#University of Mauritius

[rightnewshindi]

राष्ट्रपति द्रौपदी मुर्मू को मॉरीशस विश्वविद्यालय ने डॉक्टर ऑफ सिविल लॉ की मानद उपाधि से किया सम्मानित

राष्ट्रपति द्रौपदी मुर्मू को मॉरीशस विश्वविद्यालय ने डॉक्टर ऑफ सिविल लॉ की मानद उपाधि से किया सम्मानित

President Murmu News: मॉरीशस विश्वविद्यालय ने राष्ट्रपति द्रौपदी मुर्मू को डॉक्टर ऑफ सिविल लॉ की मानद उपाधि प्रदान की है। इस अवसर पर राष्ट्रपति मुर्मू ने शिक्षा की शक्ति के परिवर्तनकारी प्रभाव के अपने व्यक्तिगत अनुभव के बारे में बात की। उन्होंने कहा कि यह शिक्षा ही है जो हमें अभाव से अवसरों और आशा की ओर ले जाती है। तीन दिवसीय दौरे पर सोमवार को मॉरीशस पहुंचीं राष्ट्रपति मुर्मू ने कहा कि भारत…

[themakeupbrush]

Miss Universe Mauritius 2023 National Costume

Vaco Baissac known professionally as Vaco, was a Mauritian artist, best known for his depictions of island life through painting, stained glass, sculpture, jewellery design and ceramics. Vaco aimed to unite the Mauritian people through the Creole language with the fascinating colours of the natural wonders of the tropical Indian Ocean island. Tatiana is carrying her country through her beautiful costume, each native design reflects the beauty of magical Mauritius.

[conandaily2022]

Tania René biography: 13 things about Miss Universe Mauritius 2024

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Miss Universe (@missuniverse) Who is Tania René? Vishakha Tania René is a Mauritian beauty queen from Quatre-Bornes, Mauritius. She is 5’9″ tall. René represented Mauritius in Miss Intercontinental and Miss Universe. Here are 13 more things about her: UNDER CONSTRUCTION On October 29, 2024, she traveled from Mauritius to Mexico City, Mexico. On…

[nonasuch]

Miss Universe National Costume 2024, Part 2!

Splitting this off into a new post so I'm not clogging up everyone's dash quite as much.

Miss Malta is some sort of environmental protection Sailor Scout. I think the giant bow would look better on the back of the skirt but otherwise this is solid.

It has just come to my attention that I skipped over Miss Albania and several other A/B countries, back at the beginning. I sincerely apologize! She went to all this trouble putting together a Fifth Element cruise ship passenger costume, and I nearly missed it.

Miss Armenia, in what even I have to admit would be a legit Princess Leia fit.

Miss Bahrain, adding some green to her Gold And Vaguely Historical look, along with what is either a comically large prop chalice or an upside-down lamp.

Miss Bangladesh appears to believe that adding two plush tigers from the toy store around the corner from the pageant venue will conceal the fact that she is just wearing a tiger-print evening dress. Miss Bangladesh is incorrect.

Miss Belgium. Girl. No.

Miss Belize let the seventh-grade art class do her whole costume, which was a bold choice.

Okay, I think that's everyone I missed! Back to alphabetical order. And I should have to rely less on shitty screenshots, now. Some countries were benefiting from the low resolution, tbh.

Kind of feel like Miss Maldives had a luggage mishap and she's just wearing the outfit she packed for a slightly dressy dinner.

Miss Martinique's costume would honestly have looked better in the shitty screencap version. The construction is... bad. It's bad.

Feel like we're in a little bit of slump here. Miss Mauritius did not stick enough butterfly appliqués to her gown to conceal that it is, in fact, just a regular evening gown.

Slump officially over! We are so back. Everyone say thank you, Miss Mexico.

I would like this better if it had just committed to the giant skirt and not felt the need to make it a Sexy Miniskirt look. Sorry, Miss Moldova.

Miss Mongolia wanted to stand out from all the other gold armor on stage, so she decided to a) wear cooler armor and b) bring a bow and arrow instead of a sword. Great work, Miss Mongolia.

Starting to feel like I'm picking on the smaller countries that probably don't have a huge pageant culture or the budget for really elaborate costumes, but on the other hand Miss Montenegro's costume is super low-effort AND the fabrics look cheap, so what am I supposed to do?

Okay, this looks like a pretty standard Miss Universe Sexy Bird, yes? Well, THIS is how Miss Myanmar entered the stage:

She had to fight her way out of that thing! God only knows what the visibility was like in there.

I think the hat is doing most of the heavy lifting to keep Miss Namibia's costume from being Just An Evening Dress, sadly.

Oh, yikes. It's more obvious in motion but Miss Nepal's bodice looks like it's made of craft foam and it fits real weird. The rest of it looks a little like she got together with Miss Cyprus and a pile of tablecloths for a sewing bee last night, I'm sorry to say.

Miss Netherlands has chosen a Tribute to Delft. I think if I were in charge of this costume I would do a much fuller skirt that falls from the waist, instead of the weird trumpet-skirt-with-hoop we've got here. And, obviously, I would make the windmill on the bodice actually spin.

It looks like she's having some issues keeping the wings and peplum in place, but I really like Miss New Zealand's costume from a design perspective. It at least slightly resembles the bird it's supposed to be (New Zealand fantail) and I think the feather pattern is meant to be in a Maori art style.

Miss Nicaragua is a Sexy Cathedral, which I think might be a Miss Universe first and is definitely a big old step closer to drag.

Okay, pausing here to get the next batch ready.

[digitalmuskan21]

UNIVERSITIES IN MAURITIUS

Mauritius is a stunning country with numerous places to see and explore. Not only the perfect white sand and blue waters of beaches, the scintillating waterfalls and rich history of the country attract people to visit here. If you are looking to study in this beautiful land then Mauritius does have universities and colleges that provide you with an amazing opportunity to study here.

[rjzimmerman]

Study documents extinction of 610 bird species and ecological impacts. (Reuters)

Excerpt from this Reuters story:

The Dodo, the famous flightless bird that inhabited the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, is a case study in extinction caused by humans. The Dodo, finely adapted to its isolated ecosystem but unprepared for the arrival of people, was first encountered by Dutch sailors in 1598. Hunting, habitat destruction and the introduction of non-native species doomed it in under 80 years.

It is hardly alone. New research has documented the extinction of 610 bird species over the past 130,000 years, coinciding with the global spread of our species Homo sapiens, an avian crisis that has only accelerated in recent years and decades. For instance, the Kauaʻi ʻōʻō, a Hawaiian songbird, was declared extinct just last year.

The researchers also revealed the ecological consequences, as the disappearance of avian species erases functions they serve in innumerable ecosystems.

"Birds undertake a number of really important ecosystem functions, many of which we depend on, such as the dispersal of seeds, the consumption of insects, the recycling of dead material - for example, vultures - and pollination. If we lose species, then we lose these functions," said ecologist Tom Matthews of the University of Birmingham in England, lead author of the study published this week in the journal Science.

Most of the documented extinctions occurred on islands. Habitat loss can have huge effects given the isolation and reduced area involved, while the introduction of animals such as rats, cats and mice can have substantial impacts given the evolution of flightlessness among many island-endemic birds that left them unable to escape new predators, Matthews said.

Human hunting was a big extinction driver in the past and remains problematic in certain regions. Capturing birds for the songbird trade is a big issue, particularly in Southeast Asia, Matthews said.

Certain regions and species had more specific factors involved. For example, avian malaria, introduced by people, has triggered large numbers of extinctions in Hawaii - particularly among the endemic Hawaiian honeycreepers - where the birds possessed no natural immunity.

"The big unknown going forward is the role of anthropogenic climate change as a driver," Matthews said.

[painthropologist]

Recommended readings on pain

The following is a comprehensive reference list of readings on pain, embodiment, and ritual, to name a few of the topics that I will be discussing. This list will be updated as and when I find new sources, and covers various subjects from anthropology to sociology, philosophy, and beyond.

Adler, M. (2006). Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers and Other Pagans in America. 4th ed. USA: Penguin Books. 

Åsatrufellesskapet Bifrost (2024). Om Bifrost. Available at: https://bifrost.no/om-bifrost (Accessed 13 June 2024).

Asprem, E. (2008). Heathens Up North: Politics, Polemics, and Contemporary Norse Paganism in Norway. The Pomegranate, 10(1): 41-69. 

Aðalsteinsson, J.H. (1998). A Piece of Horse Liver: Myth, Ritual and Folklore in Old Icelandic Sources. Reykjavík: Háskólaútgáfan Félagsvísindastofnun.

Belardinelli, A.L. and Bonsaksen, J.A. (2020). An Ancient Perspective.  Available at: https://www.churchofpain.org/about (Accessed: 5 March 2024).

Bell, C. (2009). Ritual Theory, Ritual practice. New York: Oxford University Press. 

Eliade, M. (1969). The Quest: History and Meaning in Religion. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Calico, J.F. (2018). Being Viking: Heathenism in Contemporary America. Sheffield: Equinox.

Durkheim, E. (2012). The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. New York: Dover Publications.

Fibiger, M.Q. (2018). Thaipusam Kavadī – A Festival Helping Hindus in Mauritius Cope with Fear. International Quarterly for Asian Studies, 49(3-4): 123-140.

Fonneland, T. (2015). The Rise of Neoshamanism in Norway: Local Structures-Global Currents. In: Kraft, S.E., Fonneland, T., and Lewis, J.R. Nordic Neoshamanisms. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 33-54.

Geertz, C. (1973). Religion as a Cultural System. In: The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays. New York: Basic Books Inc, pp. 87-125. 

Glucklich, A. (2001). Sacred Pain: Hurting the Body for the Sake of the Soul. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Gunnell, T. (2015). The Background and Nature of the Annual and Occasional Rituals of the Ásatrúarfélag in Iceland. In: Minniyakhmetova, T., and Velkoborská, K., (eds.) The Ritual Year 10: Magic and Rituals and Rituals in Magic. ELM Scholarly Press. 28-40.

Harvey, G. (2013). The Handbook of Contemporary Animism. New York: Routledge.

Hobsbawm, E. (2012). Introduction: Inventing Traditions. In: Hobsbawm E., Ranger T., (eds.) The Invention of Tradition. Canto Classics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1-14.

Hobsbawm, E., and Ranger, T. (2014). The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Jackson, J.E. (2011). Pain and Bodies. In: Mascia-Lees, F.E. (ed.) A Companion to the Anthropology of the Body and Embodiment. UK: Wiley-Blackwell.

Kleinman, A., Das, V., Lock, M. (1997). Social Suffering. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Lee, N. (2022). On a Wind-Rocked Tree: Pain as Transformation in Contemporary Heathenry. In: Strickland, S., Hunter, L., and Mullin Berube, S. Riding the Bones. USA: The Three Little Sisters. Appendix D.

Luhrmann, T.M. (2012). Touching the Divine: Recent Research on Neo-Paganism and Neo Shamanism. Reviews in Anthropology, 41(1), pp. 136–150. 

Manfredi, F. (2024). Beyond Pain: The Anthropology of Body Suspensions. New York: Berghan.

Mauss, M. (1973). Techniques of the Body. Economy and Society, 2(1): pp. 70-88.

McLane, J. (1996). The Voice on the Skin: Self-Mutilation and Merleau-Ponty's Theory of Language. Hypatia, 11(4): 107-118.

Mitchell, J. (2009). Ritual Transformation and the Existential Grounds of Selfhood. Journal of Ritual Studies, 23(2): 53-66.

Obeyesekere, G. (1981). Medusa’s Hair: An Essay on Personal Symbols and Religious Experience. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Pagliarini, M.A. (2015). Spiritual Tattooing: Pain, Materialization, and Transformation. Journal of Religion and Violence, 3(2): 189-212.

Polhemus, T. (1998). The Performance of Pain. Performance Research, 3(3): 97-102.

Rappaport, R.A. (1999). Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity. UK: Cambridge University Press.

Rasmussen, R.H. (2020). The Nordic Animist Year. Estonia: Ecoprint.

(2023). Aun 2031. Available at: https://nordicanimism.com/aun-2023 (Accessed: 19 March 2024).

(2024). Aun: Cannibal Kings, Cosmic Healing and the Recovery of a Nordic Tradition. Estonia: Ecoprint.

Reynolds, C. and Erikson, E. (2017). Agency, Identity, and the Emergence of Ritual Experience. Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World, 3(1): 1 –14.

Scarry, E. (1985). The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World. New York: Oxford University Press.

Shilling, C. & Mellor, P. (2010). Saved from pain or saved through pain? Modernity, instrumentalization and the religious use of pain as a body technique. European Journal of Social Theory, 13(4): 521-537. DOI: 10.1177/1368431010382763.

Snook, J. (2013). Reconsidering Heathenry: The Construction of an Ethnic Folkway as Religio ethnic Identity. Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, 16(3): 52-76. 

von Schnurbein, S. (2016). Norse Revival: Transformations of Germanic Neopaganism. Boston: Brill.

Viljoen, M. (2010). Embodiment and the experience of built space: The contributions of Merleau-Ponty and Don Ihde. South African Journal of Philosophy, 29(3). DOI: 10.4314/sajpem.v29i3.59153.

[oh2e]

A classmate showed me a book called Wild Irish Women today. I am literally three paragraphs in and there is so much wrong

Born 1799 they say. Okay right. (He was born about ten years before that as he was 15/16 in 1804)

“Mary-Ann Bulkley and her two daughters the youngest of which” ….apparently Barry has an older sister now

“Barry claimed to be ten at time of enrolment [in university] though may have been up to four years older”

Absolutely not. James Barry LOOKED young but was most likely around 18 when he enrolled. (Though yes he did claim to be about 5 years younger than he actually was - most likely so people wouldn’t guess he was afab)

“Signed her name for the first time as James Miranda Stuart Barry”

…..did he though? Because as far as I can tell he never used either Miranda or Steuert. His thesis is just under James Barry. Queen Victoria promoted only James Barry to inspector general of hospitals. Any documents I have seen from Barry’s life (including a letter he signed) name him only as Dr James Barry. Someone said that they think Miranda came around with June Rose in the 1970s and I think that might be right but I can’t prove it yet. It’s definitely a more recent thing anyway. Possibly as a way to feminise him along with calling him ‘she’ which even the people in 1865 after his death don’t do. (They call him a woman yes but not she.)

Love how this book completely glosses over his deportation from the Cape and says he was “posted” to Mauritius which…he wasn’t. He just went. Didn’t go down well with the superiors.

Was seen naked by two doctors who confirmed years later she was a woman? Why?? There was a WOMAN who said she may have seen Barry undressed but she was a cleaner or slave or something and people didn’t listen to her.

[dewdr0pz]

i made another TDI OC

Name: Adama Jane Blevins Age: 17 Gender: Non-binary Pronouns: They/them Sexuality: Sapphic Hometown: Brooklyn, New York Stereotype: "Rockstar Girlfriend"/ "Loner Girl" Favorite color: Olive green Favorite drink: Pepsi Favorite food: Hashbrowns Allergies: N/A Miscellaneous: -They were born in Mauritius & lived there until they were two years old. -They live with their grandparents (Nana & Pops) & their twin brother (Kamal). -They hate wearing dresses. -They smoke. -They have heterochromia, but they wear colored contacts to hide it. -They have a few phobias, including acrophobia, arachnophobia, coulrophobia, & insectophobia. -They enjoy scaring little kids by wearing a clown mask. -They curse a lot (which makes it hard for the editors of the show to have to constantly bleep out their words). -They love music, specifically blues, jazz, hip-hop, rap, & EDM. -They want to become a rapper or a DJ one day. -They plan on going to the Manhattan School of Music for university. -They're the only contestant (on my OC version of TDI) to strictly use only they/them pronouns. -They're the only contestant who smokes. -They're the only contestant with vitiligo. -They're an introvert. -They get aggressive when they're mad. Quotes: -"That *bleep* hella nasty." -"You sure you don't want a cig?" -"*Bleep* *bleep bleep bleep* *bleeeeeep*" -"*Bleep bleep bleep* you son of a *bleep bleep bleep bleeeep*" -"...girl, what?"

@vopixx @zuuriell @vibestillaxxx @ogelizasoot @o-kye @radio-to-trenchcoat-demons @joviepog @finleyforevermore @ax-y10 @smolsleepykitten

[ukrfeminism]

The number of women dying during pregnancy or soon after childbirth has reached its highest level in almost 20 years, according to new data. Experts have described the figures as “very worrying”.

How many women are dying?

Between 2020 and 2022, 293 women in the UK died during pregnancy or within 42 days of the end of their pregnancy. With 21 deaths classified as coincidental, 272 in 2,028,543 pregnancies resulted in a maternal death rate of 13.41 per 100,000.

This is a steep rise from the 8.79 deaths per 100,000 pregnancies in 2017 to 2019, the most recent three-year period with complete data. The death rate has increased to levels not seen since 2003 to 2005.

Where have the figures come from?

The data comes from MBRRACE-UK, which conducts surveillance and investigates the causes of maternal deaths, stillbirths and infant deaths as part of the national Maternal, Newborn and Infant Clinical Outcome Review Programme (MNI-CORP).

MNI-CORP aims to improve patient outcomes and is funded by NHS England, the Welsh government, the health and social care division of the Scottish government, the Northern Ireland Department of Health, and the states of Jersey, Guernsey, and the Isle of Man.

Why are so many women dying during or just after childbirth?

The main cause of death was thrombosis and thromboembolism, or blood clots in the veins.

The second most common cause was Covid-19. But even when deaths due to Covid were excluded, the maternal death rate for 2020 to 2022 – 11.54 per 100,000 pregnancies – remained higher than the rate for 2017 to 2019.

Heart disease and deaths related to poor mental health were also common, according to a review of the data by the Guardian.

Why is the mortality rate increasing?

The researchers behind the data project, led by Oxford Population Health’s national perinatal epidemiology unit at the University of Oxford, highlight several issues.

They say maternity systems in the UK are under pressure but also point to pre-pregnancy health and the need to tackle conditions such as obesity, as well as critical actions to work towards more inclusive and personalised care during pregnancy.

Is there any good news?

Not really. The maternal death rate among black women decreased slightly compared with 2019 to 2021, but they remain three times more likely to die compared with white women. Asian women are twice as likely to die during pregnancy or soon after compared with white women.

Are there other factors aside from health?

Absolutely. Women living in the most deprived areas of the UK have a maternal death rate more than twice that of women living in the least deprived areas.

Persisting ethnic and socioeconomic inequalities show the UK must think beyond maternity care to address the “underlying structures” that impact health before, during and after pregnancy, such as housing, education and access to healthy environments, said Dr Nicola Vousden, co-chair of the women’s health specialist interest group for the Faculty of Public Health.

Are deaths during pregnancy only increasing in the UK?

No. Maternal death rates are rising in many countries, yet this alarming trend has not been seriously addressed by governments and healthcare systems worldwide.

Rates have doubled in the US over the last two decades, with deaths highest among black mothers, a study in Journal of the American Medical Association found. Indigenous women had the greatest increase.

It is difficult to compare precise death rates between countries because the data is not uniform. But other countries seeing substantial rises in rates include Venezuela, Cyprus, Greece, Mauritius, Puerto Rico, Belize, and the Dominican Republic.

What can be done to reverse the trend?

Urgent action is needed to bolster the quality of maternal healthcare, ensure it is accessible to all, and repair the damage inflicted by the pandemic on women’s healthcare services more generally.

Clea Harmer, the chief executive of bereavement charity Sands, said improving maternity safety also needs to be at the top of the UK’s agenda.

The government said it was committed to ensuring all women received safe and compassionate care from maternity services, regardless of their ethnicity, location or economic status.

Anneliese Dodds, the shadow women and equalities secretary, said Labour would seek to reverse the “deeply concerning” maternal mortality figures by training thousands more midwives and health visitors and incentivising continuity of care for women during pregnancy.

NHS England said it had made “significant improvements” to maternity services but acknowledged “further action” was needed. It has introduced maternal medical networks and specialist centres to improve the identification of potentially fatal medical conditions in pregnancy.

[theuniversitychallengereview]

Cold Water Swimming

Last week’s blog was about dopamine and the other feel-good brain hormones.

This week’s attempt to increase production of said hormones has involved cold water swimming, which I can confirm is really, really cold.

Exposure to cold water can double dopamine production, in the same way as alcohol and other drugs. But without the crash which comes soon after the consumption of drugs.

Meaning the dopamine high can last for hours after diving in rather than about 15 minutes as is the case for alcohol, with diminishing returns for every drink thereafter.

Living right next to a loch, I have easy access to cold water (and lots of it), so I walked down to a rocky beach and jumped in. Or rather, waded in and forced myself to submerge, then quickly sprint-waded out because it was absolutely freezing.

The University Challenge Review

www.quizposting.com

It’s hard to self-assess changes in doapmine level, but it definitely feels good. We had another go in a river yesteday, and I’ve been taking cold showers too (but only because our hot water has been broken).

I wonder if higher dopamine levels would help with quizzing. A quick dip to clear the brain and then off to the pub quiz (you’d have to forego the booze, though, or you’d lose the benefits).

Oriel and Durham faced off in the Grand Final of 2000, with Durham running out victors to the tune of 325 to 125 (quite the demolition).

Durham also won Paxman’s final series, in 2023, while Oriel’s sole triumph came in 1966. Durham first won in 1977, meaning that their next title will be 2046, if the trend is to continue.

Here’s your first starter for ten.

Nash loses five points for Durham with an incorrect buzz of Lisbon — Taseen picks up the pieces for Oriel with Toledo and they take two bonuses on colour. Wittgenstein is the answer to the one they miss (I’m aware that this is not a colour), and they are quite ridiculously denied the points due to a minor mispronunciation of the name.

In what proved to be a very tight game, I was worried this might come back to be important.

Brookfield-Pertusini brought Durham back into positive figures with Annie Ernaux. Ancell, who I think looks like the comedian Simon Amstell, took another starter for them next time out, answering very confidently.

Sharkey hits back for Oriel with Cavendish, and they retook the lead thanks to Armstrong’s buzz of Spike Lee.

They took a hat-trick on the British Indian Ocean Territory, which has been in the news recently as the UK has returned sovereignty of the island cluster to Mauritius.

Back and Forth

Roberts tied the game with bones, and the lead changed hands once again thanks to Brookfield-Pertusini’s knowledge of the Iliad. It is now Durham’s turn to lose points thanks to mispronunciation, but in this case it is more understandable, as they gave St Bride instead of St Brice.

Ancell takes the music starter, and Brookfield-Pertusini recognises one of the bonses as being from the opening to The Royal Tenenbaums, which helps her teammates to find the correct answer, Ravel, though she didn’t know it herself. Excellent conferring.

Durham are now 60 points clear, but Armstrong reduces this with Oriel’s first points in about 5 minutes. Refractive Index gives Armstrong a second consecutive starter, and he takes a third with Thomas Jefferson.

Rajan allows them the points despite the fact one or more of his teammates had actually given the answer at the same time.

I think this was fair enough, as Armstrong, who had buzzed, did give the answer too, but it was definitely on the line.

Even More Back and Forth

Taseen, who had joined in on Thomas Jefferson, takes the next starter, snatching the lead back for Oriel, who are on a 75–0 run.

This is ended by Ancell with Hokusai, and Durham are now winning.

Not for long — Armstrong steals it for Oriel.

Not for long — Roberts ties the game for Durham.

Not for long (in this case it couldn’t be anything other than ‘not for long’, as whatever happened next the tie would be broken, but I’m ramping up the tension with the whole ‘not for long’ thing. Tension which has now been dissipated by this explanation, drat!) — Sharkey nudges Oriel in front.

They take two bonuses, giving them 20 points of breathing space, which Roberts looks to exploit with a brave, early buzz of alto on the next starter.

Unfortunately for Durham the answer is tenor, and Armstrong sweeps this up, winning the match for Oriel.

Oriel 200–165 Durham

The final gap of 35 points belies how tight this match was, as Oriel exacted some manner of revenge for the 2000 final. Durham will probably return as high-scoring losers though, which is no more than they deserve.

I’m glad that the Wittgenstein mispronunciation didn’t come back to bite anyone because that would have been brutal.

Next week we have another Oxbridge derby as Exeter, Oxford, take on Christ’s, Cambridge — see you then.

[themakeupbrush]

Miss Universe Mauritius 2022 National Costume

The Trochetia Boutoniana national flower of Mauritius since the 12th March 1992, when Mauritius became a Republic. Named after the famous French botanist, Louis Bouton, it is endemic to Mauritius and is found in only one locality in the wild. Perfect for New Orleans, rich in French and Creole culture. ❤️ Ps : Mauritius was colonised by the French between 1715 and 1810. The British colonised Mauritius from 1810 until 1968, the Independence day.

[fuckyeahthomaspynchon]

He left the dodoes to rot, he couldn’t endure to eat their flesh. Usually, he hunted alone. But often, after months of it, the isolation would begin to change him, change his very perceptions—the jagged mountains in full daylight flaring as he watched into freak saffrons, streaming indigos, the sky his glass house, all the island his tulipomania. The voices—he insomniac, southern stars too thick for constellations teeming in faces and creatures of fable less likely than the dodo—spoke the words of sleepers, singly, coupled, in chorus. The rhythms and timbres were Dutch, but made no waking sense. Except that he thought they were warning him… scolding, angry that he couldn’t understand. Once he sat all day staring at a single white dodo’s egg in a grass hummock. The place was too remote for any foraging pig to’ve found. He waited for scratching, a first crack reaching to net the chalk surface: an emergence. Hemp gripped in the teeth of the steel snake, ready to be lit, ready to descend, sun to black-powder sea, and destroy the infant, egg of light into egg of darkness, within its first minute of amazed vision, of wet downstirred cool by these south-east trades… . Each hour he sighted down the barrel. It was then, if ever, he might have seen how the weapon made an axis potent as Earth’s own between himself and this victim, still one, inside the egg, with the ancestral chain, not to be broken out for more than its blink of world’s light. There they were, the silent egg and the crazy Dutchman, and the hookgun that linked them forever, framed, brilliantly motionless as any Vermeer. Only the sun moved: from zenith down at last behind the snaggleteeth of mountains to Indian ocean, to tarry night. The egg, without a quiver, still unhatched. He should have blasted it then where it lay: he understood that the bird would hatch before dawn. But a cycle was finished. He got to his feet, knee and hip joints in agony, head gonging with instructions from his sleeptalkers droning by, overlapping, urgent, and only limped away, piece at right shoulder arms.

When loneliness began to drive him into situations like this, he often returned to a settlement and joined a hunting party. A drunken, university hysteria would take hold of them all, out on night-rampages where they’d be presently firing at anything, treetops, clouds, leather demon bats screaming up beyond hearing. Tradewinds moving up-slope to chill their nights’ sweating, sky lit half crimson by a volcano, rumblings under their feet as deep as the bats’ voices were high, all these men were caught in the spectrum between, trapped among frequencies of their own voices and words.

This furious host were losers, impersonating a race chosen by God. The colony, the venture, was dying—like the ebony trees they were stripping from the island, like the poor species they were removing totally from the earth. By 1681, Didus ineptus would be gone, by 1710 so would every last settler from Mauritius. The enterprise here would have lasted about a human lifetime.

To some, it made sense. They saw the stumbling birds ill-made to the point of Satanic intervention, so ugly as to embody argument against a Godly creation. Was Mauritius some first poison trickle through the sheltering dikes of Earth? Christians must stem it here, or perish in a second Flood, loosed this time not by God but by the Enemy. The act of ramming home the charges into their musketry became for these men a devotional act, one whose symbolism they understood.

But if they were chosen to come to Mauritius, why had they also been chosen to fail, and leave? Is that a choosing, or is it a passing-over? Are they Elect, or are they Preterite, and doomed as dodoes?

Frans could not know that except for a few others on the island of Reunion, these were the only dodoes in the Creation, and that he was helping exterminate a race. But at times the scale and frenzy of the hunting did come through to trouble his heart. “If the species were not such a perversion,” he wrote, “it might be profitably husbanded to feed our generations. I cannot hate them quite so violently as do some here. But what now can mitigate this slaughter? It is too late… . Perhaps a more comely beak, fuller feathering, a capacity for flight, however brief… details of Design. Or, had we but found savages on this island, the bird’s appearance might have then seemed to us no stranger than that of the wild turkey of North America. Alas, their tragedy is to be the dominant form of Life on Mauritius, but incapable of speech.

That was it, right there. No language meant no chance of co-opting them in to what their round and flaxen invaders were calling Salvation. But Frans, in the course of morning lights lonelier than most, could not keep from finally witnessing a miracle: a Gift of Speech… a Conversion of the Dodoes. Ranked in thousands on the shore, with a luminous profile of reef on the water behind them, its roar the only sound on the morning, volcanoes at rest, the wind suspended, an autumn sunrise dispensing light glassy and deep over them all… they have come from their nests and rookeries, from beside the streams bursting out the mouths of lava tunnels, from the minor islands awash like debris off the north coast, from sudden waterfalls and the wasted rain-forests where the axeblades are rusting and the rough flumes rot and topple in the wind, from their wet mornings under the shadows of mountain-stubs they have waddled in awkward pilgrimage to this assembly: to be sanctified, taken in… . For as much as they are the creatures of God, and have the gift of rational discourse, acknowledging that only in His Word is eternal life to His Word is eternal life to be found… And there are tears of happiness in the eyes of the dodoes. They are all brothers now, they and the humans who used to hunt them, brothers in Christ, the little baby they dream now of sitting near, roosting in his stable, feathers at peace, watching over him and his dear face all night long… .

It is the purest form of European adventuring. What’s it all been for, the murdering seas, the gangrene winters and starving springs, our bone pursuit of the unfaithful, midnights of wrestling with the Beast, our sweat become ice and our tears pale flakes of snow, if not for such moments as this: the little converts flowing out of eye’s field, so meek, so trusting—how shall any craw clench in fear, any recreant cry be offered in the presence of our blade, our necessary blade? Sanctified now they will feed us, sanctified their remains and droppings fertilize our crops. Did we tell them “Salvation”? Did we mean a dwelling forever in the City? Everlasting life? An earthly paradise restored, their island as it used to be given them back? Probably. Thinking all the time of the little brothers numbered among our own blessings. Indeed, if they save us from hunger in this world, then beyond, in Christ’s kingdom, our salvations must be, in like measure, inextricable. Otherwise the dodoes would be only what they appear as in the world’s illusory light—only our prey. God could not be that cruel.

-Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow

[the-dog-watch]

The Thirteen-Gun Salute

me: i am fundamentally opposed to the british empire and all forms of colonialism and imperialism. history is a record of their atrocities.

my therapist: that's fair

me: but i love it when god's chosen captain jack aubrey is restored to the navy list and reclaims his sword so ere long he may draw it once more in the honorable defense of his country.

my therapist: who doesn't?

(once again, apologies to the OP)

Patrick O'Brian loves to repeat character-types throughout the Aubrey/Maturin series. For example, the  beautiful, fashionable lady spies who end up embroiled in Stephen’s intelligence work, characters  like Mrs. Wogan in Desolation Island or Mrs. Fielding in Treason's Harbour. Enjoyable in their way (personally I have a lot of fondness for Mrs. Fielding’s failed seduction in The Ionian Mission) but I never find myself that interested in them on their own, or at least not as interested in them as I am in the original; they’re all pale shades of Diana. They might be fancy and beautiful and high class but they lack her ineffable quality of being a messy bitch.

If Diana is the red-blooded progenitor of the Beautiful Lady Spy archetype, then Stephen is the progenitor of another recurring character type: the Bisexual Man with Mental Health problems, another iteration of which is Lord Clonfert from The Mauritius Command, who was the most interesting part of what I personally find to be the weakest, most insubstantial of the books. In Jo Walton’s reading guide, which I’ve been using a little bit, one of the commenters pointed out that the dipsomaniac doctor McAdams and Lord Clonfert are "dark reflections" of Stephen and Jack, an idea I find fascinating. Mirror universe Aubrey and Maturin...spooky!

But anyway, I bring this up because Andrew Wray is yet another iteration of the Bisexual Man with Mental Health Problems, certainly a more destructive and a much more functional antagonist than Clonfert ever was. I really liked the dissection scene; in her review Jo Walton said she found it so gruesome she almost "didn't want to know Stephen anymore;" no disrespect to her but some of us are built different. This is one of my favorite Stephen Maturin crazy ass moments of all time, up there with self-surgery in HMS Surprise and that time he stocked up on too many stimulants in Sweden and accidentally turned all the ship's rats into coke fiends.

But, sadly, overall the messy gay drama with Wray and Ledward (WHO THE FUCK EVEN WAS LEDWARD did we ever even see him speak????) was a little too understated, even for me. Obviously I didn't expect Stephen or Jack to get revenge on them in the traditional way, but something a little more definite than Jack getting pissy at a dinner after the fact could have done the trick, I think.

The dissatisfaction I feel with it is what brings me back to Clonfert; the actual plot of The Mauritius Command feels very remote and inert to me, and Clonfert is the most vivid part. Jack is so basically above him in all ways (or so Stephen describes it) that Clonfert completely destroys himself out of his neuroses and Jack is shielded by Stephen from ever even knowing about or being hurt by it. It was similarly anticlimactic but there was an element of tragedy and pathos to it, and Stephen’s shielding Jack from the disturbing truth has an echo in Stephen’s own inability to fully open up to Jack about Diana, Stephen's inability to open up about pretty much everything.

Thankfully, this book has way more going for it than The Mauritius Command. I like the rhythm and episodic nature of these latter books much more than TMC's rigid retelling of a historical naval campaign. Stephen re-living some of his revolutionary past with the United Irishmen, and re-living some of the divided loyalties poor James Dillon (may he rest in pieces) felt in the first novel was a welcome call back, the Kumai trip was generally wonderful, I was pretty happy about Jack's ultimate ambivalence about being reinstated in the Navy again, and I LOVE the Stephen Maturin Strikes It Rich storyline (more on that next time I think; I do think it's very funny that when it comes to money, neither Stephen nor Jack is 'the smart one.')

I got to really love the Diane, and this is the first time we’ve had a genuine shipwreck; as exciting as that was, it was genuinely heartbreaking to lose her. RIP Diane but I’m already well into the next book and in love with my new girl (Nutmeg of Consolation, you will always be famous. 😭)

Personal Ranking

The Far Side of the World (10) > HMS Surprise (3) > Desolation Island (5) > The Reverse of the Medal (11) > The Ionian Mission (8) > The Fortune of War (6) > Master & Commander (1) > The Surgeon’s Mate (7) > Treason's Harbour (9) > The Letter of Marque (12) > The Thirteen-Gun Salute (13) > Post Captain (2) > The Mauritius Command (4)

[fortpeat]

Do you have any headcanons for Prapaisky wedding? How it would go down or the lead up to it or how the honeymoon would go?

Hey nonnie ❤️

Ooo this is such a good question ✨

Wedding - Definitely Summer Beach Wedding since Sky loves the Sea. Semi Casual Outfits for our boys as it might get hot and Sky is someone who loves simplicity and I think Prapai would appreciate not having to wear a suit as well. Nobody needs to feel stuffy at the beach. Reception at Prapai's main house for all their friends and family and for this we can go with Casual suits 🤌

So our boys are gonna get engaged in Sky's last year of University and then after 6 months where Sky already would have found a job waiting for him after graduation coz he is that good and smarty pants everyone wants him. 6 months later we have the wedding ✨

Honeymoon - Well their First night 😏 would be at their new condo that Prapai has bought for them as a surprise for Sky. (It has not been decorated yet, Prapai is waiting for Sky to do all that because he's the master) the day after the wedding they fly to London to start their Honeymoon. Prapai wants to show Sky his place in London and his university and his favorite spots to have delicious food and then they go to Paris coz Prapai is that softie who wants to take romantic pictures with Sky in the City of Love and then their last stop is Italy coz Sky has always wanted to see Venice and Rome and all their beautiful architecture structures.

P. S Prapai also takes Sky on their second honeymoon 6 months after their wedding just to spoil his baby but this time they go to Mauritius and Bali ✨ They come back with Beautiful Tan 😍😍

[beardedmrbean]

The Texas entrepreneur working to bring back the woolly mammoth has added a new species to his revival list: the dodo.

Recreating this flightless bird, a symbol of human-caused extinction, is a chance for redemption. It might also motivate humans to remove invasive species from Mauritius, the bird's native habitat, said Ben Lamm, CEO and co-founder of Colossal Biosciences. 

"Humanity can undo the sins of the past with these advancing genetic rescue technologies," Lamm said. "There is always a benefit for carefully planned rewilding of a species back into its native environment."

The dodo is the third animal that Colossal Biosciences — which announced Tuesday it has raised $225 million since September 2021 — is working to recreate.

And no, the company isn't cloning extinct animals — that's impossible, said Lamm, who lives in Dallas. Instead, it's focusing on genes that produce the physical attributes of the extinct animals. The animals it's creating will have core genes from those ancestors, engineered for the same niche the extinct species inhabited.

The woolly mammoth, for instance, is being called an Arctic elephant. It will look like a woolly mammoth and contribute to the Arctic ecosystem in a way that’s similar to the woolly mammoth. But it will technically be an Asian elephant with genes altered to survive in the cold. Asian elephants and woolly mammoths share 99.6 percent of their DNA.

The mammoth was the company's first project because it had long been a passion for Harvard University geneticist and Colossal co-founder George Church. He believes that Arctic elephants are the key to creating an Ice Age-like ecosystem with grasslands and grazing mammals, and this could help fight climate change by sequestering carbon under permanently frozen grounds that span areas including Siberia, Canada, Greenland and Alaska.

The altered genes could also give elephants a new habitat that’s far away from the destructive forces of (most) humans, and the company's gene editing technologies could help eradicate elephant diseases.

The company's de-extinction projects seek to fill ecological voids and restore ecosystems, Lamm said. The Tasmanian tiger, which Colossal announced as its second de-extinction animal in August of 2022, is a good example. This tiger was the only apex predator in the Tasmanian ecosystem. No other animal filled its place when it went extinct.

Apex predators eat sick and weak animals, which helps control the spread of disease and improves an ecosystem's genetic health. So the tiger's extinction could have contributed to the near-extinction of Tasmanian devils that lived in the same ecosystem, Lamm said.

For the dodo, Colossal is partnering with evolutionary biologist Beth Shapiro, a scientific advisory board member for Colossal who led the team that first fully sequenced the dodo's genome.

The dodo went extinct in 1662 as a direct result of human settlement and ecosystem competition. They were killed off by hunting and the introduction of invasive species. Creating an environment where the dodos can thrive will require humans to remove the invaders (the non-human invaders, anyway), and this environmental restoration could have cascading benefits on other plants and animals.

"Everybody has heard of the dodo, and everybody understands that the dodo is gone because people changed its habitat in such a way that it could not survive," Shapiro said. "By taking on this audacious project, Colossal will remind people not only of the tremendous consequences that our actions can have on other species and ecosystems, but also that it is in our control to do something about it."

The company has secured $150 million in funding to revive this bird and build an Avian Genomics Group, bringing the company's total fundraising to $225 million.

Colossal has more than 40 scientists and three laboratories working to recreate the woolly mammoth, and they hope to have mammoth calves in 2028. There are 30 scientists working on the Tasmanian tiger. 

Reviving extinct animals is not a quick process, especially when considering the development of new technologies and the natural processes of Mother Nature (elephant gestation takes 22 months!). Some of Colossal's projects will take nearly a decade to complete, which is why the company is working to reintroduce multiple animals at the same time. 

"Given the rapidly changing planet and various ecosystems heavily influenced by humankind, we need more tools in our tool belt to also help species adapt faster than they are currently evolving," Lamm said.

And the tools aren't limited to extinct animals. Colossal is developing technology that can benefit other industries, and it's spinning these out into new companies. Last year, it spun out a software platform called Form Bio that's designed to help scientists collaborate and work with their data, visualizing it in meaningful ways rather than looking at raw numbers in a spreadsheet.

"Synthetic biology will allow the world to solve various human-induced, world-wide problems," Lamm said, "like making drought-resistant livestock, curing certain disease states in humans, creating corals that are tolerant to various salinities and higher temperatures ... and much more."