- When is a unicorn not really a unicorn? When it’s a rare –
verging on extinct – beast found by environmentalists in Vietnam. The discovery
of a live
saola, one of the rarest large mammals on Earth, in Vietnam has the
ecosystem-loving sect atwitter. Images of the saola emerged this week, with the
beast snapped in a forest reserve. The exact numer of saolas remaining is hard
to peg, with estimates ranging as low as a few dozen and as high as several
hundred. Saolas are known for their rarity and its elusiveness and for that
reason, they have been dubbed “Asian unicorns.” The name is a misnomer, as the
saola actually has two closely spaced parallel horns. "These are the most
important wild animal photographs taken in Asia, and perhaps the world, in at
least the past decade," said William Robichaud, coordinator of the Saola
Working Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Species
Survival Commission. The World Wildlife Fund – the folks who stole the WWF
acronym from professional wrasslin’ – are enthused about the find as well, as
is Vietnam’s Quang Nam Forest Protection Department. "This is an historic
moment in Vietnam's efforts to protect our extraordinary biodiversity,"
said Dang Dinh Nguyen, deputy head of the QNFPD. The photos of the saola were taken
in September in a reserve in the Central Annamite Mountains and announced by
the WWF on Tuesday. Despite its antelope-like appearance, the saola is actually
a relative of cattle. It was first discovered in 1992 in forests along the
Vietnam-Laos border when a WWF survey team found a skull of the animal in a
hunter's home. No saolas have been spotted in the Vietnamese wild since 1998,
although a photo of one was snapped in Laos the following year and villagers
captured a saola that died before word got to researchers in 2010.
Environmentalists are already touting the new photo as proof that efforts to
save the saola are working………
- Sometimes, the best casting choices are the ones directors
don’t make. There are those films when a certain actor or actress passes on (or
is passed over for) a role that goes to someone else, with that someone else
owning the role to the point that it’s impossible to imagine anyone else
pulling it off. Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in the “X-Men” movies (and subsequent
spin-off) is one such actor/character fit and his casting as the clawed
superhero feels like a perfect fit in retrospect. Yet “Parks And
Recreation” star Nick Offerman has
revealed that he once auditioned to play Wolverine, back before the first
“X-Men” movie was released in 2000. Offerman, who is typically comedic gold
with his deadpan delivery as Ron Swanson on NBC’s hit sitcom, said he
auditioned for the role when director Bryan
Singer was casting the first “X-Men”
film, but lost out to Jackman. "The
most great superheroes I think too highly of to dishonor them by casting myself
in their shoes. I tend to prefer the more modern teams of misfits,"
Offerman said in self-deprecating fashion. "You know actually, I
auditioned for Wolverine when Bryan Singer made the first X-Men movie. I went on tape reading
for that role. I always felt when I was younger, I could have taken a good
crack at Wolverine." Offerman doesn’t seem to have that badass, kick-ass
gear in his repertoire, so imagining him as the claw-sporting mutant is tough.
Jackman most recently played Wolverine in this summer’s “The Wolverine”
spin-off and a sequel has already been confirmed because a) Hollywood will make
a sequel to most anything and b) superhero movies are like printing money for
studios these days. Oh, and Wolverine/Jackman will also feature in next year's “X-Men: Days Of Future Past,” which
opens in cinemas on May 22……..
- Somewhere, Bob Knight is smiling – and throwing a flower
vase across the room at a secretary. The former Indiana University basketball
coach and certified rage-aholic once famous told Connie Chung during an
interview that, “If rape is inevitable, why not just sit back and enjoy it?”
Knight now has company in the “horrific insensitivity to sexual assault” club
thanks to Indian Central Bureau of Investigation chief Ranjit Sinha, who
had to double back and issue an apology this week after saying, "If you
can't prevent rape, you enjoy it.” Oddly enough, the remark outraged women
across India and that’s why Sinha was issuing an apology for his words just one
day after uttering them during a conference about illegal sports betting and
the need to legalize gambling. How rape and sports betting came to be in the
same conversation is unclear, but in any event, the leader of a country's
premier investigative agency probably shouldn’t be telling women that if they can't
avoid being forced into unwanted sex by a criminal, then they should just relax
and enjoy the ride. The train came off the tracks for Sinha when he tried a
convoluted analogy to explain the fact that if the state could not stop
gambling, it could at least make some revenue by legalizing it. "If you
cannot enforce the ban on betting, it is like saying, 'If you can't prevent
rape, you enjoy it,'" he said. And no, it didn’t make any more sense when
he said it or for those who heard the comment live. Making those remarks in a
country that has been the scene of widespread protests following the fatal gang
rape of a 23-year-old woman on a bus in New Delhi makes the situation even more
regrettable. But as awful as the initial words were, the apology was nearly as
bad. Sinha tried to say that t his comments had been taken out of context and
misinterpreted, and that he was sorry if he had caused hurt. No one was buying
his apology, especially not Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Brinda
Karat. "It is sickening that a man who is in charge of several rape
investigations should use such an analogy," Karat said. "He should be
prosecuted for degrading and insulting women." Well said, B.K……….
- Duke coach Mike
Krzyzewski is either completely naïve about the realities of the NBA or he’s
tricked himself into living in a state of denial. The two-time Olympic champion
and four-time NCAA champion coach was part of a college hoops doubleheader,
named the Champions Classic, at the United Center in Chicago on Tuesday and
witnessed the three most-heralded freshmen in college basketball playing on the
biggest stage they’ve ever had. One of those talented freshmen, Jabari Parker,
plays for Krzyzewski’s Blue Devils. The other two, Andrew Wiggins and Julius
Randle, both played extremely well in their chance to shine and enhanced their
case for being a top pick in June’s NBA draft. However, Krzyzewski was quick to
dismiss the notion that NBA teams should tank their seasons in order to gain a
better draft pick and a shot at Wiggins, Parker or Randle. Ignoring the fact
that tanking is a way of life in the NBA because being mediocre if a death
sentence for teams and the only way to become good is to suck first and build
through the draft, Krzyzewski scoffed at the idea of losing games on purpose to
gain more ping pong balls in the draft lottery. "As an American, I
wouldn't like to think that an American team would want to lose or create
situations where you would want to lose," Krzyzewski said. "I can't
even fathom -- I can't go there. I can't believe that that would happen. Maybe
I'm naïve and I'm going to go read a fairy tale after this." Yes, Coach K,
you are naïve, but it’s OK. NBA teams are happy to tank rather than be
mediocre, even if none of them can or would ever admit it. With more than 80
scouts and general managers from all 30 NBA teams were in attendance Tuesday
for the Champions Classic, there is no doubt that the interest level in Parker,
Wiggins and Randle is sky-high and will only go up unless any of them happens
to blow out both of their knees or ACLs in between now and the end of their
first and only season of college basketball……..
- Living in any of New York City’s five boroughs is über-expensive,
no matter where a person chooses to dwell. Even Brooklyn fails to meet the
standard of affordable living for the average person, which explains why Felix
Vazquez, who lives in Bushwick, is attempting to sell a home on wheels via Craigslist
– just not the sort of home on wheels that usually comes to mind when pondering
mobile homes. No, Vazquez is trying to pawn off a ride he and his bandmates
pimped in the hopes of turning it into a tour bus for their band. That ride is
a 1998 Bluebird school bus. The bus is now on sale under the heading “School
Bus Home” and the posting lays out the specifics of a bus that includes a GPS,
electrical heater, four bed frames and a functioning walkie-talkie system all
for $8,000. Vazquez’s sales pitch might be more appealing if he had actually
lived in the bus and could attest to how habitable it is, but how can a person
say no to an overhauled school bus with two portable propane gas stoves?
Apartments in Bushwick typically cost $1,500 or more a month, so paying $8,000
to own a bus might actually hold some appeal – until the buyer realizes that
they must pay for the gas to keep their new home running and also find a place
to park the massive yellow albatross in one of the most crowded, least
vehicle-friendly cities in the world. Maybe there’s a band out there – plenty of
aspiring rock stars reside in NYC – willing to purchase the bus and make take
it on their very own magical mystery tour…….
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