By an odd and indirect route, I went searching on { silver mammoth } this morning, and found two items of interest: a Canadian coin and a Brazilian hard rock band. The coin:
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(#1)
and from the band’s homepage:
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(#2)
The background. I had a persistent dream last night about some very important linguistic finding about the words silver and turtle, stemming from some e-mail I dreamed I’d received. When I was fully awake, I started searching on { silver turtle }, unearthing a great variety of turtle figures made of silver, plus silver-dollar-sized baby box turtles, before I realized this was just another of my worthless dreams about linguistic analyses — always hard to admit, because the ideas in the dream seem so beautiful and also so significant.
But… while I was searching, I thought, why not check out { silver mammoth }? And there, admidst the dross, were two pieces of gold, so to speak. Or, admidst the chaff, two kernels of wheat. Whatever.
Mammoth coinage. From the Coin Update website on 7/4/14, “Royal Canadian Mint Begins Prehistoric Animals Series with Woolly Mammoth Coins” by Michael Alexander:
The Royal Canadian mint have launched a new coin series which will certainly appeal to those lovers of all things Jurassic – with coins dedicated to highlighting the prehistoric creatures found not only on the soil of what is today Canada but to those more well-known four-legged and flying inhabitants of the planet who shared their environs with pre-historic man. The two first coins are focusing on one of the continents more recognizable and the most recent occupant – the woolly mammoth! [a 20-dollar silver coin and a 5-dollar gold coin]
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(#3)
The appearance and behavior of this species are among the best studied of any prehistoric animal due to the discovery of frozen carcasses in Siberia and Alaska. The woolly mammoth was roughly the same size as modern African elephants. Males reached shoulder heights between 9 and 11 feet or 2.7 and 3.4 meters and weighed up to 6 tonnes. Females averaged 8.5 to 9.5 feet or 2.6 to 2.9 meters in height and weighed up to 4 tonnes. A newborn calf weighed about 200 pounds or 90 kilograms.
The woolly mammoth was well adapted to the cold environment during the last ice age as they were covered in fur, with an outer covering of long guard hairs and a shorter undercoat. The color of the coat varied from dark to light. The ears and tail were short to minimize both frostbite and heat loss. It had long, curved tusks and four molars, which were replaced about six times during the lifetime of an individual. Its behavior was similar to that of modern elephants, and it used its tusks and trunk for manipulating objects, fighting, and foraging. The diet of the woolly mammoth was mainly grass and rushes. Mammoths could probably reach the age of 60. Its habitat was the mammoth steppe, which stretched across northern Eurasia and North America or parts of present-day Canada. Despite the species’ extinction 10,000 years ago, the woolly mammoth continues to inspire and intrigue many who identify it with the last glacial period. With these finely detailed coins, the Royal Canadian Mint celebrates this impressive mammal that once roamed parts of present-day Canada and much of the north American continent.
The coins, both designed by artist Michael Skrepnik[, depict] this majestic creature with two different designs. The coins feature scientifically accurate depictions of a woolly mammoth, verified by paleontologists from the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology. With its head raised, the mammoth’s trunk is outstretched between its famously long, curved tusks. The thick, coarse fur that enables it to survive the colder temperatures is shorter here, reflecting the moulting that scientists believe took place in the early summer. The mammoth’s extra hump of fat is seen over its shoulders. In the background, the low grasses and gentle sloping hills of the mammoth’s habitat stretches past the image’s outer rim on both sides.
The obverse includes the current portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth II which is used on all Canadian coins since 2003, the portrait is the work of Susanna Blunt.
A second pair of coins, depicting the “American Scimitar Sabre-Tooth Cat”, was minted in 2015. I don’t know what’s up for this year.
The Silver Mammoth of São Paulo. You can see and hear them in action here, performing the title track from their 2015 album Mindlomania. And be transported back to the 1970s and 80s, in English but with a Brazilian Portuguese accent.
The personnel: Marcelo Izzo Jr. (fourth in #2), on electric guitar, acoustic guitar, and backup vocals; Chakal (third in #2), on bass; Vinnie Rabello (first in #2), on drums and percussion; and Marcelo Izzo (second in #2), on lead vocals. Yes, a father-son rock band.
Being the sort of person I am, I googled on Izzo Jr.’s name, hoping to find a shirtless photo of the man (hey, rock musicians have been known to take their shirts off in performance). No luck there (or for Rabello, the other band member I fancied), but the Google search engine is attuned to my interests (given previous searches of mine) and though I didn’t mention shirtlessness (or of course soccer), the search engine supplied me with lots of images of shirtless footballers, some of them in their underwear (there is even a undiesboyssoccer.blogspot.com site devoted to images of soccer players in their underwear), and that led me to the Colombian footballer James Rodríguez, who is accomplished not only on the soccer field but also as an underwear model (there’s that footballer / male model thing again). Here he is, in one of a series of big-pouched photos (my favorite, because he’s smiling) of him in an item from his own J10 James line:
Image may be NSFW.
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(#4)
Very briefly, from Wikipedia:
James David Rodríguez Rubio (born 12 July 1991), known as James Rodríguez …, is a Colombian professional footballer who plays for Spanish club Real Madrid and the Colombia national team as an attacking midfielder or winger.
Generally identified as one of the best young players around.
In 2014, he became the new face of Bronzini Black underwear (and he’s started his own line).
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
