Car bomb kills 34

http://www.scottrileyart.com/

Shark's ‘virgin birth’

In a study reported last Friday in the Journal of Fish Biology, scientists showed DNA testing proved that a pup carried by a female Atlantic blacktip shark in the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center contained no genetic material from a male. The first documented case of asexual reproduction, or parthenogenesis, among sharks involved a pup born to a hammerhead at an Omaha, Neb., zoo.

"This first case was no by chance," Demian Chapman, a shark scientist and lead author of the second study, said in a statement. "It is quite possible that this is something female sharks of many species can do on occasion." The aquarium sharks that reproduced without mates each carried only one pup, while some shark species can produce litters numbering in the dozen or more. The scientists cautioned that the rare asexual births should not be viewed as a possible solution to declining global shark populations. "It is very unlikely that a small number of female survivors could build their numbers up very quickly by undergoing virgin birth," Chapman said.
Virgin birth has been proven in some bony fish, amphibians, reptiles and birds, and has been suspected among sharks in the wild. The scientists who studied the Virginia and Nebraska sharks said the newly formed pups acquired one set of chromosomes when the mother's chromosomes split during egg development, then united anew. Absent the chromosomes present in the male sperm, the offspring of an asexual conception have reduced genetic diversity and, the scientists said, may be at a disadvantage for surviving in the wild.

A pup, for instance, can be more susceptible to congenital disorders and diseases. The scientists said their findings offer "intriguing questions" about how frequently automictic parthenogenesis occurs in the wild. "It is possible that parthenogenesis could become more common in these sharks if population densities become so low that females have trouble finding mates," said Mahmood Shivji, one of the scientists and director of the Guy Harvey Research Institute at Nova Southeastern University in Florida.

THE LAST SHADOW PUPPETS

http://www.theageoftheunderstatement.com/

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Every woman faces a one-in-eight lifetime risk of developing breast cancer. A woman's best defense against breast cancer is a healthy lifestyle and early detection. Clinical breast exams and breast self-exams should begin at age 20, and yearly mammograms should start at age 40.

Jaime Peña Diaz

Emily Dickinson

http://penelopeillustration.com/blog/2007/04/18/emily-dickinson/

I became interested in Emily Dickinson when I learned she was the mother of the American poetry. One of the things that I learned about her was that she was a single lady from a wealthy family in New England during XIX century. She used to write poems but it wasn't a public activity. She loved her brother, her sister-in-law and also her brother's lover. (Actually her brother would go and visit his younger lover at her house and stay with her and her husband. Eventually the situation proved very toxic to both his wife, Susan and her husband, who became somewhat crazy before dying young. But throughout it all, they had the unusual support of Emily's blessing. He was very much in love with this other woman - they were soulmates and Emily was able to respect that.)

She was a really clever woman and also had many opportunities. She wrote beautiful poetry inspired by love, nature and death. When her brother's son, her favorite, died at the age of nine years old, Emily's health began to fail. With this information I developed an interest in this celebrity.

I read some of her poems:


-----------------
I'm nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there's a pair of us - don't tell!
They'd banish us, you know!

How dreary to be somebody!
How public like a frog
To tell one's name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!

----------

I went to Heaven --
'Twas a small Town --
Lit -- with a Ruby --
Lathed -- with Down --

Stiller -- than the fields
At the full Dew --
Beautiful -- as Pictures --
No Man drew.
People -- like the Moth --
Of Mechlin -- frames --
Duties -- of Gossamer --
And Eider -- names --
Almost -- contented --
I -- could be --
'Mong such unique
Society --
----------------

And also I read the opinion of someone who studied her works:
http://penelopeillustration.com/blog/2007/04/18/emily-dickinson/



One of the jobs I’ve been working on is a poster for the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, MA. The museum approached me and said that this was to be the first new Emily Dickinson image released since they celebrated the 100th anniversary of her death in 1986. (Um, no pressure!) It was to raise awareness for the museum itself as well as promote tourism/travel in locations across New England. So I gulped, felt very honored that they asked me, and started to work.
Sitting down to sketch, I tried to get a sense of who Emily Dicksinson was and what her poetry said to me… I just kept coming back to that well-known photo of her and seeing her mona-lisa-esque expression and those haunting dark eyes. So I wanted to keep that present in the illustration. She was also known as kind of recluse, so I reflected that in her posture… drawing her sitting in a balled up pose with her arms wrapped around her knees. But I also wanted to keep it open enough so as not to make her feel TOO reclusive (she did have friends she was close to)… so it’s kind of a relaxed pose, and I think her looking out at the reader gives kind of an openness to it as well. Like she’s fine by herself, but inviting you in for a short while.
In the sketch, I made her bigger than the nature was around her… I thought this went along with her being the center of the world of words and poetry that she created for herself. It also sets the tone of her as an outside observer of the world and not quite a part of it…
I found that her poetry was kind of elliptical and solemn (even though she used exclamation marks). So I tried to capture that by showing the winter season… the trees are barren and snow is falling, giving it a lonely, peaceful feeling almost.
Working on the final, the colors were meant to also play into the cool, lonely feeling, with pops of red to make it more alive. (And did you know that she was actually a red head?)
The posters were produced last week and the museum is really happy with them. (whew!) I got a few in the mail on Monday and they look great (and huge! The image without the type is 18×24.)

Juan de Pareja de Velázquez (1650)

In 1648 Velázquez was dispatched to Rome by Philip IV of Spain to buy works of art for the Alcazar palace in Madrid. In Rome he painted an official portrait of Pope Innocent X (Galeria Doria Pamphili, Rome). Before starting work on the papal portrait he made an informal painting of his own assistant Juan de Pareja, a Sevillian of Moorish descent. This picture was exhibited in Rome on March 19, 1650. In his life of Velázquez (1724), Palomino writes that the painting "was generally applauded by all the painters from different countries, who said that the other pictures in the show were art but this one alone was 'truth.'" The direct approach in this painting contrasts with the more formal structure of Velázquez's state portraits.

The young Velázquez once declared, "I would rather be the first painter of common things than second in higher art."

Metropolitan Museum, NYC

LENOX LOUNGE

The historic Lenox Lounge has been in the Harlem community since 1939, serving as the back drop for many jazz legends such as Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane. The Jazz Club also known as the Zebra Room was once used by the Harlem Renaissance writes James Baldwin and Langston Hughes. It was also said to be a hangout for Malcolm X. The Lenox Lounge has been featured in magazines, music videos, photo shoots, and motion pictures. In 1999 it underwent a costly restoration process to bring it back to its original splendor.The Lenox Lounge was voted "Best of the Best" by the 2002 Zagat Survey Nightlife Guide and by the 2001 New York Magazine. Selected for the 2008 Best of New York Award in the Night Clubs category by the U.S. Local Business Association.