Installing the Eclat rear window glass surround into the Excel.

This was the first job that Vanwalls new employee Mathew had done for me, and he has surprised me with his methodical approach, and the way in which the job turned out.

It gives me confidence for the more complicated work that I intend to do to the rear of the car. 13 Sept 2006 (160)

Visiting Artists Series at Nordstrand Visual Arts Gallery

 

STATEMENT BY THE ARTIST

 

Inlays and Overlays, groupings of hand cut Tyvek on paper, employs a methodical way of hand cutting paper that fascinated Victorians in the nineteenth century. The resulting porous texture that also allows the paper to expand, captures aspects of groundwater and also the physics of water action, two areas of inquiry which have engaged me for ten years.

 

My intention for you the viewer is that these particular pieces prod you to discover feelings and emotions about your own water associations and experiences and consequently open yourselves to a greater awareness of water issues.

www.flickr.com/photos/morbius19/sets/72157637073316856/ Additional photos in the Set.

 

Starring Edward Kemmer, Sally Fraser, Buddy Baer, Morris Ankrum, Bob Steele, Oliver Blake, Joline Brand, Billy Dix. Directed by Richard E. Cunha.

youtu.be/Spo6hrSm5c0 Full Feature.

Brief Synopsis

After the residents of the small mountain town of Pine Ridge anxiously gather to discuss the mysterious death of local Harold Banks, Sheriff Parker reveals that Banks died from a severe beating, prompting the townspeople to speculate over the recent spate of animal deaths and question whether the tales of an ancient Indian curse may be true. Teenage brother and sister Ann and Charlie Brown scoff at the legends, but Indian Joe declares that if the locals continue to disregard his ancestral burial grounds in Devil's Crag, there will be more violence. After Parker dismisses Joe's warning, a townsman advises the sheriff to question scientific researcher Wayne Brooks, who was seen quarreling with Banks earlier that week. When Parker questions Wayne, however, Wayne insists that he and Banks had a simple disagreement. Soon after, Professor Cleveland and his daughter Janet arrive in town and Wayne recognizes Cleveland as the famous archaeologist whose lectures he attended while in college. Wayne offers the professor his services and at dinner that night Cleveland explains that he and Janet have been searching for the remains of a Spanish conquistador, Vargas, later known as the Diablo Giant, who abandoned the military to hunt for gold in the mountains. Later, Wayne takes Cleveland and Janet to his cabin to show them the artifacts he has unearthed, the most important of which is a live reptile that Wayne believes is centuries old. Cleveland is excited by the reptile's discovery and after piecing together a European crucifix from Wayne's relics, insists that they return to the site where they were found. The next day after Wayne, Janet and Cleveland set up camp at Devil's Crag, Parker arrives and reprimands Wayne for leaving town without his permission. The following morning as Wayne prepares breakfast, he hears a gunshot and discovers Joe nearby. After Wayne explains that he and the Clevelands are searching for ancient artifacts and will respect the Indian burial grounds, Joe thanks him for his honesty, but cautions him that the area is dangerous. Later, Cleveland and Wayne begin a methodical search of the area which continues for several days without success. On their final afternoon, however, Janet detects a metal object underneath an enormous log. Wayne and Cleveland dig under the log and discover an armored helmet, breast plate and several weapons, which Cleveland establishes are of Spanish origin. The men are more excited when they discover a skeleton, and Cleveland returns to camp to catalog the artifacts and begin his scientific paper. That afternoon as a rain storm threatens the site, Wayne finds an ancient axe handle, but is unable to dislodge it from the ground. Wayne returns to the camp, and soon after, the storm breaks and a bolt of lightning strikes near the log. The enormous figure of Vargas, the Diablo Giant, then rises from the ground clutching the axe. The next morning Cleveland and Wayne are stunned to find the axe gone and the ground disturbed. A medallion on the ground confirms Vargas' identity, prompting the men to wonder if the giant, like Wayne's lizard, has returned to life. Later when young Charlie comes by the camp, Cleveland, Wayne and Janet ask him not to reveal their discovery of the Spanish armor, arguing that it will bring townspeople to disturb the site. That evening, Vargas stalks the campsite and when the men discover the armor and medallion missing, they remain on guard. Further down the hill, Charlie frets about leaving Ann alone as he prepares for work, but she assures him she is safe. The following morning, as Wayne tells Cleveland they should report their suspicions of the awakened giant to Parker, the sheriff arrives with the news that Ann has been found brutally murdered. Parker arrests Wayne, claiming that Ann was clutching the Spanish medallion, and reveals that Charlie identified it as the one found by Wayne. Insisting that he is innocent, Wayne suggests that whoever stole the armor and medallion must have killed Ann. Parker agrees to question Joe, but when they find him murdered in his cabin, Parker takes Wayne into Pine Ridge. Cleveland follows them into town and after his departure, Janet is abducted by Vargas. In town, when Parker leaves Wayne unattended in his car momentarily, Cleveland appears and drives Wayne back to Devil's Crag, where the professor reveals that he took a plaster cast of a huge footprint which he believes will confirm that Vargas has returned to life and perpetrated the murders. Parker and the townsmen follow Cleveland and Wayne, but when they learn of Janet's disappearance and hear Cleveland's story about Vargas, they help search for her. Soon the men corner Vargas, and he attacks and kills several before he is wounded and escapes, leaving Janet unhurt. While the injured men are taken back to town, Parker apologizes to Wayne for not believing in his innocence. Charlie asks to help search for Vargas in retaliation for Ann's death, but when Wayne and Parker refuse, sneaks away on his own. Later the sheriff, Wayne and Cleveland hear shots and find Charlie badly wounded . While Parker goes for help, Cleveland remains with Charlie and Wayne pursues Vargas alone. Wayne catches up to Vargas at a windmill and after a brief fight, chases the giant to a bridge across a dam. As Cleveland, Janet and Parker arrive, the wounded Vargas topples off the bridge into the water below.

 

Clapper Rail

Lewes, Sussex County

Delaware

August 16, 2014

This Clapper Rail walked down the canal methodically looking for prey along the edges, and at times wading in belly deep water. We were very lucky to get such close studies of this one!

www.flickr.com/photos/morbius19/sets/72157637073316856/ Additional photos in the Set.

 

Starring Edward Kemmer, Sally Fraser, Buddy Baer, Morris Ankrum, Bob Steele, Oliver Blake, Joline Brand, Billy Dix. Directed by Richard E. Cunha.

youtu.be/Spo6hrSm5c0 Full Feature.

Brief Synopsis

After the residents of the small mountain town of Pine Ridge anxiously gather to discuss the mysterious death of local Harold Banks, Sheriff Parker reveals that Banks died from a severe beating, prompting the townspeople to speculate over the recent spate of animal deaths and question whether the tales of an ancient Indian curse may be true. Teenage brother and sister Ann and Charlie Brown scoff at the legends, but Indian Joe declares that if the locals continue to disregard his ancestral burial grounds in Devil's Crag, there will be more violence. After Parker dismisses Joe's warning, a townsman advises the sheriff to question scientific researcher Wayne Brooks, who was seen quarreling with Banks earlier that week. When Parker questions Wayne, however, Wayne insists that he and Banks had a simple disagreement. Soon after, Professor Cleveland and his daughter Janet arrive in town and Wayne recognizes Cleveland as the famous archaeologist whose lectures he attended while in college. Wayne offers the professor his services and at dinner that night Cleveland explains that he and Janet have been searching for the remains of a Spanish conquistador, Vargas, later known as the Diablo Giant, who abandoned the military to hunt for gold in the mountains. Later, Wayne takes Cleveland and Janet to his cabin to show them the artifacts he has unearthed, the most important of which is a live reptile that Wayne believes is centuries old. Cleveland is excited by the reptile's discovery and after piecing together a European crucifix from Wayne's relics, insists that they return to the site where they were found. The next day after Wayne, Janet and Cleveland set up camp at Devil's Crag, Parker arrives and reprimands Wayne for leaving town without his permission. The following morning as Wayne prepares breakfast, he hears a gunshot and discovers Joe nearby. After Wayne explains that he and the Clevelands are searching for ancient artifacts and will respect the Indian burial grounds, Joe thanks him for his honesty, but cautions him that the area is dangerous. Later, Cleveland and Wayne begin a methodical search of the area which continues for several days without success. On their final afternoon, however, Janet detects a metal object underneath an enormous log. Wayne and Cleveland dig under the log and discover an armored helmet, breast plate and several weapons, which Cleveland establishes are of Spanish origin. The men are more excited when they discover a skeleton, and Cleveland returns to camp to catalog the artifacts and begin his scientific paper. That afternoon as a rain storm threatens the site, Wayne finds an ancient axe handle, but is unable to dislodge it from the ground. Wayne returns to the camp, and soon after, the storm breaks and a bolt of lightning strikes near the log. The enormous figure of Vargas, the Diablo Giant, then rises from the ground clutching the axe. The next morning Cleveland and Wayne are stunned to find the axe gone and the ground disturbed. A medallion on the ground confirms Vargas' identity, prompting the men to wonder if the giant, like Wayne's lizard, has returned to life. Later when young Charlie comes by the camp, Cleveland, Wayne and Janet ask him not to reveal their discovery of the Spanish armor, arguing that it will bring townspeople to disturb the site. That evening, Vargas stalks the campsite and when the men discover the armor and medallion missing, they remain on guard. Further down the hill, Charlie frets about leaving Ann alone as he prepares for work, but she assures him she is safe. The following morning, as Wayne tells Cleveland they should report their suspicions of the awakened giant to Parker, the sheriff arrives with the news that Ann has been found brutally murdered. Parker arrests Wayne, claiming that Ann was clutching the Spanish medallion, and reveals that Charlie identified it as the one found by Wayne. Insisting that he is innocent, Wayne suggests that whoever stole the armor and medallion must have killed Ann. Parker agrees to question Joe, but when they find him murdered in his cabin, Parker takes Wayne into Pine Ridge. Cleveland follows them into town and after his departure, Janet is abducted by Vargas. In town, when Parker leaves Wayne unattended in his car momentarily, Cleveland appears and drives Wayne back to Devil's Crag, where the professor reveals that he took a plaster cast of a huge footprint which he believes will confirm that Vargas has returned to life and perpetrated the murders. Parker and the townsmen follow Cleveland and Wayne, but when they learn of Janet's disappearance and hear Cleveland's story about Vargas, they help search for her. Soon the men corner Vargas, and he attacks and kills several before he is wounded and escapes, leaving Janet unhurt. While the injured men are taken back to town, Parker apologizes to Wayne for not believing in his innocence. Charlie asks to help search for Vargas in retaliation for Ann's death, but when Wayne and Parker refuse, sneaks away on his own. Later the sheriff, Wayne and Cleveland hear shots and find Charlie badly wounded . While Parker goes for help, Cleveland remains with Charlie and Wayne pursues Vargas alone. Wayne catches up to Vargas at a windmill and after a brief fight, chases the giant to a bridge across a dam. As Cleveland, Janet and Parker arrive, the wounded Vargas topples off the bridge into the water below.

 

Gavin Heath was born in Cape Town, South Africa on October 23, 1961. Gavin was exposed to a variety of cultures and experiences courtesy of eclectic and progressive parents.

 

At age six, young Heath would meet, play and dance with the tribal cultural known as Ndebelle. He and sister Colleen would circle huge fires, echoing strange and rhythmical chants while anticipating the next ceremonial dance step. By daylight Heath would join the Ndebelle youth patiently watching the elder women methodically decorate their thatched mud dwellings. The brightly painted and highly contrasting geometric shapes and cultural motifs would slowly unfold and most certainly entertain. These were indeed beautiful gifts for all to share.

 

Heath would revisit these incredible people as an adult and one day pay tribute to their culture and peaceful heritage.

"I remember well the Ndebelle. These proud people maintained their culture, positivism and dignity.

 

Gavin Heath has been creating glass art since 1987 and has been exhibiting his work at the Sawdust Art Festival and the Festival of the Arts for 20 years.

 

He is available for custom installations and also teaches private classes in glass blowing at his Laguna Beach studio.

 

You can find his artwork at auction.

 

When not making art out of glass Gavin travels the world surfing in the most remote areas he can find.

 

(949) 395 4976

gavinheath@mac.com

artglass.tv

 

Commercial sourdough bakers weigh ingredients methodically to assure a consistent product every time.

Several minutes have now gone by, but little has changed. Max has kept growling, but seems to take a principled stand against doing more: "If I get up and move, the licky-dog wins."

 

Bella, still happily stuck on "Auto-Lick," works on the right eye before methodically moving on to get his ears.

Costa Rica Dec2022. Not found in heron colonies. A bird of tropical swamps. Seen in all costal regions of Central America on both Pacific and Caribbean shores and wetlands. This guy was happy for me to get up close and photograph him slowly, methodically move among the brush of a fresh brackish water stream just off the beach of Playa de Matapalo in the Guanacaste region.

When murder rears its ugly head in Cabot Cove, players join Jessica Fletcher and her insatiable curiosity to solve the mystery in Murder, She Wrote. Based on the beloved television show, players carefully and methodically investigate murders that occur in the seemingly cozy coastal town in Maine. The police of the town are always willing to arrest the most likely suspect, but as fans of the show know best the culprit is never who you think it is. Each of the 5 cases is enriched with twists and turns that create a fun, engaging, and surprising gameplay experience.

 

Download Murder She Wrote game and Piece together the clues and crack different cases in this exciting Hidden Object game!

 

Part of Grand Teton National Park

Moose, Teton County, Wyoming

Listed: 08/25/1998

 

Although many of the buildings within this complex were not constructed until the 1950s, all adhere to the layout and design concepts initiated in 1946. The complex represents the last privately owned and operated auto-camp/resort complex constructed in Grand Teton National Park in the historical period, prior to the initiation of Mission-66 concession-development schemes. It is eligible to the National Register of Historic Places for its association with duderanch rustic architecture and with area tourism. The district's period of significance extends from Jenkins' purchase in 1946 until the completion of major construction in 1956. The Highlands is a component of the "Auto Camp" property type (Dude Ranching and Tourism context), as defined in the Grand Teton National Park Multiple Property Submission (1997).

 

Charles Byron and Jeanne Jenkins and Gloria Jenkins Wardell purchased the Highlands site in 1946, From this date until 1956, they methodically added "one or two cabins a year" in a U-shaped pattern anchored by a large log/board-andbatten lodge. The lodge, originally envisioned as a "Tyrollean type" to conform to the frequent use of Swiss architecture in national parks, was instead constructed in the more typical regional rustic style. Cabins were built by Jenkins and a few hired carpenters, who worked during the summer months. As many as 13 "girls" cleaned the cabins, worked in the dining room, and lived in the dormitory (better known as the Hen House).

 

Although developed as a private property, and insulated from NPS design controls or lease obligations, The Highlands reflected GRTE accommodation designs first articulated in the 1940s.

 

By 1956, the site included a large central lodge; three cabins dating to the Sensenbachs; and a new generation of tourist cabins, constructed by Jenkins, with occasional help, in what his nephew defines as "a labor of love." The Highlands was distinct from area dude ranches (which supplied each guest with his/her own saddle horse, provided family-style meals on the European Plan, and most often boasted only of a "private outdoor toilet") and also from more standard auto-camp complexes, such as Kimmel Kabins (where, in an important precursor to major modern trends in park tourism, one to two night stays were encouraged, and neither meals nor recreational services were provided). A ca. 1950 brochure describing "The Highlands" log cabins as:

 

from, one to five rooms in an individual unit, spacious, attractively furnished in keeping with the log interiors, completely modern with private bathrooms, plenty of hot water, electric heat and daily maid service.... Having your meals with us is optional, but you will find it a convenience and a pleasure.

 

Kowloon Walled City Park - Zodiac Garden (Hong Kong)

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Dependable, calm, methodical, patient, hardworking, ambitious, conventional, steady, modest, logical, resolute, tenacious. Can be stubborn, narrow-minded, materialistic, rigid, demanding.

 

HPIM2456

Few have dominated their sport like Björn Borg did. The slender Swede chalked up eleven grand-slam titles from ’74 to ’81, grinding his victims down with his legendary stamina, making what was actually a methodical approach to the game seem relentless and fierce. This is the man who made tracksuits cool and put Fila on the map. “I never thought of myself as a style icon,” Borg has said, “though I can see that the way I dressed and how people looked at me created that.” And whether it was intentional or not, Borg came to typify, almost to the point of caricature—thank you, Luke Wilson, in The Royal Tenenbaums—the at once worldly and laid-back ethos of an era. He made luxe look comfortable and easy. And why shouldn’t it be when you’re young, gifted, and living the high life in Monte Carlo?

 

• Long hair works best when it’s loose and easy. You don’t want a coif or a do—you are not a member of Poison or Warrant.

A B Series Presents

 

MAJA RATKJE in Concert!

 

7:30pm

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

 

National Arts Centre

Fourth Stage

53 Elgin Street

Ottawa, Ontario

 

Introductory set by Ottawa saxophonist, LINSEY WELLMAN!

 

Check out the NAC's event page, nac-cna.ca/en/community/event/9138.

 

**

 

“Ratkje’s vibrant vocal fluctuations can make Bjork sound like an “American Idol” candidate.” Christopher Porter in the Washington Post Express

 

An energizing figure in contemporary music, Norwegian composer, vocalist and instrumentalist, MAJA RATKJE consistently pushes the boundaries of our understanding of music, methodically threading together a musical language spun from the fundamentals of sound and the results are inevitably stirring. On May 20th at the National Arts Centre, see Ratkje perform in a concert combining cutting-edge vocals with live electronics!

 

Maja Ratkje has been leading an impressive career as an improviser and a composer since the late 1990s. Her work ranges from raw noise to delicate chamber music. She is best known for her powerful and highly expressive voice, which she first put to use in the group SPUNK and the duo Fe-Mail. Ratkje released her solo debut in 2002 on Rune Grammofon. It revealed a versatile voice augmented by real-time electronic operations. Since then, the vocalist has released four more solo records (one on Tzadik) and given dozens of solo performances. Her latest recordings demonstrate an artistic maturation, all the while maintaining the frenzied impulse that pushed her early career forward. A riveting display of cutting-edge vocals and live electronics make Ratkje’s solo concerts anything but predictable.

 

**

 

An active member of the Ottawa music scene, LINSEY WELLMAN is known as a creative and spontaneous improviser on the alto and soprano saxophones, the alto and standard flutes, and the bass clarinet. His latest release - Ephemera: for solo saxophone, is a suite of guided improvisations for which he received grants from the City of Ottawa and from the Canada Council for the Arts. He is also co-founder and co-curator of the Improvising Musicians of Ottawa/Outaouais (IMOO) concert series, as well as IMOOFest: an annual improvised music festival in Ottawa.

 

“Unadorned except for his saxophone, Wellman uses repeated and carefully divided lines to vibrate split tones which are somehow both polyphonic and tonic. Using circular breathing he produces equivalent note clusters and glissandi that unroll as if his saxophone is a perpetual motion machine yet subtly vary in pitch, shading and emphasis.” – Ken Waxman (the Whole Note)

 

**

 

Launched in 2007, A B Series has quickly established itself as a dynamic presenter of the performing arts. Specialized in presenting innovative musical and literary events, it has drawn large audiences and created new energy in Ottawa's cultural life. A B Series serves the greater Ottawa community by presenting a carefully curated program of performances. In addition to presenting cutting-edge musical performances, it programs readings of poetry and fiction. And, it has a rich tradition of producing multi-disciplinary events combining literature, music, visual arts and theatre. A B Series' website can be found at abseries.org.

 

**

 

This concert is produced by A B Series in partnership with the National Arts Centre and Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville and with support from the Royal Norwegian Embassy, City of Ottawa and Ontario Arts Council.

I came upon a pair of crows attempting to eat a dead swan. (Yes, I took photos of the swan - but I decided not to post them. It could not have been dead for very long, as it was still almost intact. No obvious cause of death.)

 

"American Crows are familiar over much of the continent: large, intelligent, all-black birds with hoarse, cawing voices. They are common sights in treetops, fields, and roadsides, and in habitats ranging from open woods and empty beaches to town centers. They usually feed on the ground and eat almost anything – typically earthworms, insects and other small animals, seeds, and fruit but also garbage, carrion, and chicks they rob from nests. Their flight style is unique, a patient, methodical flapping that is rarely broken up with glides. Crows are rarely found alone.

 

Cool Facts

 

- American Crows congregate in large numbers in winter to sleep in communal roosts. These roosts can be of a few hundred up to two million crows. Some roosts have been forming in the same general area for well over 100 years. In the last few decades some of these roosts have moved into urban areas where the noise and mess cause conflicts with people.

- Young American Crows do not breed until they are at least two years old, and most do not breed until they are four or more. In most populations the young help their parents raise young for a few years. Families may include up to 15 individuals and contain young from five different years.

- The American Crow appears to be the biggest victim of West Nile virus, a disease recently introduced to North America. Crows die within one week of infection, and few seem able to survive exposure. No other North American bird is dying at the same rate from the disease, and the loss of crows in some areas has been severe.

- In some areas, the American Crow has a double life. It maintains a territory year round in which the entire extended family lives and forages together. But during much of the year, individual crows leave the home territory to join large flocks at dumps and agricultural fields, and to sleep in large roosts in winter. Family members go together to the flocks, but do not stay together in the crowd. A crow may spend part of the day at home with its family in town and the rest with a flock feeding on waste grain out in the country.

- Despite its tendency to eat roadkill, the American Crow is not specialized to be a scavenger, and carrion is only a very small part of its diet. Though their bills are large, crows can’t break through the skin of even a gray squirrel. They must wait for something else to open a carcass or for the carcass to decompose and become tender enough to eat.

- Crows are crafty foragers that sometimes follow adult birds to find where their nests are hidden. They sometimes steal food from other animals. A group of crows was seen distracting a river otter to steal its fish, and another group followed Common Mergansers to catch minnows the ducks were chasing into the shallows. They also sometimes follow songbirds as they arrive from a long migration flight and capture the exhausted birds. Crows also catch fish, eat from outdoor dog dishes, and take fruit from trees.

- Crows sometimes make and use tools. Examples include a captive crow using a cup to carry water over to a bowl of dry mash; shaping a piece of wood and then sticking it into a hole in a fence post in search of food; and breaking off pieces of pine cone to drop on tree climbers near a nest.

- The oldest recorded wild American Crow was 16 years old. A captive crow that died in New York lived to be 59 years old."

 

- www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Crow/lifehistory

youtu.be/Spo6hrSm5c0 Full Feature.

 

Starring Edward Kemmer, Sally Fraser, Buddy Baer, Morris Ankrum, Bob Steele, Oliver Blake, Joline Brand, and Billy Dix. Directed by Richard E. Cunha.

Brief Synopsis

After the residents of the small mountain town of Pine Ridge anxiously gather to discuss the mysterious death of local Harold Banks, Sheriff Parker reveals that Banks died from a severe beating, prompting the townspeople to speculate over the recent spate of animal deaths and question whether the tales of an ancient Indian curse may be true. Teenage brother and sister Ann and Charlie Brown scoff at the legends, but Indian Joe declares that if the locals continue to disregard his ancestral burial grounds in Devil's Crag, there will be more violence. After Parker dismisses Joe's warning, a townsman advises the sheriff to question scientific researcher Wayne Brooks, who was seen quarreling with Banks earlier that week. When Parker questions Wayne, however, Wayne insists that he and Banks had a simple disagreement. Soon after, Professor Cleveland and his daughter Janet arrive in town and Wayne recognizes Cleveland as the famous archaeologist whose lectures he attended while in college. Wayne offers the professor his services and at dinner that night Cleveland explains that he and Janet have been searching for the remains of a Spanish conquistador, Vargas, later known as the Diablo Giant, who abandoned the military to hunt for gold in the mountains. Later, Wayne takes Cleveland and Janet to his cabin to show them the artifacts he has unearthed, the most important of which is a live reptile that Wayne believes is centuries old. Cleveland is excited by the reptile's discovery and after piecing together a European crucifix from Wayne's relics, insists that they return to the site where they were found. The next day after Wayne, Janet and Cleveland set up camp at Devil's Crag, Parker arrives and reprimands Wayne for leaving town without his permission. The following morning as Wayne prepares breakfast, he hears a gunshot and discovers Joe nearby. After Wayne explains that he and the Clevelands are searching for ancient artifacts and will respect the Indian burial grounds, Joe thanks him for his honesty, but cautions him that the area is dangerous. Later, Cleveland and Wayne begin a methodical search of the area which continues for several days without success. On their final afternoon, however, Janet detects a metal object underneath an enormous log. Wayne and Cleveland dig under the log and discover an armored helmet, breast plate and several weapons, which Cleveland establishes are of Spanish origin. The men are more excited when they discover a skeleton, and Cleveland returns to camp to catalog the artifacts and begin his scientific paper. That afternoon as a rain storm threatens the site, Wayne finds an ancient axe handle, but is unable to dislodge it from the ground. Wayne returns to the camp, and soon after, the storm breaks and a bolt of lightning strikes near the log. The enormous figure of Vargas, the Diablo Giant, then rises from the ground clutching the axe. The next morning Cleveland and Wayne are stunned to find the axe gone and the ground disturbed. A medallion on the ground confirms Vargas' identity, prompting the men to wonder if the giant, like Wayne's lizard, has returned to life. Later when young Charlie comes by the camp, Cleveland, Wayne and Janet ask him not to reveal their discovery of the Spanish armor, arguing that it will bring townspeople to disturb the site. That evening, Vargas stalks the campsite and when the men discover the armor and medallion missing, they remain on guard. Further down the hill, Charlie frets about leaving Ann alone as he prepares for work, but she assures him she is safe. The following morning, as Wayne tells Cleveland they should report their suspicions of the awakened giant to Parker, the sheriff arrives with the news that Ann has been found brutally murdered. Parker arrests Wayne, claiming that Ann was clutching the Spanish medallion, and reveals that Charlie identified it as the one found by Wayne. Insisting that he is innocent, Wayne suggests that whoever stole the armor and medallion must have killed Ann. Parker agrees to question Joe, but when they find him murdered in his cabin, Parker takes Wayne into Pine Ridge. Cleveland follows them into town and after his departure, Janet is abducted by Vargas. In town, when Parker leaves Wayne unattended in his car momentarily, Cleveland appears and drives Wayne back to Devil's Crag, where the professor reveals that he took a plaster cast of a huge footprint which he believes will confirm that Vargas has returned to life and perpetrated the murders. Parker and the townsmen follow Cleveland and Wayne, but when they learn of Janet's disappearance and hear Cleveland's story about Vargas, they help search for her. Soon the men corner Vargas, and he attacks and kills several before he is wounded and escapes, leaving Janet unhurt. While the injured men are taken back to town, Parker apologizes to Wayne for not believing in his innocence. Charlie asks to help search for Vargas in retaliation for Ann's death, but when Wayne and Parker refuse, sneaks away on his own. Later the sheriff, Wayne and Cleveland hear shots and find Charlie badly wounded . While Parker goes for help, Cleveland remains with Charlie and Wayne pursues Vargas alone. Wayne catches up to Vargas at a windmill and after a brief fight, chases the giant to a bridge across a dam. As Cleveland, Janet and Parker arrive, the wounded Vargas topples off the bridge into the water below.

 

A4 sketchbook.

 

Here's a more methodical approach to the Robert Barrett "envelope" and internal proportions which I attempted yesterday freehand. I can see the head is supposed to be much more box-like than I sketched it yesterday. I'm assuming the slight variations in proportion are perspectival in nature, given the horizon line is at about sternum level.

 

sketchblog gasp2011.wordpress.com

  

Rhodri Davies plays the harp in new and unexpected ways, often without plucking the strings. In this performance, set within his installation Room Harp, Davies goes well beyond the convention of playing the harp as a musical instrument, by methodically burning and restringing all 47 strings on a concert pedal harp. He has been interested in the relationship between destruction and creation in sound for many years and in 2008 collaborated with the artist Gustav Metzger, who also participated in AV Festival 10.

 

Biography

Rhodri Davies was born in 1971 in Aberystwyth, Wales and now lives in Gateshead. He plays harp, electric harp, live-electronics and builds wind, water and fire harp installations. His regular groups include: a duo with John Butcher, The Sealed Knot, a trio with David Toop and Lee Patterson, Common Objects, Cranc, a trio with John Tilbury and Michael Duch, SLW and Apartment House. In 2008 he collaborated with the visual artist Gustav Metzger on Self-cancellation, a large-scale event in London and Glasgow. New pieces for harp have been composed for him by: Eliane Radigue, Christian Wolff, Ben Patterson, Alison Knowles, Michael Pisaro, Carole Finer, Mieko Shiomi, Radu Malfatti and Yasunao Tone.

 

Credit

Commissioned by AV Festival 10 and produced in partnership with Hatton Gallery. Supported by Arts Council England.

 

“As a rider, you must slowly and methodically show your horse what is appropriate. You also have to discourage what's inappropriate, not by making the inappropriate impossible, but by making it difficult so that the horse himself chooses appropriate behavior. You can't choose it for him; you can only make it difficult for him to make the wrong choices. If, however, you make it impossible for him to make the wrong choices, you're making war.”

 

― Buck Brannaman, The Faraway Horses: The Adventures and Wisdom of One of America's Most Renowned Horsemen

 

Niyata in Sanskrit is the root of nyata in Bahasa Indonesia, carries the meaning of being real, distinct, or true.

 

TEDxJakarta 12: Niyata evolves around the celebration of order, abides to the notion that even nature most often works in alluring patterns, precipitated by the sum of many tiny-yet-meaningful and methodical inflections.

 

Gedung Kesenian Jakarta

June 10th, 2017

 

Documentation team:

Dave | Idznie | Mutia

Granite rock, which is brought in by barge, is methodically placed in the Piankatank River near Gwynn’s Island in Mathews County Virginia. The rock is the basis for the newest, 25-acre oyster reef in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. The Norfolk District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is overseeing the more than $2 million sanctuary reef project in partnership with the Virginia Marine Resources Commission and the Nature Conservancy. (U.S. Army photo/Patrick Bloodgood)

  

The water buffalo or domestic Asian water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) is a large bovid originating in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and China. Today, it is also found in Europe, Australia, and some American countries. The wild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee) native to Southeast Asia is considered a different species, but most likely represents the ancestor of the domestic water buffalo.

 

Two extant types of water buffalo are recognized based on morphological and behavioural criteria – the river buffalo of South Asia and further west to the Balkans, Egypt, and Italy, and the swamp buffalo, found from Assam in the west through Southeast Asia to the Yangtze valley of China in the east. The origins of the domestic water buffalo types are debated, although results of a phylogenetic study indicate that the swamp type may have originated in China and was domesticated about 4,000 years ago, while the river type may have originated from India and was domesticated about 5,000 years ago. Water buffalo were traded from the Indus Valley Civilisation to Mesopotamia, in modern Iraq, 2500 BC by the Meluhhas. The seal of a scribe employed by an Akkadian king shows the sacrifice of water buffalo.

 

At least 130 million domestic water buffalo exist, and more human beings depend on them than on any other domestic animal. They are especially suitable for tilling rice fields, and their milk is richer in fat and protein than that of dairy cattle. The large feral population of northern Australia became established in the late 19th century, and smaller feral herds are in New Guinea, Tunisia, and northeastern Argentina. Feral herds are also present in New Britain, New Ireland, Irian Jaya, Papua New Guinea, Colombia, Guyana, Suriname, Brazil, and Uruguay.

 

CHARACTERISTICS

The skin of river buffalo is black, but some specimens may have dark, slate-coloured skin. Swamp buffalo have a grey skin at birth, but become slate blue later. Albinoids are present in some populations. River buffalo have comparatively longer faces, smaller girths, and bigger limbs than swamp buffalo. Their dorsal ridges extend further back and taper off more gradually. Their horns grow downward and backward, then curve upward in a spiral. Swamp buffalo are heavy-bodied and stockily built; the body is short and the belly large. The forehead is flat, the eyes prominent, the face short, and the muzzle wide. The neck is comparatively long, and the withers and croup are prominent. A dorsal ridge extends backward and ends abruptly just before the end of the chest. Their horns grow outward, and curve in a semicircle, but always remain more or less on the plane of the forehead. The tail is short, reaching only to the hocks. Height at withers is 129–133 cm for males, and 120–127 cm for females. They range in weight from 300–550 kg, but weights of over 1,000 kg have also been observed.

 

Tedong bonga is a black pied buffalo featuring a unique black and white colouration that is favoured by the Toraja of Sulawesi.

 

The swamp buffalo has 48 chromosomes; the river buffalo has 50 chromosomes. The two types do not readily interbreed, but fertile offspring can occur. Buffalo-cattle hybrids have not been observed to occur, and the embryos of such hybrids do not reach maturity in laboratory experiments.

 

The rumen of the water buffalo has important differences from that of other ruminants. It contains a larger population of bacteria, particularly the cellulolytic bacteria, lower protozoa, and higher fungi zoospores. In addition, higher rumen ammonia nitrogen (NH4-N) and higher pH have been found as compared to those in cattle

 

ECOLOGY AND BEHAVIOR

River buffalo prefer deep water. Swamp buffalo prefer to wallow in mudholes which they make with their horns. During wallowing, they acquire a thick coating of mud. Both are well adapted to a hot and humid climate with temperatures ranging from 0 °C in the winter to 30 °C and greater in the summer. Water availability is important in hot climates, since they need wallows, rivers, or splashing water to assist in thermoregulation. Some breeds are adapted to saline seaside shores and saline sandy terrain.

 

DIET

Water buffalo thrive on many aquatic plants and during floods, will graze submerged, raising their heads above the water and carrying quantities of edible plants. They eat reeds (quassab), a giant reed (birdi), a kind of bulrush (kaulan), water hyacinth, and marsh grasses. Some of these plants are of great value to local peoples. Others, such as water hyacinth, are a major problem in some tropical valleys, and water buffalo may help to keep waterways clear.

 

Green fodders are used widely for intensive milk production and for fattening. Many fodder crops are conserved as hay, chaffed, or pulped. Fodders include alfalfa, berseem and bancheri, the leaves, stems or trimmings of banana, cassava, fodder beet, halfa, ipil-ipil and kenaf, maize, oats, pandarus, peanut, sorghum, soybean, sugarcane, bagasse, and turnips. Citrus pulp and pineapple wastes have been fed safely to buffalo. In Egypt, whole sun-dried dates are fed to milk-buffalo up to 25% of the standard feed mixture.

 

REPRODUCTION

Swamp buffalo generally become reproductive at an older age than river breeds. Young males in Egypt, India, and Pakistan are first mated at about 3.0–3.5 years of age, but in Italy

 

they may be used as early as 2 years of age. Successful mating behaviour may continue until the animal is 12 years or even older. A good river male can impregnate 100 females in a year. A strong seasonal influence on mating occurs. Heat stress reduces libido

 

Although buffalo are polyoestrous, their reproductive efficiency shows wide variation throughout the year. Buffalo cows exhibit a distinct seasonal change in displaying oestrus, conception rate, and calving rate. The age at first oestrus of heifers varies between breeds from 13–33 months, but mating at the first oestrus is often infertile and usually deferred until they are 3 years old. Gestation lasts from 281–334 days, but most reports give a range between 300 and 320 days. Swamp buffalo carry their calves for one or two weeks longer than river buffalo. It is not rare to find buffalo that continue to work well at the age of 30, and instances of a working life of 40 years are recorded.

 

TAXONOMIC HISTORY

Carl Linnaeus first described the genus Bos and the water buffalo under the binomial Bubalis bubalus in 1758; the latter was known to occur in Asia and as a domestic form in Italy. Ellerman and Morrison-Scott treated the wild and domestic forms of the water buffalo as conspecifics whereas others treated them as different species. The nomenclatorial treatment of wild and domestic forms has been inconsistent and varies between authors and even within the works of single authors.

 

In March 2003, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature achieved consistency in the naming of wild and domestic water buffalo by ruling that the scientific name Bubalus arnee is valid for the wild form. B. bubalis continues to be valid for the domestic form and applies also to feral populations.

 

DOMESTICATION AND BREEDING

Water buffalo were domesticated in India about 5000 years ago, and in China about 4000 years ago. Two types are recognized, based on morphological and behavioural criteria – the river buffalo of the Indian subcontinent and further west to the Balkans and Italy, and the swamp buffalo, found from Assam in the west through Southeast Asia to the Yangtze valley of China in the east. The present-day river buffalo is the result of complex domestication processes involving more than one maternal lineage and a significant maternal gene flow from wild populations after the initial domestication events. Twenty-two breeds of the river type water buffalo are known, including Murrah, Nili-Ravi, Surti, Jafarabadi, Anatolian, Mediterranean, and Egyptian buffalo. China has a huge variety of buffalo genetic resources, comprising 16 local swamp buffalo breeds in various regions.

 

Results of mitochondrial DNA analyses indicate that the two types were domesticated independently. Sequencing of cytochrome b genes of Bubalus species implies that the domestic buffalo originated from at least two populations, and that the river and the swamp types have differentiated at the full species level. The genetic distance between the two types is so large that a divergence time of about 1.7 million years has been suggested. The swamp type was noticed to have the closest relationship with the tamaraw.

 

DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATIONS

The water buffalo population in the world is about 172 million.

 

IN ASIA

More than 95.8% of the world population of water buffalo are found in Asia including both river and swamp types. The water buffalo population in India numbered over 97.9 million head in 2003, representing 56.5% of the world population. They are primarily of the river type, with 10 well-defined breeds comprising Badhawari, Murrah, Nili-Ravi, Jafarabadi, Marathwada, Mehsana, Nagpuri, Pandharpuri, Toda, and Surti. Swamp buffalo occur only in small areas in the north-eastern part of the country and are not distinguished into breeds.

 

In 2003, the second-largest population lived in China, with 22.759 million head, all of the swamp type with breeds kept only in the lowlands, and other breeds kept only in the mountains; as of 2003, 3.2 million swamp-type carabao buffalo were in the Philippines, nearly three million swamp buffalo were in Vietnam, and 772,764 buffalo were in Bangladesh. About 750,000 head were estimated in Sri Lanka in 1997.

 

The water buffalo is the main dairy animal in Pakistan, with 23.47 million head in 2010. Of these, 76% are kept in the Punjab. The rest of them are mostly in the province of Sindh. Breeds used are Nili-Ravi, Kundi, and Azi Kheli. Karachi has the largest population of water buffalos for an area where fodder is not grown, consisting of 350,000 head kept mainly for milking.

 

In Thailand, the number of water buffalo dropped from more than 3 million head in 1996 to less than 1.24 million head in 2011. Slightly over 75% of them are kept in the country's northeastern region. The statistics also indicate that by the beginning of 2012, less than one million were in the country, partly as a result of illegal shipments to neighboring countries where sales prices are higher than in Thailand.

 

Water buffalo are also present in the southern region of Iraq, in the marshes. These marshes were drained by Saddam Hussein in 1991 in an attempt to punish the south for the uprisings of 1991. Following 2003, and the fall of the Saddam regime, these lands were reflooded and a 2007 report in the provinces of Maysan and Thi Qar shows a steady increase in the number of water buffalo. The report puts the number at 40,008 head in those two provinces.

 

IN EUROPE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN

Water buffalo likely were introduced to Europe from India or other Oriental countries. To Italy they were introduced about the year 600 in the reign of the Longobard King Agilulf. As they appear in the company of wild horses, they probably were a present from the Khan of the Avars, a Turkic nomadic tribe that dwelt near the Danube River at the time. Sir H. Johnston knew of a herd of water buffalo presented by a King of Naples to the Bey of Tunis in the mid-19th century that had resumed the feral state in northern Tunis.

 

European buffalo are all of the river type and considered to be of the same breed named Mediterranean buffalo. In Italy, the Mediterranean type was particularly selected and is called Mediterranean Italian breed to distinguish it from other European breeds, which differ genetically. Mediterranean buffalo are also found in Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Albania, Kosovo, and the Republic of Macedonia, with a few hundred in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Hungary. Little exchange of breeding buffalo has occurred among countries, so each population has its own phenotypic features and performances. In Bulgaria, they were crossbred with the Indian Murrah breed, and in Romania, some were crossbred with Bulgarian Murrah. Populations in Turkey are of the Anatolian buffalo breed.

 

IN AUSTRALIA

Between 1824 and 1849, water buffalo were introduced into the Northern Territory from Timor, Kisar, and probably other islands in the Indonesian archipelago. In 1886, a few milking types were brought from India to Darwin. They have been the main grazing animals on the subcoastal plains and river basins between Darwin and Arnhem Land since the 1880s. In the early 1960s, an estimated population of 150,000 to 200,000 buffalo were living in the plains and nearby areas.

 

They became feral and are causing significant environmental damage. Buffalo are also found in the Top End. As a result, they were hunted in the Top End from 1885 until 1980. The commencement of the brucellosis and tuberculosis campaign (BTEC) resulted in a huge culling program to reduce buffalo herds to a fraction of the numbers that were reached in the 1980s. The BTEC was finished when the Northern Territory was declared free of the disease in 1997. Numbers dropped dramatically as a result of the campaign, but have since recovered to an estimated 150,000 animals across northern Australia in 2008.

 

During the 1950s, buffalo were hunted for their skins and meat, which was exported and used in the local trade. In the late 1970s, live exports were made to Cuba and continued later into other countries. Buffalo are now crossed with riverine buffalo in artificial insemination programs, and may be found in many areas of Australia. Some of these crossbreds are used for milk production. Melville Island is a popular hunting location, where a steady population up to 4,000 individuals exists. Safari outfits are run from Darwin to Melville Island and other locations in the Top End, often with the use of bush pilots. The horns, which can measure up to a record of 3.1 m tip-to-tip, are prized hunting trophies.

 

The buffalo have developed a different appearance from the Indonesian buffalo from which they descend. They live mainly in freshwater marshes and billabongs, and their territory range can be quite expansive during the wet season. Their only natural predators in Australia are adult saltwater crocodiles, with whom they share the billabongs, and dingoes, which have been known to prey on buffalo calves and occasionally adult buffalo when the dingoes are in large packs.

 

Buffalo were exported live to Indonesia until 2011, at a rate of about 3000 per year. After the live export ban that year, the exports dropped to zero, and had not resumed as of June 2013.

 

IN SOUTH AMERICA

Water buffalo were introduced into the Amazon River basin in 1895. They are now extensively used there for meat and dairy production. In 2005, the buffalo herd in the Brazilian Amazon stood at roughly 1.6 million head, of which 460,000 were located in the lower Amazon floodplain. Breeds used include Mediterranean from Italy, Murrah and Jafarabadi from India, and Carabao from the Philippines.

 

During the 1970s, small herds were imported to Costa Rica, Ecuador, Cayenne, Panama, Surinam, Guyana, and Venezuela.

 

In Argentina, many game ranches raise water buffalo for commercial hunting

 

IN NORTH AMERICA

In 1974, four water buffalo were imported to the United States from Guam to be studied at the University of Florida. In February 1978, the first herd arrived for commercial farming. Until 2002, only one commercial breeder was in the United States. Water buffalo meat is imported from Australia. Until 2011, water buffalo were raised in Gainesville, Florida, from young obtained from zoo overflow. They were used primarily for meat production, frequently sold as hamburger.[38] Other US ranchers use them for production of high-quality mozzarella cheese.

 

HUSBANDRY

The husbandry system of water buffalo depends on the purpose for which they are bred and maintained. Most of them are kept by people who work on small farms in family units. Their buffalo live in very close association with them, and are often their greatest capital asset. The women and girls in India generally look after the milking buffalo while the men and boys are concerned with the working animals. Throughout Asia, they are commonly tended by children who are often seen leading or riding their charges to wallowing places. Water buffalo are the ideal animals for work in the deep mud of paddy fields because of their large hooves and flexible foot joints. They are often referred to as "the living tractor of the East". It probably is possible to plough deeper with buffalo than with either oxen or horses. They are the most efficient and economical means of cultivation of small fields. In most rice-producing countries, they are used for threshing and for transporting the sheaves during the rice harvest. They provide power for oilseed mills, sugarcane presses, and devices for raising water. They are widely used as pack animals, and in India and Pakistan also for heavy haulage. In their invasions of Europe, the Turks used buffalo for hauling heavy battering rams. Their dung is used as a fertilizer, and as a fuel when dried.

 

Buffalo contribute 72 million tones of milk and three million tones of meat annually to world food, much of it in areas that are prone to nutritional imbalances. In India, river-type buffalo are kept mainly for milk production and for transport, whereas swamp-type buffalo are kept mainly for work and a small amount of milk.

 

DAIRY PRODUCTS

Water buffalo milk presents physicochemical features different from that of other ruminant species, such as a higher content of fatty acids and proteins. The physical and chemical parameters of swamp and river type water buffalo milk differ. Water buffalo milk contains higher levels of total solids, crude protein, fat, calcium, and phosphorus, and slightly higher content of lactose compared with those of cow milk. The high level of total solids makes water buffalo milk ideal for processing into value-added dairy products such as cheese. The conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) content in milk ranged from 4.4 mg/g fat in September to 7.6 mg/g fat in June. Seasons and genetics may play a role in variation of CLA level and changes in gross composition of the water buffalo milk.

 

Water buffalo milk is processed into a large variety of dairy products:

 

- Cream churns much faster at higher fat levels and gives higher overrun than cow cream.

- Butter from water buffalo cream displays more stability than that from cow cream.

- Ghee from water buffalo milk has a different texture with a bigger grain size than ghee from cow milk.

- Heat-concentrated milk products in the Indian subcontinent include paneer, khoa, rabri, kheer and basundi.

- Fermented milk products include dahi, yogurt, and chakka.

- Whey is used for making ricotta and mascarpone in Italy, and alkarish in Syria and Egypt.

- Soft cheeses made include mozzarella in Italy, karish, mish, and domiati in Egypt, madhfor in Iraq, alghab in Syria, kesong puti in the Philippines, and vladeasa in Romania.

- The semihard cheese beyaz peynir is made in Turkey.

- Hard cheeses include braila in Romania, rahss in Egypt, white brine in Bulgaria, and akkawi in Syria.

- Watered-down buffalo milk is used as a cheaper alternative to regular milk.

 

MEAT AND SKIN PRODUCTS

Water buffalo meat, sometimes called "carabeef", is often passed off as beef in certain regions, and is also a major source of export revenue for India. In many Asian regions, buffalo meat is less preferred due to its toughness; however, recipes have evolved (rendang, for example) where the slow cooking process and spices not only make the meat palatable, but also preserve it, an important factor in hot climates where refrigeration is not always available.Their hides provide tough and useful leather, often used for shoes.

 

BONE AND HORN PRODUCTS

The bones and horns are often made into jewellery, especially earrings. Horns are used for the embouchure of musical instruments, such as ney and kaval.

 

ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS

Wildlife conservation scientists have started to recommend and use introduced populations of feral domestic water buffalo in far-away lands to manage uncontrolled vegetation growth in and around natural wetlands. Introduced water buffalo at home in such environs provide cheap service by regularly grazing the uncontrolled vegetation and opening up clogged water bodies for waterfowl, wetland birds, and other wildlife. Grazing water buffalo are sometimes used in Great Britain for conservation grazing, such as in Chippenham Fen National Nature Reserve. The buffalo can better adapt to wet conditions and poor-quality vegetation than cattle.

 

Currently, research is being conducted at the Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies to determine the levels of nutrients removed and returned to wetlands when water buffalo are used for wetland vegetation management.

 

However, in uncontrolled circumstances, water buffalo can cause environmental damage, such as trampling vegetation, disturbing bird and reptile nesting sites, and spreading exotic weeds.

 

RESEARCH

The world's first cloned buffalo was developed by Indian scientists from National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal. The buffalo calf was named Samrupa. The calf did not survive more than a week, and died due to some genetic disorders. So, the scientists created another cloned buffalo a few months later, and named it Garima.

 

On 15 September 2007, the Philippines announced its development of Southeast Asia's first cloned buffalo. The Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD), under the Department of Science and Technology in Los Baños, Laguna, approved this project. The Department of Agriculture's Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) will implement cloning through somatic cell nuclear transfer as a tool for genetic improvement in water buffalo. "Super buffalo calves" will be produced. There will be no modification or alteration of the genetic materials, as in genetically modified organisms.

 

On 1 January 2008, the Philippine Carabao Center in Nueva Ecija, per Filipino scientists, initiated a study to breed a super water buffalo that could produce 4 to 18 litres of milk per day using gene-based technology. Also, the first in vitro river buffalo was born there in 2004 from an in vitro-produced, vitrified embryo, named "Glory" after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Joseph Estrada's most successful project as an opposition senator, the PCC was created through Republic Act 3707, the Carabao Act of 1992.

 

IN CULTURE

Some ethnic groups, such as Batak and Toraja in Indonesia and the Derung in China, use water buffalo or kerbau (called horbo in Batak or tedong in Toraja) as sacrificial animals at several festivals.

 

- Legend has it that the Chinese philosophical sage Laozi left China through the Han Gu Pass riding a water buffalo.

- According to Hindu lore, the god of death Yama, rides on a male water buffalo.

- The carabao subspecies is considered a national symbol in the Philippines.

- In Vietnam, water buffalo are often the most valuable possession of poor farmers: "Con trâu là đầu cơ nghiệp". They are treated as a member of the family: "Chồng cày, vợ cấy, con trâu đi bừa" ("The husband ploughs, the wife sows, water buffalo draws the rake") and are friends of the children. Children talk to their water buffalo, "Bao giờ cây lúa còn bông. Thì còn ngọn cỏ ngoài đồng trâu ăn." (Vietnamese children are responsible for grazing water buffalo. They feed them grass if they work laboriously for men.) In the old days, West Lake, Hà Nội, was named Kim Ngưu - Golden Water Buffalo.

- The Yoruban Orisha Oya (goddess of change) takes the form of a water buffalo.

 

FIGHTING FESTIVALS

- Pasungay Festival is held annually in the town of San Joaquin, Iloilo in the Philippines.

- Moh juj Water Buffalo fighting, is held every year in Bhogali Bihu in Assam. Ahotguri in Nagaon is famous for it.

- Do Son Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Vietnam, held each year on the ninth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar at Do Son Township, Haiphong City in Vietnam, is one of the most popular Vietnam festivals and events in Haiphong City. The preparations for this buffalo fighting festival begin from the two to three months earlier. The competing buffalo are selected and methodically trained months in advance. It is a traditional festival of Vietnam attached to a Water God worshipping ceremony and the Hien Sinh custom to show martial spirit of the local people of Do Son, Haiphong.

- "Hai Luu" Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Vietnam, According to ancient records, the buffalo fighting in Hai Luu Commune has existed from the 2nd century B.C. General Lu Gia at that time, had the buffalo slaughtered to give a feast to the local people and the warriors, and organized buffalo fighting for amusement. Eventually, all the fighting buffalo will be slaughtered as tributes to the deities.

- "Ko Samui" Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Thailand, is a very popular event held on special occasions such as New Year's Day in January, and Songkran in mid-April, this festival features head-wrestling bouts in which two male Asian water buffalo are pitted against one another. Unlike in Spanish Bullfighting, wherein bulls get killed while fighting sword-wielding men, Buffalo Fighting Festival held at Ko Samui, Thailand is fairly harmless contest. The fighting season varies according to ancient customs & ceremonies. The first Buffalo to turn and run away is considered the loser, the winning buffalo becomes worth several million baht. Ko Samui is an island in the Gulf of Thailand in the South China Sea, it is 700 km from Bangkok and is connected to it by regular flights.

- "Ma'Pasilaga Tedong" Water Buffalo Fighting Festival, in Tana Toraja Regency of Sulawesi Island, Indonesia, is a very popular event where the Rambu Solo' or a Burial Festival took place in Tana Toraja.

 

RACING FESTIVALS

Carabao Carroza Festival is being held annually every May in the town of Pavia, Iloilo, Philippines.

Kambala races of Karnataka, India, take place between December and March. The races are conducted by having the water buffalo (he buffalo) run in long parallel slushy ditches, where they are driven by men standing on wooden planks drawn by the buffalo. The objectives of the race are to finish first and to raise the water to the greatest height and also a rural sport. Kambala races are arranged with competition, as well as without competition and as a part of thanks giving (to god) in about 50 villages of coastal Karnataka.

 

In the Chonburi Province of Thailand, and in Pakistan, there are annual water buffalo races.

 

Chon Buri Water buffalo racing festival, Thailand In downtown Chonburi, 70 km south of Bangkok, at the annual water buffalo festival held in mid-October. About 300 buffalo race in groups of five or six, spurred on by bareback jockeys wielding wooden sticks, as hundreds of spectators cheer. The water buffalo has always played an important role in agriculture in Thailand. For farmers of Chon Buri Province, near Bangkok, it is an important annual festival, beginning in mid-October. It is also a celebration among rice farmers before the rice harvest. At dawn, farmers walk their buffalo through surrounding rice fields, splashing them with water to keep them cool before leading them to the race field. This amazing festival started over a hundred years ago when two men arguing about whose buffalo was the fastest ended up having a race between them. That’s how it became a tradition and gradually a social event for farmers who gathered from around the country in Chonburi to trade their goods. The festival also helps a great deal in preserving the number of buffalo, which have been dwindling at quite an alarming rate in other regions. Modern machinery is rapidly replacing buffalo in Thai agriculture. With most of the farm work mechanized, the buffalo-racing tradition has continued. Racing buffalo are now raised just to race; they do not work at all. The few farm buffalo which still do work are much bigger than the racers because of the strenuous work they perform. Farm buffalo are in the "Buffalo Beauty Pageant", a Miss Farmer beauty contest and a comic buffalo costume contest etc.. This festival perfectly exemplifies a favored Thai attitude to life — "sanuk," meaning fun.

 

Babulang Water buffalo racing festival, Sarawak, Malaysia, is the largest or grandest of the many rituals, ceremonies and festivals of the traditional Bisaya (Borneo) community of Limbang, Sarawak. Highlights are the Ratu Babulang competition and the Water buffalo races which can only be found in this town in Sarawak, Malaysia.

Vihear Suor village Water buffalo racing festival, in Cambodia, each year, people visit Buddhist temples across the country to honor their deceased loved ones during a 15-day period commonly known as the Festival of the Dead but in Vihear Suor village, about 35 km northeast of Cambodia, citizens each year wrap up the festival with a water buffalo race to entertain visitors and honour a pledge made hundreds of years ago. There was a time when many village cattle which provide rural Cambodians with muscle power to plough their fields and transport agricultural products died from an unknown disease. The villagers prayed to a spirit to help save their animals from the disease and promised to show their gratitude by holding a buffalo race each year on the last day of "P'chum Ben" festival as it is known in Cambodian. The race draws hundreds of spectators who come to see riders and their animals charge down the racing field, the racers bouncing up and down on the backs of their buffalo, whose horns were draped with colorful cloth.

Pothu puttu matsaram, Kerala, South India, is similar to Kambala races.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Ainsley wanted to make a craft out of wood for her bestie. I told her she would need to plan out exactly what she wanted to do. She took it upon herself to write out numbered steps in diagram format, as well as a full-size diagram of the end product. She reviewed the wood stock in our garage & ha selected some fine MDF for her rough materials.

 

We start the initial build & paint (steps 1-4) on Saturday.

Granite rock, which is brought in by barge, is methodically placed in the Piankatank River near Gwynn’s Island in Mathews County Virginia. The rock is the basis for the newest, 25-acre oyster reef in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. The Norfolk District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is overseeing the more than $2 million sanctuary reef project in partnership with the Virginia Marine Resources Commission and the Nature Conservancy. (U.S. Army photo/Patrick Bloodgood)

  

A mature maple tree needed to be removed from next to a neighbor's house. This crew, using a crane, a "cherry picker" and a ground crew methodically took the tree apart. Professional, efficient job.

My first hummingbird moth! While over at my parent's house last week I saw this little guy feeding on a patch of bee balm. I didn't have a camera with me but fortunately when I returned the next day it was again at the same patch of flowers. Fun to watch, it moved from flower to flower very similar to a bumble bee with the exception that it never landed on the flower but hovered like a hummingbird at each petal as it worked its way methodically around each flower.

 

So glad I got to see one of these!

Methodical teens at the Avondale Regional Branch Library's February Pizza &... program gather evidence at the crime scene of a deadly Valentine's date.

 

Dr. Beth Gardner, professor from the Justice Sciences program at UAB, created a “Valentine’s Date Gone Wrong” crime scene and invited the “detectives” in to gather and analyze evidence in a quest to identify the murderer. The murder scene was replete with a victim (one of Gardner's students) and all the trappings of a romantic dinner gone horribly wrong. The participants were outfitted with an evidence kit that included tools for collecting and preserving fingerprints, footprints, DNA, and other physical evidence from the crime scene. With the evidence gathered and clues from the police report, the students were able to identify the “killer.”

A Metrolink commuter train headed from Ventura County to Los Angeles struck and killed a pedestrian in Northridge, California on September 2, 2008. © Photo by Juan Guerra

© jackharrybill www.jackharrybill.co.uk

My fairly methodical pursuit of Chinese restaurants continued today on the Isle of Sheppey when I was able to include them in my list of subjects.

 

New River is in Russell Street, Sheerness.

 

P1180909

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush and his top aides publicly made 935 false statements about the security risk posed by Iraq in the two years following September 11, 2001, according to a study released Tuesday by two nonprofit journalism groups.

 

"In short, the Bush administration led the nation to war on the basis of erroneous information that it methodically propagated and that culminated in military action against Iraq on March 19, 2003," reads an overview of the examination, conducted by the Center for Public Integrity and its affiliated group, the Fund for Independence in Journalism.

 

According to the study, Bush and seven top officials -- including Vice President Dick Cheney, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice -- made 935 false statements about Iraq during those two years.

 

The study was based on a searchable database compiled of primary sources, such as official government transcripts and speeches, and secondary sources -- mainly quotes from major media organizations. See CNN viewers' reactions to the study »

 

The study says Bush made 232 false statements about Iraq and former leader Saddam Hussein's possessing weapons of mass destruction, and 28 false statements about Iraq's links to al Qaeda.

 

Bush has consistently asserted that at the time he and other officials made the statements, the intelligence community of the U.S. and several other nations, including Britain, believed Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

 

He has repeatedly said that despite the intelligence flaws, removing Hussein from power was the right thing to do.

 

Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Press Secretary Ari Fleischer each made 109 false statements, it says. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz made 85, Rice made 56, Cheney made 48 and Scott McLellan, also a press secretary, made 14, the study says.

 

"It is now beyond dispute that Iraq did not possess any weapons of mass destruction or have meaningful ties to al Qaeda," the report reads, citing multiple government reports, including those by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the 9/11 Commission and the multinational Iraq Survey Group, which reported that Hussein had suspended Iraq's nuclear program in 1991 and made little effort to revive it.

 

The overview of the study also calls the media to task, saying most media outlets didn't do enough to investigate the claims.

 

"Some journalists -- indeed, even some entire news organizations -- have since acknowledged that their coverage during those prewar months was far too deferential and uncritical," the report reads. "These mea culpas notwithstanding, much of the wall-to-wall media coverage provided additional, 'independent' validation of the Bush administration's false statements about Iraq."

  

The quotes in the study include an August 26, 2002, statement by Cheney to the national convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

 

"Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction," Cheney said. "There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us."

www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/23/bush.iraq/index.html

  

Amazing to think that the stencilled numbers on the side still exist. If this really is a small British tank of the 1920s can it be taken that it is rare? And if so, can it also be assumed that it can be cosmetically restored. It looks to me to be most suitable for restoration. The really tricky bits which are the wheels look more or less complete and the hull would appear to be a base for just a methodical rebuild of riveted flat plates. The turret would be a job and a half but who knows just what may be lurking in the great piles of parts surrounding this little tank.

These drawings are a methodical interpretation of the first two chapters of A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schzophrenia by Gilles Delueze and Felix Guattari, translated by Brian Massumi, University of Minnesota Press, 1987.

 

The drawings were created as a means of understanding the ideas being presented in the book.

 

Each drawing is labeled by chapter and paragraph.

 

Marc sent these diagrams to Brian Massumi, the translator of A Thousand Plateaus into English, who is currently one of the editors of Inflexions, the online journal for research-creation. The first volume of the journal includes some of these diagrams in the Tangents section.

 

Read more about this work on the project page on the artist's website.

 

Many of these drawings were part of a group art show called Quantal Strife.

slideshow

 

This balloon had an older crew. They were all in their 60's and 70's and they had their own methodical way of setting up at a relaxed pace. I was taking some shots of them as they were setting up and the guy on the crown line asked if I wanted to take pictures inside the envelope. I said, "Uhhh, Yeah!". So they let me grab a couple of quick shots in there. I think it'd be cool to have one of these as a tent in the back yard.

Black Knights on Patrol

 

The men and women of Task Force 3-66 are actively patrolling western Paktika province, taking the fight to the insurgents. Since assuming responsibility for the area, the Black Knights have been methodically clearing district after district to allow the provincial government to provide security and development. Western Paktika is essentially a rest stop for insurgents linked to Sirajuddin Haqqani traveling from Pakistan and continuing west. The heat, elevated terrain, and harsh landscape of Paktika province are unforgiving allies of these enemies of Afghanistan. With limited road networks the primary mode of travel here is walking. The relentless training planned and executed by the leaders of Task Force 3-66 back in Germany is now paying off.

Please give credit by linking to: Angela from Coffee-Rank.com dofollow link (not Flickr)

As detailed and methodical as it was, my dad's artwork was always playful...

One of the more unusual finds at the Burlington Kentucky antiques market was this 3-tiered stick and ball style shelf likely from the late 1890's. Space in the car trunk was at a premium so I carefully and methodically disassembled the piece which was put together with (stubborn) old screws and then shoe-horned the pieces into the trunk. It survived the 1,000 mile trip back to Texas without damage and awaits restoration. The original finish is red mahogany stain under the modern "Shabby Chic" white.

Catacombs, Montparnasse, Paris

 

I decided that today was a day for going underground, and I set off to Montparnasse to visit the catacombs. These are a vast maze of tunnels under Paris originally used for quarrying the stone out of which the city's main buildings are constructed. In the late 18th Century, the state of the city's churchyards had become so disgusting that the city removed the bones from all of them. They were brought here at night, the carts coming from the centre of the city accompanied by torch-bearing acolytes and priests chanting the requiem Mass. A skull count showed that almost six million corpses were removed in this way. They were buried deep underground, but these people being Parisians the skulls and bones were arranged in a neat and methodical way, a meaningful chaos. Layers of tibia and femurs are crowned by a layer of pelvises and skulls, and so on. Each churchyard was grouped together, and a plaque shows which parish provided the skeletons.

 

The work was interrupted by the French Revolution,which provided plenty more corpses for when the work was resumed. Altogether about a kilometre and a half of tunnels were filled with the remains of dead Parisians, and you can walk through them on a winding route under the streets around Montparnasse station. In fact, this is just a tiny fraction of the tunnels. The catacombs extend for hundreds of kilometres under the city, many of them rarely explored and difficult of access. Because of this, they are regularly broken into by intrepid adventurers, and many legends have grown up about parts of the network. However, my favourite story is one which is true.

 

In 2004, a group of police cadets on a training exercise were given the task of tracking an imaginary criminal in a part of the network which was little known. They got into the system through a manhole, and when they were about a hundred feet underground something rather odd happened. They triggered a motion sensor which set off the sound of barking dogs. Thinking that it was part of the exercise, they headed onwards only to come out into a vast cavern which had been fully equipped as a cinema. An anteroom had been equipped and fully stocked as a bar, and there was also a film storage room. When the cadets reported what they had seen, the electricity board were sent in to work out where the invaders were getting their electricity from. Instead, they found the wires all cut, the equipment removed, and a sign saying 'Don't try to follow us. You'll never find us.'

 

Perhaps the cineastes had got fed up with waiting to get into the system officially, because this was the only place all week that I encountered a serious queue. Worse, I was just in front of a small group of people who talked constantly in very loud voices. She was an American who obviously lived in Paris, and they appeared to be young relatives who'd come to stay. She was taking them down the catacombs, and the price to be paid for this by the poor kids was to suffer her pretentious nonsense. She went on about spirituality, and homeopathy, and psychoanalysis, and the inner energy, and so on. Fair play to the kids, they responded enthusiastically enough.

 

And then she got out some of her stream of consciousness poetry, and started reading it in a loud voice. Well, goodness me. I was put in mind of something the graphic artist Alan Moore said when he was in Hollywood helping turn his 'V for Vendetta' into a film, and he was asked at a director's lunch why he lived in Northampton, England. "Because it keeps me grounded", he replied, and I thought that this was exactly right. It was like the opposite of this pompous woman, although to be fair to her I expect that if I went to live in Paris I would also disappear up my own backside.

 

The catacombs are brilliant, worth every minute of the queuing time, worth every insufferable stream of consciousness adjective. And then I went and did some shopping.

 

You can read my account of my travels at pariswander.blogspot.co.uk.

FAQs are written by people who expect the person who needs help to look like this. Methodical, calm, expert. Like them. When in reality they're probably screaming in frustration.

 

Live-blog of Kathy Sierra's Keynote address to SXSW at blog.brian-fitzgerald.net/?p=159

The water buffalo or domestic Asian water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) is a large bovid originating in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and China. Today, it is also found in Europe, Australia, and some American countries. The wild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee) native to Southeast Asia is considered a different species, but most likely represents the ancestor of the domestic water buffalo.

 

Two extant types of water buffalo are recognized based on morphological and behavioural criteria – the river buffalo of South Asia and further west to the Balkans, Egypt, and Italy, and the swamp buffalo, found from Assam in the west through Southeast Asia to the Yangtze valley of China in the east. The origins of the domestic water buffalo types are debated, although results of a phylogenetic study indicate that the swamp type may have originated in China and was domesticated about 4,000 years ago, while the river type may have originated from India and was domesticated about 5,000 years ago. Water buffalo were traded from the Indus Valley Civilisation to Mesopotamia, in modern Iraq, 2500 BC by the Meluhhas. The seal of a scribe employed by an Akkadian king shows the sacrifice of water buffalo.

 

At least 130 million domestic water buffalo exist, and more human beings depend on them than on any other domestic animal. They are especially suitable for tilling rice fields, and their milk is richer in fat and protein than that of dairy cattle. The large feral population of northern Australia became established in the late 19th century, and smaller feral herds are in New Guinea, Tunisia, and northeastern Argentina. Feral herds are also present in New Britain, New Ireland, Irian Jaya, Papua New Guinea, Colombia, Guyana, Suriname, Brazil, and Uruguay.

 

CHARACTERISTICS

The skin of river buffalo is black, but some specimens may have dark, slate-coloured skin. Swamp buffalo have a grey skin at birth, but become slate blue later. Albinoids are present in some populations. River buffalo have comparatively longer faces, smaller girths, and bigger limbs than swamp buffalo. Their dorsal ridges extend further back and taper off more gradually. Their horns grow downward and backward, then curve upward in a spiral. Swamp buffalo are heavy-bodied and stockily built; the body is short and the belly large. The forehead is flat, the eyes prominent, the face short, and the muzzle wide. The neck is comparatively long, and the withers and croup are prominent. A dorsal ridge extends backward and ends abruptly just before the end of the chest. Their horns grow outward, and curve in a semicircle, but always remain more or less on the plane of the forehead. The tail is short, reaching only to the hocks. Height at withers is 129–133 cm for males, and 120–127 cm for females. They range in weight from 300–550 kg, but weights of over 1,000 kg have also been observed.

 

Tedong bonga is a black pied buffalo featuring a unique black and white colouration that is favoured by the Toraja of Sulawesi.

 

The swamp buffalo has 48 chromosomes; the river buffalo has 50 chromosomes. The two types do not readily interbreed, but fertile offspring can occur. Buffalo-cattle hybrids have not been observed to occur, and the embryos of such hybrids do not reach maturity in laboratory experiments.

 

The rumen of the water buffalo has important differences from that of other ruminants. It contains a larger population of bacteria, particularly the cellulolytic bacteria, lower protozoa, and higher fungi zoospores. In addition, higher rumen ammonia nitrogen (NH4-N) and higher pH have been found as compared to those in cattle

 

ECOLOGY AND BEHAVIOR

River buffalo prefer deep water. Swamp buffalo prefer to wallow in mudholes which they make with their horns. During wallowing, they acquire a thick coating of mud. Both are well adapted to a hot and humid climate with temperatures ranging from 0 °C in the winter to 30 °C and greater in the summer. Water availability is important in hot climates, since they need wallows, rivers, or splashing water to assist in thermoregulation. Some breeds are adapted to saline seaside shores and saline sandy terrain.

 

DIET

Water buffalo thrive on many aquatic plants and during floods, will graze submerged, raising their heads above the water and carrying quantities of edible plants. They eat reeds (quassab), a giant reed (birdi), a kind of bulrush (kaulan), water hyacinth, and marsh grasses. Some of these plants are of great value to local peoples. Others, such as water hyacinth, are a major problem in some tropical valleys, and water buffalo may help to keep waterways clear.

 

Green fodders are used widely for intensive milk production and for fattening. Many fodder crops are conserved as hay, chaffed, or pulped. Fodders include alfalfa, berseem and bancheri, the leaves, stems or trimmings of banana, cassava, fodder beet, halfa, ipil-ipil and kenaf, maize, oats, pandarus, peanut, sorghum, soybean, sugarcane, bagasse, and turnips. Citrus pulp and pineapple wastes have been fed safely to buffalo. In Egypt, whole sun-dried dates are fed to milk-buffalo up to 25% of the standard feed mixture.

 

REPRODUCTION

Swamp buffalo generally become reproductive at an older age than river breeds. Young males in Egypt, India, and Pakistan are first mated at about 3.0–3.5 years of age, but in Italy

 

they may be used as early as 2 years of age. Successful mating behaviour may continue until the animal is 12 years or even older. A good river male can impregnate 100 females in a year. A strong seasonal influence on mating occurs. Heat stress reduces libido

 

Although buffalo are polyoestrous, their reproductive efficiency shows wide variation throughout the year. Buffalo cows exhibit a distinct seasonal change in displaying oestrus, conception rate, and calving rate. The age at first oestrus of heifers varies between breeds from 13–33 months, but mating at the first oestrus is often infertile and usually deferred until they are 3 years old. Gestation lasts from 281–334 days, but most reports give a range between 300 and 320 days. Swamp buffalo carry their calves for one or two weeks longer than river buffalo. It is not rare to find buffalo that continue to work well at the age of 30, and instances of a working life of 40 years are recorded.

 

TAXONOMIC HISTORY

Carl Linnaeus first described the genus Bos and the water buffalo under the binomial Bubalis bubalus in 1758; the latter was known to occur in Asia and as a domestic form in Italy. Ellerman and Morrison-Scott treated the wild and domestic forms of the water buffalo as conspecifics whereas others treated them as different species. The nomenclatorial treatment of wild and domestic forms has been inconsistent and varies between authors and even within the works of single authors.

 

In March 2003, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature achieved consistency in the naming of wild and domestic water buffalo by ruling that the scientific name Bubalus arnee is valid for the wild form. B. bubalis continues to be valid for the domestic form and applies also to feral populations.

 

DOMESTICATION AND BREEDING

Water buffalo were domesticated in India about 5000 years ago, and in China about 4000 years ago. Two types are recognized, based on morphological and behavioural criteria – the river buffalo of the Indian subcontinent and further west to the Balkans and Italy, and the swamp buffalo, found from Assam in the west through Southeast Asia to the Yangtze valley of China in the east. The present-day river buffalo is the result of complex domestication processes involving more than one maternal lineage and a significant maternal gene flow from wild populations after the initial domestication events. Twenty-two breeds of the river type water buffalo are known, including Murrah, Nili-Ravi, Surti, Jafarabadi, Anatolian, Mediterranean, and Egyptian buffalo. China has a huge variety of buffalo genetic resources, comprising 16 local swamp buffalo breeds in various regions.

 

Results of mitochondrial DNA analyses indicate that the two types were domesticated independently. Sequencing of cytochrome b genes of Bubalus species implies that the domestic buffalo originated from at least two populations, and that the river and the swamp types have differentiated at the full species level. The genetic distance between the two types is so large that a divergence time of about 1.7 million years has been suggested. The swamp type was noticed to have the closest relationship with the tamaraw.

 

DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATIONS

The water buffalo population in the world is about 172 million.

 

IN ASIA

More than 95.8% of the world population of water buffalo are found in Asia including both river and swamp types. The water buffalo population in India numbered over 97.9 million head in 2003, representing 56.5% of the world population. They are primarily of the river type, with 10 well-defined breeds comprising Badhawari, Murrah, Nili-Ravi, Jafarabadi, Marathwada, Mehsana, Nagpuri, Pandharpuri, Toda, and Surti. Swamp buffalo occur only in small areas in the north-eastern part of the country and are not distinguished into breeds.

 

In 2003, the second-largest population lived in China, with 22.759 million head, all of the swamp type with breeds kept only in the lowlands, and other breeds kept only in the mountains; as of 2003, 3.2 million swamp-type carabao buffalo were in the Philippines, nearly three million swamp buffalo were in Vietnam, and 772,764 buffalo were in Bangladesh. About 750,000 head were estimated in Sri Lanka in 1997.

 

The water buffalo is the main dairy animal in Pakistan, with 23.47 million head in 2010. Of these, 76% are kept in the Punjab. The rest of them are mostly in the province of Sindh. Breeds used are Nili-Ravi, Kundi, and Azi Kheli. Karachi has the largest population of water buffalos for an area where fodder is not grown, consisting of 350,000 head kept mainly for milking.

 

In Thailand, the number of water buffalo dropped from more than 3 million head in 1996 to less than 1.24 million head in 2011. Slightly over 75% of them are kept in the country's northeastern region. The statistics also indicate that by the beginning of 2012, less than one million were in the country, partly as a result of illegal shipments to neighboring countries where sales prices are higher than in Thailand.

 

Water buffalo are also present in the southern region of Iraq, in the marshes. These marshes were drained by Saddam Hussein in 1991 in an attempt to punish the south for the uprisings of 1991. Following 2003, and the fall of the Saddam regime, these lands were reflooded and a 2007 report in the provinces of Maysan and Thi Qar shows a steady increase in the number of water buffalo. The report puts the number at 40,008 head in those two provinces.

 

IN EUROPE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN

Water buffalo likely were introduced to Europe from India or other Oriental countries. To Italy they were introduced about the year 600 in the reign of the Longobard King Agilulf. As they appear in the company of wild horses, they probably were a present from the Khan of the Avars, a Turkic nomadic tribe that dwelt near the Danube River at the time. Sir H. Johnston knew of a herd of water buffalo presented by a King of Naples to the Bey of Tunis in the mid-19th century that had resumed the feral state in northern Tunis.

 

European buffalo are all of the river type and considered to be of the same breed named Mediterranean buffalo. In Italy, the Mediterranean type was particularly selected and is called Mediterranean Italian breed to distinguish it from other European breeds, which differ genetically. Mediterranean buffalo are also found in Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Albania, Kosovo, and the Republic of Macedonia, with a few hundred in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Hungary. Little exchange of breeding buffalo has occurred among countries, so each population has its own phenotypic features and performances. In Bulgaria, they were crossbred with the Indian Murrah breed, and in Romania, some were crossbred with Bulgarian Murrah. Populations in Turkey are of the Anatolian buffalo breed.

 

IN AUSTRALIA

Between 1824 and 1849, water buffalo were introduced into the Northern Territory from Timor, Kisar, and probably other islands in the Indonesian archipelago. In 1886, a few milking types were brought from India to Darwin. They have been the main grazing animals on the subcoastal plains and river basins between Darwin and Arnhem Land since the 1880s. In the early 1960s, an estimated population of 150,000 to 200,000 buffalo were living in the plains and nearby areas.

 

They became feral and are causing significant environmental damage. Buffalo are also found in the Top End. As a result, they were hunted in the Top End from 1885 until 1980. The commencement of the brucellosis and tuberculosis campaign (BTEC) resulted in a huge culling program to reduce buffalo herds to a fraction of the numbers that were reached in the 1980s. The BTEC was finished when the Northern Territory was declared free of the disease in 1997. Numbers dropped dramatically as a result of the campaign, but have since recovered to an estimated 150,000 animals across northern Australia in 2008.

 

During the 1950s, buffalo were hunted for their skins and meat, which was exported and used in the local trade. In the late 1970s, live exports were made to Cuba and continued later into other countries. Buffalo are now crossed with riverine buffalo in artificial insemination programs, and may be found in many areas of Australia. Some of these crossbreds are used for milk production. Melville Island is a popular hunting location, where a steady population up to 4,000 individuals exists. Safari outfits are run from Darwin to Melville Island and other locations in the Top End, often with the use of bush pilots. The horns, which can measure up to a record of 3.1 m tip-to-tip, are prized hunting trophies.

 

The buffalo have developed a different appearance from the Indonesian buffalo from which they descend. They live mainly in freshwater marshes and billabongs, and their territory range can be quite expansive during the wet season. Their only natural predators in Australia are adult saltwater crocodiles, with whom they share the billabongs, and dingoes, which have been known to prey on buffalo calves and occasionally adult buffalo when the dingoes are in large packs.

 

Buffalo were exported live to Indonesia until 2011, at a rate of about 3000 per year. After the live export ban that year, the exports dropped to zero, and had not resumed as of June 2013.

 

IN SOUTH AMERICA

Water buffalo were introduced into the Amazon River basin in 1895. They are now extensively used there for meat and dairy production. In 2005, the buffalo herd in the Brazilian Amazon stood at roughly 1.6 million head, of which 460,000 were located in the lower Amazon floodplain. Breeds used include Mediterranean from Italy, Murrah and Jafarabadi from India, and Carabao from the Philippines.

 

During the 1970s, small herds were imported to Costa Rica, Ecuador, Cayenne, Panama, Surinam, Guyana, and Venezuela.

 

In Argentina, many game ranches raise water buffalo for commercial hunting

 

IN NORTH AMERICA

In 1974, four water buffalo were imported to the United States from Guam to be studied at the University of Florida. In February 1978, the first herd arrived for commercial farming. Until 2002, only one commercial breeder was in the United States. Water buffalo meat is imported from Australia. Until 2011, water buffalo were raised in Gainesville, Florida, from young obtained from zoo overflow. They were used primarily for meat production, frequently sold as hamburger.[38] Other US ranchers use them for production of high-quality mozzarella cheese.

 

HUSBANDRY

The husbandry system of water buffalo depends on the purpose for which they are bred and maintained. Most of them are kept by people who work on small farms in family units. Their buffalo live in very close association with them, and are often their greatest capital asset. The women and girls in India generally look after the milking buffalo while the men and boys are concerned with the working animals. Throughout Asia, they are commonly tended by children who are often seen leading or riding their charges to wallowing places. Water buffalo are the ideal animals for work in the deep mud of paddy fields because of their large hooves and flexible foot joints. They are often referred to as "the living tractor of the East". It probably is possible to plough deeper with buffalo than with either oxen or horses. They are the most efficient and economical means of cultivation of small fields. In most rice-producing countries, they are used for threshing and for transporting the sheaves during the rice harvest. They provide power for oilseed mills, sugarcane presses, and devices for raising water. They are widely used as pack animals, and in India and Pakistan also for heavy haulage. In their invasions of Europe, the Turks used buffalo for hauling heavy battering rams. Their dung is used as a fertilizer, and as a fuel when dried.

 

Buffalo contribute 72 million tones of milk and three million tones of meat annually to world food, much of it in areas that are prone to nutritional imbalances. In India, river-type buffalo are kept mainly for milk production and for transport, whereas swamp-type buffalo are kept mainly for work and a small amount of milk.

 

DAIRY PRODUCTS

Water buffalo milk presents physicochemical features different from that of other ruminant species, such as a higher content of fatty acids and proteins. The physical and chemical parameters of swamp and river type water buffalo milk differ. Water buffalo milk contains higher levels of total solids, crude protein, fat, calcium, and phosphorus, and slightly higher content of lactose compared with those of cow milk. The high level of total solids makes water buffalo milk ideal for processing into value-added dairy products such as cheese. The conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) content in milk ranged from 4.4 mg/g fat in September to 7.6 mg/g fat in June. Seasons and genetics may play a role in variation of CLA level and changes in gross composition of the water buffalo milk.

 

Water buffalo milk is processed into a large variety of dairy products:

 

- Cream churns much faster at higher fat levels and gives higher overrun than cow cream.

- Butter from water buffalo cream displays more stability than that from cow cream.

- Ghee from water buffalo milk has a different texture with a bigger grain size than ghee from cow milk.

- Heat-concentrated milk products in the Indian subcontinent include paneer, khoa, rabri, kheer and basundi.

- Fermented milk products include dahi, yogurt, and chakka.

- Whey is used for making ricotta and mascarpone in Italy, and alkarish in Syria and Egypt.

- Soft cheeses made include mozzarella in Italy, karish, mish, and domiati in Egypt, madhfor in Iraq, alghab in Syria, kesong puti in the Philippines, and vladeasa in Romania.

- The semihard cheese beyaz peynir is made in Turkey.

- Hard cheeses include braila in Romania, rahss in Egypt, white brine in Bulgaria, and akkawi in Syria.

- Watered-down buffalo milk is used as a cheaper alternative to regular milk.

 

MEAT AND SKIN PRODUCTS

Water buffalo meat, sometimes called "carabeef", is often passed off as beef in certain regions, and is also a major source of export revenue for India. In many Asian regions, buffalo meat is less preferred due to its toughness; however, recipes have evolved (rendang, for example) where the slow cooking process and spices not only make the meat palatable, but also preserve it, an important factor in hot climates where refrigeration is not always available.Their hides provide tough and useful leather, often used for shoes.

 

BONE AND HORN PRODUCTS

The bones and horns are often made into jewellery, especially earrings. Horns are used for the embouchure of musical instruments, such as ney and kaval.

 

ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS

Wildlife conservation scientists have started to recommend and use introduced populations of feral domestic water buffalo in far-away lands to manage uncontrolled vegetation growth in and around natural wetlands. Introduced water buffalo at home in such environs provide cheap service by regularly grazing the uncontrolled vegetation and opening up clogged water bodies for waterfowl, wetland birds, and other wildlife. Grazing water buffalo are sometimes used in Great Britain for conservation grazing, such as in Chippenham Fen National Nature Reserve. The buffalo can better adapt to wet conditions and poor-quality vegetation than cattle.

 

Currently, research is being conducted at the Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies to determine the levels of nutrients removed and returned to wetlands when water buffalo are used for wetland vegetation management.

 

However, in uncontrolled circumstances, water buffalo can cause environmental damage, such as trampling vegetation, disturbing bird and reptile nesting sites, and spreading exotic weeds.

 

RESEARCH

The world's first cloned buffalo was developed by Indian scientists from National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal. The buffalo calf was named Samrupa. The calf did not survive more than a week, and died due to some genetic disorders. So, the scientists created another cloned buffalo a few months later, and named it Garima.

 

On 15 September 2007, the Philippines announced its development of Southeast Asia's first cloned buffalo. The Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD), under the Department of Science and Technology in Los Baños, Laguna, approved this project. The Department of Agriculture's Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) will implement cloning through somatic cell nuclear transfer as a tool for genetic improvement in water buffalo. "Super buffalo calves" will be produced. There will be no modification or alteration of the genetic materials, as in genetically modified organisms.

 

On 1 January 2008, the Philippine Carabao Center in Nueva Ecija, per Filipino scientists, initiated a study to breed a super water buffalo that could produce 4 to 18 litres of milk per day using gene-based technology. Also, the first in vitro river buffalo was born there in 2004 from an in vitro-produced, vitrified embryo, named "Glory" after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Joseph Estrada's most successful project as an opposition senator, the PCC was created through Republic Act 3707, the Carabao Act of 1992.

 

IN CULTURE

Some ethnic groups, such as Batak and Toraja in Indonesia and the Derung in China, use water buffalo or kerbau (called horbo in Batak or tedong in Toraja) as sacrificial animals at several festivals.

 

- Legend has it that the Chinese philosophical sage Laozi left China through the Han Gu Pass riding a water buffalo.

- According to Hindu lore, the god of death Yama, rides on a male water buffalo.

- The carabao subspecies is considered a national symbol in the Philippines.

- In Vietnam, water buffalo are often the most valuable possession of poor farmers: "Con trâu là đầu cơ nghiệp". They are treated as a member of the family: "Chồng cày, vợ cấy, con trâu đi bừa" ("The husband ploughs, the wife sows, water buffalo draws the rake") and are friends of the children. Children talk to their water buffalo, "Bao giờ cây lúa còn bông. Thì còn ngọn cỏ ngoài đồng trâu ăn." (Vietnamese children are responsible for grazing water buffalo. They feed them grass if they work laboriously for men.) In the old days, West Lake, Hà Nội, was named Kim Ngưu - Golden Water Buffalo.

- The Yoruban Orisha Oya (goddess of change) takes the form of a water buffalo.

 

FIGHTING FESTIVALS

- Pasungay Festival is held annually in the town of San Joaquin, Iloilo in the Philippines.

- Moh juj Water Buffalo fighting, is held every year in Bhogali Bihu in Assam. Ahotguri in Nagaon is famous for it.

- Do Son Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Vietnam, held each year on the ninth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar at Do Son Township, Haiphong City in Vietnam, is one of the most popular Vietnam festivals and events in Haiphong City. The preparations for this buffalo fighting festival begin from the two to three months earlier. The competing buffalo are selected and methodically trained months in advance. It is a traditional festival of Vietnam attached to a Water God worshipping ceremony and the Hien Sinh custom to show martial spirit of the local people of Do Son, Haiphong.

- "Hai Luu" Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Vietnam, According to ancient records, the buffalo fighting in Hai Luu Commune has existed from the 2nd century B.C. General Lu Gia at that time, had the buffalo slaughtered to give a feast to the local people and the warriors, and organized buffalo fighting for amusement. Eventually, all the fighting buffalo will be slaughtered as tributes to the deities.

- "Ko Samui" Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Thailand, is a very popular event held on special occasions such as New Year's Day in January, and Songkran in mid-April, this festival features head-wrestling bouts in which two male Asian water buffalo are pitted against one another. Unlike in Spanish Bullfighting, wherein bulls get killed while fighting sword-wielding men, Buffalo Fighting Festival held at Ko Samui, Thailand is fairly harmless contest. The fighting season varies according to ancient customs & ceremonies. The first Buffalo to turn and run away is considered the loser, the winning buffalo becomes worth several million baht. Ko Samui is an island in the Gulf of Thailand in the South China Sea, it is 700 km from Bangkok and is connected to it by regular flights.

- "Ma'Pasilaga Tedong" Water Buffalo Fighting Festival, in Tana Toraja Regency of Sulawesi Island, Indonesia, is a very popular event where the Rambu Solo' or a Burial Festival took place in Tana Toraja.

 

RACING FESTIVALS

Carabao Carroza Festival is being held annually every May in the town of Pavia, Iloilo, Philippines.

Kambala races of Karnataka, India, take place between December and March. The races are conducted by having the water buffalo (he buffalo) run in long parallel slushy ditches, where they are driven by men standing on wooden planks drawn by the buffalo. The objectives of the race are to finish first and to raise the water to the greatest height and also a rural sport. Kambala races are arranged with competition, as well as without competition and as a part of thanks giving (to god) in about 50 villages of coastal Karnataka.

 

In the Chonburi Province of Thailand, and in Pakistan, there are annual water buffalo races.

 

Chon Buri Water buffalo racing festival, Thailand In downtown Chonburi, 70 km south of Bangkok, at the annual water buffalo festival held in mid-October. About 300 buffalo race in groups of five or six, spurred on by bareback jockeys wielding wooden sticks, as hundreds of spectators cheer. The water buffalo has always played an important role in agriculture in Thailand. For farmers of Chon Buri Province, near Bangkok, it is an important annual festival, beginning in mid-October. It is also a celebration among rice farmers before the rice harvest. At dawn, farmers walk their buffalo through surrounding rice fields, splashing them with water to keep them cool before leading them to the race field. This amazing festival started over a hundred years ago when two men arguing about whose buffalo was the fastest ended up having a race between them. That’s how it became a tradition and gradually a social event for farmers who gathered from around the country in Chonburi to trade their goods. The festival also helps a great deal in preserving the number of buffalo, which have been dwindling at quite an alarming rate in other regions. Modern machinery is rapidly replacing buffalo in Thai agriculture. With most of the farm work mechanized, the buffalo-racing tradition has continued. Racing buffalo are now raised just to race; they do not work at all. The few farm buffalo which still do work are much bigger than the racers because of the strenuous work they perform. Farm buffalo are in the "Buffalo Beauty Pageant", a Miss Farmer beauty contest and a comic buffalo costume contest etc.. This festival perfectly exemplifies a favored Thai attitude to life — "sanuk," meaning fun.

 

Babulang Water buffalo racing festival, Sarawak, Malaysia, is the largest or grandest of the many rituals, ceremonies and festivals of the traditional Bisaya (Borneo) community of Limbang, Sarawak. Highlights are the Ratu Babulang competition and the Water buffalo races which can only be found in this town in Sarawak, Malaysia.

Vihear Suor village Water buffalo racing festival, in Cambodia, each year, people visit Buddhist temples across the country to honor their deceased loved ones during a 15-day period commonly known as the Festival of the Dead but in Vihear Suor village, about 35 km northeast of Cambodia, citizens each year wrap up the festival with a water buffalo race to entertain visitors and honour a pledge made hundreds of years ago. There was a time when many village cattle which provide rural Cambodians with muscle power to plough their fields and transport agricultural products died from an unknown disease. The villagers prayed to a spirit to help save their animals from the disease and promised to show their gratitude by holding a buffalo race each year on the last day of "P'chum Ben" festival as it is known in Cambodian. The race draws hundreds of spectators who come to see riders and their animals charge down the racing field, the racers bouncing up and down on the backs of their buffalo, whose horns were draped with colorful cloth.

Pothu puttu matsaram, Kerala, South India, is similar to Kambala races.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Pascal the Otter from Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

This mosaic was quite a bit harder than the Superman mosaic I did. What I learned about mosaics this time is a) to start methodically row by row because it really makes it easier, and b) split lighter and darker shades off to different sides in case you run out of a particular shade so that it creates a natural shading effect (like in his hat). I use acpatterns.com/editor to convert a picture into an easily-readable 32x32 mosaic.

Load after load of debris are being trucked from the construction site as the old bridge slowly, but methodically, disappears.

It was interesting to watch the firefighters work methodically and tactically, choosing where to douse and where to let burn. Meanwhile, work continued in the nearby orchards with the only change being to get out of the way occasionally to let the fire fighting vehicles through. There was very little breeze, so everyone was pretty calm about it.

 

Niyata in Sanskrit is the root of nyata in Bahasa Indonesia, carries the meaning of being real, distinct, or true.

 

TEDxJakarta 12: Niyata evolves around the celebration of order, abides to the notion that even nature most often works in alluring patterns, precipitated by the sum of many tiny-yet-meaningful and methodical inflections.

 

Gedung Kesenian Jakarta

June 10th, 2017

 

Documentation team:

Dave | Idznie | Mutia

These drawings are a methodical interpretation of the first two chapters of A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schzophrenia by Gilles Delueze and Felix Guattari, translated by Brian Massumi, University of Minnesota Press, 1987.

 

The drawings were created as a means of understanding the ideas being presented in the book.

 

Each drawing is labeled by chapter and paragraph.

 

Marc sent these diagrams to Brian Massumi, the translator of A Thousand Plateaus into English, who is currently one of the editors of Inflexions, the online journal for research-creation. The first volume of the journal includes some of these diagrams in the Tangents section.

 

Read more about this work on the project page on the artist's website.

 

Many of these drawings were part of a group art show called Quantal Strife.

***** Sensible and pragmatic

 

Thank you Mr. Trump! I have yet to find a better method for dealing with anal fissures. It is a complete no-nonsense approach to this debilitating affliction. It was of invaluable help to my uncle. His anal fissures haven't completely disappeared yet but he has only recently taken the Road to Recovery and your methodical approach, dedication and encouragement are phenomenally helpful!

 

In this 8 photo series you will see an amazing, large Corn Spider, which apparently has no qualms about having only 5 LEGS. If you look closely at some of the photos, you will notice the empty sockets from where the missing legs should have extended. In any event, we first saw it on a rainy day (Pictures 1 through 5), where it had a favorite prey/victim tightly wrapped over and over in a deadly silky encasement. As we watched, it would turn the future meal over a few times in a systematic fashion with obvious intent. Then it would climb the sprawling web a little north to either correct or rearrange part of the strands.

Now, we had returned to the same spot two days later, and as if waiting for our presence, once we stood in front of this scene, the methodic process of dining began (Pictures 6 through 8). The same victim from two days prior had some sort of thick moist coating that gave it a look of something more appetizing for the predator, of course . . . Not us.

The webbing was mostly removed at that point—only a small amount remained to address, and upon reaching the web-free state, the eager spider started to turn it around in increments as it would take a bite or two between rotations. This continued and after a few moments it became clear that the prey was diminishing in size. It was difficult to ascertain as to what kind of insect it was, but if we had to guess, it was probably a bee or wasp.

Unfortunately, we could not stay to witness the final scene, for we had personal commitments to attend and time was of the essence. However, just having been able to experience seeing this multiple step of consumption over two separate days was quite phenomenal. Our passionate side felt for the victim, but one also had to sympathize with the spider missing almost 40% of its limbs, yet managing to survive admirably. It certainly did not look famished in any way.

The late, Doris Duke, had left a wonderful legacy in converting her magnificent estate into a Natural Wildlife Preserve for the public’s education and enjoyment. The paths throughout the estate offer such splendid scenery. One is forever exploring, always seeing something subtly beautiful. There are always pleasant surprises, from the general scenery to the world of birds and other wildlife, including tiny insects and flowers that are quite enjoyable to observe and study. The bucolic nature of the preserve is so relaxing—akin to meditating while experiencing the landscape. The beauty of visiting Duke Farms is that so many incredible views are there simply by absorbing the surroundings.

Besides the wonderful diversity of nature’s jewels, Doris Duke has left a part of her legacy through her passion for art—well situated throughout the preserve is a collection of glorious sculptures and fabulous examples of supreme stonework and design in the bridges, old ruins of enormous barns and stables, and a variety of other structures. The old Hay Barn ruin with its fabulous sculpture garden is truly a favorite of ours, for each and every statue seems to possess a spirit and sense of life. The landscape and backdrop can alter the mood, accordingly, depending on the time of day and seasonal changes in particular. So, spotting new and fascinating wildlife (both animals and plants) and art never ceases to add to the experience.

 

Chief Petty Officer Virgil Carver, a master at arms from Jesup, Ga., checks guard towers and briefs a Force Protection Team member on security updates and ammunition supplies during an attack in Kabul Sept. 13. Insurgents attacked the International Security Assistance Force Afghanistan headquarters and the U.S. Embassy in Kabul on Tuesday with small-arms fire from outside the secure zone surrounding these compounds. Afghan and Coalition forces trapped the insurgents in the partially-constructed, multi-story building they were using as a firing position, and conducted a methodical, floor-by-floor clearing operation.