An Art With Twigs....

When Patrick Dougherty came out with this spin on art it had families in my hometown talking about hobbies , talent , skills etc etc . His art can truly be called " twisted " - he wove saplings , twigs and branches into fanciful sculptures that seemed to sprout out of the earth. He took materials from the immediate environment wherever he was . Dougherty's works are songs to the natural world. " Saplings have an inherent property that causes them to snag and entangle easily , there's no need for extra support. Over the substructure , one could weave smaller sticks and fine branches to mask irregularities " he adds. These artworks finally subside back into the earth or they are converted to mulch thus returning them to their origins.

Will The Guinea Worm Strike Again?

It's a two and a half foot long parasite the width of angel hair pasta.HUMANS are the only known reservoirs for these disease.There's no cure , there's no vaccine.Guinea Worm larvae live in tiny crustaceans/water fleas.When people drink water contaminated by these fleas , the human digestive systems destroy the fleas but not the worm larvae.These larvae,usually females , migrate through the subcutaneous tissues , and in about a year the worm emerges headfirst usually,through a blister somewhere in the legs or arms.The host person experiences itching,fever,swelling, and burning sensations - infected persons have found relief from these pains by immersing in water ; shallow lakes , wells and open ponds.The contact with water stimulates the worm to emerge through the blisters and release thousands of larvae into the water.A single infected person could reinfect hundreds of people . Ostensibly civil wars,poverty, wrecked, neglected economies have been the Worm's best allies ........

P.S.Siemens has come up with a portable water purification system that can be used in even remote regions.Aroun one fifth of the world's population has no access to clean drinking water.In helping the UN achieve reaching out to the close to 1.2 billion without clean drinking water, a team from Siemens Water Technologies has developed what they call the Sky Hydarnt and established the SkyJuise Foundation.More Info SkyHydrant ensures clean water in remote regions.

The Spirit Of Men

The curiosity to go forth into unmapped darkness , to seek the unchartered , to explore the wildest reaches of the earth or the Milky Way or the train tunnels below Park Avenue , setting out to build a school for a tribe in a remote corner of the earth keeps reminding us of the expanse of living life , of worlds yet unconquered or tamed . In January 1915 , Sir Ernest Shackleton with 28 men on board Endurance on it's way to Antartica became hopelessly locked in ice.When the ice broke ten months later , Endurance sank leaving the crew homeless and adrift on a sea of ice . After five months drifting on ice floes the crew took to lifeboats for a dangerous journey to desolate Elephant Island.Reaching it , Shackleton went on with one lifeboat and five of his best men hundreds of kilometres across bone chilling Scotia Sea to South Georgia completing one of history's greatest open boat journeys. He and two of his fittest men then traversed the island's glacial mountains , a feat as yet unrivalled.