Very Inspiring Blogger Award, thanks Tazein!

After all the bloggers who were so kind to nominate Dear Kitty. Some blog for awards, now another award.

Thank you so very much, Tazein of transcendingbordersblog, for nominating my blog for the Very Inspiring Blogger award!

The rules are to thank and link back to the blogger who has nominated you, then post the award logo to your blog, write a post on the nomination and nominate 15 other very inspiring bloggers. Notify them; and tell 7 things about yourself.

Seven things about myself:

1. Where did visits to my blog mainly come from today so far?

Country	Views
United States	52
United Kingdom	15
Canada	14
Tunisia	12
Netherlands	10
Australia	8
India	8
Philippines	7
South Africa	6
France	5
Bahrain	4
Germany	4
Singapore	4

2. Where did visits to my blog mainly come from, ever since February 25, 2012, when WordPress statistics about that started?

Top Views by Country for all days ending 2013-06-20 (Summarized)

Country	Views
United States	78,906
United Kingdom	33,892
Canada	13,274
Netherlands	9,189
Greece	6,547
Australia	6,195
India	5,840
Romania	4,699
Germany	4,509
Jamaica	3,956
France	3,934
New Zealand	2,793
Sweden	2,569
Italy	2,511
Belgium	2,423
Spain	2,202
Armenia	2,007
Philippines	1,977
Singapore	1,838
Ireland	1,816
Tunisia	1,606
Indonesia	1,532
Bahrain	1,274
Saudi Arabia	1,240
Brazil	1,233
South Africa	1,107
Switzerland	1,065
Pakistan	1,029
Japan	1,008
Turkey	959
United Arab Emirates	952
Poland	943
Norway	892
Malaysia	891

3. Where did the fewest visits to my blog come from, ever since February 25, 2012, when WordPress statistics about that started?

Niger	3
Dominica	3
Uzbekistan	3
Martinique	3
Kiribati	3
Democratic Republic of the Congo	3
Monaco	3
Vatican City	3
Burundi	2
Netherlands Antilles	2
Somalia	2
Vanuatu	2
Tonga	2
Timor-Leste	2
Montserrat	2
Cape Verde	2
Mauritania	2
Sao Tome and Principe	2
Tajikistan	2
Togo	2
Guinea-Bissau	2
Comoros	2
Liechtenstein	1
Falkland Islands (Malvinas)	1
French Polynesia	1
British Indian Ocean Territory	1
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	1
Cook Islands	1

4. Which blog posts attracted most visits so far today?

Title		Views
Bahraini absolute monarchy and Al Qaeda in Syria		18
Home page / Archives		17
Bahraini king’s sexual harassment of Lebanese singer		10
Greek media censorship continuing		9
Zambian lioness Lady Liuwa update		8
‘New’ prehistoric lizard called after Jim Morrison		5
Svalbard king eiders and phalaropes		5
West Virginia’s 150th birthday		4
Costa Rican turtle conservationist murdered by death squad		4
Film festival in Sheffield, England		4

5. Which blog posts attracted most visits, ever since my blog moved to WordPress in December 2011?

Top Posts for all days ending 2013-06-20 (Summarized)

Title		Views
Home page / Archives		37,194
British Thatcher aide accused of child abuse		5,781
After 35 years, wounds of Vietnamese napalm girl Kim Phuc still hurt		2,296
About		2,120
Bahraini king’s sexual harassment of Lebanese singer		1,838
Günter Grass poem on Greece and austerity, English translation		1,638
Boy raped by priest, then castrated		1,628
Zambian lioness Lady Liuwa update		1,045
Thatcher’s Downing Street child abuse scandal		1,029
Stop whipping of raped Maldives girl		891
Thai women’s escape from Bahraini forced prostitution		880
Long-tailed tits, owls, and flowers		871
Britain: Tony Blair’s own Watergate scandal		853
Poisonous caterpillars infest Spurn Point in England		776
Big new spider species discovery in Sri Lanka		759
New African monkey species discovered		753
Dinosaur discovery in France		704
BBC: Pope Ratzinger ‘covered up paedophile priests scandals’. Like US Republicans		682
Greek nazis burn Roma people’s homes		666
USA: ancient Egyptian sarcophagus as corporate boss’ plaything		648
Will US soldier escape punishment for rape of Dutch girl?		636
Scotland: giant centipede, crocodile, and other fossils brought back to life		634
Dutch war crimes in Indonesia, photos		601
Pompeii: ancient Roman brothel restored. Roman plants		582
Blog of the Year 2012 award, thanks dogdaz!		562
Bronzino painting restored after prude censorship		547
Ghanaian women’s forced prostitution in Bahrain		537
King of Spain, elephant killer, petition		523

6. To which other Internet sites did this blog mainly refer, ever since moving to WordPress in December 2011?

URL	Clicks
gravatar.com	871
en.wikipedia.org	698
21stcenturywire.com	254
aangirfan.blogspot.com	177
avaaz.org	169
socialistworker.co.uk	163
morningstaronline.co.uk	155
mirror.co.uk	155
focus.de/kultur/buecher/europas-schande-das-gedicht-von-guenter-grass-im-wortlaut_aid_758777.html	130
dearkitty1.files.wordpress.com	125
r.zemanta.com	120
actuable.es/peticiones/que-rey-juan-carlos-i-deje-ser-presidente-honor-de	114

7. Which sites referred mainly to my blog, ever since it moved to WordPress in December 2011?

Referrer		Views
Search Engines		108,922
WordPress.com Reader		8,779
Facebook		2,681
mail.yahoo.com		2,270
WordPress Dashboard		1,724
topix.com		1,578
Twitter		1,552
2012indyinfo.com		1,058

Here come my fifteen nominees … err… sixteen nominees   :

1. iarxiv

2. That is how I see the world…in photo and writing

3. Loc mai bun

4. euzicasa

5. Ekostories

6. misseychelles

7. rabirius

8. CaPtuRE LiFe

9. Șic și clasic – “Chic & Classic” luxury fine arts, handmade work, original design

10. Jörg David Photography

11. Vicky Nanjappa

12. Teacher as Transformer

13. A Solitary Torture

14. outdoorpictures

15. Grow your innerself

16. Wildersoul Colouring Book

Related articles

• Versatile Blogger Award, thanks Tazein! (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Shine On Award, thanks Tazein and Anil! (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Super Sweet Blogger Award, thanks Tazein! (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Best Moment Award, thank you Tazein! (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Best Moment Award, thanks Tazein! (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Very Inspiring Blogger Award, thanks gwynnem! (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Very Inspiring Blogger Award, thank you Khalil! (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Seed of Light Award, thanks Tazein! (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Shine On Award, thanks Giovanna! (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Shine On Award, thanks Shaun and Tazein! (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)

Spitsbergen Arctic tern research

This is a Dutch video about Maarten Loonen’s Arctic tern migration research on the Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic.

This video, with English subtitles, is also about that research.

Translated from an e-mail from Groningen university in the Netherlands:

Dear bird lover,

Thanks to the support of many donors, ecologist and polar researcher Maarten Loonen has been able to purchase forty geolocators at the end of May. Very soon, he will affix these tiny data recorders on Spitsbergen to the legs of forty Arctic terns. At least 33 birds will fly under the names which generous sponsors gave them, like Suzanne, Federico Segundo, Arctic Jewel and Guusje.

But we are only halfway through! The ultimate goal is to raise € 40,000 so that the research will be able to continue for several years. Therefore, the crowd funding campaign has been extended by one month.

On the site www.rugsteuntstern.nl (tab ‘updates‘) Martin tells more about his research. With the information he collects he hopes, inter alia, to be able to understand the impact of climate change on the Arctic tern. This ‘champion of migratory birds’ year after year travels 70,000 to 90,000 kilometers.

We would like to ask you to support Maarten Loonen’s Arctic tern research by sharing this with friends and acquaintances. For more information, see www.rugsteuntstern.nl.

In this Dutch video, from 30 May 2013, Maarten Loonen talks about the crowd funding campaign. Then, 27 terns would get a sponsor’s name, and 13 other birds would be anonymous. Meanwhile, the number of sponsored birds has risen to 33.

This video, recorded in the Netherlands by Maarten Loonen says about itself:

June 9, 2013

I am joining Derick Hiemstra and Klaas van Dijk in the Eeemshaven to observe and ring Arctic Terns. In this industrial area, activity is low and Arctic Terns have started breeding. On this location the world champions [of] migration distance were equipped with a geolocator two years ago and recaught one year ago. Today Derick and Klaas are doing their normal checks. They read colour rings but also metal rings from terns. Then, we continue catching and ringing some breeding pairs. All this is part of my preparation for this summer’s field season on Spitsbergen.

Related articles

• Birds of Terschelling island, the Netherlands (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Svalbard black guillemots and fulmars (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• To Longyearbyen, Svalbard, Arctic (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Dutch Arctic tern’s Antarctic world record (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Midnight sun Spitsbergen birds (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Snow buntings in Spitsbergen (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Spitsbergen songbirds (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Camera streams video of Arctic terns in Maine (wgme.com)
• Spitsbergen ptarmigan, and hunting (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• The Arctic tern has the longest migration of any animal: about 44,000 miles (about 70,800 km) per year. (wisegeek.com)

Svalbard king eiders and phalaropes

Adventdalen, Svalbard, 4 June 2013. The king eider photo of earlier today was not the last one at the lake.

The king eiders were in the company of common eiders and barnacle geese.

Reindeer not far away.

A purple sandpiper.

A grey phalarope.

A grey phalarope couple.

Finally, a swimming king eider male, waving us goodbye … at least as far as 4 June is concerned, as there will be more on Svalbard on this blog.

Related articles

• Svalbard pink-footed geese, red-throated divers and king eiders (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Svalbard phalaropes, snow buntings, and king eiders (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• More midnight sun Spitsbergen birds (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Spitsbergen Arctic fox, eider ducks, snow buntings (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Svalbard red-throated divers and long-tailed ducks (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Svalbard black guillemots and fulmars (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Midnight sun Spitsbergen birds (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Rare birds in Arctic Svalbard (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)

Film festival in Sheffield, England

This video says about itself:

Feb 22, 2013

This BYOD REMIX clip from Sundance features filmmaker Roger Ross Williams and film subjects Rev. Kapya Kaoma and Bishop Christopher Senyonjo of God Loves Uganda. The film explores the connection between American mega churches and how their missionary assistance translates to religious persecution of LGBT people in Uganda.

By Ian Sinclair in Britain:

Sheffield’s annual film festival

Tuesday 18 June 2013

Touted as one of the top three documentary festivals in the world, Sheffield Doc/Fest provides a golden opportunity for documentary producers to sell their wares to the cinema and TV markets.

But as a marketing exercise for Scotland Everybody’s Child probably won’t be snapped up as publicity material by that country’s tourist board.

It’s a film in which director Garry Nelson attempts to come to terms with his past. Placed in care at the age of eight, he endured sexual abuse and at 16 was put out on the streets where he became a thuggish heroin dealer and ended up getting stabbed.

Following the director round the streets of Edinburgh’s Muirhouse housing estate and other poverty-ridden areas, this incisive and affecting film is a hopeful story, despite its grim subject matter.

The Russian tourist board will likewise be frustrated by Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer, which shines a light on the authoritarian nature of Vladimir Putin’s presidency.

Made up of young radical artists, in February last year the feminist punk collective Pussy Riot played on the altar of the Christ the Saviour cathedral in Moscow, shouting the lyrics “it’s God’s shite.”

For these “sins” three members of the group were arrested and put on trial with two given sentences of two years in a correctional penal colony, while Amnesty International has designated them prisoners of conscience.

This conventionally produced documentary makes plain just how provocative Pussy Riot are and how conservative the forces are that oppose them. Dylan going electric in 1966? The Sex Pistols‘ legendary 1976 tour of the UK? All child’s play compared to the daring and brave young women of Pussy Riot.

African-American comedian Richard Pryor was very much a rebel too, shocking the conservative US entertainment industry during the ’70s and ’80s. Richard Pryor: Omit The Logic traces the entertainer’s chaotic story as he moves from his clean, comedic persona of the ’60s to become the brilliant, caustic and confessional comedian so many love today.

Like that undergone by Malcolm X and Miles Davis it is an enthralling transformation.

It’s very much a mainstream film with famous talking heads such as Whoopi Goldberg, Robin Williams and Walter Mosley reminiscing about Pryor. Events inevitably take a tragic turn as Pryor descends into drugs, attempting suicide by setting himself on fire while freebasing on cocaine in 1980.

A year before this bizarre and near fatal incident Pryor famously had an epiphany during a trip to east Africa and stopped using the word “nigger” in his work when he returned to the US.

God Loves Uganda tells a very different story about the relationship between the US and east Africa.

With the Ugandan parliament in the process of passing a bill outlawing homosexuality, the film maps out the strong influence of the ultra-conservative US evangelical churches on Ugandan society.

The frightening International House of Prayer from Kansas is used as a case study.

With HIV rates soaring in the African state and gay people fearful for their lives, the film (above) covers similar ground to 2012′s Call Me Kuchu documentary about the gay rights activist David Kato.

The heroes of God Loves Uganda are two progressive Ugandan churchmen who cogently explain just how dangerous the evangelical anti-condom, anti-homosexuality message is for Ugandans.

Related articles

• Watch trailer for Pussy Riot documentary (hangout.altsounds.com)
• Pussy Riot: Putin-bashing, punk rock and politics make for a riotous mix (independent.co.uk)
• Feminism on film @ Open City Docs Fest plus COMPETITION (thefword.org.uk)
• Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer, Sheffield Doc/Fest, review (telegraph.co.uk)
• ‘Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer’ movie gets UK release date (digitalspy.co.uk)
• Richard Pryor Smoked On His Deathbed (contactmusic.com)
• Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer (docaday.com)
• Richard Pryor Created Laughter From Pain (theroot.com)
• Film Review: Pussy Riot: a Punk Prayer (nataliesalvo.wordpress.com)

‘New’ prehistoric lizard called after Jim Morrison

This video, in Spanish, is about the discovery of the fossil lizard Barbaturex morrisoni.

From The Sticky Tongue Project blog:

New Species of Lizard Discovered

A new species of lizard doesn’t come along every day. Even less common is a new lizard species named for a 1960s rock star. But that’s exactly what University of Iowa paleoanthropologist Russell Ciochon and his co-authors reveal in an article published in the June 5 issue of the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. (The complete paper can be found here.)

The lizard was a plant-eater, like present-day iguanas, that lived in the jungles in Southeast Asia about 40 million years ago. At some 60 pounds and six feet in length, the lizard was one of the largest of its kind—making it a veritable “king” of land-dwelling lizards.

As for the name, “Barbaturex morrisoni,” the researchers say it just fit.

“Barbatus” is from the Latin, which means “bearded,” and “rex,” means “king”—so the name refers to the presence of ventral ridges along the underside of the mandible, as well as the giant size of the lizard, says Ciochon (pronounced sha-HAHN).

“The species name honors vocalist Jim Morrison,” Ciochon says. “We did take some liberty in naming the new species after rock legend Jim Morrison, who is known as the ‘Lizard King.’”

Because of the lyrics of his song Celebration Of The Lizard.

This music video from the USA is called Jim Morrison – Celebration Of The Lizard (Full Version).

Lead author Jason Head of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln says, “I was listening to The Doors quite a bit during the research. Some of their musical imagery includes reptiles and ancient places, and Jim Morrison was of course ‘The Lizard King,’ so it all kind of came together.”

Ciochon says the lizard itself was a product of its times, evolving about 40 million years ago when the climate was as much as 9 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than it is today. A warmer and moister environment would have encouraged the growth and evolution of subtropical vegetation, which would have provided resources allowing for larger reptiles and mammals. Likewise, it was probably climate change and cooler temperatures that altered the food supply and led to the eventual extinction of Barbaturex morrisoni, he says.

“Species that are adapted to narrow niches often go extinct when the niche changes or disappears completely,” Ciochon says.

Surprisingly, the research that resulted in Barbaturex morrisoni almost never came about because the discovery is based upon fossils that Ciochon helped find some 35 years ago in Burma and which had been stored in California for decades.

“The fossils were found on Dec. 25, 1978, on my second expedition to Burma (Myanmar) at the beginning of my career,” says Ciochon.

Ciochon and University of California, Berkeley, Professor Donald E. Savage, who died in 1999, collected many vertebrate fossils, including the primate fossils that were the focus of their expedition. The lizard fossils were stored in the University of California Museum of Paleontology and forgotten until about 15 years ago when another trip to Burma caused Ciochon to remember them. Eventually, Ciochon and colleagues contacted Jason Head of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and requested his help in describing the find.

When Head first examined the fossils (a total of 10 specimens of the same species), he noticed the creature’s bones were characteristic of a group of modern lizards that includes bearded dragons, chameleons and plant-eaters like spiny-tailed lizards.

Head says: “I thought, ‘That’s neat. Based on its teeth, it’s a plant-eating lizard from a time period and a place from which we don’t have a lot of information.’ But when I started studying its modern relatives, I realized just how big this lizard was. It struck me that we had something here that was quite large, and quite unique.”

See also here.

Related articles

• Ancient ‘Lizard King’ Named After The Doors’ Jim Morrison (natureworldnews.com)
• New Species of Ancient Giant Asian Lizard Named After Doors Singer Jim Morrison (sciencespacerobots.com)
• Jim Morrison Now Officially “The Lizard King” (wncx.cbslocal.com)
• Real-Life ‘Lizard King’ Named for Doors’ Jim Morrison (livescience.com)
• UNL researcher helps discover ‘Lizard King’ (journalstar.com)
• Ancient Lizard “Barbaturex Morrisoni” Named After Lizard King (wxrt.cbslocal.com)
• Giant ‘lizard king’ that roamed the Earth 40 million years ago has been named after The Doors’ frontman Jim Morrison (dailymail.co.uk)

Greek media censorship continuing

This video, recorded in Athens, Greece, is called Ongoing protest outside ERT HQ in Athens.

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

Cracks in coalition over ongoing ERT shutdown

Wednesday 19 June 2013

Greece’s junior coalition partners ramped up the pressure today on conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras to put state broadcaster ERT back on the airwaves.

Pasok and Democratic Left were due to meet Mr Samaras last night to press him to obey a court order to turn the channel back on.

But neither the court nor the “left” parties oppose the coalition’s wider aim, which is to restructure ERT and sack most of its 2,700 workers.

Media unions launched a legal case against Greece’s finance and media ministers today, accusing them of violating the high court ruling.

Sacked staff continue to occupy ERT headquarters and massive rallies have become a daily occurrence.

Workers have continued broadcasting on the Greek Communist Party‘s channels, but the party has warned the signal is regularly being cut by the private service provider.

See also here.

Related articles

• Dirty political games with ERT and justice (keeptalkinggreece.com)
• ERT – the day after Court decision: Lost in interpretations and proposals (keeptalkinggreece.com)
• Greeks fight governmental media censorship (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Greeks rally in support of fired state TV workers (morningstaronline.co.uk)
• Greek High Court Suspends ERT Closing (greece.greekreporter.com)
• NERIT vs. ERT, Samaras Girds For Battle (greece.greekreporter.com)
• Athens: Employees get control over Greek public broadcaster ERT (keeptalkinggreece.com)
• Greece – resistance is being televised (socialistworker.co.uk)
• Greece’s decision to shut down ERT is bad for democracy (thedailyshift.com)
• EU Tells Samaras To Turn On ERT (greece.greekreporter.com)

Svalbard pink-footed geese, red-throated divers and king eiders

4 June 2013. After we climbed down from the little auk colony rocks in Svalbard, two pink-footed geese on a tundra meadow.

Once more, we take a look at little auks. A bit further, in the snow.

Then, a pink-footed goose couple again.

With a purple sandpiper.

Will we see an ivory gull at last?

To find out, we go east.

In Adventdalen, we don’t see ivory gulls; but we do see a red-throated diver couple in the lake, like yesterday.

And we do see a flying male king eider.

Related articles

• Svalbard phalaropes, snow buntings, and king eiders (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Svalbard red-throated divers and long-tailed ducks (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• More midnight sun Spitsbergen birds (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Midnight sun Spitsbergen birds (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Spitsbergen Arctic fox, eider ducks, snow buntings (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Svalbard black guillemots and fulmars (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Spitsbergen ptarmigan, and hunting (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
• Svalbard ptarmigans love story (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)