Uda Walawe, Sri Lanka
Bird of the Day: Red-wattled Lapwing
Uda Walawe, Sri Lanka
Finding History in High Tech
Bangalore city map, circa 1924 from “Murray’s 1924 Handbook”
Before a recent trip to Karnataka I’d asked my Indian friends for advice prior to any urban travels, getting their opinions on the iconic activities in each of the cities on my itinerary. There were pearls and biryani in Hyderabad, palaces and markets in Mysore…but for Bangalore, most friends said things such as, “Oh Bangalore. That’s where people from Cochin go to get their shopping done.”
Well, okay. Considering I actually did need to get some shopping done, I wasn’t terribly distressed about this advice. However, the fact remains that I am not a particularly good shopper, so I’d hoped that there was more to the city than just consumer attraction. Continue reading
Gram Power
Check out Gram Power, which we first read about here: Continue reading
Nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus)
Nasturtium plants are native to South America, but this fast growing climber is now widely growing in the High Ranges of Kerala. These plants are commonly found in gardens and the leaves and flowers are used to increase resistance to bacterial infections.
Stop This Trade!
We have shared links to some amazing long form journalism on this topic, but here is a quick note of follow up. Click the image above to go to the story in the New York Times Green Blog: Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Malabar Pied Hornbill
Uda Walawe, Sri Lanka
Grumpy, Bird-loving Awesomeness
What if every artist made a love pact with something, anything, in the natural world? Mr. Goldsworthy, we noted after a recent post, had already made (to our eyes, a similar cairn included) such a pact a long time before his Australia work. Mr. Franzen, as we shall highlight as often as we can here, has made such a pact with birds. Walton Ford, in phantasmagorical manner, check. And this fellow, on the sands down under, too. More!
From Behind the Wheel: Take-Away Chicken
Edappally Junction, Ernakulam
Gorky In Residence
In other news from Russia, we return to Moscow via Other Russia. Yes, we are ignoring Mr. Putin’s adorable stunt with Siberian Cranes to return to Maxim Gorky’s legacy. No offense to Mr. Putin, of course, as we (for now) also choose to ignore news of an upcoming “Flashmob Kissing City in Gorky Park on September 23” and on that same date:
“…more than 3000 people will take part in a huge pillow fight in Gorky Central Park of Culture and Leisure! You can bring pillows from home or buy them at the place of the fight for very low prices (from 100 rubles). Except the flashmob “Pillow Fight”, the organizers will hold many interesting competitions for you while DJs will be playing their music all the time.”
That earlier news about Gorky Park reopening mentioned a museum in his honor, so we could not resist investigating. And we found an amazing collection of images (credits for all photos are embedded in the base of the images).
It is difficult to find any information about the museum, which seems not to have its own website, so desk research is limited to some travel magazines and books that cover Moscow, like this one: Continue reading
Eravikulam National Park
Eravikulam National Park is situated along the crest of the western Ghats in the High Ranges near to Munnar. The rolling grasslands and striking flora and fauna draw a large number of visitors to Rajamala Wildlife Sanctuary, a section of the national park. The majority of the National Park is made up of rolling plateau with a base elevation of about 2000 meters. The largest surviving population of Nilgiri Tahr (Hemitaragus hylocrius) endemic to this region. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Canada Geese (Rancho Mirage, CA)
Creative, Effective, Collective Action
Thanks to our friends at Colossal for pointing us here:
I can’t speak from personal experience about the political climate in Yekaterinburg, Russia but if we take this video from the ad agency Voskhod at face value it appears the powers that be neglected the city’s infrastructure one day too long. Continue reading
Spider Lily (Hymenocallis littoralis)
The Spider Lily is an amazing plant which is commonly found in the hill stations of Kerala’s Western Ghats. These plants can grow in wet areas, in water, as well as dry areas. The beautiful white flowers have long narrow reflexed petals. The flower stem is long and each stem has several flowers. Continue reading
Ancient Activist Pastime
Click the banner above for this article in which Rebecca Solnit discusses urban agriculture, aka gardening, as a revolutionary act of enormous import for our modern times:
We are in an era when gardens are front and center for hopes and dreams of a better world or just a better neighborhood, or the fertile space where the two become one. There are farm advocates and food activists, progressive farmers and gardeners, and maybe most particular to this moment, there’s a lot of urban agriculture. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Brown Pelican (Sanibel Island, FL)
Photo credit: Stephen Crafts
One Day in Jaipur, Rajasthan
Now that I’m back at Cornell, crunching numbers once again for my Finance classes, I have to look back on my trip to Jaipur, Rajasthan to remember that freedom that I already miss. For everybody who misses traveling, here is something to keep you happy.
Cheers!
Saying Something Well
Thanks to Alberto Yanosky, leader of Paraguay’s most important conservation organization, for bringing this old clip to our attention. Fitting tribute to the man in the clip who, according to INTELLIGENT LIFE magazine, September/October 2012 is celebrating an amazing milestone:
When David Attenborough joined the BBC, 60 years ago this September, Britain had only one television channel. Cameras had to be wound up like a clock and could only film live or in 20-second bursts. There was no way to capture sound and vision at the same time, or to broadcast from anywhere but the studio. Attenborough, like most people, did not own a television set; he thinks he had seen only one programme in his life. Continue reading
Story of a Stream (Lakkom)
The Lakkom Stream forms 7300 feet above sea level in the watershed region of the Eravimala Plateau and flows into Eravikulam National Park, the fragile home land of the Nilgiri tahr and the mysterious Neelakkurinji (a flower which blooms once in 12 years). Continue reading
Saying Nothing Well
Click the banner to the left to go to Paul Griffiths’ review:
I have nothing to say, and I am saying it.” The line, probably John Cage’s most famous statement, appears three times over in his book Silence, which Wesleyan University Press has reissued in a smart fiftieth anniversary edition that also coincides with the centenary of the author’s birth. Continue reading
Bird of the Day: Yellow-eared Bulbul
Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka
Organikos 