![]() ![]() Halliday launched a journal, FrogLog, to share the data, and through a programme of small grants sent young biologists all over the world to find amphibians and record how they were doing. Halliday’s paintings of a red-eyed tree frog (left) and green toad ![]() Many of these declines were described as “enigmatic”, because frogs, toads, newts and salamanders were dying in supposedly protected habitats. As participants at the congress compared notes, they realised that the same was happening all over the world. While studying the courtship and mating of British newts in the wild, he had noticed over the years that the numbers in his study ponds had been falling. In 1989 Halliday was one of the prime movers in organising the First World Congress of Herpetology (herpetology is the study of amphibians and reptiles) at the University of Kent, Canterbury. The current chief scientist of the Amphibian Survival Alliance, Phil Bishop, called him “the leading champion and ambassador for all things amphibian”. Tim Halliday, who has died aged 73, was one of the leading figures in a worldwide initiative to raise the alarm, and to understand the reasons for the decline. Almost exactly 30 years ago, the first warning sounded that amphibian species were already in potentially catastrophic freefall. The recent shocking UN report on the threatened extinction of one million species has focused global attention on the crucial role of biodiversity in the health of the planet. ![]()
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![]() ![]() ![]() The narrative plunges immediately into action with a daunting barrage of arcane names, places and concepts, but determined readers are rewarded with an enthralling yarn of magical intrigue, all in Digger's irresistible voice-clever, cynical, cocky, with an undercurrent of aching loneliness. Blackmailed into spying on her kindly employers, she's soon juggling a dizzying tangle of plots, betrayals and lies, desperate to preserve the most dangerous secret of all.her own. Digger knows the rules- Stay Alive, Don't Get Caught, Don't Get Involved-but they're tricky to follow when a job gone sour lands her with a dead partner, brutal Greenmen on her trail and a cushy hideout as an aristocratic lady's maid. An adolescent thief threads a treacherous labyrinth of politics and sorcery in this fine series opener. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Our heads are on flags, jerseys, and coins. All the way from the top of Canada, the top of Alaska, down to the bottom of South America, Indians were removed, then reduced to a feathered image. We’ve been defined by everyone else and continue to be slandered despite easy-to-look-up-on-the-internet facts about the realities of our histories and current state as a people. In the prologue, Orange writes about the way Native people are so often depicted as disembodied heads-as a test pattern on televisions, on coins, as mascots: ![]() Orange does the heavy-lifting of educating a reader before the story, instead of awkwardly stuffing his words into his characters’ mouths. Its brilliant prologue allows Orange to relay historical context and social commentary to the reader before he writes about 12 individuals who subtly, and in varying ways, embody the points from his prologue. Tommy Orange’s There There is a phenomenal book that follows 12 Native Americans in the lead up to a powwow. ![]() ![]() At Melbourne Centre for Women’s Mental Health, we know that Autism often manifests differently in women, girls and gender diverse people, and can go undiagnosed. Scrolling through her social media accounts, where she posts impressive cosplay outfits, amusing memes, pictures of her dog Milly and more recently documenting the creation of this book I followed along in real-time, as her journey of seeking and confirming an Autism diagnosis, at age 36 unfolded. The music and arts community in Melbourne can feel like a small town, and for me Bastow’s voice has always been a welcome and exciting part of it. ![]() I’ve followed Clem Bastow’s work since my early 20’s, from listening to her great voice on different Triple R radio shows, to reading her journalism covering music, entertainment, film criticism, feminism and many a taxonomic listicle. ![]() ![]() The book Late Bloomer: How An Autism Diagnosis Changed My Life has long been on my radar. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The wrestling usually ended with her winning, her prize being the hug I could not escape from. She was strong from endless hard work, and not old: She'd given birth to me before she was seventeen, and when she held me I could see we had the same skin, although in other ways we were not much alike, she having broad, placid features, while mine, I'd been told (for we had no mirrors in the remote mountain village of Mino), were finer, like a hawk's. ![]() ![]() "Where's that wretched boy? I'll tear him apart when he gets back."īut when I did get back, muddy from sliding down the hillside, bruised from fighting, once bleeding great spouts of blood from a stone wound to the head (I still have the scar, like a silvered thumbnail), there would be the fire, and the smell of soup, and my mother's arms not tearing me apart but trying to hold me, clean my face, or straighten my hair, while I twisted like a lizard to get away from her. I would hear her voice, rough and fierce, echoing through the lonely valley. My mother used to threaten to tear me into eight pieces if I knocked over the water bucket, or pretended not to hear her calling me to come home as the dusk thickened and the cicadas' shrilling increased. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() "Shows that healthy cooking can be lively and varied.Any vegan cook needs this inspiring, unique title." - Midwest Book Review, January Magazine (Canada), 12/20/10 " Appetite for Reduction is all about real food for real people, really easily.What's not to like'.Spend a lot of time eating from the recipes in this book and you will get smaller." Living Without, 1/25/11 " tortilla soup has a light tomato broth and simple yet assertive seasoning. ![]() ![]() There is also the increasing slag heap (waste material from coal mining) on the mountain, which pollutes the environment and threatens to fall on the village. However, there is a sense of dread accumulating as the narrative continues, because Huw hints that some awful things are going to happen. Although it was a tough life, even for the moderately well-off Morgans, Huw looks back on those times with nostalgia for the people and places he loved in the Victorian era. The book is narrated by Huw Morgan, who lives with his family in a South Wales coal mining village. I think that makes it all the more extraordinary because it has an autobiographical tone and a strong sense of community. It turns out that Llewellyn was actually born in England, to Welsh parents, and that the novel isn’t generally based upon his own experiences. I wasn’t quite sure whether it was an autobiography or fiction. ![]() ![]() I hadn’t read it before, although I’d heard of it. This classic novel was first published in 1939. ![]() ![]() ![]() – Coup plans finalized, orders given as Victoria Nuland visits Sudan to “discuss democracy” Biden administration sends $218 million in humanitarian aid to Sudan. – Sudan confirms deal for Russian naval base, key players Lavrov and General Burhan. – Blinken threatens travel ban for Sudanese who endanger Framework Agreement deal – UN brokers Framework Agreement between Sudan’s military leaders and leading pro-democracy parties – Blinken urges Sudan to consider “US support for the rapid formation of a civilian-led transitional governnent”. S– US Ambassador warns Sudan against finalizing Russian naval base deal – US Ambassador appointed to Sudan following a 25 year absence. REPRODUCTION WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION IS EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED. Dawkins)Īrchives Archives Search for: Castalia House Mailing ListĪLL BLOG POSTS AND COMMENTS COPYRIGHT (C) 2003-2022 VOX DAY. The Return of History and the End of Dreams, Robert KaganĪTHEIST DEMOTIVATORS Atheism (R. Studies in Napoleonic Warfare, Charles Oman The Cook of the Halcyon, Andrea Camilleri The Other End of the Line, Andrea Camilleri The Overnight Kidnapper, Andrea Camilleri Montalbano's First Case, Andrea Camilleri ![]() The Dance of the Seagull, Andrea Camilleri ![]() The Wings of the Sphinx, Andrea Camilleri The Patience of the Spider, Andrea Camilleri Ode to the Small Creature Who Takes Refuge in My BootīOOK LIST 2023 Caravan of the Damned, Chck DixonĬolorless Tsukuru Tazaki and his Years of Pilgrimage, Haruki Murakami NON-FICTION DOWNLOADS THE IRRATIONAL ATHEIST ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() I suppose you could even argue that it’s true-only the wisdom is hard to come by, so the shelter’s rather scant. That’s the official motto of the Scholomance. Until El realizes that sometimes winning the game means throwing out all the rules. El is determined that her chosen group will survive, but it is a prospect that is looking harder by the day as the savagery of the school ramps up. Narrative style: First person, limited.Ī budding dark sorceress determined not to use her formidable powers uncovers yet more secrets about the workings of her world in the stunning sequel to A Deadly Education.Īt the Scholomance, El, Orion, and the other students are faced with their final year-and the looming specter of graduation, a deadly ritual that leaves few students alive in its wake.Genres: Magic School Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Dark Fantasy.4.1.4 Characters outside the Scholomance (mentioned or in flashbacks). ![]() 3.6 Chapter 6: Spelled Dye & Mortal Flame. ![]() ![]() ![]() Robert Strassler's new edition amends these omissions, and not only provides a new coherence to the narrative overall but effectively reconstructs the lost cultural context that Thucydides shared with his original audience. His authoritative chronicle of what he considered the greatest war of all time is rigorous and meticulous, yet omits the many aids to comprehension modern readers take for granted-such as brief biographies of the story's main characters, maps and other visual enhancements, and background on the military, cultural, and political traditions of ancient Greece. Written centuries before the rise of modern historiography, Thucydides' narrative is not continuous or linear. ![]() However, this classic book has long presented obstacles to the uninitiated reader. Thucydides called his account of two decades of war between Athens and Sparta “a possession for all time,” and indeed it is the first and still the most famous work in the Western historical tradition.Ĭonsidered essential reading for generals, statesmen, and liberally educated citizens for more than 2,000 years, The Peloponnesian War is a mine of military, moral, political, and philosophical wisdom. ![]() |