Another panda

Media release from Zoo Atlanta

ATLANTA – November 3, 2010 – Lun Lun, a 13-year-old female giant panda at Zoo Atlanta, gave birth to her third cub on November 3, 2010. The cub, born at 5:39 a.m. in a specially-prepared birthing den in the Zoo’s giant panda building, is the only giant panda to be born in the U.S. in 2010.

Lun Lun appears to be providing appropriate care for her cub, which is roughly the size of a cell phone. The Animal Management and Veterinary Teams will continue round-the-clock monitoring of mother and cub, and a preliminary veterinary checkup will be performed as soon as staff is able to remove the cub without disrupting maternal care.

“We are extremely excited about welcoming Lun Lun’s and Yang Yang’s third cub, and proud of the success of Zoo Atlanta’s giant panda program,” said Dwight Lawson, PhD, Deputy Director. “This is a joy we share with the City of Atlanta, our colleagues in China, and our counterparts at our fellow zoological organizations housing giant pandas in the U.S.”

Zoo Atlanta Members and guests can expect to meet the cub in spring 2011. The cub’s father, 13-year-old Yang Yang, and older brother, Xi Lan, remain on exhibit and will not be introduced to their new family member. This separation is normal for giant pandas, which are solitary in the wild.

The newborn is the third offspring for the Zoo’s famous panda pair. Born September 6, 2006, their firstborn, Mei Lan, has lived at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding since February 2010. Born August 30, 2008, the pair’s second cub, 2-year-old male Xi Lan, remains one of the Zoo’s most popular and precocious animal stars. As is the case with Lun Lun’s tiny newest arrival, both Mei Lan and Xi Lan were the only giant pandas born in the U.S. in their respective birth years. All three births have been the products of artificial insemination.

And an update on 18 November

The giant panda cub born to Lun Lun on November 3, 2010, has been determined to be male. The cub’s sex was determined during an exam by the Zoo Atlanta Veterinary Team and a colleague from the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.

See other media releases from Zoo Atlanta.

(photo from Zoo Atlanta)

You can also see the birth captured by videocam, released by AP.


2010 is shaping to be a good year for panda live births. There are so few of them left that every single birth is important.

Marching with the Devil

If a man tells you he has never dreamed of joining the French Foreign Legion he is a liar, has no imagination, or both.

So begins David Mason's memoir of his five-year service in the French Foreign Legion.

I have known David for many years and had looked forward to the book finally being published. Many years ago, I read the first draft in loose-leaf form, unbound and held by a ribbon. It was an entertaining read and the original version was a light-hearted account, seen from a prism of good humour.  David was quite surprised that I was able to recount that early draft from memory. It was actually quite good and had left an impression.

The version published by Hachett was not what I had expected. It was a completely new story, providing more insight, not only into David's experience in the Legion but also what he had thought about it all.

In the book, David's five years in the Legion are separated into 28 chapters, each described, under the chapter name, by a French phrase used within that chapter. Over the 28 chapters, we learn about the process of enlistment, training and eventual deployments to Djibouti between 1988 and 1993, all with David's critical analysis of his experience, probably with hindsight written many years later.

If you want to read an account of life in the French Foreign Legion with a view to enlisting, this is not the book to convince you. Rather, it is scathing of the processes used by the Legion during that period, from recruitment, training, day-to-day general duties to field operations. The benchmark for comparison used by David was his experience in the Australian Army Reserve.  Having also served in the reserves, I can't help but feel that David may have been a little generous in that regard.

The most interesting aspect of the book wasn't about the French Foreign Legion itself but David's accounts of the human interactions and his attempt to understand why certain people behaved the way that they did in the situations that he describes. In the book, there were lots of bad behaviour from Legionnaire superiors to recruits, all trying to make what was possibly a bad situation for them, better at the expense of others.

No doubt, some Legionnaires who served with David may disagree with his retelling of his experiences, but knowing David, I suspect there is some truth in his tale.

During October 2010, Australia's SBS TWO channel also screened the four-part series of Bear Gryll's Escape to the Legion. It was a useful insight, albeit somewhat contrived. However, much of it supports David Mason's account of his time in the Legion.

Read it, or as David's Legionnaire colleagues would say "Je m'en fous".

The best flash mobs

According to the Concise Oxford Dictionary, a flash mob is a public gathering of complete strangers, organised via the internet or mobile phone, who perform a pointless act and then disperse again.

Of course, some acts are more sophisticated than others, such as impromptu musicals and dance, so one would expect a certain amount of rehearsal time by these 'complete strangers'. By definition, they shouldn't be considered as flash mobs but more as unannounced performances in public spaces.

Still, seemingly spontaneous displays of artistic merit are the most fun to watch. They are always usually captured on film, sometimes of a high professional standard.

Mashable listed its '15 Fab Flash Mob Videos on YouTube' back in June 2010.

My list is different. Here are some of the best.

Dance

From the Eurovision Song Contest in late May 2010, dance simultaneously performed throughout Europe to Madcon, Glow


Ohio Union at Ohio State University on 3 May 2010, dance to Glee soundtrack, Don't Stop Believing (itself a cover of Journey's original song)


Antwerp Central railway station - dance to Do-Re-Mi in March 2009


Bondi Beach, Sydney - dance to Ben Lee, That's the way I like it, in November 2009


Musical

Improv Everywhere's Food Court Musical in March 2008


Opera (yes, really)

Opera Company of Philadelphia 'Brindisi' from Verdi's La Traviata at Reading Terminal Market on 24 April 2010


Opera Company of Philadelphia 'Hallelujah chorus' from Handel's Messiah at Macy's in Center City Philadelphia on 30 October 2010 as part of the Knight Foundation's 'Random Act of Culture'


Organised by Alphabet Photography, performed by Chorus Niagara at Seaway Mall on 13 November 2010

Preserving French cuisine

UNESCO maintains a World Heritage List, which is well known. The 911 sites include those that are natural, like the Great Barrier Reef or cultural, like the Sydney Opera House. Inclusion of a site on the list means worldwide recognition of the importance of the site and the need to preserve and protect it for humanity.

Less well known is UNESCO's List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding. Items are those cultural practices and expressions of intangible heritage that are deemed worthy of protection and preservation. Intangible items include human expressions such as song, dance and rituals.

Recently, UNESCO, meeting in Kenya, added the gastronomic meal of the French to the list

The gastronomic meal of the French is a customary social practice for celebrating important moments in the lives of individuals and groups, such as births, weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, achievements and reunions. It is a festive meal bringing people together for an occasion to enjoy the art of good eating and drinking. The gastronomic meal emphasizes togetherness, the pleasure of taste, and the balance between human beings and the products of nature. Important elements include the careful selection of dishes from a constantly growing repertoire of recipes; the purchase of good, preferably local products whose flavours go well together; the pairing of food with wine; the setting of a beautiful table; and specific actions during consumption, such as smelling and tasting items at the table. The gastronomic meal should respect a fixed structure, commencing with an apéritif (drinks before the meal) and ending with liqueurs, containing in between at least four successive courses, namely a starter, fish and/or meat with vegetables, cheese and dessert. Individuals called gastronomes who possess deep knowledge of the tradition and preserve its memory watch over the living practice of the rites, thus contributing to their oral and/or written transmission, in particular to younger generations. The gastronomic meal draws circles of family and friends closer together and, more generally, strengthens social ties.

Reported by AFP via France24

The country's ambassador to UNESCO Catherine Colonna hailed the inclusion, saying it "makes a contribution to cultural diversity".

"The French love getting together to eat and drink well and enjoy good times in such a manner. It is part of our tradition -- a quite active tradition," she added.

How wines are paired with dishes, how the table is dressed, the precise placing of glasses, for water, red and white wine, knife blade pointing in and fork tines down, are all seen as part of the rite.

Francis Chevrier, chief delegate of the French mission in charge of submitting the UNESCO bid, also welcomed the decision.

"It's very important that people realise, in villages in Africa and everywhere, that when you have knowledge of food it is a treasure for your community, and something worth cherishing," he said.

"It's wonderful. This is excellent news for French culture, for French heritage, to invite our cuisine, our gastronomic heritage to sit at the high table of culture at UNESCO."

See also a debate on France24 with commentators trying to define what is means including why French food is more special than many others (and in French). Unwieldily, the list is of the meal but not the cuisine.

Other 'cuisines' included in the list are Mexican and the Mediterranean diet.

Including 'cuisines' that are not endangered seems a little strange. Surely there are many more cuisines and gastronomic traditions throughout the world that are equally worthy of 'preservation'.

An explanation of the chameleon circuit

or why the TARDIS has the appearance of a 1960s police phone box.



Following The Eleventh Hour, just before The Beast Below.

See previously - an explanation of transdimensional engineering.

Frau Gillard

A G20 summit is currently being held in Seoul, Korea. The event also coincides with the Seoul Lantern Festival where Cheonggye Stream is lit up by some 27,000 lanterns.  To commemorate the summit, one of the installations at the lantern festival is a wedding cake-shaped structure with dolls of G20 leaders in national dress.

Photo: AFP via Sydney Morning Herald

Australian Prime Minister Ms Julia Gillard was unfortunately depicted in a red costume from Austria, despite holding an Australian flag. The Sydney Morning Herald (Michelle Grattan) reported that "Australian authorities complained to Seoul counterparts, with a metropolitan government official saying he planned to change the doll's outfit today".

My source has reported that the Korean Embassy in Canberra, Australia is in "damage control".  No doubt, a very apologetic letter would have been sent by the Korean Ambassador.

It seems that it is not only Americans who confuse Australia with Austria, so much so that a t-shirt with a sign reading "no kangaroos in Austria" is now a common tourist souvenir.

Given the strong bilateral relations between Australia and Korea, particularly since the 1980s when both countries worked together to establish APEC, such a blunder would have come as a surprise.

During Ms Gillard's visit to Korea, a free trade agreement (FTA) is expected to be concluded.  As part of an expression of contriteness, there might be an opportunity for Australia to export kimchi to Korea, given the recent cabbage shortages there.

However, Korea's faux pas could be Austria's gain. A presentation by the Austrian Ambassador to Ms Gillard of a correctly measured and made dirndl, declaring her an honorary Austrian, together with an invitation to the Austrian Embassy's national day celebrations would gain incredible mileage in an otherwise low-key bilateral relationship.

The Australian Prime Minister in Austrian dress? This I would like to see. Given her inability to demonstrate any Welsh singing ability, there is an unlikelihood that she would carry the honour of being an 'Austrian' further by singing a few bars of Edelweiss (1). Still, we could be thankful for being spared the image of Mr Tony Abbott dressed in lederhosen.

(1) Contrary to popular belief, the song Edelweiss was only written by Rogers and Hammerstein for The Sound of Music and it has no connection to any Austrian folk song, nor is it the Austrian national anthem.

Pale Blue Dot

Dr Carl Sagan would have turned 76 today but died very much prematurely from myelodysplasia on 20 December 1996.



Dr Sagan is best known for his work on astronomy and his television series Cosmos which was shown world-wide during the 1980s.

Although he did not have the same effect in astronomy as Johannes Kepler, Nicolaus Copernicus, Tycho Brahe or Galileo Galilei (and they were fighting against conventional religious thinking at the time), Dr Sagan brought an understanding of astronomy and science to a lot of people. He was a major proponent of the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence (SETI) project.

"the earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena"

The Goodies - they did anything anywhere any time

The Goodies was a comedy series that was first broadcast on 8 November 1970 (40 years ago) on BBC2. It was also screened in Australia on the ABC, including on repeat even this year. From BBC

The Goodies was the creation of Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie and Tim Brooke-Taylor. Having won a big audience for their children's show, Broaden Your Mind, they were let loose on a series with the simple premise that the trio were an agency offering to do "anything, anywhere, any time" - a premise they abandoned as soon as they could, leaving behind a tale of three very different men, all living in a giant office-cum-laboratory, usually either completely broke or amazingly rich, and always coming up with whacky schemes.

At its best the programme had the wit and inventiveness of a golden-era Tom and Jerry or Warner Brothers cartoon, lightly sprinkled with satire and the odd song.

Visual invention was a particular hallmark, with the team making great use of chroma-key and models for effects like Kitten Kong and the famous sequence in The Movies where attempts by each of the three to make a film (a silent, a western and a Roman epic) at the same time results in a picture that sees them flow rapidly from movie to movie, breaking through frames, busting down genres and bringing in everyone from Charlie Chaplin to Julie Andrews.

Even today, it still makes me laugh.

Here is a trip down memory lane, or in the case of those who had missed out, a taste...

La Sagrada Familia - finally consecrated, but still unfinished

Templo Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia, usually referred to as la Sagrada Familia, designed by renowned architect Antoni Gaudi in the neo-Gothic style, has been under construction in Barcelona since 1882. The Roman Catholic church is not expected to be completed until 2026.

Today, Pope Benedict XVI consecrated the yet unfinished church, and the main nave is now open for daily Mass for the first time.

See BBC News

Reporting by Al Jazeera (in English before consecration)


Reporting by RTVE (in Spanish during consecration)

La Sagrada Familia es desde hoy una basílica

La Sagrada Familia is one of my favourite buildings in the world. The detail on the facade outside is amazing to observe. Of course, there are a number of Gothic cathedrals in Barcelona that are also worth visiting including Catedral de la Santa Cruz y Santa Eulalia.

Bringing home the bacon

Last year I wrote about the micro pig being the latest pet craze in Britain.

It seems that the craze had also taken in Australia, with Chrystal's Mini Pigs being a main breeder-supplier.

The Age (Carolyn Webb) reported about a pet pig named Leroy attending canine obedience classes. Excerpt

Watching 10-week-old Leroy at a Heidelberg park yesterday, it was clear that the dog club's gamble to admit Leroy as its first pig student has succeeded. In a month of private lessons, Ms Behan has taught Leroy to sit, come when called, and push a soccer ball.

She's moving on to tricks such as carrying a bag in his mouth - a challenge because it's not a natural action for a pig.

Despite a short attention span and his poor eyesight, Leroy has nailed some tasks faster than canine students and has a non-aggressive nature.

Katarina Behan, the trainer also wrote in her blog, doglifetraining.com

A number of months ago I was approached to train a pet piglet, named Leroy. I saw this as an amazing opportunity to ‘test’ the method of training I use on dogs, on another species. I had heard that pigs are very intelligent and that they can be trained to perform many different behaviours.

To begin, I wanted to teach Leroy to push a soccer ball around with his nose. In order to do this, I knew I had to use a training tool called a ‘clicker’. Clickers are small hand held tools, with a button or stiff strip of metal that once pushed, it makes a distinct ‘click’ sound. You may have received one as a child in a party bag.

See video


Unlike the British micro pigs, these appear to be slightly bigger. More meat on a spit. Only joking.

Pigs are as intelligent as dogs, if not more so. Pig owners are probably unlikely to keep eating pork. If only ham and bacon weren't so tasty.

Joseph Nye on global power shifts

Joseph Nye, Dean Emeritus of the Kennedy School, Sultan of Oman Professor of International Relations at Harvard University, is still one of the world's foremost thinkers on international relations. He coined the term 'soft power' some twenty years ago.

Here, he spoke at Oxford University in July 2010 about global power shifts including about China.

A serious media correction. Or not.

Haynes, a worldwide publisher of automotive manuals, has published a manual for the USS Enterprise of Star Trek fame, which is already available in the US and UK. Haynes' Australian operation is soon to release it in Australia.

Yesterday, News Limited's online news.com.au, reported that

The 160-page guide covers the entire range of USS Enterprise models, from Captain Jonathan Archer's original NX-01 from the most recent TV series through to the NCC-1701 under the control of Captain Kirk and her replacement, the NNC-1701-E.

The online article attracted a number of comments including criticisms of incorrect information.

Today, news.com.au published a correction titled We're sorry for claiming Captain Kirk was in command of Captain Picard's starship, which began with

* There were many USS Enterprises
* Kirk didn't captain them all
* Patrick Stewart is handsome

YESTERDAY, a news.com.au article incorrectly stated that the Star Trek starship USS Enterprise-E, otherwise known as model NNC-1701-E, was the successor to Captain Kirk's original USS Enterprise.

It has since been brought to our attention that the NNC-1701-E in fact came two models after Captain Kirk retired and was under the command of Captain Jean Luc Picard.

The correction then apologised "unreservedly for the error", linking back to the "original, poorly researched article", which then later included a disclaimer apologising for "any errors in this apology".

Unfortunately, there was not only a typo in the original article, but in the apology - as NNC should actually read NCC. The attracted an even greater number of comments pointing not only this out, but a number of other errors.

However, it might have been intentional - to go along with the photo of Picard's hand gesture and a fake poll on "What's the coolest starship class?".

I can't wait to check out the manual when it is eventually on sale in Australia. As for another apology and correction, I won't hold my breath.

Any media outlet reporting on Star Trek matters should know by now that they should be meticulous with the (fictional) facts as geekdom criticism knows no bounds.

Watching watches 2

Last week, I wrote about the falling sales of watches as revealed by a consumer survey. As a functional item of time-keeping, young people have replaced the watch with other mobile gadgets.

Fitting, then that Dolce & Gabbana have marketed their watches, as fashion accessories.



Of course, to Dolce & Gabbana consumers, it has always been about style. Indeed, for Swatch and most watch brands, marketing has never been about functionality but about fashion.

Perhaps to young people, a watch is just another optional item.

Tintin update

Empire magazine (UK) has published in its latest issue (December 2010, available from news stands in the UK from 4 November), the world's first exclusive stills of the upcoming Tintin film, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn.

Two stills are available online - one showing Captain Haddock speaking to Tintin and another with Tintin and Snowy/Milou gesturing for help from a capsized boat.

The film will be first released in the UK on 26 October 2011, before distribution to other countries.

Beyond reasonable doubt 3

Last year, I wrote twice about the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was executed in 2004 by the state of Texas on charges of murder. Today, questions remain about whether he was actually innocent.

More recently, again in the state of Texas, an inmate named Anthony Graves was finally freed after 18 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. He was also on death row. Melissa Block in All Things Considered on NPR interviewed Pamela Colloff, editor of Texas Monthly who wrote an in-depth article about the case. Extract of the radio transcript

BLOCK: Let's recap this case. Anthony Graves was convicted of capital murder. That conviction was actually overturned 12 years later, but he was awaiting retrial on capital murder charges. Now, the D.A.'s office says, unequivocally, he is an innocent man.

Ms. COLLOFF: Yes. What's interesting is that they say that unequivocally. This is not the sort of situation where a D.A. is saying we don't have enough evidence to move forward or this case is too old to prosecute. There is a remarkable press conference this morning that the district attorney held in Brenham, Texas, in which he and his special prosecutor said this man is innocent. We have absolutely no shred of evidence that connects him to this crime.

BLOCK: Well, how was it that Anthony Graves was first implicated in these murders back in 1992?

Ms. COLLOFF: This began because Robert Carter, the man who did in fact commit this crime and he was later executed for committing this crime, was asked repeatedly on the night of his arrest who had helped him. The Texas rangers who were investigating the case believed that one person could not have been responsible for the murders of six people. Finally, after a lengthy interrogation, Robert Carter came up with the name of Anthony Graves, a person he knew very, very casually, and that was the beginning.

BLOCK: And there was no physical evidence connecting Anthony Graves with the murders. He had an alibi, witnesses to back it up. What is the explanation for what happened with this case? Pamela, was this, as we said, missteps by the D.A., or was it something really more pernicious? Was there a willful misconduct on the part of prosecutors?

Ms. COLLOFF: The night before Robert Carter, the man who committed this crime, took the stand at Anthony Graves' trial, he told the district attorney, I did this myself. Anthony Graves had nothing to do with this. The district attorney at that point was obligated to disclose that information to the defense. He claimed that he did. The defense said that he never disclosed that. And there's no evidence to support that he ever did disclose that information. The following day Robert Carter took the stand, he testified against Anthony Graves and delivered the testimony that the district attorney had hoped he would. A federal court later found that when Mr. Sebesta took that testimony, he knew that that was perjured testimony.

BLOCK: It's worth noting that it was a journalism class engaged in investigating wrongful prosecutions that led to Anthony Graves' original conviction being overturned, right?

Ms. COLLOFF: That's correct. There's a professor here in Houston at University of St. Thomas, Nicole Casarez, she and her journalism students spent eight years investigating this case and turned up some remarkable facts. They went back. They reinvestigated the case. They found new people to talk about what had happened. They pored over this incredible lengthy and complicated court record. And what Nicole and her students put together was a very damning picture of miscarriage of justice.

BLOCK: Anthony Graves was, what, 26 when he was arrested. He leaves prison now at age 45 - 18 years of his life behind bars. What happens with him now?

Ms. COLLOFF: I think that's the question. I talked to him very briefly yesterday, and he said this is the beginning - I think, meaning, this is the beginning of my life or the rest of my life. But keep in mind he will get no money from the state of Texas. He's 45. He has nothing to his name. When he called his mother yesterday to tell her that he was finally being let go, he didn't know how to use his attorney's cell phone. And no amount of money, even if he were being given money, I think could give back what's been taken from him.

BLOCK: Pamela Colloff, it is a chilling and terrifying story. Thank you very much.

This would surely be another case to support the abolition of the death penalty.  Unlike Cameron Todd Willingham, Anthony Graves is now free. And alive.

What is worrying is the miscarriage of justice that allowed him to be imprisoned for so long in the first place. That is a separate issue and just as important.

Watching watches

A consumer survey by Mintel Oxygen revealed that "some 86% of consumers wear a watch, but nearly 40% only buy a new one when their old one is broken". The rest of the report will cost £1500, US$2310 or €1793.

Fortunately, BBC News Magazine was either provided a free copy of the report, or purchased the report, and was able to report that the 14% of consumers not owning a watch claimed they did need one, numbering some 7.2 million people in the United Kingdom and likely to grow due to ownership of mobile phones. Particularly amongst young people.

With wrist watches becoming unpopular with young people, there are concerns that it will become redundant. Obviously, the report could concern watchmakers.

Obviously, some people are under the impression that watches are used to tell the time. This is only a minor useful function. Watches are actually a fashion accessory that should look good.

Nevermind Rolex. The perfect fashionable watches are made by Patek Philippe, particularly the 5004G.

However, I will just have to be satisfied with Longines.

Über Alles nicht

Reported in Der Spiegel

10/26/2010

Diplomatic Gaffe

Chilean President Wrote 'Deutschland Über Alles' in German Guest Book

In a gesture of thanks for Germany's help in rescuing the 33 Chilean miners, President Sebastián Piñera wrote the historically charged slogan 'Deutschland Über Alles' into the guest book of German President Christian Wulff last week. Now Wulff's office is pondering how to remove the words.

Chilean President Sebastián Piñera has apologized for writing the words "Deutschland Über Alles," a phrase frowned on in Germany because of its association with the Nazi era, into the official guest book of German President Christian Wulff during a visit to Berlin last week.

Media reports claimed Piñera had said on Monday that he had learned the slogan in school in the 1950s and 1960s and understood it to be a celebration of German unification in the 19th century under Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. He said he was unaware that it was "linked to that country's dark past."

The first verse was dropped from the anthem after World War II because it is deemed too nationalistic. Piñera had been on a European trip to thank countries for their help in freeing the 33 Chilean miners. A spokesman for Wulff's office played down the gaffe on Monday, saying the president had no doubt intended to express something positive about Germany.

Bild's Loser of the Day

Piñera isn't the only one to have unwittingly broken the taboo. Even experienced Europeans have done so. Last year, the French presidential office was so excited at the prospect that Chancellor Angela Merkel would attend the official celebrations to mark the French victory in World War I, the first German leader ever to do so, that its press department announced that the choir of the French army would sing "Deutschland Über Alles" at the event, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper reported at the time.

The mistake was spotted in time and the choir confined itself to singing the third verse which has been officially used since the end of World War II, starting with the unoffensive words: "Unity and justice and freedom for the German fatherland!"

Bild, Germany's best-selling tabloid newspaper, responded to the faux pas by declaring Piñera as its loser of the day, a regular item on its front page, on Tuesday. "He's better at rescuing miners," the paper declared.

Meanwhile, "Deutschland Über Alles" continues to sully the pages of Wulff's guest book. Wulff's office now plans to discuss the matter with the Chilean embassy in Berlin. Piñera may get a chance to revise his entry.

cro -- wire reports

Most people making this error would be unaware of the sensitivity despite the offensive stanza no longer being used since 1952 and again confirmed upon German reunification in 1990.

Perhaps educating this fact could be part of Germany's usual international public diplomacy.

A timely reminder indeed.

Amazing Amazon's new discoveries

The 10th Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is currently being held in Nagoya, Japan (18-29 October 2010).

To coincide with the event, WWF - World Wide Fund for Nature today launched Amazon Alive!: A Decade of Discoveries 1999-2009, which listed new species including 637 plants, 257 fish, 216 amphibians, 55 reptiles, 16 birds and 39 mammals.

See media release.

New species also included spiders, such as this very attractive one


Avicularia braunshauseni (photo by Karl Csaba for WWF)

Brisbane zombie walk

The fifth Brisbane zombie walk occurred yesterday.  Unfortunately, regular zombie reporter for the ABC, Gary Kemble, was unable to attend. Brisbane Times (Fairfax) reported that some 10,000 zombies shuffled through Brisbane yesterday. Excerpt

The Brisbane Zombie Walk 2010 attracted police car escorts and caused minor traffic delays as about 10,000 people dressed in fake-blood splattered costumes and moaning for brains walked from Wickham Park to Fortitude Valley.

“I do this every year,” said zombie walker Ged Maybury, of Logan, who only started making his costume on Saturday.

“I'm trying to catch up (with the crowd) but I keep having to stop for people to take my photo.”

Paige Vickers heard about the event from her flatmate.

She caught the bus into town covered in red food dye mixed with glucose syrup.

“I didn't care. Half the bus was filled up with zombies. There's thousands of us here,” she said.

Meanwhile blood-splattered bride Vanessa Campbell and her friends found yesterday was a nice day for a white - and red flecked - wedding.

“Who doesn't love dressing up?” she said.

The annual event raises money for the Brain Foundation Australia but organisers say the walk is also for fun and for those “obsessed with the living dead”.

Photos from facebook group

 (photo by Ryan Cunningham)

 (photo by Ellie Marie Whiting)

Here is a video footage, although the zombies appear to be a little too animated


Zombie walks also took place in Sydney, Melbourne and cities around the world.

Six billion stories and counting

Today, Australia's multilingual/multicultural network Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) marked its 30th anniversary of television broadcasting. Its first full-time television transmission began at 6.30pm on 24 October 1980 as Channel 0 in Melbourne and Sydney. The late Mr Bruce Gyngell, who first introduced television to Australia back in 1956, welcomed Australians to the new channel. See below



In 1985, the network then known as Channel 0-28 was renamed SBS and began to expand its coverage nationally.

Today, aside from some local productions, SBS rebroadcasts programs from all over the world, fulfilling its former slogan from 1983 of 'Bringing the world back home'. With the onset of digital broadcasting, there are now two channels, SBS One and SBS Two, with Three and Four reserved.

The news schedule this morning on SBS One looked like this
07:00 Hungarian News from Duna TV (DTV) Budapest
07:30 Latin American News via satellite from Television National de Chile, in Spanish
08:00 Polish News Wydarzenia from Polsat in Warsaw via satellite
08:30 Dutch News via satellite from BVN
09:00 Portuguese News via satellite from RTP Portugal (Lisbon)
09:30 Urdu News from PTV Pakistan in Islamabad
10:00 Maltese News from Public Broadcasting Services Limited, Malta

On weekdays, the news schedule on SBS One includes news from YTN Korea, NHK Tokyo, TVB Hong Kong, CCTV Beijing, DW Berlin, RAI Rome, ABS-CBN Manila, RTVE Madrid, ERT Athens, FT2 Paris, NDTV India, DRTV Dubai, NTV Moscow and TRT Turkey. All up, there are news bulletins from 26 countries in 25 languages.

Tonight, on SBS One is a French film Un vrai bonheur (The Wedding Day) and on SBS Two, two more French films Ensemble, c'est tout (Hunting and Gathering) and La maison de Nina (Nina's Home). During the coming week there are films from Spain, China, Italy, Israel, India, Croatia and Norway. All films are subtitled in English.

Some of the regular series broadcast on SBS that are popular include Kommissar (Inspector) Rex from Austria (in German with English subtitles), police drama Rejseholdet (Unit One, from Denmark, in Danish with English subtitles) and the American South Park, which is deemed too offensive to be shown on the commercial stations.

SBS is wonderful in reminding us that we in Australia are just a small part of a larger world and indeed that Australians come from all parts of the world.

30 years on, SBS television is as relevant as ever if not more so. It is unique in being the only national (public-funded with some advertising revenue) multilingual/multicultural broadcaster in the world.

The world is an amazing place.

The ugly face of Islamaphobia

From (US) ABC News

The Sept. 11 attacks, the Iraq war and suicide bombings worldwide have changed not only the way we live but the way we look at those around us, especially Muslims. "Islamophobia" has entered the American vernacular, and the anti-Muslim attitudes and prejudice it describes remain common.

But what if you witnessed "Islamophobia" in action and saw someone being victimized because of someone else's prejudices? What would you do?

As the father, of a soldier just returned home from serving in Iraq, said "every person deserves to be treated with respect and dignity".

Terry Durack's top 50 food experiences in Sydney

Terry Durack is a well known Australian food reviewer/critic. He was the Sydney Morning Herald's chief food reviewer and editor of The Sydney Morning Good Food Guide for many years before leaving Sydney in 2000 to work in London as food critic for The Independent. He returned to Sydney with partner Jill Dupliex (who was food editor for The Times) in 2009, again as food reviewer for the Sydney Morning Herald.

He recently wrote about the 50 things every Sydney food lover should try.

While there are some pricey ones, most are relatively reasonably priced, if not cheap. I like these and will add them to my list of things to do in Sydney

4. Wagyu burger and Martinez cocktail at Rockpool Bar & Grill
Every great bar has its perfect order. Here, it's the wagyu burger and a Martinez, the not-so-dry precursor to the dry martini. Settle into a dark leather chair in the lovely dimly lit bar – you'll need a candle to scan the menu – and hit on David Blackmore's full-blood wagyu burger with Schulz house-smoked bacon, gruyère cheese, Zuni pickle (zucchini and red onion) and relish ($22). Match it with the Martinez ($19), made of sweet vermouth, Tanqueray gin, bitters and a splash of maraschino. 66 Hunter Street, city. Phone: 8078 1900. rockpool.com.au

28. Pho dac biet from Pho Pasteur
The decor and service are basic but the special beef noodle soup ($9.50) is just that – special, with its silky rice noodles, slices of beef, tripe and translucent tendon awash in an aromatic broth. 295 Chapel Road, Bankstown (also at Haymarket and Parramatta). Phone: 9790 2900.

34. Xiao long bao dumplings from Din Tai Fung
Half the fun is watching the white-gowned, white-masked staff make these little porkand soup-filled dumplings ($8.80 for six) in the seethrough kitchen while you wait for a table. The other half is eating them. World Square, 644 George Street, city. Phone: 9264 6010. dintaifung.com.tw/en/index.asp

35. Tonkotsu ramen from Gumshara
It's worth hanging around once you've put your order in for this seriously thick, lipsticking pork broth swimming with ramen noodles ($12) just to watch chef Mori's assured technique as he swirls broth, strains noodles and tucks in barbecue pork and soft-boiled egg at speed with utter concentration. Eating World, 25 Dixon Street, Haymarket. No phone.

36. Hainanese chicken rice from Temasek
The uninitiated may ask what is so special about a simple Malaysian dish of chicken served with a bowl of the broth in which the chicken is poached, along with a mound of rice cooked in the same broth ($12). Temasek's regulars know better. 71 George Street, Parramatta. Phone: 9633 9926.

There were others on Durack's list that did not take my fancy, such as the famous pie with mushy peas from Harry's Cafe de Wheels (number 30 on his list). I tried it once but found the cold mushy peas unappealing.

Bayerndeutschsprechen

I speak German like a country hick from the south - Bavaria. Needless to say, many Germans from the north, especially Berlin, and proper Hochdeutsch speakers treat Bavarians and Austrians with bemusement.

From NDR (based in Hamburg. In the north)


How rude!

Not the Eurostar

In late 1994, the first direct rail service between London (Waterloo Station) and Paris (Gare du Nord) and Brussels (Midi/Zuid) commenced. Named Eurostar, the train travelled under the English Channel through the newly built Channel Tunnel.

Since, then the Eurostar service has had a monopoly in the use of rail services through the tunnel with the London terminus switching to St Pancras Sation.

New EU legislation has opened up the route to competition with Germany's Deutsche Bahn (DB) rail operator pushing to compete with Eurostar.

An ICE (Inter City Express) train arrived at St Pancras Station today on a test run.

ICE alongside Eurostar at Waterloo (photo from dpa via Der Speigel)

DB hopes to offer services in time for the London Olympics in 2012, with regular services from 2013. A journey from London to Frankfurt would take five hours.

See
- Deutsche Welle
- Daily Mail

Having travelled on Eurostar from London to Brussels, I am looking forward to the London-Frankfurt route on ICE.

Hipsters 2 (everybody hates them, even other hipsters)

In August, I wrote that Hipsters are today's alternative counter-culture fashionable wannabes.

Alex Rayner in The Guardian wrote about why people hate hipsters "Hipster-hate blogs are multiplying online. But who are these much-maligned trendies – and why do people find them so irritating? Perhaps we should learn to love our skinny-jeaned friends instead" Excerpt

Nevertheless, from London to Lima, Sydney to Mexico City, detractors might not know exactly what a hipster is, but they do know what they don't like: a tiresome sort of trendy, ostentatious in their perceived rebellion, yet strangely conformist; meticulous in their tastes, yet also strangely limited. Squatting somewhere between MGMT, The Inbetweeners and Derek Zoolander, this modern incarnation is all mouth and skinny trousers.

Read more (the article has numerous links to interesting websites).

Since 9 September 2010, a video mocking hipsters has received over three million views.



Hipsters are surely the new Bohemians, except that they are cashed-up and more self-centred. So did emos evolve or are do they still exist and missing the attention?

Everybody Wants to Rule the World

Everybody Wants to Rule the World was a worldwide hit for British group Tears for Fears in 1985. Curt Smith on vocals.



There is something comforting about this song. To me, it represents the zeitgeist of the 1980s.

The world's longest railway tunnel

AlpTransit Gotthard AG, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB-CFF-FFS), is currently building the world's longest railway tunnel. From their communiqué of 15 October 2010

World record on the Gotthard: The longest railway tunnel in the world has become a reality. On 15 October 2010 in the east tunnel, 30 km from the north portal and 27 km from the south portal, the final breakthrough of the Gotthard took place. At about 14:30, the tunnel boring machine, drilling from Faido, broke through the last metre of rock on the route to Sedrun.

The tunnel breakthrough was highly accurate. At 8 cm horizontally and 1 cm vertically, the deviation was very small. In his speech, Federal Councillor Moritz Leuenberger expressed pleasure, but was also moved by this important milestone on the Gotthard: “This breakthrough is a symbol of what policy can do, when we make it together,” he said. The new base tunnel will make Swiss – and also European – transport policy more sustainable. Renzo Simoni, Chief Executive Officer of AlpTransit Gotthard AG, singled out the numerous miners in his thanks. “Through their years of tireless commitment, they have made this world record possible. The miners are the heroes of today’s celebrations.”

Guests and miners are very happy

At the breakthrough point deep inside the mountain, a little over 6 km south of Sedrun, about 200 people, including Transport Minister Moritz Leuenberger and other guests of honour, witnessed the breakthrough by the tunnel boring machine. About 3500 miners and others involved in the project, including current and former engineers, planners, geologists and surveyors, followed the breakthrough on big screens at various venues: the Sedrun workshop, the Faido multifunction station, the north portal in Erstfeld, and the KKL in Lucerne. Swiss TV broadcast the event live throughout Switzerland and internationally

Importance for transport policy

The 57 km Gotthard base tunnel traverses the Alps, connecting the north portal in Erstfeld (Canton Uri) with the south portal in Bodio (Canton Ticino). With a rock overburden of up to 2500 m, the Gotthard base tunnel is also the most deeply set rail tunnel in the world. Together with the 15.4 km Ceneri base tunnel, the Gotthard base tunnel will provide a level track through the Alps. The base tunnel through the Gotthard is the core of the new rail connection. It is planned to become operational by the end of 2017. This will markedly improve passenger and freight transport at the heart of Europe: it will favour the shift of north-south freight traffic from road to rail, and shorten the journey time from Zurich to Milan from 3 hours 40 minutes to 2 hours 50 minutes. With the New Rail Link through the Alps (NRLA) on the Gotthard and the Lötschberg, Switzerland is contributing significantly to bring the people of Europe together – something the EU acknowledges.

Building the Gotthard base tunnel

The Gotthard base tunnel consists of two parallel single-track tubes, which are connected every 325 m by 40 m galleries. Overall, the tunnel system of the Gotthard base tunnel, including all tubes, shafts and galleries, measures 151.8 km. One and two thirds of the way along, at Faido and Sedrun, there are multifunction stations, which serve as emergency stopping points and places to change track. The Gotthard base tunnel was built simultaneously in five sections: Erstfeld, Amsteg, Sedrun, Faido and Bodio. The first works were carried out back in 1993, with the Piora exploratory boring, and from 1996 to 1998 with the blasting of the access shafts in Sedrun, Faido and Amsteg. Since 2001, the main lots have been constructed. The final breakthrough in the west tube is planned to take place in April 2011.

The previous longest railway tunnel was the undersea Seikan Tunnel at 53.85 kilometres (33.46 miles) linking the Japanese islands of Honshū and Hokkaidō.

Images by Reuters via PicApp




See AP reporting (video)


In comparison, the Channel Tunnel (under the English Channel) is 50.45 kilometres. The proposed Gilbraltar tunnel linking Europe to Africa (via Spain and Morocco) would be 40 kilometres.

Travelling through the mountainous Swiss Alps by rail or car is a wonderful experience, through tunnels that are marvellous feats of engineering. 

The most expensive residence in the world

According to The Times of India (reported by Reeba Zachariah), Mr Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries, India's largest private sector company, with a personal estimated wealth of US$27 billion, is set to move into his new mansion. With a price nearing US$1 billion and named Antilia,

the 27-storey building completed after seven years of labour, has three helipads on the top floor and has been billed as the most opulent home of an individual anywhere in the world.

The glass tower that stands 570 feet tall features a swimming pool, a health club, a salon and a mini-theatre. The first six levels comprise the garage where more than 160 cars can be parked. Atop the parking lot is Antilia's lobby, which has nine elevators.

The lobby leads to numerous lounges, powder rooms and a ballroom. The top floors, with a sweeping view of the city, are where the 53-year old business magnate, his wife Nita and children Akash, Anant and Isha will reside.

Further reported in The Times (republished in The Australian), Rhys Blakely made a poignant observation

Looking over a city where more than half the population lives in slums, it is a soaring monument to the growing chasm dividing India's rich and poor.

For many, however, the gleaming tower will be an uncomfortable reminder that India's economic renaissance has delivered extraordinary benefits to a handful of hugely wealthy "Bollygarchs" but little to the 800 million Indians who live on not much more than $2 a day.

Mumbai suffers from a chronic shortage of quality homes, and visitors arriving at its airport are greeted by a seemingly endless patchwork of mottled tin and blue tarpaulin - the construction materials of the city's slum-builders. For decades, the slums have existed next to the luxurious bungalows and high-rises of India's super-rich - but not even the maharajas of past centuries exhibited the opulence of Mukesh Ambani, critics say.

Yes.  It is possible to have too much money. Such ostentatious displays of wealth in the face of poverty is a matter for residents of Mumbai to discuss.

Last Minutes with Oden (Vimeo Festival Best Video)

Last week, I wrote about Last Minutes with Oden and the Vimeo Festival. It was one of the finalists across a number of categories.

During the festival this past weekend, the film was awarded Best Video along with $25,000 towards new work.  Blogged by Blake Whitman for the festival and awards team

When Eliot Rausch stepped up to the podium to accept the award for the Documentary category, his shock and appreciation were obvious. Later, when he returned to accept the award for Best Video and the $25,000 grant towards his future work, his genuine gratitude moved us just as much as his film.

Here is the film again.


Last Minutes with ODEN from phos pictures on Vimeo.

It is the story of Jason Wood and his dog Oden, towards the end of Oden's life (warning of euthanasia scene).

See additional reporting by NPR. 

Dame Joan Sutherland 1926-2010

Dame Joan Sutherland (7 November 1926 - 10 October 2010)

She was one of the finest sopranos in the world and in history. Luciano Pavarotti, who worked with Dame Joan in numerous operas, described her as having the "the voice of the century".

The Australian Prime Minister issued a statement (in the third person)

The Prime Minister today joined Australians around the nation to mourn the death of Dame Joan Sutherland - a great Australian and one of the nation's greatest voices.

Dame Joan Sutherland died peacefully at the age of 83 with her family by her side in Switzerland.

Dame Joan will be remembered by opera lovers for her extraordinary performances that kept audiences around the world spellbound.

She was widely regarded as one of the finest opera singers of the 20th century, so much so that Luciano Pavarotti once described her as 'the voice of the century'.

The Prime Minister said it was right for the nation to also celebrate the life of Dame Joan who made a tremendous contribution to her nation, to opera and the arts.

Dame Joan touched the lives of so many people around the world, yet never lost sight of her Australian upbringing and her many admirers at home.

She was generous in teaching and supporting new generations of singers and musicians, and until recently could be seen in the audiences of productions in Australia.

The Prime Minister offered her condolences to her husband Richard, son Adam and their extended family at this difficult time.

Born in Sydney in 1926, Dame Joan made her British debut in the Magic Flute in October 1952. Her 40 year career included a 19 minute standing ovation for her performance in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor in 1959.

She was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1979 a Companion of the Order of Australia in 1975, Australian of the Year in 1961 and received an Order of Merit in 1991.

Amongst my favourite opera recordings are those with Sutherland in Lucia di Lammermoor and La Traviata (both with Pavarotti).




Lucia di Lammermoor (a veranno a te sull'aure)


La Traviata (sempre libera)


Addio, stupenda

The Great Typo Hunt

Just over two years ago, I wrote about the Typo Eradication Advancement League. Much has happened since then.

It resulted in The Great Type Hunt and a book. You can listen to a story from NPR back in August 2010 (transcript).

More recently, CBS News featured a story about it.

10/10/10 10.10am

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Grover. From Sesame Street. Still. Cute.

Grover's take on the Old Spice commercial



The original

The right to dry.

A battle is raging across the United States by people fighting for the right to dry their laundry naturally outside on clotheslines.



See Drying for Freedom (trailer of film above)

Tens of millions of individuals across Northern America are banned from outdoor line drying by the very communities they live in, forcing them to turn to the dryer. Homeowners who break the rules are fined, sued and even foreclosed on. This ban is not only infringing on civil rights, it's contributing to the environmental and energy crisis. The dryer is responsible for 6% of the average household's energy bill and it costs residential ratepayers in the US an estimated $5 billion annually.

The right to dry movement embodied by Project Laundry List was founded following a speech by former Australian Dr Helen Caldicott.

See also Chicago Tribune and BBC News Magazine.

The concept of not being allowed to dry clothes outdoors is unthinkable in Australia, where the rotary clothesline known as the Hills Hoist was invented.

headline of the month

From Reuters

Michael Jackson scarecrows get Taiwan birds to beat it

Similarly, from ABC News (Australia) reprinting the article from Reuters but modifying the headline (they are good with puns).

Jacko scarecrows get birds to beat it

The story was about a rice farmer in Taiwan dressing a scarecrow as Michael Jackson. Reuters could have had a bit more fun but only gave one more fun sentence.

But not everyone in the family thinks the scarecrow idea is a thriller.

You know I'm bad, I'm bad...

A parliament of owls and other collective nouns

Most people know about a pride of lions, a flock of sheep, a herd of cattle, a school of fish, an army of ants, a bunch of flowers, a swarm of bees, and a coven of witches in describing a collective.

Logically, a bunch of roosting owls might be described as a school of owls but no, they are a parliament. Perhaps the school came from Harry Potter.

Collective nouns are now rarely used except for the most common. Lists of collective nouns can be found here and here.

If in doubt, just use the word bunch.

Last Minutes with Oden (Vimeo Festival)

Over 8-9 October (this weekend), Vimeo is hosting the Vimeo Festival in New York City. Viewers can view finalists in each category (five in each of narrative, remix, original series, documentary, music video, animation, motion graphics, experimental and captured) and vote for them.

The Best Video Award will be selected from across all the categories and the winner awarded a $25,000 grant to produce new work.

Last Minutes with Oden by Eliot Rausch, Lukas Korver and Matt Taylor of Phos Pictures is one of the five finalists in the documentary category.


Last Minutes with ODEN from phos pictures on Vimeo.

It is the story of Jason Wood and his dog Oden, towards the end of Oden's life (warning of euthanasia scene).

Really worth watching.

See NPR.

An explanation of trans-dimensional engineering

or why the inside of the TARDIS is bigger than the outside.



From The Robots of Death, the Doctor explains to Leela, who had just joined him as a companion following The Face of Evil.

Seeing the forest for the trees

The Curtain Fig Tree (strangler fig species Fichus virens), just outside the small township of Yungaburra on the Atherton Tableland near Cairns (in north Queensland, Australia) has been a tourist attraction for many generations.

(photo from Tropic Wings, a great tour company)

It might seem strange to travel some distance to view one tree but many people appreciate natural beauty.

Just outside San Francisco is Muir Woods, another attraction, which is a tree-lovers paradise.

2010 Ig Nobel awards

The Ig Nobel is awarded to researchers, whose research should not be repeated. The 2010 winners, announced on 30 September 2010 at Harvard University were

ENGINEERING PRIZE: Karina Acevedo-Whitehouse and Agnes Rocha-Gosselin of the Zoological Society of London, UK, and Diane Gendron of Instituto Politecnico Nacional, Baja California Sur, Mexico, for perfecting a method to collect whale snot, using a remote-control helicopter.
REFERENCE: "A Novel Non-Invasive Tool for Disease Surveillance of Free-Ranging Whales and Its Relevance to Conservation Programs," Karina Acevedo-Whitehouse, Agnes Rocha-Gosselin and Diane Gendron, Animal Conservation, vol. 13, no. 2, April 2010, pp. 217-25.
WHO ATTENDED THE CEREMONY: Karina Acevedo-Whitehouse, Agnes Rocha-Gosselin, Diane Gendron

MEDICINE PRIZE: Simon Rietveld of the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and Ilja van Beest of Tilburg University, The Netherlands, for discovering that symptoms of asthma can be treated with a roller-coaster ride.
REFERENCE: "Rollercoaster Asthma: When Positive Emotional Stress Interferes with Dyspnea Perception," Simon Rietveld and Ilja van Beest, Behaviour Research and Therapy, vol. 45, 2006, pp. 977–87.
WHO ATTENDED THE CEREMONY: Simon Rietveld and Ilja van Beest

TRANSPORTATION PLANNING PRIZE: Toshiyuki Nakagaki, Atsushi Tero, Seiji Takagi, Tetsu Saigusa, Kentaro Ito, Kenji Yumiki, Ryo Kobayashi of Japan, and Dan Bebber, Mark Fricker of the UK, for using slime mold to determine the optimal routes for railroad tracks.
REFERENCE: "Rules for Biologically Inspired Adaptive Network Design," Atsushi Tero, Seiji Takagi, Tetsu Saigusa, Kentaro Ito, Dan P. Bebber, Mark D. Fricker, Kenji Yumiki, Ryo Kobayashi, Toshiyuki Nakagaki, Science, Vol. 327. no. 5964, January 22, 2010, pp. 439-42.
[NOTE: THE FOLLOWING ARE CO-WINNERS BOTH THIS YEAR AND IN 2008 when they were awarded an Ig Nobel Prize for demonstrating that slime molds can solve puzzles: Toshiyuki Nakagaki, Ryo Kobayashi, Atsushi Tero]
WHO ATTENDED THE CEREMONY: Toshiyuki Nakagaki, Kentaro Ito, Atsushi Tero, Mark Fricker, Dan Bebber

PHYSICS PRIZE: Lianne Parkin, Sheila Williams, and Patricia Priest of the University of Otago, New Zealand, for demonstrating that, on icy footpaths in wintertime, people slip and fall less often if they wear socks on the outside of their shoes.
REFERENCE: "Preventing Winter Falls: A Randomised Controlled Trial of a Novel Intervention," Lianne Parkin, Sheila Williams, and Patricia Priest, New Zealand Medical Journal. vol. 122, no, 1298, July 3, 2009, pp. 31-8.
WHO ATTENDED THE CEREMONY: Lianne Parkin

PEACE PRIZE: Richard Stephens, John Atkins, and Andrew Kingston of Keele University, UK, for confirming the widely held belief that swearing relieves pain.
REFERENCE: "Swearing as a Response to Pain," Richard Stephens, John Atkins, and Andrew Kingston, Neuroreport, vol. 20 , no. 12, 2009, pp. 1056-60.
WHO ATTENDED THE CEREMONY: Richard Stephens

PUBLIC HEALTH PRIZE: Manuel Barbeito, Charles Mathews, and Larry Taylor of the Industrial Health and Safety Office, Fort Detrick, Maryland, USA, for determining by experiment that microbes cling to bearded scientists.
REFERENCE: "Microbiological Laboratory Hazard of Bearded Men," Manuel S. Barbeito, Charles T. Mathews, and Larry A. Taylor, Applied Microbiology, vol. 15, no. 4, July 1967, pp. 899–906. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC547091/?tool=pubmed>
WHO ATTENDED THE CEREMONY: Manuel S. Barbeito was unable to travel, due to health reasons. A representative read his acceptance speech for him.

ECONOMICS PRIZE: The executives and directors of Goldman Sachs, AIG, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, and Magnetar for creating and promoting new ways to invest money — ways that maximize financial gain and minimize financial risk for the world economy, or for a portion thereof.

CHEMISTRY PRIZE: Eric Adams of MIT, Scott Socolofsky of Texas A&M University, Stephen Masutani of the University of Hawaii, and BP [British Petroleum], for disproving the old belief that oil and water don't mix.
REFERENCE: "Review of Deep Oil Spill Modeling Activity Supported by the Deep Spill JIP and Offshore Operator’s Committee. Final Report," Eric Adams and Scott Socolofsky, 2005.
<http://www.boemre.gov/tarprojects/377.htm>
WHO ATTENDED THE CEREMONY: Eric Adams, Scott Socolofsky, and Stephen Masutani

MANAGEMENT PRIZE: Alessandro Pluchino, Andrea Rapisarda, and Cesare Garofalo of the University of Catania, Italy, for demonstrating mathematically that organizations would become more efficient if they promoted people at random.
REFERENCE: “The Peter Principle Revisited: A Computational Study,” Alessandro Pluchino, Andrea Rapisarda, and Cesare Garofalo, Physica A, vol. 389, no. 3, February 2010, pp. 467-72.
WHO ATTENDED THE CEREMONY: Alessandro Pluchino, Andrea Rapisarda, and Cesare Garofalo.

BIOLOGY PRIZE: Libiao Zhang, Min Tan, Guangjian Zhu, Jianping Ye, Tiyu Hong, Shanyi Zhou, and Shuyi Zhang of China, and Gareth Jones of the University of Bristol, UK, for scientifically documenting fellatio in fruit bats.
REFERENCE: "Fellatio by Fruit Bats Prolongs Copulation Time," Min Tan, Gareth Jones, Guangjian Zhu, Jianping Ye, Tiyu Hong, Shanyi Zhou, Shuyi Zhang and Libiao Zhang, PLoS ONE, vol. 4, no. 10, e7595.
WHO ATTENDED THE CEREMONY: Gareth Jones

Compare to 2009 - I wrote about it then.

It is so tempting to read some of the research references.