Category Archives: enewsletter

Cockroach Trivia

The Beetle has bad memories about sharing a room with what seemed like a thousand cockroaches in Gilgit in Pakistan a few years ago and was afraid that they would fly on to her bed. (Before you ask, no, Beetles are not friends with cockroaches, they are sworn enemies, but we try and live and let live.)

Did you know that most cockroaches have wings, but they can only fly when temperatures are quite high. And what’s more, cockroaches are omnivorous, i.e. they will eat anything, including each other if there is nothing else available.

One internet source, maybe urban myth, states that a cockroach can live up to nine days without its head before it starves to death. They have amazing scuttling abilities: one US study showed that cockroaches are capable of running at 50 body lengths per second on a treadmill – the equivalent of Carl Lewis doing the 100-meter in 1.09 seconds!

Interesting Facts

Aussies picked up the most medals each at the Sydney Olympics, which brings them into the all time top 11.
Finns are perhaps the world's greatest athletes, ranked first at summer Olympics and third in winter games.
Almost half of Ecuador is protected.
Kenyan women

work 35% longer than their men folk.
Ethiopians are by far the most agricultural people on earth (both men and women)
Looking for Czech and Slovak men? Half are in factories.
American women have the most powerful jobs.
Southern European women hugely outnumber their men folk amongst the unemployed.
The top 8 most developed countries all speak Germanic languages. Every such country is in the top 20.
Belgium is the only country in the world where women dominate the ministry.

Source: www.nationmaster.com

Macchu Picchu

Unesco has warned Peru that the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu might lose its world heritage status if they do not act to protect it. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people visit Machu Picchu. Experts say unrestricted tourism and landslides have damaged the 15th Century citadel and the nearby Inca trail that leads to it. In response, the Peruvian authorities have submitted a 400-page report $130m plan to the UN’s cultural arm which is believed to include satellite monitoring to measure earth movements and a daily limit of 2,500 tourists, to preserve the site.

Ignominy for Beetles

Whilst we are talking about insects: spotted by webmaster Paul, US Entomologists Quentin Wheeler and Kelly B. Miller recently had the task of naming 65 newly discovered species of slime-mold beetles and named three species after the US president George W Bush, vice president Dick Cheney and defence secretary Donald H Rumsfeld. The newly found beetles are respectively called: Agathidium bushi Miller and Wheeler, Agathidium cheneyi Miller and Wheeler, and Agathidium rumsfeldi Miller and Wheeler. Naming the beetles after Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld was intended to pay homage to them, said Wheeler, who taught at Cornell University for 24 years and now is with the Natural History Museum in London.

A Little Part of Istanbul

When Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror took over Istanbul in 1453, he first ordered the construction of a new palace for this new Ottoman capital, on a site in the district of Beyazit where Istanbul University stands today. Then he changed his mind and had a number of buildings constructed on the headland which was an olive grove to the southeast. It is these buildings that became the Topkapi Palace. The Topkapi Palace was the home to all the Ottoman sultans until the reign of Abdulmecid I (1839-1860), a period of nearly four centuries. The final form of the first palace covered an area 700m², and was enclosed with fortified walls 1400 meters in length. The walls had a number of gates, namely the Otluk gate, the Demir gate and the Imperial Gate and a number of minor angled gates between them. After the reign of Mehmet, the palace grew steadily to form a city like complex of buildings and annexes, including a shore palace known as the Topkapi shore palace, as it was situated near the cannon gate -Topkapi- of the ancient walls of Istanbul. When the shore palace was burned down in 1863, it lent its name to the great complex we now know as Topkapi Palace.

The Topkapi Palace continued to be the principal residence for four centuries until in 1853, Sultan Abdul Mecid I moved into the new palace of Dolmabahce on the Bosphorus. The old palace was used as house for the women of the departed sultans and their servants until the Harem was officially disbanded in 1909. In 1924, Topkapi Palace was converted to a museum on instructions of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. The final step was the opening of the Harem to the public in 1960.

Because Topkapi is the first attraction to tick off on everyone's list get there when it opens, so get there early. The Topkapi Palace Museum is open between 9:00 am-5:00 pm everyday except for Tuesdays. Tickets can be purchased in the gateway to the Second Court. The tickets cost 12.000.000 TL. (equivalent to about 8 USD or 7 EUR) per person. The treasury section needs a separate admission fee and costs 10.000.000 TL. There is a discounted fee for the students. The Harem Section can be visited with a separate ticket in the ticket office near the Harem entrance. The tours to Harem are operated every half hour from 9:30 am to 4:00 pm. The tickets cost 15.000.000 TL(11 USD or 9 EUR).

Go straight to the Harem, which can only be seen by guided tour, as the tours fill up early. After the Harem tour you can stroll around the palace's grounds and the four courtyards at your leisure. Also, don't miss the Treasury in the 3rd courtyard which houses gold, and works of art.

Straight after the Topkapi Palace, head for the Aya Sofia and the Blue Mosque which are virtually next door.

Courtyard of the Eunuchs

A room in the harem

Topkapi Imperial Hall, Harem

Topkapi Gate

New Resting Place for Nelson's Sailors

The bodies of 30 British soldiers and sailors and their families, who died during Nelson’s Nile campaign more than 200 years ago were discovered on the small island by an Italian archaeologist looking for Greek and Roman artefacts. The old graves were in danger of being washed away as the sea eroded the island. The remains were reburied at the Military and War Memorial Cemetery at British families cemetery, Al-Shatby in Alexandria with full families honours during a recent ceremony. One of the dead’s descendent Gordon Watson, 87, from Hampshire, and his 83-year-old wife, Joan, travelled to Egypt for the ceremony. After the ceremony, Mr Watson said: “It’s marvellous to be related to this man … It makes you proud to be English.”

Gettysburg a Civil War Battlefield by Susan Velasquez

A visit to Gettysburg will take you back in time, where you can almost hear the ghosts of the civil war soldiers and, louder still, the cannons still bursting in air.

The immense area must be covered by bus or private car. Get a map at the information centre and then follow the route around the site. When you arrive at a site that you want to take a closer look at there are plenty of parking areas or simply stop the car on the side of the road as they have wide shoulders. Each battlefield has a plaque explaining the regiments that fought there, and details such as the dates and the number of casualties. You will be moved by the number of huge monuments dedicated to the soldiers from each state and by the passionate wording and sheer numbers of dead from the various battles.

After viewing these monuments and (through a local guide) hearing or reading about what took place there, you can almost feel what it must have been like to be a young soldier thrown into battle, only to be slaughtered by the other side. It really brings home the horrors of war and the incredible courage of the men fighting them. The fact that now these places are lovely and peaceful fields that have been preserved in their memory is moving. Unfortunately though, not all the fields are being saved as the modern world is slowly crowding in on the area. Motor vehicle dealerships and commercial buildings are taking over some of the fields there, which is an absolute shame.

You can also spot wild life in some spots, like a group of deer that we came across. The deer are so used to the cars that they won't stop before crossing roads. So you have to drive slowly and carefully, especially when turning corners. In a particularly graphic field, there is still an old house that was bombed during one of the battles and still has a large hole in the front, which clearly shows the dangers of living in the area at the time. A guide explained that in a nearby field there was basically a total slaughter of the soldiers and the field was littered with bodies, and the stench could be smelled for weeks. There are also tales of ghosts being seen in the area at night as well as strange noises.

So for a truly moving experience and a lesson on one of the more unflattering periods in American history, visit Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Snails Big Business in Bosnia

Did you know that there are estimated to be around 300 snail farms in former war torn Bosnia? One kilogram of snails is sold for four around euros (£2.70). France is the number one export destination, followed by Italy. The aim is for a snail farmer to produce around 3,000kg of snails in a year. That means an annual income of around 12,000 euros (£8,100) – around four times the national average wage. The British chief international envoy to Bosnia, Lord Ashdown, has made a priority of trying to encourage small businesses. He set up a so-called “Bulldozer” committee to smash through the red tape and old-style communist legislation that hindered the setting up of new companies. “Small and medium-size firms, like snail farms, represent the future of this country rather than the old pre-war industries, which are not coming back,” says Vedran Persic from Lord Ashdown’s office.