Who owns sunken treasure?

Mitch Stacy for Associated Press (AP) has reported that 17-tons of silver and gold coins salvaged from the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, a Spanish galleon sunk by British warships in the Atlantic, off Portugal, while sailing back from South America in 1804, has been returned to Spain.

Legal action in the United States denied ownership of the find to both the Peruvian government which argued the material was sourced from Peru and the salvage company Odyssey Marine Exploration. See also Newsday and El País (in Spanish - with excellent photographic and video coverage).

Stacy reported that "Peruvian cultural authorities say their country's legal case would have been stronger if it had signed the 2001 U.N. Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage, which states that countries of origin have priority in deciding the fate of cultural artifacts found in shipwrecks". However, the text of the convention does not appear to regulate the ownership of wrecks or sovereignty rights.

While Spain has asserted its legal right to the find, surely Peru would also have some moral rights.

When it comes to sunken treasure, it is not a case of finders keepers.

further travels of Tintin 2

In August 2009, I wrote about further travels of Tintin, cover art of additional places Tintin visited, by people who were not Hergé.

Australian artist Glenn Smith has drawn his tribute to Tintin set in Penrith, which is west of Sydney.

Glenn Smith hopes to offer the drawing as a poster.

Le changement, c'est maintenant

The campaign slogan for France's Parti Socialiste, contesting the presidency with François Hollande as candidate, is "le changement, c'est maintenant".

Quite a dull campaign slogan but when combined with a hand and arm gesture, it's quite magnifique.


Le changement, c'est maintenant: le signe de... by francoishollande

See reporting in Le Nouvel Observateur and France24.

Whales give dolphins a lift

In 2010, the journal Aquatic Mammals (DOI: 10.1578/AM.36.2.2010.121) reported about interactions between dolphins and whales. Abstract

Two Unusual Interactions Between a Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) and a Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) in Hawaiian Waters

Mark H. Deakos, Brian K. Branstetter, Lori Mazzuca, Dagmar Fertl, and Joseph R. Mobley, Jr.

When two species share a common habitat, interspecific interactions can take many forms. Understanding the dynamics of these interactions can provide insight into the behavior and ecology of those species involved. Two separate, unusual interactions are described in which a humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) lifted a bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) completely out of the water. Both incidents occurred in Hawaiian waters. Based on reports of object play by hump-back whales, and the apparent initiation and cooperation of each dolphin being lifted, object (i.e., the dolphin) play by the whale and social play by the dolphin seem to be the most plausible explanations for the interaction. Aggressive and epimeletic behavior by the humpback were also considered.

Recently (10 January 2012), the American Museum of Natural History released photos of such an interaction



Was this a case of inter-species play or had one species 'domesticated' the other?

A random act of kindness does make a difference

From Life Vest Inside


(Song: One Day by Matisyahu - original clip)

A random act of kindness does make a difference and 'what goes around comes around'

Stresstest

Press release from Die Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache (GfdS)/the Society for German Language, on the word of the year

Wort des Jahres 2011 ist Stresstest. Dieses Wort, ursprünglich aus der Humanmedizin stammend, begegnete im Laufe des Jahres auffällig oft. Es erwies sich dabei aus sprachlicher Sicht als äußerst produktiv und war in den verschiedensten Bereichen anzutreffen: Nicht nur Banken wurden auf ihre Belastbarkeit getestet, auch etwa das Bahnhofsprojekt Stuttgart 21, die grün-rote Landesregierung in Baden-Württemberg und deutsche Atomkraftwerke wurden Stresstests unterzogen. Diese Praxis und somit das Wort erlangten dadurch politische, wirtschaftliche und gesamtgesellschaftliche Relevanz. So ist Stresstest mittlerweile als fester Bestandteil der Alltagssprache anzusehen. 

Read more, for the other nine words in the top ten list.

Borrowed from the English term, it was originally used in German in a medical sense. Lately, it has been applied in the financial sector as a measure of an institution's resilience and 'health'. The term has also been applied to describe whether transport systems and indeed nuclear reactors are able to withstand stresses and 'overloading'.

See also Duden for a more official definition.

In 2011, the word captures the fear of systems failing.

Another (sub) species, extinct

According to the latest update of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™, "the Western Black Rhino (Diceros bicornis longipes) has officially been declared extinct." (see IUCN news release).

The loss of a rhinoceros sub-species is a travesty, particularly as it was hunted to extinction.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is a democratic membership union composed of over 1,000 members, 11,000 scientific experts in various thematic commissions with 1,000 staff, working together in more than 160 countries to help the world find pragmatic solutions to the most pressing environment and development challenges.

The Australian Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities is a country member, along with nine state government agencies and 16 non-government organisations.

The United States Department of State Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs and the United Kingdom Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs are also country members.

Tintin in India

Soutik Biswas is the Delhi correspondent for the BBC. He's also an unabashed Tintin fan and writes

Indians love Tintin like no other comic book. In an age of dashing, computer generated comic book heroes, Tintin albums - in English and in Bengali and Hindi translations - continue to sell by the thousands. Is it any surprise then that Steven Spielberg's paean to the intrepid reporter, The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, releases in India later on Friday, six weeks ahead of its US release?

"Tintin is huge in India, perhaps bigger than in the US," says a spokesperson for Sony Pictures (India), which is releasing the film here. She says their research shows that more than 90% of the audience that watch Hollywood films in India are Tintin fans. Amazing.

Read more.

Tintin visited India in Tintin in Tibet, The Blue Lotus and Cigars of the Pharaohs.

Water from thin air

The winner of the James Dyson Award was announced on 8 November 2011. From James Dyson Award website

The James Dyson Award is open to product design, industrial design and engineering university level students (or graduates within 4 years of graduation) who have studied in the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, UK and USA.

The award is £10,000 for the student or student team (up to four members) winner, £10,000 for their university department and the James Dyson Award trophy and Certificate.

This year, the award was won by Edward Linacre, a Swinburne University of Technology graduate, for his Airdrop invention, in which

Moisture is harvested out of the air to irrigate crops by an efficient system that produces large amounts of condensation. A turbine intake drives air underground through a network of piping that rapidly cools the air to the temperature of the soil where it reaches 100% humidity and produces water. The water is then stored in an underground tank and pumped through to the roots of crops via sub surface drip irrigation hosing.

Read more.

See also


In his own words


Amazing ingenuity from Australia - an innovative and practical solution to a major problem that is also cheap to implement. Congratulations to Mr Linacre.

Tintin TIME

TIME magazine's 31 October issue featured a Tintin cover in the Europe, Asia and South Pacific editions.

The United States edition was unique

Evidence that the United States doesn't get Tintin the way the rest of the world does.

Saving canines

Two interesting articles this week.

Global Post has a pictorial of pet dogs in Bangkok also being saved/evacuated from the flooding.

Der Spiegel reports whether the German Shepherd breed can be saved from show-breeders who have deformed the standard so that the lower back and hind-legs now slope down, making those dogs impractical for police work.

Tintin update

The Tintin film was released in Belgium and France on 26 October 2011 (link for other release dates elsewhere).

Reported in Euronews



Read Euronews report.

Reporting in the Belgian and French media have been glowing.

Behind the face and voice of Elmo

From ABC Nightline



Fascinating story.

Kevin Clash has been behind (underneath?) Elmo since late 1985 on Sesame Street.

More on Elmo

Measuring up. The Martians are here. The Sydney Story Factory.

Inspired by 826 Valencia, a writing centre in San Francisco for children founded by novelist Dave Eggers and educator Ninive Caligari, the Sydney Story Factory is scheduled to open late in 2011 in Redfern, Sydney. From their website

The Sydney Story Factory is a not-for-profit creative writing centre for children. Volunteer tutors offer free help to tell stories of all kinds. Programs are targeted at disadvantaged children, especially those from indigenous and non-English speaking backgrounds, but are open to all.

Sydney Story Factory programs are project-based, and every child walks away with a published piece of work. At the end of a one-off, two-hour workshop, children might have a bound and illustrated chap book to take home. At the end of a longer program, they may have produced a book, zine, school newspaper or short animated film. They might have had an article published in The Sydney Morning Herald, our media partner.

The Sydney Story Factory is dedicated to developing creativity. There is growing global awareness that the ability to think creatively and flexibly is key to preparing children for a future we cannot yet imagine. All programs at the Sydney Story Factory are designed to nurture the creativity that is innate to every child. Programs will increase children's abilities to express their thoughts and feelings, and give them new ways of understanding the world around them.

Read more.

The proposed work of the Sydney Story Factory is best shown in the video Measuring Up


The most powerful tool a child has is his or her imagination.

See reporting in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Tintin update

New trailer (UK) via MSN UK

Evelyn Grace Academy

The Evelyn Grace Academy, is a new secondary school in Brixton, south London located at 255 Shakespeare Road. It opened in September 2008. The building was designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, which was awarded the £20,000 RIBA Stirling Prize 2011 for the best new European building built or designed in the United Kingdom. From Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) announcement

A highly stylized zig-zag of steel and glass, the Evelyn Grace Academy is squeezed onto the tightest of urban sites (1.4 hectares - the average secondary school is 8/9 hectares). The architects received a complex brief: four schools under a single academy umbrella with the need to express both independence and unity. The architects were strongly encouraged by the client to 'think outside the box'. With such a small space and with sport being one of the Academy's 'special subjects' (each Academy school has one), the architects needed to be highly inventive. They succeeded, for instance by cleverly inserting a 100m running track into the heart of the site taking pupils right up to the front door. By dramatically celebrating the school's specialism, the RIBA Stirling Prize judges noted 'this is a design that literally makes kids run to get into school in the morning'.

The Evelyn Grace Academy is the first school to win the RIBA Stirling Prize, with seven schools shortlisted in previous years. It is the first time that Zaha Hadid Architects have designed a school and their first large-scale project in the UK. Previously they designed a Maggie's Centre in Scotland and more recently they have completed the Riverside Museum in Glasgow and the London Aquatics Centre for the 2012 Olympics.

Read more.

Design as described by the architect

Following the principle of ‘schools within schools’, the design generates natural patterns of division within highly functional spaces which give each of the four smaller schools a distinct identity, both internally and externally.

Photo by Luke Hayes (via Zaha Hadid Architects website)

Video by RIBA


See reporting by BBC News.

It is an inspiring building, which hopefully will in turn inspire students in what is considered to be a disadvantaged socio-economic area.

2011 Ig Nobel awards

The Ig Nobel is awarded to researchers, whose research should not be repeated. The 2011 winners, announced on 29 September 2011 at Harvard University were

PHYSIOLOGY PRIZE: Anna Wilkinson (of the UK), Natalie Sebanz (of NETHERLANDS, HUNGARY, and AUSTRIA), Isabella Mandl (of AUSTRIA) and Ludwig Huber (of AUSTRIA) for their study 'No Evidence of Contagious Yawning in the Red-Footed Tortoise."
REFERENCE: 'No Evidence Of Contagious Yawning in the Red-Footed Tortoise Geochelone carbonaria," Anna Wilkinson, Natalie Sebanz, Isabella Mandl, Ludwig Huber, Current Zoology, vol. 57, no. 4, 2011. pp. 477-84.
ATTENDING THE CEREMONY: Ludwig Huber

CHEMISTRY PRIZE: Makoto Imai, Naoki Urushihata, Hideki Tanemura, Yukinobu Tajima, Hideaki Goto, Koichiro Mizoguchi and Junichi Murakami of JAPAN, for determining the ideal density of airborne wasabi (pungent horseradish) to awaken sleeping people in case of a fire or other emergency, and for applying this knowledge to invent the wasabi alarm.
REFERENCE: US patent application 2010/0308995 A1. Filing date: Feb 5, 2009.
ATTENDING THE CEREMONY: Makoto Imai, Hideki Tanemura, Yukinobu Tajima, Hideaki Goto, Koichiro Mizoguchi and Junichi Murakami

MEDICINE PRIZE: Mirjam Tuk (of THE NETHERLANDS and the UK), Debra Trampe (of THE NETHERLANDS) and Luk Warlop (of BELGIUM). and jointly to Matthew Lewis, Peter Snyder and Robert Feldman (of the USA), Robert Pietrzak, David Darby, and Paul Maruff (of AUSTRALIA) for demonstrating that people make better decisions about some kinds of things — but worse decisions about other kinds of things‚ when they have a strong urge to urinate.
REFERENCE: "Inhibitory spillover: Increased Urination Urgency Facilitates Impulse Control in Unrelated Domains," Mirjam A. Tuk, Debra Trampe and Luk Warlop, Psychological Science, vol. 22, no. 5, May 2011, pp. 627-633.
REFERENCE: "The Effect of Acute Increase in Urge to Void on Cognitive Function in Healthy Adults," Matthew S. Lewis, Peter J. Snyder, Robert H. Pietrzak, David Darby, Robert A. Feldman, Paul T. Maruff, Neurology and Urodynamics, vol. 30, no. 1, January 2011, pp. 183-7.
ATTENDING THE CEREMONY: Mirjam Tuk, Luk Warlop, Peter Snyder, Robert Feldman, David Darby

PSYCHOLOGY PRIZE: Karl Halvor Teigen of the University of Oslo, NORWAY, for trying to understand why, in everyday life, people sigh.
REFERENCE: "Is a Sigh 'Just a Sigh'? Sighs as Emotional Signals and Responses to a Difficult Task," Karl Halvor Teigen, Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, vol. 49, no. 1, 2008, pp. 49–57.
ATTENDING THE CEREMONY: Karl Halvor Teigen

LITERATURE PRIZE: John Perry of Stanford University, USA, for his Theory of Structured Procrastination, which says: To be a high achiever, always work on something important, using it as a way to avoid doing something that's even more important.
REFERENCE: "How to Procrastinate and Still Get Things Done," John Perry, Chronicle of Higher Education, February 23, 1996. Later republished elsewhere under the title "Structured Procrastination." http://www-csli.stanford.edu/~jperry
ATTENDING THE CEREMONY: Colleague Deborah Wilkes accepted the prize on behalf of Professor Perry.

BIOLOGY PRIZE: Darryl Gwynne (of CANADA and AUSTRALIA and the USA) and David Rentz (of AUSTRALIA and the USA) for discovering that a certain kind of beetle mates with a certain kind of Australian beer bottle
REFERENCE: "Beetles on the Bottle: Male Buprestids Mistake Stubbies for Females (Coleoptera)," D.T. Gwynne, and D.C.F. Rentz, Journal of the Australian Entomological Society, vol. 22, 1983, pp. 79-80
REFERENCE: "Beetles on the Bottle," D.T. Gwynne and D.C.F. Rentz, Antenna: Proceedings (A) of the Royal Entomological Society London, vol. 8, no. 3, 1984, pp. 116-7.
ATTENDING THE CEREMONY: Darryl Gwynne and David Rentz

PHYSICS PRIZE: Philippe Perrin, Cyril Perrot, Dominique Deviterne and Bruno Ragaru (of FRANCE), and Herman Kingma (of THE NETHERLANDS), for determining why discus throwers become dizzy, and why hammer throwers don't.
REFERENCE: "Dizziness in Discus Throwers is Related to Motion Sickness Generated While Spinning," Philippe Perrin, Cyril Perrot, Dominique Deviterne, Bruno Ragaru and Herman Kingma, Acta Oto-laryngologica, vol. 120, no. 3, March 2000, pp. 390–5.
ATTENDING THE CEREMONY: The winners accepted via recorded video.

MATHEMATICS PRIZE: Dorothy Martin of the USA (who predicted the world would end in 1954), Pat Robertson of the USA (who predicted the world would end in 1982), Elizabeth Clare Prophet of the USA (who predicted the world would end in 1990), Lee Jang Rim of KOREA (who predicted the world would end in 1992), Credonia Mwerinde of UGANDA (who predicted the world would end in 1999), and Harold Camping of the USA (who predicted the world would end on September 6, 1994 and later predicted that the world will end on October 21, 2011), for teaching the world to be careful when making mathematical assumptions and calculations.

PEACE PRIZE: Arturas Zuokas, the mayor of Vilnius, LITHUANIA, for demonstrating that the problem of illegally parked luxury cars can be solved by running them over with an armored tank.
REFERENCE: VIDEO and OFFICIAL CITY INFO
ATTENDING THE CEREMONY: Arturas Zuokas

PUBLIC SAFETY PRIZE: John Senders of the University of Toronto, CANADA, for conducting a series of safety experiments in which a person drives an automobile on a major highway while a visor repeatedly flaps down over his face, blinding him.
REFERENCE: "The Attentional Demand of Automobile Driving," John W. Senders, et al., Highway Research Record, vol. 195, 1967, pp. 15-33. VIDEO
ATTENDING THE CEREMONY: John Senders

Compare to 2010 and 2009, which I've previously written.

The mathematics and peace prizes were particularly interesting. Sigh. Or was just a sigh?

"Goldman Sachs rules the world"

according to Alessio Rastani, a London-based trader, while interviewed by BBC News



See also Yahoo! News for discussion about whether it was a hoax (apparently it wasn't).

Thanks to Eric Olander via Google+

A logo for Human Rights

A universal symbol for Human Rights was announced in New York on 23 September 2011 following a world-wide competition seeking a suitable design. The Human Rights logo is an open source product, free to be used by everyone, everywhere, without restrictions for the purpose of promoting Human Rights.

The logo was designed by 32-year old Serbian graphic designer Predrag Štakić from Belgrade.

See reporting in Deutsche Welle (in English) and German Federal Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt) media release (in German).

The logo in different formats can be downloaded from a Logo for Human Rights.

Breakaway (Speedy Singhs)

Breakaway is a joint Indian-Canadian film production about Punjabi Indian Canadian life set in Toronto. It combines Bollywood with Canada's major sporting past-time ice-hockey.

Trailer for Breakaway



In India, the film has been released as Speedy Singhs. Even the trailer has been edited for a different film-going market.



One that I will watch. Bend it like Beckham was a splendid film and the Punjabi culture depicted made that film appealing and charming.