FEAST OR FAMINE

The Bridge of Peace leading to Rike Park was a controversial construction due to its cost and unusual modern design. At the base of a hill (up the steps to Avlabari), underneath the domed Presidential Palace, is Rike Park on the left bank of the Mt’k’vari River. A choreographed fountain spray comes to life at night as the coloured lights seem to make the water dance. Sculptures, large grand pianos, and flower beds are all slowing evolving in the park. The newly constructed cable car terminus by the Italian Leitner Group continues the glass-building theme of the Bridge of Peace and other constructions in Georgia. So too does the theatre currently under construction. While the Bridge of Peace looks like a marine gastropod mollusc, such as a cephalaspidean sea slug, and the cable car terminus looks like a lopsided glass box, the new music theatre/exhibition hall construction looks like a Cornetto ice cream cone.    Amid the old archit...

The Bridge of Peace connects both banks of the Mt’k’vari River, leading the Old City to the newly established Rike Park. Also newly constructed is a cable car in Rike Park that takes visitors to the top of the mountain to view the fortress Narikala, the statue of the Mother of Georgia and to panoramic views of the capital of Georgia. The cable car was opened on June 23, 2012, and the landscape surrounding it is still developing. From the terminus at Rike Park, visitors can buy a plastic ticket/card for 1 lari for a one-way trip to the top, or 2 lari for a return-trip. During my visit, I took a return trip, with no waiting, and a quick 2-minute ride to the ridge. The cable cars can sit eight people at a time, but they are more comfortable with only six people. The cable car at Rike Park is not to be confused with the newly built funicular from Chavchavadze Avenue to Mt Mtatsminda and the fun park (with wheel, rides, restaurants, water attractions, and cafes). The Rike ...

Girls and women still listen to the mums, especially about clothing advice. Yes, what to wear! They still relied on their mothers regarding appearance, grooming, and clothing – more than they rely on advice from magazines. French cosmetics company Lancome conducted a poll of women and who or how they accepted advice about their looks. It found that the most common advice to daughters, starting as young as 11 years of age, was shared and adopted – even showing that daughters had a similar style to their mother. More than half of the women polled (the total number was not provided in The Times article on June 20, 2013) asked their mothers advice on a new outfit. About 30% said that if their mother didn’t like it they wouldn’t wear it. That of course implies that 70% still wear it, even if their mothers didn’t like it. However, the most rejected advice given to daughters by their mothers was the advice not to have a tattoo. So daughters didn’t listen to everything! ...

Older beetles make better fathers. This was the research finding from the University of Exeter in England. Researchers studied male burying beetles and found that the older ones spent more time looking after their offspring. Researchers studied 160 beetles (50% of them male). Older males were observed mating more frequently and spending longer with their brood of baby beetles. However, the researchers aren’t making any comparisons or drawing any conclusions with humans!

A study in Britain shows that people aged 50-54 years have the highest levels of stress and anxiety, but their stress decreases until their late 60s in their retirement years, making them feel young again. The Office for National Statistics (The Times, June 20, 3013) reported that a third of the stressed 50-54 year olds felt less anxious as they entered retirement. People feel happier and healthier in retirement age. Nineteen percent of Britain’s population suffer some sort of anxiety and depression, and middle-aged people were the most anxious, and so were women. The level peaked at 22% feeling stressed in their early 50s, but dropped to 14% of people feeling stressed in their late 60s. The ONS studied 40,000 households as part of their Measuring National Wellbeing Program. They found that depression was most linked to how people felt about their health. If their health was poor, the more depressed they felt. The study found that 66% of Britains were satisfie...

Career advice for girls and women is failing them, announced British Members of Parliament (The Times, June 20, 2013). So is vocational training. In Britain, the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee (BISC), with Labour MP Adrian Bailey as chairperson, maintain that career advice is not providing women with a range of choices, but instead, the advice continues to promulgate information that does not break down persistent work segregration or traditional roles – roles that inevitably only lead to the lower paid jobs. Consequently young girls overwhelmingly tend toward careers in social care and beauty. Bailey said that the government was committed to improving the representation of women in company boardrooms, but little had been done to tackle the low representation of women in industry and science. The BISC report said that the five most popular career choices for women aged 22-29 years were in retail, care work, teaching, customer service, and child care. Men ...

The Times (June 20, 2013) reports that the British Environment Secretary will make a case to the European Union to lift the restrictions on genetically modified (GM) crops as a matter of “morality.” The Environment Secretary, Owen Paterson, spoke at the Rothamsted Research Institute in Hertfordshire, indicating that the government should reassure the public that GM crops were “safe, proven, and beneficial innovation.” Paterson maintained that a failure to capitalize on technology to produce GM crops was “turning a blind eye on a global food crisis.” GM crops can be modified to grow faster, be more pest and weed resistant, be weather-resistant, and be enriched with added nutrients. These factors would present a case for the growth or supply of GM foods to areas of drought and malnutrition to prevent death and severe stunting in children. Since 1996 there has been a 100-fold increase in their use. Commercial sale of GM foods began in 1994 after an antibiotic-res...

Ukraine’s opera house in Kiev, named after Taras Shevchenko, is formally called the Taras Shevchenko Ukrainian National Opera House. Established in 1867, it was initially called the City Theatre. As with many opera houses around the world, Kiev’s opera house has had its fair share of history. On February 2, 1896, the City Theatre collapsed in flames, burnt to the ground as a result of a candle in the theatre. Afterwards, an international design competition was announced and Victor Schroter had the winning proposal. Built in neo-Renaissance style with additions, he redesigned the interior to include a classical style. Located in the centre of the city, Kievers, or Kievans, have easy access to the grand house and its many internationally renowned artists. The stage is said to be one of the largest in Europe. In September 1901 it was re-opened. Ten years later, in September 1911, Dmitry Bogrov killed Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin during intermission. http://www.inkyiv...