Saturday, 26 March 2011

INEBRIATED LEPIDOPTERA


A Morphos Butterfly (sober)
Most people compost in Monteverde, either by digging a pit or simply throwing waste vegetables and fruit into the forest. It's a mecca for assorted Agouti, Pisotes, Raccoons and Butterflies, especially the beautiful blue Morpho butterfly. I have to keep reminding myself to look before I throw the waste into my compost pit as when Morphos are feeding they put their wings up covering up their vivid blue wings and are much harder to see. Sometimes you can lob a whole bowl of waste into the pit and they don't stir.

The reason for is that if the fruit is rotten enough it becomes alcoholic. So when the Morpho sips this it can get a bit inebriated and just sit there on top of bit a rotting mango or papaya swaying in the breeze, too drunk to fly.

Gratuitous but nonetheless funny photo of drunk man

Monday, 14 March 2011

GOTCHA!

Chevron fined for Amazon pollution by Ecuador court

A court in Ecuador has fined US oil giant Chevron a reported $8bn (£5bn) for polluting a large part of the country's Amazon region.
The oil firm Texaco, which merged with Chevron in 2001, was accused of dumping billions of gallons of toxic materials into unlined pits and Amazon rivers.
Campaigners say crops were damaged and farm animals killed, and that local cancer rates increased.
Condemning the ruling as fraudulent, Chevron said it would appeal.
The lawsuit was brought on behalf of 30,000 Ecuadoreans, in a case which dragged on for nearly two decades.
more...  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12460333



Thursday, 17 February 2011

MY LAST BLOG?

Solar flare eruptions set to reach Earth

      Scientists around the world will be watching closely as three eruptions from the Sun reach the Earth over Thursday and Friday.
      These "coronal mass ejections" will slam into the Earth's magnetic shield.
      "Our current view is that the effect of the solar flare is likely to reach Earth later today (Thursday GMT), possibly tomorrow morning," said Alan Thomson, head of geomagnetism at the British Geological Survey (BGS), before adding "We're all going to die! We're doomed, I tell you - doooomed!" as he ran screaming from the room.

 

Tuesday, 15 February 2011

VICTORY

Sea Shepherd activists halt Japanese whale hunt

 

Japan has suspended its annual Antarctic whale hunt following action from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, who have been chasing the fleet's mother******* ship.

An official at the country's fisheries agency said whaling had been halted "for now" because of safety concerns.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12477398


Tuesday, 1 February 2011

GROUNDHOG DAY




      Today was Ground Hog Day in the US, which for me was immortalized in the film starring Bill Murray and Andy McDowell. For those of you who haven't seen it, the story is about an arrogant and cynical TV weatherman who is sent to the small town of Punxsutawney, PA to cover the ground hog ritual and finds himself in a time warp whereby the day keeps repeating itself over and over and over and over again...

      Sometimes, every day in Monteverde seems like a ground hog day. Heading into town I always seem to pass the same people, the same cars  with the same occupants at exactly the same point in the road.
Even when you hit the bright lights of Santa Elena (pop. 3,000) nothing seems to change. The cute Tica girl in shop smiles at me as I pass by, the town drunk slurs his request for money and the tour guide who is always standing outside his office greets me with a "Pura Vida" (literally Pure Life), the most common phrase in Costa Rica. Despite the fact that I have been living here for 3 years the taxi, (the same taxi driver) who sits in his car at the corner of the high street, never seems to acknowledge the fact that I pull up in my car and always calls out "Taxi? Taxi?" I smile and as always I hold up my car keys in the vague hope that he will acknowledge the fact that I own a car, but to no avail, tomorrow he will do exactly the same.
      Maybe it's because all us 'gringos' look the same, or maybe I am in a time warp.

      Today was Ground Hog Day in the US, which for me was immortalized in the film starring Bill Murray and Andy McDowell. For those of you who haven't seen it, the story is about an arrogant and cynical TV weatherman who is sent to the small town of Punxsutawney, PA to cover the ground hog ritual and finds himself in a time warp whereby the day keeps repeating itself over and over and over and over again...

      Sometimes, every day in Monteverde seems like a ground hog day. Heading into town I always seem to pass the same people, the same cars  with the same occupants at exactly the same point in the road.
Even when you hit the bright lights of Santa Elena (pop. 3,000) nothing seems to change. The cute Tica girl in shop smiles at me as I pass by, the town drunk slurs his request for money and the tour guide who is always standing outside his office greets me with a "Pura Vida" (literally Pure Life), the most common phrase in Costa Rica. Despite the fact that I have been living here for 3 years the taxi, (the same taxi driver) who sits in his car at the corner of the high street, never seems to acknowledge the fact that I pull up in my car and always calls out "Taxi? Taxi?" I smile and as always I hold up my car keys in the vague hope that he will acknowledge the fact that I own a car, but to no avail, tomorrow he will do exactly the same.
      Maybe it's because all us 'gringos' look the same, or maybe I am in a time warp.

      Today was Ground Hog Day in the US, which for me was immortalized in the film starring Bill Murray and Andy McDowell. For those of you who haven't seen it, the story is about an arrogant and cynical TV weatherman who is sent to the small town of Punxsutawney, PA to cover the ground hog ritual and finds himself in a time warp whereby the day keeps repeating itself over and over and over and over again...

      Sometimes, every day in Monteverde seems like a ground hog day. Heading into town I always seem to pass the same people, the same cars  with the same occupants at exactly the same point in the road.
Even when you hit the bright lights of Santa Elena (pop. 3,000) nothing seems to change. The cute Tica girl in shop smiles at me as I pass by, the town drunk slurs his request for money and the tour guide who is always standing outside his office greets me with a "Pura Vida" (literally Pure Life), the most common phrase in Costa Rica. Despite the fact that I have been living here for 3 years the taxi, (the same taxi driver) who sits in his car at the corner of the high street, never seems to acknowledge the fact that I pull up in my car and always calls out "Taxi? Taxi?" I smile and as always I hold up my car keys in the vague hope that he will acknowledge the fact that I own a car, but to no avail, tomorrow he will do exactly the same.
      Maybe it's because all us 'gringos' look the same, or maybe I am in a time warp.

      Today was Ground Hog Day in the US, which for me was immortalized in the film starring Bill Murray and Andy McDowell. For those of you who haven't seen it, the story is about an arrogant and cynical TV weatherman who is sent to the small town of Punxsutawney, PA to cover the ground hog ritual and finds himself in a time warp whereby the day keeps repeating itself over and over and over and over again...

      Sometimes, every day in Monteverde seems like a ground hog day. Heading into town I always seem to pass the same people, the same cars  with the same occupants at exactly the same point in the road.
Even when you hit the bright lights of Santa Elena (pop. 3,000) nothing seems to change. The cute Tica girl in shop smiles at me as I pass by, the town drunk slurs his request for money and the tour guide who is always standing outside his office greets me with a "Pura Vida" (literally Pure Life), the most common phrase in Costa Rica. Despite the fact that I have been living here for 3 years the taxi, (the same taxi driver) who sits in his car at the corner of the high street, never seems to acknowledge the fact that I pull up in my car and always calls out "Taxi? Taxi?" I smile and as always I hold up my car keys in the vague hope that he will acknowledge the fact that I own a car, but to no avail, tomorrow he will do exactly the same.
      Maybe it's because all us 'gringos' look the same, or maybe I am in a time warp.