Wildlife at Carara National Park: Part 1

/ Seth Inman / 4 Comments

Red-capped Manakin (male). He has spiffy yellow thighs, unfortunately not visible in this picture.

A few weekends ago, James and I spent six hours at Parque Nacional Carara, on the Pacific side of Costa Rica and just about an hour and a half from Xandari. Braving the muggy, humid coastal rainforest with the intention of spotting and/or hearing at least fifty new (for us) species, we set off on the first couple miles of trail with our field guide in hand. James uses a pair of Nikon Monarch binoculars for quick spotting and following birds as they flit around, and I sport a Canon SX50 digital camera to hopefully capture still images or video for identification purposes. Sometimes I get lucky enough to take a photo that’s worth sharing!

But not all the wildlife we spotted at Carara was avian. On the way to the park entrance, we crossed the famous Río Tarcoles, a river that is home to dozens of crocodiles that bask in the mud, particularly under the bridge that tourists walk over to gaze at the enormous predators hanging around. James and I saw plenty of smaller reptilian relatives skitter across the paths at the park, including iguanas and a basilisk lizard. We passed several troops of leaf-cutter ants marching  Continue reading →

A Former Best Half Hour Of The Day Melted Further, For Reflective Fun

/ Organikos / 3 Comments

We recently noted two days in a row that it might be good to take half an hour or so each day to reflect; hinting that there is general tendency to not allot enough daily time for reading, for important ideas, etc.. Of course, sometimes when one reads such a thought, in hindsight it can sound heavy and dull and self-important and, well, probably boring.

Cheer up. The cartoon editor of the New Yorker insists on it, and he is good at getting his way:

I just finished a fascinating blog post by Joshua Rothman called “What College Can’t Do.” There are so many insightful points in the essay that it wouldn’t make sense for me to cite just a quote or two. Continue reading →

Listen, Learn, Elephants

/ Organikos / 1 Comment
Thermal imaging on an elephant in the Dzanga clearing. Photo by Peter Wrege

Thermal imaging on an elephant in the Dzanga clearing. Photo by Peter Wrege

Way back when, we first shared what we had read and visually devoured about this project, and the last line of our post at that time asked if “one of our Lab-based contributors will help us with an introduction to their office mates in the Elephant Listening Project?”. Not until now were we nudged to think again and do something about it. Stay tuned…

Meanwhile, thanks to the folks at Science Friday and the donor-listeners and producers of the amazingly diverse public radio networks in the USA, tune in to learn more:

Elephants have different rumbles and roars for how they greet each other, warn about danger, and even to show that they’re annoyed. Peter Wrege, director of The Elephant Listening Project, recorded an event called “mating pandemonium,” where a group of elephants roar after a pair of elephants mate. Wrege discusses the possible reasons for this pachyderm party.

Continue reading →

Hambledooners, Conservation Entrepreneurs

/ Organikos / 1 Comment
Hambledon Hill, Dorset, UK, in late afternoon sunlight. Photograph: Mark Bauer/Alamy

Hambledon Hill, Dorset, UK, in late afternoon sunlight. Photograph: Mark Bauer/Alamy

National Trust is a private UK-based conservation organization whose nearly 4,000,000 members and more than 60,000 volunteers make great things happen. That leads to about 50,000,000 visitors to sites like this recently created protected area:

National Trust buys Hambledon Hill in Dorset

Pristine chalky outcrop is a treasure trove of plant species and a butterfly haven untouched by modern farming since Iron age

Continue reading →

If You Care About Books But Have Not Followed This Story, Start Here

/ Organikos / 3 Comments
Craig Dilger for The New York Times. Douglas Preston, a best-selling author with Hachette Publishing, at his writing shack in Maine.

Craig Dilger for The New York Times. Douglas Preston, a best-selling author with Hachette Publishing, at his writing shack in Maine.

We started paying attention to this issue here. It relates to our longstanding belief that reading and books are essential goods. So who we trust with books matters:

Plot Thickens as 900 Writers Battle Amazon

By DAVID STREITFELD

Continue reading →

Brihadeeswarar Temple, Thanjavur – Tamil Nadu

/ Salim.E.I / Leave a comment
Photo credits : Binu Kumar

Photo credits: Binu Kumar

Brihadeeswarar Temple was an imperial monument to Chola power and the greatest artistic accomplishments of the late Chola period. This Temple was the greatest single undertaking of the South Indian temple builders, taking almost 15 years to complete. Continue reading →

Creative Writing, Antidote To Entomophobia?

/ Organikos / Leave a comment

Jeffrey Lockwood, the director of the creative writing program at the University of Wyoming, has received the Pushcart Prize and a John Burroughs Award for his essays. His most recent book, to the right, was brought to our attention while reading his recent essay in one of our favorite online publications. The description of his book, provided by Oxford University Press:

The human reaction to insects is neither purely biological nor simply cultural. And no one reacts to insects with indifference. Insects frighten, disgust and fascinate us. Jeff Lockwood explores this phenomenon through evolutionary science, human history, and contemporary psychology, as well as  Continue reading →

Taste Of Karma

/ Organikos / 3 Comments
Although food entrepreneur Tim West's family legacy is in Doritos chips, he wants to shake up the food system — with sustainable, healthful food. Vignesh Ramachandran/Ozy

Although food entrepreneur Tim West’s family legacy is in Doritos chips, he wants to shake up the food system — with sustainable, healthful food. Vignesh Ramachandran/Ozy

Thank you, National Public Radio (USA), for carrying The Salt and its occasionally deliciously ironic stories:

Tim West’s grandfather invented Doritos chips and was an executive at the global snack food giant Frito-Lay.

The younger West ate plenty of junk food growing up. But lately, he’s been much more interested in kale, quinoa and tree-ripened fruit.

And the 30-year-old Bay Area food entrepreneur now wants to completely reinvent what we eat and how it’s produced. Continue reading →

Yesterday’s Best Half Hour Melted Into Today’s

/ Organikos / 1 Comment
Rothman-College-690x469-1407173630

A pair of Harvard alumni on campus for commencement, in 1977. CREDIT PHOTOGRAPH BY CONSTANTINE MANOS/MAGNUM.

Just after this post had been published yesterday, starting with the acknowledgement of busy-ness and concluding that education plays a key, if mysterious role in character-building and communication capabilities, a kind of echo reverberated through the reading of this post by Joshua Rothman:

There’s a special joy in giving someone advice that’s sure not to be followed—“Wake up at the same time every morning”; “Don’t check your e-mail while on vacation”—and William Deresiewicz must have felt it when writing his recent cover story for The New Republic, “Don’t Send Your Kid to the Ivy League.” Hypercompetitive colleges, Deresiewicz wrote,  Continue reading →

Southern Birdwing Butterfly

/ Organikos / Leave a comment
Photo credits : Josekallukaran

Photo credits: Jose Kallukaran

The Southern Birdwing butterfly  is the largest butterfly in India, and is endemic to the Western Ghats. Males are more frequently seen than females, mainly feeding on flowers of the Pagoda plant, west Indian jasmine, mimosa, and other ornamental bushes. Unlike many butterfly species that prefer full sun, the southern birdwing tends to be more active during the evening. Continue reading →

Shakespeare, Crown Toady?

/ Organikos / 1 Comment

Shakespeare

In honor of the departure of James from Xandari, we send him off with a blast of relative modernity. Shakespeare is certainly classic, but tres nouveau in terms of a classicist.

Little did any of the liberal arts majors among Raxa Collective contributors know that the image we have of a witty, well-versed but ultimately populist entertainer is confounded by a consistent streak of conservatism. But we are thankful for the enlightenment, that far from being an equal opportunity observer and critic of all forms of foible, the Bard was so unwilling to bite the hand that fed:

Ira Glass recently admitted that he is not all that into Shakespeare, explaining that Shakespeare’s plays are “not relatable [and are] unemotional.” This caused a certain amount of incredulity and horror—but The Washington Post’s Alyssa Rosenberg took the opportunity to point out that Shakespeare reverence can be deadening. “It does greater honor to Shakespeare to recognize that he was a man rather than a god. We keep him [Shakespeare] alive best by debating his work and the work that others do with it rather than by locking him away to dusty, honored and ultimately doomed posterity,” she argued. Continue reading →

Newspaper Bag Station at Cardamom County

/ Kayleigh Levitt / 1 Comment
???????????????????????????????

New member of PaperTrails stationed at Cardamom County

At Cardamom County, we have been working to get the local community involved through the group PaperTrails. PaperTrails helps provide jobs for people who could otherwise not get them. La Paz Group has appreciated the way it involves the locals by providing work and  re-purposing old newspaper. For La Paz Group they make gift bags out of recycled newspaper and sanitary bags from recycled paper. Now, we have a new member of the PaperTrails team stationed at Cardamom County. He is stationed on the second level of the Ayurvedic Center and makes bags for all the La Paz Group properties.. We like this because now guests can engage with the paper bag initiative in a new way. They can see how they are made and learn to make them as well.  Continue reading →

The Best Half Hour Of The Day

/ Organikos / 2 Comments

9780393244663_custom-da8d85d278c41cd52ad546688f20e67f743942dd-s3-c85Busy, busy. Not always enough time to read books even by authors we know to be gifted explainers of complicated, important phenomena. Back around the date this book was published, its author gave an interview. In just over half an hour he managed to explain one of the most complicated human activities imaginable, in terms most of us could understand:

“The stock market is rigged,” Michael Lewis tells Fresh Air‘s Terry Gross. “It’s rigged for the benefit for really a handful of insiders. It’s rigged to … maximize the take of Wall Street, of banks, the exchanges and the high-frequency traders at the expense of ordinary investors.”

Continue reading →

Festival Of The Gods – Theyyam

/ Salim.E.I / 1 Comment
Photo credits : Shymon G

Photo credits: Shymon G

Theyyam is one of the most popular ritualistic dances of Kerala. It is a devotional performance with a surrealistic representation of the divine. Almost every village in Kerala has its own temple with an annual festival. So there’s always a local festival happening somewhere or the other, each with its own special flavour. Continue reading →

Al Fresco Meals Across Time and Space

/ Organikos / Leave a comment

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Long after humans made living indoors commonplace we still carry the strong desire to commune with nature in one way or another. Whether through gardening or exploration, we crave being outdoors, and that often has meant bringing our meals with us.

The origin of the word “picnic” is unclear. It first appeared in an English dictionary in 1748, and it probably derived from the French pique-nique.

A 17th-century French pique-nique may have been what we now think of as a potluck. In the 18th century, its American counterpart may have been more like a salon gathering. By the 19th century, though, it had become common for Americans to hold these events outside. Continue reading →