Saturday, October 04, 2008

Obliging onager...

"I have sinned against my brother the ass."...he didn't like his brother? ;-)

Donkey Sanctuary

Today, October 4th, is World Animal Day and it is celebrated each year on this day; today all animal life is celebrated. The date was originally chosen for World Animal Day because it is the feast day of the man born as Giovanni Francesco Bernardone, now known as Saint Francis of Assisi, known to be a nature lover and is patron saint of animals and the environment. MISSION STATEMENT - WORLD ANIMAL DAY:

To celebrate animal life in all its forms
To celebrate humankind’s relationship with the animal kingdom
To acknowledge the diverse roles that animals play in our lives: being our companions, supporting and helping us; bringing a sense of wonder into our lives
To acknowledge and be thankful for the way in which animals enrich our lives


The quote that started this post was apparently his dying words: "legend has it that St. Francis on his deathbed thanked his donkey for carrying and helping him throughout his life, and his donkey wept." Clearly, after all those years, he thought that to sit astride an Assisi ass is a sin, hehehe. The photo is from the website of The Donkey Sanctuary, Sidmouth, UK (click on image)

Orbit observance...

World Space Week logoToday is also the beginning of World Space Week the start and end dates of which are the anniversary of the launch of the first human-made Earth satellite, Sputnik 1, on October 4th 1957 - the success of which prompted the USA to pay more attention and so began the Space Race - and the signing of the Outer Space Treaty by USA, USSR and UK on October 10th 1967. What this did/does is preempt Star Wars :

"The Outer Space Treaty represents the basic legal framework of international space law and, among its principles, it bars States Parties to the Treaty from placing nuclear weapons or any other weapons of mass destruction in orbit of Earth, installing them on the Moon or any other celestial body, or to otherwise station them in outer space. It exclusively limits the use of the Moon and other celestial bodies to peaceful purposes and expressly prohibits their use for testing weapons of any kind, conducting military manoeuvers, or establishing military bases, installations, and fortifications (Art.IV). Moreover, it explicitly forbids any government from claiming a celestial resource such as the Moon or a planet. Art. II of the Treaty states, in fact, that “[o]uter space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means."

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3 comments:

Paul said...

I won't quote Bill Bryson again like I did the last time I posted on your blog about animals. That said I'm quite cool about animals. although I can't resist the taste of some of them!

Re the Outer Space Treaty - is it just me or is that just plain weird, a treaty about rights to celestial bodies.

Span Ows said...

I thought teh same then I thought that maybe they neede to or already they'll be several private companies with 'units' on the moon and elsewhere!...Alien springs to mind.

Re animals...I'm the same, can't stand ANY sort of cruelty but I'm happy to eat them! :-/

The Great Gildersleeve said...

I think that I am the same. I don't eat much "Meat" but do admit to eating pork, lamb, turkey and chicken. And fish. Only the portions are not daily or large. But it is still the best way to get protein and most experts agree.

It may be harder to deal with if you have to do the killing and because our diet can allow us access to such a variety of fruit and vegetables we probably can substitute meat but it is built in to our make up so as to speak.

As for the exploration of space.

Unless something surprising happens I think I will miss anything really exciting happening in the rest of my lifetime and I do wonder what if anything may happen with so many new players getting involved(good or bad)

That's not to say that previous countries could not have done something suspect.

What's held every country back so far as much as anything is the cost.