Elephant herd rescues drowning calf

from The Rainforest Site

Riverkeeper Boat Blog: Gowanus Patrol 7/2/12

Riverkeeper Boat Blog: Gowanus Patrol 7/2/12: "Gowanus Patrol 7/2/12
We patrolled the Gowanus Canal using an aluminum skiff which we carry aboard our “Mother Ship” patrol boat, the R. Ian Fletcher.

The Feds, the EPA, are mandating a massive Superfund cleanup on the Gowanus. NYC and NYC Department of Environmental Protection continue to resist, “don’t worry, trust us, we’ve got a plan, we’ll take care of it.”

This is what we saw on the July 2nd. Just my opinion, but I don’t think we can leave it to NYC anymore. We spent the day taking educators, local bloggers and activists on patrols in the skiff so they would have these sites, and smells, firmly in mind when they went to a public meeting on the proposed EPA cleanup that evening in Brooklyn.

Message to the EPA…please BRING IT, and thanks."
'via Blog this'

Sonny Rollins - Road Shows, V. 2

Ed Newman

Ornette Coleman and Sonny Rollins, with Christian McBride and Roy Haynes, at Rollins's 80th birthday concert, Beacon Theater, New York City, September 10, 2010

We heard him on his 80th birthday at the Beacon. With Roy Haynes, Ornette Coleman and other stars. He came on stage slowly, with a wide gait - and then began to blow like a 20 year old guy. His new album Road Shows Volume 2 is reviewed by Christopher Carroll in the New York Review. click through to the original for the hot links to tunes and other commentary. - GWC

No one knows why exactly Sonny Rollins, the tenor saxophone colossus, hasn’t recorded a good studio album since the 1960s. Though he ranks alongside Charlie Parker and John Coltrane as one of the greatest jazz saxophonists in history, some say that his style was irreparably damaged by years spent experimenting with funk, disco, and fusion in the seventies and eighties. Yet anyone who has seen Rollins perform on a good night knows that, even at eighty-one, he is still capable of playing with the same brilliance that first made giants like Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and Thelonious Monk take an interest in him in the 1950s. And if there were any lingering doubts, the news that Rollins won three major jazz awards this summer should dispel the notion that his best years are behind him.
In spite of his advanced age, Rollins remains one of jazz’s most talented improvisers. He has almost inexhaustible stamina, complete control of his instrument, and a seemingly bottomless reservoir of musical knowledge (ranging from jazz standards and pop, to folk songs and classical music), to say nothing of his decades of experience playing with almost every major figure in jazz. More important still, he has an impish sense of humor. He also has a keen appreciation of his audience; when performing he often walks into the crowd as he plays, hoping to draw inspiration from them.

In his newest album of live performances, “Road Shows Vol 2,” there are moments when you can hear all this firsthand. A compilation of two recent live shows, including his 80th birthday concert at the Beacon Theater in New York, the record captures Rollins playing with the energy of someone half his age. Particularly noteworthy is the twenty-minute version of his classic twelve-bar blues, “Sonnymoon for Two,” on which he is joined by the multi-instrumentalist genius Ornette Coleman. This is the first time the two have been recorded together, and to hear Coleman’s chirping free jazz side by side with Rollins’ more swing based playing is a historic occasion.

Perhaps more remarkable simply for the quality of playing is his performance on “Rain Check,” an old Billy Strayhorn song. As he and the 42-year-old trumpeter Roy Hargrove begin to trade fours—that is, exchange four bar improvisations—Rollins’ relentless exuberance overtakes the young trumpeter, whose playing improves audibly the more he interacts with Sonny.

NASA: Sea Ice Retreats in Northwest passage

Sea Ice Retreats in the Northwest Passage : Image of the Day: Acquired July 17, 2012, and August 3, 2012, these natural-color NASA satellite images show the retreat of sea ice from the Parry Channel in the Northwest Passage.  The Canadian Ice Service reported that ice cover in Parry Channel began to fall below the 1981–2010 median after July 16, 2012, and the loss accelerated over the following two weeks. On July 23, the percentage of ice cover in the channel was roughly 67 percent, compared to the median of 80 percent. On July 30, ice cover was roughly 33 percent, compared a median of 79 percent. For an interactive map click HERE

The Canadian arctic.  Cambridge Bay is the south east corner of Victoria Island - the world's eight largest, it is bigger than Newfoundland click to enlarge image

July 17, 2012