Michael Tonello's Blog, page 25

Meet the African Crocodile Who Doesn't Eat Meat

CROCODILES are some of the most feared predators in Africa, ruthless reptiles renowned for tearing their prey to pieces before swallowing hunks of meat raw.
But in the baking sun at Nyanyana crocodile farm on the shores of Zimbabwe's Lake Kariba, feeding time has a surreal edge as the beasts nibble lazily at bowls of vegetarian pellets.
Besides being cheaper than meat, the diet of protein concentrate, minerals, vitamins, maize meal and water is said to enhance crocodile skin destined to become handbags or shoes on the catwalks of New York, Paris, London or Milan.
"We don't feed them meat any more," said Oliver Kamundimu, financial director of farm owner Padenga Holdings.
"It actually improves the quality because we now measure all the nutrients that we are putting in there, which the crocodile may not get from meat only," he told Reuters in an interview.
Four hundred kilometres (250 miles) northwest of Harare, Nyanyana is home to 50,000 Nile crocodiles and is one of three Padenga farms around Kariba, Africa's largest man-made lake.
The company has 164,000 crocodiles in all and started feeding pellets in 2006 at the height of an economic crisis in Zimbabwe that made meat scarce and very expensive.
Initially, the pellets contained 50 percent meat but that has gradually been phased out to an entirely vegetarian diet.
"We have moved gradually to a point where we reduced the meat to about 15 percent then to seven percent and where we are now there is zero meat, zero fish," he said.
"It's a much cleaner operation and the crocs are getting all the nutrients they want from that pellet."
Fed every second day, the crocodiles are largely docile and lie asleep in their enclosures as workers walk around casually cleaning up leftovers.
Hermes, Gucci
The crocodilies are slaughtered at 30 months, when they are about 1.5 metres long and their skin is soft and supple.
Last year Harare-listed Padenga sold 42,000 skins to tanneries in Europe, especially France, where the average skin fetches $550.
Ninety percent of the leather becomes high-end handbags, Kamundimu said, while the remainder makes belts, shoes and watch straps for some of the biggest names in world fashion.
"When you hear names like Hermes, Louis Vuitton and Gucci - those are the brand names we are talking about," he said with a satisfied smile.
Having survived economic collapse and hyperinflation of 500 billion percent in Zimbabwe, Padenga then had to deal with fallout from the 2008 global financial crisis, and economic contraction in the euro zone, its main market.
However, while appetite for crocodile meat cooled in Europe and Asia, super-wealthy European shoppers shrugged off recession and continued to snap up crocodile-skin items, Kamundimu said.
"When you look at people who buy handbags for their wives or daughters that cost $40,000 a piece, even when the euro zone problems came, they could still afford to buy," he said. We didn't feel a decline."
Reuters

Did Wissam Al Mana Gift Janet Jackson Her So Black Birkin Bag?

After reading the bio of Janet Jackson's husband, Wissam Al Mana, one has to wonder if it wasn't he who procured the rare So-Black Birkin bag for Ms. Jackson.

"Wissam Al Mana is Qatari-born retail entrepreneur who has a net worth of $1 billion. Wissam Al Mana built his net worth as managing director of the Al Mana Retail Group. He is one of the richest retail investors in the Middle East. Wissam is a shareholder in the Saks Fifth Avenue stores in Dubai, Doha, Bahrain and Kuwait. He also runs The Al Mana Luxury Company with his three brothers. The Al Mana Luxury Company represents luxury brands such as A/X Armani Exchange, Hermes, Giorgio Armani, Roberto Cavalli and Balenciaga throughout the world. Armani announced that a flagship A/X Exchange will open in Qatar's Villagio Shopping Mall. Wissam Al Mana first achieved world wide fame when he began dating pop superstar Janet Jackson. Rumors have swirled for months over when the couple will get married. In February 2013, Janet shocked the world when she announced that she and Wissam were secretly married in 2012 in a quiet private ceremony. The world media had been speculating that Wissam and Janet were going to get married in a lavish $20 million star-studded wedding sometime in 2013. Wissam Al Mana is 37 years old, nine years younger than Janet."

Lady Gaga a Mess - Even a Vintage Hermes Kelly Bag Doesn't Save this Disaster

Floyd Mayweather, Shantel Jackson, Beverly Loan Company & a Birkin Bag

Floyd Mayweather's female entourage decided to tease his former fiancé Shantel Jackson's pawned $63K Hermes purse. The women sat on the luxury private jet with Jackson's bag placed on the table.
According to MediaTakeOut.com, Jackson was desperate for money and had to pawn her expensive bag for rent money.
Sources close to Jackson admitted that she sold her favorite Birkin bag for $31,000 to Beverly Loan Company -a luxury PAWN SHOP in Los Angeles. The boxer's former fiancé had friends take the bag with the original receipt to the store and clerks at the upscale pawn shop recognized Mayweather's name and called him about their recent purchase where he offered to buy back the purse.
MediaTakeout.com recently reported, Mayweather also took back every diamond he showered his former fiancé with which totaled up to $7.8 million worth of jewels.
Floyd Mayweather's and Shantel's engagement break up has been confirmed by Jackson's laser treatment to remove a tattoo of boxing gloves on her wrists that was dedicated to her undefeated champion.
Rumors of the couple's break up made headlines after rumors speculated that the Jackson had enough of Mayweather's cheating. MediaTakeOut obtained before-and-after photos of the model with her tattoo covered in bandages at a recent event.
Jackson have allegedly called off their engagement and Mrs. Jackson is firing back at the champion boxer for his latest courtside appearance with a mystery woman.
Jackson was asked why she didn't sit next to Mayweather at the game and she tweeted, "Cause he's busy with sit fillers."
Jackson later tweeted, "Funny when a person tries to top you."
Mayweather's fiancé allegedly dumped the undefeated champion before jumping over the broom.
According to MediaTakeOut.com, Jackson walked away from the relationship due to his infidelity and gave the boxer an ultimatum of either stay faithful after marriage or no marriage. The pair reportedly broke up a few months ago, however without the boxer offering a marriage with no prenup only if she allows him to have mistresses.
Mrs. Jackson allegedly said "no."

http://www.mstarz.com/articles/28572/...

Catherine Zeta-Jones Loves Hermes

Hermes Men's Sneakers $1,125. - Toto We're Not in Kansas Anymore!

FOR SALE: Hermes Victoria II Fourre Tout 35cm Handbag Potiron Clemence Palladium Hardware

GORGEOUS HERMES
VICTORIA FOURRE TOUT 35cm HANDBAG
  POTIRON
TAURILLON CLEMENCE WITH PALLADIUM HARDWARE
THIS HERMES VICTORIA IS ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR AND VERSATILE MODELS, AND FINDING ONE IN POTIRON THESE DAYS IS ALL BUT IMPOSSIBLE.THE LEATHER IS TAURILLON CLEMENCE AND IT IS LINED IN HERMES CHEVRON PATTERNED TOILE (CANVAS)THERE IS A SEPARATE LUGGAGE TAG INCLUDED WITH THIS BAG, AS IS A CLOCHETTE, LOCK, AND TWO KEYS.
THIS VICTORIA HAS BEEN LIGHTLY USED.THE CLOCHETTE HAS BEEN MONOGRAMMED, ALTHOUGH IT IS BARELY NOTICEABLE UNLESS VIEWED UNDER MAGNIFICATION.THE INTERIOR LINING HAS FAINT TRACES OF PALE PINK STAINS - BARELY NOTICEABLE.
THE LEATHER IS VERY CLEAN, AND THE HANDLES SHOW NO SIGNS WHATSOEVER OF USE.ONE CORNER SHOWS SLIGHT USE AND A MINOR SCUFFTHE OTHER CORNERS SHOW EXTREMELY LIGHT, IF ANY SIGNS OF USE. email for details/additional photos: bringinghomethebirkin@yahoo.com

Earl Grey Tea - Bringing Home the Birkin - Downton Abbey

Those of you who've read my book, Bringing Home the Birkin, know of my love for Earl Grey tea.  You can imagine my delight when I received an email this morning containing the following article:
Earl Grey, the brew that could tackle heart disease: Scientists say bergamot found in the tea could be as effective as statins in controlling cholesterolEarl Grey tea contains an extract of a citrus fruit called bergamot Bergamot gives the tea, favoured on Downton Abbey, its distinct tasteResearch claims bergamot contains enzymes known as HMGF, which can treat heart diseases as effectively as statins

A cup of Earl Grey tea can lower cholesterol and reduce the chances of heart disease, according to scientists.
The beverage, much favoured in Downton Abbey, contains extracts of a fruit called bergamot which scientists believe is a superfood for the heart.
And it could even be as effective as statins, the controversial wonder drugs used to control cholesterol but which can have side effects in patients.
The bergamot is a Mediterranean citrus fruit which gives Earl Grey the distinct taste and smell that has traditionally made it popular with the upper and middle classes.
Now new research claims it contains enzymes known as HMGF (hydroxy methyl glutaryl flavonones) which can treat heart diseases as effectively as statins.
Researchers from Italy’s University of Calabria for the Journal of Functional Foods used concentrations of HMGF on the proteins which cause heart disease and ‘bad’ cholesterol.
They then compared the effects with that of statins used to treat the same proteins and found the bergomot extract with HMGF worked just as well.
Not only did it reduce levels of LDL - so-called ‘bad cholesterol’ which leads to heart disease - but also increased HDL, which doctors call ‘good cholesterol’.
Citrus foods have long been part of the famed ‘Mediterranean diet’ which has been hailed as one of the best ways to avoid heart disease - the biggest killer in the Western world.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetec...

FOR SALE: Hermes Kelly 35cm Sellier Black Box silver guilloche hdwe RARE SPECIAL ORDER

THIS IS A SPECIAL CHANCE TO ACQUIRE A VERY RARE BAG
HERMES KELLY 35CM, BLACK, BOX LEATHER, SILVER GUILLOCHE HARDWARE




THIS IS A SPECIAL ORDER BAG. BRAND NEW/UNUSED/STORE-FRESH, WITH PLASTIC ON HARDWARE AND FELT IN PLACE - SHIPS COMPLETE WITH ALL HERMES ACCESSORIES INCLUDED - IN ORIGINAL HERMES BOX EMAIL ME FOR DETAILS IF INTERESTEDBRINGINGHOMETHEBIRKIN@YAHOO.COM


 

Madonna Has Always Been An Hermes Fan

Madonna wearing Hermès Peuple du Vent cashmere and silk shawl