Nepal’s cawing ‘bird brother’ amazes crowds, raises awareness
A young man with a microphone stepped onto a small stage and cawed like a crow. Minutes later, hundreds of noisy birds circled above him, perched on trees and sat on roof tops, astounding the crowd at a show called the “crow conference”.
Gautam Sapkota, fondly known in Nepal as charidada or ‘bird brother’, then made another series of sounds. The crows fell silent before disappearing into the grey sky before dusk.
“I told them to come, sit, be quiet and fly away,” said Sapkota, a 30-year-old school dropout who has been doing ‘crow shows’ at schools since 2005 to entertain students and raise awareness about nature and the conservation of birds.
He says he can imitate the sounds of 251 kinds of birds and hopes for recognition of his talents from Guinness World Records. He plans to broaden his conservation message with an album that remixes Nepali songs with the sound of a crane.
“I want to preserve the sounds of birds which may eventually become extinct, by keeping them in recordings,” he said.
Conservationists say 149 of Nepal’s 871 bird species face the threat of extinction. Although not considered to be threatened, crows are disappearing fast.
Sapkota has given more than 3,200 shows in 66 of Nepal’s 75 districts and received an award from the conservation group WWF-Nepal for his efforts.
The latest show in the capital Kathmandu coincided with the Hindu festival of crows, which are revered as messengers from heaven and envoys of Baliraja, the king of death.
“As a messenger it gives the sign of anything good that is likely to happen, or anything bad that may strike a family,” Sapkota said of the crow.
But beyond their religious significance, crows are scavengers that help to keep the environment clean.
“These important birds are dying fast because of the use of poison to kill insects and rodents on which they feed,” said Sushila Chatterjee Nepali, chief of the group Bird Conservation Nepal.
Sapkota, who was inspired to mimic birds by a television show, appeared to have left a mark on the crowd.
“I now know why we need to preserve nature and birds,” Ashish Uprety, a sociology student, said after watching the show. “I had never seen so many crows before.” (Reuters)
Hallmark Cards regrets taking word ‘gay’ off ornament
Hallmark Cards has apologized for changing a word in a well-known Christmas carol from “gay” to “fun” on a holiday ornament.
The Kansas City-based company created an ornament for its Keepsake line depicting a miniature sweater bearing the words “Don we now our fun apparel,” instead of the lyric Don we now our gay apparel from the Christmas carol Deck the Halls.
“We’ve been surprised at the wide range of reactions expressed about the change of lyrics on this ornament, and we’re sorry to have caused so much concern,” Hallmark said in a Twitter posting on its website.
“We never intend to offend or make political statements with our products, and in hindsight we realize we shouldn’t have changed the lyrics on the ornament,” it said.
Hallmark did not say where negative reaction to the ornament came from, but a leader of one Kansas City gay rights organization said on Friday that the company went overboard in using the word “fun” on the ornament.
“The whole thing seems silly to us,” said Mitch Levine, community ambassador of the Lesbian and Gay Community Center of Kansas City. “No one was offended by that in the song and the change was not necessary.”
Levine said he had received nine media calls about the ornament and wishes so much attention was given to more serious affronts to gays and lesbians, such as homophobic lyrics in some new songs.
In an earlier statement about the ornament, Hallmark said that when the lyrics to Deck the Halls were converted from Gaelic to English in the 1800s, the word gay meant festive or merry.
“Today it has multiple meanings, which we thought could leave our intent open to misinterpretation,” Hallmark said.
It then explained its selection of the word “fun”:
“The trend of wearing festively decorated Christmas sweaters to parties is all about fun, and this ornament is intended to play into that, so the planning team decided to say what we meant: ‘fun.’ That’s the spirit we intended and the spirit in which we hope ornament buyers will take it.” (Reuters)
Alligator found under escalator at Chicago airport
Authorities at the busy Chicago International Airport were up for a shock after discovering an unexpected visitor – a two-foot-long alligator. A maintenance worker spotted the alligator under an escalator in the lower level of Terminal 3 of the O’Hare Airport on Friday. However, authorities whisked the small alligator ‘Allie’ into a box with the help of a broom, the ‘Chicago Tribune’ reported. The three-year-old alligator was later transferred into the care of the Chicago Herpetological Society, the report said. The American alligator was still “in distress” from the incident and was suffering from a metabolic bone deficiency, a spokesman for the society said. A passenger going down an escalator apparently spotted the alligator first and he grabbed a custodian who then called police, the spokesman said. Allie was likely “dumped” there by an unknown person who carried the alligator to the airport, he said. “Some human being physically carried it there and put it there,” the spokesman said. (PTI)
Judge denies request to halt hot sauce production
A Los Angeles suburb that sued to curb the strong, spicy odor emitted from a chili-processing plant lost its initial bid for a court injunction against the makers of the popular Sriracha-brand hot pepper sauce on Thursday. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert O’Brien denied a motion from the small city of Irwindale for a temporary restraining order against Huy Fong Foods, calling the request “rather edgy.” (PTI)
Cellphone saves Florida store clerk from robber’s bullet
A convenience store clerk in Florida can thank his cellphone for stopping a bullet fired at his chest during an attempted robbery, police said on Tuesday. “He was very lucky,” said Lieutenant Scott Allen of the Winter Garden Police Department. (PTI)