According to the Kenya Wildlife Service and other agencies, 205 elephants, 512 wildebeest, 381 common zebra, 51 buffalo, 49 Grevy’s zebra and 12 giraffe have been in the reserve in the past nine months die.
Parts of Kenya have suffered four seasons of poor rainfall over the past two years, with dire consequences for people and animals, according to a report by The Associated Press. The most affected ecosystems are known to be home to some of Kenya’s most visited national parks, reserves and protected areas, including Amboseli National Park, Tversa and the Laikipia-Samburu region. Experts have called for an urgent aerial census of Amboseli’s wildlife to gain a wider understanding of the drought’s impact on wildlife.
Other experts recommend immediate provision of water and salting sites (animals lick deposits of salt and other minerals for mineral nutrition) in affected areas. Elephants need to drink 240 liters of water a day, according to Jim Nyam, executive director of the Elephant Community Centre. For Grevy’s zebras, experts say hay supplies need to be increased.
1.5°C The World Meteorological Organization says current levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide are so high that the lower 1.5°C target of the Paris Agreement is nearly out of reach.
Chinese tea successfully applied for world heritage
Recently, the traditional Chinese tea-making techniques and related customs have been successfully applied for world heritage, and netizens have praised Chinese tea one after another.
In my country, tea can be divided into spring tea, summer tea and autumn tea, among which spring tea is particularly popular. The conditions for the growth of tea trees are very harsh, and there are certain requirements for light, water and temperature. The annual average temperature needs to reach 16°C to 25°C.
Among them, the Jiangnan tea area is the place where famous tea is produced most concentratedly. This is inseparable from its unique climatic conditions. The tea gardens in the Jiangnan tea region are mainly distributed in hilly areas, the soil pH value is between 5 and 5.5, the organic matter content is high, the four seasons are distinct, and the rainfall is abundant, which is very conducive to the growth of tea trees.
31% “Avatar” was a huge success in IMAX screens 13 years ago. The film has a strong brand connection with IMAX. When the film is re-released in 2022, IMAX won 31% with only 1% of the screens. Opening weekend box office.
Global population reaches 8 billion
The United Nations announced that the world population has reached 8 billion. UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that this is a moment for human beings to think about their shared responsibility for the planet.
The global population has grown from 7 billion to 8 billion in 12 years, and it will take about 15 years to reach 9 billion in 2037, suggesting that the overall growth rate of the global population is slowing.
According to the UN’s “World Population Prospects 2022” report, the global population will grow to about 8.5 billion by 2030, reach 9.7 billion in 2050, reach a peak of about 10.4 billion in the 1980s, and maintain this level until 2100. It is estimated that by 2050, more than half of the new global population will be concentrated in eight countries including Congo (Kinshasa), Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Tanzania. India is expected to become the most populous country as early as 2023 and reach 1.7 billion in 2050.
Japanese men are keen on hair removal during the epidemic
A recent survey in Japan shows that the number of men going to professional institutions for hair removal has increased, and currently men account for about 20% of the total number of hair removal people.
According to a recent report by Tokyo TV in Japan, the improvement of men’s aesthetic awareness is the main reason for hair removal. The director of a beauty salon said that due to the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, people have saved money by eating out less, and this part of the money is used to invest in themselves. In addition, everyone now wears a mask when going out, which can cover the redness of the skin caused by laser hair removal. In addition, Japanese men who want hair removal are not only young people, but the number of men over 40 years old who come here for hair removal has increased by 4.9 times compared with 4 years ago. The person in charge of the beauty salon said, “As the hair turns gray with age, even laser hair removal is ineffective, so many middle-aged men want to have their hair removed before their hair turns gray.” On the other hand, troubles related to hair removal are also increasing. . Statistics show that there will be 281 disputes caused by hair removal burns in 2021.
World’s oldest living cat turns 27
The Guinness World Records website recently released a statement saying that the British pet cat “Flossie”, who is about to turn 27, has become the world’s oldest living cat. Flossie, who is black and brown, has weak eyesight and deafness, but is in good general health, equivalent to 120 years in human years.
According to reports, Flossie was born in 1995 and lived happily with the original owner for 10 years, and was adopted by the original owner’s sister for 14 years until she also died. Recently, Flossie was given up for adoption by volunteers from the Cat Conservation Organization.
Craig Grundy, editor-in-chief of Guinness World Records, said Flossie’s age was equivalent to more than 120 human years.
”Lovely Flossie, long life, we’re so excited – it’s not every day you come across a cat that’s been alive since the mid-1990s,” Grundy said.
In order to prevent the contempt and prying of the self-proclaimed civilized Westerners, during this round of visits with mutual grievances, every banquet Peter participated in was carefully designed.
In the time of Peter, the drinking of the common people was quite different from that of the nobles. The former drink more not for socializing, but for forgetting. Forget about your own experience of hunger, cold and embarrassment, and live a life of chicken feathers all over the place. In the filthy taverns, men and women pledged their valuables, even their clothes, in exchange for mug after mug of vodka. And Peter above the banquet belongs to the latter. The aristocrat’s booze and social attributes are strong, but what needs to be demonstrated is his own nobility, generosity, and arrogant masculinity, which is even regarded as the trait of a leader. The clash of costumes at the banquet can often highlight the demeanor of both the host and the guest.
Peter’s bravery at the banquet was no less than his performance on the battlefield. According to Peter’s valet, “(alcohol) couldn’t beat him at all, he was always sober…no one could match him…he never put down his pipe and glass.” In Peter’s youth, this innocence Instead of depleting his energy and sinking him into corruption, the moderate booze allowed him to devote himself to the next day’s work with full energy. He often drank heavily with his envoys all night, and then got up in the midst of snoring at dawn, leaving his drunken friends behind, doing carpentry work, and moving like the wind when building ships. rhythm.
In addition to the spirit of booze, what is even rarer is the kindness released during the banquet. At the welcome reception in Berlin, Sophia, wife of the Elector of Hanover and her daughter, Sophia Charlotte of Brandenburg, got a close look at the rumored Peter: “He was on the head of 10-year-old Sophia Dorothea A few kisses, messing up King Friedrich’s future mother’s hair.” He then kissed 14-year-old Prince George, who would become King George II. That night, the two elector wives watched the Tsar carefully. They found that he was far from the savage young savage he was rumored to be. “He has a natural, uninhibited demeanor and we’re delighted with that,” wrote Sofia Charlotte. “When he winked and grimaced, the effect wasn’t as scary as they expected.”
In the eyes of the two always critical electors, the visiting tsar was tall, handsome, dignified, well-mannered, and witty. In the eyes of observers, Peter possessed profound knowledge, abundant energy and easy-going personality, not at all like a staunch Orthodox emperor, but more like an enlightened Protestant monarch. There is no doubt that Peter’s performance at the banquet was remarkable. Western monarchs and ministers all had a good impression of this “Eastern Monarch”.
But Peter, who seems to be drunk and hazy, has a powerful look between his eyebrows. He often squints at important officials, and inadvertently asks about important military affairs, such as the temperament of monarchs and ministers, the prosperity and decline of the people, and key points. Born jealous, dare not have the color of contempt. However, the madness of alcohol has made his king’s daily atmosphere unpredictable and moody, and the pointer of his mood swings violently between elation and sudden rage. No matter how intimate and easy-going Peter was with his attendants and subordinates, he was as violent and bloody as he was. Throwing fists at each other frequently, causing the blood of the people around him to splash on the palace, regardless of the occasion. In a short while, he had a pleasant face and softly comforted the horrified onlookers. This sudden rage made Peter, a politician, appear uncertain every time he made a decision. For example, once at a banquet, Peter suddenly launched an attack, first accusing his subordinates of using military officers’ positions for cash transactions. Immediately afterwards, he walked out of the banquet hall quickly and asked the soldiers standing guard around Lefort’s house, “How many regiment commanders and regiment-level officers who have not achieved an inch of merit were appointed by the commander-in-chief purely by spending money?”
Vodka Approaches Common People
Peter, whom thousands of people looked up to, left a rich legacy of vodka to the people at the bottom. This legacy is different from the foreign tobacco and instrumental accompaniment (the Russians believed in religion at that time without vocal accompaniment, which was extremely repulsive to foreign instrumental accompaniment). Vodka can frequently appear on state banquets, marking its own status and identity.
The prosperity of the country when Peter was in power also allowed vodka to enter thousands of households. At the same time, the Orthodox Church deliberately added drinking to religious celebrations in order to better allow farmers on the edge of the empire to abandon their pagan traditions. The initiative has paid off. Within the territory of the empire, the popularity of vodka quickly surpassed the coverage of Russian language and government orders, and led to the recognition of the Russian state entity. Thousands of people from the country drank a bottle of wine together, which was a rare missionary (political) moment.
The traditional Russian alcohol trade is monopolized by the state, so taverns and liquor wholesale stores are the “eyes and ears” of the state and penetrate into the lives of the people at the bottom. The populace becomes homogeneous, pure through vodka. Among other things, vodka helps keep Russians silent and docile, which is as welcome to a strong government as fine wine. Although we still see vodka in every coup in Russia, it makes violence look hostile.
Fine wine has seriously eroded the health of the people, and many middle-class families have broken down due to wine. Since Peter’s time, the life span of Russian people has been lowered again. Until modern times, Russian men were less likely to live past 65 than in some war-torn countries, and the answer was definitely not malnutrition.
Alcohol, a means to fight against the outside world
Peter realizes that alcohol can be used to upset the balance of the inner circle: he makes his closest comrades (or potential rivals) drink too much to play out their truest thoughts and expose their true intentions. As long as these people cannot control themselves well, the purpose has been achieved-they will continue to suspect each other, and they will not be able to cooperate to overthrow the rule of those in power. In addition, alcohol is also an excellent means to test opponents and subordinates – to test people’s character by drinking alcohol. There is no shortage of precedents for this move in the East. It is said that Zhuge Kongming wrote in “Jiangyuan” that “the drunk can observe his nature with wine”. This motivation was also reflected in the later rulers. Kulbsky, a close friend of Russia’s first Tsar Ivan the Terrible, commented on him: “He did not force people to sacrifice to the gods, but ordered people to become like him. The devil, who compels the sober man to indulge in alcoholism, from which all evil derives.”
Alcohol always presents a dilemma to the guest (foreign messenger): either take part in it and ruin their own health, or run away from them and be scorned by their masters (even the Tsar). Toast your opponents, get intel out of their mouths, or simply destroy them with booze. Alcohol has become a sharp sword in the hands of politicians, which can pry open the opponent’s mouth and destroy the opponent’s health. At the same time, alcohol can also act as a shield to protect yourself from harm.
On June 13, 1807, on the banks of the Neva River in Tilsit, there was a murmur of water. Tens of thousands of elites are displayed on both sides of the river, with banners flying. The Russian army formation on the west bank is mainly dark green, while the French army formation on the east bank is mainly red, white and blue.
On January 26 of this year, Tsar Alexander I’s general Bennigsen fought a fierce battle with Napoleon himself in Eylau, and it was almost a draw. The Russians lost 26,000 men and the French 20,000. The Russian army retained the superior force until June 2, but on this day, Napoleon defeated Bennigsen at Friedland. The Russian army lost another 20,000 people, this time more than half of its main force. The matter has come to this point, the door of the country has been opened with a bang, and Alexander I needs to negotiate a peace immediately. For Alexander I and Russia, this waterside peace talk was an alliance under the city. The two sides agreed to meet in Tilsit. The engineers and soldiers of both sides built a white pavilion on a specially built raft in the middle of the Neman River (the border of the French and Russian Empires at that time). Zhong withdrew and stepped into the pavilion.
Alexander I said: “If you are determined to go to war with Britain, I would like to be your assistant.” Napoleon said happily: “Your words have changed everything.” In the pavilion, yesterday’s enemies clapped their hands and laughed. After a while, the two even started to toast and drink, and the atmosphere was extremely warm. Under the raft, undercurrents surged. On the raft, everyone has their own ghosts.
As one of the most famous summits in history, the two monarchs readily agreed to divide the territory of Europe in a cheerful atmosphere. On a restless river, sign a restless treaty. On the basis of hardly losing an inch of territory, Alexander I won Napoleon’s appreciation and a generous alliance contract by relying on his outstanding banquet style. Even at the farewell banquet with Napoleon, Alexander I solemnly invited him to visit St. Petersburg: “I will order your residence to be heated to the heat of Egypt (Napoleon was stationed in Egypt, here you can see Alexander’s meticulousness).” In the meantime, the two parted with tears. Napoleon recalled in his later years: “I was probably happiest when I was in Tilsit.”
In June 1807, Tsar Alexander I and Emperor Napoleon I held Tilcht talks. In a cheerful atmosphere, the two monarchs readily agreed to divide the territory of Europe.
After World War II, Soviet soldiers drink and celebrate.
People buy vodka at a street kiosk in Moscow in 2008.
But this Tilsit summit is not a fairy tale after all, it is more like a brief encounter in a stage play. Both parties know that when they meet again, they will eventually draw their swords. For the tsar, the banquet during the banquet was a shield to maintain his dignity. But for the shield in the next game, the Tsar could not be calm again.
From September 1814 to June 1815, during the banquet welcomed by Tsar Alexander I in Vienna, Austria, all parties were speculating on how the hero who defeated Napoleon’s army, the strongest in Europe, planned to rule the West next. During the banquet, someone drunkenly toasted Alexander I, praising his achievements comparable to Alexander the Great of Macedonia. The Tsar calmly drank the toast, sat down proudly, and said every word: “There is only one Alexander the Great in this world.”
However, his hegemonic empire fell in the confusion of everyone. It is the dying Russia.
The debacle of Prohibition
At the peak of Tsarist Russia in the 18th and 19th centuries, the wine trade accounted for a third of the country’s budget—meaning it could cover the wartime and daily expenses of what was then the largest army on the European continent. There is still enough balance for the royal family to build a grand and luxurious East Palace in St. Petersburg.
Alcohol addiction is only a symptom, the real cause is the fact that the country is addicted to the huge revenues that vodka brings in, and the tradition of Russian state institutions using vodka as a tool.
When alcoholism becomes a national trend, social problems and political problems follow one after another. Alcohol made corruption pervasive, and the result was that Russia was corrupt from top to bottom. Corruption not only confuses the boundaries between public power and private interests, but also fundamentally blurs the boundaries between legal and illegal actions.
Propaganda poster against alcoholism in Soviet times. Remunerative wine was a major chronic disease that endangered people’s lives and health at that time. During the Gorbachev era, a comprehensive anti-drinking campaign was carried out, but it ended in failure due to repeated prohibitions.
Alcoholism has become critical to the survival of the regime, and it is imperative to quit drinking. Grand Duke Sergei, Nicholas II’s uncle, strongly advocated quitting alcohol. So the tsar ordered a ban on alcohol and closed vodka taverns across the country. For a while, as the vodka taverns closed, it seemed that Russia too was waking up from its drunkenness. But a person who has just sobered up has the same wake-up energy as a person who has just woken up. This power is powerful but blind.
On the afternoon of February 17, 1905, Sergei’s greatest fears came true: as his carriage drove towards the Kremlin, passing the Chudov Monastery, a so-called Socialist Revolutionary threw a nitroglycerine To the Grand Duke—the explosives landed precisely, and the Grand Duke was smashed to pieces. Nicholas II, who came after hearing the news, found the Grand Duke’s finger on the roof of a nearby building in grief. According to historical records, Nicholas II remained silent for a long time and left feeling disappointed. Since then, the prohibition of alcohol has been in vain until 1914-the first World War is imminent. In order to learn the lessons of the alcoholism of officers in the Russo-Japanese War, the national alcohol prohibition was reaffirmed, which also triggered larger-scale domestic turmoil. Because, in this country, even the emperor cannot make vodka bow his head.
The emperor’s lesson was profound enough, but the changes in the system did not seem to be able to prevent this ending. In the Soviet era, the imperial system no longer existed, but vodka, as a “feudal remnant”, has become one of the unshakable strategic materials of the new regime, although it has been repeatedly criticized by the government and the opposition. Soviet battlefield. It is no exaggeration to say that the rebirth of the red giant and the destruction of the Nazi madman cannot be separated from the support of the alcohol industry. In peacetime, the numbers are equally staggering. According to statistics, out of the 156 billion ruble annual budget of the superpower of the Soviet Union, about 18 billion ruble (or 12% of it) comes from the net profit from sales of vodka, red wine, and beer. This revenue is enough to cover all expenditures on universal health care (9.3 billion rubles) and scientific and technological project expenditures (6.6 billion rubles), and there is still 2 billion rubles left over.
In addition, what cannot be ignored is the characteristics of alcohol itself. It is highly addictive and has a large audience so that the demand for alcohol is often not limited by price fluctuations. Therefore, the best way to increase the government budget is to increase the price of alcohol. Replacing the price tag is even more convenient than issuing rubles. But this has also become the most difficult disease to overcome in the reform.
When the twilight of the Soviet Union was deep, in order to show a new look internally and externally, Gorbachev launched a desperate reform that surpassed his predecessors, one of which was to advocate a comprehensive and in-depth anti-alcoholism campaign. No one is allowed to sell vodka to nationals under the age of 20. Alcohol itself is not allowed to appear in hospitals, schools and various public transportation places. In order to limit alcohol abuse, liquor stores are only allowed to sell alcohol from 2 pm to 7 pm on weekdays, and are strictly prohibited from operating after get off work and on weekends. Anyone who violates the regulations to brew wine or produce or sell wine brewing equipment will be sentenced to 2 years of labor reform… Such reform projects are beyond the tolerance limit of the people and the government, and the people start all kinds of desperate smuggling and illegal production out of the demand for alcohol. Reform failed.
On May 7, 2000, Putin officially became the second president of the Russian Federation. Just half a year ago, the Russian Federation was in danger, and Yeltsin, who was already overwhelmed, resigned in tears as the first democratically elected president. After taking the oath of office, Putin announced a meaningful decision to create a “state-owned Rossbier distillery” to manage all vodka distilleries controlled by the Russian Federation government.
The pendulum of history has swung again. Beat vodka and become a messianic political fairytale. The assertion of our ancestors thousands of years ago turned out to be true, “We cannot live without drinking.”
epilogue
Looking through the history soaked in fine wine, the alcoholics on the streets of Moscow seem to have always practiced the eternal creed of the kingdom of Dionysus, and getting drunk is so reasonable and natural for them. Others seem to have no right to comment. Its exaggerated movements and expressions, vague cursing and whispering are like a monologue on a delicate stage, but it is difficult for the audience to distinguish which ones are the glory of the predecessors and which ones are the restless pain.
Throughout the history of the Northland, vodka has never been just a drink to the Russians. It has once become a source of rich taxation to curb internal and external divisions and wars. Its value is not inferior to salt, currency, and industrial oil. It is also an important part of Russia’s main culture. . At the same time, because of its strong hallucinogenic properties and the consequences of national addiction, people of insight at home and abroad have long regarded it as an opium.
Russia under the glare of ice and fire has been poured with wine so far, from the land to the people, without exception. This is the kingdom of Dionysus!
