The trio of temples known as the Shatrughaneshwar group are among the earliest examples of Odia temple architecture (early-7th c AD). They individually consist of only a square shrine room with tower rising above, without any mandap in front. While these temples are heavily reconstructed, we get a sense of their original massing.
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Oh course I have to lead with the bears. Churchill is often referred to as ‘The Polar Bear Capitol of the world’ and I do have more of them to show you. This is a different mother and cub from the ones I posted before and they are shot in black and white.
Churchill itself is a most remarkable and unique place. In the summer it is nippy, but in the winter, it is another story altogether. Hudson Bay freezes over and the polar bears are in their element. People, not so much. But clever and resourceful humans have adapted many ways to make life in this forbidding climate livable. Check out this polar research vehicle which you have to admit is pretty darn nifty. (In the background you can see an abandoned missile silo. More about this later).
Decades ago polar bear populations around Churchill were in very serious…
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A flock of red-winged blackbirds over Long Island, N.Y.CreditCreditVicki Jauron, Babylon and Beyond Photography/Moment, via Getty Images
Thanks to the authors of this op-ed for a bit of clear thinking:
The Crisis for Birds Is a Crisis for Us All
The mass disappearance of North American birds is a dire warning about the planet’s well-being.
By John W. Fitzpatrick and
Dr. Fitzpatrick is the director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Dr. Marra is the director of the Georgetown Environment Initiative.
A male Baltimore Oriole. Steve Maslowski/Science Source, via Getty Images Plus
Nearly one-third of the wild birds in the United States and Canada have vanished since 1970, a staggering loss that suggests the very fabric of North America’s ecosystem is unraveling.
The disappearance of 2.9 billion birds over the past nearly 50 years was reported today in the journal Science, a result of a comprehensive study by a team…
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Apart from the carbon dating, studies of signs showed similarities of Indus Valley civilization comprised of Mohanjodaro and Harappan.
A new hypothesis that links the Vaigai civilization, represented by the ongoing archaeological excavation at Keezhadi near here, with Indus civilization on the basis of exact names of places was put forth by R. Balakrishnan, Additional Chief Secretary, Odisha, India.
Mr. Balakrishnan said that there were still about 500 names in the Indus Valley which were alien to north Indian languages.
But their replicas were found in south Tamil Nadu, especially on both banks of the Vaigai.
He pointed out that names like Korkai, Madurai, Vanji, and Thondi existed now in the Indus Valley and this could not be deemed accidental.
Added to this were the symbols of the Indus Valley unearthed in Keezhadi. Mr. Balakrishnan said that the proven or potential archaeological sites along the Vaigai had exact counterparts in…
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I traveled to Odisha in December 2017 to visit the temples in and around Bhubaneswar that together form the distinct Odia style of temple architecture. One of the main aims was to experience first hand this unique phenomenon in Indian architectural history, of having a relatively close group of monuments not just represent but almost entirely encompass one of the important stylistic traditions of Hindu temple design, stretching from the 7th c AD till the 13th c.
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This 18 September 2019 video from New Zealand says about itself:
Fossil of ancient bony-toothed bird found in Canterbury
One of world’s oldest bird species has been found in North Canterbury.
Bony-toothed birds, an ancient family of huge seafaring birds, were thought to have evolved in the Northern Hemisphere – but that theory has been upended by the discovery of the family’s oldest, but smallest member in New Zealand.
At 62 million-years-old, the newly-found Protodontopteryx ruthae is rewriting the history of the seabird family.
And as Eleisha Foon reports, while the discovery was made last year, it’s taken until now for experts to determine exactly what it was.
From the Canterbury Museum in New Zealand:
One of world’s oldest bird species found in Waipara, New Zealand
September 17, 2019
The ancestor of some of the largest flying birds ever has been found in Waipara, North Canterbury. …
It lived in…
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In the beginning
And the ending
And the beginning
Stand unbroken
The chimes of the mists
Of evermore, where the raven,
Black king of prophecy,
Of shining forests,
Greets
The rain and the sun,
And awaits
His mate
On the juniper heights,
Hearing the humming croak
Of the frog in the creek
And all the crowds
Of tadpoles
That awoke
In the sands,
In the sparkling rains.
Later,
The wise
Long-eared owl
Walks in the snow,
In the midnight of winter,
Silent,
As she has always done,
Remembering the bubbling lakes of spring
Where crystal flowers flame
In the sunrise,
Where Ganesha’s smile
Illuminates
The fateful dark; where the coyote’s howl
Sings a lullaby, a gentle
Enchantment, laughing, sly.
Where the broken bridge
Of time bends along
The rushing waters of the gorge, transient,
Leaving.
Yet the presence of eternity remains
In the eyes – at once meek
And brave – of the young cottontail.
On a silver-winged hill,
Under a bright cowl of numinous clouds,
The ravens
Call
Still
In the trail
Of the rains
0f a distant day.
Until
The gold feet
Of the setting sun
Run
Over long roads through the juniper trees –
Through the scattered scrub oak.
White cliffs, gateways to eternity,
You who bear the scars
Of rain and winds and storms, who
Give earth blessings,
Who speak silently through
Ancient seas long gone – where you were born,
Through awareness beyond our own,
You talk with the stars
From a far ancient country, long worn
Away,
And yet to be again;
When
You recall the song
Of the mountain bluebird
Who had no name
The song no longer heard,
Sung long ago,
In mystic nights
That left no trace.
Now, after a while,
Tall,
On a high ridge
The pine tree
Stands,
Unafraid, in the ice and snow
Singing still,
Under the haunting moon of grace,
A moon of many petals,
Beyond the tides that rise and fall,
On the plateau above, he stands
And writes with fire in the sky
On a clear and wind-swept day.
©Sharon St Joan, 2019
Photo Credit:
#NarmadaValley is a national treasure where archaen age to the current age history can be found at one place and it should be preserved, celebrated and researched. Narmada basin extends over an area of 98796 Sq.km. and lies between east longitudes 72o 32′ to 81o 45′ and north latitudes 21o 20′ to 23o 45′ lying on the northern extremity of the Deccan Plateau, the basin covers large areas in the states of M.P., Gujarat and comparatively smaller areas in Maharashtra. Study of Narmada Basin is important because of its geographical location which is very strategic for migration of animal population from North to South and East to West. (N-S, E-W is quoted in Skanda puran as well). Narmada was known to Ptolemy as Nammadus. Adi Shankara met his guru Govinda Bhagavatpada (भगवत्पन्द ) on the banks of river Narmada.
One of the verses in Skanda Puran gives puranic glory of…
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