Knife Handles

We found two small knives in the kitchen when we bought our house. One was accidentally thrown out and spent several years in the compost bin. The wooden handles on both split and finally fell off and had to be (rustically) replaced. Both knives, with their new handles, are shown in the image above. The beautful Wüshtof knife to the right was a birthday present from son Luke; I can't remember where the bread knife on the left came from. Maybe Kalimantan? [NOTE: I just changed the page header. Image shows U Myint Thein (Htamanthi WS) and me (NYBG) checking the GPS to see if plot 25 in the Nam Sabi Village Management Area was correctly positioned. It was]. 

Rattans of Myanmar

Andrew Henderson and I have started working on another book together (see Finally, It's A Book). This one, entitled Rattans of Myanmar, is a collaborative effort between the Myanmar Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry (MOECAF), the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Myanmar Program, and The New York Botanical Garden. It covers 39 local rattan species and will be published in Myanmar language (and perhaps English?). Image above shows the spread for Calamus hukaungensis Henderson (see Calamus hukaungensis) from the InDesign file (.indb) for the book. [NOTE: I am (again) doing the design and layout for the volume, which is why the species treatments look similar to the Greater Mekong book ].

Colors

Beautiful short film by The Mercadantes (see Words) about color. I love the seques (e.g. 1:04 and 1:24).

Happy Birthday to HH Dalai Lama

His Holiness the Dalai Lama turns 80 on July 6th and his upcoming birthday was recently celebrated at the Glastonbury 2015 festival. He was brought out as a "surprise guest" during Patti Smith's set. They had a birthday cake and sang Happy Birthday and the Dalai Lama said a few words. He was clearly touched. I love his expression (2:27) when he blows out the candles. A very good use of 8 minutes of your day.

Next Steps?

As a follow up to the Pope's recent encyclical on global warming (see Laudato Si), I post the image above. A group of Catholic and Buddhist leaders met at the Vatican on June 24. Go here for more information about the meeting and to view a short video clip of the Pope's words to the group. Pope Francis, smiling beatifically, is shown to the right. To his immediate left, looking on from the background in brown okesa is Hozan Alan Senauke (see Bodhisattva's Embrace and In the Herbarium). The plot continues to thicken.  [NOTE: Image from the RomeReports.com video].

Vietnamese Translation

For all of you who have been patiently waiting, the Vietnamese translation of Systematics, Ecology, and Management of Rattans in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam: The Biological Bases of Sustainable Use (see Finally, It's A Book) is now available and can be downloaded here. [NOTE: Thanks to Nguyan Quoc Dung, Le Viet Tam, and the WWF Greater Mekong Program for making this happen].

Making a Plant Drier

Still life of the tools and nails and sheet metal and boards needed to make a plant drier at the Htamanthi Forward Station (see Sorting Specimens). [NOTE: My sketch of what the finished product should look like is on the paper to the right of the box of nails].

Looking Up

When you are here (orange square shown in image above), and you stop for lunch, and, while you are munching on your greasy curry and peanuts, you pause and look up–this is what you see:

Beautiful piece of forest. Well worth the walk. See Nam Sabi VMA and Running The Baseline for more information about this; thanks to U Myint Thein and Daw Myint Myint Oo for bringing me here. [NOTE: As a contrast, I would be remiss to not link to The Importance of Looking Down].

Specimens on Display

Beautifully-pressed specimens of historical collections on display at the Forest Research Institute Herbarium at Yesin (see Forest Herbarium). Nice to pull these out of the cabinet and present the artistic side of plant systematics. 

Giant Day Gecko

This guy (Phelsuma grandis Gray) was carefully watching us as we had lunch at the Oronjia station (see More Oronjia) in northern Madagascar. Was hard to miss him. Giant Day geckos are not only brightly colored, they are also quite large. This one was about 10 inches long. [NOTE: They are reported to feed mainly on arthropods (e.g. crabs, insects, spiders, and scorpions), and none of us were eating these, so I can only guess that he (broad head, bright colors) was curious–not hungry].