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WILL THE REAL MEGHAN MARKLE PLEASE SAY "I DO." - 2019 Trends in Wedding Gowns

2/8/2019

Sunday, February 10, is World Marriage Day, followed on February 14 by Valentine’s Day. If you or someone you know is lucky, there may be a wedding in your future. An appropriate time to take our annual look at trends in Bridal Fashions.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle by Getty Images
Dress by Clare Waight Keller of Givenchy
Source: www.brides.com/meghan-markle

The first Bridal Fashion week of 2019 is over, introducing hundreds of gowns, most of them beautiful, some of them, not so much.

Traditional styles and colors of wedding dresses never go away and neither do bows, lace, feathers, and other glitz. There is something for every taste whether a bride likes ball gowns, plunging necklines, black and white, or color. It's all there.

However, certain trends emerge each year. 2019 is no different, and it is no surprise the wedding of Meghan Markle in 2018 sparked several major trends on the runways.

The Meghan Markle No Care Hair Look
The Duchess of Sussex rocked an intentionally undone bun which celebrity hair stylist Serge Normant called, "A messy bun. Messy in a controlled way, making sure it doesn’t become a whole mess after a few hours!"
Photo by Heather Waraksa Photo by Masata Onodo
www.brides.com/wedding-styles www.brides.com/gallery/beauty-trends

The Meghan Markle Minimalist Look
Meghan’s understated and unadorned bridal gown apparently surprised the fashionistas around the world, and designers have leaped at the simple but elegant and sophisticated wedding dress, showing it in every collection. Even the decorated dresses were influenced by the slim clean-cut line of her dresses.

   Photo by Dan Lecca    Photo by Dan Lecca
Dress: Justin Alexander Signature Dress: Theia
   Photos source: www.weddingwire.com/meghan-markle-inspired
The Crop Top
Separates made a big splash last year, and the crop tops of this year take on a bit of the Meghan Markle look in the shoulders. (Below, Right) ▼
   Photo by Phillip Van Nostrand    Photo Courtesy of Cushnie Photo courtest of Galia Lahav
   Dress by BHLDN   Dress by Cushnie    Dress by Galia Lahav
https://www.brides.com/bridal-fashion-week https://www.brides.com/bridal-fashion-week    www.marieclaire.com/2019-wedding-dress-trends/

Off The Shoulder ▲
"You will see more and more dress designs emphasizing the collar bones. Romantic off-the-shoulder necklines, off-the-shoulder sleeves, and detailed straps will be the dominant neckline trend." — Sharon Sever, Galia Lahav head designer (Above, Left)

Backsides
Dresses with buttons down the back are big right now. The same goes for dramatic cut-outs, sweet details and eye-catching bows. This year, designers are choosing to add a little flair to the back of their creations there is something to see coming and going down the aisle. (Below, Right)
Photo courtesy of Rime Arodaky ▼ Photo courtesy of Theia Photography courtesy of Vera Wang Photography courtesy Galia Lahavz
Dress by Rime Arodaky Dress by Theia Dress by Vera Wang Wedding jumpsuit by Gala by Galia Lahavz Source of photos: www.queenslandbrides.com.au/2019-back-details/ Source of Photos: www.marthastewartweddings.com/2019

Larger Than Life Bows ▲
These pretty loops have brought dainty vibes to wedding dresses season after season, but we can officially say that bows are beginning to pack a different kind of punch. After all, they're capable of doing more than simply defining a waistline. This season, watch out for larger-than-life-bows
Geometrics
Chantilly lace and opaque satin are still popular, but new-age geometric patterns and cuts are definitely on the rise. And for good reason. Whatever the interpretation—the style covers everything from crystal lattice beadwork to mod necklines. Examining the photos, geometrics seems to fall into three classes: Unusual fabric where the geometry is in the weave, traditional fabrics pieced geometrically, and finally the form for the dress itself, with a strong trend to the asymmetrical.

Photo courtesy of Naeem Kahn Photo courtesy of Justin Alexander Photo courtesy of C. Ottaviano
Dress by Naeem Kahn Dress by Justin Alexander Dress by Cristina Ottaviano
Source of Photos: www.marthastewartweddings.com/2019

The Outrageous
Whether the outrageous comes from the designers or those brides who want to stand out and don’t care how it looks, they never disappoint. The see-through, although not dead, is no longer shocking enough, so this year Celia Kritharioti gave the traditional wedding gown a millennial twist. This bride won’t need anyone to manage her train … that’s taken care of with ten helium balloons.
Photos: Getty Images
Dress by celia-kritharioti
Photo source: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/celia-kritharioti
Sources:
https://www.brides.com/wedding-dresses-style/bridal-fashion-week
https://www.brides.com/gallery/bridal-fashion-week-fall-2019-beauty-trends
https://www.marieclaire.com/fashion/a25251051/spring-2019-wedding-dress-trends/
https://www.queenslandbrides.com.au/wtoo-by-watters-think-pink-spring-2019-collection/
https://www.queenslandbrides.com.au/wedding-dress-trends-for-2019-illusion-sleeves/
https://www.queenslandbrides.com.au/bridal-fashion-trends-for-2019-v-neck-styles/
https://www.marthastewartweddings.com/635484/spring-2019-wedding-dress-trends
https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/bazaar-brides/a24775648/2019-wedding-trends/
https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/bazaar-brides/a26049695/celia-kritharioti-haute-couture-fashion-week-wedding-dress-veil-balloons/
https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-ideas/wedding-dress-trends
https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-ideas/asymmetrical-wedding-dresses
https://www.vowsmagazine.com/events?eventTitle=new-york-bridal-fashion-week-2019--1458758055--31
https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-ideas/meghan-markle-inspired-wedding-dresses
https://www.marieclaire.com/fashion/g2179/wedding-dresses-nontraditional-bride/

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BODY PAINTING AS A FINE ART

2/1/2019

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Back in 2013, a friend sent me some pictures circulating on the internet showing body painting by nineteen-year-old Japanese artist student Chooo-San. She uses acrylic paint to transform herself into a mutant or cyborg. I was so intrigued that I had to find out more. Since February 1 is International Face & Body Art Day, I'm sharing with you what I found then and updated in the last couple of weeks.

THE ORIGINS OF BODY ART

Body art is art made on, with, or consisting of the human body with painting, tattoos, piercings, branding, or scalpelling. Body painting is temporary, painted onto the human skin, and last for a day or two. Mehndi henna or temp tattoo and glitter tattoos may last a couple of weeks.

Tens of thousands of years ago, our early human ancestors used painting materials for cave paintings. Many scholars believe that before interior cave-decoration became a prehistoric fad, early humans used the same materials for painting their own bodies, primarily as camouflage for hunting and to defend themselves from predators. They certainly had many examples in nature to learn from. Can you see the picture of the owl above?

Whenever the practice began, body and face painting developed into decorating in shapes, patterns, and colors for hunting, religious, ritual, and military purposes--sometimes the painting was used to scare the enemy--and for artistic expression. Body painting, along with other rites, represents important changes in one's life, such as puberty, marriage, birth, and so on, and has been a part of most tribal cultures since ancient times. The art of transforming the human being for various purposes with make-up and masks seems inherent in all cultures.

Natural pigments, tree barks, plants, minerals, and clays were used; the colors and types of pigments depended on what was available in the immediate area. Different patterns, shapes, and colors have a different significance depending on the culture. Body painting became a way of expressing one's culture and identity.

According to fashionencyclopedia.com, body painting was traditionally used in many societies to signify a person's social status and/or religious beliefs. A temporary decoration, body paint lasted only a few days. In some cultures, both men and women painted their bodies only for important social occasions, while in others, people wore body paint every day as a uniform to show their social status.

TRIBAL BODY AND FACE PAINTING
Nearly all tribal cultures practiced some form of body art. The practice still survives in its ancient forms among indigenous peoples in many countries. While it is done primarily for ceremonial purposes (and tourism), it also serves to preserve elements of the culture and identity in an expanding world. Art makes us different. Julius Caesar wrote that the Britanni warriors or Picts (which means painted ones in Latin) colored their bodies blue when going into battle.
The Picts, Scotland Iowa Indian Warrior Maori Warrior, New Zealand Surma man from Ethiopia
Photo source: Photo Source: Photo Source: Photo Source:
www.abc.net.au/radionationa www.warpaths2peacepipes.com/ https://www.pinterest.com

Costumes, primarily Halloween Sporting Events, Jersey Devils Hockey Circus and other clowns Mimes and other entertainment

CONTEMPORARY BODY AND FACE PAINTING
Most of us are familiar with face painting in its contemporary forms. We see the images in ads, on TV and many other places, particularly related to the entertainment business but not exclusively.

Military camouflage Cosmetics - Daria Werbowy, Lancome Traditional Hand Painting Traditional bindi
www.globalsecurity.org/military fashion.zarzarmodels.com/Lancome/beautiful-skin www.friendlymorocco.com/henna-tattoos www.thebridalbox.com/bindi-designs

And, ladies, your skin care and cosmetics represent a 160 billion-dollar-per-year industry. That's some serious face painting, wouldn't you say? To quote the Economist Magazine, an industry driven by sexual instinct will always thrive.
Even today in India and Morocco, brides traditionally have their hands and feet painted in henna, and Indian women. Hindu women and men wear their marking and symbols on their foreheads. The small red dot, worm by women, is called bindi and represents the social status of a married woman.

BODY PAINTING AS A FORM OF FINE ART
Body painting doesn't always involve painting large pieces of a nude body; the art form also includes smaller pieces on otherwise clothed bodies. The model may be a "stand alone" canvas for the artist, or may be part of a more complex juxtaposition of model (or models) and background. Perhaps that is why body painting is considered, by some, as one of the performing arts.

However, Lorenzo Pereira cautions that “Body painting art is a form of body art. Indeed, body painting art is usually associated with tattoo art. However, tattoo art and bodypainting are not synonyms. There are some substantial differences that should be mentioned. First of all, body painting art is temporary and it lasts only for several hours (unlike tattoos). Secondly, there are many examples of bodypainting that are considered to be a part of fine art. In the second half of the 20th Century, many artists searched for new visual forms that eventually led to the revival of the ancient practice of bodypainting.” https://www.widewalls.ch/body-painting-art/

The classification of body painting as a contemporary art is inappropriate because body painting has a long history and is better described as tribal art. Yet take a look at the next photo of the body painting by Liu Bolin, below. It doesn’t even come close to what I, as a non-artist, would call tribal art.
Liu Bolin near the Ground Zero (courtesy of telegraph.co.uk)
Photo source: https://www.widewalls.ch/body-painting-art/

Body painting as a form of artistic expression experienced a resurgence in the 1960's and 1970's, in part due to the relaxation of the social mores regarding nudity and the freedom movements of those generations. Some thirty years earlier, in 1933 at the World's Fair in Chicago, Max Factor Sr. and his model, Sally Rand, were arrested when he painted her body with new cosmetics developed for the movies. By the 1960's artists needed attention and were looking for something shocking and provoking to send their message.

Since the 1980's, body painting has become widely accepted in the US. Still, the art form didn't catch on with the general public until the Vanity Fair magazine cover of August 1992, featuring actress Demi Moore in a striking outfit created entirely from body paint [source: History of Cosmetics].

Now, There are publications dedicated to it, festivals, and competitions around the world. The first art gallery dedicated to body painting as a fine art opened in 2006 in New Orleans. But still today, there is an ongoing debate whether or not body painting is a form of Fine Art. You'll have to make up your own mind.

ARTIST CHOOO-SAN
This is the artist who got me interested in this form of art six year ago. Choo-San (Hijaru Cho) was born in 1993 and lived at that time in Tokyo Japan. She take "UNUSUAL" as a theme of her creative Art work such as Body painting, stopmotion movie, illustration, clay sculpture, clothing design, Character design, and all sorts. Also do collaboration with several cloth brands. In 2016 she was a student in Musashino Art university.

Using only acrylic paints and no digital editing, her illusions are only paint carefully applied to herself of her willing friends. The awesome and realistic results definitely draw attention. It's said she discovered her unique talent after doodling eyes on the back of her own hand during breaks from studying for university admission exams.

Photo sources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjpwcXLZdSI ; http://www.boredpanda.com/realistic-body-art-chooo-san-part2/; http://flavors.me/chooosan#57d/tumblr ; https://laughingsquid.com/more-incredible-illusionary-makeup-body-art-by-japans-choo-san/

ARTIST TRACY CRAIG
Fine art bodypainter Tracy Craig became nationally known as one of three judges of Game Show Network's Skin Wars. He is the owner of the Craig Tracy Fine Art Bodypainting Gallery.

He became a professional artist 16, and he had worked as an airbrush artist in a shopping mall and as a commercial illustrator. He is from New Orleans, Louisiana and went to high school in the state before attending The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. His brother Phil is the director.

The top three photos are from the Tiger Project, which Tracy created to help save the endangered South China tiger.
http://www.craigtracy.com/
Photo Source: http://www.boredpanda.com/body-art-illusions-by-craig-tracy/ Photo Source: https://allthatsinteresting.com/body-art

Bottom 4 Photos from: http://www.craigtracy.com/

ARTIST GESINE MARDEDEL
Gersine Mardele was born on July 4, 1987 in Eckernförde, Germany and raised in Dortmund.
After finishing school 2005, worked in an indian orphanage for some months, then studied "rehabilitation science" from 2005 to 2008 and finished with the Bachelor’s Degree.

From 2009-2016 she worked as a speech- therapist and, in addition, continued to study creative-therapy, receiving a diploms in 2011.

Through her work as a therapist, she got into working as an art creative-therapist at a center for autism therapy. Since the middle of 2016 she has been working only as a freelance artist. The artist says, “Bodypainting is not only inking on a living canvas; it is the recording of body shapes in the design, painting on and with the body. It is the transformation of a man into a breathing, moving, living work of art.” Her work focuses on landscapes and animals forms.
Swan - Photo Source: Flamingo, Seahorse, and Puzzle Man - Photos source:
http://www.boredpanda.com/body-art-illusions-gesine-marwedel https://www.gesine-marwedel.de/deutsch/fine-art-galerie/

HACK
Emma Hack is an Adelaide-based artist working in the unique medium of body paint installation and photography. Exhibiting extensively throughout Australia since 1999, Emma’s astounding artworks have since captured the attention of collectors and art lovers worldwide.

Emma started her career as a children's face painter, qualified hairdresser and make-up artist. She gradually moved to body painting of world acclaim. In March 2001, Hack won the coveted first prize at the CIDESCO World Congress Professional World Body Painting Championship in Hong Kong. In 2004, The Adelaide Cabaret Festival utilised Emma's exhibition skills to feature a collection of celebrities painted as their cabaret persona as an exhibition during the festival. In 2005 she collaborated with Deborah Paauwe in her Dark Fables collection, featuring Emma's illustration on the faces of Paauwe's subjects.

Her Wallpaper series in 2005, 2007 and 2008 collections featuring Florence Broadhurst wallpaper designs combined with her body illustration has exhibited during the Adelaide Fringe Festival, along with nude landscapes and a continued collection of Florence Broadhurst wallpapers. It was during this collection that she began photographing the installations herself, evolving her art further. Emma's photographic images were exhibited at Art Sydney 08.

Photo source: neosurrealism.artdigitaldesign.com/Emma-Hack historiadesigneteoria.blogspot.com/body-painting

OTHER PROMINENT BODY PAINTING ARTISTS
Cecilia Paredes Bella Volen Johannes Stotter Trina Merry
mymodernmet.com/body-painting mymodernmet.com/body-painting

http://www.designyourway.net/blog/inspiration/the-art-of-body-painting-and-best-63-examples/
http://www.boredpanda.com/realistic-body-art-chooo-san-part2/
http://www.boredpanda.com/body-art-illusions-by-craig-tracy/
http://www.bella-volen.com/Body-Painting-History-Bodyart-History-Geschichte-der-Koerperbemalung.html
http://www.yomicoart.com/home.php
http://www.gesine-marwedel.de/
http://thechive.com/2009/03/13/stunning-body-paint-art-by-emma-hack-16-photos/
http://www.ideactionmedia.com/livingbrush/2012/10/30/hp-slider-bodies-as-works-of-art-2012/
http://www.chelkoevents.com/event-artists

2019 sources:
https://www.widewalls.ch/body-painting-art/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_painting
http://www.historyofcosmetics.net/history-of-makeup/body-painting-history/
https://www.artistsnetwork.com/art-mediums/canvas-schmanvas-the-art-of-painting-the-body/
https://www.artistsnetwork.com/store/extreme-face-painting-z6621?utm_source=artistsnetwork.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=arn-cdh-fb-150713-ExtremeFacePainting
https://people.howstuffworks.com/culture-traditions/body-art/body-painting1.htm
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2220495/Chooo-San-art-Japanese-makeup-artist-makes-models-burst-seams-zips-buttons-power-plugs-laces-painted-skin.html
https://laughingsquid.com/more-incredible-illusionary-makeup-body-art-by-japans-choo-san/
http://craigtracy.com/?page_id=444
https://www.gesine-marwedel.de/deutsch/fine-art-galerie/
http://www.bella-volen.com/fine-art-body-painting.html

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CURSES! FOILED AGAIN! Yiddish and Irish Maledictions

1/25/2019

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“CURSES! FOILED AGAIN!”
This was one of the favorite expletives used by Dick Dastardly, a cartoon antagonist created in 1968 by Hanna-Barbera, based on English actor Terry Thomas. Yes, there is a vague family resemblance.

▲https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXKJolS9Atg
▼Photo by Silver Screen Collection - Image courtesy gettyimages.com
https://www.imdb.com/Terry Thomas

We never find out specifically what misfortunes Dasdardly is wishing upon his enemies, but the kind of curse we’re talking is the “invocation of a supernatural power to inflict harm or punishment on someone or something” kind of curse, not offensive words or phrases kind. We’re all well acquainted with those.

English is a rich language, with mays to describe things, actions, and feelings, some words adding subtle differences to the overall meaning. Words are the tools of writers. It’s our job to put them together to amuse, teach, scare, entice, and entrance readers and put them in places, situations, and times they know well and those they have never experienced.

Yay, Words! Unfortunately, sometimes we use the same words over and over.

Somewhere I read an article by a Jewish author who wrote that, in English, about the worst thing you can wish on a person is to go have a sexual experience. He compared that to Jewish curses, which he felt embodied a true sense of inflicting harm.

YIDDISH / JEWISH CURSES
Taking that to heart, I did a little research on Yiddish curses, and I have to agree with the anonymous author.

Anglo-Saxon curses tend to deal with body parts, Catholic curses go for blasphemy, and the Middle and Far East curses focus on insulting ancestors. While traditional curses -- inverted blessings -- largely fell out of use in English at some point after Shakespeare’s death and before Hemingway’s birth, they have thrived in Yiddish into the twentieth century.

According to Marnie Winston-Macauley, “The Yiddish curse has a baroque splendor in its intricate ability to prophesize. The most spectacular lull the victim with a positive opening, which then turns into a juicy, literate, malediction that no mere obscene word could possibly convey. According to the proverb “A curse is not a telegram; it doesn’t arrive so fast.”

Like Jewish caviar, the Jewish curse must be savored. So, writers who don’t like using swear words in their novels or who perhaps want to enrich the quality of savoring ill will, you should take heed of the following examples of Yiddish curses.
source of photos: http://www.yiddishwit.com/About.html

● May what I wish on you come true (most, even half, even just 10%).
● May you turn into a blintz and be eaten by your cat.
● May you drink too much castor oil.
● May someone throw salt in your eyes and pepper in your nose.
● May you run to the toilet every three minutes or every three months.
● May you crap blood and pus.
● May you grow a wooden tongue.
● May your mouth be in your rear.
● May you swallow an umbrella and may it open inside you.

● May you laugh with lizards --or-- May you crawl on your belly.
● May leeches drink you dry.
● May I live long enough to bury you.
● May your head fall off.
● May you be transformed into a chandelier, to hang by day and to burn by night.

● May you grow like an onion with your heard in the ground.
● May you turn into a centipede with ingrown toenails, may onions grow in
your navel and may you lie in the earth and bake bagels.
● May God should visit upon you the best of the Ten Plagues.
● May venereal disease consume your body.
● May you enjoy a good time with plenty of good Vodka – and may your blood turn to whiskey, so that 100 bedbugs get drunk on it and dance the mazurka in your belly button.
● May you get passage out of the old village safely, and when you settle, may you fall into the outhouse just as a regiment of Ukrainians is finishing prune stew and 12 barrels of beer.

● May you live a hundred and twenty years with a wooden head and glass
eyes.
● May a wheel run over your skull.

And last, but not least, my favorite.
● May you have a thousand mother-in-laws.

IRISH CURSES
Well, some of those Jewish curses are pretty graphic, and they definitely have the impact of some serious ill will. Can any other culture match that?

I searched about some Western European counterparts. The Irish, after all, have a long history of creative cursing, so I took a look at those.

According to gaelicmatters.com (no author identified) “We may not like to admit it openly but Irish people swear a lot and we have to be careful when abroad. Our loose tongues can offend U.S and British ears in particular. I smile when Americans refer to the use of 'f@*k' as the F-bomb because of its effect in polite circles. Though not by origin a Gaelic word, in Irish circles the use of the word is commonplace and casual, to the point of rendering it meaningless at times.”

Cursing in other languages often does not translate well into English, or at least in a meaningful way. Irish Gaelic has enriched the way Irish people speak English in many ways. The importing of many a mallacht (the Irish word for a curse) from Gaelic to English has added color, even when more sinister than funny. Here is a sample of Irish Curses.

● Curse of the seven snotty orphans on you!
(Since I don’t know what the curse of these orphans is, that doesn’t have much impact on me.)
● The crows’ curse on you.
● May you die roarin' like Doran's ass.
● May you all go to hell and not have a drop of porter to quench your eternal thirst.
(Porter is a type of black beer, like Guinness)
● May the Devil take your last schilling.

● May the gates of Paradise never open to you.
● May you never have a hearth to call your own.
● May the lamb of God stir his hoof through the roof of
heaven and kick you in the arse down to hell.
● May you scratch a beggarman’s back one day.
(May you lose everything you have.) ▼Photo: http://clipart-library.com/

● May you marry in haste and repent at leisure.
● May you have the runs on your wedding night.
● Pissmires (ants) and spiders be in your marriage bed.
● Burning and scorching on you. (Dóite agus loisceadh ort.)
● May you leave without returning. (Imeacht gan teacht ort.)
● May you fall without rising. (Titim gan eiri ort.)
Drawing by Dean Murray
▼Photo source: http://www.deanmurray.com/farting-woman

● May you marry a wench that blows wind like a stone from a sling.
● Kiss my butt! (Póg mo thoin!) pronounced <pohg muh hoin>
● May the cat eat you and the devil eat the cat!
(Go n-ithe an cat thú is go n-ithe an diabhal an cat)
● Breaking and crushing to your bones!” (Briseadh agus brú ar do chnámha)
Getty images/imagezoo
▼ Photo source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/insect-stings

● May you find the bees but miss the honey!
● May your spuds be like rosary-beads on the stalk.
● May the curse of Mary Malone and her nine blind illegitimate children chase you so far over the Hills of Damnation that the Lord himself can't find you with a telescope.
● May you be a load for four before the year is out. (wishing death on someone)
● May you be eaten by an awful itch!
● May the curse of Mary Malone and her nine blind illegitimate children chase you so far over the Hills of Damnation that the Lord himself can't find you with a telescope.

Apparently, the Irish have many of the same ideas of ill will and misfortune, such as the uncontrollable itch, but except for the last one, they tend to lack the dramatic flourish of the Yiddish curses. I was a little disappointed.

THE REST OF THE WORLD
I’m sure every culture and religion in the world has its own version of “curses” to wish misfortune on others, just as they all have their “blessings”. However, they are not as easy to find on the internet as you might think. When you Google most of them, you get plain old curse words or definitions of malediction, ill will, curse, or whatever word you used to indicate willing someone bad luck.

It’s true you can add “May you…” to many of them and get a curse, just as many folk sayings can be turned into curses by adding the correct words to put the saying into the proper format. A Scottish example of a curse word (phrase) converted into a malediction by adding “May you…”
   May you suck the sweat off a dead man’s balls.

Yikes! Otherwise, Scottish curses get to be long dramatic recitations against whole countries, families, generations, or other groups of people. For example, in 1525 the reivers (border raiders) had become such a nuisance that the then-Archbishop of Glasgow, Gavin Dunbar, put a curse up all the reivers of the borderlands (and this is only part of the curse).

   "I curse their head and all the hairs of their head; I curse their face, their brain (innermost thoughts), their mouth, their nose, their tongue, their teeth, their forehead, their shoulders, their breast, their heart, their stomach, their back, their womb, their arms, their legs, their hands, their feet, and every part of their body, from the top of their head to the soles of their feet, before and behind, within and without."
   "I curse them going and I curse them riding; I curse them standing and I curse them sitting; I curse them eating and I curse them drinking; I curse them rising, and I curse them lying; I curse them at home, I curse them away from home; I curse them within the house, I curse them outside of the house; I curse their wives, their children, and their servants who participate in their deeds. I (bring ill wishes upon) their crops, their cattle, their wool, their sheep, their horses, their swine, their geese, their hens, and all their livestock. I (bring ill wishes upon) their halls, their chambers, their kitchens, their stanchions, their barns, their cowsheds, their barnyards, their cabbage patches, their plows, their harrows, and the goods and houses that are necessary for their sustenance and welfare."

That’s a little long and overdone for cursing someone who cuts in front of you on the freeway.

Another way to search for real curses is to Google folk tales, legends, proverbs, magic spells, and so on. Those are convertible as well, but it is hardly worth the effort. No one else has bedbugs dancing the mazurka in your belly button.

P.S. A writer can avoid using so many curse words by putting some of them in other languages if it's logical for your story, and one character can insult another with legitimate words that not most people don't know.

Just sayin’.□

Sources
https://ireland-calling.com/wisdom-may-the-cat/
http://www.gaelicmatters.com/irish-curses.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Dastardly
http://yiddishradioproject.org/exhibits/stutchkoff/curses.php3
https://www.kveller.com/these-yiddish-curses-are-pretty-epic/
https://thoughtcatalog.com/nico-lang/2013/10/61-hilarious-yiddish-insults-you-need-to-know/
https://forward.com/schmooze/358803/why-dont-people-use-yiddish-curses-properly-in-english/
http://www.aish.com/j/fs/Yiddish_Curses_for_the_New_Millennium.html
https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/abroad/54-irish-curses-you-won-t-have-learned-in-school-1.3011527
http://www.gaelicmatters.com/irish-curses.html
https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/swears-cursing-irish-gaeilge
https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/top-ten-strange-and-weird-irish-curses-when-you-really-want-to-hex-your-enemy-171586881-237766231
https://erinsromance.wordpress.com/tag/irish-curses/
https://lovindublin.com/feature/best-irish-curse-words
http://clipart-library.com/

Book: Awa' an' Bile Yer Heid!: Scottish Curses and Insults By David Ross

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A SHEEP, A DUCK, AND A ROOSTER: A Brief History of the First Hot Air Balloons

1/18/2019

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UP, UP, AND AWAY
Get out your bucket list (if you're old enough to have one) or your to-do list. Either way, Hot air ballooning should be on it.

It's an amazing, almost out-of-body experience. Except when the burners are firing there is complete silence. Plus, you feel as though you're standing on air... because you are. Almost. There's nothing more than a between the soles of your shoes and thin air but a few layers of woven Kooboo and Palambang cane. Photo source: US Department of Transportation

I'm not a balloonist, but I've been on rides in three different locations. You see the world from a different perspective. Hey, you don't want to be outdone by a sheep, a duck, and a rooster, do you?

THE BROTHERS MONTGOLFIER
Hot air ballooning is the oldest successful form of man-made flight, dating back to 1783. Even before that, the two brothers named Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier (successful paper manufacturers) began experimenting with paper vessels elevated by heated air after they observed that heated air flowing directly into a paper or fabric bag made the bag rise.

Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier – Photo source: https://www.famousinventors.org/montgolfier-brothers

During the next few years, they developed a hot air balloon comparable in design to modern balloons, only powered by burning straw, manure and other material in an attached fire pit.
By 1782, the Montgolfier's constructed an ‘aerostat’ designed for lifting people into the air which they named ‘Seraphina’. The craft – and I use the term loosely -- was a 40 foot envelope made of linen lined with paper. Constructed in multiple sections, it was held together by some 2000 buttons.
After some additional testing, the first public showing took place in Annonay (near Lyon, France) on June 4, 1783. The brothers launched their balloon with no one aboard from the town marketplace. It rose to a height somewhere between 5,500 and 6,500 feet, remained aloft for 10 minutes, and traveled more than a mile. The Aerostat Reveillon
http://levenvandelucht.blogspot.com/2016/08/lichter-dan-lucht.html
photo source: https://2.bp.blogspot.com/Montgolfier_brothers_flight.jpg

Word of their success quickly spread, and a demonstration for the king was planned. For this flight, the brothers recruited Jean-Baptiste Réveillion, a successful wallpaper manufacturer.

They constructed a balloon about 30 feet in diameter made of taffeta and coated with a varnish of alum for fireproofing. Réveillion's influence was apparent as the balloon was decorated with golden flourishes, zodiac signs, and suns (symbolizing King Louis XVI).

A SHEEP, A DUCK, AND A ROOSTER
There was some concern about the effects of high altitude on living beings, and the king proposed a test using prisoners.

Instead, the Montgolfiers suspended a basket below the balloon containing a sheep, a duck, and a rooster. It was actually a scientifically sound idea. The sheep's physiology was thought to be similar to a human's. The high-flying duck was unlikely to be harmed, so it was used as a control. The rooster was included as a further control because while it was also a bird, it did not fly at high altitudes.

The balloon, named Aerostat Reveillon, and its passengers lifted off on Sept. 19, 1783. The flight lasted 8 minutes and was witnessed by King Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, and a crowd of 130,000. The balloon stayed airborne for fifteen minutes, flew about 2 miles, and landed safely. No word on how they measured the height or the fate of the sheep, duck, and rooster.

The launching of the Aerostat Reveillon in Paris Painting depicting the launch- photo source: http://www.dragonfireballoon.com/ballooning_history.html

The brothers must have been pretty clever. They convinced Pilatre de Rozier and the Marquis d'Arlandes to be the first people to travel in a hot air balloon. You notice it wasn't the Montgolfiers taking flight in November of 1783. De Rozier and d'Arlandes are reported to have traveled 7 miles in a have hour at the height of 3,000 feet.

Francis Pilatre de Rozier blowing hydrogen into a flame National Air and Space Museum – Smithsonian Institution

Presumably they didn't crash since de Rozier decided to build his own balloon containing hot air and hydrogen.

In June of 1785, he and a friend (Pierre Romain) embarked on a trip from Boulogne to England. At an altitude of about 2,950 feet, the hydrogen, expanded by the hot air, exploded. The two men achieved the dubious distinction of being the first men to lose their lives in a manned flight.

The Champagne Tradition
One of the early traditions which is still practiced is for the pilot to present the landowner on whose property you make your final landing with a ceremonial bottle of champagne.

This tradition reputedly originated with these first balloonists. As you can imagine, the early hot air balloons were filled with not just hot air but smoke, due to a slight mistake by scientists of that era who believed the lift was due to the smoke rather than the heat.

Because of that, the first balloonists landing in peasants' farm fields were likely to be attacked with stones and clubs and pitchforks, since they were obviously fire-breathing monsters. French peasants came with a certain level of sophistication, however. Early French balloonists found the peasants easily distracted, and much more pleasant hosts, if the monster's human occupants offered them a glass of champagne. □
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_air_ballooning
http://www.hot-air-ballooning.org/guide_hot_air_ballooning_hints_and_tips.asp
http://ezinearticles.com/?Hot-Air-Ballooning---Different-Techniques-To-Keep-In-Minds&id=5741808
http://www.eballoon.org/balloon/basket.html
http://www.pilatre-de-rozier.com/
http://www.eballoon.org/history/history-of-ballooning.html
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/AVrozier.htm
http://www.balloon.co.za/Balloon/
http://www.hotairballoonsafaris.co.za/
https://www.space.com/16595-montgolfiers-first-balloon-flight.html
https://empoweryourknowledgeandhappytrivia.wordpress.com/2015/10/08/who-invented-the-first-hot-air-balloon/
https://www.famousinventors.org/montgolfier-brothers

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hOW DID YOU GET MY NUMBER? Telemarketing and telephone Scams

1/11/2019

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You yell at the telemarketer on the telephone, “How the #$%^ did you people get my private telephone number?”

Then you slam down the receiver and, swearing again, flop on the couch with a migraine coming to a full boil at the back of your head.

Has this ever happened to you?

Whether we like it or not, any time we give personal information to anyone, to social media, to businesses or financial institutions, even the doctor’s office, we give away personal information that can be used by telemarketers and scammers to contact us. We often do this because it is a condition for obtaining the product or service we want. Tough apples.

DID YOU READ THE SMALL PRINT?
We also receive in the mail (or it’s written in fine print somewhere on the application form) disclosure notices which inform us how our private information is shared. Federal law allows consumers the ability to limit some, but not all, sharing. To invoke the limitations, you must opt out by signing the documents and sending them back to the entity that sent them.

Do you read the small print? Do you sign and mail off the disclosure forms every year for every credit card, financial institution, vendor, etc. providing the option? I don’t. My information is out there already. What’s the point of opting out now?

o, my information is shared. The consequences, whether you opt out or not, seem to be a deluge of unwanted telephone calls from telemarketers, from business doing construction or something else in your neighborhood and want to drop by, from charities, from politicians, from everyone pursuing a cause and, most dangerous of all, from scammers.

Occasionally, we get phone calls from people we know or do business with.

TELEPHONE SCAMS AND ROBOCALLS
The Federal Trade Commission tells us that robocalls -- automated telephone calls that deliver a recorded message, typically on behalf of a political party or telemarketing company – are the number one complaint they receive. In 2017 alone there were 7,157,370 complaints filed against robocallers and telemarketers. And how many of us have never filed a complaint? A zillion?

RULES OF THUMB TO PROTECT YOURSELF
While telemarketing is legal, scamming is not. There are a number of ways to protect yourself. Remember, both the telemarketer and the scammer – regardless of the type of scam -- wants you to pick up the phone and talk, and they don’t want to give you time to think. The FTC suggests you just not answer. If you do, here is some advice.

●Don’t answer calls from phone numbers you don’t recognize.
.
●Don’t give away financial and sensitive personal information (address, date of birth, bank information, ID numbers, passwords, mother’s maiden name, etc.) over the phone, and be careful when and where you do give it when you do.

●Don’t confirm this type of information even if the unknown caller has it.

●Don’t believe your caller ID: Technology makes it easy for scammers to fake caller ID information, so the name and number you see aren’t always real. If someone calls asking for money or personal information, hang up. If you think the caller might be telling the truth, call back to a number you know is genuine.

●Don’t talk. If you suspect a scam, Hang up. Anything you say to a telemarketer, including legitimate ones -- that is, not a scam -- will end up written down in your file. Telemarketers uses the "Three Nos" rule: don't let the customer go until they have said "no" three times during the phone call.

●Don’t say the word “Yes.”

●Listen for key phrases to spot scammers.

●Be cautious about where and to whom your phone number is available. Not a good idea on social media.

●Turn the tables. Ask the caller for more information, do some research, and call them back. If they’re reluctant to comply, they’re likely trying to scam you.

●Don’t call back. Even though you want to find out who it is and bust their balls. You could still be giving them information they want.

●Check your bank and credit card statements regularly, especially after getting a suspicious call.

● Don’t send money anywhere for an emergency situation, unless you have verified the situation and the solicitor.

● Don’t send money by prepaid card or wire transfer (which are difficult to track) to someone you don’t know.

●Check out charities before you contribute, and don’t make commitments over the phone. Even the legitimate ones will pressure you, often into making a larger contribution than you want to give.

● Sign up for free scam alerts from the FTC at https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/features/scam-alerts

TELEPHONE SHOPPING
Now days many people do order merchandise and services over the phone. There are ways in which you can protect yourself from scams for this, but they are different than calls coming to your phone uninvited. In this case, you are calling, or have called, them and should have some reason to believe you are calling a legitimate business.

●Be skeptical about free trial offers: Some companies use free trials to sign you up for products and bill you every month until you cancel. Before you agree to a free trial, research the company and read the cancellation policy. And always review your monthly statements for charges you don’t recognize.

●Ask about shipping and handling costs before you commit to a purchase.

●Don’t let yourself be rushed.

●Don’t pay upfront for a promise: Someone might ask you to pay in advance for things like debt relief, credit and loan offers, mortgage assistance, or a job. They might even say you’ve won a prize, but first you have to pay taxes or fees. If you do, they will probably take the money and disappear.

●Consider how you pay: Credit cards have significant fraud protection built in, but some payment methods don’t. Wiring money through services like Western Union or MoneyGram is risky because it’s nearly impossible to get your money back. That’s also true for reloadable cards (like MoneyPak or Reloadit) and gift cards (like iTunes or Google Play). Government offices and honest companies won’t require you to use these payment methods.

●Talk to someone you trust: Before you give up your money or personal information, talk to someone you trust. Con artists want you to make decisions in a hurry. They might even threaten you. Slow down, check out the story, do an online search, consult an expert — or just tell a friend.

TYPES OF TELEPHONE SCAMS
The first three types of scams listed below are most common telephone scams, but there are many others you ought to be aware of.

● IRS
This is one of the most common scams and usually targets the elderly. The “campaign” begins around tax time. You’ll receive a phone call from the “IRS” telling you that you’re receiving your final notice for money owed. If you do not pay this money you’re threatened with jail time, huge fines, or deportation. Sometimes they ask for personal information, including your SSI number. These scammers know people fear the IRS and hope that their impulse is to call the fake number back and rectify the situation.

● Tech support
This scam is growing rapidly and targets those who are not computer savvy. You’ll get a call pretending to be Microsoft Support, and they will inform you that your computer is compromised and you need to download special software to protect yourself. The caller conveniently needs your credit card information through this scenario.

To prove it, the caller might ask you to check your Windows event log viewer, which is likely to contain thousands of records about various errors, most or all of which are actually nothing to worry about. If you bite, the caller then asks you to log onto a Web service that lets him or her take control of your computer. The goal of this phone scam is to install malware that can steal your personal information or trick you into enrolling in phony computer maintenance or warranty programs.

● Sweepstakes
Here, the callers claims you have won a “Free” or “low cost” vacation and other sweepstakes prize. "Free" can end up costing a bundle in hidden costs. Usually, they are just a prompt to receive personal information such as home address or even credit card information. Never give personal information to these callers, especially over the phone.

● Government grants scam
The bait is that you’re being offered free money from the government, just because you’ve been a good citizen, or you’ve qualified to receive a “free grant” to pay for education costs, home repairs, home business expenses, or unpaid bills. The catch with this phone scam is that you must pay a “processing fee” of $150 to $700 to receive the grant. Or scammers ask for your checking account information so they can “deposit your grant directly into your account”—and then clean out your account.

By the way, the caller might he’s from the “Federal Grants Administration.” There is no such government agency. This scam works in part because the legitimate agencies, offering government programs, calls in the same manner and often says nearly the same thing.

● Call Center Fraud
Scam artists spend hours calling the customer service centers of banks, insurance companies and other institutions, posing as people like you, to try to access accounts. “That’s because reps only ask a couple of simple authentication questions — maybe your mother’s maiden name or your Social Security number — before you can transfer money or do whatever,” explains Ken Shuman of Pindrop, a company that provides antifraud services to call centers.
Scammers start by assembling information on you, stolen in data breaches, purchased on the “dark web” or gleaned with a simple Google search. Then they spend all day phoning different call centers to determine if you have accounts with those companies. With your data in hand, they can often answer the authentication questions that call centers ask.

● Smartphone Swindles (Smishing)
20 billion text messages sent each day are attempts at fraud through the use of “smishing” (a combination of the SMS technology that sends text messages and phishing, a ploy to coax confidential information out of you). Typically, a scam texter will fake a problem with one of your financial accounts and ask you for data. Or they might pitch low-cost mortgages or credit cards, or promise free gift cards. If you respond by texting back confidential personal information, your identity may be stolen. Millions of these smishing texts can be launched simultaneously.

● The neighbor ploy
Remember, the scammer wants you to pick up. Your area code and prefix are displayed, so the call appears to be from a neighbor or nearby business. “Fewer people are comfortable blocking local numbers, increasing scammers’ success rates,” notes Jonathan Nelson of Hiya. Fake number are hard for law enforcement to track.

● The call is from your own phone number
In this scam, the scammer can simulate your own phone number on your caller ID. Curiosity, if nothing else, may cause you to answer. These scammers can maneuver around any call blocking that you’ve set up.

● The one-ring rip-off
In this case criminals program auto-dialers to make repeated calls to you, each disconnecting after just one ring. The intention is to make you so frustrated that you call back the displayed number to find out who it is. Things get worse if you call area codes, such as 268, 664 and 876, which are for Caribbean countries and other places with have high per-minute phone charges. One scam involves getting you to call one of those numbers, then getting you to hold through transfers that rack up your bill until a scammer gets on the line and starts a fraudulent pitch.

● Loan Scams
Some loans are borderline scams in the first place, so it’s almost no surprise that they’d also be used as a cover for phone scams. Advance fee loans, payday loans, credit card protection and offers to lower your credit card interest rates are some of the popular scams. The goal of the scammer is to harvest your information over the phone.

● Debt Collector Scams
Debt collector scams are fairly popular because the high rate of debt in our economy. The best thing to do is to ask for the caller’s information, including company name, and to call them back. Also, take note that if you send a written letter to a debt collector asking them to stop calling you, they are legally required to do so according to most of my references.

● Credit Card Security Number Scams
As we’ve mentioned, it’s not a smart idea to give out credit card information over the telephone. But, what about just snippets of information? Though it may seem harmless, even giving out the three-digit security code on the back of your credit card (also known as the CVV number) can lead to being scammed. The scammer can disguise themselves as a bank employee, even giving out a fake employee badge number. Make sure to never give out that CVV number, no matter what they say.

● Warrant and Jury Duty Scams
Whether it’s the DEA, FBI, sheriff, or local police department, warrant scams are designed to make victims panic and then give up their personal information over the phone. The scammer will often state that you’ve missed jury duty or perhaps defrauded a bank, and attempt to get payment information. However, law enforcement demanding money is just something that does not happen legally over the phone. Remember that.

● Medical Scams
If you’ve ever dealt with health care, you probably know how difficult it is to dispute a hospital bill, causing people to fall for medically related telephone scams. Sometimes the scammer will demand payment on an “unpaid” bill, while other times the scam will offer discounted or free medical services. Unfortunately, these types of scams tend to target the elderly, who have to deal with health care much more than younger people.

● Lottery Scams
As with most things in life, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Getting a call out of the blue that you’ve just won the lottery is a pretty big stretch. Add in that it’s a lottery in a foreign country, and things begin to sound fishy. When someone asks for your credit card information over the phone, that’s as good a sign as any that the whole thing is a sham. After all, how many lotteries have you heard of that give out winnings to people who haven’t bought a ticket?

● Stranded in a Foreign Country
Although many of these scams come by e-mail, some are by telephone. I got taken by one of these. Mine was one of the standards: a call from a frantic grandchild who is in difficulty (arrested, in a car accident, or something they need money for immediately). In my case the caller knew my grandson’s name, which took me off balance, and I believed him. I did get my money back, but I was so lucky.

The scams encourage recipients to send money or account information to the person supposedly "stuck" in a foreign country, or similarly in need. These calls appear to come from someone the recipient knows -- either a familiar name, or a familiar address, scrounged from a hacked account or from publicly visible information on social networking sites. Don’t send money, no matter who they claim to be, and check out the information.

● Charitable Causes and Natural Disasters
It’s a sad state of affairs when requests for recent disaster relief contributions are often scams, and they are common over the phone. If you want to contribute, you should call the charity. News Channels on TV usually tell you how to make a donation.

● Extended car warranties
Scammers find out what kind of car you drive, and when you bought it so they can urge you to buy overpriced — or worthless — plans.

SPOTTING THE SCAM
Sometimes it’s not easy to tell the difference between a scam call and a real one. Informing yourself is most important. The following is advice given by all of the sources I reviewed.

● A real company will not call you out of the blue and ask for personal information.
● If a caller asks “What number did I call?”, you ask “What number did you dial?”
● If a caller asks “Is this Mr. Brown?” answer with the word “speaking”, not “yes.”
● The IRS will never contact you by phone; they will send a letter, probably a certified one.
● Technical Support will never call you first about technical problems. You have to call them.
● Companies like Microsoft have other ways of contacting you and would never call on the phone.

Watch out for the following phrases. If you hear a line that sounds similar, the FTC recommends you say "no, thank you," and hang up. Never respond with “Yes”. That can be manipulated to make it sound like you agreed to something.

● "You'll get a free bonus if you buy our product."
● "You've won one of five valuable prizes."
● "You've won big money in a foreign lottery."
● "This investment is low risk and provides a higher return than you can get anywhere else."
● "You have to make up your mind right away."
● "You trust me, right?"
● "You don't need to check our company with anyone."
● "We'll just put the shipping and handling charges on your credit card."
● “Can you hear me?” or “Are you the lady of the house?”
● “We’re working in your neighborhood, and you’ve been selected for a free paint job.”

WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT
●Join the National “Do Not Call” List
Register your home and mobile phone numbers with the National Do Not Call Registry. It won’t stop unsolicited calls, but it will stop most. Ones that still come, you should report to the Registry. http://www.donotcall.gov

●File a complaint with the FTC
Report your experience to the FTC online https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/#crnt&panel1-1 or by calling 1-888-382-1222.

●Download a Spam Blocking App
A good way to block calls on both land lines and cell phones is to use Google Voice https://voice.google.com/about. You have the option of sending them directly to voicemail, treating all their calls as spam, or blocking them entirely. If you don't have a Google Voice account and you live in the US, you can sign up at
https://support.google.com/voice/answer/7207482?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en

●Post offenders on Community Call
800Notes is a free Reverse Phone Number Lookup database built by its users. Our strength is in our numbers - by sharing pieces of information each of us has we are putting together a free and public phone number directory with information no other service can provide. https://800notes.com/
▪ Find out who is calling and why. Look up and read previous report by other users.
▪Report telemarketing calls
▪Report telephone fraud
▪Check out a business

ThisCaller.com helps you ind unknown caller information by using free reverse phone lookup.
https://alternativeto.net/software/thiscaller/http:/www.thiscaller.com/

USCallers.com USCallers.com is a free, reverse phone lookup service for both cell and landline
   phone numbers. https://alternativeto.net/software/uscallers/  This site can direct you to other sites for
   looking up telemarketing and scam callers.
  http://www.moreofit.com/similar-to/800notes.com/Top_10_Sites_Like_800notes/

●Sign up for Scam Alerts: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/features/scam-alerts

● Contact your cable or internet service
Many companies, including Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, and U.S. Cellular, have introduced services that alert you an incoming robocall may be from a scammer or spammer. In some cases, such services are free, but for a few dollars more per month you can get a more robust version that can block the robocalls from ringing on your phone.

Sources
https://www.robokiller.com/blog/how-to-identify-a-scam-call/
https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0076-phone-scams
https://relayservice.gov.au/faqs/how-do-i-know-a-call-is-genuine-and-not-a-scam/
https://www.consumerreports.org/consumer-protection/how-to-identify-a-phone-scam/
https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-2017/no-talk-phone-scams.html
http://backgroundchecks.org/reverse-phone-lookup/phone-scams
https://who-calledme.com/
https://www.trapcall.com/blog/how-to-deal-with-fake-calls/
https://www.revealname.com/free-phone-number-lookup-no-charge
https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/#crnt&panel1-1
https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0060-10-things-you-can-do-avoid-fraud
https://mbtskoudsalg.com/explore/phone-clipart-guy/ (free clip art)
https://drexel.edu/it/help/viruses/scams/stuckforeignscams/
https://www.consumerreports.org/robocalls/best-ways-to-fight-robocalls/
https://lifehacker.com/im-a-telemarketer-heres-how-to-get-rid-of-me-1540911401
https://support.google.com/voice/answer/7207482?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en

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A WORD ABOUT WORDS

1/4/2019

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“THE PEN IS MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD”
But less mighty than body language and tone of voice. Experts who study the various –ologies dealing with human communication belief is that 55% of communication is body language, 38% is the tone of voice, and 7% is the actual words spoken.

The smallest component – words -- are all the writer has to create a mood or setting; describe a character or an environment; depict sound, odors, textures, and movement; show what characters are doing, saying, and thinking but not saying. Words show the actions and thoughts that create motivation.

The English language is rich and diverse medium to work with. It’s the writer’s task to know words and how to use them to best to sweep the reader into places, feelings, and situations they have never experienced.
https://englishlive.ef.com/words-english

HOW MANY WORDS ARE IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE?
When one googles this question the answer is usually given in terms of how many word are defined in a given dictionary.

The Second Edition of the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary, published in 1989, contains full entries for 171,476 words in current use, and 47,156 obsolete words. To this may be added around 9,500 derivative words included as subentries.

Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged, together with its 1993 Addenda Section, includes some 470,000 entries

In fact, there is no way to count the number of words because of several realities:
● First and foremost, language is a living entity which grows, declines, and changes with time, environment, culture, technological advances, fashion, and whim. Language is like every other living entity in that respect, and there is no way we can do anything about it.
● Second, words are constantly being absorbed into English from other languages, such as “cannoli” or "teriyaki." Personally, I’ve observed that often the absorbed word looses in the translation and doesn’t mean in English what it meant in the original language.
● Third, the numerous inflected words, plurals, compound words, and abbreviations leave too many decisions as to what constitutes a word. For example, are all of the inflected forms of "drive," "drives," "drove," etc.–one word or several separate words?

As the Oxford Dictionary puts it, “Is dog one word, or two (a noun meaning 'a kind of animal', and a verb meaning 'to follow persistently')? If we count it as two, then do we count inflections separately too (e.g. dogs = plural noun, dogs= present tense of the verb). Is dog-tired a word, or just two other words joined together? Is hot dog really two words, since it might also be written as hot-dog or even hotdog?”

Dog Dogs Tired Dog Dog Tired Hot Dog

Nonetheless, Webster concedes that the vocabulary of English is estimated at roughly a million words. “… most linguists would take that estimate with a chunk of salt, and some have said they wouldn't be surprised if it is off the mark by a quarter-million (additional words).” If you could say one word per second, it would take about four years to say every word in the language.

WHEN IS A WORD NOT A WORD?
So, if there are about a million words in English and only, say, half of them are found in dictionaries, we have about half a million plus homeless words hanging around out there. Why aren’t these legitimate words?

They are legitimate. A word doesn’t need to be in a dictionary to be a real word. New words are added to the dictionary only when they have already been used, spoken and written, often enough in common speech and writing to become almost cliché.

Now days, new words are used initially by specialists and subcultures, then gradually spread to the rest of us. Every word moves at its own pace; there is no average speed for a word’s acceptance into the language, the culture, and the dictionary. The dictionary’s job is to report that usage as it enters the general vocabulary. There are several reasons why words are not in the dictionary:
   ● Not all English-speaking cultures use the same words, and those which are the same may have different meanings. In fact, not all areas of an English-speaking country use the same words.
   ● Many are scientific terms, such as names of chemicals and scientific instruments, or terms used in professional and other specialized subcultures, and are peripheral to common English usage.
   ● Foreign language words.
   ● Slang.
Because many homeless words come and go guickly, they never achieve enough common usage to be promoted into a dictionary entry.

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A FIZGIG?
Once a word hits the dictionary citation threshold, isn’t it a word forever? Perhaps in the academic and historical sense, but not in terms of the spoken and written language.

Some experts, such as Edward Allhusen, publisher and author of many books, including Betrumped: The Surprising History of 3,000 Long-Lost, Exotic and Endangered Words, bemoan the tragedy of allowing obsolete words slip away into obscurity. As much as we all love a fizgig, we have to remember language is a living entity. Words can and do die out just like anything else, even though they may offer more precise meanings than those that are added. Words end up on Death Row or become obsolete because:

● They have become irrelevant because they refer to physical objects, ideas, or beliefs that don’t exist anymore. No one born before 1984 had ever heard of a floppy disk, and few born after 2004 have either.
   ● The faster technological and cultural advancement moves, the shorter-lived many words, particularly technical ones. Fashionable terms can become passé, and words can be superseded by other ways of speaking.
   ● They have been replaced with other words, shortened, or abbreviated; it seems our communication technology today fosters the simplification of common usage.
   ● Slang terms that have become “uncool” because everyone is using them now, not just the subculture that created them just to be different.

When one starts to feel awkward using a particular word, then it’s probably past its prime: under-utilized, unloved, and unwanted. “Fortnight” is a good example. There are many words for a “week”, particularly with the globalization of English. Why don’t we have a word for two weeks, and not three? Why don’t we have fort days? The word has become useless.

According to Benedict Brook, www.news.com.au/technology/words-on-death-row, “The reason language changes is because each generation has to learn a language for themselves, and what they do is construct a slightly changed version.”

NEW WORDS FOR A NEW YEAR
In September, 2018, The Merriam Webster Dictionary added eight hundred and forty new entries and the Oxford English Dictionary added fourteen hundred. All entries are not necessarily new words. Those considered “new” words may be ones we’ve been hearing and using for years and are just now making it into the dictionary. “New” words may be abbreviated forms for other words and phrases we use in casual speech. They may be slang, portmanteau [blended words], redefined or Latinx, a gender-neutral alternative to Latina and Latino.

A few articles identified general categories for new words, and I did my best to place a sample in each, but who knows?

Abbreviations
●TL;DR = "Too long; didn't read” Used to say that something requires too much time to read.
●FWIW = For what it's worth.
●ICYMI = In case you missed it. Used in electronic communication to draw attention to something noteworthy.
●ROFL = Rolling on the floor laughing.

Shortened Words
●FAVE = Favorite. Dates back to 1938. First usage: "Lester Harding, heavy fave here, clicks with pop songs.”
●ADORBS = Extremely charming or appealing : adorable.
●GUAC = Guacamole.
●MARG = Margarita.
●AVO = Avocado.
●DEFFO = Definitely, certainly.
●BOUGIE = A disparaging term for people obsessed with wealth or its trappings.
Shortened form of bourgeoise.

Portmanteau [Blended Words]
●MOCKTAIL = A usually iced drink made with any of various ingredients (such as juice, herbs, and soda water) but without alcohol: a nonalcoholic cocktail.
●GLAMP = Glamorous camping.
Glamping is a portmanteau of glamorous and camping and describes a style of camping with amenities and, in some cases, resort-style services not usually associated with "traditional" camping. Usually not outdoors.
●SCHNOODLE = A mix of schnauzer and poodle.
●CHIWEENIE = A mix of Chihuahua and dachshund.
●YORKIE-POO = A mix of Yorkshire terrier and poodle.
●WEBISODE = An episode of a show that may or may not have been telecast but can be viewed at a website
●STAYCATION = A vacation spent at home or nearby.

Old Words With New Meanings
●HOPHEAD = A beer enthusiast. Originally a slang word, dating back to 1883, for a drug addict.
●GOAT = Greatest of all time. You'll usually hear the acronym as a descriptor for people like LeBron James, Serena Williams, or Tom Brady.
● DUMPSTER FIRE = An utterly calamitous or mismanaged situation. First used in 2008.
● DARK CHOCOLATE = This recently added compound word is meant to clarify that dark chocolate is more than just dark in color, as it usually contains a higher percentage of cocoa and no milk.

New Words
●AIRPLANE MODE = "An operating mode for an electronic device (such as a mobile phone) in which the device does not connect to wireless networks and cannot send or receive communications (such as calls or text messages) or access the Internet but remains usable for other functions."
●AIR PUNCH = An act of thrusting one's clenched fist into the air, typically as a gesture of jubilation or triumph.
●BUDGIE SMUGGLERS = men’s brief, tight-fitting swimming trunks.
●BUTT UGLY = extremely unattractive
●BEDUNGED = That which has been soiled with or covered in dung.
First recorded from the early 15th century. It persists in modern use, but is now considered archaic or used self-consciously for stylistic effect.
●BINGEABLE = Having multiple episodes /parts that can be watched in rapid succession.
●BIOHACKING = Biological experimentation (as by gene editing or the use of drugs or implants) done to improve the qualities or capabilities of living organisms especially by individuals and groups outside of a traditional medical or scientific research environment.
●CARBON FOOTPRINT = The amount of greenhouse gases (specifically carbon dioxide) emitted by something during a given period.
●CRYPTOCURRENCY = Digital currencies use cryptography (i.e., computerized encoding) to prevent counterfeiting.
●DEMONYM = The word you use to describe where you're from.
●FINTECH = Products and companies that employ newly developed digital and online technologies in the banking and financial services industries.
●FORCE QUIT = To force an unresponsive computer program to shut down.
●GENERATION Z = The generation of people born in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
●HAPTICS = The use of electronically or mechanically generated movement that a user experiences through the sense of touch as part of an interface (such as on a gaming console or smartphone).
●HANGRY = irritable or angry because of hunger. First used in 1956.
●HOCKEY MOM = A mother who devotes a great deal of time and effort to supporting her children’s participation in ice hockey.
●INSTAGRAM = To post (a picture) to the Instagram photo-sharing service.
●KOMBUCHA = A fermented tea drink packed in probiotics thanks to the magical effects of yeast and beneficial bacteria.
●LISTICLE = a piece of writing or other content presented wholly or partly in the form of a list.
●LATINX = Of, relating to, or marked by Latin American heritage. Used as a gender-neutral alternative to Latino or Latina.
●NOTHINGBURGER = A person or thing of no importance, value, or substance, especially something which, contrary to expectations, turns out to be insignificant or unremarkable.
First used in 1953 by the Hollywood gossip columnist Louella Parsons, nothingburger is the earliest known example of a type of slang formation in which -burger is used to form compounds referring to a person or thing characterized by a particular quality. Another well-known example of this type is mouseburger(1970).
●PREDICTIVE = As in predictive text: "Of, relating to, or usable or valuable for prediction.
●PREPPER = A person who or thing which prepares or readies something’ as well as a more recent and specific one, ‘a person who anticipates a catastrophic disaster or emergency occurring on a local or global scale and actively prepares for it, typically by learning survival skills, preparing to become self-sufficient, and stockpiling food, ammunition, and other supplies. The earliest use of latter meaning is from a 1998 post on a Usenet newsgroup.
●SCOOBY SNACK = A snack, especially given as a reward or inducement; specifically a bite-sized treat or a large multilayered sandwich. Also: food eaten to satisfy a hunger induced by drinking, smoking, or drug use.
●STARTER MARRIAGE = A short-lived first marriage between young adults, viewed as a form of preparation for a subsequent, more lasting one with different partners.
●TENT CITY = A collection of many tents set up in an area to provide usually temporary shelter (as for displaced or homeless people).
●UPDATION = The action or an act of updating something, a nominalization of the verb update. The word is first attested in American English, and there is evidence of its use around the world, but it is overwhelmingly associated with Indian English.
●TZATZIKI = A garlicky Greek yogurt dip.*
* Foods have to appear on enough menus to make the crossover into English.
●TIME SUCK = An activity that takes a lot of time you could have used to do more productive things. This word dates back to 1991, the year the Internet gained its first website. Coincidence?
●WELP = an unspecific response like hmm, ooh, and mm-hmm, which are also n the dictionary.
●ZOODLE = A long, thin strip of zucchini that resembles a string or narrow ribbon of pasta.

THE LAST WORD
In case you’re still wondering what a fizgig is…
Definition of FIZGIG
1. A gadding flirting girl or woman. (Ancient definition)
2. A firework of damp powder that fizzes or hisses when it explodes
3. A whirligig or spinning toy which makes a whirring sound, like a top.
4.   Fishgig: A fishing sword with two or more barbed prongs.
5.   In Australian, a snitch or police informer.

Sources
https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/new-words-in-the-dictionary-september-2018
https://www.merriam-webster.com/help/faq-words-into-dictionary
https://www.merriam-webster.com/help/faq-how-many-english-words
http://mentalfloss.com/article/556420/25-new-words-merriam-webster-adding-dictionary-2018
https://public.oed.com/blog/new-words-notes-september-2018/
https://wonderopolis.org/wonder/how-do-words-get-added-to-the-dictionary
https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/our-story/creating-dictionaries
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/explore/how-many-words-are-there-in-the-english-language/https:/en.oxforddictionaries.com/explore/how-many-words-are-there-in-the-english-language/
https://englishlive.ef.com/blog/language-lab/many-words-english-language/
https://www.rd.com/culture/almost-extinct-words/
https://qz.com/790750/30-words-and-phrases-that-will-soon-disappear-from-american-english/
http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/dictionary-words-from-internet/
http://nws.merriam-webster.com/opendictionary/newword_display_recent.php
http://blog.dictionary.com/2015-november-new-words/
http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2015/08/new-words-update-manspreading-mic-drop/
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/10-bizarre-new-words-youll-now-find-in-the-dictionary-2015-11-10
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/aug/21/endangered-words-collins-dictionary
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/16/words-deserve-fall-out-of-use-obscurity

https://www.news.com.au/technology/science/evolution/we-might-use-them-now-but-these-are-the-words-on-death-row-that-could-soon-become-extinct/news-story/cfd15f6cc5a5192e8bc45b140c831d28

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/11827287/The-top-ten-most-unexpected-words-added-to-the-online-Oxford-dictionary.html
https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/g25712934/new-dictionary-words/?slide=10
https://www.grammarly.com/blog/slang-words-2018/
https://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-icymi-dictionary-20160707-snap-story.html

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DON'T FORGET TO DROP YOUR ICE CREAM AT MIDNIGHT: New Year Traditions From Around The World

12/28/2018

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!
In three days we can welcome 2019. As December approached–very fast–I decided for the last Friday of the month to post a recycled blog about New Year traditions. After all, who’s going to be sitting around reading blogs on the weekend of New Year?
Photo: www.hollywoodreporter.com/new-years-times-square No one.

Well, then, what’s the point of posting anything? So, I decided to take a short vacation from blogging. We’ve all seen the Times Square New Year on TV and watched the ball drop. What’s more exciting than that?

As the time neared, I got antsy and decided to search the internet for New Year traditions I hadn’t written about before, intending to prepare a simple short list. HaHaHaHa! I believe I’ve mentioned that I was born without the pithy gene.

● SCOTLAND - HOGMANAY
Hogmanay is one of the biggest holidays in Scotland, possibly eclipsing Christmas, which only became a celebration in the late 1950s. Hogmanay has been celebrated by the Scots dating back to the Norse invaders who observed the winter solstice in late December. In fact, it is a celebration that lasts three days in some places including Edinburgh.

In Scotland, one of the New Year traditions of Hogmanay is "first-footing", a practice requiring the first person to cross a home's threshold in the new year to bring a good-luck gift. (By the way, the good luck is for the homeowner.) Photo Source: www.edinburghfestivalcity.com/Hogmanay

Another tradition is the revelers carrying torches create procession that moves through the streets like a “river of fire”, accompanied by drums and pipers. The procession ends some place which accommo- dates drinking, music, and dancing.

If you last all night or want to wake up early, and if you are brave enough to face the ice-cold water in the Firth of Forth, you can join the early morning Loony Dook, a costumed, polar-plunge event,
Photo source: www.heart.co.uk/scotland-loony-dookers/

● ROMANIA
In Romania, an old rural tradition is dancing around in a bear costume. The Romanians travel from house to house, dancing to chase away evil spirits on New Year's Eve. Also, something nifty happens in Romania at midnight on New Year's Eve. Animals briefly attain the ability to speak! Who knew? If an animal talks, the hearer is in for an awful year filled with bad luck, but all will be well if the animal says nothing.

● SIBERIA
Not to be outdone by the Scots, the people in Siberia brave the icy cold to jump into frozen lakes carrying tree trunks to celebrate New Year. The trunk is to be placed under the ice. Why, I'm not sure, but probably to bring good luck when the lake thaws.

Another tradition there--that shows up in other cultures as well--is banging bread against a wall, loudly, to chase away bad luck and evil spirits. This tradition dates back to a Roman festival, but whether or not it is from some earlier ritual, I don’t know.

● CHILE
While you can find numerous cultures where part or all of the celebrations is related to cemeteries and ancestors, Chileans spend the New Year with ancestors and deceased members of the family. They either spend the night of New Year Eve in the cemetery or set up their chairs next to the graveside on the first day of the year, a tradition for including all family members in the New Year festivities.

● PERU
In Peru, the Takanakuy Festival takes place on December 25, and it is all about descendents of the Incas beating the stuffing out of each other.

The word takanakuy means “when the blood is boiling”, which seems an appropriate name for the festivity where competitors face off in a designated area for a lot of kicking and bare-knuckle punching. Fortunately, the event is supervised by the police, although it’s said that all the punching matches are friendly and represent a fresh start for the year.
Photo source: www.mandatory.com/weirdest-new-years-traditions Photo from LatinLife http://www.fscclub.com/small-takanakuy

The practice started in Santo Tomás, the capital of Chumbivilcas, and has spread to other villages and cities, the prominent ones being Cuzco and Lima. The festival consists of dancing and individuals fighting each other to settle old conflicts or simply to display their manhood--or womanhood.

The procession to the fighting site starts with a high-pitched falsetto, a method of voice production used by male singers, especially tenors, to sing notes higher than their normal range, through the streets. The procession is family oriented as a preparation for the young children who will see the violent fights later on in the day. Children also dress up for the occasion, usually resembling their father's character.

The purpose of the fighting is to settle conflicts with an individual, friend, family member or to settle territorial conflicts which occurred throughout the year. The style of fighting used during the celebration is relatively similar to martial arts, which involves kicking, punching, and quickness of their movements.

Those fighting call out their opponents by their first and last name. They then proceed to the center of the circle and start the fight. The men fighting must wrap their hands with cloth before the fight. Biting, hitting those on the ground, or pulling hair is not allowed during the fight. The winner is selected based upon a knockout or intervention by the official. There are amateur officials who carry whips in order to maintain the crowd under control. At the start and at the end of the fight, the opponents must shake hands or give each other a hug.
If the loser of the fight disagrees with the outcome, he or she can appeal for another fight. This type of fighting also exemplifies one's level of manhood in the community of Santo .

● BELGIUM
In Belgium it is traditional to wish your cows Happy New Year.

● BOLIVIA
In Bolivia coins are baked into sweets and whoever finds the coins has good luck for the next year.

● COLOMBIA
In Colombia they carry their suitcases around with them all day in hopes of having a travel filled year. If you don't want the baggage for the whole day, at the stroke of midnight do the obvious thing: grab some empty suitcases and run around the block with them. The faster the would-be traveler runs, the more travel he or she can expect.

● FINLAND
Everyone, everywhere, wants to know what the new year will bring. In Finland people predict the coming year by casting molten tin into a bucket of water or melting down tin horseshoes and pouring the metal into a bucket of water. When the shapes harden events of the coming year are interpreted from the shapes.

● GERMANY
The Germans do something similar to the Finish. They melt small pieces of lead in a spoon over a candle, then pour the liquid into cold water. The bizarre shapes from the lead pouring are supposed to reveal what the year ahead will bring. If the lead forms a ball, luck will roll one’s way, while the shape of a crown means wealth; a cross signifies death and a star will bring happiness. If the photo is any indication, I can predict confusion for me next year... or blindness. I don't see anything in those pieces of lead.

● SWITZERLAND
Here’s a strange one. In Switzerland they celebrate the New Year by dropping ice cream on the floor. I couldn’t find any reason why.

● ECUADOR
Burning effigies of notable people on New Year’s eve seems popular in many countries, but Ecuador seems to take the lead on this tradition. There they celebrate the New Year by building straw scarecrows resembling politicians, celebrities, and others they don’t like.

The scarecrows are made from old clothes and stuffed with newspaper, and on New Year’s Eve at midnight they are burned in front of the house. Burning the old is meant to cleanse away all the bad things from the prior year and start new and clean. They also burn photographs from the prior year.

This tradition may have originated in Quayaquilin in 1895 when an epidemic of yellow fever caused the coffins to be pack with the clothing of the deceased and burned. Since then, it has become big business, and you can buy masks of celebrities and politicians or even the entire scarecrow.
Photo source:
https://list25.com/Burnt in Effigy https://www.life-in-ecuador.com/ecuador-new-years.html

●RUSSIA
One popular Russian New Year's tradition is to write down a wish, burn it, put the ashes in a glass of champagne, and drink up. Participants have to finish their drink before the clock turns 12:01 or else the wish won't come true.

● GUATEMALA
Guatemalans, hoping for wealth in the new year, toss 12 pennies behind their backs into the street when midnight strikes. The pennies represent each calendar month. The Guatemalan centavo doesn’t look like a penny: ▼it looks like this.

https://www.ebay.com/ https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces1039.html

● DENMARK
Breaking things in someone else’s yard is considered vandalism most of the time, except in Denmark on New Year’s Eve. https://list25.com/25-strangest-new-years-traditions-from-around-the-world/

There, people save broken and chipped dishes and glasses all year long to use for the New Year’s Eve tradition of going to the homes of friends and family and smash them against their front doors. The more shards you have on your doorstep the next morning, the more popular you are.

Another Danish tradition, at least in Copenhagen, is jumping off a chair. Just before midnight, everyone in the group stands on the seat of a chair and at midnight they jump off together, signifying a leap into the new year and the leaving behind of evil spirits.

● JAPAN - OMISOKA
The Japanese celebrate New Year's Eve (or Omisoka) by ringing bells in Buddhist temples. However, instead of a mere dozen times, they ring the bells 108 times --the number of human desires and thus, causes of suffering, according to the Buddhist tradition-- is thought to dispel negative emotions and mentalities. If you're in Tokyo, visit the ritual at the city's iconic Zojoji Temple. Photo courtesy of Flickr/bryansblog
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bryansblog/Temple

Maybe watching the ball drop in Times Square isn't the most exciting thing to do at midnight after all.

Sources:
https://www.oyster.com/articles/56515-7-new-years-eve-traditions-that-you-havent-heard-of/
https://www.realbuzz.com/articles-interests/festive-health-fitness/article/7-strangest-new-year-traditions-around-the-world/
https://list25.com/25-strangest-new-years-traditions-from-around-the-world/
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/galleries/Strange-New-Year-traditions-around-the-world/
https://www.houstonpress.com/arts/8-strange-new-years-traditions-from-around-the-world-8015726
https://mic.com/articles/21774/top-10-strangest-new-year-s-traditions-from-around-the-globe#.dSAVOGh78
https://www.google.com/search?q=https&oq=https&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i60j69i65l2j69i60l2&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
https://www.travelandleisure.com/slideshows/worlds-strangest-new-year-traditions#philippines
https://belarusdigest.com/story/celebrating-the-new-years-eve-in-belarus-the-russians-are-coming/
https://www.mandatory.com/living/796821-10-weirdest-new-years-eve-traditions-around-world
https://www.savoredjourneys.com/quirky-new-years-traditions/
https://www.npr.org/2013/12/28/257658037/as-the-lead-cools-some-see-their-new-year-take-shape
https://www.fodors.com/news/photos/12-weird-new-years-eve-traditions-around-the-world|
https://www.life-in-ecuador.com/ecuador-new-years.html
https://www.wanderlust.co.uk/content/9-new-years-eve-traditions/
http://www.123newyear.com/newyear-traditions/unitedstates.html

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Unusual Christmas Traditions from Around the World

12/21/2018

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The Holidays are upon us. May the world rejoice in peace.

Most of us living in the North America, South America, US, Europe, and Australia know the common Christmas traditions of the western world. Because Christmas is a Christian religious celebration, it's surprising to find it celebrated throughout the world. Sometimes it is celebrated not as a religious holiday and sometimes in places we wouldn't expect.

The manner in which the Christian religion is mixed with local traditions, ancient pagan beliefs and festivals is fascinating. I’ve posted this blog before, but I update it annually and in 2018 I found some new and interesting “traditions.”

SWEDEN – "GOD JUL AND (OCH) ETT GOTT NYTT AR!"

In Sweden the Christmas is all about time spent with family and friends and eating lots of food and sweets. The festivities start with the St. Lucia ceremony on December 13, the Winter Solstice on the old Julian calendar. But we’ve already looked at the traditions that go with St. Lucia festival.

I’ve run on to another rather recent “tradition” in Sweden: The Gävel Goat. Actually, Gävel is the name of the city where this event takes place. The goat is bocken (boken), in Swedish.
Photo source:Wikipedia

The Yule Goat
The Yule goat is a Scandinavian and Northern European Christmas symbol, a goat made of straw, which is one of the most popular Christmas decorations in Sweden.
The prevalent theory is that the origin dates back to ancient pagan festivals, in particular the worship of the Nose god Thor, who rode the sky in a chariot drawn by two goats. After the advent of Christianity, the Yule goat morphed into a goat which was supposed to help Santa Claus deliver presents. On occasion, Santa rode the goat instead of flying in his sleigh.

The Gävel Goat
Perhaps the city of Gävel, Sweden, used straw Yule Goats in their city’s decorations for Christmas in Gävel’s Castle Square. I couldn’t find out. Photo: http://www.todayifoundout.com/giant-goat

However, in 1966, Stig Gavlén, an advertising consultant, came up with the idea of building a giant straw version of Yule Goat in Castle Square. The first giant goat was constructed by the Gävel Fire Department as were those erected each year from 1966 to 1970 and 1986 to 2002.

As the years passed, the goat has grown in size. The one built in 1985 by the Natural Science Club of the School of Vasa reached 41 feet in height and made it into the Guinness Book of Records. In 1993, it reached 49 feet, setting another record.
The 2011 Goat on fire
Photo source: www.todayifoundout.com/giant-goat-sweden

But our giant goat has a problem. Despite the efforts of the city of Gävel, the goat has been destroyed thirty-six times, the most recent incident in 2016. Usually it is torched, but because the fire station is nearby, they have always managed to save the wooden frame. At least once it was hit by a car and collapsed. Another time the police foiled at attempt to steal it by helicopter.

Since 1986, two goats have been built, one by a society of Southern Merchants and the other by the Natural Science Club of Vasa, so there is a standby. Sometime both get destroyed.

The city has taken many measures to protect the goat. Fences, guards, lights and cameras don't seem to work. The biggest deterrent of all is that it is illegal to burn down the goat, with serious consequences for those caught.

For instance, a 51 year old American tourist, Lawrence Jones, burned the goat down in 2001 after supposedly being convinced by his Swedish friends that it was a legal game the town officials played with the populace. He ended up with a $14,700 fine and an 18 day prison sentence for his efforts.

Of course, despite all this and other efforts, half the fun of the tradition (The Dark Tradition, if you will) is seeing and betting whether or not the goat can stay intact until Christmas.

MEXICO – “FELIZ NAVIDAD”

Mexicans celebrate in many of the same ways as other countries. In Mexico, las posadas begins on December 16. The ninth evening of las posadas is Buena Noche, Christmas Eve. The children lead a procession to the church and place a figure of the Christ Child in the nativity scene there. Then everyone attends midnight mass. And of course, there is a sumptuous Christmas dinner. In Mexico it just isn’t Christmas without tamales.

La Noche de Rábanos - The Night of the Radishes
However, if you spend Christmas eve in Oaxaca, Mexico, you’ll enjoy an interesting tradition you may not be familiar with. The night of December 23 is “The Night of the Radishes” (La Noche de Rábanos), one of the annual Christmas customs in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Yair Lobo [Atlas Obscura User]
Photo source: https://www.atlasobscura.com/
In this festival, competitors carve nativity scenes and other Christmas themes into large radishes, which are proudly displayed at the Christmas market in the town square. Oaxaca has land dedicated to cultivating special vegetables just for this event
The competition’s origins date back to when holiday market vendors tried to make their vegetables more enticing by making sculptures with them.

The Madonna - Photo source : 2013 by W.Scott Koenig Day of the Dead Radish Figures
www.mexconnect.com/la-noche-de-rabanos agringoinmexico.com/night-of-the-radishes

It was such a hit that the governor, Vasconcelos, decided to create an official contest in 1897. It’s been a tradition in Oaxaca ever since. All kinds of sculptures can be seen—saints, musicians, buildings, even a tiny cemetery where little radish people are celebrating the Day of the Dead. To ensure fair competition, everyone uses vegetables grown by the government for the festival. And these radishes are big: Some grow 1.5 feet long and can weigh almost seven pounds.

The festival starts in the morning, when everyone can see the artists working on their sculptures, but wait until night if you want to see the finished masterpieces. The festival also features concerts around the city, fireworks, and light shows.

SPAIN - “FELIZ NAVIDAD”
The Spanish celebrate with a number of traditional events such nativity scenes (they like large ones), midnight mass, dinners and special deserts, the Three Kings, but there are a few somewhat irreverent traditions also.

● Caga Tió or Tió de Nadal (The Pooping Log)
A Catalan tradition is the Pooping Log. The word Tió means log. Children decorate a small log by adding legs, a face, and a red Catalan hat ('barretina') and sometimes a red cloth or blanket. They are for sale everywhere around Christmas time.

From the 8th of December until Christmas the children feed the log small pieces of bread or fruit, take care of it and keep it warm. As Christmas approaches, the parents often replace the first log with a bigger one. The children believe if they take good care of the log, it will grow bigger and they will get bigger presents.

On Christmas Eve or Christmas day the children sing a special song to make the log “poop”, then they beat him with a stick.

After giving the log a good beating and still singing, they leave the room, giving parents the opportunity to put candy and presents in the hallow log or under the blanket. Traditionally, when the log has nothing left to poop, it finishes the deed with a salt herring, a head of garlic, an onion, or it 'urinates' by leaving a bowl of water. These days the presents pooped out by the log are candy, sweets and turrón nougat, and maybe one gift, since the big day for gift giving in most of Europe is January 6, the day of the Epiphany.

●El Caganer (The Defecator)
All Spaniards seem to like nativity scenes, big and small. You find them everywhere. Some families buy a nativity scene rather than a Christmas Tree. A second Catalan tradition I’d never heard of is the Caganer. It’s a small figurine of a man wearing a red Barretina squatting with his pants around his ankles, defecating.
Photos: 2012 Article by Barbara Weibel
holeinthe donut.com/2012/caganers

That’s strange enough, but the kicker is that in every crèche there is a hidden Caganer.

The Caganers are for sale everywhere at Christmas time, and have become so popular you can find a caganer figurine with the face of every celebrity in the world.

In a 2012 article, Barbara Weibel writes, “No one knows for sure how the Caganer originally came into being and even today, opinions are divided on what it symbolizes. Some insist that excrement is symbolic of fertilizing the earth.”

According to the ethnographer, Joan Amades, it was a “customary figure in pessebres in the 19th century, because people believed that this deposit fertilized the ground of the pessebre (a manger, crib, nativity scene)…placing this figurine in the pessebre brought good luck and joy and not doing so brought adversity.”

Others believe the act of defecation is symbolic of the equality of all people, regardless of status, race, or gender (i.e. everyone does it). The explanation Barbara Weibel says she likes best is the reference to an old Spanish proverb which translates as “Dung is no saint, but where it falls it, it works miracles.”

THE PHILIPPINES – “MALIGAYANG PASKO”
Tagalog, 1 of 8 Philippino languages Photo source: www.cnn.com/san-fernando-philippines-christmas

“MALIPAYON NGA PASCUA” in Ilonggo;
“MAAYONG PASKO” in Sugbuhanon or Cebuano;
“MAUGMANG PASKO” in Bicolano;
“MAUPAY NGA PASKO” in Warey arey
“MAABIG YA PASKO” in Pangalatok;
“MAGAYAGAN INKIANAC” Pangasinense

Christmas is a major holiday in the Philippines because over eighty percent of the population is Roman Catholic, and you can say “Merry Christmas” in eight Philippino languages. The people make the season last as long as possible, and some of the shopping and caroling begins in September.

Many of the Christmas traditions came from Europe with the missionaries in the 1500’s but there are some traditions unique to the Philippines.
The parol, the most popular Christmas decoration, is a bamboo pole with a lighted star lanterns on it. Made from bamboo strips and colored paper or cellophane, it represents the star of Bethlehem which guided the Wise Men. Originally these lanterns were simple, and only about eighteen inches in diameter.

The Lantern Festival (Ligligan Parul Samper-nandu) is held each year on the Saturday before Christmas Eve in the city of San Fernando – known as the “Christmas Capital of the Philippines.”

The festival attracts spectators from all over the country and across the globe. Eleven villages take part and compete for the most elaborate lantern. Today these lanterns are about 6 meters in diameter lighted from within by electric bulbs that sparkle in patterns.

2018 Sources
http://www.christmasinthephilippines.com/christmas-decor/parol/
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/san-fernando-philippines-christmas/index.html
https://www.momondo.com/discover/article/christmas-traditions-around-the-world
https://www.whychristmas.com/cultures/philippines.shtml
http://www.mjenemark.com/blog/2014/01/the-unfortunate-fates-of-the-gavle-goat-a-timeline
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2012/12/gavle-goat-sweden-burn-interview-eje-berglund.html?gtm=top&gtm=top
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%A4vle_goat
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2015/12/giant-goat-sweden-people-try-burn-every-year/
https://www.atlasobscura.com/foods/night-of-the-radishes-carving-festival
https:/twitter.com/Gavlebocken
http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/3955-radiant-radishes-la-noche-de-rabanos-in-oaxaca
https://gastropod.com/night-living-radishes/
http://agringoinmexico.com/2013/12/25/night-of-the-radishes-the-roots-of-oaxacas-oldest-festival/
https://people.howstuffworks.com/culture-traditions/holidays-christmas/christmas-traditions-around-the-world-ga9.htm
https://www.smartfundiy.com/21-mexican-christmas-traditions/
https://www.uvolunteer.net/blog/how-to-celebrate-christmas-in-costa-rica/
https://www.godutchrealty.com/costa-rica-real-estate-blog/how-to-prevent-culture-shock/christmas-traditions-in-costa-rica/
https://theculturetrip.com/europe/spain/articles/8-spanish-christmas-traditions-you-need-to-know/
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/catalonia-tio-de-nadal-christmas-log-tradition-presents-what-is-it-a8091921.html
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/12/22/572569325/caga-ti-a-catalan-log-that-poops-nougats-at-christmas
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ti%C3%B3_de_Nadal
https://slate.com/human-interest/2013/12/feeding-the-poop-log-a-catalan-christmas-tradition.html
https://www.barcelonayellow.com/barcelona-christmas-articles/625-caga-tio-christmas-log-tradition-and-song
https://scarylittlechristmas.wordpress.com/2013/12/23/kallikantzari/

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THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

12/14/2018

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF CHRISTMAS…”
So begins one of the best known and favorite Christmas carols. The origin of this delightful song is believed to be French, a children’s forfeit game with ever more elaborate gifts added to the collection, verse by verse, as a test of memory.

The song was first published in English in 1780. The twelve day of Christmas are those between Christmas and the Epiphany on January 6, which marks the end of the Christmas season on the religious calendar.

Whatever its origins, the carol grew in popularity throughout Europe during the 19th century. Numerous versions and variations of its lyrics and tune emerged during this time, primarily because the music and words were passed down from performer to performer and from location to location in verbal form, not written. Some places substituted the words in their own language or dialect.

Some of the 1780 lyrics remain intact in the version we sing today, which is derived from a 1909 arrangement of traditional folk melody by English composer Frederic Austin, who added the five golden rings to the original.

EVOLUTION
Scottish poet and artist William Scott Bell recorded an early version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" in 1892. The words are substantially the same as today but in his version each verse concludes not with “a partridge in a pear tree,” but with a more ostentatious “very pretty peacock upon a pear tree.”

In the original 1780 version with additions by Frederic Austin, the “four calling birds” are “four colly birds.” Colly – literally “coaly” – is the old English word meaning “soot-black.” By the mid-19th century, however, the word colly had largely fallen out of use, leaving several Victorian editions of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" to come up with their own replacements. “Colour’d birds” and even “curley birds” were used in some editions, while an exotic “four canary birds” were added to the lyrics of one version. The now-standard “four calling birds” first appeared in the early 1900s.

In 1869, an article appeared in The English magazine The Cliftonian which described a traditional Christmas in rural Gloucestershire, southwest England. The author of the article wrote he had heard some local carolers singing a curious Christmas song, which he noted for the “peculiarity and the utter absurdity of the words.” He goes on to explain that the carol “proceeds in this ascending manner until on the twelfth day of Christmas the young lady receives … [an] astounding tribute of true love”—among which are “eight hares a-running” and “eleven badgers baiting.”

If you want to get into all the variations, Wikipedia lists twenty different variations dating from 1780 to 1966. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twelve_Days_of_Christmas_(song)

There is an amazing collection of critters and people, along with bell’s a-ringing and sprigs of juniper, participating in this multitude of verses.

THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
a very pretty peacock upon a pear tree.

On the second day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Two turtle doves,
And a very pretty peacock upon a pear tree.

On the third day of Christmas, my true love sent to me:
Three fat hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a very pretty peacock upon a pear tree.

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me:
Four soot-black birds,
Three fat hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a very pretty peacock upon a pear tree.

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Five golden rings,
Four soot-black birds,
Three fat hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a very pretty peacock upon a pear tree.

On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me:
Six Geese a Laying,
Five golden rings,
Four soot-black birds,
Three fat hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a very pretty peacock upon a pear tree.

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me:
Seven squabs a-swimming,
Six Geese a Laying,
Five golden rings,
   Four soot-black birds,
   Three fat hens,
   Two turtle doves,
   And a very pretty peacock upon a pear tree.

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me:
Eight hares a-running,
Seven squabs a-swimming,
Six Geese a Laying,
Five golden rings,
Four soot-black birds,
Three fat hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a very pretty peacock upon a pear tree.

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Nine bulls a-roaring,
Eight hares a-running,
Seven squabs a-swimming,
Six Geese a Laying,
Five golden rings,
Four soot-black birds,
Three fat hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a very pretty peacock upon a pear tree.

On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me:
Ten asses racing,
Nine bulls a-roaring,
Eight hares a-running,
Seven squabs a-swimming,
Six Geese a Laying,
Five golden rings,
Four soot-black birds,
Three fat hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a very pretty peacock upon a pear tree.

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Eleven badgers badging,
Ten asses racing,
Nine bulls a-roaring,
Eight hares a-running,
Seven squabs a-swimming,
Six Geese a Laying,
Five golden rings,
Four soot-black birds,
Three fat hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a very pretty peacock upon a pear tree.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me:
Twelve dancers dancing,
Eleven badgers badging,
Ten asses racing,
   Nine bulls a-roaring,
   Eight hares a-running,
   Seven squabs a-swimming,
   Six Geese a Laying,
   Five golden rings,
   Four soot-black birds,
   Three fat hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a very pretty peacock upon a pear tree.

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THE AFRICAN BIG FIVE: Poaching ... And I Don't Mean Eggs!

12/7/2018

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The question most asked of authors is where they get their ideas. The answer: Everywhere. Just look, listen, and ask "What if...?"

I plotted the last of my five-book romantic suspense series [Tour Director Extraordinaire] while I was traveling in Africa. It's finally been released as ALL FOR A BLAST OF HOT AIR. The African Big Five - Photo source:
http://pradeepamohan.net/blog/2012/07/13/south-africas-big-five/

I use world travel as an inspiration for writing novels. On nearly every trip I've taken, annoying, funny, or scary incidents occurred. There is always one person in the group who is an interesting, annoying, quirky, or otherwise notable character. And, of course, most world travelers are exposed to new sights, sounds, smells, and customs.

The important thing is to pay attention. I have to keep a notebook where I jot things down. Some people write a daily journal. Not everything ends up in a book. In fact, most of it doesn't, although knowledge garnered adds significantly to the author's "command" of the setting.

THINK AFRICA, THINK THE BIG FIVE
When most of us think about Africa, we immediately envision wild animals and, in particular, "the big five." This term applies those African animals most difficult and dangerous to hunt on foot, not the size of the animal. These are lions, African elephants, Cape buffalo, leopards, and rhinoceros. But there are plenty of other interesting animals such as zebra and giraffes, and observing them in their wild habitat is a one-of-a-kind experience.

My trip to southern Africa in 2008 (South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia) was one of the most interesting and exciting adventures I've had. Seeing the animals in the wild was awesome, even in a safari vehicle filled with tourists.

Here's my point. I knew there were, and still are, significant efforts to protect the African wildlife habitat and the animals, but I had no idea how endangered the animals are. And, of course, the primary source of threat comes from humans.

AFRICAN LIONS
Everyone, regardless of location or point in time, recognizes the lion (Panthera leo). Depictions of lions date back 17,000 years, at minimum, to the carvings and paintings from the Lascaux and Chauvet caves in France. Lions are the second largest living cat species after the tiger.

African lions live in Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania, the Central African Republic, South Sudan and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa. They wander a territory of 100 square miles, according to National Geographic. This territory consists of scrub, grasslands or open woodlands; they are not found in forests.

First two photos from Wikipedia My night shot of a lioness Me and Alex [6 months]
Kreuger National Park,So.Africa Ethosia National Park, Namibia

Males are more robust than females and have broader heads and a prominent mane which covers most of the head, neck, and shoulders. The tails of both male and female end in a dark, hairy tufts. Typical weight range for male is 330 to 550 pounds and for females, 265 to 400 pound.

A hundred years ago, the estimated number of lions in Africa was 200,000. Today, experts say the lion population is between 20,000 and 30,000. They were not identified as “endangered” until 2015, and the news keeps getting worse. Recent studies show the populations have declined by fifty percent over the past twenty years and are expected to decline as rapidly in the next twenty.

According to Luke Hunter, president of the wild-cat conservation organization (Panthera) one of the greatest threats to the existence of lions “is that the bushmeat trade has left the Africa Savannah devoid of the animals that lions traditionally prey upon. It’s a commercial endeavor, not just a subsistence one.” Thus lions turn to livestock, which subjects them to local farmers killing the lions. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/extinction-countdown/african-lions-protection/

AFRICAN ELEPHANTS
The African elephant is the largest animal walking the earth. Their herds wander through thirty-seven countries in Africa, much of that area in wildlife preservation areas. They use their trunks for communication and handling objects. Large ears allow them to radiate excess heat. Upper incisor teeth develop into tusks in African elephants and grow throughout their lifetime.

● Savannah Elephants
Savannah elephants live in the East and South of Africa in Savannah and grassy plains: Botswana, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Namibia, South Africa and Mozambique. This type of elephant is the largest animal on Earth. You can recognize them by their large ears (larger than other elephants) and the fact that their front legs are longer than back legs. Both male and female have tusks. ▼

Savannah elephant and baby Baby Savannah elephant Forest Elephant
Photos: R. Ann Siracusa, Zimbabwe www.aboutanimals.com
● Forest Elephants
Forest elephants live in the forest of the Congo basin in Africa. This species has a narrow, small mandible, smaller round-shaped ears, and stronger tusks which are straighter and point downward. Since it is in a forest it is known to use the tusk to remove branches and trees on the ground. There are also differences in the size and shape of the skull and skeleton between the two subspecies.

AFRICAN RHINOCEROS
The rhinoceros gets its name from the Greek rhinoceros, rhinos meaning nose and kerato meaning horn. Even with a herbivorous diet, they can reach two tons in weight, and have a 1.5 to 5 cm protective skin formed from layers of collagen.

There are depictions of these giant animals on the walls of the Chauvet Cave in France, 10,000 to 30,000 years ago, so they've been around for a long time. There are two species of rhinoceros in Africa, Black and White, although in color they are similar and both are varying shades of gray. They are near-sighted and can be easily startled.

●White Rhinoceros
The largest rhinoceros species (Ceratotherium simum) consists of two subspecies—the southern white rhinoceros, which lives in the southernmost regions of Africa, and the northern white rhinoceros of central Africa.

White rhinos have broad flat mouth and the natural head posture faces down, features aiding eating grass. The Dutch name is wijd or weid mond rhino which means wide mouth. That ultimately morphed into the name white rather than wide. The males can reach over two tons in weight, but they are very social animals and often can been seen in groups. They are also less aggressive than black rhinos but, nonetheless, you don’t want to mess around with one.

While survey numbers vary, there are about 20,000 southern white rhinoceroses in the wild, but the northern white rhinoceros is on the brink of extinction, a mere handful of individuals surviving in zoos and nature reserves. The conservation efforts to save the southern white rhino is a success story and that population is estimated in recent years as about 21,000.

Photo: Wikipedia, White Rhino – Waterberg-Nash    Photo: Wikipedia - Black Rhino at St. Louis zoo

● Black Rhinoceros
These are smaller than whites and have small hook- or beak-shaped mouths for feeding on trees and shrubs. Large males weigh up to about one ton. They prefer thick vegetation, and are short tempered and aggressive when compared to the white rhino. They also prefer solitude and do not remain in groups.

Protection efforts have been in existence for nearly 100 years, yet in the 1970's, there were about 70,000 black rhinos on the continent of Africa. In the 1980's, this population had been reduced to 15,000, and the species has all but disappeared in at least ten African countries. In the 1990's, there were 2,475. Since then, through conservation efforts, the population has increased to 5,458 in 2015. While progress has been made, these statistics are pretty pathetic for an animal whose evolutionary history can be traced back fifty million years.

AFRICAN CAPE BUFFALO
Yay! The African Cape Buffalo is alive and well, and not endangered. Nine hundred thousand of them live in the wild.

This is Africa’s only wild Bovine species and is one of the ‘Big Five’ mammals that were once popular with trophy hunters. The animal has a bulky build, thick horns, and a sparse covering of hair over the body typically ranges from brownish to black in color. The imposing horns spread outward and downward from the head, and in some males the horns are joined by a large shield covering the head, known as a ‘boss’ro. The males tend to be larger than the females, with longer, thicker horns.

They are vegetarian and travel in herds, being very social animals. They are also unpredictable and considered very dangerous to humans. They will continue to charge even after being shot. There are four subspecies, three Savannah and one forest.

● Forest Cape Buffalo
These are the smallest of the subspecies, about half the size of the Savannah species, and males weight from 600 to 1,000 pounds. They are a reddish brown. Their heads are lower than the top of the backline, and the horns are smaller and swept back. Their front hooves are wider than those in the rear. Distinctive tassels hang from the tips of the forest buffalo’s ears.

Forest Cape Buffalo at the African    Savannah Cape Buffalo Photo: Doug Lee:
Reserve of Sigean, France-Photo: Wikipedia    Photo: R.A.Siracusa    www.wildliferanching.com/

● Savannah Cape Buffalo ▲
The Savannah types are larger, from 1,100 to 2,200 pounds. They have black or dark brown coats. Old bulls have whitish circles around their eyes. Below a comparison of the Cape Buffalo to an elephant and a lion.

AFRICAN LEOPARDS
The African leopard (Panthera pardus pardus) is a leopard subspecies native to many, widely separated locations in Africa.

They sport a large variety of coat colors and pattern, depending on location and habitat. It varies from pale yellow to deep tawny and sometimes black rosettes or black. Males weight from 130 to 200 pounds. Females average from 77 to 88 pounds.

Mountain leopards from the Cape Provinces had different physical characteristics form leopards in the northern provinces of Africa. Rain forest leopards have a darker golden coat while east African leopards display a more circular pattern of spots. Southern leopards tend to be lighter in color and have squarish spots.

According to DiscountAfricanHunts.com, “An adult male can eat up to 20 percent of its body weight at one feeding. A leopard will eat any and all types of meat from impala to carrion."

African leopards favor a diet of animals like baboons, pigs, warthogs, monkeys, domestic stock and small antelope, and can carry a complete carcass equal to their weight up into a tree with ease. This is due to the leopard’s massive skull and strong jaw muscles.

Its success in stalking and hunting can be credited to its opportunistic behavior and impressive speed. A healthy male leopard can run at speeds approaching 35 miles per hour. The African leopard is the smallest animal that consistently kills and eats man - he’s the ultimate evolution of a carnivore.”

WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE?
At one time not so long ago, the Big Five of Africa were akin to natural wonders of the world. Wild and mysterious. Today some of them are fast disappearing off the face of the earth, except in zoos and facilities for preservation.

The reasons for this include the loss of habitat due, in part, to population growth and human encroachment. Big game hunting also adds to the problem, but the big ticket item is illegal poaching. Not only Africa, but the rest of the world is facing an alarming increase in illegal poaching, working against decade of preservation efforts. But it is big business, and money rules. The trade runs in the hundreds of millions of dollars per year, and at least some of it goes to support world terrorism.

Elephants tusks have long been sought for the ivory, but now poaching for Rhino horns is the biggest problem. Treehugger.com stated in 2009 that "Rhino horn is now worth more than gold: A kilo of rhino horn now goes for $60,000 on the black market, where-as that much gold is currently a bit over $40,600. That's $1610 an ounce for the rhino horn." The major use of rhino horn is in traditional Asian medicines. Yowza!

Photo Source: PhotoSource: Photo source: Photo source:
www.wildlife-pictures-online.com/ www.wildlife-pictures-online.com/ https://www.jamiiforums.com/ https://www.change.org/p/rhinoceros

Photo source: http://www.engelbrechtsafaris.com/plainsgame.html

It is possible in the not-too-so-distant future, the only place where some of the big five and other animals survive will be in zoos.

STORY IDEAS
This blog isn't all about wildlife conservation, but how real life and traveling translate into novels. Knowing the situation in Africa, how could an author use it in a novel? A heroine who is fighting poachers to save elephants or rhinos confronts the big game hunter, or poacher or perhaps works with a park ranger. The situation would provide for plenty of action and, perhaps, enlighten readers at the same time. If you want to stick to US settings, here’s a news headline from the November 13, 2013 Denver post which might give you an idea.

   "U.S. authorities on Thursday crushed 6 tons of seized ivory, each piece cut from
   dead elephants, signaling a resolve to kill a $10 billion illicit trade linked to
   international crime and terrorism."

I knew, when I went to Africa, that I wanted to use that setting for a novel in my romantic suspense series Tour Director Extraordinaire. I had a paragraph length concept, but nothing else. If you read my latest release All For A Blast of Hot Air (which has nothing to do with poaching), you'll see how I used the setting.

ALL FOR A BLAST OF HOT AIR
BOOK 5 - TOUR DIRECTOR EXTRAORDINAIRE SERIES
By R. Ann Siracusa