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Sighted for First Time in 21st Century

A female saola pictured in Laos in 1996. Photograph by William Robichaud.

Ghosting through the forests of Laos and Vietnam, the saola a large ox that looks like an antelope eluded researchers and their cameras for nearly 14 years.

But camera traps set out by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Vietnamese government in the central knock off van cleef and arpels alhambra pendant Annamite Mountains in Vietnam captured of the extremely rare mammal in September of this year, the group announced this week.

The last sighting of a saola (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis)in the wild was in 1999 in Laos.

our team first looked at the photos we couldn believe our eyes, said Van Ngoc Thinh, Vietnam country director for the WWF, in a statement. are the holy grail for south imitation van cleef and arpels pendant east Asian conservationists so there was a lot of excitement. discovered in 1992 near the border between Laos and Vietnam, the saola was the first large mammal new to science in more than 50 years, according to a WWF statement.

The mammal is often referred to as the unicorn because of its rarity, although it sports two pointed horns on its head rather than one.

Although its elusive nature makes for a fun nickname, it has stymied researchers efforts to get a handle on the animal basic biology and population numbers.

Some estimates place global populations at 250 to 300 animals. But these are based on interviews with villagers who have seen the animal, and on hunting trophies, according to a report in Smithsonian magazine.

It incredibly difficult to measure the size of the saola population because conservationists do not have a full grasp on where they live, said Barney Long, the WWF director of species protection and Asian species conservation, in an interview this week.

One of the projects they working on to help detect this rare mammal in the field is by using leeches. Asian land leeches drink blood from passing animals, and the blood stays in leeches for a few months, he said. So researchers can test the blood to find out which animals the leech has been feeding on.

If saola blood turns up in a leech, the scientists will know the mammals are in the vicinity.

Listed as critically endangered in the IUCN Red List, saola often end up as incidental victims to snares set by hunters looking to catch Asiatic black bears or Malayan sun bears. The bears are hunted for their bile, which is used in traditional Chinese medicine. (See Moon Bears Harvested for Bile in Vietnam. fragmentation due mainly to road construction has also hammered saola populations.

The Vietnamese government has created nature preserves in the saola range, and banned all hunting in the mammal habitat in an effort to protect the animal.

2011, forest guard patrols in CarBi area have removed more than 30,000 snares from this critical saola habitat and destroyed more than 600 illegal hunters camps, Van Ngoc in the statement. of the presence of the saola in this area is a testament to the dedicated and tireless efforts of these forest guards. Elliot assisted with reporting on this story.

Follow Jane J. Lee on Twitter.

National Geographic VoicesResearchers, conservationists, and others share stories, insights and ideas about Our Changing Planet, Wildlife Wild Spaces, and The copy van jewelry Human Journey. More than 50,000 comments have been added to 10,000 posts. Explore the list alongside to dive deeper into some of the most popular categories of the National Geographic Society's conversation platform Voices.

Opinions are those of the blogger and/or the blogger's organization, and not necessarily those of the National Geographic Society. Posters of blogs and comments are required to observe National Geographic's community rules and other terms of service. May 21, 2017 Stuart PimmVatuvara Island: A Haven for Threatened Species May 21, 2017 Wildlife Conservation SocietyFor the Love of Honey May 19, 2017 Zach FullerAscension Island: Pristine Seas Heads to the Mountains! May 19, 2017 Paul RoseMeet the North: Hockey Love in Arctic Style May 19, 2017 Jennifer Kingsley

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Featured Research: Mushara Elephant Project

Caitlin O'Connell and her husband, Tim Rodwell, started theMushara Elephant Projectin Namibia 24 years ago to better understand elephant social structure, communication and health in order to apply this knowledge to improved care in captivity and ultimately to elephant conservation in the wild. O'Connell is on thefaculty at Stanford University School of Medicineand CEO of the elephant focused nonprofit,Utopia Scientific.

Nat Geo Expedition: Rising Star

Two years after being discovered deep in a South African cave, the 1,500 fossils excavated during the Rising Star Expedition have been identified as belonging to a previously unknown early human relative that National Geographic Explorer in Residence Lee Berger and team have named Homo naledi.

With at least 15 individuals of all ages and both sexes represented, the find adds an unprecedented amount of information to our understanding of early human evolution in Africa.

In addition, the absence of any other animal remains or large debris in the fossil chamber strongly suggests that these non human beings intentionally deposited their dead within this cave.
Sep 2 '17 · 0 comments
Satisfying Full Day Barcelona Tour

Barcelona is visited by millions of tourists replica van cleef and arpels pendant every year for different purposes. Many may come to Barcelona on business while others for leisure and holiday. There are many offerings in Barcelona that would thrill any tourist.

Even business individuals would enjoy a short sightseeing of Barcelona instead of being cooped up in the hotel on business alone. A day tour of Barcelona would give the business executive a thorough satisfaction of the business trip with a quick glimpse of Barcelona.

A full day tour on Barcelona would be most effective as the best sights of Barcelona can be covered in 8 10 hours. The weekend full day tour on Barcelona would be an ideal choice.

A full day Barcelona tour would include some of the best sights in the city such as the popular Sagrada Familia, ancient Quarter, Santa Maria Church, La Pedrera and Park G The tour would be fully guided by an experienced and knowledgeable tour guide who would be able to converse with the tourists in their preferred language.

There are many advantages to a full day tour on Barcelona. Participants would have the privilege of skipping long queues at the various popular sights during the tour; the tour guide would share the best of Barcelona information through their experience and knowledge.

Entrance tickets are inclusive with the tour prices; hence, tourists do not need to worry about forking out more money during the tour except for meals and personal expenses such as shopping and snacks.

There would be extra time for the tourists to stroll or discover certain sites at leisure with the free time allocated during the tour such as the walking tour at the city Gothic ancient Quarter. Full day tours of Barcelona are van cleef pendant necklace copy usually conducted van cleef alhambra pendant replica using an air conditioned mini van which gives comfort to the tourists during the traveling around the city from sight to sight.

The mini van is also to ensure a small group which would allow a better service rendered by the tour guide.

A full day Barcelona tour would cover almost everything to ensure a comfortable and convenient sightseeing of the city. However, there are various aspects which are not included in the tour price. These include gratuities to the tour guide which is an optional giving depending on each tourist generosity and satisfaction of the tour guide service.

Hotel pickups as well as hotel drop offs are not included as there are different tourists staying at different hotels. However, tourists can arrange pickups and drop offs with their hotel concierge if available.
Sep 2 '17 · 0 comments
Sex without a condom raises a woman's infection risk

Scientists explain why having sex without a condom raises your risk of vaginal infections especially on a one night stand

Condom less sex with a male partner disrupts the vagina's bacteria, causinghigher levels of strains associated with unpleasant infectionsThe bacteria, Gardnerella vaginalis and Lactobacillus iners, are linked to the the little known condition bacterial vaginosis, causing a fishy smelling dischargeWearing a condom during sex and keeping the penis clean reduces the riskAustralianscientists analysed 52 women for a year who swabbed their vaginas every three months, and recorded their sexual activity and contraceptive useBy

A healthy vagina typically has much higher levels van cleef & arpels bracelet copy of one particular strain of beneficial bacteria over others, which helps to prevent infections such as bacterial vaginosis (BV).

Some studies have shown that taking a progestin only contraceptive pill can help to keep vaginal bacteria stabilized.

However, a new study by researchers in Australia warns that sex without a condom boosts levels of two BV linked bacteria so significantly that it is incredibly difficult to keep that van cleef and arpels perlee bracelet price balance in check.

Having sex with a new partner further increases the risk.

Scroll down for video

WHAT IS BACTERIAL VAGINOSIS?Bacterial vaginosis (BV) causes unusual vaginal discharge, but not soreness or itching.

Around 30 per cent of women have BV at any one time.

It occurs when there is a change in the natural balance of bacteria in the vagina.

The discharge may be white or grey, thin and watery, and fishy in odour.

Around half of BV cases have no symptoms.

Treatment usually includes a course of antibiotics or a gel you apply inside the vagina.

Source: NHS Choicesand Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Vaginas have five different strains of bacteria, with the Lactobacillus species typically being the most dominant.

There is general consensus among sexual health researchers that vaginas are healthiest when dominated by the L. crispatus strain.

This helps to keep the intimate area at a healthy pH, as well as fighting off bacteria, yeast and viruses before they establish.

Indeed, studies have shown that women with high levels of L. crispatus have a lower risk of all infections including HIV.

Yet, this can be easily thrown off kilter, as semen and even menstruation can classic Perlée bracelet fake reduce Lactobacillus numbers, allowing BV causing bacteria to thrive.

The new study by Melbourne's Monash University showed condom less sex with a new partner significantly drives up levels of two dangerous bacteria: Gardnerella vaginalis and Lactobacillus iners.

To reach this conclusion, the research team tracked the bacteria living in 52 women's vaginas for a year.

Each woman swabbed her vagina every three months and kept a record of any sexual activities.

They also made a note of whether a condom was used during penetrative sex.

Overwhelmingly, women who had unprotected sex with new partners ended up having higher concentrations ofGardnerella vaginalis and Lactobacillus iners in their vagina than women using condoms or women in long term relationships.

Lead investigator Lenka Vodstrcil, a research fellow at the university's sexual health center, said the findings suggest high levels of bacteria are sexually transmitted, just like any other STI.

The findings are not unprecedented;Dr Janneke van de Wijgert, professor of infection and global health at University of Liverpool, went at far as to call sex with a new partner 'a microbial assault on the vagina,' according to New Scientist.
Sep 2 '17 · 0 comments
Royal Dutch Shell to buy BG Group in

Shell said BG Group shareholders would enjoy higher dividends, as it confirmed its intention to pay its existing shareholders $1.88 per ordinary share this van cleef perlee bangle replica year.

That compares with a dividend of just $0.14 that BG Group shareholders can expect to receive this year.

The oil giant also said it expected to commence a share buyback programme in 2017 of at least $25bn.

Shell said it would also provide BG Group shareholders with a "mix and match facility", classic Perlée bracelet fake allowing them to vary how much they receive in cash and new Shell shares.

Shell and BG Group expect to make annual savings of $2.5bn following the deal.

But Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden said he remained committed to North Sea oil and expected to invest 4bn between 2016 and 2018.

Shell said the deal would also add 25% to its proven oil and gas reserves and 20% to production capacity, particularly in Australia's liquid natural gas (LNG) market and in deep water oil exploration off the Brazilian coast.

BG Group shareholders will own approximately 19% of the combined group following the deal.

BG Group history

BG Group's roots go back to the 1950s, when it was part of the UK's Gas Council and then British Gas.

British Gas was privatised in 1986.

In 1997 British Gas was demerged into two separate public companies: BG and Centrica.

BG took charge of exploration and production as prlee bracelet replica well as its British transmission and distribution business Transco.

Centrica took over the UK retail business of British Gas.

Another demerger in 2000 created two new public companies: BG Group and Lattice Group with Lattice inheriting the Transco business.

Following the second demerger in 2000, BG Group developed a portfolio of major gas assets, in key countries such as Egypt, Trinidad and Tobago, and Kazakhstan as well as the UK's North Sea.

Defensive merger?The deal comes at a time of uncertainty for oil and gas companies. In the past six months the price of oil has fallen by about 50%. Meanwhile, analysts have warned that investment in North Sea oil exploration has all but dried up, threatening the entire industry.

Last month, the Chancellor, George Osborne, lowered the supplementary corporation tax levied against oil companies that operate in the North Sea.

BG Group warned in February that it would write down the value of its oil and gas assets by nearly 6bn ($9bn) due to the oil price slump.

Similarly, Shell announced in January that it would be cutting spending by nearly 10bn over the next three years.
Sep 2 '17 · 0 comments
Special Night

What recognizes the special night of today from its antecedent, the wedding night, is the component of removing the couple from their interpersonal organizations by method for making a trip to areas that are interestingly new or outside. The term special night first shows up in the sixteenth century in Thomas Blount's Glossographia (1656), where he characterizes the vacation as far as the waxing and disappearing of love bird feelings. In particular, "wedded people that adoration well at to start with, and decrease in love a while later: it is nectar now, yet will change as the moon." Contemporary understandings of the special night are a long way from this unique dictionary, and the present accentuation on energy and sentiment as essential parts of the vacation today appear to be dumbfounding in light of Blount's meaning of the term.

The starting points of the special night started in European wedding customs of the privileged in the nineteenth century, bearing the couple the advantage of a marriage visit or wedding trip that frequently kept going a few weeks or months (Gillis 1985). As the white collar class developed in industrializing countries, they started to imitate the wedding visit. White collar class couples couldn't bear the cost of the scale and span of the marriage visit as honed by well off ladies and grooms.

The parts of men and ladies with regards to the special first night have likewise developed. Proof proposes that the vacation has turned out to be progressively feminized after some time, bringing about the custom of today, of which the lady of the hour is the inside (Bulcroft, Bulcroft, Smeins, and Cranage 1997). In America, men were for the most part in charge of arranging and executing the vacation until the mid twentieth century. As relational unions progressively stressed companionate instead of marital parts, sentiment and individual personalities picked up in significance. Subsequently, the special night mirrors the accentuation that late current social orders place on independence, defense, utilization, and making custom to mitigate view of danger and instability (Beck 1992; Habermas1970).

Since character is in question, couples look for flawlessness in special night sentiment, yet go to new places to acknowledge increased desires sets up a connection for disappointment. To alleviate this danger, couples frequently pick bundled special nights, in which lodgings, resorts, and journey lines give a sorted out system of rooms, dinners, and exercises. This longing for a danger free special night is energized by rules for fruitful wedding trips found in books, marriage and travel magazines, and Internet sites, and it adds to a quickly developing specialty in the worldwide tourism industry.

The Honeymoon as Romantic Consumption

Conversely with customary wellsprings of character development, for example, group, family, clover necklace replica or national birthplace, postindustrial personality to a great extent is perceived through product decisions (Shields 1992). The special first night is a social creation of utilization that develops current convictions in sentiment (Bulcroft, Smeins, and Bulcroft 1999). Sentiment is accepted to be genuine, and it is made unmistakable when couples in regular day to day existence fortify their own Frivole necklace replica associations with ceremonies in which items build their sentiment. Blossoms, champagne, and candlelight meals, for instance, are getting to be fake Van Cleef & Arpels Clover necklace price all inclusive props for building sentiment (Illouz 1997). The special first night includes a collection of these typical fixings and exercises over an expanded timeframe in a visitor setting. Faith in sentiment is globally delivered in motion pictures and other contemporary media, and the thought of a wedding trip as the event for encountering it seriously is advanced comparably, and particularly through publicizing. The joining of convictions in sentiment, character through utilization, and a forceful travel industry has rendered the vacation as a social standard not just for hetero couples who wed interestingly. Wedding trips mark ensuing relational unions, and second special first nights inside relational unions are taken to resuscitate recollected sentiment. Gay and lesbian couples who formalize their unions likewise arrange sentimental wedding trips, and numerous travel organizations, inns and journey lines offer particular bundles for them.
Sep 2 '17 · 0 comments
Restorations On ACLU Covers Comp

Members of the Philly punk scene and from across the country have come together for Don't Stop Now, a compilation of covers that benefits the American Civil Liberties Union. It was released today via Bandcamp, with this note:

This compilation is an expression of love, anger, hope and protest on inauguration day. imitation van cleef necklace Let it serve as a reminder that the fight for justice is not over, that the celebration of diversity is essential to progress, that we must work Van Cleef & Arpels Clover Necklace black replica together for what is fair and good. Can't stop. Won't Stop. Don't stop now.

All proceeds from this compilation benefit the American Civil Liberties Union, an organization that defends individual freedoms in the face of government abuse, including speech and religion, a woman's right to choose, the right to due process, and citizens rights to privacy.

The very stacked compilation features Laura Stevenson covering Townes Van Zandt, Brittany Corrigan imitation van cleef jewelry fronting The Sidekicks with a vicious version of Rage Against The Machine's "Revolver," a pair of Restorations related projects covering Conor Oberst's "Land Locked Blues" and Nirvana's "Something In The Way," members of Cayetana covering PUP and The Mountain Goats and The Menzingers taking on Jason Isbell's "24 Frames." You can see the track list and listen to the album below.
Sep 2 '17 · 0 comments
Road rage needs to be next driving target

Earlier this week, the Daily News detailed the troubling tale of a grandfather who had his windows smashed out after what police said was a road rage incident.

Don Peters was driving along Highway 19A near Departure Bay Road in Nanaimo and pulled up next to a vehicle being driven in what he described as a "dangerous" way. In Peters' van were his 19 year old daughter and four month old grandchild.

After an exchange of words, a passenger in the other vehicle, according to Peters, tossed a milkshake at the van, then took a baseball bat and began hitting his vehicle.

Though the baby was in the vehicle, the man smashed the van's windows, then apparently accidentally smashed a window in the car he was riding in.

Police stopped the car shortly after, and charges are pending.

Fortunately, no one was injured.

As shocking as that incident was, it paled in comparison to what unfolded in Langley. Thursday when the driver of a white truck that had earlier forced O'Brien's vehicle into a ditch, suddenly returned.

O'Brien was standing with two friends alongside his white Silverado pickup when the white truck accelerated at them.

The friends, Sam Dooley and Luke Stevens, managed to scramble clear, but O'Brien was struck and killed. The vehicle that hit him quickly fled the scene.

The young men had been on their way to the Vancouver airport for a trip to Hawaii.

Police blamed severe road rage in the death.

Sadly, police have noticed that incidents of road rage are on the upswing.

Nanaimo RCMP investigate at least two road rage incidents a week.

They range from drivers threatening other drivers, saying obscene things or actual violence.

Most of us have been upset at one point or another while behind the wheel.

Anyone who has driven for any length of time has been cut off by someone changing lanes without signalling.

Most of us have been behind a driver going 55 km/h in the fast lane on the highway, or behind a driver who waits a few too many seconds before realizing the light is green.

But any reaction beyond a few muttered words under your breath or a short honk of the horn should be unacceptable.

Since police Classic fake van cleef jewelry are so concerned about the increase in the road rage incidents, asking imitation Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry copy our lawmakers to sit up and take notice is one way of addressing the concerns.

Harsher penalties, particularly long driving bans, should result for anyone convicted of violent offences stemming from road rage.

Extensive and successful campaigns have helped both the public and policy makers take notice of the ills of fake VCA ring price drinking and driving.

More recently, banning the use of cellphones while driving has become a bit of a cause celebre.

And rightly so.

The notion that we can simply do what we want while behind the wheel is absurd.

Driving requires all of your mental faculties. If doing so means you are unable to remain attentive, measured and calm, regardless of the circumstances, you should not be driving.

Also important is the reminder never to take things into your own hands. If you see another motorist driving dangerously or erratically, do not attempt to stop them or engage them in any way.
Sep 2 '17 · 0 comments
Redmayne Hoping For More Golden Globe Success

They are often seen as a precursor to the Oscars and this year British interest is led by stars including Eddie Redmayne, Dame Maggie Smith, Idris Elba, Dame Helen Mirren and Kate Winslet.

Redmayne will be hoping for a second successive triumph in the best actor in a motion picture (drama) category at the Globes.

In 2015 he won for his portrayal of Professor Stephen Hawking in The Theory Of Everything, and this year he is nominated for The Danish Girl where he plays transgender artist Lili Elbe.

The star, who also won an Oscar last year, is up against 10 time nominee Leonardo DiCaprio, who received a nod for The Revenant, as well as Bryan Cranston (Trumbo), Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs) and Will Smith (Concussion).

Dame Maggie is nominated in the best actress in a comedy or musical category for her role in The Lady In The Van, while Dame Helen and Winslet are both nominated for best supporting actress in a motion picture.

Dame Helen gets a nod for her role as journalist Hedda Hopper in Trumbo, while Winslet is recognised for her portrayal of marketing executive Joanna Hoffman in the film Steve Jobs about the Apple founder.

Elba and Rylance will both vie for the best supporting actor in a motion picture category and the best actor in a limited series or TV movie.

Elba is nominated for his roles in Beasts Of No Nation and Luther, while Rylance picks up nods for his performances in Bridge Of Spies and the small screen adaptation of Wolf Hall.

She is VCA clover ring gold replica up against Redmayne's Swedish co star replica VCA ring in The Danish Girl, Alicia Vikander, and Brie Larson for her performance in abduction drama Room, as well as Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara for Carol.

Rylance's Wolf Hall co star Damian Lewis, who played Henry VIII in the TV series, is also nominated in the best supporting actor category where he is up against among others, Briton Alan Cumming for The Good Van Cleef &Arpels alhambra ring copy Wife.

Wolf Hall also picked up a nomination for best limited series or TV movie and will compete against American Crime, American Horror Story: Hotel, Fargo and Flesh And Bone.

Dame Maggie's Downton Abbey co star Joanne Froggatt is nominated for best supporting actress in a series, limited series or TV movie for her role as Anna Bates in the period drama.

The ceremony will be hosted by Ricky Gervais, who is returning for a fourth time.

He has been controversial in the past because of his irreverent jokes about the famous faces at the ceremony and this year has promised to "bite the hand that feeds me".
Sep 2 '17 · 0 comments
Son Road Trip to Remember

I've often wondered if there is a genetic predisposition for wanderlust. Our older son, now a college senior, seemed to emerge from the womb with a guidebook in his hand preferably to some obscure location like Rarotonga or Saint Pierre and Miquelon, the pair of islands under French control off the Newfoundland coast where he still hankers to go.

But his younger brother, Gabe, has always cherished the nest. For him, home has been the citadel of his enthusiasms, the place where he can let loose on his electric guitar and smother his walls with vinyl record covers, from Buddy Guy to the Black Keys.

So I wasn't sure exactly how he'd react when I suggested that it might be fun to take a trip, just the two of us, in honor of his recent high school graduation. Gabe didn't bat an eyelash. "I want to go to Nashville," he said.

Intellectually, every parent knows that letting go is part of the deal, be it a first solo drive on the Interstate or pulling away from that freshman college dorm. Nevertheless, inviting your 18 year old son to follow his muse on a road trip even though he refuses to let you friend him on Facebook is to enter uncharted emotional terrain. It is to knowingly leap head first down the rabbit hole of teenage passions, wherever they may lead. Mom," Gabe announced on the flight to Tennessee. "I want my own beer when we go to a blues club. It's part of the experience."

The temperature was a peach withering 104 degrees when we landed in Nashville, a fitting gateway for our 900 mile musical road trip, which would take us to Memphis, down Highway 61, the legendary blues route through the Mississippi Delta, and back. For Gabe, Nashville means only one thing: Third Man Records, Jack White's record company and store (he of The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather and most recently a solo career). Gabe is a member of "The Vault," the record club for rabid Jack fans.

"Don't be weird, mom," he commanded as we approached Third Man's kitsch landmark, a stylized radio tower icon atop a fashionably black industrial building with De Stijl like red and yellow doors.

As a rock star, White tends his image as music critic Adam Gold has observed "with the care of a Japanese garden." Because so many promotional videos have been shot at Third Man, Gabe was already a connoisseur, pointing out rarities under glass. "See that one on the right?" he said of a mini turntable that plays 3 inch White Stripes records, as if referring to an exceptionally fine Egyptian scarab at the Metropolitan Museum. "There are only 400 of these in the world!"

Though Jack (as he is known in our house) was on tour in Europe, we inhabited his life anyway, having lunch at March Artisan Foods in East Nashville, reportedly his favorite brunch place, and dinner twice at Burger Up, where I decided, after some debate, to let Gabe split a beer with me. It turns out that Vault members are excellent travel consultants: They urged us to get tickets to a concert at the historic Ryman Auditorium, a marvel of intimacy, and turned us on to Yazoo Pale Ale.

As a musician, Gabe relishes the individuality of old fashioned record stores, "by far more interesting than downloading MP3 albums off iTunes," he says. In advance of our trip, he promptly drew up a list of every major record store within a 300 mile radius each one a candidate for Clutterers Anonymous. By the time we got to Goner Records in Memphis aptly named, in my opinion I began to identify with all the men who wait for hours outside the dressing rooms at Bloomingdales while their wives or girlfriends examine every ripple in the three way mirror.

Nevertheless, the sight of turntable and headphone "listening stations" in Van Cleef & Arpels gold ring replica record store corners reminded me of my own teenage years in Highland Park, Illinois in the early 60s, when I would rush to Grant Grant, the local record store, every week to listen to '45s and pick up the latest Silver Dollar Survey, a list on actual paper of the Top 40 hits on WLS Radio in Chicago. Unlike Gabe, I had lousy taste: I knew the words to every Herman's Hermits song.

In 1967, my father took to Europe, including London, where I begged to see Carnaby Street, then in all its paisley glory, and visit the real Apple store, the one the Beatles opened on Baker Street. I remember buying a cardboard apple ring there (lord knows what it would fetch on eBay). To my 13 year old eye, the ring went perfectly with my day glo striped mini dress, my dangling blinking eye earrings and my Mary Quant tights. In retrospect, Swinging London wasn't so far from Gabe's Nashville.

But our trip was different: For six nights, my son and I shared a hotel room the reason why God invented bathrobes. Over the miles, Gabe piloted us by GPS to far flung barbecue joints (my choice) and blues clubs (his). His chief worry was whether his middle aged mother would have the stamina for late night music. I confess that more than once, especially when it was 103 degrees at sundown, I had fantasies about a leisurely glass of wine in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel instead of being deafened in a beer soaked bar by a white blues singer in a tight t shirt.

But in following Gabe's lead, I learned and saw things that, had I had my druthers, would have eluded me. I grudgingly agreed to re jigger our itinerary for the twice weekly tour of United Record Pressing in Nashville. It turned out to be utterly riveting: Not only did we learn how records are made, from tiny vinyl pellets to grooves in a finished album, but we watched operators work the same copy Van Cleef & Arpels ring archaic machines they smelled like burning rubber that pressed every Motown single and has continued to churn out thousands of albums a day ever since.

The upstairs was a revelation: the 1960s frozen in time, including a party room with "pleather" sofas frequented by giants like Smokey Robinson and the Supremes. But that history had a sobering side: Hauntingly preserved down to the blonde wood paneling, the company's "Motown Suite" was an apartment created for visiting Motown artists and black record executives who weren't allowed in downtown hotels. "It did a better job at nailing authenticity than most high budget museums," Gabe said later. King Museum and Delta Interpretive replica Van Cleef ring Museum in Indianola).

If not exactly a buddy movie there were moments when I felt like the chauffeur to Gabe's Miss Daisy watching my son doze in the car, as he did as a baby, made me realize how much I have come to rely on his calm, steady presence, so different from my own too frequent panic. I thought about the sound of his electric guitar emanating from his upstairs lair, and how, every night as I crawl into bed, I have to ask him to turn the amplifier down. I considered the melancholy quiet sure to envelop our household when he leaves for college. King. In Robinsonville, a tiny hamlet outside Tunica, now a gambling center on the Mississippi River, we had the bizarre experience of following Casino Strip Boulevard past Harrah's to reach Abbay Leatherman, the cotton plantation where Robert Johnson lived in a tenant shack as a boy in the 1920s, the original white painted brick plantation office still standing.

We drove the hallowed byways, the red clay soil scattered over the two lane blacktop, stopping at Clarksdale juke joints and the Delta Blues Museum, its centerpiece a restored version of Muddy Waters's wood plank cabin from nearby Stovall. King had played.

We listened to Robert Johnson as we headed east down Highway 82 toward Greenwood, past catfish farms and the occasional McMansion. A faint wisp of moon hovered over the soybean fields. Our destination was the Little Zion church, where Johnson, one of the most influential and revered blues musicians of all time, lies in a humble cemetery alive with dragonflies and twisted vines. Both Johnson's life and his death are the stuff of lore; he died in 1938 at age 27 with some suggesting he was poisoned by a jealous husband.

We walked through tall grasses, reading worn headstones embedded in the cracked earth. "There was something distinctly southern about the overgrown feel, with all manner of insects buzzing around our heads," Gabe recalled later. Unlike more tourist friendly stops, he noted, the significant feature Robert Johnson's grave wasn't clearly marked. "We had to search for it," he said. "And this made it feel more special."

If I had intended to impart a life lesson, I couldn't have done better than the one he found himself. Years from now, I hope he will carry it and maybe a few of our 900 miles with him an indelible groove, like a well played record.
Sep 2 '17 · 0 comments
Rembrandt drawing

(CNN)A chalk drawing of a dog has been identified as a work by Dutch master Rembrandt van Rijn, after it spent almost 250 years mistakenly credited to a German painter.

Professor Thomas Doring, the museum's curator of prints and drawings, was first alerted to the error two years ago while cataloging the museum's 10,000 drawings for a digital archive.

Old sketch is da Vinci worth $16M, retired doctor is told

"It's been on display for decades under the name of Johann Melchior Roos," he told CNN, "so the idea that this could be a Rembrandt was never considered copy Van Cleef ring before.

"But the boldness of the strokes, the variations in the shading from very gentle to quite violent and the expressive gaze [of the dog] these are very typical idiosyncrasies of Rembrandt's work."

Doring said his experience cataloging drawings by Rembrandt and his pupils during an earlier project Van Cleef & Arpels ring imitation was key to the discovery.

"I was used to looking out for the differences between Rembrandt's work and drawings by other artists," he explained.

To find out whether his suspicions were correct, he visited Vienna, Amsterdam and Paris, studying Rembrandt drawings and enlisting the help of other Rembrandt experts.

This drawing of a lion (1650 1959), belonging to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, is one of the few surviving animal studies by Rembrandt van Rijn.

He said the response to his painstaking work had been unanimously positive.

"Two of the three leading scholars of Rembrandt's drawings told me they were fully convinced Van Cleef ring fake that this is a Rembrandt," he said. "Since then, the third has contacted me to say he also has no doubts."
Sep 2 '17 · 0 comments
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