SAMPSON the Victorian alpine dingo has become quite a local celebrity since he took up residence in Langwarrin just over two years ago.

More:

Now this is an interesting "weird" science story. Dingo urine has been chosen as an innovative natural marsupial repellant.

But what sort of threat do kangaroos pose to lumberjacks and pulp mills exactly? Why is cyanide being used to kill native fauna in the first place?

----   ----  ----   ----  ----   ----  ----   ----  ----   ----  ----   ----  ----   ----  ----   ----  ----   ----

Okay, I'll admit I think I know the answer. The removal of natural apex predators like the Tasmanian Tiger, Tasmanian devil and quoll species has damaged the ecosystems - causing herbivorous marsupials to occasional bloom into plague-like proportions. Still, I think research could be better spent trying to restore the ecosystem imbalance by reintroducing native Dasyurid (Tasmanian devils, quolls and some further 90 species of predatory marsupial rat-like ferrety things) species.

Et avant d'oublier, de rien pour les cartes postales! Pour les autres, elles arrivent! Merci encore pour vos commentaires. Bon retour a Lolo et Bruno, vous nous avez vraiment manque pendant ce circuit. Vous voyez, on vous oublie pas.

Jour 1

Nous avons fait beaucoup de route. Notre nouveau groupe est principalement feminin: sur 21 personnes, seulement 3 hommes + notre guide Chris. Tout le monde parle parfaitement bien anglais, sauf nous! On va ameliorer nos competences linguistique!

Notre 1er arret etait sur la plage magnifique de Eigthy Miles Beach. Nous avons ramasse plein de coquillages, certains que nous n'avions jamais vu en France. On ne pouvait pas se baigner car il y avait toujours ces satanees meduses! On a encore vu un 4x4 sur la plage: incomprehensible ...

Deuxieme arret a Port Headland, qui est le plus important port australien. On y a vu des trains de plusieurs kilometres de long et qui transporte de l'oxyde de fer.

Le soir, arrive au camp de Indee Station, au milieu de nul part: l'horreur!! Les toilettes sont a 600m et sont habites par de multiples petites betes: serpents, grenouilles, araignees ... et pas de lumiere. On a monte notre tente qui sentait mauvais (!) et la nuit il a plu a l'interieur!! Il n'y avait vraiment aucune installation dans ce camp, et pourtant une famille australienne y passait ses vacances avec 2 enfants en bas age!

Jour 2, 3 & 4

On se leve a 6h, c'est tard par rapport a nos autres circuits! Nous allons passes 3 jours au Karijini National Park. Notre balade a commence par le Visitor Center.

Puis pendant les 3 jours nous avons explore les gorges du parc : lookout (=point de vue) sur le paysage, baignade dans les waterfalls (eau beaucoup plus froide que d'habitude), escalade vertigineuse, sentiers instables. On remercie tous les jours nos chaussures de randonnee! C'est encore plus sportif (et plus dangeureux) que l'autre circuit.

Dans l'un des billabongs, nous avons fait du "tobbogan" grace aux roches glissantes qui descendent dans l'eau.

Un apres-midi, Elodie est partie avec quelques autres personnes faire une balade a la nage dans l'eau froide (ce qui a dissuade Orianne) a l'interieur des gorges. Elle a pu sauter dans l'eau a partir de rochers surplombants. Et meme si elle avait peur de plonger, elle n'avait pas le choix car il y avait un goanna juste a cote de la ou elle devait sauter! Une fois dans l'eau, c'etait diffile de remonter, heureusement il y avait une prof de sport parmi nous!

Un jour en remontant des gorges, nous nous sommes perdues avec 2 autres personnes. Dans notre errance, nous avons eu la chance de voir de tres pres deux kangourous! Et heureusement nous avons fini par retrouver notre chemin vers le camp.

Nous avons aussi connu un apres midi particulierement aventureux. Dans l'eau des gorges, nous avons du faire du Spider Walk, c'est-a-dire marcher entre 2 pents de rocher avec l'eau qui passe en dessous. Une fille juste derriere Orianne est tombee a cause d'une pierre glissante et a l'a entraine dans sa chute ... Mais c'est Orianne qui s'est fait le plus mal: claquage des mains, gros coup au coude, nouveaux bleus au genoux et grosse frayeur! Juste apres c'est un australien du groupe qui est tombe au meme endroit sur le dos. Son crane saignait ... bref l'aventure tournait mal ... Mais finalement, personne n'est alle a l'hopital.

Nous avons dormi durant ces 3 jours dans le Savannah Camp, qui etait mieux que l'Indee Station, mais pas aussi luxueux que les camps de notre 1er circuit. Sauf qu'a cette epoque, on ne savait pas que c'etait le luxe! On dort a plusieurs dans les tentes, tant mieux car les nuits sont froides. Les toilettes sont encore loin et les douches chauffees a l'energie solaire souvent froides surtout quand on passe les dernieres! Un soir on s'est brossee les dents en compagnie d'une grosse araignee. Neanmoins, nous sommes entourees d'un paysage magnifique, tres sauvage: on savoure la nature et le depaysement.

Jour 5

900 kms de route! On etait a l'avant avec notre guide, Chris, ce qui nous a permis de voir notre 1er dingo sauvage, ainsi qu'un emeu et son bebe, des kangourous, des vaches, des moutons (bbeee) et un goanna au milieu de la route!

En fin de journee, nous sommes arrivees a Exmouth. On a pu voir au loin des baleines juste avant le coucher de soleil.

On retrouve un vrai lit et une douche chaude dans l'auberge de jeunesse dans laquelle on passe la nuit.

Jour 6

Nous avons fait du snorkeling a Exmouth. C'est a dire que muni d'un masque, tuba et de palmes, nous avons admire les coraux et les poissons qui y habitent. La barriere de corail se trouve a seulement quelques metres de la plage de sable fin, et donc accessible a la nage. Les couleurs sont magnifiques et les poissons fluorescents! C'est comme si on etait dans un autre monde. Nous avons notamment vu une petite raie dont la queue est empoisonnee. Certains ont eu la chance de voir des tortues et meme des petits requins! Nous avons aussi bien bronze ce jour la. Le soir, nous reprenons la route vers Coral Bay ou on est reste deux nuits dans la meme auberge de jeunesse.

Jour 7

En se brossant les dents, on s'est rendue compte que l'eau de l'hotel etait salee (elle n'est pas desalinisee). Essayez un peu de vous laver les dents avec de l'eau de mer: c'est horrible! C'est aussi un inconvenient pour la lessive, car ca ne lave rien. La terre rouge du desert est reste incruste dans nos vetements. C'etait journee libre donc on a ete au shopping center mais ... il n'y avait rien! Vivement les grandes villes! Nous avons voulu profiter de la jolie plage. Nous avons loue du materiel de snorkeling mais apres 1/2h il s'est mis a pleuvoir... On est revenue plus tard sur la plage pour faire du snorkeling, mais c'etait moins impressionnant que la veille a Exmouth. PS: Il fait de plus en plus froid.

Jour 8

Encore du bus et quelques arrets interessants. Premier arret a Carnavaron dans une exploitation fruitiere ou nous avons mange une glage a la banane enrobee de chocolat! Mmmmm!!

Puis nous avons vu des stromatolites qui sont des bacteries. Ce sont les 1eres formes de vie sur terre et elles auraient permi le developpement des especes en apportant plus d'oxygene.

Troisieme arret sur une plage constituee uniquement de coquillages. Le soir, on a dormi a Denham, une grande ville pour la cote ouest! Nous nous rendons compte que si nous avions pris le bus Greyhound nous nous serions arrete que dans des stations essence! Nous aurions manque beaucoup de sites et d'activites interessants.

Jour 9

Nous sommes allees a Monkey Mia, plage reputee pour ses dauphins qui viennent tous les matins se faire nourrir par les touristes! Nous avons eu la chance toutes les 2 d'etre choisies pour aller donner un poisson a un dauphin! Cela a ete le meilleur moment du circuit !!!!

Puis route vers Kalbarri, ou nous nous sommes arretees dans les gorges. Encore un paysage magnifique qu'on ne peut voir qu'en Australie.

Enfin, pour terminer la journee, comme tous les soirs, nous avons admire le coucher de soleil sur la mer (Ocean Indien).

Jour 10

Avant de reprendre la route, nous admirons les grosses vagues qui s'ecrasent sur la cote. C'est reparti pour 8heures de route direction Perth, en longeant la cote. Sur le chemin, nous avons fait la rencontre de bebes emeux qui courraient sur la route et se cassaient la figure! Trop mignons, trop droles! Le guide a reussi a ne pas les ecraser! Dans une station service, il y avait des oiseaux en cage, ils etaient completement dingues! On a hate de vous montrer les videos!

Enfin, notre dernier arret etait les Pinnacles Desert. C'est l'image que l'on a en haut du blog.

Puis arrive a Perth a 19h30, epuisees et affamees, nous avons teste le Hungry Jack's, le Burger King australien. Miam! Dans les rues, nous avons croise plein de filles en mini-jupes, samedi soir oblige! Nous on etait en tong, jean et pull! Gros contraste!

Nous partageons la chambre avec 2 autres filles. En entrant, on a cru qu'on etait dans un dortoir de 10 tellement c'etait le bazar! Elles sont rentrees a 5h30 et ont frappe a la porte car elles avaient leurs cle ... Heureusement le mec qui les accompagnait ne les as pas suivi dans la chambre ( On a appris que c'etait frequent sur la cote est ...)

Suite des aventures des que possible. A bientot!

The dingo is Australia's 'native' dog, but it has cross-bred with so many other types of dog around Australia that there are very few pure dingos left. Fraser Island is probably the only place where the entire population of dingos is unspoiled, due to isolation from all other types of dog.

People used to feed the dingos on the island, but after a few incidents it is now strictly forbidden. So where once dingos would come right up to you, now they are much harder to find and photograph. I spent three days on Fraser Island and only saw three. The first two were such a fleeting glimpse there was no chance of a photo.

On my final day I visited an inland lake, and went for a walk up into the sand dunes to get a better angle. I turned around and this young dingo was sitting in the sand about ten meters away! Couldn't believe my luck. I only got a few photos but I was very happy with this one. It is so much more rewarding when you have an experience on your own without the usual tourist crowd there to spoil it. This is a simple photo, but it is still one of my favourite memories as a nature photographer.

Don't forget to visit my website at www.naturesimage.com.au

Analysis: Early this morning, Twitter alerted me that the Earth was still spinning. Below I explain how.

Remember the old DEW Line?  The Distant Early Warning system stretched across Canada, and to Iceland in the east and Sarah Palin-country in the west, during the Cold War to trigger an alert if Soviet bombers tiptoed over the Pole heading for the U.S. border.  If you grew up in the grand old days of the Cold War you kept wondering what was going on up at the DEW Line, or at least I did as a kid with an inquiring (if jittery) mind.

When Google first made available its "Google Alerts" feature, allowing search results off news and web queries to be delivered in near-real-time by email, I went a little hog-wild and set up several hundred. The ones which a lot of people set up, I did as well - alerts on the names of professional colleagues who get quoted frequently, old girlfriends who are sometimes in the news on the West Coast, stealthy startups that friends are establishing, international topics and crisis-points which may periodically flare up. Having a little background in Boolean logic and query structure helps, to filter out crap and duplicative hits.

One of the odder alerts I set up, late one night while goofing off, is a slightly complex one about the Rapture, yes from Christian eschatology, designed to let me know ASAP that someone has posted somewhere on the Internet that they believe it has just occurred. If and when it happens, I'll either be zooming skywards myself (doubtful but nice to contemplate) or sitting in a diner wondering why I can't find my pleasant waitress. It would be nice to know why, at that point, and finding out via my mobile device buzzing is as likely and efficient a way as any.

Last year I began experimenting with Microsoft's Live News Search, which appears to have more contributing news sources than Google News, and I can RSS feed those for endless delivery options of breaking news into other pages and services.

Lately I've added email and SMS alerts for Twitter searches, and several other alert-generating services using Twitter's open API, as a helpful means of generating real-time alerts of breaking news and important events.  The lifeblood of information coursing through the web's veins on Twitter, in real time from the crowd, seems destined to outperform CNN or Fox News, and certainly traditional wire services when it comes to delivering news first.  "Wire services" - how musty and quaint a term that's becoming.

Early this morning I had a great opportunity with LHC (or, in News Search RSS parlance, LHC).

Waiting for News of the Black Hole 

While waiting for the End Times myself, I've noted other periodic threats to The Earth and All We Hold Dear, like the LHC firing up.  As Wikipedia puts it, quite neutrally but with links to outrageous scare-mongering, "Although some individuals, including some scientists, have questioned the safety of the planned experiments in the media and through the courts, the consensus in the scientific community is that there is no basis for any conceivable threat from the LHC particle collisions." 

Yet as one news story noted yesterday in the frenzied run-up to the first experiment, "the collider has been the subject of intense fear among the public. Public-relations staffers at the LHC are receiving a flood of worried and angry phone calls and e-mails, reported James Gillies, head of PR for the collider. Nobel prize winner Frank Wilczek of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has even received death threats, according to the BBC."

"They phone me and say: "I am seriously worried. Please tell me that my children are safe," Gillies told the BBC. "There are a number who say: 'You are evil and dangerous and you are going to destroy the world."  - James Gillies, LHC Director of Public Relations

So here's how I used Twitter to keep track, just in case, starting with the official CERN Twitter feed at http://twitter.com/cern; they posted rarely but authoritatively.  I also follow several news organizations on Twitter, like CNN, AP, the New York Times, and a few local news sites, but those were unhelpful with LHC. A Twitter-specific breaking-news service, "BreakingNewsOn," is a great one to follow, though lately they've injected several appeals for donations into their excellent newsfeed.  They provide a kind of serious DrudgeReport newsfeed (which I also have - love their use of the siren-light as their Twitter icon) but without the Paris Hilton or dingo-ate-my-baby stories, and they actually set up a subset of LHC news, at http://twitter.com/LHCLatest.

Many of the twitterers I follow regularly were also interested in LHC, and so late last night and early this morning I noticed others tweeting their observations, like Robert Scoble pointing to a nice online tour of CERN here.

Finally, if you like your news crowd-sourced, you could follow the Twitterverse's observations and contributions at http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23LHC, which takes advantage of the popular "hash-tag" feature and aggregates all tweets with the tag #LHC.  That helped a lot, although there was quite a bit of frivolous (okay, funny) stuff going on there :-)

So, the sun is now rising on the East Coast, signaling LHC's failure to destroy our planet.  I'm already monitoring several new candidates as the next one-fell-swoop threat to human life. Let me know if you have better or more interesting ways of accomplishing this - I'd like to be the first to know....

Email this post to a friend

Listen to sounds of: aardvark, addax ,alligator, alpaca, anteater, antelope, aoudad, ape, argali, armadillo, ass, baboon, badger, basilisk, bat ,bear, beaver, bighorn     bison, boar, budgerigar, buffalo, bull, bunny, burro, camel, canary, capybara, cat, chameleon, chamois, cheetah, chimpanzee, chinchilla, chipmunk, civet, coati, colt, cony, cougar, cow, coyote, crocodile, crow, deer, dingo, doe, dog, donkey, dormouse, dromedary, duckbill, dugong, eland, elephant, elk, ermine, ewe, fawn, ferret, finch, fish, fox, frog, gazelle, gemsbok, gila, monster, giraffe, gnu, goat, gopher, gorilla, grizzly bear, ground hog, guanaco, guinea pig, hamster, hare, hartebeest, hedgehog, hippopotamus, hog, horse, hyena, ibex, iguana, impala, jackal, jaguar, jerboa, kangaroo, kid, kinkajou, kitten , koala, koodoo, lamb, lemur, leopard, lion, lizard, llama, lovebird, lynx, mandrill, mare, marmoset, marten, mink, mole, mongoose, monkey, moose, mountain, goat, mouse, mule, musk deer, musk-ox, muskrat, mustang, mynah bird, newt, ocelot, okapi, opossum, orangutan, oryx, otter, ox, panda, panther, parakeet, parrot, peccary, pig, platypus, polar bear, pony, porcupine, porpoise, prairie dog, pronghorn, puma, puppy, quagga, rabbit, raccoon, ram,  rat, reindeer, reptile, rhinoceros, roebuck, salamander, seal, sheep, shrew, silver fox, skunk, sloth, snake, springbok, squirrel, stallion, steer, tapir, tiger, toad, turtle, vicuna, walrus, warthog, waterbuck, weasel, whale, wildcat, wolf, wolverine, wombat, woodchuck, yak, zebra, zebu etc... All on: http://www.SoundLantern.com/

Hello everyone. I was out taking a walk this morning on the Penny's Pets sim, and stopped to admire once again the Big Cat House.  This was Penny's first zoo like exhibit, really.  She based it on the Big Cat House at Chicago's Lincoln Park zoo.  There are nine big cats on display and for sale.  She is exhibiting a Siberian tiger, a Bengal Tiger, a White Bengal Tiger, a Black Panther, a Leopard, a Jaguar, a Mountain Lion and a Snow Leopard.  Each of them is enclosed in a setting natural to his species. 

Across from the Big Cat House is another pretty new exhibit at Penny's Pets sim.  Penny had the idea to make a Special Exhibits Building and her good friend Keera Woyseck stepped up to make this building for her.  Made of sleek black and frosty white marble, this building will feature a different theme of animals each month.  The first month it was constructed, she displayed Australian Animals and her exhibit included a wombat, a kangaroo, an emu, a dingo and a pair of koalas.  The month of August the theme was Bears and Penny created habitats for a grizzly, a black bear, a sun bear, a spectacled bear and a polar bear. The month of September hasn't quite been decided, but Penny is thinking a lot about doing animals of the Rocky mountains.  We'll have to wait and see what she decides, though.

Nous avons pris la route pour aller a Uluru. En chemin, on s’est arrete a Camel Farm qui est un endroit ou on eleve des chameaux. Mais on y aussi vu des émeus, des oiseaux, des bébés kangourous et un dingo que nous avons même pu caresser !!

Nous avons eu notre 1ere frayeur quand notre guide a ecrase un aigle sur la route ! Plus tard, nous nous sommes arretes pour ramasser du bois pour le feu de camp du soir. Une aborigene s’est arretee et a demader de l’argent a la guide car apparamment le bois se trouvait sur son territoire.

Nous sommes arrivees en debut d’apres midi au camp. Il y avait une grande cuisine, des sanitaires et des douches assez propres et des tentes de 2 personnes avec matelas. Nous avons prepare tous ensemble le dejeuner : chicken burger ! Puis après la vaisselle, nous sommes parties randonner dans les Monts Olga. C’était magnifique mais le rythme était tres soutenu pour des francais qui adorent prendre plein de photos. Nous avons eu la chance de voir un kangourou dans son etat sauvage. Puis nous avons repris le bus pour admirer le coucher de soleil sur Uluru, un verre de vin australien a la main !

Apres le repas, nous sommes allees nous coucher a la belle etoile, dans un swag (sorte de sac de couchage avec matelas integre) et nous avons tres bien dormi au chaud, pres du feu.

Le lendemain on était reparti, de nouveau levees a 5h pour admirer le lever du soleil sur Uluru. Nous avons ensuite enchainer par une ballade de 2h top chrono tout autour d’Uluru (10 km !). Puis nous avons visite le Cultural Center sur la culture aborigene.

Nous avons ensuite repris le bus, direction King’s Canyon. Lors d’un arret nous avons pu admirer un lac sale (Salt Lake). En fin de journee, nous sommes arrivees dans notre nouveau camp, semblable au 1er, mais perdu au bout d’une piste. Nous avons dine au feu de camp. Elodie a meme manger un morceau d’une espece de chenille (nourriture traditionnelle des aborigenes, au gout de cacahuete).

Lever de nouveau a 5h pour notre 3eme jour de circuit !! (Vive les vacances !) Nous avons admire le lever du soleil sur King’s Canyon avant d’entamer une ballade de 3 heures dans ses rochers. Nous avons eu la chance d’assister a un evenement exceptionnel : un orage sur King’s Canyon ! Il n’avait pas plu depuis decembre dernier ! C’était impressionnant.

De retour vers Alice Spring, grace a la pluie qui était tombee presque toute la journee dans le desert, nous avons croiser plein de kangourou. En effet, ils venaient s’abreuver plus facilement sur la route ou il y avait des flaques d’eau. C’était un reel defi pour notre guide de les eviter ! D’ailleurs, nous avons vu encore beaucoup de kangourous morts le long de la route …

Ce soir, nous avons dine dans un restaurant d’Alice Spring avec d’autres francais de notre groupe. Au menu, paupiete de crocodiles, brochettes de chameaux, kangourous, saucisse d’emeu et beuf traditionnel ! Un delice !

Demain c’est reparti pour la suite du circuit, direction le nord. Lever a 4h30 !!!

PS : On vous envoie des photos des qu’on aura acces a Internet gratuitement (1$ les 15min). Et merci encore pour tous vos comments, ca nous fait plaisir d'etre suivies :)

Les terminaux diffuseront des modules auto-promotionnels et informatifs.

General Motors est présent en Allemagne via les marques Opel, Saab, Chevrolet, Cadillac et Corvette. Il a commercialisé 380.199 véhicules sur le pays en 2006 et compte plus de 27.000 employés.

More from "The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo." I just can't get enough of it . . . who the hell writes like that? Ruddy was, of course, inspired by the incantation of formal Indian storytelling, but I wonder if he borrowed the source material and made it accessible to the Western world, sort of like a literary Paul Simon. The rhythms remind me of a lot of Technicians of the Sacred, one of those books that changed my life . . . Natalie is going around chanting lines and lines from the kangaroo chase scenes. You'll be sitting there doing something and out of nowhere you hear: "Down sat Dingo — Poor Dog Dingo — always hungry, dusky in the sunshine; hung out his tongue and howled."

As bad as that is, it sets of a cheerful chorus of dog barking throughout the neighborhood. Very pleasant. Luckily we have learned to sleep with a fan on full blast generating white noise, this helps to somewhat block out yap dog as well as the booming bass. (a trick we picked up when we lived across the street from two hospitals).

======

To continue the theme of scary/annoying neighborhood animals, several weeks ago Webb and I were out jogging at 1am. Yes, I know that seems late but Webb was working second shift, and there was also the benefit of not dying in the 105 degree heat. Around here it seems that people tend to keep their dogs on a chain in the front/back yard versus building a tall fence to contain their pet. Imagine the shadowy darkness between streetlights running when all of a sudden out of the corner of your eye a giant sounding dog rushes in your direction barking its head off. Webb of course grabbed me like a human shield...kidding...actually he pushed me behind him to which I later (after throwing my pee soaked pants in the wash...again kidding) acted indignant about even though i was secretly thankful that the dog would've ripped his face off instead of mine, giving me a chance to run home and...call 911???

======

I swear the other day when we were visiting a friend who lives near Wal-mart we passed this woman standing by the entrance of Wal-mart holding a sign. Dog $5. She was holding a dog leash, and that dog looked exactly like an African Dingo Dog. Webb wanted to stop and ask if the leash was included...

Hello Jonne. Negative has recently released a new album, Karma Killer. What can the new and old fans expect about it?

I think the album itself is really positive. If you compare it to the previous one, Anorectic, it was really depressive, to me at least personally. It was made through very difficult times. In Karma Killer otherwise I just concentrated on what is going on now and the future. When we started many people were putting us in the same group with other bands like H.I.M, but I think that now with Karma Killer we have achieved the kind of sound we wanted. It shows the direction to follow in the future.

The album is positive but there is also quite an angry track: Motherfucker (just like you). Do you meet many motherfuckers in everyday life?

Hehehe… Of course! Sometimes… It is about anger, it has a lot of hate but it is also about not giving up. I have worked hard to make this band to be one of the best known all over the crowd, so if I would give up, this song would be for me! It would be the “easy escape” to leave everything and just take drugs or shit like that. You know what I mean.

You have lived all your life in Tampere. Do you like it here?

It is really nice. People have been asking for many years the same question, why I do not move to Helsinki where there is more promotion. But I have rally strong roots over here, I like it here! People are quite down to earth. In Helsinki it seems to be important what you are doing, where do you come from…

I was assisting to the contest for choosing the Festbabe in Tammerfest and one question asked to the girls is how they would react if they would meet you. How do you deal with this image of sex symbol in Finland? Is your life keeping up with the rock stereotype of sex, drugs and rock, or how is a normal day in your life?

Well, sometimes it can be glamorous. It depends; I have a lot of friends who can organize parties wherever I am, but usually my life is quite boring, hehehe. I like to wash dishes myself; I like to clean my house…. Every time I came back from the road first things first, I need to clean my place and then it is time to relax. I like watching movies, listening to music, playing guitar, writing songs at home. I avoid a bit crowded places. At the beginning I liked it, I was driven by people´s attention, but now I prefer to stay at home.

And we cannot forget that you are just 24 now. When Negative started you were very young!

Yeah, I was just 18. I must confess at the beginning I lost a bit myself. Who wouldn´t? When your albums are selling gold, platinum… And you have even more shows to do than days in the week and good looking girls are all the time around. But it was just for a while. I allowed that for myself, because there were so many years that I was dreaming with these kind of things… like for example to get a record deal, to get a record company behind Negative it was one of the main things that happened in our career.

"When I come home from the road, the first thing I like to do is cleaning everything and washing the dishes"

-Jonne Aaron; singer of Negative

And actually the promotion of your last album is huge inside Finland, with ads everywhere. Do you have any specific target in the international market?

The whole Europe. We are going to concentrate on that and I think for the next one there is going to be a lot of worldwide promotion. Let´s see. Now we are going to make a wide tour in Europe with 45 shows. So step by step, album by album.

You have many fans in Spain and South America from the beginning!

Yeah, we have played in Mexico and Argentina. And I think Spain is also included in our tour. As I said, step by step. I am still very young so we have time to become bigger. Actually next week I am going to start with Larry working in the next album. We have a working title that is something like “super trooper”! hehehe. We want to make that kind of album that make people fall of their chairs!

I want to ask you also about the problems of the band in the past, and the recently leave of Sir Christus from the band.

Well, we have been so many years together in the band, but then sometimes people start to go in different ways. I would compare him and this situation to Brian Jones and the Rolling Stones. But well, of course I hope he won´t die. It came from our side, since he was not able to keep up together. He had some personal problems and complicated things and it was really difficult for all of us. We gave him a last chance but nothing happened, no improvement, things kept just going down and down. We started to rehearse for Karma Killer and he did not show up! So in some ways I think the decision was kind of relieving for everybody.

I heard that you are going to the studio today in Tampere after this interview.

Yeah, we are going to make a cover of a Dingo´s album: Sinä ja Minä. It is going to be interesting!

How was to record the DVD In the Eye of the Hurricane here in Pakkahuone?

Oh, it was all crowded. There were people actually in the show from all over Europe. Of course it is special. The concert from my side is not the best one; I was pushing the voices too high. I was a bit nervous for the recording of the DVD. Actually I am already nervous for the concert tomorrow (Negative was playing next day in Tammerfest at 15:00 and Jonne did not like much to have to play so early).

You were playing in Sweden Rock this summer that counts with an amazing band list. How was there?

Yeah, we played between Deff Leppard and Whitesnake! I was even barely born when these two bands were popular! The audience was very nice, it was the first gig for Negative in Sweden, and we saw a lot of Swedish tits! (Jonne lifts up his t-shirt imitating the ladies in the Swedish audience who showed their charms)

So what are your future plans?

We have a few festivals here, and then we will continue to Europe and then let´s see. We are living quite interesting times; a big record company is coming behind Negative so promotion is going to be even better!

And the interview was over with me in a hurry to take the train to Helsinki to see “The Boss”, Bruce Springsteen, and Jonne heading to the studio to record the Dingo´s cover and feeling in his own words “jealous” because he could not go to see Springsteen too. Well, as he said, he is still very young and will have many chances to see and give amazing performances on stage.

Credits to : Free! Magazine

Not quite, but according to Jonathan at BikePortland, there is more movement in that direction. I think it is a great idea and if the city can't officially make it happen (yet), then this community-style experiment is a good start.

Excerpt from BikePortland:

Johannesson also has a creative idea for dealing with any cars that do choose to drive down the street. He’ll put Alberta’s famous clowns to work, ferrying cars through the pedestrian traffic with tall bikes.

“I’m working with Dingo the Clown and he’s going to bring in his tall bikes and pilot the few cars left over down the street.” Read More...

PDX PIPELINE Related Post: Portland Bans Cars on Alberta During Last Thursday

Many days have passed since we last spoke. I beg your pardon, for mail delivery on the e-pony express is none too reliable. But I push on. Almost a year has passed now since I made the decision to hop the wagon and make the pilgrimage to this distant land.

Here is what I can tell you of this place. The cacti here are purple and salute the stars, night by night. The stars crash into the sea and the stingless jellyfish fly, by and by, transparent hot air balloons in flight. Teams of fishermen cast nets made of guitar strings for the nocturnal silverfish who come to dance and play for the lilypads. All the honeybees here are historians - they can tell you legends like you've never heard before. The ink pens are heavy, but the clouds are light, and smallest grapes always taste best. The air smells like bonfires and soap and navy blue. Lily of the Valley line every path and we live every day paying homage to 7 words of a fortune cookie fortune.

I do hope this letter finds you well.

And knowing that I think of you often.

Dans le cadre du 400e anniversaire de Québec, je me dois de vous parler d'un spectacle qui m'interpelle: Le chemin qui marche. Présenté le 15 août à 21 h, 140 artistes seront sur scène: acrobates, manipulation du feu et de l'eau, danse du monde, break-dance et danse Hip Hop feront aussi parti du spectacle.

Parmi ces 140 artistes, nous retrouverons 10 B-Boys pour représenter le break-dance. Le Café-Graffiti est fier de souligner la présence de Johnny Skywalker, Speedy, Dingo et Jayko à cet événement.

Un ballon vidéo, un écran d'eau et des effets aquatiques ainsi que 10 000 pièces pyrotechniques devraient nous en mettre plein la vue. Suivra ensuite le spectacle de Champion et ses G-Strings ainsi que Bran Van 3000 qui présentera son album Rosé. La soirée se terminera avec le DJ Moby (Album Last Night)

La conception du spectacle est signé Olivier Dufour. Pour l'information complète: Le Chemin qui marche.

PUBLICITÉ

Le Choc des Cultures – Le Hip-Hop rencontre le classique
Spectacle original mettant en vedette: organistes classiques, break-dancers, rappers, DJ et graffiteurs.
L’église Saint-Nom-de-Jésus expose une centaine de toiles peints par des artistes. Plus de cinquante artistes complices présentent “Le Choc des Cultures”. 25$

Par téléphone: (514) 256-9000, en région: 1-877-256-9009
Par Internet: cafegraffiti.net
Par la poste: Reflet de Société 4233 Ste-Catherine Est Montréal, Qc. H1V 1X4

Dans le cadre du 400e anniversaire de Québec, je me dois de vous parler d'un spectacle qui m'interpelle: Le chemin qui marche. Présenté le 15 août à 21 h, 140 artistes seront sur scène: acrobates, manipulation du feu et de l'eau, danse du monde, break-dance et danse Hip Hop feront aussi parti du spectacle.

Parmi ces 140 artistes, nous retrouverons 10 B-Boys pour représenter le break-dance. Le Café-Graffiti est fier de souligner la présence de Johnny Skywalker, Speedy, Dingo et Jayko à cet événement.

Un ballon vidéo, un écran d'eau et des effets aquatiques ainsi que 10 000 pièces pyrotechniques devraient nous en mettre plein la vue. Suivra ensuite le spectacle de Champion et ses G-Strings ainsi que Bran Van 3000 qui présentera son album Rosé. La soirée se terminera avec le DJ Moby (Album Last Night)

La conception du spectacle est signé Olivier Dufour. Pour l'information complète: Le Chemin qui marche.

PUBLICITÉ

Le Choc des Cultures – Le Hip-Hop rencontre le classique
Spectacle original mettant en vedette: organistes classiques, break-dancers, rappers, DJ et graffiteurs.
L’église Saint-Nom-de-Jésus expose une centaine de toiles peints par des artistes. Plus de cinquante artistes complices présentent “Le Choc des Cultures”. 25$

Par téléphone: (514) 256-9000, en région: 1-877-256-9009
Par Internet: cafegraffiti.net
Par la poste: Reflet de Société 4233 Ste-Catherine Est Montréal, Qc. H1V 1X4 

The silver Skytops are the first out of the gates and will be available at select retailers next week with the rest of the line dropping in mid-August.

The red and the black Skytops are a must

Robocopped...

PROPS!

PROPS to Hypebeast for the pics and info.

However, there are some holes in his thesis. One is I have read several historical records of wolves living in North America during the early years of settlement.  The Diaries of Lewis and Clark is a great account of wolves living on the Great Plains. Their behavior is very different from modern wolves, which absolutely fear humans and avoid us at all costs. These wolves were curious of people, and I believe one wolf was killed with a knife during this adventure, Modern wolves will kill domestic dogs that roam into their territory, although it's not a hard and fast rule (very few things with wolves is).  Lewis's dog, "Seaman," a Newfoundland (a bit different from the modern breed), never suffered attacks from wolves. I think the difference is this. Wolves in Europe, North America, and Asia have suffered a great persecution. It's like the selection of Belyaev in reverse. The only wolves that remain are descended from ancestors who were nervous enough to avoid man. How this affects the way wolves develop as pups can only be up for conjecture.

It is possible that wolves living at the time when humans were hunters and gatherers were curious about people.  Their pups possibly had a longer period for imprinting. This could easily lead to hunter-gatherers keeping wolves as pets. BTW, pet keeping is something known to all people, except the Bushmen (San) in their original state. The natives of Australia kept dingo pups as pets. Women would nurse them as their own babies. However, once the dingo pups reached maturity, they were no longer fed. They would be released into the bush to fend for themselves. These were people without agriculture. However, they had a relationship with the dingo. The dingoes hunted on their own and were never used for hunting. The only purpose the dingoes provided was as a living blanket during the cold nights. The colder it got, the more dingoes were needed. A really cold night, might need three dingoes. Hince the name of the band "Three Dog Night." This could explain some of the early interactions with humans and early dogs and ancient wolves.

However, again, this is largely speculation. We do know that dogs have been found that are older than the time period in which Coppinger postulates that dogs evolved from wolves, making the hunter-gatherer or "captured cub" thesis a little bit stronger.

James Serpell of the University of Pennsylvania promotes this theory of the dog's origins. His book on dogs is easily the equal of the Coppingers'.