Jane Goodall on Bigfoot

Eminent primatologist and conservationist 87-year-old Jane Goodall (left) has just launched a new initiative called Trees for Jane to restore the world's forests and help stop climate change. 

Sure, this is important and I’ve blogged about the importance of planting trees previously. There is no doubt that tree-planting has become a cornerstone of many environmental campaigns. The call to plant trees is everywhere, seen as a simple and effective way to help reduce the impact of carbon emissions and restore natural ecosystems. 

But in this post, I’m on a different tangent, i.e. the topic of Bigfoot (also commonly referred to as Sasquatch). 

In fact, in a GQ interview this month itself, Goodall has spoken publicly about the possibility that there may be undiscovered primates hiding in remote locations around the globe. Check out her response to the question about the existence of Bigfoot: 

“For various reasons. And I'll tell you one, my most striking one. I was in Ecuador. We'd flown for two solid hours over unbroken forest in a small plane and we visited four tiny little communities. 30 to 50 people, no roads, and they communicate with each other by means of like in the old days – it was the town crier, but these are hunters actually, and they carry the news from one village to another and letters and things like that. So I had an interpreter and I said to him, "When you next meet one of these hunters, could you ask if they've ever seen a monkey without a tail?" Three of the hunters came back and said, "Oh yes. We've seen monkeys without tails. They walk upright and they're about six foot tall". 

Now this was an interpreter from the village. He knew nothing about Bigfoot, nothing at all. Every single country has its version. Yeti, Yowie in Australia, Wild Man in China. So I don't know if it's perhaps a myth that stems from maybe the last of the Neanderthals. But then is the last of the Neanderthals still living in these remote forests? I don't know. But I'm not going to say it doesn't exist and I'm not going to say people who believe in it are stupid”.

Daniel Craig's Last 007 Film Finally Has Royal Premiere

Daniel Craig's final James Bond film has finally had its world premiere in London, UK, eighteen months later than planned because it was delayed by Covid. 

No Time To Die is the British actor's fifth outing as 007. 

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live on the red carpet on Tuesday, he said the role was "incredibly important to cinema and to history, and the weight of that has been on my shoulders for a while". 

And he added: "I've been incredibly lucky".

The film hits the country's cinemas tomorrow! 

The film industry is watching closely to see how No Time To Die performs at the box office, and whether it can tempt fans back in large enough numbers now that most cinemas have reopened. 

Advance ticket sales in the UK have been at levels not seen since before cinemas shut at the start of the pandemic, according to the Odeon and Cineworld chains. Odeon said they had sold more than 175,000 tickets by Monday, while Cineworld said they had the highest pre-booking rates since 2019's Avengers: Endgame.

A massive win in Portugal for Liverpool yesterday when they thumped Porto 5-1 to remain top of their Champions League group. 

Mohamed Salah's prodded finish in the eighteenth minute set them on their way. And a back-post tap from Sadio Mane extended their lead in the forty-fifth minute. And again, Salah contributed his second in the sixtieth minute with a clinical finish into the bottom right corner. 

Then, substitute Roberto Firmino also scored a brace in the seventy-seventh and eighty-first minutes to complete the rout. 

Curtis Jones who made his third consecutive start for the Reds deserves special mention because he played an integral part in four of Liverpool’s five goals. 

Truly, the Reds were rampant against a side who offered little and were helped in no small part by a truly dreadful performance from Porto goalkeeper Diogo Costa, who gifted them three goals. 

Liverpool sit top of Group B after two rounds of fixtures – two points clear of Atletico Madrid, who triumphed 2-1 against 10-man AC Milan in Italy thanks to a 97th-minute penalty from former Anfield favorite Luis Suarez.

Marvel Sue to Keep Rights to ‘Avengers’ Characters

Disney’s Marvel are suing to hold on to full control of Avengers characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Falcon, Thor and others. 

The complaints, which The Hollywood Reporter have obtained, come against the heirs of some late comic book geniuses including Stan Lee, Steve Ditko and Gene Colan. The suits seek declaratory relief that these blockbuster characters are ineligible for copyright termination as works made for hire. If Marvel lose, Disney would have to share ownership of characters worth billions. 

In August, the administrator of Ditko’s estate filed a notice of termination on Spider-Man, which first appeared in comic book form in 1962. Under the termination provisions of copyright law, authors or their heirs can reclaim rights once granted to publishers after waiting a statutory set period of time. 

According to the termination notice, Marvel would have to give up Ditko’s rights to their iconic character in June 2023. 

Marvel are facing other termination notices. For example, Larry Lieber (who worked at Marvel as a writer, too) filed termination notices over creations in May. 

The heirs of the comic book creators (including Black Widow creator Don Rico) are being represented by Marc Toberoff, who once famously represented Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster in an unsuccessful termination attempt against DC. 

DC saved off termination by counterclaiming against Toberoff and asserting tortious interference of its rights. The publisher was represented by Dan Petrocelli, who just so happens to be representing Disney now in their efforts to keep rights to various Avengers characters. 

Already Petrocelli is filing several lawsuits in New York and California against Lieber, Don Heck, Patrick Ditko, Don Rico and Keith Dettwiler. The cases will focus on the creation of famous comic book characters and who should be deemed the statutory author. 

Almost a decade ago, Toberoff represented the estate of comic book legend Jack Kirby over whether he could terminate a copyright grant on Spider-Man, X-Men, The Incredible Hulk and The Mighty Thor. In August 2013, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s ruling that determined Kirby’s heirs couldn’t wrest back his share of rights to these characters because the former Marvel freelancer had contributed his materials as a work made for hire. 

The Kirby case was then petitioned up to the Supreme Court, with the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg signaling some interest in taking up the case. Marvel at the time fought hard against any high court review, and before the justices decided, the case was settled. 

Now comes new litigation, which figures to pick up where earlier ones left off. Marvel’s suit calls the latest controversy “virtually identical circumstances” to Kirby’s. 

If the plaintiffs win, Disney expect to at least hold on to at least a share of character rights as co-owners. The studio would have to share profits with the others. Additionally, the termination provisions of copyright law only apply in the United States, allowing Disney to continue to control and profit from foreign exploitation.

TikTok Surpasses 1 Billion Monthly Active Users

On Monday, TikTok touted that it has surpassed 1 billion monthly active users, representing a 45 percent increase compared to last year.

According to Comscore, an American media measurement and analytics company, TikTok is largely favored by Gen Z, but more older users have started jumping on the platform in 2020. During Q1 2020, the share of 24–34-year-olds on the platform increased from 22.4% to 27.4%. At the same time, the 35–44-year-old demographic increased from 13.9% to 17.1%. 

The video-sharing platform, owned by ByteDance, last hit 689 million monthly active users in July 2020. Earlier this year, TikTok also surpassed more than 3 million downloads of its app, making it the fifth non-game app after WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Facebook and Instagram to make that achievement, according to the analytics firm Sensor Tower.

TikTok is now available in 154 countries worldwide (and 75 different languages). It is claimed that its users spend an average of 52 minutes per day in the platform. And 83% of them have posted a video.

In case you’re interested to know, Douyin, aka TikTok in China, just hit 400 million daily active users there (and the most active dance video creators are over 60 years old!).

And you should know too that the most viewed content category on the app is entertainment content, with this category having accumulated 535 billion hashtag views collectively.

Celtic’s troubled Scottish Premiership start continued with a 1-1 draw against Dundee United on Sunday.

Liel Abada's opener in the sixteenth minute was quickly cancelled two minutes later by the opposing side. In fact, the Tangerines showed impressive composure and even withstood a late barrage in a breathless contest to collect their first point at Celtic Park in eight years.

Celtic are now in sixth place, six points behind leaders Rangers. And they have a daunting assignment against in-form Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League group stage on Thursday, before a trip to Aberdeen on Sunday.

Chinese Label Pulls Offensive Clothing Line

Chinese clothing company JNBY are in trouble for selling little kids shirts printed with disturbing and inappropriate texts and images that are related to violence, heresy, racism and sexual innuendo. 

Examples include a pattern of grim reaper doodles, the words "Welcome to hell" and "Let me touch you" as well as other creepy art.

After customers complained about the togs they had bought from "jnby by JNBY", the children's series under JNBY, the company apologized on social media on Thursday, saying they had removed the products from their website. 

The Hangzhou-registered company had explained that their brand design philosophy has always been "freedom of imagination", and that their original intention was to put out more "unique" creations. 

"But we also understand that what's most important is to pass on good values", the company said, saying that they had treated the incident as a "warning". 

The apology was nonetheless rejected by many Chinese netizens. Instead, they posted more photos of JNBY's designs under the company’s apology post. 

Some of these photos carried unsettling texts including "The whole place is full of Indians. I will take this gun and blown them to pieces" and perturbing images including one of a red fruit and two birds placed between a woman's naked legs. Another showed a girl wearing a dress with a picture of two naked people touching each other. And another print featured a Satan-like figure chopping a leg and the phrase "I just need a foot" alongside.

Chinese authorities in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province said on Sunday they are investigating JNBY for their offensive clothing line.

Artist Gives Zim Banknotes Their Worth Again

If anyone doesn’t need reminding that banknotes are just worthless pieces of paper, it is Zimbabweans. 

That's because more than a decade ago, they watched as hyperinflation obliterated their currency and led to the printing of a 100 trillion Zimbabwean dollar note. 

Zim dollars were abandoned in 2009, after inflation caused by unbridled money printing under the late President Robert Mugabe (left) erased everyone’s savings and pushed millions into poverty. 

Not surprisingly, most of these bills ended up in the trash bin.

But Zimbabwean visual artist Prudence Chimutuwah has found value in the unloved old bank notes – by using them to make art. She wants Zimbabweans to look beyond the loathsome history of the inflation – considered by the International Monetary Fund as the worst of any peacetime country – to see something beautiful in the bills. And, in the process, perhaps recover from the trauma of that time.

“A lot of people, when they see the old bank notes, their reaction most of the time (is to) get angry”, said Chimutuwah. “I am trying… for people to see the beauty of these old bank notes. So, when someone looks at this artwork they go like ‘whoa’ and then they forget the pain this thing has caused”.

 

Her paintings capture the daily lives of women, shown dancing, cooking or in bright and elegant dress, with the old Zim dollar notes stuck on with glue to form part of the image. Her figures are mostly blue, which she described as “a symbol of strength and dominance”. 

In one painting, a woman pours a liquid from a calabash, which is made up of pieces of brown 1,000 and 50 billion Zimbabwe dollar notes. In another, a woman wears a mask and blouse made from purple 500 million Zimbabwe dollar notes.

Study Shows Songs Spread like Viruses

This is interesting! A study published on September 22, 2021 in the Royal Society uses models from epidemiology to track the spread of music. 

The researchers analyzed music downloading trends and examined the mechanisms that drive song popularity. There’s the belief that there are many similarities between the release of a new hit song and the outbreak of an infectious disease. 

When an infectious disease first enters a population, it is transmitted from person to person via social interactions. Prevalence eventually reaches a peak and then declines as the susceptible pool is exhausted and/or infectious individuals recover. 

After a new hit song is released, it also ‘spreads’ rapidly through a population, from person to person and through multiple media, eventually reaching some peak popularity and then diminishing in appeal. 

At the end of a disease epidemic, a large proportion of the population will have been infected with the disease, whereas at the end of a hit song’s period of extreme popularity, a large proportion of the population will recognize that song. 

The researchers study data from a large and detailed UK database of song downloads from 2007 to 2014, a period when downloading (as opposed to streaming) was a primary method of music consumption. Using mathematical tools usually applied to infection, the paper finds that popular songs do indeed spread like viruses. And certain genres are more "infectious" than others. 

According to the research, the most "infectious" genre was electronic, with a basic reproduction value (R0) of 3430. That is, in an entirely susceptible population, one person sharing electronic music (by "talking about the song, playing it, sharing it on social media or requesting it on the radio") could influence 3,430 others to download it. 

Supposedly, this makes it roughly 190 times more transmissible than measles, which has an R0 of about 18! It is suggested that the faster spread of preferences for Electronica songs reflect stronger connectivity of the impressionable community, compared with the larger and broader community that listens to more common genres. 

The next most "infectious" genres were rap and rock, and the least were dance and metal. Notably, most genres showed high variability in contagiousness. 

Lead author Dora Rosati concludes that both music and infectious diseases depend on social connections to spread through populations. 

Of course, many people now consume music via streaming services – and so, it’s unclear how the findings, which are based on download data, apply to music streaming. But with a different dataset, the same type of analysis could still be applied to streaming data, which might offer different information.

Clowns Hire

Clowns are not what they used to be. These days, they don’t really need to wear a unique makeup-face – a ‘clown’ mask will do – and flamboyant costume – even this is optional nowadays – and they don’t even need to do physical comedy. 

If you’ve read my Thursday post “Send In The Clowns”, you’ll understand my point. 

And so, it is noteworthy to mention that when Tom Duffy's travelling circus in Ireland are gearing up to travel cross-country once again, they launched a job drive for clowns (and other positions) ahead of restarting their tour. 

I guess they're wanting to hire new clowns with no experience. The job advert, which was posted Thursday on Facebook, spelled out that they're looking for someone who “must be hilarious” as there are “no old jokes accepted”.  

Yep, I say bring back the old times when clowns are really clowns! Certainly, not promoters nor child-eating monsters! 

Yesterday’s match between Liverpool and newly-promoted Brentford was a frenetic 6-goal thriller that saw the former twice pegged back. In fact, the 3-3 score should give us some inkling as to the pulsating intensity of the game where the latter had given their opponents a run for their money in a contest that could have gone either way. 

Actually, the Bees scored first – in the twenty-seventh minute. But Diogo Jota brought the Reds level just three minutes later, rising unmarked to head Jordan Henderson's looping cross into the corner from the edge of the six-yard box. 

Mohamed Salah's 100th Premier League goal in the fifty-fourth minute put the Reds ahead for the first time in the match, only for the other side to equalize once more. 

Curtis Jones thought he had won it for Liverpool when his 67th-minute strike put them 3-2 up – but Brentford had other ideas and they made it 3-3 with eight minutes to go.

With some extremely questionable defending, and some horrible shooting to match, Liverpool dropped two very important points in London. Still, I’ll have to admit it was a fair result. 

The draw lifts unbeaten Liverpool a point clear at the top of the Premier League. 

But the Reds must surely know there is plenty to improve on ahead of Tuesday’s game with FC Porto in the Champions League before a return to Anfield against Manchester City on October 03.

The Living, Growing Plant Wig

Susan Brackney (or her moniker “SusanLand”) asks what if you’re having a bad hair day, or, maybe you're having a whole string of no hair days? Whether it's alopecia, the effects of chemotherapy, or just a really unfortunate haircut, you can still turn heads with this custom, live sedum wig. 

Or as she calls it The Living, Growing Plant Wig!

Her easy to follow, step-by-step tutorial (Webpage

https://www.instructables.com/Living-Growing-Plant-Wig/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email) shows you how to make your very own living plant wig, which will grow a little bit each day as you wear it. 

But be careful when you're wearing it outside though; a bird or some other critter might try and make a nest in it. 

FYI, sedum (Family: Crassulaceae; genus: Sedum; L) is a really hardy ground cover that, once established, can tolerate heat, drought, and other environmental stressors. There are very many different kinds of sedum, but they all share certain characteristics – like succulent leaves and an aptitude for growing just about anywhere. 

Provided you regularly water the rooting areas of your wig and give the whole thing plenty of sunlight, new roots eventually should penetrate the tulle/nylon wraps as well as the wig cap itself. You'll be left with a rather sturdy, living wig – one which may even require trimming from time to time. (And one which will likely flower in the spring!) 

This live sedum wig is a wacky but brilliant idea! It will surely catch everybody’s attention, besides making a good conversation piece! 

Note: “SusanLand” (left) is a freelance writer specializing in green living, nature, and environmental affairs. 

She also loves making all sorts of stuff – especially when she is able to reuse, reduce, or recycle in the process.

Malaysians to Get Covid Booster Shots

Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced Sunday the decision to give Covid-19 booster shots for high-risk groups, once 80 percent of the country’s population have been fully vaccinated. 

Among those who will be prioritised for the booster shot included front line medical personnel, immune-compromised individuals, senior citizens with comorbidities, and those residing and working in long-term care facilities.

According to the Health Ministry's data on CovidNow, 59.2% of the population have been fully vaccinated (as at September 24, 11:59 PM).  

Nonetheless, the Malaysian Health Coalition have called on MOH to be fully transparent with all the data they have gathered regarding Covid-19 vaccinations and their side effects given the plan to administer booster doses from October onwards. They allege that there is inconclusive data to show that booster shots are necessary, noting that this is also the current position of the World Health Organisation. 

“We call on MOH to release Malaysian data to show increasingly poor outcomes for high-risk groups that will receive boosters, such as increased cases, hospitalizations or deaths, to justify boosters in these groups. This data can be stratified by age, type of vaccine and time since completed vaccinations, and can guide our targeted booster strategy”, they said in a statement. 

The MHC also questioned the wisdom of introducing booster shots when vaccination rates have varied wildly by states, with some such as Sabah still to vaccinate almost half its adult population. 

Citing the ministry’s data that showed unvaccinated or partially vaccinated individuals to be at elevated risk of severe infections, the group said vaccines should be prioritised to ensure all states were above 90 percent vaccinated. 

The MHC are talking sense. We should ensure everyone is fully vaccinated before we even think of booster shots. What’s the rush, MOH? 

I can't see the merits of booster shots. Already, our Covid data is incomplete and inaccurate, that much is clear. I too have decided to stop reporting them because when you look at the stats, they don't actually tell you anything. 

A case in point is the numbers shown below. They’re just numbers. At best, we make inferences but that’s all. 

Sure, statistics are a vital source of evidence because they can provide us with clear, objective, numerical data on the Covid situation. But we need comprehensive and correct information, full stop. 

After all, statistics aid the decision-making process by enabling us to establish numerical benchmarks and monitor and evaluate the progress of policies or programs, besides being used to inform decision making. 

I've said it already that data for the sake of data is useless.

Chair Emoji

Do you know that the chair emoji is causing a sensation on social media? 

It all started on TikTok, as is so often the case. It was user Anthony Mai, aka @blank.antho, who single-handedly kicked off this movement on TikTok last month. 

The goal is simple: replace the laughter emoji with the chair emoji to indicate when something is funny. It started as an “inside joke” intended to be insider knowledge among a small circle of users. A small circle that has grown. Since its publication, the video has accumulated more than 1.4 million views on the platform. 

In fact, it's been such an online success that the official account of TikTok has consecrated this somewhat odd trend by making a TikTok with one of the most popular sounds on the platform right now, an extract of the song “Twinkle Song” by Miley Cyrus. Published on September 19, on the social network, the video has already gone viral. 

In the comments section, TikTok addressed Anthony Mai: “What have you done @Anthony Mai” followed by two chair emojis. In fact, TikTok even went so far as to modify the biography of their profile to include this crazy trend: “It Starts On TikTok” followed by three chair emojis. 

For sure, Tiktok has become a frequent source of new emoji trends and emergent meanings, such as the rise of 💀 Skull and ☠️ Skull and Crossbones as emoji expressions of laughter. And the spamming of the seemingly humble 🪑 Chair emoji within Tiktok's comment sections – as highlighted above.

007 Gets Delayed in Malaysia

In Malaysia, the much-anticipated James Bond movie "No Time To Die" has been delayed yet again. 

Malaysians were supposed to be able to watch the 007 flick on September 30 itself. But the release date is now moved to November 25, 2021.

News of the postponement was shared by Malaysia cinema operators TGV Cinemas and GSC. 

The latter were also quick to share their reaction toward the news by posting a saddened and tired look of James Bond played by actor Daniel Craig on their Facebook page with the caption “Sadness”. 

In the meantime, you can still get entertained for six-and-a-half minutes. Check out the James Bond sketch for Comic Relief – starring Catherine Tate and Daniel Craig. It premiered on March 20, 2021:

The Great Covid Vaccine Stockpile

It’s no surprise to know that rich countries spout empty rhetoric and in reality, they are just plain selfish. 

According to Human Rights Watch, 75% of Covid vaccines have gone to 10 countries. The Economist Intelligence Unit have calculated that half of all of the vaccines made so far have gone to 15% of the world's population, the world's richest countries administering 100 times as many shots as the poorest. 

In June, members of the G7 – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States – pledged to donate one billion doses to poor countries over the next year. 

Read this interesting comment from Agathe Demarais (left), lead author at the Economist Intelligence Unit and a former diplomat: "I smiled when I saw that. I used to see this a lot. You know it's never going to happen"! 

The UK promised 100m of that pledge, so far it has donated just under nine million. Joe Biden pledged 580m of which the US has delivered 140m so far. And the EU bloc promised 250m doses by the end of the year – it has sent about 8% of those. 

And who can forget the storm of derision that greeted the US of A when it announced a donation of 80 vials of vaccine to Trinidad and Tobago, a country of 1.4 million people in June?!

Even Covax, the global scheme supported by the WHO to get doses where they're needed most has supply issues. 

Covax purchases and then sells vaccines at low-cost to middle income countries and donates to poor countries. It planned to distribute two billion doses in 2021 with most of them coming from a facility in India but when a second wave of infections crippled India in May, the government issued an export ban. 

Since then, Covax has relied on doses donated by rich countries. And supply has been slow, some of the receiving countries have yet to vaccinate 2% of their population. It's not a global supply problem. 

Rich countries have been building up surpluses of vaccines, according to Airfinity, a science analytics company researching global supply. Vaccine manufacturers are now making 1.5bn doses every month, 11bn will have produced by the end of the year. The world's richest countries could have 1.2bn doses that they don't need – even if they start administering boosters. 

Dr. Matt Linley (right), lead researcher at Airfinity had even made the claim that a fifth of those doses – 241 million vaccines – could be at risk of going to waste if they are not donated very soon. 

"I don't think it was necessarily rich countries being greedy, it's more that they didn't know which vaccines would work", says Dr Linley. "So they had to purchase several of them". 

With their latest research Airfinity hope to show governments that there is a healthy supply of vaccines and that they don't need to keep surpluses. Instead they can donate what they don't need now and be confident that more doses will be produced in the coming months. 

So far, we've heard only empty words from these rich countries – but it’s still not too late to translate words into action.