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The Whistler Tree, located in the Alentejo region of Portugal, is the largest and oldest cork tree in the world. It was planted in 1783
Cork for various uses is produced from the spongy bark of the oak (Quercus suber). The trees are native to the Mediterranean and live on average 200 years. It takes 25 years for cork oaks to reach a diameter of 70 cm (27 inches) when their bark is first stripped. It regenerates naturally, but the next harvest does not occur before 9-18 years. The cork from the first two harvests is of very poor quality and is not suitable for bottle caps. Starting from the third harvest, over 50 years after their planting, cork oaks produce quality material. The bark is stripped with an axe, carefully so as not to damage the tree itself, and left outdoors for 6 months to stabilize.
The Whistler tree has been harvested more than twenty times in its life. The 1991 harvest is the most famous and largest ever recorded:
2,645.55 pounds of bark was removed from the tree.
that bark record earned well over 100,000 individual caps.
Just for comparison - if an average cork tree is harvested, there will be about 100 pounds of bark, enough corks for about 4000 bottles.

Credits: Ancient road

Scientists Found Hidden Physics Inside Van Gogh’s Starry Night

We miss him.

"Eat at a local restaurant tonight. Get the cream sauce. Have a cold pint at 4 o’clock in a mostly empty bar. Go somewhere you’ve never been. Listen to someone you think may have nothing in common with you.
Order the steak rare. Eat an oyster. Have a negroni. Have two. Be open to a world where you may not understand or agree with the person next to you, but have a drink with them anyways.
Eat slowly. Tip your server. Check in on your friends. Check in on yourself. Enjoy the ride."
Anthony Bourdain

They are not the “animals.” Humans are.

Bonobo protecting baby mongoose is one of the winners of an international photo contest
By Suzana Camargo
- Gorillas, orangutans, chimpanzees, bonobos and humans are the so-called great apes. The first four share 98% of human DNA, meaning they are our closest biological relatives on the planet. It is no surprise then that they have behaviors so similar to ours and that they move us so much.
- This is the case of the snapshot taken by renowned photojournalist Christian Ziegler, who took this beautiful image above, of a bonobo with a baby mongoose in its arms, near Salonga National Park, in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- Looking into the distance, the bonobo appears to be caring for the small rodent as if it were its own offspring. The photo was one of the winners in the “Animal Portrait” category of the international nature photography competition Nature inFocus, which revealed the 2023 winners this week. According to Ziegler, the bonobo then released the baby without harming it. This type of behavior is rarely documented.

Native Americans in 1908. Photo taken by Edward Curtis.

Portrait of a young grumpy girl from the 1850s.

A prime example of how NOT to write. The reporter takes an amazing and mysterious discovery and dumbs it down into an insipid Pollyanna report. She demonstrates her lack of faith in readers’ ability to connect with the pure science and wonder of the event. Her lede does a disservice to science by offering a crutch it does not need. Shame on her editors for approving this article. We will, BTW, be writing to the so-called reporter.

Girls rule: Video shows researchers discovering girls-only shark sleepover with robot — USA TODAY Researchers in Australia discovered a slumber party consisting of thousands of female Port Jackson sharks.

A young woman throws up the peace sign in front of Manic Panic on Saint Marks Place in 1982.
Photo by Mark Honickel.

Monet with his wife Alice, 1908

A young Prince walking the streets of Minneapolis, 1977

Thought for today
Bob Marley was once asked if there was a perfect woman. He replies :
Who cares about perfection?
Even the moon is not perfect, it is full of craters.
The sea is incredibly beautiful, but salty and dark in the depths.
The sky is always infinite, but often cloudy.
So, everything that is beautiful isn't perfect, it's special.
Therefore, every woman can be special to someone.
Stop being "perfect", but try to be free and live, doing what you love, not wanting to impress others!

Photography by Leonard Freed, Napoli, 1958

John Lennon's Rolls Royce and George Harrison's Mini Cooper