REJECT GREED; TREAD LIGHTLY; CARE LOCALLY; RESPECT DIVERSITY ... by Martina Nicolls
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November Broadcast - Martina Nicolls
MARTINA NICOLLS - NEWS AND UPDATES FOR NOVEMBER 2020
Hello everyone,
I am still in Paris, where the government has announced another national lockdown for one month until 1 December 2020, although this will be reviewed in late November.
This email includes updates on Paris (where I am currently staying), my animal website (Similar but Different in the Animal Kingdom), my aid development work, articles, photography, and general points of interest. For my aid development work, I am currently working on flexible deliveries for basic education in rural Somalia for children of nomadic and migrating families, including addressing the educational challenges for internally displaced persons (IDP). I am working remotely, due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Regards, Martina
PARIS BLOG Have you read my blogs about Paris on my website: The Paris Residences of James Joyce? Here are some recent blogs. Read blog: The buzz of bees in Paris - about bees and bee production in Paris. Read blog: French Asterix comics - Albert Uderzo, the co-creator of the Asterix comics died in March at the age of 92.
Read blog: Felix Potin building in Paris: - about the story behind the beautiful former department store. The photograph of the Potin building can be viewed and purchased HERE.
PHOTOGRAPHY PORTFOLIO Top sellers last month on my photography portfolio site were elephants and a binturong (an arboreal mammal from south-east Asia). Here is the elephant photograph. ELEPHANT FAMILY: TAKE A LOOK AT THE PHOTOGRAPH AND MERCHANDISE
More photographs and merchandise are available HERE. During the November lockdown, I'll update the portfolio.
MY WEBSITE: SIMILAR BUT DIFFERENT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM Some popular posts in October on my website, Similar but Different in the Animal Kingdom, were the following: Read article: Does the Mexican Walking Fish actually walk? Read article: European Crane Fly Read article: Tanzanian Blue Ringleg Centipede
POPULAR BOOK REVIEWS On my blog site, Feast & Famine, I include book reviews. Here's a popular one about trees from the perspective of activists trying to save them. Read book review: The Overstory by Richard Powers.
POPULAR BLOG POSTS On my blog site, Feast & Famine, the most popular blog last month was a July article on birds. Another popular blog was a photography blog on a Sunday Walk. Read article: 50 Birds at the Paris Zoo at Jardin des Plantes. Read article: Sunday Walk: in the botanical garden in Paris.
AID DEVELOPMENT WORK Here's an article I wrote in 2013 when I was in Uganda about examples of significant African scientific research that is influencing the global science agenda. Read article: The role of Africa in advancing science.
THE PARIS RESIDENCES OF JAMES JOYCE My latest book, The Paris Residences of James Joyce, was released on 1 May 2020. READ MORE:
There are nearly 800 species of acacia trees in the world, and most don’t have thorns. The famous "whistling thorn tree" and the Umbrella Thorn tree of Kenya are species of acacia that do have thorns, or spines. Giraffes and other herbivores normally eat thorny acacia foliage, but leave the whistling thorn alone. Usually spines are no deterrent to giraffes. Their long tongues are adapted to strip the leaves from the branches despite the thorns. The thorny acacia like dry and hot conditions. The thorns typically occur in pairs and are 5-8 centimetres (2-3 inches) long. Spines can be straight or curved depending on the species. MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Suda...
City Sightseeing buses have arrived in Tbilisi. The iconic red double-decker buses, a feature of many cities around the world since the company was established in Seville, Spain in 1999, is now in six continents and almost 100 cities. The company established its Tbilisi business in November 2013, with its operations commencing in February 2014. The 90-minute tour stops at 11 major locations in Tbilisi (with 2 to 5 minute waiting times at each location): the Old City (where it commences), Freedom Square, Rose Revolution Square, Marjanishvili Square, the Dry Bridge, Konka, Avlabari, Metekhi, Akhundov Museum, the Sulfur Baths, and European Square. Passengers can hop off at any stop and see the sights, hopping back onto the next bus at any time. Alternatively, passengers can remain on the bus for the whole tour and take photographs when the bus stops at each location. There are one day (24-hour) passes (for 35 lari – about $20) and 48-hour passes for 55 lari, with family d...
The Knight in the Panther Skin (12th century, this edition 2015) is a recent translation by American poet and author, Lyn Coffin. The author, Shota Rustaveli, is Georgia’s most loved poet. This poem is mammoth, a magnum opus – it is 1,656 verses long, separated by chapters. But readers, don’t give up, because every verse is worth reading. It is akin to 1001 Arabian Knights, Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, or Shakespearean poetry. King Rostevan of Arabia has a daughter, Tinatin. She loves the knight Avtandil and he loves her. Verse 368 from Avtandil: ‘The doctor’s could do nothing. A dark twilight on my heart now pressed, I was on fire because of love, but nobody knew or guessed. They blamed my blood. The king decided bleeding my arm would be best; I let it be done to hide the suffering I had not confessed.’ But a knight in panther skin is seen weeping, and subsequently kills the king’s soldiers, sparing the king. Before Tinatin weds Avtandil she r...
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