Who is Mr Brown? I wanna know now!

Charles Le Brun (1619-1690) , First Painter to the King Louis XIV, was the founder of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, and the foremost proponent of French classicism. On 28 March 1671, addressing the Royal Academy, he formally presented his treatise:
"all of the various demonstrations that he has drawn, whether heads of animals or heads of men, making note of the signs that mark their natural inclination." (Procès-verbaux de l'Academie I : 358-359)
While the set of drawings is still conserved in the Louvre, the original text has been lost: we have but a rough synthesis by Nivelon, posthumous digests by Henri Testelin and E. Picart, and the dissertation by Morel d'Arleux accompanying the 1806 edition of the engravings.
Louis-Jean-Marie Morel d'Arleux (1755-1827) was curator of drawings and prints at the Musée Napoléon (today the Musée du Louvre). His interest in Le Brun's "demonstrations" and his devotion to their revival are noteworthy, and relate to the current of neo-classicism then in vogue, a conceptual triangulation linking the Roman and the Napoleonic imperium through the reign of the Sun King.Physiognomy, literally the "knowlege of nature," relates to the assessment of human character through study of physical features. This concept of an inherent concordance of body and soul harks back to Antiquity, and regained currency in 17th-century thought.
(read more...)

Females who can mask their trails

The scientists have now been able to show that evolution has favoured those females who can conceal their gender identity. Females who can mask their trails copulate significantly less often than other females and thus have a greater chance of surviving.


"It is beneficial for males to mate as often as possible, since this is the only way in which they can influence the number of offspring they father. But it is costly for the females to mate often, and this is important for them in surviving during the period they are carrying offspring."
The females of most species of snail excrete a substance in their mucous trails that enables males to find them more easily, since they can distinguish between trails from females and those from other males. The males follow the mucous trails laid down by females in order to find a partner for mating. However, the females of one of the species studied (Littorina saxatilis) have stopped labelling their mucous trails.
(read more...)

LSD , Russian Mushrooms and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.

R. Gordon Wasson launched the “psychedelic revolution” with his Life magazine article of 13 May 1957, in which he publicized his experience on the nights of 29-30 June, 1955, in the remote Oaxacan village of Huautla de Jiménez with the Mazatec curandera or shaman María Sabina, whose identity he tried to protect under the pseudonym of Eva Mendez, even being the first to use the embarrassing term of “magic mushroom,” which was probably invented by the magazine’s editor. As a professional international banker, he was a most unlikely candidate for this role. He and his wife Valentina Pavlovna were about to publish in that same year their Mushrooms, Russia, and History, which they had started writing in the mid 1940s as a cookbook, with merely a footnote on “the gentle art of mushroom-knowing as practiced by the northern Slavs.” The Life article effectively was publicity for the book, which was lavishly published at Wasson’s expense in a limited edition of only 512 copies, which would have placed it beyond the notice of the general public: the original price of $175 has now escalated to several thousand, something that Wasson was proud of as an investment.(read more...)

mushr
During their Mazatec séances the Wassons had experienced the divinatory potential of the Mexican mushrooms. The account of their first velada with Aurelio Carreras, María Sabina’s son-in-law, on 15 August 1953, two years before they ate the mushrooms themselves, was intentionally buried in the bulk of Russia, Mushrooms, and History. Wasson described the event more fully in his last book, Persephone’s Quest. “I had always had a horror,” he wrote, “of those who preached a kind of pseudo-religion of telepathy, who for me were unreliable people; if our discoveries were to be drawn to their attention, we were in danger of being adopted by such undesirables.” Carreras, without prompting or questions, was able to tell the Wassons correctly that their son Peter was not in Boston, as they thought, but in New York, that he was about to enlist in the army, and that a close member of the family would die within the year.
In February of 1955, Wasson mentioned this occurrence to Andrija Puharich, when they met for cocktails in the apartment of the New York socialite Alice Bouverie, who had learned of the Wassons’ ongoing research from a reference librarian at the Public Library, while investigating psychoactive mushrooms. Puharich, an American-born medical doctor and parapsychologist of Croatian descent, at the time was a captain with the United States Army, stationed at the Fort Detrick Chemical and Biological Warfare Center in Edgewood Maryland, working for the CIA on chemical and other means of mind control; and with Wasson’s permission, he dutifully passed on the information about Carreras to his military associates, which may have been why Wasson’s 1956 expedition to Mexico was infiltrated by a CIA mole, James Moore, with a generous financial grant, clearly indicating that the intelligence community regarded a divinatory mushroom as a valuable tool in their arsenal. Moore found the journey extremely unpleasant, and although he witnessed the séance, he was extremely ill, and eight kilos thinner, he fled with a packet of the mushrooms, intending to isolate and synthesize the chemical, which, in fact, Albert Hofmann succeeded in doing before him. Hiem identified them as Psilocybe caerulescens and the psychoactive agent was named psilocybin.
(read more...)

Felines perform tricks on giant balls

You’ll be hard-pressed to find a more unusual circus, or father-daughter performing duo. The Moscow Cat Theatre is just that: a travelling show of cats that perform amazing tricks for the owners who love and train them. Everybody in Russia may be used to seeing cats perform tricks, as the theatre’s manager explains in this funny, charming film, but felines walking tightropes, crossing the stage on giant balls and walking upside down is not a common sight in most countries. As a balalaika and accordion circus score plays in the background, Creative Director Vladimir and his daughter Maria combine their love of cats and stage to create a captivating act and illustrate the tricks of the trade – giving new meaning to the expression ‘herding cats’.

פיתון בורמזי ואיתן מעין הוד

איתן נצ'ין היה בסכנת חיים לאחר שהוכש על-ידי נחש צפע בקרסולו לאחר שעבר ניתוח דחוף וסדרת טיפולים הסכים להצטלם עם נחש מסוג פיתון ]

איתן נצ'ין, 26, היה מאושפז במחלקה לטיפול נמרץ בבית החולים רמב"ם בחיפה, לאחר שהוכש על-ידי נחש צפע. אחרי שלושה שבועות של החלמה, הסכים להצטלם עם נחש מסוג פיתון בורמזי לבקן, בגן החיות הלימודי בחיפה.

נצ'ין, מוזיקאי תושב כפר האמנים עין הוד, הובא לבית החולים בחודש אוגוסט האחרון, ז קצר לאחר שהוכש בקרסולו בעת שצעד בסמטאות הכפר, אך התברר שהוא נושא רגישות גבוהה לארס הנחש ולכן לא הגיב גם לנסיוב שהיה אמור להציל את חייו. רבע שעה אחרי שהוכש, איבד את הכרתו ומערכות גופו קרסו בזו אחר זו. גם כלי הדם ברגלו נפגעו מהארס וחייבו ניתוח דחוף. בבית החולים הוגדר מצבו אנוש.

מנהל מחלקת טיפול נמרץ, ד"ר ירון בר-לביא ומנהל מכון ההרעלות הארצי, פרופ' ידידיה בנטור, העניקו לו טיפול ואחרי שלושה שבועות ללא הכרה, ועשרות מנות דם שניתנו לו כדי להילחם בבעיות הקרישה שגרם הארס, החל נצ'ין להתאושש ואחרי חודש נוסף כבר עמד על רגליו.

יום לפני שחזר ללימודי המוזיקה בלונדון, ביקשו ברמב"ם לצלם אותו עם נחש מסוג פיתון בורמזי לבקן בגן החיות הלימודי בחיפה. נצ'ין נענה לבקשת בית החולים ואיפשר לצלם רענן טל לצלמו

Phoney Chargers Unplug

MacKay doesn’t like big numbers, he likes small ones that we can get our heads round. “Simplification”, he says, “is a key to understanding.” If you’re concerned about your personal finances, or energy security or climate change, and you want to cut down on your use of fossil fuels, “Sustainable Energy—Without the Hot Air” explains which actions make a significant difference and which make very little. The Economist described the book as “exemplary” and the place to start “for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the real problems involved”.MacKay doesn’t consider changes in attitude, only in energy sources. He crunches the numbers on wind, solar heating, solar photovoltaics, biomass, hydro, tide, waves and geothermal and shows how massive each would need to be if, added together, they were to meet current demand. He factors in public consultation (our national tendency to say no) and decides about a seventh of our needs could be met through renewables. We can’t do it alone. “Europe needs nuclear power, or solar power in other people’s deserts, or both.” For Britain, that area in someone else’s desert would have to be the size of Wales.(read more..)

The Suburban Zoo

If the Neanderthals were here today, they would certainly be different from us. Would we experience racism against Neanderthals much worse than the racism we experience today amongst ourselves? What if they were only a bit different from us, but similar in many ways in terms of language, technology, social groups? Would we still have this enormous division that we make today between humans and non-humans? Between animals and ourselves? Would we still have distanced ourselves from animals and made this dichotomy that is so strong in our thinking today? These things we will never know, right? But they are fascinating things to thnk about.
We are now in the process of analyzing the Neanderthal genome, putting together all the little DNA pieces we have extracted from the sequence of this fossil and starting to compare it to humans and chimps. One question that we are struggling with and thinking about is, What is the relationship of the Neanderthals to us?
We try to address that in different ways. One thing that we're beginning to see is that we are extremely closely related to the Neanderthals. They're our relatives. In a way, they're like a human ancestor 300,000 years ago. Which is something that leads you to think: what about the Neanderthals? What if they had survived a little longer and were with us today? After all, they disappeared only around 30,000 years ago, or, 2,000 generations ago. Had they survived, where would they be today? Would they be in a zoo? Or would they live in suburbia? These are the questions I like to think about.(Read more in Edge)
SVANTE PÄÄBO, the founder of the field of ancient DNA, is Director, Department of Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig. In 2007 Time Magazine named him one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World.
(more on the blog)

Rigmarole of Slimy Hermaphrodites

The giant Ghana snail, Achatina achatina, also known as the giant tiger land snail, is a species of snail native to the forests of Ghana, Africa. They are prized for their large size, distinct markings, and lack of availability. They also are hermaphrodites, having male and female sex organs.

So the final and most important question is, how did it taste? Well it didn't, exactly. Like whelks, boulets, garden snails and pretty much the rest of the edible gastropodia, there's not a chance that any evanescent snailish essence could survive the rigmarole of desliming and rendering edible - but that's not the point. The remaining texture was utterly unlike anything else I've ever put in my mouth. Abi's hot pepper sauce was a gently brewed assault of flavours that would have converted a well-worn espadrille into a worthwhile meal. In fact I'll go on record saying that I'm prepared to eat a McDonald's hashbrown thingy if Abi's sauce is to hand, but the snail's foot adds a textural matrix somewhere between an undercooked artichoke heart and the cartilage from a premiership footballer's knee - with just a tad more disquieting crunch.
Did I enjoy it? Hell yes. It's rare to find a totally new combination of flavour and texture and it was privilege to be shown how to prepare it properly. Will I be knocking up land snail at my next dinner party? I'm ashamed to say, no. I'm not sure I could find anyone to share it, but do try Abi's sauce with a less challenging protein - I did chicken thighs last night - and I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

Tim Hayward and Shehani Fernando
guardian.co.uk,

Not Suitable for Use on Nursing Bitches

Scientists in New Jersey are describing discovery and successful tests of the first once-a-month pill for controlling both fleas and ticks in domestic dogs and cats.
Although many powders, sprays and other topical agents are on the market, many pet owners prefer the convenience of pills. Products given orally can reach more parts of an animal's body, do not wash off in rain or bath water, and don't transfer from pets to people. At least one existing pill fights fleas in pets, but does not appear effective for ticks.
In tests on fleas and ticks in dogs and cats, a single dose of the new pill was 100 percent effective in protecting against both fleas and ticks for a month. There were no signs of toxic effects on the animals. Scientists obtained the flea and tick fighter from a substance first found in a fungus that "has the potential to usher in a new era in the treatment of ecoparasitic [ticks and fleas, for instance] infestations in companion animals." (read more...)

Rainy Latvia

Five-a-day keeps smaller farms away

Eating more healthily might be better for us as individuals, but would it be bad news for farmers? A research project funded by the UK Research Councils’ Rural Economy and Land Use Programme had found that if we all followed government advice to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day this could have serious implications for the countryside.
Their research shows that, if we assume that the percentage of imports will remain constant, many more hectares of intensive production under polythene tunnels would be needed in order to produce the quantity of fruit and vegetables for the recommended healthy diet.
At the same time, areas such as Wales and the south west, which are most suited to grazing animals rather than growing crops, would suffer a severe decline in such production. For example, in Wales, cattle numbers would fall by some 400,000 head and sheep numbers would be halved. In the north of England both sheep and cattle numbers would fall by 200,000 head each.
This could mean unemployment in, and abandonment of, upland areas. Smaller farms would disappear and be absorbed into larger land holdings. Upstream industries would suffer, particularly feed suppliers, and there would be a knock-on effect on the wider rural economy of the uplands.
(read more...)

Leaded Petrol to Save the Earth

Lead is a toxic heavy metal that can cause severe damage to health.

"However, with the benefit of hindsight we can now explain why there has been a trend towards more rapid temperature rises in recent years; it is because mankind has cut back its emissions of lead and sulphates,"

Lead pollution in the air stimulates the formation of ice particles in clouds. A team of scientists from the USA, Germany and Switzerland has found that particles containing lead are excellent seeds for the formation of ice crystals in clouds. This not only has a bearing on the formation of rain and other forms of precipitation but may also have an influence on the global climate. This is because the heat given off from the earth's surface is more efficiently radiated into space by ice clouds (cirrus) with lead-containing particles
In comparison to clouds with a low lead content, clouds with a high lead content thus actually help cool the earth. Over the last twenty years, there has been a continuing decrease in the rate of anthropogenic lead emissions. This may mean that the greenhouse effect is now even more pronounced because lead-containing clouds once previously helped limit it.(read more...)

Do not kiss a sneezing pig

SARS, avian flu, swine flu ... each virus outbreak raises the question: What can be done? A compelling answer from virus hunter Nathan Wolfe, who's outwitting the next pandemic by staying two steps ahead: discovering new, deadly viruses where they first emerge -- passing from animals to humans among poor subsistence hunters in Africa -- and stopping them before they claim millions of lives.

love bacon. Am I at risk?
Go ahead and have that BLT. It's not a problem. You can't get swine flu from eating pork. You'd have to have close contact with a living, breathing, infected pig to get this virus -- or rather, in order to have contracted the original pig virus. The interesting and important thing about this "pig flu" is that it's now spreading from human to human. It's become a human virus.
So people should take the usual precautions: Stay away from individuals who are sick. Wash your hands frequently. And the less you touch your face, nose and eyes, the better.

We've created a "perfect storm" for viruses. And we'll continue to see -- as we have in the past few years -- a whole range of new animal diseases as outbreaks in human populations. But we have to stop being surprised by them. Right now, global public health is like cardiology in the '50s -- just waiting for the heart attack, without understanding why they occur or the many ways to monitor for them, detect them early and ultimately prevent them. Swine flu is not an anomaly. We know that swine flu -- like the vast majority of new outbreaks -- comes from animals. We should be monitoring those animals and the humans that come into contact with them, so we can catch these viruses early, before they infect major cities and spread throughout the world.(read more...)

Ecosphere in Recycled Condom: Econdome

Create a free Condom Ecosphere from stuff found in any fishtank. (To buy parts would be about 5$). It magnifies the fish and is very strong (condoms can hold up to 6 liters of water). The Circle Of Life... In a Condom! NOTE: THIS DOES NOT WORK AND WAS A SIMPLE JOKE/HOAX. DO NOT REPLICATE EXPERIMENT!

From Practical Fishkeeping...
Ecosphere aquariums, which the user is trying to imitate, are quite controversial. They are sealed spherical aquariums containing seawater, algae and some small shrimp and are sold as "the world's first totally enclosed ecosystem."
They claim that natural processes occuring within the sphere, break down the shrimp's wastes and photosynthesis allows the algae to produce oxygen.
Whatever you think of them, though, we really hope that nobody follows this person's advice and tries to create their own sealed aquarium using a condom. It really isn't going to work.

From Biodome thru Paris Hilton to Ecosphere in Ein Hod

Al Gore made the environment as hot as Paris Hilton made the same aforementioned word, well, hot. But in a country like Israel, constantly concerned with security at the expense of most everything else, ecology remains an esoteric subject usually thought about only in regards to the short term.
Niv Zohar Horowitz and Aya Zindel, organizers of Ecosphere, Israel's first green art and environment festival, both hope that the festival's principles will be adopted by society-at-large. This will, again they hope, affect our leaders to act in a responsible way, giving emphasis to the long-term consequences of our short-term actions. To maintain its values the festival takes place in the enchanting Ein Hod artists' village, located in a Biosphere nature reserve on the slopes of Mount Carmel which, according to UNESCO, embodies the balance between man and nature. The festival itself aims to be as environmentally friendly as possible.
Centered around the modern international art exhibit Al Hamakom (About the Place), which deals with the relationship between man and environment, the festival features exhibits of different types: sculpture, video art and installations. Artists from around the world include such names as Yoko "John and I stayed in bed to promote peace" Ono with "The Wishing Tree," France's Jean Luke Wilmott, Benny Efrat with his work Blond Cows, Avraham Eilat, and the Tav Group. (read more...)
Passover 2009 in Ein Hod
April 9-15
Galleries and artists studios are open around the village.
Entrance to the village of Ein Hod Artists - Free
There is a fee for entrance to Museums
Museum Janco Dada. Permanent exhibition of Marcel Janco and Contemporary art. Number 2 on the map
Nisco Museum of Musical Instruments. An experience for the whole family. 052-4755313 Number 12 on the map
Japanese Experience - dates - 10- 14 at 11:30 by appointment 04-9843048, 050-7548009 Number 58 on the map
Glass Blowing – explanation and demo - for the whole family. By appointment - 04-9841105 Number 26 on the map
At Gertrude Kraus House – Ecological Films, free Number 4 on the map
House of Culture - display works of pottery by Tal Shahar Number 5 on the map
A spot for alternative treatments for visitors - Art & Wear Gallery Number 13 on the map
Booths throughout the village of artists and designers
"For God's Sake" an exhibition by Nadav Bloch & Nechama Levendel at Bloch-Levendel Gallery 054-4546530 Number 37 on the map
Art Bar: ÄnaLia ceramic masks painting workshop. Number 15 on the map
Workshops for children and adults
Mabdada Museum Janco Dada. 04-9541656 Number 2 on the map
Painting on Ceramics - Magal. 04-9842313 Number 25 on the map
Pottery - Verchovsky, and a second hand bookstore - 04-9841107 Number 33 on the map
Mosaic - Alon Yarkoni - 054-5614428
Intuitive Painting and food - Iris Smra - 050-6580534 Number 43 on the map
Photography Workshop - Vivian Roy. A selection of options, by appointment - 04-9541673 Number 29 on the map
Weaving and dolls workshop Number 15 on the map
Restaurant Donia Rosa - Argentine kitchen - 04-9543777 Number 3 on the map
Abu Yaacov Restaurant - 04-9843377 Number 7 on the map
Ein Hod Coffee - Kosher food for Passover - 077-3241052 Number 6 on the map
Art Bar - Beer and Music - concerts every day from April 9th to April 16th from 12:30 to 14:00 and from April 12th to April 15th, also from 15:00 to 16:30. - 052-8362498 Number 15 on the map
Ein Hod Artists' Web Site-
www.ein-hod.info
Village Map Pesach 2009 --
http://www.ein-hod.info/article/pesach/2009/map.htm
and there is another post-HERE

הכנות לפסטיבל אקוספרה- עין הוד אפריל 2009

צילום: ניב זוהר הורוביץ
עריכה: אסנת עילם
כבוצת תו
ראובן כהן-אלורו, יואב טריפון ומעוז אלון
כיום עובדים עמם דליה קרמר, אמיר ארז, אבי אור ומיטל איינשטיין
קבוצת תו, הכוללת אדריכלים, מעצבים ואמנים, פועלת למעלה מעשרים שנה. הקבוצה פועלת מתוך עקרונות של מחויבות אקולוגית וקיימות - הן מבחינת אופיו של שיתוף הפעולה בין חבריה והן מבחינת השימוש בחומרים מתכלים מן הטבע. הציגו בארץ ובעולם באירועים הקשורים לאמנות סביבתית.
אפרת הילדסהיים
חיה ועובדת בתל אביב
אמנית מיצב, העוסקת בעבודות סביבתיות המשתלבות בנוף
שרון גלזברג
נולדה 1976, ישראל; חיה ועובדת בתל אביב
אמנית העוסקת בתחומי הווידיאו והפיסול. הציגה בין השאר בביאנאלה לאמנות וידיאו "וידיאוזון", במוזיאון היהודי בניו יורק ובביאנלה בהוואנה, קובה.
שרון גלזברג
נולדה 1976, ישראל; חיה ועובדת בתל אביב
אמנית העוסקת בתחומי הווידיאו והפיסול. הציגה בין השאר בביאנאלה לאמנות וידיאו "וידיאוזון", במוזיאון היהודי בניו יורק ובביאנלה בהוואנה, קובה.
נטי שמיע עופר
נולדה 1965, תל אביב; חיה ועובדת בקיבוץ קבוצת שילר
אמנית מיצב, היוצרת עבודות אשר משתלבות במערכים ארכיטקטוניים ומכסות אותם. עוסקת בעבודותיה בנסיון לאתר הזדמנויות ליצירת מרחבים אישיים בתוך המרחבים הציבוריים. מציגה במוזיאונים רבים ברחבי הארץ.
עתר גבע
נולד 1975, קיבוץ עין שמר; חי ועובד בתל אביב
אמן העוסק בתחומי המיצב והפיסול. הציג בין השאר בגלריה גורדון בתל אביב ובמוזיאון תל אביב.
(אקוספרה עין הוד 2009)

The “Ecosphere Festival” will be held on the slopes of Mount Carmel near Ein Hod from Sunday to Tuesday of Pesach
“Ecosphere” is the first Green festival in Israel for art and the environment that will be held in open, natural surroundings amongst ancient olive groves at the foot of the artist's village of Ein Hod, in the magnificent surroundings of sea and mountains.
“Ecosphere” offers a variety of contents and activities for families and children in the Eco Park, including activities about existence, environmental preservation, the importance of forest and trees, animals, waste, global warming, organic garbage and compost, herbs and medicinal plants. There will be creativity workshops, children’s plays, short films about green topics; meetings with environmentalists; guided nature walks, and other activities in open areas and the Carmel Beach area.
The festival is centered on an exhibit of modern international art entitled “Al Hamakom” (About the Place) the first in Israel to deal with relationship between Man, Nature and the natural and human environment. Among the artists exhibiting works are the famous Yoko Ono from the US with "The Wishing Tree," Jean Luke Wilmott from France, Avraham Eilat, and the Tav Group.
(read more...)

Some hikers even abandon footwear

Naked alpine ramblers have been warned to keep their clothes on this spring or face fines under new legislation introduced by Swiss authorities intended to clamp down on a growing pastime.
The Swiss canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden has said it will slap fines of 200 francs (£122) on holidaymakers going naked in the Alps.
"We were forced to introduce the legislation against this indecent practice before the warm weather starts," said Melchior Looser, the justice and police minister of the canton.
He said that until now the naturist walkers – sometimes referred to as "boot-only hikers" – had been free to wander naked because there was no law to prevent them from doing so. The new law is expected to come into force on 9 February in time for the start of the hiking season.
According to one naked hiker website, nacktwandern.de, the trend goes back to the start of the 20th century and has much to do with the new access it gives people to nature.
"Abandoning unpractical clothes enables a direct contact with the wind, sun and temperature", the site said. Some hikers even abandon footwear.
(read more...)

Eco Gambling in Ein Hod

Mifal Hapayis (the Israel National Lottery) is opening new windows of opportunity for environmentally aware artists and designers. This year, the Arts and Culture Council turned to the public for suggestions on areas worthy of support and the people spoke up! Letting in a breath of fresh air in more ways than one, the new categories reflect a growing interest in ecology and awareness of the environment.
Seeking to encourage environmental awareness in all aspects of design, performance and art, Mifal Hapayis will give special attention to ecologically oriented projects.
In the performing arts, street theater and other performance events taking place outside conventional frameworks have been added to the list.
In the visual arts, the committee will place an emphasis on:
Architecture and the Urban Environment
Art and Ecology
One project already in the works is “Ecosphera” – which aims to be the largest green event held in Israel. Scheduled to take place in the Artist’s Village of Ein Hod and its environs in mid-April, the festival will be dedicated to the theme of “sustainability.”
In addition to workshops, theatrical events, and an organic farmer’s market, the highlight of the festival will be an international exhibit of green art curated by Dana Tagger.
The Board of Directors has allocated 12 million NIS to fund projects in a variety of areas. Artists, designers, cultural institutions and dreamers who would like to submit proposals may do so in the months of February and May.
(read more...)

Bizarre Sex of Moroteuthis Ingens

‘Reproduction is no fun if you’re a squid. With one species, the Taningia danae, I discovered that the males give the females cuts of at least 5 centimetres deep in their necks with their beaks or hooks – they don’t have suction pads. They then insert their packets of sperm, also called spermatophores, into the cuts.’
With a different species, the Moroteuthis ingens, the spermatophores are introduced in a more peaceful way. ‘With this species the spermatophores penetrate the skin independently. They probably do that with the help of an enzyme-like substance that dissolves tissue.’ Hoving is the first to be able to prove that these sperm packets are able to penetrate the skin under their own steam. He discovered this when he experimentally placed spermatophores on the skin of just-caught individuals. His results are supported by an incident in Japan, where someone had to have an operation after eating squid to remove a spermatophore that lodged in his throat.
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Ten Years After the Fire השריפה בעין הוד

It is autumn in Ein Hod. It is a New England kind of autumn, crisp and rustic and crackling with color.
It would be majestically beautiful, if it were New England, and autumn. But the browns and rusts and yellows and reds of the foliage are not a canvas of summer's gentle denouement; these are the wounds of summer savagery.
This most enchanting of Israeli villages will never recover in our lifetime, following the fire that seared through it three months ago. If you have been to Ein Hod, you may not be able to bear going back; if you have never been here, it's too late.
In some areas, Ein Hod has been stripped naked.

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