Nelson Daily Stories

                        Buenos dias, Bonjour, Buongiorno, Good morning. There was a most interesting an enlightening discussion on Al Jazeera this week. It was about languages. Did you know that there are more than 6,000 languages in the world today? Yes there are. More than half of the languages, however, do not have a written form, they are oral . Also many languages are on the verge of becoming extinct. I learned from the discussion that 178 countries have an "official language," that is the language used by the government of the country. Participants in the lively discussion said that as languages disappear, they take with them certain aspects of the indigenous culture.  92 year-old  Cristina Calderon , who was born in Puerto Williams, Chile is the last living full-blooded Yaghan person - the last speaker of the ancient Yamana language . Most of the world's languages are oral. In Nigeria, for example, "there is immense language diversity with more than 500 dial

                                                 "He's a Legend!" "Bob Marley's Voice looms large on mainstream TV in the USA" is the headline to (Jamaica) Gleaner writer Anthony Turner's article published September 28, 2020. Bob Marley passed away over 39 years ago, yet "his voice is featured in not one, but two current, mainstream television commercials in the US, which may give him the record for being the first and only Jamaican reggae artist to achieve this honour." On Saturday September 26, 2020 "A concert and exchange event was held in Beijing to mark Bob Marley's (75) birth anniversary."  An article by Zhang Rui on China.org.cn September 28, 2020  said: "The Marley family, Island Records, UME and Primary Wave Music Publishing  have been working to honor the legacy of Marley, commemorating his 75th birthday and his importance in the history of global music with a year-long celebration." Bob did say:"You a-go

                           OF LEGENDS AND PRINCES AND A SHARK'S TOOTH                                         He is described as "the legendary naturalist", he is famous and reknowned. His new book and a Netflix documentary  "A Life on Our planet - My Witness statement and a Vision for the future" will be released on October 1.2020. He is 94 year old Sir David Attenborough . How has he coped with the strange times we are experiencing now - the Coronavirus pandemic and lockdown. "I've certainly spent more time in my garden listening to birds than I have for a very long time," he said in an exclusive interview with BBC Breakfast . "A lot of people have suddenly realized what deep, profound joy can come from witnessing the rest of the world - the natural world."  There was another moment of "profound joy" for the famous man who "feels privileged that young people should listen to what an old bloke like me is talking about.&q

                                         "I would not do it again!" Many people would do almost anything for $1 million.  "You could give me $1million and I would not do it again," 22 year-old Muhammed "Lexy" Sanneh told London-based journalist Ismail Einashe recently. What would he not do again? Take a nine-month journey from Basse, a northern town in The Gambia  (the smallest country) in West Africa, through the desert of North Africa to Libya "which was mired in civil war". There  he "witnessed horrific beatings of migrants by trafficers." He was an orphan, just 16 years old at the time. "The torturous sea crossing still haunts him - the small dinghy....with terrified, vomiting people for hours spent in the middle of an expanse of rough water" is something he cannot forget. But Muhammed "Lexy" Sanneh was fortunate. He did not drown in the Mediterranean Sea as so many migrants have. In August 2015 he was rescued b

                                             "A   FANTASTIC  OUTCOME" Dr. Kris Carlyon was happy, really happy! On  Saturday morning September 26, 2020 the Marine Conservation Program wildlife biologist said the release of  the 108 surviving long-finned pilot whales into the sea around Macquarie Heads, Tasmania, was "a fantastic outcome."  A statement by the Tasmanian government said 108 surviving pilot whales have been released into the sea. These whales were the ones that lived through the strandings.Three hundred and fifty (350) whales died recently in " what is Australia's worst stranding on record."   In 1996, 320 whales beached in Western Australia.  The pilot whales washed  up on sandspits in the sea around  Macquire Heads on Monday September 21. Reports are that the area "is a known hot spot for whale strandings in Tasmania." It took a great deal of effort to save the remaining creatures. Four whales "had to be euthanised, they

                                            "STAND STRONG FOR WHO YOU ARE" An Australian Aborigine, Vincent Namatjira,  37, has made history! He is the first Aboriginal artist to win the 99 year-old Archibald Prize for portraiture in Australia. Every year, the prize, established by J. F. Archibald and first awarded in 1921, is given to the best portrait of a man or woman distinguished  in art, letters, science or politics painted by any artist resident in Australasia. Archibald's aim was "to foster portraiture as well as support artists and perpetuate the memory of great Australians."   This year, there were "a record 1,068 submissions." Namatjira's entry, titled:  "Stand strong for who you are"   was chosen by the Art Gallery of New South Wales board of trustees.    Vincent Namatjira is the great grandson of the celebrated artist Albert Namatjira . Albert was  born July 1902 in Central Australia and became the most famous indigenous Au

                                   A FRONTLINE FEMALE FIREFIGHTER There is a fascinating story in  USA TODAY September 24, 2020  (published in partnership with The 19th)   written by Ko Bragg. It's about a woman named Eleonore Jordan Anderson . Eleonore is no ordinary woman. In fact, she is one of the few frontline female firefighters in the United States of America. "It's been a record setting fire season," Elenore said in the interview and went on to explain that COVID-19  cancelled the seasonal work she used to do. She was, however, hired as a qualified sawyer on her engine crew. A sawyer clears paths for other firefighters and also "takes down hazardous and dead trees." Five years ago Elenore fought her first fire. Since then she has been involved in 25 fires, four of them in this year. They include the Lionshead Fire that started through a lightening strike "burned more than 203,000 acres in Oregon and destroyed more than 200 homes." But th

                                             TALES OF WHALES AND  PLAGUES It is what I hoped would not happen. More whales died . " Pilot whales Tasmania: Almost 400 die in Australia's worse stranding " - that was the headline to the article on the BBC website this morning September 23, 2000. "Strand" means to leave a sea creature aground on a shore. Hundreds of pilot whales were found beached on Tasmania's west coast on Monday,  Fifty whales were saved by late on Wednesday. Another 30 remained. The article said, "The stranding, one of the largest recorded globally , eclipses a previous national record of 320 set in Western Australia in 1996." On Monday the first rescuers saw about 270 whales stranded, but on Tuesday they saw another 200 nearby as they flew over the area in a helicopter. The huge creatures, 22ft (7m) long and weigh up to 3 tonnes, travel in large close-knot communities. "They're remarkably calm," a person who was hel

                                            TALES OF WHALES AND ELEPHANTS Early this morning (Tuesday September 22, 2020) a mission begins to rescue some 270 whales off the coast of Tasmania. Yesterday, Monday September 21, a BBC report said " at least 25 whales are thought to have died" in the area known as MacQuarie Heads.  The creatures became "stuck on two sandbanks and a beach."  Nearly ten years ago a similar event took place in the area. In another part of our world a mystery has finally been solved. The mystery was: Why did hundreds of  elephants die in recent months in Botswana, the landlocked country in Southern Africa? Botswana, formerly a British protectorate called Bechuanaland) is the place where one/third of Africa's elephants live. The African Bush elephant is the largest living animal on land on planet Earth. It can weigh up to 6,900 kg. It is the second largest anumal in the world.( The largest living animal in the world is the blue whale. )

                                                 AN AWESOME ACT The true definition of awesome is "extremely impressive or daunting , inspiring great admiration, apprehension or fear." When Fernando Spagnolo, Waterbury Chief of Police, in Connecticut, USA said recently that Justin Gavin's " selfless act was awesome," he (Justin) must have done something really outstanding. An article by freelance writer Rachel Sokol in Today (Sept.19, 2020) tells an inspiring story about 18 year old Justin Gavin and a burning car. Justin, a student at Boys and Girls High School in Brooklyn, New York was temporarily living in Connecticut. One day as he was walking to a nearby store, a car drove past him.  But something was wrong.Very wrong! The vehicle was moving erratically and what was alarming - it was on fire. Did other people see the burning car? Yes, they did. As soon as the car came to a stop, Gavin ran towards it. Other people stood and stared.  Gavin reached the

                                                   George Bizos  - he played many roles! He was a South African man with a Greek heritage, an anti-apartheid activist who represented Nelson Mandela in the Rivonia trial (October 1963 to June 1964) that led to Mandela's conviction and imprisonment on charges of sabotage. George Bizos, the reknown Greek South African human rights lawyer and social activist died September 9, 2020. This man, who fled "his native Greece as a refugee from the Nazi occupation"  was eulogized by President Cyril Ramaphosa at the Special Official Funeral for him. He was remembered as "a man of humility, integrity, and above all as an advocate with a passion for justice." A report by Rebecca Davis in the Daily Maverick  17 September 2020 said Bizos "lived 92 extraordinay years of life" and was described as "a friend to many and a devoted family man." He was the pre-eminent defense lawyer of the Struggle, yet he was offic

In 2004 a 300 meter wide space rock flew past our planet, Earth. It was discovered by Roy A. Tucker, David J. Tholen and Fabrizio Bernandi, astronomers at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Tucson, Arizona, USA. They were able to observe the space rock for two days. On June 24, 2005 the space rock was given the number 99942.  On July 19, 2005 its discoverers gave it the name "Apophis". Apophis was the name of an ancient Egyptian god who embodied chaos and evil. He appears in art as a giant serpent. He is the enemy of the Egyptian Sun god Ra.   Reports are that in December (2004) the space rock "caused a brief period of concern" because initial observations indicated a probabillity of up to 2.7% that it would hit Earth on April 13, 2029." Has Apophis passed by our Earth since 2004? Yes, it has. Reports are that it passed within 14.45 million km (8.98 million miles) of Earth in 2013. The closest approach of Apophis to Earth at that time was on January 9, 2013.