Things I Love Archives

Weird and Wonderful Shark Facts

Sunday, March 3rd, 2013 at 8:35 pm  
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Whale Shark | Jo Tempest

Whale Shark

 

Sharks have always fascinated me and I think they are quite misunderstood.

There are stories in books about these interesting creatures and, of course, too many movies that are often very scary.

But I am going to share with you a few really interesting facts about many types of sharks that I bet you do not know. 

Weird And Wonderful Shark Facts

  • Sharks can see behind them almost as well as they can see in front of them. 
  • Sharks ears are on the inside of their bodies. 
  • A shark can go for at least 6 weeks without eating. The record is held by a Swell Shark in an aquarium who didn’t eat for 15 months. (maybe he was just a fussy eater) 
  • A Bull shark is the only shark to be able to live in salt or sea water. They can do this by regulating the salt and other substances in their blood. 
  • You can tell the age of a shark by counting the rings that form on its vertebra. This is very similar in how you age a tree by counting the rings in the trunk. 
  • A sharks body has no bones; their skeleton is made up of cartilage. 
  • Sharks need up to four days to digest their food That could be because they are well known to eat a lot of rubbish, even such as a suit of armour. True!! 
  • Some sharks can live to be up to a hundred years old. 
  • Natives of the Pacific Islands often used shark teeth to make harpoons and weapons. 
  • Female sharks are longer than male sharks. 
  • Believe or not, sometimes sharks can be fussy eaters. They can take a bite of something and if they don’t like the taste, they spit it out and move on to a new prey. 
  • Wobbegong Shark | Jo Tempest

    Wobbegong Shark

    The Wobbegong and Angel sharks are so flat, they look as if they are part of the sandy sea bottom. 

  • In Borneo, the saw from the Sawfish shark is covered in cloth and hung over the cradle to stop babies crying. Scary! It is probably why they stop crying! 

Well, there you go, a little information about these wonderful creatures to impress your friends.

 

 

Jo Tempest.

 

 

 

Weird But So Wonderful

Wednesday, November 7th, 2012 at 7:49 pm  
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Fabulous Hybrid Enrique Gomez De Molina

Fabulous Hybrid

I just love what Enrique Gomez de Molina creates. He is a guy from Miami whose father was a taxidermist before working for The Miami Museum of Science.

Enrique was working as a painter and sculptor, mainly in bronze but was getting very little recognition for his work.

Then he had the idea of creating creatures by taxidermy, mixing up real body parts of animals, birds etc., such as crabs with squirrels and swans with antelopes.

But in 2011, Enrique found himself in trouble with the police. He had been buying the creatures he needed for his art from Ebay and it appears they were not all legal.

Some of them were endangered.

 

Fabulous Hybrid Enrique Gomez De Molina

Fabulous Hybrid Enrique Gomez De Molina

Queen Of The Desert

Queen Of The Desert

Paradise

Paradise

Rhinoplasty

Rhinoplasty

He pleaded guilty in November 2011 and was sentenced to 20 months in February 2012 for trafficking in endangered and protected wildlife. He had not obtained all the correct permits he needed to bring the skins and other remains he needed into America.

 

Screature

Screature

Enrique stated that his art was to bring the public awareness to the dangers faced by different species of animals, birds and reptiles. 

Before Enrique went to prison, his art was selling on the Internet, at Exhibitions, and also at the Scope Art Fair in Miami.

Some of the larger pieces were fetching big money. In fact, I am sure that now he is even more notorious, they will keep on selling. They are truly amazing and beautifully created.

I am sure that even while Enrique is in prison, he will be creating something. A true artist never has idle hands! 

Personally I would love to own one, how about you?

 

 

Jo Tempest.

 

 

Amusing True Court Stories

Sunday, September 23rd, 2012 at 3:42 pm  
Comments (1)

 

Amusing True Court Stories | Jo Tempest

Amusing True Court Stories

Sometimes we just need to read something that can make us at least giggle, but better still laugh out loud.

When I read these, I just had to share them with you so make my day, laugh away and remember they are all from TRUE court records!

 

Attorney…………………..The youngest son is 20 years old, how old is he?

Witness…………………….He’s 20 , much like your IQ!

 

 

Attorney……………………….Were you present when your picture was taken?

Witness…………………………Are you sh……g me? 

 

Attorney……………………Do you recall the time that you examined the body?

Forensic Pathologist…….The autopsy started around 8.30pm.

Attorney…………………………And Mr Denton was dead at that time?

Forensic Pathologist……If not, he was by the time I had finished! 

 

Attorney………………………Now Doctor, isn’t it true that when a person dies in his sleep,

he doesn’t know about it until the next morning?

Doctor……………………Did you actually pass your Bar Exam? 

 

Attorney…………………What gear were you in at the moment of impact?

Witness…………………..Gucci, sweats and Reebocks. 

 

Attorney…………………Is your appearance here this morning pursuant to a deposition

notice which I sent to your Attorney?

Witness………………….No, this is how I dress when I go to work. 

 

Attorney……………….. What was the last thing your husband said to you that morning?

Witness………………….He said, “Where am I ,Cathy?”

Attorney………………..And why did that upset you?

Witness………………….My name is Susan! 

 

Attorney………………..How was your first marriage terminated?

Witness…………………By death.

Attorney……………….And by who’s death was it terminated?

Witness…………………Take a guess!

  

Attorney……………….Doctor, how many autopsies have you performed on dead

people?

Doctor…………………..All of them, the live ones put up too much of a fight! 

 

Attorney………………..Can you describe the individual?

Witness…………………He was about medium height and had a beard.

Attorney……………….Was this a male or a female?

Witness…………………Unless the circus was in town, I’m going for male! 

 

Attorney………………..Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?

Doctor……………………No.

Attorney………………..Did you check for blood pressure?

Doctor……………………No.

Attorney………………..Did you check for breathing?

Doctor……………………No.

Attorney………………..So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?

Doctor……………………No.

Attorney……………….How can you be so sure, Doctor?

Doctor…………………..Because his brain was sitting in a jar on my desk.

Attorney……………….I see, but could the patient have been still alive, never the less?

Doctor…………………..Well yes, it’s possible that he could have been alive and practicing law! 

 

Attorney……………….She had 3 children, right?

Witness…………………Yes.

Attorney………………..How many were boys?

Witness…………………None.

Attorney………………..Were there any girls?

Witness………………….Your honor, I think I need a different attorney. Can I get a new attorney? 

 Well, I hope these have given you at least a giggle, and I think the last one just about sums up the thinking of most of the witnesses above! This wonderful collection came from a fun book called Disorder in the American Courts and I am sure it would be worth reading the rest of the stories. It is always said that fact is often crazier than fiction! 

 Jo Tempest.

The Wonderful Pitt Rivers Museum

Sunday, March 25th, 2012 at 10:28 pm  
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Pitt Rivers Museum Oxford England

Pitt Rivers Museum - Oxford, England

When I went back to England last Christmas, my son Richard collected me from Heathrow Airport and told me that instead of rushing straight back to Suffolk, we were going to spend a day in Oxford. It had been a long time since I had visited Oxford so I was really happy with this new plan.

Over a glass of wine (or two) that evening, I told Richard about an amazing museum I had visited when I was pregnant with his older brother James, and told him I would like to go again the next day.

Unbelievably, he had already decided that was where we were going! 

The next morning was cold but bright and we headed off for the center of Oxford to find the Pitt Rivers Museum. Finding a parking space was a lot harder than finding the museum, but eventually, with the meter filled, we could start our ‘adventure’. The building itself is truly wonderful with a fantastic original glass roof and the lighting is very gentle to protect the exhibits.

This museum is one of the world’s best known for its examples of ethnography and world archeology and attracts

Pitt Rivers Totem Pole

Pitt Rivers Totem Pole

around 250.000 visitors a year, it’s like an Aladdin’s cave of history. It’s named after Lieutenant-General Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers (honestly, that was his name) whose gifts to the University of Oxford in 1884 led to the creation of the museum.

Pitt-Rivers was born in 1827 (died in 1900) and during his military career he was asked to assess the rifle that the British Army were thinking of supplying to their soldiers. This got him interested in how complex guns had become and his gun collection started.

He was not an explorer or even a great traveler, but from the age of 25 years old he started going to auctions, buying from antique dealers and private sales anything that interested him from anywhere in the world. He grouped his finds by ‘type’ and also technical complexity to show progression of ideas.

Later, he gave his amazing collection to Oxford on condition that the University built a museum to display it. The doors opened to the Pitt-Rivers Museum in 1887 and was fully open five years later. 

What I love about this museum is that it is so crowded. Originally Pitt-Rivers donated 20,000 items of his own, which is incredible, but now it is home to over 300,000 wonderful exhibits. Explorers, archeologists, soldiers, sailors, teachers, doctors, missionaries and tourists also donated their finds to the museum.

 

Pitt Rivers Shrunken Heads

Pitt Rivers Shrunken Heads

They are grouped floor to ceiling on three floors and are grouped in type, that is, weapons,

Samurai Armor Pitt Rivers Museum

Samurai Armor

armour, lighting, medical instruments, body art, masks and so much more. There is even a totem pole that rises up through all three floors. Goodness knows how that was transported to Oxford! 

They have also kept many of the original museum labels created by the museum staff when the museum opened. You can borrow a torch or magnifying glass so that you can read them as the writing has obviously faded and can be hard to read.

How about this little gem of original labeling: “Silvered and stoppered bottle said to contain a witch. Obtained about 1915 from an old lady living in a village near Hove, Sussex, England. She remarked ‘and they do say, here be a witch in it, and if you let her out there’ll be a peck of trouble.’ ” Excuse the grammar, but that is how they spoke at that time!

Or this one, “Nostril clip used by Arab pearl divers in India and Ceylon, to stop breathing”-donated 1926. 

I wandered around for a few hours totally fascinated by so many wonderful things. It seemed we had picked a quiet day as there were only a few other people around. At the end of our tour I asked Richard if he had a favorite, his were some of the early weapons, true boys stuff! Mine were a couple of colorful carved wooden birds in a case near the ground and I went to the museum shop to see if they featured in any of their books or postcards.

I really didn’t expect to be lucky when there are hundreds of thousands exhibits to choose from. But, guess what, not

Haida Mask Pitt Rivers Museum

Haida Mask

only did they appear on postcards, but my favorite bird was the main logo for the whole museum. The girl has taste! I found out that it was a carving of a Rhinoceros Hornbill made before 1923 by a Kayan artist in Sarawak, Malaysia. This type of carving was created to use as decoration at important feasts and ceremonies.

After buying postcards and books on this magical museum we reluctantly stepped back into the real world but promising ourselves we would return again, hopefully sooner than the 27 years it took me. Oh, and the most incredible thing is that you pay nothing to explore ‘the world’ in this museum; just to make a donation if you want to. So, if you ever visit Oxford, make sure you also visit the Pitt-Rivers Museum. I promise you will really enjoy it. 

So thank you, my darling Richard, for deciding that we would spend a special day in Oxford before joining the rest of the family. I also had a wonderful day with my other son James on that trip home, but that’s a later story. 

 

Jo Tempest.

The Magical Temples of Damanhur

Monday, March 5th, 2012 at 12:36 pm  
Comments (1)

 

Damanhur Entrance

Damanhur Entrance

I think this is a magical story, let’s see what you think.

It all starts in beautiful Northern Italy. Thirty miles from Turin in the Valley of Valchiusella a vision has become reality and we are so lucky that we can share it. 

Hidden one hundred feet down in the mountain is one of the largest temple complexes in the world. It consists of nine ornate temples on an unbelievable five levels. The scale of opulence is truly breathtaking.

The temples tell the history of humanity and are constructed similar to a three dimensional book. They are linked together by hundreds of meters of fabulously decorated tunnels and cover an incredible 300,000 cubic feet. 

The Temples of Damanhur( it means ‘City of Light’) are named after the ancient subterranean Egyptian Temples and are the dream of an extremely successful insurance broker called Oberto Airaudi. When Oberto was only 10 years old, he claims he was having visions of a past highly evolved community who lived in these temples. They lived an idyllic existence where everyone worked for the common good.

Temple Damanhur

Temple Damanhur

Oberto is thought to have the supernatural ability to travel in his minds eye to be able to describe in detail the contents of the temples. This is known as ‘Remote Viewing’. When he was still a youngster, he was excavating under his parents home so that he could start to understand excavation. 

When he was 57 years old, he was ready to make his visions become real. He changed his name to ‘Falco’ and began his project. First, he had to find the perfect site to start his Temple project. In 1977, he found his mountain! Of course, the most important thing was that the rock was hard enough to sustain the structures he wanted to create. The first thing he did was to build himself a house on the hillside and then moved in with several of his friends who shared his vision.

 

Damunhur Temple

Damunhur Temple

In 1978, Falco and his friends started using picks and hammers to bring the Temples of Damanhur to life. Obviously no planning permission had been granted so the work was kept secret by the like-minded group. For the next 16 years, volunteers from all around the world flocked to work four hour shift underground. There were no formal plans, just sketches created by Falco from his visions.

The whole project was funded by setting up small businesses that served the local community. 

 

Temple Earth Portal

Temple Earth Portal

By 1991, many of the nine chambers were almost finished with their beautiful mosaics, statues and stained glass windows. Stunning murals completed the vision along with secret doors into the chambers. But time was running out as it was becoming impossible to keep the project a secret any longer.

 

Egyptian Hall

Egyptian Hall

The first time the police visited, they said they were there because of alleged tax evasion and they did not see the temples. A year later, they were back as a police raid. They demanded to see the Temples or they would dynamite the hillside.

 

Falco and his friends took three policemen and a public prosecutor into his mountain to show them the first Temple named ‘Hall of the Earth.’ It’s a circular chamber with a diameter of an unbelievable 8 meters. A central sculpted column depicts a three dimensional man and woman that supports the ceiling made of intricately painted glass. A further column climbs to an 8 meter height covered with gold leaf.

 

Hall of The Earth 2

Hall of The Earth 2

To say the jaws of the four men dropped would be an understatement, it must have been truly mind blowing realizing what had been going on under the mountain for so many years.

They left to make their reports and then the government made their decision known to Falco. The Temples were to be seized by the government, Falco and his friends could continue their artwork but all further building work had to stop as there was no planning permission.

 

Damanhur Wonder

Damanhur Wonder

Eventually, retrospective planning permission was granted and today, the Damanhurians, as they are now known, are a force to be reckoned with. They have their own schools. universities, vineyards, organic supermarkets, farms, bakeries and even award winning ECO homes. Truly inspired people!

They do not worship a spiritual leader but the Damanhur Temples have become famous for group meditation.

 

Hall Of The Earth 3

Hall Of The Earth 3

I finish this amazing story of one man and his vision with a few of his own words.

“They are to remind people that we are all capable of much more than we realize and that hidden treasures can be found within everyone of us, once we know how to access them.” 

We can only thank Falco for believing in his own words.


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