Lilian Nattel's Blog, page 52
March 16, 2011
wisdom of old ladies is well known among elephants
Karen McComb from the University of Sussex has found that older matriarchs – the females who lead elephant herds – are more aware of the threat posed by male lions. If they hear recordings of male roars, they're more likely to usher their herd into a defensive formation. Their experience and leadership could save their followers' lives.
via blogs.discovermagazine.com
Herds with matriarchs over 60 years old leading have an advantage. These smart old leaders know what's what. While lionesses are more frequent hunters, they pose little danger to elephants. Male lions, on the other hand, can take one down. Unlike other elephants (or humans or that matter), these elderly matriarchs can distinguish male from female roars, thus organizing the herd appropriately when needed. They also know how to deal with drought, bees and strangers. I've also read about matriarchs directing rough bulls away from vulnerable young females, and encouraging more appropriate first time matings. (If I can find the source, I'll post it–somewhere in my notes!) Video at the link above.
Filed under: Miscellany
today i am reading
The Solitude of Prime Numbers. outside rain, inside dry basement! this is peace. my kids here. earth solid.
Later: I gave up on the novel. Chapter 1: Child hates skiing lessons. She pees her pants every lesson. (Nobody notices the smell? Never mind, let that pass.) This time she defecates too. Humiliated she skiis away in the fog. Breaks her leg. Does she freeze to death? Perhaps. Chapter 2: Another child has twin who is severely mentally deficient. (Can't speak; little verbal comprehension; but is in a regular class with no aide–does the child wear a diaper? No mention. Never mind, let it pass.) Smart twin goes to birthday party, abandons sibling in park. Disabled twin disappears. Smart twin leaves party, contemplates river, gouges himself with broken bottle. Chapter 3: Child with same name as girl in chapter 1 (did she survive? Is this another character with her name?) masturbates. I decide to read another book.
The writing is competent, but it would have to be stunning for me to get past the feeling that to continue reading would be voyeuristic. It isn't that children don't ever do these things, but that in the first short chapters of the novel, there doesn't seem to be anything else, the children limited to the expression of violent humiliation.
As someone who, as a child, experienced a good portion of violence and humiliation, I can say that there was much more to me than that and to define someone's person and life only by those experiences is a form of exploitation. As a literary experience it is voyeurism.
If you've read the whole book, does it get better?
Filed under: Literary Tagged: Paolo Giordano, The Solitude of Prime Numbers
March 15, 2011
award winning chef turned Mother Theresa
Thirty-nine year old Narayanan Krishnan was an award winning hotel chef short-listed for an elite job in Switzerland when his entire life changed. In 2002, sSeeing an old man starving of hunger, he got some left-overs from the hotel to feed the old man. That was the beginning of his vocation: serving meals and dignity to the hungry and mentally disabled in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India.
Filed under: Uplifting Tagged: Narayanan Krishnan
world's first photo
via photography.nationalgeographic.com
From 1826, the view outside Joseph Nicephore Niepce's window. The exposure took several hours. I wonder what he'd think of today's point and shoot?
Filed under: Miscellany
Signs of Spring
This post is not about the news. My heart goes out to the suffering, but this is not about that. It is about a sunny day in 2011 and a sunny day in 1995. Sixteen years ago, on a surprisingly balmy March ides, A and I were at a conservation area, walking, lying in the sun and necking. Enough said. My children read my blog. 
On to 2011 and we are a family with 2 kids off for a week and we are having fun. How much difference the sky makes! Under a blue sky, heart lifts, hope lifts. Yesterday my kids and I walked downtown, had Chinese food at our favourite vegetarian restaurant (Full Moon has gone to new owners, so now it's Buddha's Vegetarian Kitchen on Dundas St W.). We were shopping for rainboots, but instead H and M acquired new inline skates (aka roller blades). When we got home, the 3 of us skated around the block a bunch of times.
I'm much steadier on my feet than I was last year at this time. And that got me to thinking how you can still learn, even sports, in midlife. I'm keen keen keen. I can't wait for good skating weather. "You sound like me when I first started roller blading," my sister-in-law reminisced. She was 20 years younger than I am when she learned to skate. This is the gift of being such a late bloomer: to have the excitement and enthusiasm of youth. It never has to go away. There's always something to discover.
And so much easier to do so on a sunny day.
spring flowers, photo by Hanabi
Filed under: Beautiful Tagged: thoughts of spring
March 14, 2011
abstract art: could a kid or a chimp do it?
Hawley-Dolan and Winner asked 32 art students and 40 psychology students to compare pairs of paintings. One piece of each pair was the work of a recognised artist, such as Kline, Rothko, Cy Twombly, Gillian Ayre, and more. The other came from the oeuvre of lesser-known painters, including preschool children, elephants, chimps, gorillas and monkeys. The paintings were matched according to colour, line quality, brushstroke and medium; the students had to say which they preferred and which was better.
via blogs.discovermagazine.com
The short answer is that the student preferred the professional art. Full story at the link above.
Filed under: Miscellany
Medicus by Ruth Downie: A Review
In classic mystery form, the novel opens with a dead body. But for the first third it reads more like a literary novel and even the rest of the book is driven, not so much by suspects, investigation, danger relating to the crime, but by the character of the characters. I couldn't put it down. If Downie can sustain the quality of writing throughout the series, I will be seriously impressed.
Medicus is about a doctor in ancient Britain under the occupation of the Romans. Gaius Petreius Ruso is an army doctor, recently divorced, broke and burdened by financial obligations to his extended family, a guy whose career is held back by his honesty and integrity. He is likable and believable because he is also a man of his times, with prejudices and blind spots. His exposure to a new country, its inhabitants, and the culture of occupation is a learning experience for him.
So is Tilla, the young British slave whom he buys in order to nurse back to health, a feisty herbalist and midwife who would gladly bite the hand that feeds her if it gets her back to her people and the British rebellion. To her dismay, the hand belongs to a man who is much more sympathetic than she expects.
The dead body is that of a young prostitute, which raises issues that are universal in time as well as place, about sex, slavery, armies, and freedom. Although the novel takes place in ancient Britain, it is typical of the latest wave of historical novels, which give a contemporary feel to language and setting and make free with some of the facts.
It worked well for this book and I was completely engaged, even though normally I'm a stickler for historical accuracy, because I was rooting for Gaius and Tilla. Highly recommended. Page 17:
Ahead of him, a chorus of excited voices rose in the street. He recognized the fat man, still shouting orders in a thick Gallic accent. The female who had collapsed had now attracted a sizable crowd. They seemed to be carrying her to the fountain. Ruso tossed the last fragments of cake to a passing dog and strode on in the direction of the amphitheater. It was nothing to do with him. He was not, at this moment, a doctor. He was a private citizen in need of some bath oil…
There was a sudden gasp from around the fountain. Someone cried. "Ugh! Look at that."
A child was pawing at her mother's arm, demanding, "What is it? I can't see! Tell me what it is!"
Russo hesitated, came to a halt, and promised himself it would only be a quick look.
Filed under: Literary Tagged: historical mystery, Roman doctor in ancient Britain
Keep Toronto Reading
I'm going to hear Howard Jacobson (The Finkler Question) talk, so excited! An actual date with A! (Just the 2 of us, for real.) Here's the the link.
Filed under: Literary, Personal Tagged: Howard Jacobson in Canada
does LOL ruin your English? considering diversity in language
Now, more than ever, we have the unsettling power to choose: what we read, what we watch, what we listen to, what we consume, and so on. Surprisingly, this can actually work strongly against conventionalization. In one study I worked on at Stanford, we found that fiction and non-fiction readers' sensitivity to various distributions of words sharply diverged. To translate that into non-psych babble: we found that because fiction and non-fiction readers read differently, their representations of English become measurably different over time.
via scientopia.org
Filed under: Miscellany
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