Elephant Seals – Worse Than Your Akita’s Shedding

As aforementioned, I’ve currently become deeply invested in podcasts. One such podcast is “Science Friday” hosted by Ira Flatow on Public Radio International. On a recent jam-packed episode, an exciting topic came up – Elephant Seals [1]! These (not-so) little guys have been causing lots of problems for the last couple of decades; and we’re only finding out now!

First, a little bit about Elephant Seals. There are two breeds of Elephant Seals – Northern and Southern [2]. In this study, we focused on the Northern breed or Mirounga angustirostris. The Southern species is not only significantly larger, but also lives longer than its Northern counterpart. The Northern species lives only along the Pacific coast of Northern America. In terms of IUCN status, the Mirounga angustirostris is a success story! Once thought to be extinct due to over-hunting, this guy has made a comeback and is back up at around 120,000+ [3].

In case anyone was wondering why they're called

In case anyone was wondering why they’re called “Elephant” Seals… (Mirounga angustirostris)

Mirounga leonine (Southern Elephant Seal)

Mirounga leonine (Southern Elephant Seal)

Elephant Seal shedding

Elephant Seal shedding

Elephant Seal puppy

Elephant Seal puppy

For several decades, scientists have been noticing severe mercury spikes in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California. The case was unknown for years until an exciting development came along in science – using DNA mapping technology to map the DNA of the ocean! What was the result? This mercury was coming from the coast? Lo and behold, we find shedding Elephant Seals on the shoreline!

During a recent study (which can be found here [4]) at UC Santa Cruz, it was discovered that during the molting season, levels of methyl-mercury – one of the most toxic forms of mercury – was 17 times higher than normal (as if it wasn’t dangerous enough in the body already). And it’s in fact precisely because of the mercury’s poisonous levels that Elephant Seals try to shed their hair. The Seals will cumulate the mercury in the hair on their bodies, and then shed the hair to rid the body of the toxin [5], in a process called Catastrophic Molting [6]!

One might ask how we know that the mercury is coming from the Elephant Seals fur and not from their feces or other fauna altogether. The answer lies in newborn Seals. Because mercury is so easily absorbed into the system of living creatures, it stands to reason that pregnant mothers would “infect” their unborn children as well. In fact, pups born to contaminated mothers showed high levels of methyl-mercury in their “natal coal” or the hair that they are born with [7]. So, we can extrapolate that the seals coat is to blame for increased ocean methyl-mercury levels.

Now you might not think that this is a problem, but the mercury in the hair gets washed up back into the oceans, digested by microbes in the water, and moves its way back up the food chain, until it may have serious consequences for humans, Elephant Seals, and the ecosystem overall. The levels found around Seal molting grounds are higher than those found in highly urbanized, contaminated coastal towns. This problem is further accentuated by the fact that industrial pollutants in the water have already significantly increased mercury levels in the oceans.

What makes the situation worse is that mercury doesn’t degrade either, which means that overtime, it’s going to concentrate itself more heavily at the top of the food chain, with unknown consequences. This process is known as biomagnification.

So, do we know anything? Well, yes. We know the harmful effects that methyl-mercury has on the human body. According to the EPA, methyl-mercury has significant effects on humans, including but not limited to: neurological development in infants, “impairment of the peripheral vision; disturbances in sensations (“pins and needles” feelings, usually in the hands, feet, and around the mouth); lack of coordination of movements; impairment of speech, hearing, walking; and muscle weakness” [8] and even potentially death. One such extreme case of mercury poisoning was in Japan, from 1932 to 1968 [9]. A factory that produced acetic acid discharged its waste into Minamata Bay, where nearby residents consumed contaminated shellfish for years. What was eventually known as Minamata disease caused “brain damage, paralysis, incoherent speech and delirium” in over 50,000 local residents.

So, how do we stop all of this? Scientists aren’t quite sure, but one thing is for sure: we need to reduce our pollutant footprint if we want to keep these cute guys around, and other apex predators; especially if we want a chance of surviving a healthy human life, for us and generations to come.

Sources:

  1. http://www.sciencefriday.com/segment/09/11/2015/testing-ocean-dna-americans-pass-a-science-quiz-and-polar-bear-diets.html
  2. http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/elephant-seal/
  3. http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/mammals/pinnipeds/northernelephantseal.htm
  4. http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2015/09/02/1506520112
  5. http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/environment-and-nature/20150917/molting-elephant-seals-recycle-mercury-back-into-seawater
  6. http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/stories/elephant-seals-are-raising-mercury-levels-california-beach
  7. http://www.theverge.com/2015/9/12/9313363/mercury-molting-seals-fur-California
  8. http://www.epa.gov/mercury/effects.htm#meth
  9. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs361/en/

Jhansi ki Rani: The Queen of the Rebellion

Hello everyone! So I realized that in previous years, I almost always start off an article apologizing because I haven’t written an article in so long. This time, however, I’m doing well! So it seem odd to not have to start off with an apology, but let’s plunge ahead! Fun fact about this article: this is the first article associated with a future podcast episode! So, this article will be a short version on what we’re going to presenting in the podcast, also excluding opinions and analysis! We already have the show notes written up, so hopefully that episode will be released soon, along with retroactively releasing podcasts on older episodes! So that’s something fun to look forward to!

So, this article has actually been in the works for a little over a year. The inspiration came when I was sitting with my grandmother watching tv. Like any good Indian nani (maternal grandmother), she was watching Indian dramas, and this particular one happened to be about a female child, rebelling against the very foundations of Indian culture and tradition. I was pleasantly surprised by this drama as nobody randomly fell off a cliff or got amnesia in an entire episode, as usually happens with Indian dramas. Upon further research, I learned this drama was based off the true story of Jhansi ki Rani (Queen of Jhansi) (Here‘s [1] information on the drama, if anyone is interested). And thus began my research into this awesome female historical figure.

Jhansi ki Rani, who will be lovingly referred to as “Rani” for the rest of the article, is a huge historical figure in India. She is known for having largely assisted what is known as the first Indian independence movement, which was almost 100 years before the official Independence movement in the 1940s. Today, poems, songs and legends of her still exist as a testament to the strength of the Indian Will, as well as an inspirational character.

Rani was born 1827 in the city of Benares, under the name Manakarnika, although her childhood nickname was Manu. Her parents worked under the Raja Baji Rao II in Maharashtra, but they were all forced to move to Bithur. During this time, Rani built a very close relationship Nana Sahib, who was the oldest son of the Raja. Unfortunately, Manu’s mother died when she was 4 years old, which left her father to single-handedly raise her for the next 10 years, during which time, he unusually did not remarry. In her childhood, Rani was known to have an incredibly feisty and independent personality, having taught herself martial arts, reading and writing.

At the age of 15, Rani was married to Maharaja Gangadhar Rao of Jhansi. At this point, she took on the name Lakshmibai, deriving her name from the Goddess Lakshmi that the Jhansi royal family was incredibly fond of. Unfortunately for the royal couple, they had great difficulty producing an heir, and when they finally did 9 years into their marriage, the baby died at 3 months of age. The Maharaja, who was already very old, was close to dying so the couple adopted a distant 5 year old cousin – Anand Rao – who became known as Damodar. The Raja died very soon after the adoption, which resulted in the British annexing the state of Jhansi in April on 1857. After the Maharaja’s death, the British refused to allow the Rani to continue to rule. At this point, Rani was only 26.

In early May, a large fire broke out in the city of Meerut. The cause of this was rumors that the British had been tricking the Indian soldiers (who were mainly Hindu and Muslim) into biting into cow and pig fat, which is a huge taboo to respectively both religions. This caused a riot to broke, and eventually, this riot spread through India at roughly the size of present day Scandinavia in matter of days. This set the stage for what is now known as the First War of Indian Independence on 1857. To this day, there is still a considerable amount of argument about whether the Rani was helping the British or not. What we know for sure is that while the British were dealing with the riots taking place all over the country, Rani was managing Jhansi on her own and even putting down minor rebellions.

Completely unrelated, major fighting broke out in Jhansi in early May. Despite Rani trying to help and asking for British troops from afar to come assist, every British person was brutally murdered in Jhansi, after a 3 day siege of the fort. Rani continued to rule but on March 23rd, the British back-up finally came, demanding that Rani give up the throne, which she then refused to do. A war soon started against the British, with Rani personally leading her troops into battle and commanding the front lines. Unfortunately, Rani’s numbers were no match against the trained British forces, that had top-of-the-line artillery and weapons. Rani is said to have jumped over the walls of the Jhansi fort, with her son tied to her back, leading her troops into a retreat towards her allies – her childhood friend Nana Sahib, and a man named Tatia Tope.

As the British rejoiced, Rani and company decided to use this opportunity to take over another town, Gwalior, from the British. By the time the British troops from Jhansi had arrived, Rani and company had completely taken over the town. Eventually, the British pushed out Rani and company from Gwalior. In the retreat, her father was captured and hung several days later. Also during the escape, Rani was attempting to lead her troops to retreat, when she was caught off-guard by a British and cut-down. However, due to the fact that she was wearing man’s clothing, the soldier didn’t recognize her and left her for dead. Her followers soon came to her aid, and as she was dying, asked that she be cremated immediately after her death, as she feared the British would try to gain possession of her body. She died on June 18, 1858, and the British officially took Gwalior 3 days later. Rani’s comrades survived however, and Rao Sahib and Tatia Tope continued to lead guerilla attacks until they too were captured and executed. Nana Sahib, on the other hand, somehow managed to escape and disappeared, becoming his own legend.

Jhansi Ki Rani Portrait

Jhansi Ki Rani Portrait

Jhansi Ki Rani

                                   Jhansi Ki Rani

Jhansi Ki Rani in battle with her son on her back

Jhansi Ki Rani in battle with her son on her back

Sources:

  1. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1685078/
  2. https://books.google.com/books?id=N-KpcaLP8VgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=jhansi&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAWoVChMIgviMvPHtxwIVw3E-Ch03gA3z#v=onepage&q=jhansi&f=true
  3. http://www.liveindia.com/freedomfighters/jhansi_ki_rani_laxmi_bai.html
  4. http://www.historynet.com/lakshmi-bai-rani-of-jhansi.htm

Terrorism Revisted

Hello all. Look at what a good job I’m doing already! Two posts in two days!

Anyways, with it being September 11th today, I thought it would be an excellent time to revisit the progress our nation should have made in the last 14 years. Despite over a decade having passed, ignorance and intolerance are at an all time high and it seems not all that much progress has been made.

A little bit of backstory, a couple of days ago, a Sikh man was attacked and brutally beaten in Chicago. You can find the article here [1].

Now there’s a lot of things I want to say about this topic, because I feel incredibly passionate about it. I’ve mentioned it before, but I am a member of the Sikh community, and since the September 11th attacks, our community has faced a number of assaults, bigotry and hate-crimes. Our temples or Gurdwaras have been vandalized, our people beaten, and discrimination has been abundant. Personally, I feel a large part of this is ignorance on the part of the American community. Many Americans felt angry after the attacks and wished to target Muslims and take out their anger on them. Though this act in itself is the exact opposite reaction the bigotted American community should have had, the end result was that most of the anger got taken out on Sikhs. Why? Because we wear turbans or paags, and many Americans seem to think this is somehow a Muslim trait (for the record, Muslims don’t wear turbans as a religious ornament, despite common misconception). I’ll save for another post why the Sikh community has these traditions and their purpose, but for now, what I want to say is that the discrimination ANY person faces because of their perceived faith or religion is absolutely unacceptable.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I’ve been listening to a lot of podcasts lately. And one of these podcasts has been “Waking Up” by Sam Harris. I would absolutely recommend this podcast and you can find it here [2]. Sam has a lot of strong opinions on meditation, politics, philosophy, but mainly, Islam. Now as much as I love him, I disagree with a lot of his attitudes about the Muslim community. And Sam (an incredibly educated man) is perpetuating this hatred towards Islam and Asian cultures. Now, in Sam’s defense, he actually has a very well-educated and thought out opinion on the matter, but the problem is that it takes an open-minded and intelligent person to really understand his combination of politics and philosophy, which leads to a lot of people saying “Sam Harris is great! He hates Muslims! Let’s kill them all!” which is not the point he is making at all. And when we really take the time to look at tolerance towards minorities, discrimination against Asian communities has gotten so much worse in the last 14 years. Granted a part of this may be due to the worsening conditions of the nation as a whole, but when you have what must be described as hate crimes and domestic terrorism taking place on a regular basis, to the point that President Obama has had to address more national tragedies than any other president, we really need to take a hard look at ourselves.

The United States is inspiring a culture of close-minded, racist bigots, despite mountainous efforts against these groups. In no other country would it be acceptable for a potential presidential candidate to say something akin to “send all the ______ back to where they came from,” with the most recent injuries coming from Presidential candidates Donald Trump in regards to Mexicans and Jeb Bush with Asians. If any other Presidential hopeful in another nation stated that, the US would immediately jump on the “That’s racist. Are we going down a genocide path?” and ardently be against said candidate the entire time. However, it’s fine in the US because “we’re the best nation on Earth”? These double standards are exactly what’s creating an increasingly unsafe environment, with more and more US citizens looking away from domestic terrorism because “terrorism isn’t an internal issue”.

I started off this article wanting to talk about Sikh rights and the issues we face as a community, but really, this issue extends to all non-male, non-white individuals. I’m not going to go through the countless examples of hate taking place in our nation. If you haven’t noticed, that’s a completely different issue. However, I would recommend you simply Google any minority group and articles will pop up with numerous accounts of beatings and discrimination. It’s 2015, and we JUST had the first Sikh policeman be allowed to display his faith openly in the US [3]; we JUST legalized gay marriages [4], though by NO means does that means we’ve legalized LGBT rights; we JUST had the first FEMALE coach in the NFL [5]. We’ve still never had a female president. Honestly, if we’re so proud of ourselves as a nation, shouldn’t we be “beating” countries like India and Pakistan and even Liberia in terms of social equality? We, as an AMERICAN community, need to come together as a nation, and make it unacceptable for hate-crimes and domestic terrorism to take place against ANY group of people. Otherwise, we really are living in a terrorist state.

Sources:

  1. http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/burr-ridge/crime/ct-police-investigate-after-sikh-man-called-terrorist-beaten-in-darien-20150910-story.html
  2. samharris.org/podcast
  3. http://saldef.org/news/riverside-police-department-uniform-policy/#.VfPWMv2FPYo
  4. http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/26/politics/supreme-court-same-sex-marriage-ruling/
  5. http://onlyagame.wbur.org/2015/08/22/jen-welter-arizona-cardinals-nfl

Updates!

Hello all! It’s been a while! As usual, I’ve been seriously neglecting my audience. As such, I wanted to update everyone on what’s new, as well as future changes (potentially) coming!

First and foremost, looking back at my previous work, I’m utterly ashamed of the quality (as any writer can attest to having felt at some point). However, this self-criticism has brought some interesting points to my attention. The first is probably the most important – the lack of listed sources. As such, moving forward, if it is not an opinion piece, there will be a list of sources at the bottom of the article. In these sources, I will try my absolute best to not only NOT use any Wikipedia articles, but also to include at least 1 book source. Fun fact however – your favorite blogger is actually a boss researcher so this shouldn’t actually increase time between articles (the average being 4 years). So you all will have some fun new places to go to for additional information!

The second point, is that we’re going to be changing up the format of the site up a little bit. First off, we have a new email! If you have any requests for a topic that you either want my opinion on or that you would like me to research, because you don’t want to, you’ll be able to do that by sending me a message on WordPress! WordPress has changed some of their own formatting so I’ve also added a contact section on the left side, where you can find our new email, plus some other fun things! This brings me to point three. If we start getting enough requests and audience participation, I will be setting up a Facebook page (and I might even consider jumping on the Twitter train) for the site, to keep you readers engaged and with constant streams of new information!

Additionally, we’re also adding three new sections – Medicine, Science and an advice column! That’s right! As a bio major, I’m not sure why I’ve never officially set these up, but you can see scientific leanings in a lot of the already published articles. So these future articles are not only going to focus on new information coming up in the science and medicine fields, but also focus on mental and personal health! And yes, a lot of this will be controversial. That’s basically my whole life, so you’ll just have to deal with it. As for the advice column, I’m an expert advice giver, and I figured why not capitalize on these talents! So if anyone needs any advice, I’ll be offering it free of charge! A big part of this will be anonymity. It is my personal guarantee to those writing in that your name will never be mentioned. So moving on, what will be happening once people start writing in is that I’ll be posting the question, along with my advice and my background and reasoning for my answer (this will definitely carry over to the update I make in the next paragraph and will make responding much easier!) Until then, what I’ll be doing is the same as usual, and just giving my opinion when it’s unasked for~ But actually, I’ll be posing some general life issues people face and give very general advice on that.

And finally, and perhaps most exciting is the last bit of news – I’m (hopefully) starting a podcast! Sharing the title with the site, this podcast is just going to be a verbalization of what I already write about, but with more in-depth information. We’re already in the process of recording. Here’s the (bad?) news – I’m not going to start releasing episodes until I have at least 5 recorded. The reason for this is simply that my follow through with this site has always been a problem, and I’m going to make sure I’m dedicated to all of these new changes, before I have an undertaking like that.

Now a lot of you may be asking where all of this is coming from. Well frankly, I’ve been through some major life changes in the last year. I’ve really come full circle, and I’m making a dedication to going back to the things that I love. A big thing I’ve started doing lately is listening to podcasts. This activity has really brought about a lot of peace of mind for me, and in an increasingly hectic world, people don’t really have time to read (myself being no exception). So that’s where the podcast idea is coming from. For all of those individuals that love learning as much as I do, but spend 90% of their time driving or working with barely a moment to scratch their head, this will be the alternative. Eventually what will happen is that every article will be available in audio and visual format, so the audience can take their pick! There will also be show notes available on the site!

So just to recap: new writing style, taking audience requests, potentially new accounts and expanding brand, new sections, and a podcast (probably)!

So that’s about all I have in terms of updates! I know it’s a lot and hopefully I’m not teasing you guys again! We already have several great articles lined up and ready to come out, so I hope you guys are looking forward to that!

Otherwise, I hope you guys enjoy and don’t forget to send me your messages, whether they be for requests, advice, or just general comments!

~Ruchi Kaur Bal

Bigotry – Alive and Well

Hi guys! I know this is my first post in a while but something really pissed me off today, and I’m going to rant about it. If you know me at all, I’ve been told numerous times that my rants are very “interesting”, which is perfect because it matches my name so well (Ruchi means “interesting”). So strap your seat belts cause this is going to be a ride.

I’m all in favor of progression, much like most people. Furthermore, I’m not a big fan of harping on the negative because I feel it’s usually biased and only serves to bring people down. That being said – What the HELL is wrong with this country?? Today was a very progressive day in my book. Although not a happy one (49ers got owned by the Seahawks), a proud AMERICAN-Indian woman won Miss America. As a woman of Indian descent myself, this news put a smile on my face. I went to Facebook to have my joy supported (that was my first mistake), only to find rants from “Americans” about an “Arab” and a “terrorist” winning. Complaining that she wasn’t an American, and that the country is failing because we didn’t let Miss Kansas, an “All American-woman” win instead. Here are just a few examples:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/adambritten/8-people-who-dont-realize-that-miss-america-is-in-alfr

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/a-lot-of-people-are-very-upset-that-an-indian-american-woman?bffb

To those people, I have some words for you. First of all, I’m not sure if you are in fact aware, but Miss America IS in fact just that – American. She was born in the States and represents New York. She wouldn’t BE in the competition if she wasn’t. This logic applies to all you people who think that Obama can’t be president because he isn’t American. He would not be able to legally run in the election in the FIRST place if he wasn’t. If someone’s running, you can guarantee that they’re American, so stop trying to push off your pettiness and anger that YOUR contestant pick didn’t win by using a faulty argument.

Second of all, if you’re going to have the gall to peg someone for not being American, at least get what they ARE correct. Miss Nina Davuluri’s descent is Indian and she is a Hindu. She’s not an “Arab” (the correct term is Arabian for the record, so at least get that right too), she’s not Indonesian, she’s not Muslim and she most CERTAINLY is not a terrorist. Its bigots like the wonderful aforementioned examples here that perpetuate the absolute WRONG ideal that 1. Muslims are terrorists and 2. All brown people are Muslims. I’m not even going to focus on #2 because of how OBVIOUSLY wrong that is (not that #1 isn’t just as dumb, but people don’t seem to catch that so much), but let’s keep in mind that most Muslims are AGAINST terrorism. In fact, every single Muslim I know, love or have even met is blatantly against any terrorism and condemns the actions of terrorist networks. What’s worse is that they are being grouped into a category with people they hate. It’s like saying the KKK and African-Americans are the same because they’re both from the South. That doesn’t even MAKE any sense, so why is it ok to say that terrorists and Muslims are the same? The British consider the IRA terrorists so they must also be Muslim! …oh wait…they’re Catholics and Protestants and Christians. Hm…what about all those Mafias that governments consider terrorists! …dang it, they’re Christians as well…. So if we look at this correctly, aren’t the MAJORITY of terrorists in the world actually Christian? Well hell! I better start discriminating against all the Christians I know because they MUST be terrorists! …I say to a MAJORITY to America! So I guess if Muslims are terrorists and Christians are terrorists….80% of the world is filled with terrorists? Well that’s just wonderful….

I’d also like to point out on a side note that people hating on Muslims doesn’t JUST affect Muslims. Unfortunately, this bigotry has affected the Sikh community heavily as well. Not only have we had several of our Gurudwaras (Sikh temples for those of you who don’t know) been attacked and blown up and disgraced with graffiti and the like, but members of our community are also facing harassment because we’re being mistaken for Muslims. First of all, Muslims don’t wear turbans. Sikhs do. That should actually be your first identifying factor. Secondly, what kind of world do we live in where my people should FEAR being associated with another group, who are supposed to be our brothers and sisters? Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Native Americans – it shouldn’t matter what you are, you should NOT have to fear being persecuted or harassed!

Which brings me to point number 3. A lot of these twitter idiots claimed that Miss Davuluri isn’t American so she shouldn’t be able to win. Are you telling me that because she is a minority, she is no longer an American? I’m not sure if these tweeters are aware, but America is FOUNDED on minorities and immigrants. The ONLY people who can technically claim that they aren’t descended from immigrants is Native Americans, and even they technically descend from tribes that migrated from Northern Russia. Furthermore, America is known as the melting pot of the world. We have the greatest number of ethnicities gathering in one place in the whole world. We should be the most TOLERANT of people, not the least. The fact that it’s even taken this long to crown an Indian should be a sad thing. But it’s a step forward. It’s progress. It’s not a step back to be crowing someone who isn’t a white, Southern belle. It’s not a step back to be unbiased. It’s not unfair to create opportunity to those who aren’t in the “majority”. It’s progress. And anyone who doesn’t see that is clearly delusional.

And this doesn’t apply just to Americans by the way. For all you Europeans or Canadians or Asians who say “look how uncultured and idiotic Americans are” or who are just grouping ANYONE into categories, not all people are created the same. I’m a proud American. I’m proud of my Indian heritage. And if I was uncultured or a terrorist, I wouldn’t be writing this article.

Update! Lonesome George isn’t so lonesome anymore!

Hi everyone! I know its been a long time since i’ve posted anything at all, but theres exciting news! First I’d like to give a tribute to our favorite tortoise, Lonesome George, who passed away last year from old age. With his death in June of 2012, the species was thought to be extinct. BUT THERES SOME GOOD NEWS! Just a few months later, a Yale researcher found 17 hybrid tortoises that may share several parts of George’s DNA. Through a serious conservation efforts and a potential captive breeding program, conservationists hope to bring back the now twice thought extinct amphibian.

Here’s the best part. When researchers found these tortoises (named Pinta tortoises), they would these 17 (in a population of 1,667) with high levels of comparative DNA to George. Although 12 where adults, 5 were just babies, which means that although they are hybrids, their parents could still be alive AND purebreds!! Here’s the catch though. These tortoises where found 30 miles away from the island where they should originate from! So although the original species on the Galapagos Islands are gone, these new found tortoises on Volcano Wolf (cool name, right?) could revive the species for the second time around!

Here’s a National Geographic article that explains further!: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/11/121116-lonesome-george-not-extinct-galapagos-tortoise-science/

Galapagos Islands

Seals – I don’t have an interesting title on this one…

Hi everyone! Its been a while since I’ve written anything, sorry about that. Busy with college and what not. But I’m on break now, and i’d like to take a moment to discuss something no one most likely thought i would discuss – Seals. Specifically, animals that ARE NOT endangered! I know! Crazy stuff!!
At any rate, the specific category of seal i’ll be discussing is the California Sea Lion, or Zalophus californianus. So to clear up the confusion, what’s the difference between a seal and a sea lion? A sea lion is a seal but a seal is not a sea lion. Yup, nice and simple haha.

These little guys are rated as “Least Concern” by the IUCN, and if anything, theres actually an overpopulation problem. They live along the Western coast of North America, most abundantly found in – you guessed it – California! Although they are considered a tourist attraction by some cities, they’re generally considered pests, which breaks my heart considering the new found obsession i have with them. Recently, seal hunting has actually started up again. A huge reason for this, other than their inconvenience to fisherman and what not, is that part of their diet is actually an endangered salmon. And because their population levels are so high, there is a serious threat to these salmon. An interesting fact though: this breed of seal is one of the only few mammals whose milk does not contain lactose! Isn’t that fascinating?! Probably the bio-major in me coming out again. Furthermore, this species of sea lion is what is typically associated with “circus” seals.

So, i really just wanted to rant about my love of seals and there really isn’t a final message here. Obviously, they’re not endangered…but don’t go around shooting them either, ok? 🙂

Female Sea Lion Balancing a Ball

California Sea Lion pup

Sea Lion Swimming

Death of a Lawyer

Firstly, yes, the title is a play off of the play “Death of a Salesman.”

Secondly, it’s been quite some time since i wrote a politically related story. To be honest, i don’t think i would have heard of this story, if my mother hadn’t heard it on NPR today. Basically, this story illustrates the simple corruption, not only in Guatemala, and South America in general, but just how twisted the human mind really is.

To start off here are some links:

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1898360,00.html
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/04/04/110404fa_fact_grann
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2011/03/rodrigo-rosenberg-murder-video.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/guatemala/7860474/Guatemalan-brothers-surrender-over-murder-of-lawyer.html

Ok, now that you’ve either read/watched the links, or decided to completely ignore them, i’ll first tell you guys the background. Guatemala is a notoriously corrupt country. A while back, a man name Musa and his daughter Marjorie were both shot dead at a stop light. A man had come up to their car as though he was going to ask for directions, but instead shot Musa 6 times in the chest. One of the bullets, however, missed and his daughter instead, killing her instantly. Musa’s lawyer, Rosenberg, was also deeply in love with Marjorie. After her death, he went on a quest to find out who it was that murdered him. Fearing for his own death, Rosenberg gave one of his close friends a tape, telling him that if he died, he was to immediately make copies and to distribute them. Only a few days later, Rosenberg was shot in the head in a drive-by shooting while riding his bike. At his funeral, when the tape was played, Rosenberg blamed the President, his wife, and other high level government officials of the country for assassinating him. He claimed that they had threatened him on several occasions for inquiring on the death of Musa. The president denied all allegations and claimed it was a ploy to kick him out of office by the opposing party. Within days, the country was on the verge of collapse (not that it hadn’t been before). An impartial UN official decided to investigate the situation. The results were startling. Rosenberg had been investigating his lover’s death, but unable to find out what had really happened, he decided to use his lover’s death to bring down the current Guatemalan regime! He told his driver to get 2 cellphones, but to make sure not to sign any papers and to pay only in cash. He then gave himself one of the phones, and used it to make the threatening calls to himself, and then gave the second to the hitman he was to hire. He then called his cousins, and told them that he was being blackmailed and needed a hitman. He then hired the hitman to kill himself [Rosenberg], and made a video telling everyone that he was being targeted by the President and other associates. He was then killed by the hitman, and the government was on the verge of toppling after the blame was placed on them. After a bit more investigating, the UN investigator discovered that Musa was actually involved in some very shady dealings, and that the Mafia had in fact killed him.

To me, this whole story is so messed up. Forget the shady dealings, or the lies and deceit. Simply the fact that a man is willing to HIRE someone to murder HIMSELF to blame a COMPLETELY innocent person is a disgusting and….perverted mind indeed. Hopefully, there aren’t too many other people in this world like this. The worst part though? The UN official said that NONE of this would have been discovered if 1. Rosenberg and Musa weren’t from oligarchical families 2. The driver didn’t sign any papers, but he did later sign a tax form, which was the ONLY mistake in the entire plan.

At any rate, i hope you guys enjoyed this twisted story! I’ll try to bring out some more interesting articles in the future! In the mean time, if you guys have any suggestions or genres, LET ME KNOW! THANKS~ 😀

Tortoises and Dolphins and Pandas, oh my!

Ok, so not as many articles as i thought there might be, but here’s another one before i start school tomorrow!!! This one is a THREE-FOR-ONE special! We have an article on the Seychelles Giant Tortoise, the Amazon River Dolphin AND the Red Panda!

First of is the Seychelles Giant Turquoise! This not-so-little critter has been extinct in the wild since 1840. Originally, they were thought to be completely extinct until 12 individuals were accidentally found! Almost every single other species of Giant Tortoise is now extinct except the Aldabra giant tortoise, due to its isolated location. The Seychelles Giant Tortoise is actually unique in its shape compared to other giant tortoises! Today, the oldest living tortoise is a 181-year-old Seychelles Giant Tortoise who lives on Saint Helena named Jonathan!!!

Seychelles Giant Tortoise

Jonathan the Tortoise

Next is the Amazon River Dolphin. This species is the largest species of river dolphins and due to an unfused vertebrae are amazingly able to turn their necks 180 degrees!!!! These dolphins are the last left in their lineage and are mainly found in the floodplains of the Amazon river, but due to overfishing and pollution are seriously endangered today. Due to these dolphins influence on the native populations of humans in the area, there are some very interesting legends about them! One of them is very similar to the white woman of Mexico. In the Brazilian version, however, there is a dolphin who turns into a young man and seduces women in the area, impregnates them, and leaves to return to the river again. This creature is called an encantado, which roughly means enchanted in English. They apparently, will even kidnap people who get too close to the water and take them to the land of the Encantado.

Amazon River Dolphins

Rare Pink Amazon River Dolphins

Finally, we have the amazing Red Panda! Sadly, this animal is also the last of its lineage. Interestingly enough, however, the Red Panda is more closely related to raccoons than it is to any kind of bear. Due to its low numbers, even though it is illegal to kill these creatures now, the population continues to decrease due to deforestation and inbreeding depression, or in other words, Red Pandas that participate in inbreeding due to the unavailability of other mates, produce defective offspring, that either do not live to maturation or are sterile. These little guys are found today in China, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan, all of which have claimed the Red Panda a protected species. Conservation efforts today seem to be going quite well as over 300 red pandas have been born in captivity, increasing their population substantially.

Red Panda

Red Panda Sleeping

You can see how it looks like a raccoon, right?

Red Panda

You’ve all heard of the browser Mozilla Firefox right? Well interestingly enough, the Firefox logo is actually based on the red panda! That’s right!! In China, the Red Panda is called “火狐” or “fire-fox”. Even Master Shifu, in Kung-Fu Panda is a Red Panda!


At any rate, I hope to write more articles soon, but i hope this article tides you over until then!!

Great Britain and Why It’s Not So Great…

Hi everyone! I’m on spring break now so expect lots of articles. We’ve got this one, one on the red panda, and another one that i don’t remember what i was going to write about. Haha, ya i’m kinda forgetful! So as promised, here’s the article on why i blame Great Britain for practically everything wrong in the world!

I’d like to point out first of all, that these are only relating to modern day topics. I’m not even going to REACH into the mess of their past and how the screwed everyone else over too. Here, I’m just going to talk about India/Pakistan/Bangladesh, Israel/Palestine, Australia, and of course Canada.

We’ll first start with the mess that is present-day India. Way back in the hay-day, England’s chartered East India Company, went into India and began bargaining for spices and such. Eventually they ended up colonizing the entire country. However, when their soldiers (who were Hindu and Muslim) found out that the bullets they were using were coated in cow and pig fat, there were huge riots all over the country. These riots eventually led to the dismemberment of the East India Company and Britain decided that they would instead set up what became known as the British Raj. After WWII, they decided they weren’t up to the task of keeping many of their territories, and wanted to “give India their independence.” The problem was, that the British had stifled the Indian people so long (they weren’t allowed to make their own cloth or salts and any food produced was handed to the British) that they had become overly dependent on the British. So not only were they not ready for independence at this point (i’m ignoring Gandhi cause i personally believe he was an idiot and a hypocrite but i’ll get into that some other time), but there was also the issue that the BRITISH hired a completely clueless idiot to divide the country into 3 parts, which are today Hindustan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. He, ignorantly, divided the country based on regions of religious concentration (i.e. Hindus and Muslims, completely ignoring other major religions like Sikhs). This, unfortunately, split some villages in pieces, and even worse, split major states into two different countries. You see, for people from Punjab, our identifier isn’t to our country, it’s to our state. So whether you live in Pakistan or India, if someone asks where you are from, you say Punjab, not India. This bond, though present in other states, does not run as deep. Therefore, when the map maker cut Punjab in half, there were huge riots in Punjab that are ignored by most present-day historians. To cut Punjab in half was like cutting a country within a country itself in half. Either ways, once the British deemed this entire affair settled they left. What they ALSO failed to take into account was that there was also a very important region in the north called Kashmir, which was important to BOTH countries not only for its resources, but for its culture. Though i have to say that today, both India and Pakistan need to stop acting like children and MOVE ON, it IS the fault of the British that wars break out every 10 years or so between India and Pakistan for Kashmir, and within Punjab for the creation of a land called Khalistan (land of the Sikhs), as the Sikhs were completely ignored in the partition movement, and are present in Pakistan AND India today. And let’s not forget that because Pakistan was split into East and West Pakistan (the East being present-day Bangladesh) being COMPLETELY separated from each other by a huge land mass called INDIA, there was no way for the central bureaucracy, which was based in west Pakistan to send support to Bangladesh when the faced their frequent flooding and tsunamis and other natural disasters. AGAIN, there was another independence movement, but this time, East Pakistan from West Pakistan. Until today, Bangladesh and Pakistan are not stable countries at all, with India being covered in poverty, pollution, and corruption – all because the British thought taking over a completely independent land in the first place in the name of profit was a good idea.

That takes care of the India section, so now we move onto the Israel-Palestine issue. Now my knowledge on this area is a bit rusty, but essentially, after WWII, the Jews of the world needed a place to go. So, Britain, in their infinite wisdom, decided that giving them a piece of holy land that they had ALSO promised to Palestinians when they were displaced from their own land as well, would be a good idea. Essentially, Britain promised the same piece of land to two different parties who had hated each other for centuries. When Britain finally realized its mistake, it was too late, and the two parties were already at the point of a full out war. With the US supporting Israel though, the Jews won and managed to keep a small section of land. By this point, Britain had dropped the issue in the US’s lap and had head for the hills with its tail between its legs. Israel, however, was a country completely surrounded by Islam-centered countries, and had to hold its own for quite some time, with only the US to rely on. When Egypt attacked them, the Israelis somehow managed to GAIN land, and took land away from the Palestinians. Once the US finally brokered a treaty with Israel and Egypt, other countries began to follow suit, albeit it after a VERY long and uneasy period. However, the Palestinians never consented to these “infidels” on their land, and until this day, war and extreme hate continue between the two half-nations.

With Australia, as i’ve pointed out before, England is responsible for the natural decimation of the land, and its because of them that very few indigenous species remain in Australia. However, what i HAVEN’T mentioned before is that the British rudely stampeded into Australia because they needed somewhere to send their convicts and wiped out the Aborigines of the area to accomplish this. Therefore, all the people who originally colonized Australia were convicts. Now this isn’t to say that all the people in Australia are bad people, as this took place hundreds of years ago. What this DOES say is because of the natural decimation caused by the British and their convicts, there are HUGE droughts in many parts of Australia, which would not have occurred if the natural fauna and flora were still present. Furthermore, though it has finally stabilized, the government of Australia was for the longest time in shambles.

On a side note, the British also send unwanted children to Australia on their own without any family. This part didn’t even happen that long ago, as many of these children are still alive in Australia today. If you’re interested, here’s an article on the apology that Britain made a little too late, after the Australians but up a fight.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/11/16/world/main5669845.shtml

Finally, we reach the Canadians. Surprisingly, or maybe not, the Canadians were one of the only Commonwealths that didn’t want independence. They had a healthy and very dependent relationship with Britain, even though they were mainly French speaking from the time they were conquered by the French in the early days of North American colonization. However, Britain forcibly broke them off when they could no longer support their colonies after WWII. To me, this is like taking a child away from his parents and say “Here, survive on your own.” As much as I hate Britain, this perhaps was not the right way to handle the situation. Ultimately, i feel this left the Canadians somewhat confused and in shock, and although they are better for it now, they still maintain a strong relationship with the British and continue to see the Queen as their monarch. Her birthday is even a national holiday. As much as i love the Canadians, i can’t help but feel a little sad for them, because they are such a great country and people, but somehow managed to get stuck with idiots like the British.

So it is for these reasons that i hate Britain. And to clarify, when i say Britain, i mean the government, not the people (i have too much family living there to properly hate the people, plus everyone in England is very pleasant and kind! It’s just the government that seems to be full of idiots). And i didn’t even touch upon the atrocities that occurred when there was a monarch on the throne or even after England became a constitutional monarchy. In essence, Great Britain really sucks.