This 22 January 2020 video is called Dinosaurs X: Theropoda – Ornithomimosaurs, Therizinosaurs and Oviraptorosaurs.
Ornithomimosaur, Therizinosaur and Oviraptorosaur dinosaurs
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Sectarian attempted murder of Irish folk musicians
This 11 June 2020 video about Ireland is called The Wolfe Tones’ rebel song Come Out Ye Black And Tans hits number one on UK iTunes charts.
This 2017 folk music video is called The Wolfe Tones – Come Out Ye Black And Tans.
This blog has noted before that German secret police targets punk rock music. And that British police targets punk rock music. And that British police bans rock band Babyshambles because some parts of their songs are slow and others are fast. And that British police ban Jamaican music.
However, ‘targeting’ sometimes goes further than spying or banning. Sometimes, it is targeting for murder.
From daily The Morning Star in Britain:
Tuesday, January 21, 2020
Irish rebel musicians Wolfe Tones targeted by loyalist paramilitaries linked to British intelligence
IRISH rebel musicians the Wolfe Tones have said that they escaped a planned attack by a notorious loyalist paramilitary group backed by British intelligence services in the 1970s.
Singer Brian Warfield explained that before playing a gig in 1975 the band were told their lives were at risk from the Glenanne Gang — a group of police officers, serving British soldiers and members of the Ulster Volunteer Force responsible for about 120 deaths between 1972 and 1980.
The concert was at a Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) club outside Kileel in County Down. The band were told by the GAA committee not to go for a pre-concert drink in the pub as “the RUC and the UDR were drinking in the front bar.”
“After the gig I came out and the organisers said to me: ‘You can’t go home [by] the main road,’ Mr Warfield said on the Blindboy podcast.
“I said: ‘Why is that?’ and he said: ‘Because there is a blockade waiting for you down there’.”
The concert organisers instead took the band over the mountains of Mourne, whence they made their way back to Dublin.
“The day we got back to Dublin the [police’s] special branch said that the Wolfe Tones were not to go north again, that our lives were in danger.
“I believe that the Glenanne Gang were drinking in that front bar … getting locked out of their mind, ready to pick up the Wolfe Tones on the way home.”
Lead singer Fran O’Toole, guitarist Tony Geraghty and trumpeter Brian McCoy were killed, along with two members of the Glenanne Gang: Harris Boyle and Wesley Somerville, who died when their bomb exploded prematurely.
Walking sharks discovery off Australia
This 20 January 2020 video is called New species of walking shark found in Indonesia.
From the University of Queensland in Australia:
Walking sharks discovered in the tropics
January 21, 2020
Four new species of tropical sharks that use their fins to walk are causing a stir in waters off northern Australia and New Guinea.
While that might strike fear into the hearts of some people, University of Queensland researchers say the only creatures with cause to worry are small fish and invertebrates.
The walking sharks were discovered during a 12-year study with Conservation International, the CSIRO, Florida Museum of Natural History, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences and Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries.
UQ’s Dr Christine Dudgeon said the ornately patterned sharks were the top predator on reefs during low tides when they used their fins to walk in very shallow water.
“At less than a metre long on average, walking sharks present no threat to people but their ability to withstand low oxygen environments and walk on their fins gives them a remarkable edge over their prey of small crustaceans and molluscs,” Dr Dudgeon said.
“These unique features are not shared with their closest relatives the bamboo sharks or more distant relatives in the carpet shark order including wobbegongs and whale sharks.
The four new species almost doubled the total number of known walking sharks to nine.
Dr Dudgeon said they live in coastal waters around northern Australia and the island of New Guinea, and occupy their own separate region.
“We estimated the connection between the species based on comparisons between their mitochondrial DNA which is passed down through the maternal lineage. This DNA codes for the mitochondria which are the parts of cells that transform oxygen and nutrients from food into energy for cells,” Dr Dudgeon said.
“Data suggests the new species evolved after the sharks moved away from their original population, became genetically isolated in new areas and developed into new species,” she said.
“They may have moved by swimming or walking on their fins, but it’s also possible they ‘hitched’ a ride on reefs moving westward across the top of New Guinea, about two million years ago.
“We believe there are more walking shark species still waiting to be discovered.”
Dr Dudgeon said future research would help researchers to better understand why the region was home to some of the greatest marine biodiversity on the planet.
British Conservatives unwelcome at Durham Miners’ Gala
This 21 January 2020 video from England is called Durham Miners Gala organiser warns new Tory MPs to get police protection.
By Marcus Barnett in Britain:
Tuesday, January 21, 2020
Durham miners would rather be ‘dead in a ditch’ than invite Johnson to the Gala
DURHAM miners insisted today they would rather “be found dead in a ditch” than invite Boris Johnson to the Durham Miners’ Gala, despite Tory MPs “trolling” about attending the event.
The announcement came after several new Tory MPs in former coalfield areas have shown an interest in attending the Gala in July this year.
These include Dehenna Davison, who was elected the first Tory MP for Bishop Auckland in the constituency’s 101-year existence.
However, Durham Miners’ Association (DMA) president Alan Mardghum insisted that Tory MPs were unwelcome at the Gala, which is thought to be Europe’s largest celebration of trade unionism.
When asked by the BBC today about whether he would welcome any of the new Tory parliamentary intake at the Gala, Mr Mardghum responded: “To paraphrase Johnson, I would rather be found dead in a ditch than invite them, or Johnson, to the Gala.
“We never saw [miners’ union leader] Arthur Scargill invited to the Tory Party conference. Why would we invite Tories to the Durham Miners’ Gala?
“They did their best to absolutely destroy the Durham miners and the miners of Great Britain.”
Mr Mardghum also added that they “might need to speak to the police to make sure that they’re safe on the day.” …
A subsequent statement by Mr Mardghum clarified his comments, saying: “Conservative MPs have never attended the Durham Miners’ Gala as official invitees or, as far as we know, the parade itself.
“The idea that we should invite them now is simply ludicrous and was started by a cheeky question from a journalist.”
Labour MP Charlotte Nichols defended the DMA, saying: “Unless they’re attending to deliver an apology on behalf of this government for Thatcherism and commit to a public inquiry on Orgreave, any Tory MP attending the Durham Miners’ Gala is just trolling.
“They don’t understand the event or what it stands for.”
UK: Johnson government plans draconian new anti-terror laws: here.
Prehistoric giant straight-tusked elephants, new research
This 2017 video says about itself:
Palaeoloxodon namadicus || The largest elephant recorded so far
Palaeoloxodon namadicus or the Asian straight-tusked elephant was a species of prehistoric elephant that ranged throughout Pleistocene Asia, from India (where it was first discovered) to Japan. It is a descendant of the straight-tusked elephant.
Some authorities regard it to be a subspecies of Palaeoloxodon antiquus, the straight-tusked elephant, due to extreme similarities of the tusks. Their skull structure was different from that of a modern elephant.
P. namadicus is thought to have died out around 24,000 years ago, near the end of the Pleistocene.
Several studies have attempted to estimate the size of the Asian straight-tusked elephants, as well as other prehistoric proboscideans, usually using comparisons of thigh bone length and knowledge of relative growth rates to estimate the size of incomplete skeletons.
One partial skeleton found in India in 1905 had thigh bones that likely measured 165 centimetres (5.41 ft) when complete, suggesting a total shoulder height of 4.5 metres (14.8 ft) for this individual elephant.
Two partial thigh bones were found in the 19th century and would have measured 160 cm (5.2 ft) when complete.
A fragment from the same locality was said to be almost a quarter larger; volumetric analysis then yields a size estimate of 5.2 metres (17.1 ft) tall at the shoulder and 22 tonnes (24.3 short tons) in weight. This would make P. namadicus the largest land mammal known, surpassing the largest indricotheres.
From the University of Bristol in England:
A chronicle of giant straight-tusked elephants
January 21, 2020
About 800,000 years ago, the giant straight-tusked elephant Palaeoloxodon migrated out of Africa and became widespread across Europe and Asia.
It divided into many species, with distinct types in Japan, Central Asia and Europe — even some dwarf forms as large as a small donkey on some Mediterranean islands.
In a new study by scientists in Spain, Italy and the UK, including University of Bristol PhD student Hanwen Zhang, published in the journal Quaternary Science Reviews, some order has been brought into our understanding of all these species.
The most intriguing feature of the straight-tusked elephant, apart from its absolutely enormous size, is the massive, headband-like crest on the skull roof which projects down the forehead. When the celebrated Victorian Scottish geologist Hugh Falconer studied the first fossil skull of Palaeoloxodon found in India, he remarked that the head seemed ‘so grotesquely constructed that it looks the caricature of an elephant’s head in a periwig’.
For a long time, palaeontologists thought that the European species, Palaeoloxodon antiquus, had a rather slenderly built skull roof crest; whereas the Indian species Palaeoloxodon namadicus is characterised by an extremely robust skull crest that extends near to the base of the trunk from the top of the skull.
But some Palaeoloxodon skulls, found in Italy and Germany, with almost the same exaggerated skull crest as the Indian form, led a few experts into suspecting these might all be single species.
Hanwen Zhang, who is based in Bristol’s School of Earth Sciences, said: “Just like modern elephants, Palaeoloxodon went through six sets of teeth in their lifetimes. This means we can tell the age of any individual with confidence by looking at its fossilised teeth.
“When we looked at a series of skulls from Italy, Germany and India, we found a consistent pattern: the skull crest developed from being very small, not protruding beyond the forehead in juveniles to being larger and more protruding in young adults, eventually becoming very stout in aged adults.”
The study’s lead author, Asier Larramendi, an independent researcher from Spain, added: “As I plotted various skull and limb bone measurements for these incredible prehistoric elephants, it became clear that the Indian Palaeoloxodon form a distinct group from the European ones; even in European skulls with quite pronounced crests, the skull roof never becomes as thickened as in the Indian specimens.
“This tells us we once had two separate species of these enormous elephants in Europe and India.
“Besides the funky skull roof crest, the head of the straight-tusked elephant is also remarkable for being huge, the largest of any elephant ever — some 4.5 feet from the top of the skull roof to the base of the tusk sheaths!
“Therefore, the skull crest probably evolved to provide additional attachment areas for extra neck muscles, so the animal did not fall on its head.”
Hanwen Zhang said: “Having gotten to the bottom of the antiquus/namadicus problem, it then became apparent that other fossil skull materials found in Asia and East Africa represent distinct, possibly more evolutionarily conservative species of Palaeoloxodon.
“Even in fully mature adults with the last set of teeth in place, the skull roof crest remains comparatively unpronounced. This is the case with the earliest Palaeoloxodon from Africa, some Asian species retained this condition.”
Saudi prince-Jeff Bezos, friends become foes
This March 2018 photo shows Amazon.com boss Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world, and the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, His Royal Highness Mohamed bin Salman.
As the photo shows, then everything was hunky dory between these two billionaires, both warmongers.
However, not all friendships between filthy rich and warmongering men last forever.
Silvio Berlusconi and Rupert Murdoch used to be pals. However, then they quarreled about (yet more) money. They became foes.
Tony Blair and Rupert Murdoch used to be pals. Blair even became godfather for Rupert Murdoch children. He obeyed Murdoch egging him on to join George W Bush’s war on Iraq.
But then, Blair had an affair with Murdoch’s ex-wife. The two filthy rich warmongers became foes.
Now, something similar seems to have happened to the Bezos-Saudi crown prince friendship. Again, an extramarital affair plays a role. This time, a murder as well.
Translated from Dutch NOS TV today:
Amazon boss Jeff Bezos‘ phone ‘hacked by Saudi crown prince‘
Through a video in a WhatsApp message, Saudi Arabia gained access to the phone of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in 2018. Several British and US American newspapers write that.
The Guardian writes that Bezos and the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman had a conversation on May 1 of that year on WhatsApp. During that conversation the crown prince also sent a video. An anonymous source says that in the following hours large amounts of data were copied from Bezos’ telephone. The New York Times and the Financial Times also have sources that confirm the story.
The media write that the hack appears from technical research on Bezos‘ telephone, which the big boss himself had ordered. It is ‘very likely’ that Saudi Arabia had access to the telephone and actively collected information.
Possibly that information could be used to stop negative reporting about the country in The Washington Post. Bezos owns that newspaper. …
The reason for Bezos to order the investigation was a publication a year ago by the US American tabloid The National Enquirer of private messages and photos that he had sent with his telephone. From those messages it could be deduced that he had an affair. That same month Bezos and his wife announced divorce. …
Two United Nations experts will come later today with a statement on the allegations about Saudi Arabia. One of them investigates the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018. The other investigates violations of freedom of the press.
Khashoggi was a columnist with The Washington Post. He often criticized Mohammed bin Salman.
North Sea, foam and oystercatchers
After 19 January 2019 in the Schoorlse Duinen nature reserve came 20 January. At beach pole #29, as this Lensbaby photo shows, a jetty protrudes into the North Sea.
Early in the morning, a chaffinch and a great tit.
A buzzard flies across the path.
On and near beach pole #29, about 15 oystercatchers. A sanderling. A black-headed gull.
Lots of foam on the beach, as this Lensbaby photo shows.
Later, in the rosy sunset light, the oystercatchers are still present.
