day visit last weekend to retrieve the approximately 16-inch-long specimen from their counterparts at the University of Glasgow had an official handover on Monday at the university’s Hunterian Museum where the Giant Galliwasp, or ‘Celeste’, as it is being affectionately called by the repatriation team, had been housed…

The Jamaican Giant Galliwasp became extinct in the mid-1800s due to the clearing of lands for sugarcane production and the introduction of the invasive predator mongoose.  Their habitats were mostly wetlands, said to be in St. Elizabeth and Clarendon.

The repatriation team included Morrison and Dionne Newell, Senior Research officer in Entomology, also of NHMJ/IOJ; UWI Museum curator, Dr. Shani Roper; Dr. Tannice Hall of the Department of Life Sciences, and graduate student Desireina DesLandes…

Source: Celeste, the Jamaican Giant Galliwasp, has arrived home: a historic repatriation – Petchary’s Blog

Actions Matters – normabobb

When we act against our conscience we create fragments of our former selves. We need to ask ourselves who are we accountable to, if not to the greater good of all living entities and the Earth? Denial of who we are and what we are charged to do would invite catastrophic consequences into our lives. Don’t toy with Mother Nature, be reverent.

© Norma Bobb-Semple 2024

Source: Actions Matters – normabobb

Mi padre, mi madre, regalos del infinito – Santiago Galicia Rojon Serrallonga

Derechos reservados conforme a la ley/ Copyright

Tus flores y tus plantas quedaron en el jardín que cuidabas con tanto esmero, abandonado y triste desde aquella mañana que saliste de casa para no volver con tu cariño que se desbordaba, tu amabilidad que contagiaba y tu sonrisa que abrazaba, al lado de tus hijos, tus descendientes y la gente que mucho amaste. Todo quedó solo, como, a veces, me siento estas tardes grises y algunas noches desiertas, ante tu ausencia física, a pesar de que te percibo en mi parte etérea, siempre unidas tu alma y la mía, como nuestras manos cuando, juntos, aliviábamos la sed de tu jardín, el paraíso que nos enseñaste a querer porque, asegurabas, cada expresión natural, por minúscula y humilde que parezca, trae suspiros y perfumes de Dios y del infinito. Aquí estamos, junto a tus flores y a tus plantas, nosotros, tus hijos y tus descendientes, con la fragancia de tu recuerdo, el pulso de tu grandeza y la fórmula que eternamente nos mantendrá unidos. Y si tú, nuestra madre, cultivaste amor, sentimientos nobles y acciones buenas, aquí, en el alma de cada uno, percibimos, también, tu cercanía y la esencia de tu ser, padre querido e inolvidable. Miro tus libros, tus anotaciones, tus hazañas, lo que somos y lo que hacías por nosotros, y doy gracias a la vida por tantas bendiciones a tu lado. Fuiste padre y amigo, guía e instructor. Una madrugada, en tu instante postrero, abandonaste la casa, el hogar, cuando parecía que siempre estaríamos cerca y por fin cumpliríamos los sueños que diseñamos un día y tantos más. Me enseñaste las fórmulas de la vida. Me encantó acompañarte desde la infancia y estar contigo. Siempre tenías algo que enseñar. Eras inagotable. Gracias a ambos, a mi padre y a mi madre, por el amor puro e intenso que nos regalaron, por las enseñanzas y los sentimientos buenos que nos inculcaron, por el mundo real y mágico que trajeron consigo, por el esfuerzo que hicieron para beneficio nuestro, por sus sacrificios, por su compañía tan grata, por sus consejos y por los años de convivencia. Nos regalaron el cielo, pedazos de infinito, la eternidad, el paraíso. Nos sentimos agradecidos, bendecidos y muy orgullosos de ustedes. Gracias por regalarnos tantas bendiciones y un trozo del edén en ese hogar y con la familia que pulsan en mi ser, en mi alma. Fue, creo yo, preámbulo de la inmortalidad. Me siento dichoso porque no siempre la gente recibe un regalo como el nuestro. Muchas gracias.

Source: Mi padre, mi madre, regalos del infinito – Santiago Galicia Rojon Serrallonga

Independent review panel releases final report on UNRWA | UN News

An independent panel released its much-awaited report on Monday about the UN relief agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), providing 50 recommendations and noting that Israeli authorities have yet to provide proof of their claims that UN staff are involved with terrorist organisations.

“Israel made public claims that a significant number of UNRWA employees are members of terrorist organisations. However, Israel has yet to provide supporting evidence of this,” according to the 54-page final reportIndependent review of mechanisms and procedures to ensure adherence by UNRWA to the humanitarian principle of neutrality.

The UN Secretary-General, who received the final report at the weekend, had appointed the independent review group days after Israel announced the allegations against UNRWA, which employees 30,000 people and serves 5.9 million Palestine refugees in the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and war-torn Gaza.

The much-awaited final report found that UNRWA, established by the General Assembly in 1949, has extensive tools in place to ensure it remains unbiased in its work and routinely provides Israel with employee lists and “the Israeli Government has not informed UNRWA of any concerns relating to any UNRWA staff based on these staff lists since 2011.”

Source: Independent review panel releases final report on UNRWA | UN News

Laura Carbone – The Cycle – Female Voices

In einer anspruchsvollen Musikalität befüllt Laura Carbone ihr gehaltvolles Album „The Cycle“ mit immerwährender Intensität, welche sie herzblutig den Hörenden reicht. Der Kreislauf des Seins regeneriert sich an einem Ort, wo man sicher zuhause ist, um sich selbst in Heilung zu wiegen. Und darin liegt Lauras bescheidener Wunsch, die eigene Lebenserfahrung zu navigieren und darauf zu vertrauen, dass die Reise zum eigenen Herzen stets belohnt wird…

Source: Laura Carbone – The Cycle – Female Voices

#art, Aqui uno de mis expresionistas preferidos – Here’s One of My Favourite Expressionists – JaZzArt en València

Oskar Kokoschka not only lived in Vienna, but also in Dresden, Berlin, and as we will see, in many other cities. He joined the army as a volunteer when the First World War broke out and served in a cavalry regiment. He was gravely wounded in battle, but continued to paint and develop his talent… In 1934, he had to flee Austria because the Nazis considered him a degenerate due to his art, and he headed to Prague. But soon the German army began recruiting in Czechoslovakia, and Kokoschka had to flee again, this time to the United Kingdom… After the war, he travelled to the US and did not return to Europe until 1953, choosing to live in Switzerland until the end of his days. He died in 1980 in Montreux.

Source: #art, Aqui uno de mis expresionistas preferidos – Here’s One of My Favourite Expressionists – JaZzArt en València

How curious kids can help us | Context, Thought, and Learning: ShiraDest Offers Project Do Better

I was sitting in a cafe miserable, having just wasted $20 on transportation going between two different government offices and having achieved absolutely nothing at about 10 am this morning, when a very small child, a toddler, looked around the corner from behind the chair up at me with a tentative look on her face and began the smallest of smiles. It was as if she was asking without any words whatsoever whether I would smile back at her, which of course, I couldn’t help but do.

I began to smile, the little child began to smile broadly, and then I realized that this is how tiny human beings survive, and perhaps how the human race survives. Small children with their curiosity can bring out the best in us. And that means maybe there really is some hope for the human race after all. What do you think?
– Shira Destinie Jones

Source: How curious kids can help us | Context, Thought, and Learning: ShiraDest Offers Project Do Better