“Lives Worth Living”

Ed Roberts, disabilities rights activist and pioneer

“Lives Worth Living” is an amazing documentary that has needed to exist for many years. When most of us think about the progress in the 20th century of civil rights we think of race and gender, and now sexual orientation and gender identity. We still often fail to acknowledge the extraordinary movement for rights for people with disabilities.

The film begins with the story of Ed Roberts, who contracted polio at the age of fourteen in 1953. This was two years before the discovery of the Salk vaccine would begin to bring an end to outbreaks of this debilitating illness. Ed was nearly completely paralyzed from the neck down with the exception of two fingers and a couple of toes. He slept in an iron lung at night.

He initially attended school by phone until his mother Zona challenged this mediocre offering and fought for him to attend at least one day a week. He was almost prevented from graduating from high school because he had not completed the physical and drivers education requirements.

His mother took it all the way to the state department of education to get his diploma.

He was admitted to University of California Berkeley, where “one of the UC Berkeley deans famously commented, “We’ve tried cripples before and it didn’t work;” but other Berkeley administrators supported his admission and expressed the opinion that, “the University should be doing more.”” He was forced to reside in the school’s infirmary because of the size of his iron lung, but convinced the administration to treat it like a dormitory, and eventually other students with disabilities joined him.

“The group developed a sense of identity and elan and began to formulate a political analysis of disability, they began calling themselves the “Rolling Quads” to the surprise of some non-disabled observers who had never before heard a positive sense of disability identity expressed before. In 1968 when two of the Rolling Quads were threatened with eviction from the Cowell Residence Program by an authoritarian Rehabilitation Counselor, the Rolling Quads organized a successful ‘revolt’ that led to the counselor’s transfer.

Their success on campus inspired the group to begin advocating for curb cuts, opening access to the wider community; and to create the Physically Disabled Student’s Program (PDSP) – the first student led disability services program in the country. Ed Roberts flew 3000 miles from California to Washington DC with no respiratory support in order to attend a conference at the start-up of the federal TRIO program through which the PDSP later secured funding. The PDSP provided services including attendant referral and wheelchair repair to students at the University, but it was soon taking calls from people with disabilities with the same concerns who were not students.

He earned B.A. (1964) and M.A. (1966) degrees from UC Berkeley in Political Science. He became an official Ph.D. Candidate (C.Phil.) in political science at Berkeley in 1969, but did not complete his Ph.D.

…The need to serve the wider community led to the creation of the Berkeley Center for Independent Living (CIL), the first independent living service and advocacy program run by and for people with disabilities.

From the documentary, his mother explains that “independent meant that Ed would choose the people who worked for him. He would choose when to go to bed and when to get up, what to wear, what to eat, where to go. that’s being independent and that’s the opposite of being in an institution…It’s a powerful concept.”

“It’s an integrated future.” Living together in the community.

“…He was teaching political science at an “alternative college,” but returned to Berkeley to assume leadership of the fledgling organization. He guided the CIL’s rapid growth during a decisive time for the emerging disability rights movement. The CIL provided a model for a new kind of community organization designed to address the needs and concerns of people with a wide range of disabilities.”

From his obituary in the New York Times:
“The CIL, which furthered a nuts-and-bolts approach to solving the problems of people with disabilities, including help in modifying cars and vans to enable them to drive. A referral service was organized to develop a pool of reliable aides to help disabled people bathe, eat and dress.

The group campaigned to remove provisions of Federal laws that discouraged the disabled from working. He also led campaigns demanding access to public transportation and seating aboard buses and trains.

In 1975, Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. of California named Mr. Roberts to head the State Department of Rehabilitation. As director until 1983, he oversaw a staff of more than 2,500 employees and a budget of $140 million. The department now finances 28 state independent-living centers based on models that he developed.

Mr. Roberts helped found the World Institute on Disability in 1983. He traveled to Russia, Australia, Japan and France to raise public awareness on the philosophy of independent living for the disabled. In 1984 he received a MacArthur Foundation grant that he used to pay for his activities with the institute.

In a 1991 book “Rescues: The Lives of Heroes,” the author, Michael Lesy, said Mr. Roberts was one of nine people who defined heroism. Mr. Lesy wrote, “What a black man like Bob Moses had been in the civil rights movement or a woman like Betty Friedan had been for the feminists, Ed Roberts was for the disabled.”

Roberts died on March 14, 1995, at the age of 56.”

Zona Roberts speaks to the crowd in front of the building named for her son

In 2011 a multi-agency independent living center, known as the Ed Roberts Campus, had its grand opening.

And the World Institute on Disability (WID) continues on with its mission “in communities and nations worldwide to eliminate barriers to full social integration and increase employment, economic security and health care for persons with disabilities. WID creates innovative programs and tools; conducts research, public education, training and advocacy campaigns; and provides technical assistance.”

The most recent news on their website details the production of “the blueprint for a set of self-directed learning tools on employment and benefits to support planning and decision-making for veterans, family members, and the people who work with them. These products make possible the planned development of a web-based, real-time benefits information service, Veterans Benefits 101. Founder Ed Roberts will be inducted into the California Hall of Fame at a ceremony on December 8, 2011 and part of an exhibition at the California Museum in Sacramento from Dec. 9, 2011 through Oct. 31, 2012.

They’ve got several ongoing projects but one that caught my eye is:

Georgian Wheelchair Production Network

Funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), WID’s International Program launched in 2009 a 3-year project in the Republic of Georgia. Working in partnership with Whirlwind Wheelchair International (WWI) and the Coalition for Independent Living in Georgia, along with their regional member organizations, the Association of Disabled Women and Mothers of Disabled Children in Zugdidi and the Association of Gori Disabled Club, the project is setting up a sustainable wheelchair production and repair facility in Tbilisi; a postural support seating and cushion service; networked wheelchair sales, distribution and repair businesses in Gori and Zugdidi; a mobility, self-care, and advocacy skills training system for

Wheelchair riders will be assessed, their final measurements recorded and wheelchairs will be made in order to fit the individual rider completely which is very important for wheelchair users.

men and women who use wheelchairs; and business and advocacy networks between disability communities in Georgia. The project will also conduct advocacy, public education, and community accessibility barrier removal activities in Tbilisi, Gori and Zugdidi. Most of the factory workers and advocacy team members are people with disabilities, and almost all are wheelchair users.

The factory will produce a minimum of 1,000 low-cost, high-quality Whirlwind RoughRider™ indoor-outdoor wheelchairs and, eventually, other assistive mobility devices for Georgian wheelchair users. The Association of Gori Disabled Club will make pressure relieving wheelchair cushions, and local professionals at the Children’s Center for Rehabilitation will be trained in adaptive seating and will fit and produce supported seating for children in wheelchairs.

The advocacy teams will conduct peer support groups, regional mobility and self-help skills camps for wheelchair users, and disability awareness and community access/barrier-removal trainings and roundtables to educate NGO staff, media professionals, teachers, government officials, lawyers, and architects about the need to improve community access; improve access to key public buildings by identifying and removing barriers; increase public awareness via organizing disability film exhibitions, media and poster competitions, and the production of a public education video to be shown at film exhibitions and on Georgian national television as well as a public service announcement for broadcast on local radio stations on community accessibility and a barrier-free environment; and host National Forums on Community Accessibility for government officials and lawmakers, professionals, media, and persons with mobility impairments and their families on issues and lessons learned in Georgia and to discuss strategies for implementation of legislation promoting a barrier free environment.”

Now that’s what I call a pretty damn good life!

Earth | Time Lapse View from Space | Fly Over | Nasa, ISS

Time lapse sequences of photographs taken with a special low-light 4K-camera
by the crew of expedition 28 & 29 onboard the International Space Station from
August to October, 2011.

HD, refurbished, smoothed, retimed, denoised, deflickered, cut, etc.

Music: Jan Jelinek | Do Dekor, faitiche back2001
w+p by Jan Jelinek, published by Betke Edition
janjelinek.com | faitiche.de

Editing: Michael König | koenigm.com

Image Courtesy of the Image Science & Analysis Laboratory,
NASA Johnson Space Center, The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth
eol.jsc.nasa.gov

Shooting locations in order of appearance:

1. Aurora Borealis Pass over the United States at Night
2. Aurora Borealis and eastern United States at Night
3. Aurora Australis from Madagascar to southwest of Australia
4. Aurora Australis south of Australia
5. Northwest coast of United States to Central South America at Night
6. Aurora Australis from the Southern to the Northern Pacific Ocean
7. Halfway around the World
8. Night Pass over Central Africa and the Middle East
9. Evening Pass over the Sahara Desert and the Middle East
10. Pass over Canada and Central United States at Night
11. Pass over Southern California to Hudson Bay
12. Islands in the Philippine Sea at Night
13. Pass over Eastern Asia to Philippine Sea and Guam
14. Views of the Mideast at Night
15. Night Pass over Mediterranean Sea
16. Aurora Borealis and the United States at Night
17. Aurora Australis over Indian Ocean
18. Eastern Europe to Southeastern Asia at Night

And now for something completely different! NEU! in fact

For those unfamiliar with German rock of the ’70s, NEU! was former by two members of Kraftwerk in Düsseldorf in 1971. They are best known for being influences on David Bowie, Joy Division, Gary Numan, Sonic Youth, Stereolab, Radiohead, and basically all of electronic music, but especially IDM.

From AllMusic.com:

“multi-instrumentalists Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger both split from Kraftwerk. Recorded in the space of four days with Can producer Conrad Plank, the duo’s self-titled debut appeared early in 1972 and quickly established their affection for minimalist melodies and lock-groove rhythms.”

The 5th track on the album, Negativland, is a stone cold groove. I once shoveled the snow from my front steps once while listening to it and it was both a meditative, invigorating and funky experience.

From Thom Jurek’s review on AllMusic, “Neu! created a sound that was literally made for cruising in an automobile…  Dinger‘s mechanical, cut time drumming and Rother‘s two-note bass runs adorned with cleverly manipulated and dreamy guitar riffs and fills were the hallmarks of the “motorik” sound that would become the band’s trademark.

On “Hallogallo”, which opens the disc, the listener encounters a timeless rock & roll sound world. The driving guitar playing one chord in different cadences and rhythmic patters, the four-snare to the floor pulse with a high hat and bass drum for ballast, and a bassline that is used more for keeping the drummer on time than as a rhythm instrument in its own right. These are draped in Rother‘s liquidy, cascading single note drones and runs, so even as the tune’s momentum propels the listener into a movement oriented robotic dance, the guitar’s lyrical economy brings an aesthetic beauty into the mix that opens the space up from inside. …

All hell breaks loose again on Dinger‘s “Negativland” as an industrial soundscape eventually gives way to a bass and guitar squall as darkly enticing as anything on Joy Division‘s Unknown Pleasures. It’s really obvious now how the JD’s sound was influenced by this simply and darkly delicious brew of noise, bass throb, percussive hypnosis, and an oddly placed, strangely under-mixed, guitar.

Neu!’s debut album was driving music for the apocalypse in 1971.”

“Their second album, Neu! 2, features some of the earliest examples of musical remixes. The band, excited to record another album, decided to expand their limits by purchasing several instruments. With the money they had left as an advance from the record company, they could only record half an album’s worth of material. The company would not increase their advance because the first album did not sell anywhere close to well and the label did not see a reason to further finance what was most likely to become a flop. To rectify the lack of material, the band filled the second side with manipulated versions of their already released single, “Neuschnee”/”Super”, playing back each song at different speeds and sometimes warbling the music by messing with the tape machine or placing the record off center on the turntable. The song “Super 16,” unwittingly, became the theme song to the 1976 martial arts cult
classic Master of the Flying Guillotine by Jimmy Wang Yu. This film was later referenced by Quentin Tarantino in Kill Bill (Volume 1) by also featuring the track “Super 16”.
Dinger and Rother were both very different when they were left to their own devices, and this led to their final album of the 1970s, Neu! ’75. Side One was Rother’s more ambient productions which were similar to the first album, albeit more keyboard driven. Side Two (particularly the song “Hero”) was acknowledged as important influence by many later involved in the UK’s punk rock scene, with Dinger’s sneering, unintelligible vocals searing across a distorted Motorik beat with aggressive single chord guitar poundings.

From Jim DeRogatis, of WBEZ in Chicago, a great subsection from his History of Psychedelic Rock, Turn On Your Mind  is available on the WBEZ website. He gives a context and an explanation of how this music captured the minds of so many and influenced them to make fascinating music.

Theirs is music for the present — alive, urgent, bursting with energy, and demanding to be played. Neu! are as relevant today as they were a decade ago. — David Elliott, liner notes to Black Forest Gateu, 1982

In Germany, there is no speed limit. The most culturally myopic American knows this but tends to envision futuristic superhighways criss-crossing the country. In fact, the autobahns were built by Hitler to provide a system for quick and easy troop transport, and they have only two lanes running in either direction. They are simple but efficient blacktops cutting through the countryside, unobtrusive intrusions of modernity in the rolling green hillsides. Neu! is the sound of driving late at night on these quiet, empty roads. The white lines move toward the headlights with mechanical regularity, in time to the steady speed of the car. They are the only thing you see, but the Fatherland is out there in the darkness. You can feel it.

The roots of Neu! are intertwined with those of another great German band, Kraftwerk. Ralf Hƒ¼tter and Florian Schneider would prefer people to think that they surfaced in 1974 as fully formed electronic-pop pioneers, but in fact, the two met at the Dƒ¼sseldorf Conservatory in the late ’60s. In 1968 they formed a group called Organisation to play improvised music with organ, flute, and electronics at art galleries and happenings. At one of these gigs, they met Conny Plank, a jazz musician and recording engineer who had started his career doing sound for Marlene Dietrich and Duke Ellington. In the late ’60s he became fascinated with the Velvet Underground, Jimi Hendrix, and Jamaican dub producer Lee “Scratch” Perry, and he was intrigued by the possibility of working with a rock group that had a distinctive European sound and identity.”…

More of this article:

Who Are the Leaders in Your Neighborhood?

I know my governor and the governor’s of my surrounding states (mainly because they are doing things I think are terrible) and I know my representatives in congress. But what do I know about the Prime Minister of Canada?

Not much. I think he is a member of the Conservative Party and uh… that he is male… and probably white. I think I would have heard if he wasn’t. So not much. Here we go!

Immediately, I am shocked. From Wikipedia:

“Not outlined in any constitutional document, the office exists only as per long-established convention originating in Canada’s former colonial power, the United Kingdom, which stipulate that the monarch’s representative, the governor general, must select as prime minister the person most likely to command the confidence of the elected House of Commons; this individual is typically the leader of the political party that holds the largest number of seats in that chamber.”

The current, and 22nd, Prime Minister of Canada is the Conservative Party‘s Stephen Harper, who wasappointed on 6 February 2006…”

Ah yes, his face reminds me of a gray-haired Ken doll. Not too memorable, I’m afraid. Who is this man and perhaps, are there some details to help him forever stand out in my mind? (Because of course, that’s his mission in life, I’m sure.)

From the BBC News profile: (I know it’s weak of me to simply cut and paste the work of BBC reporters, but honestly, they’re the best in the english language world, so I’m not going to a better job summarizing their summaries. Therefore, I give you an abridged BBC News profile…)

In May, 2011 “Under Mr Harper the party took 54% of the seats in parliament, securing a third consecutive term and transforming their minority government into a majority.

Mr Harper ran a tightly focused campaign concentrating largely on his government’s record in managing the economy, which has emerged from a recession as one of the strongest among the G7 group of countries.

The election for a new federal government was prompted by a no-confidence vote in parliament after Mr Harper’s minority government was found to be in contempt of parliament.

The vote came about because of the government’s failure to disclose the full costs of anti-crime programmes, corporate tax cuts and plans to purchase stealth fighter jets from the US.

Born in Toronto, Ontario, in 1959, Mr Harper became involved in politics while still at school…

Mr Harper won a parliamentary seat for the Reform Party in 1993, but quit four years later to work for a conservative lobby group.

He returned to parliament in 2002 as head of the Canadian Alliance and leader of the opposition. A year later his party merged with the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada…

The new Conservative Party, with Mr Harper at the helm, reunited Canada’s political right after years of disarray.

But the father-of-two could not beat Liberal Party leader Paul Martin in the 2004 election, and Mr Martin was able to form a minority government.

Observers say the Conservative Party’s controversial statements on abortion and same-sex marriage lost them key votes on that occasion.

Next time around, Mr Harper – a keen strategist – managed to marginalise the more extreme elements of his party.

His election as Canada’s prime minister in 2006 reversed more than a decade of Liberal Party rule in parliament.

It also completed Mr Harper’s transformation from hard-line right-winger to a progressive conservative with a party positioned at the centre of the political spectrum.

Sometimes seen as an aloof figure more at home with a spreadsheet than working a crowd, the Alberta MP managed to stay at the helm of a minority government longer than expected.

Accusations that he was a pro-Bush “extremist” who would curb abortion rights and put an end to same-sex marriages failed to stick.

But he was also helped by the disarray among the opposition Liberals and a perceived lack of appetite among Canadians to head back to the polls.

But he received a fillip the following year when the newly-inaugurated Barack Obama chose Canada as the destination for his first foreign trip as US president.

Mr Harper received a lot of criticism in 2010 over the $1.1bn cost (US$1.1bn; £730m) of staging the double summit of G8 and G20 leaders in Toronto.

A temporary water feature dubbed the “fake lake” came to symbolise what many critics saw as Mr Harper’s extravagant spending.

By the time his opponents triggered the 2011 election, though, Mr Harper was able to present himself as the stable, familiar guiding hand of Canadian politics.

His measured campaign messages clearly hit home, and with the Conservatives’ political rivals failing to challenge them in the polls, Mr Harper was able to secure the majority that had previously eluded him.

“Getting to know you, getting to know all about you…
Getting to like you, getting to hope you like me…

Getting to know you, Putting it my way, But nicely,
You are precisely, My cup of tea. “

Illustrating Income Inequality

From the Washington Post.

The top 10% are making over 40% more and the rest are making 1% less?
Nevermind the top 0.1% who are making 400% more.

That’s class warfare, no?

Especially since “the number of Americans living below the official poverty line, 46.2 million people, was the highest number in the 52 years the bureau has been publishing figures on it.” (NYTImes) (The poverty line in 2010 for a family of four was $22,314.)

As pointed out by Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed, this percentage of people in poverty should be added to those desperately struggling to get by living paycheck to paycheck. The working poor. These two groups combine to approximately half of the country. In fact, from her website,

75% OF AMERICAN WORKERS DON’T HAVE DECENT WAGES AND BENEFITS

Washington, DC — Only 25.2 percent of American workers have a job that pays at least $16 per hour and provides health insurance and a pension, according to a new study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

The report, “How Good is the Economy at Creating Good Jobs?” found that between 1979 and 2004 the share of American workers in good jobs remained unchanged at about 25 percent, despite strong economic growth over that period. (The report defines a “good job” as one that offers at least $16 per hour or $32,000 annually, employer-paid health insurance and a pension.) In the last quarter century, the U.S. workforce has become older, more experienced and better educated, but 75 percent of workers are still struggling in jobs that do not provide health insurance, a pension and solid middle-class wages.”

Since 1979, inflation-adjusted GDP per person increased 60 percent, but the percentage of workers in good jobs remained unchanged at about 25 percent.”

And there you have it. There is more money in the economy, it’s just that it’s all going to just a few people in positions of power.

Black Flower in the White House

In an interview to promote her new book on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Condoleezza Rice revealed that not only did she know about Gaddafi’s fascination with her, but that he had a song written for her titled ‘Black Flower in the White House’!

After taking over the capital of Tripoli, rebels discovered among Gaddafi’s private possessions at his compound, photo albums of Rice.

Creepy. Maybe this should have been my Halloween post.

New words! New Words!

Mwaa haaa ha haa! Every year Merriam-Webster releases a list of new words added to their dictionary and this year sees the addition of tweet, social media, crowdsourcing (the practice of obtaining information from a large group of people who contribute online) and m-commerce (“a business transaction conducted using a mobile electronic device”).

There’s always the tragic inclusion of slang words that have passed their prime and are now banal like cougar and bromance, as if there needs to be a special word for men to be affectionate towards one another. Poor men. That’s really too bad that ‘really good friend’ isn’t good enough.

I love the addition of really new things to the dictionary. It lets me know that we are still inventing and creating and exploring. So the addition of the new sport parkour, which involves rapid and efficient running, climbing, or leaping over environmental obstacles brings a smile to my face.

I also like that helicopter parent (“a parent who is overly involved in the life of his or her child”),  boomerang child (“a young adult who returns to live at his or her family home especially for financial reasons”) and fist bump have been added, since they seem to be very obvious conditions of our current society apparent in my everyday life.

The OED (Oxford English Dictionary) has included sexting, cyberbullying, woot (used to express enthusiasm in online communication) and retweet to their Concise OED this year. Earlier this year the OED also added LOL and OMG to the non-concise version. To think that OMG is in the OED feels like a kind of blasphemy, but that’s just a lame, stodgy impulse to be fussy and snooty and we must battle through such foolishness.

From the OED’s own list, they have added auto-complete and green fuel, both of which seem very logical additions.

But they’ve added a few that I’m surprised weren’t already included:

babe n. Used to describe an attractive man [1973] and, in the plural,  as a familiar or affectionate form of address for a person of either sex [1918].

brain candy n. Broadly appealing, undemanding entertainment which is not intellectually stimulating. OED already has eye-candy and ear candy. [1968]

to laugh it up at laugh v. Used in imperative (with ironic or sarcastic force) to suggest an impending reversal of fortune: ‘laugh while you can.’ [1971]

use it or lose it at use v. Used as an admonition; dates back, perhaps surprisingly, as far as 1887.

And a few that I’ve never heard of:

cryonaut n. A person who is cryogenically preserved with a view to being revived in the distant future. [1968]

urb n. An urban area, a city. Frequently contrasted with suburb. [1952]

And I’m quite surprised that

gender reassignment n. The process of a person adopting the physical characteristics of the opposite sex by means of medical procedures such as surgery or hormone treatment. [1969]

wasn’t already included. Goes to show how slow society is moving with regards to gender theory. I use the phrase ‘MtoF’ or ‘FtoM’ (meaning male to female or female to male) at least once a month or more. I can’t remember the last time I wrote or said or even thought ‘autocomplete’.

Ah, but leave it to Britain to make me giggle. The Collin’s English Dictionary this year will include mamil (middle aged man in lycra), cuddle class (when two airline passengers buy an additional seat so that they can recline together), and the interesting  Nick Clegg’s phrase alarm clock Britain (workers on moderate incomes whose daily routine involves preparing children for school and going out to work). They also included topical words like Arab Spring, Zumba, “casino banking“, for bankers who risk losing investors’ money to gain maximum profits, and “emberrorist“, meaning an organisation or person who seeks to reveal potentially embarrassing information, often as a political weapon.

This is a great barometer of our society, n’est-ce pas?

From ThingsNerdsLike.com, good post imo: “What New Dictionary Words Tell Us About How Much We Suck” 

Beaver teeth are coated with iron!

Beavers are amazing builders and, according to this evening’s episode of Nature, can eat through a tree trunk in an hour or two. But what astonished me on tonight’s episode is that their teeth are made with iron and are therefore orange!

They have favorite kinds of trees to eat such as quaking aspen, cottonwood, willow, alder, birch, maple and cherry trees. They also eat sedges, pondweed and water lillies. (From Wikipedia)

“A beaver’s teeth grow continuously so that they will not be worn down by chewing on wood. Their four incisors are composed of hard orange enamel on the front and a softer dentin on the back. The chisel-like ends of incisors are maintained by their self-sharpening wear pattern.”

On researching the iron in their teeth, I discovered that seven million year old fossils of beaver teeth have recently been discovered in Oregon pushing back the date that beavers arrived in North America from Europe by two million years (from the Oregonian.)

And on the Wikipedia page, there is a section detailing urban beavers. The Bronx River, San Francisco’s Alhambra Creek and Chicago’s Lincoln Park have become home to beavers moving back in and attempting to return the areas to their native state. In Chicago, which used to be a big swamp before African-American and European settlers moved in, the beavers have been met with anxiety over their powerful engineering and tree-eating skills. I wonder if the residents of this fair city prefer landscaping over adorable muddy beavers slapping their tails.

Fewer than 50 Javan Rhinos left

What does it mean to lose a species from the earth? 

I think it is the loss of a kind of profound beauty. If each person that you meet is special and unique, (I know it sounds sappy, but I’m being sincere here) and their life is valuable and important to protect, then certainly you can extrapolate to each species having something remarkable, unique and important to say about living, survival, and beauty.

Defining beauty is nearly as impossible as defining happiness, and yet when someone tells you that you are beautiful, they are rarely describing solely your physical appearance. There is something compelling and remarkable about each individual and I think the positive, attractive elements of this are often described as beauty. It’s why every parent finds their own child beautiful, (excepting the mentally ill, crap parents of course. I hear you skeptical voices. I say, ‘pooh! pooh!’ to you!)

So the Javan Rhino is disappearing. And we lose a particular form of life that has a particular diet, appearance, life style, movement, texture, color, smell, and so on. Life is a little less bright because of it. 

It’s especially distressing to me because visually they are so unlike other animals! They appear to have plates of armor, although it’s just thick skin, and speckled shoulders and rumps that are super cute. The Indian Rhino has a similar armored appearance, but the Javan or Sunda Rhino is smaller.

From National Geographic:

“The Javan rhinoceros is extinct in mainland Asia, conservationists announced this week.

An adult female Javan rhino was shot and killed in a Vietnamese forest last year—leaving just one wild population left of the species in the world, a group of fewer than 50 individuals in a small park in Indonesia. …

But habitat loss and widespread hunting slashed their numbers, so that by the latter half of the 20th century, the animal was believed to be extinct on mainland Asia.

In 1988, a population of 15 or fewer individuals was found in the Cat Tien region of Vietnam. Conservationists were hopeful that this population, though tiny, could recover, based on the success of Africa’s southern white rhino.

Southern white rhinos had been poached to only about 20 individuals by the late 19th century, but due to intense conservation efforts, the population now numbers close to 20,000 animals.

Hopes were dashed, however, when a 2004 survey suggested that the Cat Tien population had been reduced to two individuals, both of them female.”

And now those two are dead, killed for their precious horns. 

From Wikipedia:

“Although belonging to the type genus, the Indian and Javan Rhinoceros are not believed to be closely related to other rhino species. … The Sumatran Rhino may have diverged from the other Asian rhinos as far back as 15 million years ago.”

Also, in looking for images of the Sunda or Javan Rhino, there are very few good images available. There are surprisingly many images in black and white and of dead rhinos, which is extremely macabre and disheartening. But I do love a good historic illustration.

And their cousin, the Indian Rhino, isn’t faring much better. “The Indian rhinoceros once ranged throughout the entire stretch of the Indo-Gangetic Plain but excessive hunting reduced their natural habitat drastically. Today, about 3,000 rhinos live in the wild, 2,000 of which are found in India’s Assam alone.”

Mammals are different because we grow our eggs inside

It never occurred to me that what separates mammals from other types of animals is that we grow our fertilized eggs inside of us. Fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, all lay eggs in nests or in the water. Insects and spiders etc…: eggs. Then there are sponges, corals, star fish, worms, snails, etc… reproduce in a variety of ways but only mammals evolved to grow their eggs inside of their bodies in order to improve chances of survival. Pretty brilliant!

Scientific American has an article on the discovery of an early “placental mammal”, known as Juramaia sinensis, a shrew-like creature  discovered in China dating back to 160 million years ago.

“Until now, scientists believed that placental mammals first appeared some 125 million years ago. At that point, they branched off from the lineage that developed into modern marsupials, which nourish their young in their pouches instead of through placentas. Yet a recent fossil find backdates that divergence by about 35 million years, showing that mammals with placentas, known as eutherians, shared the earth with dinosaurs much longer than previously thought.”

According to an article from BBC News, scientists determined that it was a eutherian from its teeth!

“The teeth of Juramaia show all the typical eutherian dental features,” Dr Luo explained.

“Specifically, eutherians have three molars, and five premolars. This is in contrast to metatherians characterized by four molars and three premolars.

It’s pretty incredible to think that one creature would evolve over 160 million years into so many different types of mammals from kangaroos to lions and wolfs and ferrets and whales and armadillos and elk and people…

 

…more interesting info on the Juramaia…

“Today, 90% of all mammals, which include humans of course, are placentals. Knowing the timing of the split from marsupials is fundamental to understanding the full story of the evolution of mammals.

Another interesting aspect of the discovery is what the fossil can tell us about the lifestyles of the early placentals, and it seems they were pretty adept at climbing.

“Juramaia is an insectivorous mammal. It weighed about 15 -17 grams, more or less the size of a shrew,” Dr Luo said. “Its hand structure suggests that it was a capable climber. So we interpreted it to be a tree-climbing insectivorous mammal hunting insects for living,” the Carnegie Museum researcher told BBC News.”