Hasta La Gadget!

Darwin Foundation gift shop in Santa Cruz island, Galápagos.
Darwin Foundation photo.
In the beginning it was just a “little shop around the corner” from the Charles Darwin Scientific Research Station in Santa Cruz island, Galápagos. But when the Darwin Foundation Executive Director, Swen Lorenz, decided to upgrade and expand it, the Municipality of Santa Cruz reacted as though it had become “the little shop of horrors.” And, all flippancy aside, the fate of the Darwin souvenir shop started a battle that has resulted in the Darwin Foundation threatening to shut down its operations in Galápagos.

For over 50 years the foundation has cooperated with the Galapagos National Park and the government of Ecuador in conducting scientific research aimed at protecting biodiversity in the fabled archipelago. One of the Foundation’s most recent achievements is a project for saving the mangrove finches as reported in Galapagosdigital.com http://www.galapagosdigital.com/2014/05/29/rescuing-the-mangrove-finches-great-first-step/

However, according to CDF President Dennis Geist, the organization is facing a severe financial crisis. Major donations are specifically directed toward scientific projects which leaves the foundation lacking operational funds to pay salaries, electricity, Internet access fees, etc.

“We have long recognized the failure of the idea that CDF can simply exist due to the good will of others.,” he said, “we have moved toward a new financial model. One of the key aspects of this new plan was for the Foundation to secure its own recurring unrestricted income.”

A significant source of this income was the projected revenues from the expanded store which opened in February of this year. But in July the Municipality of Santa Cruz closed the store because, according to a spokesman for the Municipality, Daniel B. Proaño, “They changed the concept of it being a small store that sold Darwin Foundation souvenirs to a commercial one without the proper legal basis.”

Charles Darwin Foundation
Swen Lorenz, Executive Director, Charles Darwin Foundation
Lorenz contends that they acted under proper legal advice and claims that: “Since July 14th 2014, the CDF has been missing the unrestricted income generated by the store. By the end of the year, we will have lost approximately $200,000 in income.” Furthermore, he adds, ” “any significant delay in re-opening the shop may force the permanent closure of the research station before the end of 2014.” The Foundation, on its websitehttp://www.darwinfoundation.org/en/news/2014/11/20/science-facing-huge-battle/, also accused the Santa Cruz authorities of breaking several national laws in shutting down the store.

For its part, the municipality denies breaking any laws and accuses the Darwin Foundation of exceeding its mandate.https://mail-attachment.googleusercontent.com/attachment/u/0/?ui=2&ik=784deb5d8c&view=att&th=149d038f4fae7daa&attid=0.1&disp=inline&realattid=f_i2qv29950&safe=1&zw&saduie=AG9B_P-EIUnUJ-4FcOsdaEybvhcS&sadet=1416764803934&sads=bDEw_YdRMg-uPm6QXTiGUZL0V5E

Several residents of Galápagos, who do not wish to be identified, expressed great concern over the situation. “If the Darwin Research Station closes it will create a critical situation for the study of science in Galápagos,” said one local scientist, “no other institution has the capability of the Darwin to carry out the needed research.” Another resident commented, “Virtually every non-profit institution everywhere sells souvenirs. Go to the basement of the State Department in Washington DC, find the big gift shop. The issue of local artisans and their products in Galapagos is hobbled by clunky legislation.”

With the impasse unresolved and the Mayor Leopoldo Bucheli out of town, Deputy Mayor Washington Paredes, members of the city council and local artisans met Friday November 21st in Santa Cruz with the Vice President of the Darwin Board, Patricia Guerra, Darwin Board member Hans van Poelvoorde and Galapagos conservationist Felipe Cruz.

During the lunch break on Friday, Ms. Guerra said “we are having an excellent conversation and we hope to continue it in a similar manner this afternoon.” This was confirmed by the Municipality spokesman Proaño who stated that the discussions were “more relaxed and we hope to reach a better understanding.” As of this writing, and despite efforts to contact the principals, no final statement has been issued. It will then be up to the whole Board of the Charles Darwin Foundation which is meeting in the capital of Ecuador, Quito, Sunday and Monday to decide on the next course of action.

There’s truly only one way to pose for a birthday photo if you’re Miley Cyrus — do we even have to explain?

The singer turned 22 on Sunday and kicked off her birthday festivities on Saturday night in Hollywood. Cyrus was seen with rumored boyfriend Patrick Schwarzenegger wearing a variety of colorful fur, silver leggings and an assortment of objects in her hair.

Cyrus posted a photo to her Instagram of herself doing her signature stuck-out-tongue pose in front of a giant pizza cake.

It’s my buuuurffffdayyyy

Ett foto publicerat av Miley Cyrus (@mileycyrus) Nov 11, 2014 at 5:45 PST

Cyrus has clearly been turning up on her birthday since the beginning.

Turn uppp!

A photo posted by Miley Cyrus (@mileycyrus) on Nov 11, 2014 at 5:54am PST

The 22-year-old singer also posted a collage of old photos of herself for her birthday.

lezzzzz do all kinds bday editzzz

A photo posted by Miley Cyrus (@mileycyrus) on Nov 11, 2014 at 4:26pm PST

QOM, Iran (AP) — Shiite and Sunni clerics from about 80 countries gathered in Iran’s holy city of Qom on Sunday to develop a strategy to combat extremists, including the Islamic State group that has captured large parts of Iraq and Syria.

Shiite-majority Iran has been helping Iraqi, Syrian and Kurdish forces battle the Sunni extremist group on the ground while the U.S.-led coalition has been bombing it from the air. The Islamic State group views Shiites as apostates deserving of death and has massacred hundreds of captured Syrian and Iraqi soldiers, as well as Sunni rivals. Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi, the chief organizer of the conference, appealed for consensus among Islam’s two main branches, urging all Muslim clerics to work to discredit groups espousing extremism.

“Military attacks against this deviant group (IS) are necessary but insufficient. The roots of their violent ideology must be dried up. This is the job of Muslim scholars, to preach the true, moderate face of Islam and expose the ugly face of IS ideology,” said Shirazi, a prominent Shiite cleric who has a large following in Iran and abroad.

Iraq’s Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shiite, said the Islamic State group is the biggest threat to Islam. “They were created to undermine Islam and destroy Muslim societies. IS kills both Shiite and Sunni Muslims,” he said.

Sunni scholar Abdolrahman Sarbazi, who leads Friday prayers in an area of southeastern Iran that is home to many Sunnis, said “Sunni Muslims also condemn the violent practices of takfiris, who are a threat to humanity.” ”Takfiri” is an Arabic word for Islamic extremist.

Others repeated widely-circulated conspiracy theories holding that the United States and Israel created the Islamic State group to sow discord in the Muslim world.

“IS is a pawn whose job is to deepen divisions among Muslims,” said Mahdi Alizadeh Mousavi, a lower-level Iranian Shiite cleric.

Iran is a strong backer of the Lebanese Hezbollah — viewed as a terrorist group in the West — and supports Iraqi Shiite militias that rights groups say have abducted and killed scores of Sunni civilians in reprisal attacks.

I love paper planes. If you’re half as geeky as me you probably have gone through a significant amount of paper making the best plane that you can at some point. The best I ever did was a four-winged monstrosity made from two pieces of paper that could usually fly about 80 yards in a dead straight line if wind didn’t interfere. Yeah… I’m a huge nerd.

How far could it have gone with thrust? I’ll never know, since I can’t remember how I made it, but if the PowerUp 3.0 had existed at the time I would certainly have owned it. It’s a $49.99 gizmo available at ThinkGeek that allows for 10 minutes of powered flight after a 20 minute charge. You can also control the little propeller via your smartphone; thrust ascension and descent are all controllable. Sadly, a mechanism for turning hasn’t been incorporated, but I still think this is pretty cool.

We’ve populated our Black Friday hub with the best deals to be revealed so far. Of course, we expect price matches, undercuts, and alternate options to pop up as things get underway, and we’ll be updating constantly.

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