July 28, 2006
July 26, 2006
July 25, 2006
July 24, 2006
July 21, 2006
An Intent Sikh Man's Look
Floyd has this picture listed in his favorites on Flickr. I thought I would share this great shot.
July 19, 2006
July 18, 2006
Araby
Recently, I watched Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World starring Oscar winner, Russell Crowe. When I watched it at the movies, that is how I asked for the ticket, thanks to Todd's suggestion. Well, during the movie, some of the deckhands were talking about prize money and what they might hope to come across. One said that the phantom ship would have Ambergris and all the Jewels of Araby. Well, both of these things stood out to me because I didn't know what Ambergris was and Araby sounded like a made-up land much like the name of this blog (Shangri-La).
Well, to pass along knowledge, I looked up both of these.
Araby is the fictional or romanticised traditional counterpart to Arabia or to the Arab world.
Ambergris is a "solid, waxy, flammable substance used as a fixative in perfumery". Here is the interesting part, where it comes from.
Ambergris occurs as a biliary concretion in the intestines of the sperm whale, and can be found floating upon the sea, on the sea-coast, or in the sand near the sea-coast. Because lumps of ambergris with embedded beaks of giant squid have been found, scientists have theorized that the whale's intestine produces the substance as a means of facilitating the passage of hard, sharp objects that the whale might have inadvertently eaten. Ambergris can be found in the Atlantic Ocean; on the coasts of Brazil and Madagascar; also on the coast of Africa, of the East Indies, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the Molucca islands. However, most commercially collected ambergris came from the Bahama Islands, Providence Island, etc. It is also sometimes found in the abdomens of whales.
