"Megaloceros giganteus" first appeared about 400,000 years ago. It stood about tall at the shoulders, and had the largest antlers of any known deer (a maximum of from tip to tip and weighing up to ).
In body size, the Irish Elk matched the living moose subspecies ("Alces alces gigas") as the largest known deer. The Irish Elk got to a mass of about , with large specimens having weighed or more, roughly similar to the Alaskan Moose. A significant collection of "M. giganteus" skeletons can be found at the Natural History Museum in Dublin.
The size of Irish Elk antlers is distinctive, and several theories have arisen as to their evolution. One theory was that their antlers, under constant and strong sexual selection, increased in size because males were using them in combat for access to females. It was also suggested that they eventually became so unwieldy that the Irish Elk could not carry on the normal business of life and so became extinct. This is simply nonsense, because no species survives that long if it is not effective in its habitat. Also, many other Pleistocene megafauna went extinct within a few thousand years of the end of the ice age. The Irish Elk is no different in that respect.
Larger deer species have antlers that are "more" than proportionately larger. This is due to allometry, or differential growth rate of body size and antler size during development. This suggests that the antlers of the species' ancestors were already large to begin with. Gould concluded that the large antler size and their position on the skull was very much maintained by sexual selection. Although they were ill-suited for combat between males, they were ideal to intimidate rivals or impress females. Unlike other deer, "M. giganteus" did not even have to turn its head to present the antlers to best effect, but could do this by simply looking straight ahead.
Theories about the extinction of ice age megafauna are of two kinds. One is that climate change was primary; the other claims that hunting by man was primary. Probably both causes contributed.
High amounts of calcium and phosphate compounds are needed to form antlers, and therefore large quantities of these minerals are required for the massive structures of the Irish Elk. The males (and male deer in general) met this requirement partly from their bones, replenishing them from food plants after the antlers were grown or reclaiming the nutrients from discarded antlers (as has been observed in extant deer). Thus, in the antler growth phase, Giant Deer were suffering from a condition similar to osteoporosis.
When the climate changed at the end of the last glacial period, the vegetation in the animal's habitat also changed. However, the most recent specimen of "M. giganteus" in northern Siberia, dated to 8,000 years ago – well after the end of the last glacial period – shows "no" sign of nutrient stress. They come from a region with a continental climate where the proposed vegetation changes had not (yet) occurred.
The disappearance of the local populations of Irish Elk is not surprising, because as climate warmed they would be separated from each other by water. The situation is less clear for the Irish Elk in continental Eurasia east of the Urals. A combination of human presence along rivers and slow decrease in habitat quality in upland areas presented the last Irish Elk with the choice of either good habitat but considerable hunting pressure, or general absence of humans in a suboptimal habitat.
List of people executed for homosexuality
Many people have been killed for being a homosexual. Killings of homosexuals are only practice in the Middle East and North Africa, where homosexuals are believed to be the reason for famines and other disastrous events. In other parts of the world, homosexuals can be charged to life in prison to a warning from local police. In some countries, homosexuals are given the right to be who they are and are protected by law.
1,112 and Counting
1,112 and Counting is an essay that was written by novelist and playwright Larry Kramer in 1983. It was published in the "New York Native". The newspaper is a gay daily newspaper for the LGBT community. It was believed to be one of the first major essays to be written about the AIDS crisis. The essay begins with the HIV death toll at the time. Many homosexuals did not like the essay. This was because the essay blamed them for the wide spread of the disease. Many others did not like it because Kramer was accused of being a 'self-hating gay man'. This was because of his novel "Faggots" which gave negative views on casual and anonymous sex.
The essay helped influence much of queer writing. It also helped Kramer's reputation as an gay rights advocate.
Adam and Steve
"Adam and Steve" is a phrase that was created from a conservative Christian slogan "God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve". It was created to summarize Judeo-Christian bible-based arguments against homosexual practices or homosexuality. The slogan also expresses that heterosexuality is the natural way of life for humanity.
The phrase appeared on a protest sign as early as 1977. It was mentioned in a "New York Times" report about a November 19 rally in Houston, Texas that year. In 1979, Jerry Falwell helped the phrase to become popular. This happened after a press conference he held for "Christianity Today". Many LGBT people have made movies and plays based on the phrase. Paul Rudnick wrote the play "The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told", which has a gay couple named Adam and Steve. In 2005, a gay movie was released with the title "Adam & Steve".
Latin music
Latin music is a form of popular music played by from Latin America. For practical purposes that includes the Spanish-speaking Caribbean. Much Latin music is accompanied by song in Spanish.
Latin music is a part of world music, which is the study of popular and traditional music in all countries. Also part of the story is the influence of Latin music in other parts of the world, especially North America.
In discussing latin music these themes are extremely important:
So, differences in the music of Peru from that of Brazil are influenced or caused by these differences in their place of origin:
The influence of Europe, and in particular Spain, to latin music is as follows:
The influence of Africa comes mostly from the Yoruba, Dahomey and Congo peoples of that great continent. Its importance in a Latin country varies according to the number of slaves imported to that country. The freeing of slaves took place at various times from the middle to the end of the 19th century. In Latin music its influence was
West of the Andes, the music is clearly influence by the indigenous Indian peoples. The panpipes and flutes of Peru are distinctive, as is their most popular rhythms. In Ecuador forms of the flute occur, but most of the music is influenced by the European waltz (as the "pasillo") and by various Afro-Latin styles from the Caribbean. Chile has the "cueca", introduced in 1824. It was the "most popular air of Chile". Despite this, the influence of the indigenous Indian peoples on latin music is much less noticeable than the influence of European and African music. There are dozens of folk rhythms which survive, but usually they have had had little or no effect outside their particular locale, whereas the influence of the Spanish and African peoples is seen almost everywhere. Even in the Argentine, the famous tango uses a rhythmical device known as the "cinquillo". This is a syncopated rhythm similar to that in the Cuban habanera. Syncopation and polyrhythms are unmistakable signs of Africa. The Argentine has a number of folktunes and rhythms of Indian origin, but the tango is dominant and the other rhythms are not.