One species is actually two

One of the photos of the Sunda Clouded Leopard

The Sunda Clouded Leopard, once thought to be only species of the Clouded Leopard family is, in fact, two species. The Sunda Clouded Leopard was only realised to be a distinct species different to those living elsewhere in Europe, in 2007. Now, it turns out, there are two different sub-species, the ones living in Sumatra, and the ones living in Borneo. A genetic analysis confirmed this.

I quote this from the BBC.  

“Clouded leopards are the most elusive of all the big cats, which include lions, tigers, jaguars, snow leopards and normal spotted leopards.

Living across south-east Asia, into China and India, the leopards have larger cloud-like spots than ordinary leopards. Until 2006, all clouded leopards were thought to belong to a single species. However, genetic studies revealed that there are actually two quite distinct clouded leopard species.

As well as the better known clouded leopard living on the Asian mainland (Neofelis nebulosa), scientists determined that a separate clouded leopard species lives on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. The two species are thought to have diverged over one million years ago. This leopard is now known as the Sunda clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi), though it was previously and erroneously called the Bornean clouded leopard.”

The genetic analysis was done on 15 Sunda Clouded Leopards, resident of Borneo, and 16 Sunda Clouded Leopards, resident of Sumatra. Skulls were also examined, and fur coats on display in museums. It is actually quite interesting. So the scientists (photo courtesy of Mr. Wilting), knew that the ones isolated on the islands had evolved, but now, it seems, those separated on separate islands, also evolved a little. It doesn’t sound like a giant impact, but it means that maybe this happened to other animals. Clouded Leopards are really elusive.

Again I quote the BBC. “The differences aren’t obvious: the Sunda clouded leopards on Borneo and Sumatra look alike. Both cats have similar patterned coats as they live in similar jungle habitats, the researchers suspect. But as well as being genetically distinct, the clouded leopards on both islands are also morphologically different, having unique features in their skulls and teeth. It is unclear what caused the Sunda clouded leopard to evolve into two forms.

“So far we can only speculate about the specific course of events in the evolution of the clouded leopard,” says team member Joerns Fickel, also at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research. But the researchers think that a volcanic eruption on Sumatra 75,000 years ago may have wiped out most clouded leopards. One group survived in China and colonised the rest of mainland Asia. Another hung on in Borneo, becoming the Sunda clouded leopard. This evolved into two types after a group colonised Sumatra via glacial land bridges, and then became cut off as sea levels rose.“

To read more extensively on this, check out the BBC Article on it.    

Egypt’s Liberty – At a price?

So Egypt is free. Freed from a suppressive dictator for many years. Mubarak fled to the Red Sea Resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, which, note this, is a lot easier to flee from. Since it is on the coast, one could flee by sea to a huge number of sympathetic countries. Also, Cairo is at the heart of the protests, which means be is less likely to get hurt, or his splendid palace ransacked. So he flew to Sharm el-Sheikh, and his place there, which, note this, Tony Blair is a regular guest at.

In Tahrir Square after 18 days solid protest

Now Mubarak is gone, the military is in charge. Which could be good or bad, considering they have all of these lovely guns and missiles supplied to them by the US. They will run the country through a transition period, which, I quote from the Guardian, “but will not act as a substitute for a legitimate government.” They had better not. There was a televised statement saying that they would institute the changes the Egyptians wanted. They also said praise for Mubarak for his contribution to the nation.

The problem is, the head of the military is “Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, the 75-year-old commander of Egypt’s armed forces and head of the supreme military council.” Again I quote the Guardian for this. He is in charge of getting the country through political reform. Tough, it will be. It seems as though if the military is still in charge by the end of the year, we may just have another dictatorship in the making. Tantawi has been nicknamed ”Mubarak’s Poodle”, but let’s just hope that the Egyptians won’t be as patient with him if he tries anything, as they were with the last guy.

For further reading check out the Guardian, they have a whole range of stuff on Egypt. I got all my material for this from this article, “Egyptian army calls the shots as nation embarks on democratic transition“.         

Favourite Book(s)

Disclaimer: I am not paid to promote anyone or anything. What I am doing is of my own free will. (Can you believe it?). The books belong to their writers. I try not to be a plagiarist, but it can be accidental. I’m sorry for that, but I’m pretty sure the world’s done it at some point or another.   

My favourite book(s) so far are:

• Eragon by Chris Paolini
• Goodnight Mr Tom by Michelle Magorian

Eragon Cover

I really like the Inheritence series, but my favourite if the first (Eragon). It is really good, with lots of meaning and adventure, but empathetic and interesting. It is all about a magical surpressed land (basically an enforced ‘no choice in the matter to start with’ dictatorship). Eragon, the main character finds a dragon egg, one of the last three in the land (I can’t spell it). He hatches a dragon Saphira, who quickley beomes known to the village. He is forced to flee, with the mysterious storyteller Brom, to the Varden, the last resort for help and safety.  My favourite character is Saphira. She is quite wise, but with a dry sense of humour. She has awesome powers, and can look at things in a different way.

A movie was made, (of Eragon) but it was not the best. It’s still okay though. The might of the King seems underestimated in it. I think, he was portrayed in the books like he was in the film, the Varden would have upped and killed him by now. I think that more music was needed, to support it. In other films like it there was loads. It would have supported it more and added atmosphere.   

Goodnight Mr Tom is probably the best out of the two. Michelle Magorian is a really good author. ‘A Spoonful of Jam’ is really good too. Goodnight Mr. Tom is all about a damaged boy, Willie (don’t you dare laugh!), who is sent to live, during World War II, with grumpy old Mr. Tom (Oakley). Tom lost his wife fourty years ealier, and his young son called William. Willie was beaten by his mother, a very religious woman who brought him up to be fearing and very self-deprecating. They cling to each other, and Willie becomes Will, a talented boy (in art), with lots of friends, and Mr. Tom becomes less ‘crusty’, and plays the organ for the town.

Overall, they are both very good books with excellent characters. Read them both. I implore you. It really helps your vocabulary. If you need to consult a dictionary during this, then you need to read more books. It helps widen and improve your vocabulary (but not always spelling). I’m not joking. Now I can impress English teachers not only with my atrocious spelling and grammar, but with my big vocabulary (AKA ‘fancy word’).   

Anarchy (not really that practical)

I was reading somewhere about how some people can be anarchists. I looked anarchy up in the dictionary, and saw this:

1. A state of society without government or law.

2. Political and social disorder due to the absence of governmental control: The death of the king was followed by a year of anarchy.

3. A theory that regards the absence of all direct or coercive government as a political ideal and that proposes the cooperative and voluntary association of individuals and groups as the principal mode of organized society.

4. Confusion; chaos; disorder: Intellectual and moral anarchy followed his loss of faith.

So, if you think about it, anarchists are people who advocate anarchy, or in a way, promote disorder amongst the law. This can be good, sometimes, like in the matter of the Egyptian revolt. A dictatorship is never nice, I mean they might as well come out and say, “Hey, we’re a dictatorship!” But pretending to be a democracy, that just isn’t nice. We were learning about sufferagettes, a while back, and the Pankhurst sisters, basically ran a dictatorship over the WSPU (Sufferagettes). Dictatorships are one example of an authority difficult to fight against, but sometimes okay to revolt against.

To be honest, though, I think a total lack of authority is just plain stupid. Think about it. A lack of authority means the world would run riot. To be totally honest, the world already does run partial riot, even though we have authority. The more complicated life gets, the more opaque authority gets, which why anarchy sprouted in the first place. You need authority. It doesn’t have to be dangerous, it doesn’t have to be extreme. It just has to be there. It can’t be something that is just a threat.  

So, to sum it up, anarchy really is not that practical. It just mean that the world would have crashed and burned by now. Basically: not a good thing.

Mathematics vs. Physics

This is mainly mimicing a post by Julian Assange called ‘Mathematics vs. Philosophy’. Check out the post on a mirror the site [IQ.org (which was deleted by JA)]  here. But this is my version. Mathematics vs. Physics.

“It has often been said that mathematics is the cheapest university department to run, for all one needs is pencil, a desk and a waste paper basket. This is not so. Ph” -ysics is cheaper still, for in Physics, we only need paper and a pencil. A paper and pencil can show aerodynamics, gravity, forces, thrust, and you can write all the formulas you want on the paper.

Personally, I would choose Mathematics out of the two. It is more well rounded, and gives you more potential in a whole range of subjects. This is coming from someone who is obsessed with GCSE’s. And A Levels.  

A theory of War

As years and centuries go on, and multiple wars occur and are discussed. The wars in the Medieval Ages, such as the Battle of Hastings and English Civil War become more like legends and stories. The death of Harold Godwinson, contender to to the English crown is not as sad as the death of all those in the Blitz. But maybe it is just more recent, the Blitz. Modern war is becoming less and less fighting, and more and more dirty behind the scenes work. It is not like I want them to be fighting; I do not want them to fight at all. But now it is all spies and modern technology. Human beings will never grow out of war. There will always be unease and jealousy. I think it is the ancient survival instincts that are imbeded with in us; the need to be top dog, to have the best and the most. This was originally, a survival issue. Now, it’s mainlly based around money. 

American Civil War

The English Civil War is not as well known as the American Civil War – that might just be because of the chronology issue. But the point is that the English Civil War was perhaps just the biggest fight over the crown and Christianity, but not the only fight over the English monarchy. The point is that the American Civil War was something different altogether; it was an important issue that changed the lives of African Americans and other black people and ethnic minorities, and changes them today. There may not be equality, as there is not perfection, but striving is necessary.

There is no rulebook for war. Anything can happen and anyone can die. Generally people can have mercy and respect for other people, but not always. Now there is such thing as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Geneva Convention to make sure that torture is not (supposedly) possible.

But life goes on, and whilst King William the Conqueror and Oliver Cromwell fade from peoples’ minds but not their history books, the Second World War will never be forgotten.