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RTH10260 · #4526

Lost and found: how a photographer sniffed out the magnolia species not seen for a century
Eladio Fernandez was rewarded after an arduous hike up a Haitian mountain, following in the footsteps of the Swedish botanist who last saw the fragrant flower in 1925

Graeme Green
Thu 15 Dec 2022 16.00 GMT

“Imagine the privilege of smelling a wonderful perfume that no one else alive on Earth has smelled before,” says the conservation photographer Eladio Fernandez. This year, Fernandez had that pleasure. After a challenging search in the cloud forests of northern Haiti, he located several Magnolia emarginata, a critically endangered tree with white flowers that hadn’t been seen (or smelled) for almost a century.

“Magnolia have two attractive characteristics: their beautiful white flowers and their unique fragrance,” he says.

Fernandez had been working with the conservation group Fundación Progressio on three species of magnolia in the Dominican Republic: Magnolia pallescens, Magnolia domingensis and Magnolia hamorii. Scientists from the Haiti National Trust had also “rediscovered” a population of Magnolia ekmanii in 2011 in Grand Bois national park, south-west Haiti, after not being seen for more than 25 years.

One last species remained to be found: Magnolia emarginata, which the Swedish botanist Erik Leonard Ekman collected in 1925 in Haiti’s northern mountains, the last time it was seen in the wild.

Fernandez researched specimens online from European herbariums, which gave clues to Ekman’s original locations. “He listed the name of a mountain where he collected Magnolia emarginata on 20 June 1925: Morne Colombeau,” he says.

In June 2022, Fernandez set out with David Stephenson from Haiti National Trust and Andres Miolan, a cameraman. “In Anse-à-Foleur, we hired two local guides. We hiked for two days.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... entury-aot

#4527

According to my Administration Control Panel, we have been averaging a bit more than 238 posts per day since Fogbow Reborn came online.

But if you go to the Board Index page and click on the little plus sign next to the 24 hour statistics, it shows 406 posts in the past 24 hours.

No doubt it's because of the full Moon. Or maybe the vaxtermination is finally setting up, and people are going out with a bang lot of posts. Or it could be all the awesome new dogs and cats around this joint.

Whatever, just something I noticed.

#4528

Or it could be Elon Musk's antics last night.

RTH10260 · #4529

or... or... or... simply Trading Card scams

#4530

So who is winning Unhinged Baby of the Day today, Musk, Trump, or some new contestant?

RTH10260 · #4531

https://www.nwf.org/Latest-News/Press-R ... ulogy-P-22

A Eulogy for P-22, A Mountain Lion Who Changed the World

Beth Pratt
Dec 17, 2022

‘It’s My Hope that Future Mountain Lions Will Be Able to Walk in the Steps of P-22 Without Risking Their Lives on California’s Highways, Streets’

“I write this eulogy while looking across one of the ten-lane freeways P-22 somehow miraculously crossed in 2012, gazing at a view of his new home, Griffith Park. Burbank Peak and the other hills that mark the terminus of the Santa Monica Mountains emerge from this urban island like sentinels making a last stand against the second largest city in the country. The traffic noise never ceases. Helicopters fly overhead. The lights of the city give the sky no peace.

“Yet a mountain lion lived here, right here in Los Angeles.

“I can’t finish this sentence without crying because of the past tense. It’s hard to imagine I will be writing about P-22 in the past tense now.

"Biologists and veterinarians with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced today they have made the difficult decision to end P-22’s suffering and help him transition peacefully to the next place. I hope his future is filled with endless forests without a car or road in sight and where deer are plentiful, and I hope he finally finds the mate that his island existence denied him his entire life.

“I am so grateful I was given the opportunity to say goodbye to P-22. Although I have advocated for his protection for a decade, we had never met before. I sat near him, looking into his eyes for a few minutes, and told him he was a good boy. I told him how much I loved him. How much the world loved him. And I told him I was so sorry that we did not make the world a safer place for him. I apologized that despite all I and others who cared for him did, we failed him.

“I don’t have any illusion that my presence or words comforted him. And I left with a great sadness I will carry for the rest of my days.

“Before I said goodbye, I sat in a conference room with team members from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the team of doctors at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. The showed me a video of P-22’s CT scan, images of the results, and my despair grew as they outlined the list of serious health issues they had uncovered from all their testing: stage two kidney failure, a weight of 90 pounds (he normally weighs about 125), head and eye trauma, a hernia causing abdominal organs to fill his chest cavity, an extensive case of demodex gatoi (a parasitic skin infection likely transmitted from domestic cats), heart disease, and more. The most severe injuries resulted from him being hit by a car last week, and I thought of how terrible it was that this cat, who had managed to evade cars for a decade, in his weakened and desperate condition could not avoid the vehicle strike that sealed his fate.

“As the agency folks and veterinarians relayed these sobering facts to me, tissue boxes were passed around the table and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. This team cares just as much for this cat as we all do. They did everything they could for P-22 and deserve our gratitude.

“Although I wished so desperately he could be returned to the wild, or live out his days in a sanctuary, the decision to euthanize our beloved P-22 is the right one. With these health issues, there could be no peaceful retirement, only some managed care existence where we prolonged his suffering — not for his benefit, but for ours.

“Those of us who have pets know how it feels when we receive news from the veterinarian that we don’t want to hear. As a lifelong dog and cat owner, I have been in this dreadful position too many times. The decision to let them go is never easy, but we as humans have the ability, the responsibility, and the selflessness to show mercy to end the suffering for these beloved family members, a compassionate choice we scarcely have for ourselves.

“I look at Griffith Park through the window again and feel the loss so deeply. Whenever I hiked to the Hollywood sign, or strolled down a street in Beachwood Canyon to pick up a sandwich at The Oaks, or walked to my car after a concert at the Greek Theater, the wondrous knowledge that I could encounter P-22 always propelled me into a joyous kind of awe. And I am not alone — his legion of stans hoped for a sight of Hollywood’s most beloved celebrity, the Brad Pitt of the cougar world, on their walks or on their Ring cams, and when he made an appearance, the videos usually went viral. In perhaps the most Hollywood of P-22’s moments, human celebrity Alan Ruck, star of Succession, once reported seeing P-22 from his deck, and shouting at him like a devoted fan would.

“We will all be grappling with the loss of P-22 for some time, trying to make sense of a Los Angeles without this magnificent wild creature. I loved P-22 and hold a deep respect for his intrepid spirit, charm, and just plain chutzpah. We may never see another mountain lion stroll down Sunset Boulevard or surprise customers outside the Los Feliz Trader Joe’s. But perhaps that doesn’t matter — what matters is P-22 showed us it’s possible.

“He changed us. He changed the way we look at LA. And his influencer status extended around the world, as he inspired millions of people to see wildlife as their neighbors. He made us more human, made us connect more to that wild place in ourselves. We are part of nature and he reminded us of that. Even in the city that gave us Carmeggedon, where we thought wildness had been banished a long time ago, P-22 reminded us it’s still here.

“His legacy to us, and to his kind will never fade. He ensured a future for the entire population of mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains by inspiring us to build the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, which broke ground this spring.

“P-22 never fully got to be a mountain lion. His whole life, he suffered the consequences of trying to survive in unconnected space, right to the end when being hit by a car led to his tragic end. He showed people around the world that we need to ensure our roads, highways, and communities are better and safer when people and wildlife can freely travel to find food, shelter, and families. The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing would not have been possible without P-22, but the most fitting memorial to P-22 will be how we carry his story forward in the work ahead. One crossing is not enough — we must build more, and we must continue to invest in proactive efforts to protect and conserve wildlife and the habitats they depend on — even in urban areas.

“P-22’s journey to and life in Griffith Park was a miracle. It’s my hope that future mountain lions will be able to walk in the steps of P-22 without risking their lives on California’s highways and streets. We owe it to P-22 to build more crossings and connect the habitats where we live now.

“Thank you for the gift of knowing you, P-22. I’ll miss you forever. But I will never stop working to honor your legacy, and although we failed you, we can at least partly atone by making the world safer for your kind.”

#4532

Our member Volkonski (how does he do that) wins the prize, as far as I know, for embedding a Mastodon in a post on Fogbow. In the Russia Invades Ukraine thread, if you missed it. He's the one who brought us the very first news of the COVID-19 coronavirus, on January 9, 2020, which gave us two whole months to prepare for the pandemic that non-Fogbow people, for the most part, did not get.

So we can post Mastodons. And I'm sure eventually Post, and whatever else comes along to replace Twitter.

Get your 21st century on, because this rocket is taking off!

RTH10260 · #4533

2024 - the fight between Mastadons and Elephants

Who is your favourite president?

ETA & PS. blame it on Obama

RTH10260 · #4534

Part of haul from 2019 German museum jewelry heist recovered

Sat, December 17, 2022 at 2:58 PM GMT+1

BERLIN (AP) — German authorities said Saturday that they have recovered a significant part of the 18th-century treasures stolen from Dresden's Green Vault museum in a spectacular break-in more than three years ago.

Prosecutors and police said in a statement that they secured 31 items in Berlin overnight, including “several pieces that appear to be complete.” They were taken to Dresden, more than 160 kilometers (100 miles) away, where police and then officials from the authority that oversees the city's art collections plan to check their authenticity and examine whether they are intact.

Some prominent items are still missing, authorities said.

Saturday's statement gave no details of where exactly the items were found and in what circumstances.

But they said that the find was preceded by exploratory talks between prosecutors and the defense in an ongoing trial over the theft on a possible agreement that would include the return of stolen items. They added that they can give no further information ahead of the next trial session scheduled for Tuesday.

Six men went on trial in Dresden in January, accused of gang robbery and arson over the Nov. 25, 2019, robbery. The German nationals were accused of stealing jewelry with a total insured value of at least 113.8 million euros ($121 million).

Officials said at the time that the items taken included a large diamond brooch and a diamond epaulette. The treasury of Augustus the Strong of Saxony was established in 1723 and contains around 4,000 objects of gold, precious stones and other materials on display in Dresden’s Royal Palace.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/part-haul-20 ... 09702.html

RTH10260 · #4535

Historic ship resurfaces on Utah's shrinking Great Salt Lake
The W.E. Marsh No. 4 first set sail on the lake in 1902.

ByMeredith Deliso
December 16, 2022, 10:35 PM

ABC News’ Kayna Whitworth reports on Utah’s Great Salt Lake drying up and slowly shrinking, causing concer...Read More
The shrinking of Utah's Great Salt Lake is revealing history that's been hidden below the surface for decades.

The wreckage of a ship that first set sail on the Great Salt Lake 120 years ago can now be observed as the water body, known to be the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere, reaches historic lows.

MORE: Great Salt Lake dry-up causing dangerous climate ripple effect, ecologists say
The Great Salt Lake is believed to have dozens of shipwrecks dating back at last 150 years, some of which have resurfaced after storms or during low water levels.

"There's a rich history out here," Great Salt Lake State Park Manager Dave Shearer told ABC Salt Lake City affiliate KTVX. "There's a lot of wrecks out here on the Great Salt Lake that have started to surface and it's really interesting to go out there and see them."

Wreckage believed to be of the W.E. Marsh No. 4 was discovered by happenstance near the lake's marina in 2014 using side-scan sonar, while a state park crew was searching for a keel that had fallen off a sailboat, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/historic-ship ... d=95424624

#4536

I wouldn't have thought there was that much boating activity there.

RTH10260 · #4537

AndyinPA wrote: ↑Sun Dec 18, 2022 7:05 pm I wouldn't have thought there was that much boating activity there.

Back in the days of horse and cow waggon trails it may have been a faster option than rounding the lake.

Danraft · #4538

Ok.. I love the group and all of its diverse peeps and topics they care about.
That said, there are so many active topics and the only way to clear out a topic is to click on it (unread posts) and zoom down to the last post, and exit.

Is there any way to just not follow a topic? (I think there isn’t)
IIRC, there is a way to choose a category of topics. I’m not sure if that is the best match.

But, when the board is active, it’s hard to move down the list to “preferred topics” as self-defined as that would be in each case.

Any ideas?

Nor can I now find the “mark all as read” option. That was never the best option.

#4539

I hit 'unread posts', read the topics which interest me, then hit ' mark all topics read'.

But that doesn't help you if your 'mark all topics read' button is missing.

#4540

On the Board Index page, there's a box with a checkmark in it just below the "Birthdays" section and just above the "Welcome to Fogbow Reborn" section all the way over on the right side. There is no text to tell you what the check box means or is for. If you click it, it will ark all the threads as read and give you a pop-up saying so.

ETA: I'd. Ove to be able to se.ectively turn off certain topics as well, ut I'm ot sure that's possible with phpBB.

Volkonski · #4541

In 1970 I was a freshman at MIT. In January between semesters I had taken a bus up to New Hampshire to go skiing. I twisted my ankle. I managed to get back to Boston on the bus and then back to MIT via taxi.

The next day I was in bad shape. I and my tuba were about to go on the winter tour with the MIT Concert Band. I needed medical help. It was, I think, a Sunday. It being a Sunday between semesters the campus was rather deserted.

Alone I was hobbling as best I could from the dorm to the MIT Clinic. I heard someone behind me say "Just wait there." A few moments later a man pushing a lab cart shows up. It was Doc Edgerton!

He got me onto the cart and pushed me to the clinic.

At the clinic while they started to attend to me, he handed out postcards with this very photo to everyone present. I still have the one he gave me packed away with my other college memorabilia.

'How to make applesauce': A photograph that made time stand still

https://www.cnn.com/style/article/harol ... index.html

Exploding with energy but perfectly still, Harold "Doc" Edgerton's 1964 image of a .30-caliber bullet ripping through an apple showed an otherwise unseeable moment in captivating detail. The scene took on a serene, sculptural beauty as the disintegrating apple's skin burst open against a deep blue backdrop.

The picture is widely viewed as a work of art. More importantly to its creator, however, it was also a feat of electrical engineering. The longtime Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor used it to illustrate a lecture, famously titled "How to make applesauce," in which he explained the pioneering flash technology that helped him take the shot.

Edgerton, who died in 1990 aged 86, is considered the father of high-speed photography. Camera shutter speeds were too slow to capture a bullet flying at 2,800 feet per second, but his stroboscopic flashes — a precursor to modern-day strobe lights — created bursts of light so short that a well-timed photograph, taken in an otherwise dark room, made it appear as if time had stood still. The results were mesmerizing and, often, messy.

"We used to joke that that it took a third of a microsecond (one-millionth of a second) to take the picture — and all morning to clean up," recalled his former student and teaching assistant, J. Kim Vandiver, on a video call from Massachusetts.

#4542

What a great story!!!!!!!!!!!

#4543

#4544

Ok, I love this! Saw it and had to share

It's NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day, and there's more info on it at https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap221220.html

#4545

#4546

Kriselda Gray wrote: ↑Wed Dec 21, 2022 2:30 am Ok, I love this! Saw it and had to share

It's NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day, and there's more info on it at https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap221220.html

Spectacular! I saved the link to show the grand-brats when they get here

#4547

Mr. Pootymouth has rejoined us. Has he been stirring things up lately?

#4548

Cool helmet.

#4549

Oh man. Three days to go.

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#4550

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