Quote of the Day: “Either I will find a way, or I will make one.” – Philip Sidney
Photo by: Brett Curtiss (CC license)
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
60 years ago today, Shishapangma was summited for the first time as the last of Mother Earth’s 14 peaks above 8,000 meters to be climbed by mankind. It is both the 14th highest mountain in the world and the 14th eight thousander to be climbed, by a Chinese expedition led by Xu Jing (许竞). READ a bit more about this little-known peak… (1964)
Owing to personal interest, GNN is partial to stories of rare bird sightings, and news from Oregon recently broke the story of a ‘mega-rare’ bird never seen before in either the state or the country.
It wasn’t made by a birder, but rather an ordinary talented photographer named Michael Sanchez, who was on the beach one morning near Hug Point Falls when he saw a blue and chestnut bird hopping along the rocks.
“I happened to look behind me toward the ocean and saw this cute little bird standing on the sand,” Sanchez told KOIN 6. “The sun wasn’t fully up yet, so to my eyes, it looked like a little black bird. It posed for me for a minute or two, and then it flew up to the rocks. It stayed there for another moment or so, and then it flew away toward the east. I didn’t think much more of it than that.”
In the growing light, it seemed to Sanchez as if the bird was black, but going over the pictures at his house, he realized it was much more colorful.
Putting some pictures up on social media, they made their way via a friend to a local birding group, where one member shared it to rapturous applause.
“Spectacular find. A banger record even if nobody can relocate the bird,” said one commenter.
“I see they are year round in Japan but seem to leave SE Asia in the summer. Would this bird be a migrant from last year heading north from a wintering ground in southern North America? Seems like quite a haul to cross the entire Pacific,” said another.
KOIN 6 spoke with a member of the Oregon Birding Association who said that the only other time a blue rock thrush, native to Europe and Asia, has been seen in North America was in British Colombia in 1997. But this record was eventually written off.
With the clarity of Sanchez’ pictures, it’s hard to dispute the evidence that, as the commenter speculated, this bird may have come all the way across the Pacific.
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Birders have flocked to Hug Point in recent days, reports KOIN, in an attempt to find Sanchez’s blue rock thrush. However, no other sightings have been reported.
Some association members are speculating that this tiny bird may have hitched a ride on a ship, but Hug Point Falls is an awfully long way from any large harbor.
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As for Sanchez, he didn’t have any interest in birds, but upon witnessing the reaction to his photographs, he regretted not taking more.
“This really has opened my eyes”, he said. “I guess I’m a birder at this point,” Sanchez said. “I think I’m in the club.”
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Yesterday, a bipartisan collection of Senators introduced the Fans First Act, which would help address flaws in the current live event ticketing system by increasing transparency in ticket sales, and protecting consumers from fake or dramatically overpriced tickets.
Today, the artists and Congressmen allege, buying a ticket to a concert or sporting event requires negotiating a minefield of predatory practices, such as speculative ticket buying and the use of automated programs to buy large numbers of tickets for resale at inflated prices.
The legislation would ban such practices, and include provisions for guaranteed refunds in the event of a cancellation.
The political campaign organizers, calling themselves “Fix the Tix” write that included among the supporters of the legislation is a coalition of live event industry organizations and professionals, who have formed to advocate on behalf of concertgoers.
This includes a steering committee led by Eventbrite and the National Independent Value Association that’s supported by dozens of artistic unions, independent ticket sellers, and of course, over 250 artists and bands, including Billie Eilish, Dave Matthews, Cyndi Lauper, Lorde, Sia, Train, Fall Out Boy, Green Day, and hundreds more which you can read here.
“Buying a ticket to see your favorite artist or team is out of reach for too many Americans,” said Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN).
“Bots, hidden fees, and predatory practices are hurting consumers whether they want to catch a home game, an up-and-coming artist, or a major headliner like Taylor Swift or Bad Bunny. From ensuring fans get refunds for canceled shows to banning speculative ticket sales, this bipartisan legislation will improve the ticketing experience.”
Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Roger Wicker (R-MS), John Cornyn (R-TX) and Peter Welch (D-VT) also signed on to the Fan First Act.
In the House, parallel legislation was just passed through committee 45-0.
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“We would like to thank our colleagues, both on and off committee, for their collaboration. This bipartisan achievement is the result of months and years of hard work by Members on both sides of the aisle,” said the chairs and subchairs of the Committee on Energy and Commerce.
“Our committee will continue to lead the way on this effort as we further our work to bring this solution to the House floor.”
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“The relationship between artist and fan, which forms the backbone of the entire music industry, is severed,” the artists write. “When predatory resellers scoop up face value tickets in order to resell them at inflated prices on secondary markets, artists lose the ability to connect with their fans who can’t afford to attend.”
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An apex predator can be any size really, from the raccoon-sized quolls of Australia to the Bengal tiger: and this is exactly the sort of insight that scientists have just gleaned from a giant dinosaur footprint found in China.
The reason it’s giant is not so much because it’s big—they’ve found many that are bigger—but rather because it’s the largest fossilized footprint of a raptor ever recorded.
Found in the province of Fujian, China, the footprint belongs to a new genus, now called Fujianipus meaning “foot of Fujian,” and the species is called yingliangi. It is one of the largest raptors ever identified, and comes just under the largest estimates for Utahraptor
Raptors, officially called Deinonychosaurids, famously invaded the American zeitgeist with the 1993 release of Jurassic Park, but despite being more on the tiger side than the quoll side in terms of body mass in the film, real raptors were often really small.
“Raptors were good at being small,” Scott Persons, assistant professor of paleontology at the College of Charleston and a member of the research team behind the discovery, told ABC News 4 WYFF. “When it comes to house cat-and coyote-sized predators, raptors were widespread and globally successful for tens of millions of years.”
In Fujian, the track was discovered in an area of about 17,000 square feet that contains more than 240 identifiable dinosaur tracks in total. They were likely made when the animals walked through the mud near a riverside.
“You know a raptor track when you see it,” Lida Xing, a Chinese paleontologist who spearheaded the project, said in Paleontologists Discover Massive Dinosaur Tracks in China, Hinting at One of the Largest Known Raptors | Smart News| Smithsonian Magazinea news release. “But these tracks are different from any that have ever been found.”
The reason it’s so obvious is that unlike almost all hunting theropod dinosaurs, raptor tracks have only two toe imprints. This isn’t because they had only two toes, but rather because their middle digit sported a long curved talon, and the animal raised it up above the two to prevent it from being damaged.
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The five imprints measure 14 inches from claw to heel, suggesting Fujianipus stood up about 6 feet tall at the hip and was around 16 feet long, more than double the size of your average velociraptor which grew only 6 feet long.
Furthermore, according to the proportions of the toe, it’s believed the animal was a troodontid. Troodontids were small, relatively intelligent, and feathered hunting theropods that lived during the Late Cretaceous period, before the Earth was impacted by the comet which brought the age of dinosaurs to a close.
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It probably competed with other apex dinosaurs during its time, but while theropods like Tyrannosaurus found a niche in the ecosystem for a large predator, Fujiianipus found a space for a large, fast predator.
Most raptors stayed small, but something caused Fujianipus to grow quite large. What it was is a fascinating question that only more discoveries can reveal.
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An Alabama woman broke the odds of 70-million-to-1 giving birth to quadruplets that are two sets of identical twins.
Hannah Carmack and her husband, Michael, found out they were expecting a year and a half ago—and were shocked when the sonogram revealed they were having quads.
The fact that they were two sets of twins gives it the 70 million odds.
In March last year, 27 weeks into her pregnancy, Hannah gave birth to Evelyn 2-lbs 11oz, David, 2 lbs 40z, Daniel 2 lbs 4oz, and Adeline 1lbs 10oz—all via a planned c-section.
Just 96 days later, they‘d all arrived home to Gadsden, and the parents now say they are “thriving”.
“It was chaotic when we brought them home for the first time,” said the 29-year-old veterinary technician. “Luckily I flew my step mom out for two and a half months to help me adjust.
“They all slept and ate at the same time. They thrived off each other: if one would scream, the other one would scream.
“The first time I saw them all home together I cried, I couldn’t believe it. They were a miracle.” (Watch an adorable video of their morning routine, below…)
Hannah and Michael were not even trying to have a baby, so when they found out they were expecting it came as a shock.
When the first scan revealed they were having quads, Hannah said she had a “panic attack”.
“I saw two placentas on the screen and I asked if they were twins. My husband put his hands on his head and started laughing while I was crying.”
But the technician wasn’t answering.
“I asked if it was triplets and she still didn’t reply, she put her hand on my knee and said there were four. I asked if she was sure and she said how there was definitely four babies there.”
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From the outset, Hannah was warned that it would be a miracle to make it to 30 weeks—and at 27 weeks, she was hospitalized at the University of Alabama Hospital and monitored closely. Doctors told her the goal was to get her to 28 weeks, as the babies would be safer to deliver—but it wasn’t to be.
After the births, the doctors told her all the babies were “doing good” although they had been intubated. Three days later, Hannah was sent home.
Baby Evelyn followed after 69 days, Adeline and David after 80 and 82 days and the last one came home after 96 days.
“Oh man, a lot of people prayed over our babies. They all had a 50 percent chance of survival; they had odds against them from the beginning.
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“They are all super sweet. The boys are obsessed with me and the girls are drifting towards their father.”
“They are all doing great now, Daniel is trying to walk, they are crawling and eating table food.”
The Carmacks share their life with quads on Youtube and TikTok at @carmackquads. Watch an adorable video of the kids’ morning routine at around one year old, and see what a great mom she is…
“Their personalities are very different: David is mysterious; Evelyn is our adventure baby; Adeline keeps to herself; and Daniel is on the go all the time.”
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DOUBLE the FUN on Social Media By Sharing the Cute Twins With Friends…
Quote of the Day: “Try to be like the turtle – at ease in your own shell.” – Bill Copeland
Photo by: Mark Olsen
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
217 years ago today, the Slave Trade Act of 1807 entered into force in Great Britain, abolishing the British participation in the Transatlantic Slave Trade and pressed other nation states to abolish their own slave trades. Sometimes in history, the abandonment of a previous widespread practice occurs naturally after its practice diminishes, but the Slave Trade Act was passed at a time when slavery was still an incredibly lucrative business, demonstrating, at least partially, the resolve of the abolitionists in Britain who lobbied and campaigned for 18 years for a bill. READ more… (1807)
The Seychelles has become a major tourist destination for beachgoing and scuba diving, but it’s not only humans that are beginning to flock to this island.
In what marine biologists have described as a “phenomenal finding,” a survey of whales around the territorial waters of this archipelagic nation revealed the presence of blue whales—over a dozen.
It’s the first time they’ve been seen in these warm seas since 1966, and it’s a wonderful milestone in a long and increasingly successful recovery for the world’s largest animal.
The Seychelles are located in the Indian Ocean off the east coast of Africa, and they were historically a stopover point for Soviet whalers en route to Antarctica. The years 1963 to 1966 were particularly difficult for whales here, and many were taken before the International Convention on the Regulation of Whaling put an end to the practice of hunting baleen whales in 1973.
Since 1966, no dedicated investigation of whales in the Seychelles had been made until 2020, when a partnership of four universities conducted an acoustic survey over the period of two years.
They made five different sightings of groups of up to 10 animals.
“This was a phenomenal finding,” Jeremy Kiszka, a co-author of the paper from Florida International University, wrote in The Conversation. “We were prepared to not see any blue whales due to the high level of hunting that occurred fairly recently and absolutely no information was available since the last blue whale was killed in the region in 1964.”
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These creatures are as long as a basketball court, and can easily weigh 200 tons. They are quite simply the largest animal ever known to have existed. While certain primitive whales or ichthyosaurs are estimated, based on extrapolations from fossilized remains to be as large or larger, it’s difficult to know for sure.
The team behind the survey sent images taken of the whales’ dorsal sides to a database to see if any of them had been recorded before, and amid the reel, not a single one was a match with any other photographed whale.
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This, the team suggests, means they have probably never been seen before, which for a species that big might seem strange, but along with there being only 5,000 to 15,000 on Earth, they migrate vast distances while diving deep, making recording their movements incredibly challenging.
The survey identified 23 whale species in total using hydroponic mics over 2 years with peak activity coming between December and April. This is a fascinating finding that suggests something about the seas around the Seychelles makes for excellent whale habitat.
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In the only study of its kind ever attempted, one which poured over hundreds of papers examining the impact of conservation efforts, scientists from England have determined that conservation as a whole can and does work.
Looking at data from as far back as 1890, the researchers say they have produced the first-ever evidence that whatever declines are affecting nature globally, conservation work can reverse them.
For the study, the authors ran a meta-analysis including 186 different papers reporting on 665 different conservation trials that measured biodiversity over time and compared outcomes under conservation action with a suitable counterfactual of no action.
“We find that in two-thirds of cases, conservation either improved the state of biodiversity or at least slowed declines,” the authors write. “Specifically, we find that interventions targeted at species and ecosystems, such as invasive species control, habitat loss reduction and restoration, protected areas, and sustainable management, are highly effective and have large effect sizes.”
“This study provides the strongest evidence to date that not only does conservation improve the state of biodiversity and slow its decline, but when it works, it really works,” said Dr. Penny Langhammer, executive vice-president of environment charity Re:wild.
Speaking with the BBC, Dr. Langhammer critiques world news headlines regarding extinction rates, saying that they miss the forest for the trees, and can easily lead to people believing that humanity is failing nature.
Data was determined to either provide an absolute positive benefit, relative positive benefit, absolute negative impact, or a relative negative impact, and in all but 20% of the cases, some benefit was observed for whatever the targeted effort was attempting to prevent.
In the cases where a relative negative impact was measured, wherein a targeted conservation measure was worse than doing nothing, some still produced improvements, just less than was seen from doing nothing.
Even within the trials that showed absolute negative impact, such as the case with the Australian seahorse, there was a positive effect to be observed. The seahorse’s numbers declined after the creation of a marine protected area to ensure their habitat was safe, but this was because the populations of their natural predators grew larger owing to the protection, and thus ate more of the seahorses.
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Many different kinds of trials were examined, such as pollution or invasive species control, habitat protection or restoration, the establishment of protected areas, and the sustainable management or use of these areas.
BBC reports that some of the exceptional successes included reducing deforestation in the Congo Rainforest by 74%.
In 2022, nearly the entire UN signed onto the Global Biodiversity Convention which aims to reverse the decline of natural ecosystems and wildlife globally. The convention estimated that a hefty sum of $200 billion would be needed every year to fund it, which the paper says is not being met.
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The authors surmise that their examination of conservation literature shows that conservation should be funded to the maximum extent as it has an exceptional track record of success.
“Conservation actions are investments rather than payments—and, as our study demonstrates, they are typically investments that yield genuine, high-magnitude positive impacts,” they conclude.
SHARE This Never-Before-Seen-Data With Your Friends Worried About Nature…
A young girl in the English city of Sheffield has seen her rare blood cancer go into complete remission, and she has her even younger sister to thank for it.
Diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in 2020 at age 6 after collapsing in the school playground, the family was desperate for donor stem cells from bone marrow to treat the rare form of the disease.
Remarkably, it was none other than 6-year-old Ruby Leaning’s 2-year-old sister, Mabel, who came up as a perfect match and was able to donate her bone marrow to keep Ruby alive and treat her cancer.
It was a long and difficult road that involved scares and good fortune. Ruby’s grandmother, Amanda Fawcett, spoke to SWNS about how difficult it was.
“It’s every parent’s nightmare… I was in the room with her mom when we found out, and you just can’t take anything in at all. It was all just heart-shattering,” she said.
Typically, ALL is treatable with just chemotherapy, but the kind which Ruby had been diagnosed with required a bone marrow transplant in addition.
“When Ruby’s leukemia did not respond well to chemotherapy, she received a relatively new drug called blinatumomab, which got her leukemia into remission and allowed us to perform her bone marrow transplant.”
Blinatumomab, or “blina” as it’s affectionately called for short, is a gentler chemotherapy and immunotherapy drug that has cured children of cancers with significantly less pain and despair than heavier chemo treatments.
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Blina is a kind of targeted therapy drug called a bispecific T-cell engager (BiTE). It’s administered via a pump and plastic bag through a tube inserted into the patient’s arm. The bag is carried around in a slim backpack, and the supply lasts a few days.
When the blina was initially successful, Ruby’s medical staff began to look for donors.
“We [weren’t] expecting [Mabel] to be a match at first, but thankfully she was, so we just couldn’t believe our luck,” Fawcett told Fox News. “It was amazing – we were so thankful.”
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Declared cancer-free in 2022, the family says that because Mabel has come to realize what she did for her sister, she asks to “borrow” nearly everything of Ruby’s, but Fawcett said it’s all “fun and games.”
“She’s a happy, normal, and healthy 10-year-old who loves swimming, dancing, and piano lessons,” she said of the girl.
SHARE This Sweet Story Of Sisterhood From the UK Cancer Wards…
In a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials, curcumin, the active ingredient in turmeric, was found to improve mobility and stiffness in those suffering from osteopenia and osteoarthritis.
Curcumin is simply one of the most incredible natural therapeutic compounds known in foods and has been investigated for its effects on everything from cancer to autoimmune disorders.
As strange as it might seem, this tuber may also be beneficial for preventing age-related degeneration in bone tissue and joints through the stimulation of osteoblast formation and activity, and the inhibition of osteoclasts.
Osteoblasts and osteoclasts are both bone tissue cells, but if the former outpace the latter, bone degeneration can occur. Curcumin also has other effects on bone tissue.
While some studies have shown robust effects of curcumin supplementation on bone health, others have been far less conclusive. A team of Iranian scientists led by Mohammed Bideshki at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences ran an umbrella analysis of meta-analyses of randomized-controlled studies on the topic to hopefully provide a clearer picture.
Over one-half of older women have osteopenia and nearly 37% of U.S. adults have osteoarthritis, making easy-to-take, natural compounds urgently needed to address the phenomenon.
“The results strongly support curcuminoid supplementation in relieving pain, improving joint mobility and stiffness, and shortening medication usage of [osteoarthritis] patients,” the authors conclude.
Curcumin is actually poorly absorbed into the body when consumed through food.
Chris Kresser, MD, from the California Institute of Functional Medicine, wrote recently on the topic that supplement companies have been trying to develop a form of curcumin that is more readily taken up in the GI tract for years.
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One formula called NovaSol has been shown to be 185 times more absorbable than curcumin in food, and it is the formula he recommends to his patients as a practicing clinician.
While it’s important to seek proper medical advice before taking anything in high doses, some studies have shown that humans can tolerate as many as 8 grams (8,000 mg) of curcumin per day without issue, which is far above the levels commonly seen in commercial supplements.
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While it’s no guarantee that curcumin supplementation will improve outcomes in osteopenia and osteoarthritis, it has powerful anti-inflammatory effects that may alleviate the pain associated with these conditions.
SHARE This Interesting Insight With Anyone You Know Suffering With Arthritis…
Quote of the Day: “How little do they see what really is, who frame their hasty judgment upon that which seems.” – Daniel Webster
Photo by: Alejandro Luengo
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
127 years ago today, J. J. Thomson announced his discovery of the electron as a subatomic particle, over 1,800 times smaller than a proton (in the atomic nucleus), at a lecture at the Royal Institution in London. It put to rest a long history of experimentation seeking to determine whether or not a “cathode ray” as the electron was first studied, was a ray or a wave. Thomson discovered that, in fact, it was neither. READ more about this groundbreaking discovery… (1897)
A remote outcrop in Scotland is covered with garden gnomes but nobody knows exactly how they got there.
The gnomes beam their mischief from the rock of Swallow Craig which sits just off Inchcolm Island in the Firth of Forth.
The gnomes first appeared there in 2010, with some people speculating they were left by a local fisherman.
But one local legend muses the gnomes escaped from a local garden centre attempting to flee up the Forth under the cover of night.
Another myth speculates that they were shipwrecked, and have spent the last 14 years on the island.
The population is always growing and the isle has since been dubbed Inch Gnome Island.
Scott Aston, skipper of the Maid of the Forth, takes dozens of tourists per day to the island, and says that visitors “crack up” at the sight.
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“One story behind it is that they made a bid for freedom, escaped over to Inch Gnome – and they’ve established their own colony out there. That’s how the legend goes.
“We hear people on the boat all the time asking, “is that a gnome?” and then they see the sign that says Inch Gnome and start to laugh.”
Scott has run sightseeing cruises on the Forth for 18 years, with trips running daily from Easter until October.
During his time in the job, he says he has seen the gnome population mysteriously increase each winter—but says he has no idea how.
“Nobody knows how they got there, and nobody knows why they’re there – but they do seem to multiply every winter!”
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If you’re ever in this estuary north of Edinburgh, consider visiting the outcropping which seems to be gnome sweet gnome.
SHARE THIS LITTLE GNOME FACT With Gnome Lovers on Social Media…
Here’s a stat most Californians have likely never heard: for every five gas stations in California, there’s now one electric vehicle fast charging station.
105,000 public or shared private electric vehicle chargers have been installed throughout California, which is on top of over 500,000 at-home chargers. The state also recently approved a $1.9 billion plan to build a bigger, better charging network.
Governor Gavin Newsom dropped by a Tesla supercharger on Earth Day to highlight the state’s progress in reaching the goal of a better charging network, as well as Tesla’s recent work to open its fast chargers to non-Tesla vehicles.
On April 12th, the California Energy Commission (CEC) approved a $1.9 billion investment plan that advances the state’s electric vehicle (EV) charging and hydrogen refueling goals. This funding builds on $1.8 billion already invested and will help deploy 40,000 new public EV chargers statewide and other zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) infrastructure across California, creating the most extensive charging and hydrogen refueling network in the country.
Combined with funding from the federal government, utilities, and other programs, the state believes that these investments will help it achieve its goal of deploying 250,000 public EV chargers at sites throughout California, such as highway corridors and shopping centers. This is in addition to private installations and home chargers.
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The need for chargers goes just beyond trying to encourage and incentivize people to buy an EV, that’s already happening on a wide scale.
25% of all new cars sold in California last year were ZEVs, according to the California Energy Commission (CEC), while the 1,846,874 total ZEV sales to date mean that of new ZEVs sold in the U.S., 34% are sold in California, according to data presented by the governor.
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Last week, Dept. of Transportation officials celebrated the groundbreaking of America’s first high-speed rail line between LA and Las Vegas.
The Brightline West will travel at 320 kilometers per hour or around 200 mph, which for American readers is standard for high-speed rail around the world.
Expected to be finished in four years, Brightline is envisioned as being a crucial piece of tourist infrastructure for the upcoming 2028 Summer Olympics.
Fortress Investment Group has gathered $9 billion in financing for the project, but is being helped with a $3 billion grant from the Biden Administration’s infrastructure funding bill.
“This is a historic project and a proud moment where we break ground on America’s first high-speed rail system and lay the foundation for a new industry,” said Wes Edens, Brightline founder at the groundbreaking ceremony where in place of a ribbon, project leaders pounded miniature nails into miniature railroad track.
“Today is long overdue, but the blueprint we’ve created with Brightline will allow us to repeat this model in other city pairs around the country.”
Brightline is expected to serve 11 million passengers every year running alongside US Interstate 15, which can be hindered by weekend traffic jams. In a typical year, 50 million passenger vehicles make the trip between these two iconic cities, and estimates place the number of total vehicle miles that will be saved at around 700 million.
Fortress Investment claims that 400,000 tonnes of CO2 will be eliminated for every year that Brightline West is in operation.
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The state-of-the-art, all-electric trains enriched with amenities will offer Americans what Asians and Europeans have enjoyed for decades.
This high-speed railway line is the second that Brightline as a firm will operate, having opened a modern luxury connection between Orlando and Miami in 2018.
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A statue fragment of the great pharaoh Ramses II has been recovered in a joint effort and repatriated to Egypt.
Carved 3,400 years ago, it was stolen from the Temple of Ramses in the southern Egyptian site of Abydos over 30 years ago.
Shaaban Abdel Gawad, who heads Egypt’s antiquities repatriation agency, said the piece is estimated to have been stolen in the late 1980s or early 1990s.
It is now in the possession of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in Cairo where it’s being restored.
The story of its recovery involved eagle eyes trained on the antiquities and art markets in Europe, where suddenly the statue fragment appeared on auction in London 10 years ago before being transferred to Switzerland.
“This head is part of a group of statues depicting King Ramses II seated alongside a number of Egyptian deities,” Gawad told Reuters.
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Working alongside Swiss officials, Gawad and his colleagues were able to establish rightful ownership, and the artifact was seized for transfer to Cairo.
Perhaps no other nation has had to recover more artifacts from plunderers and illegal traders than Egypt, but they’ve become quite adept at it over the decades.
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In a time when men lived to be 40 years old, Ramses II, aka the ‘Ozymandius’ of Percy Shelly’s poem, ruled for 40 years until his death at 91. It’s believed he sired nearly 100 children—and outlived almost all of them as well as many of his grandchildren.
Temples, cities, and statues were constructed across the realm in his honor as he extended the borders from as far south as Nubia, to as far north as Canaan and Phoenicia.
SHARE This Great News For Justice In The Art World…
Quote of the Day: “The fairest thing in nature, a flower, still has its roots in earth and manure.” – D. H. Lawrence
Photo by: Paul Felberbauer and (below) corina ardeleanu
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
125 years ago today, the musician and composer Duke Ellington, one of the most influential jazz musicians of all time, was born in Washington, DC. The pianist composed (or co-wrote) more than 1,000 pieces, many of which became popular standards like Mood Indigo, Sophisticated Lady, It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing), I Got It Bad and That Ain’t Good, Don’t Get Around Much Anymore, East St. Louis Toodle-Oo, and I’m Beginning To See the Light. He led his renowned 15-piece orchestra for almost 50 years until his death in 1974. READ more and watch a mini tribute… (1899)
