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[jockdom]

GENEVA — Bern's Bear Pit, for centuries a tourist attraction and a symbol of the city, has lost its last resident to euthanasia and will be closed for good.

Pedro, a 28-year-old brown bear, was put to death Thursday, ending a tradition that had spanned nearly 500 years. The pit that housed the beasts giving the city its name will be replaced by a more bear-friendly park with access to the Aare River below.

"Pedro was suffering from a painful, incurable arthritis," said Bernd Schildger, the city's zoo director.

Walter Bosshard, Bern's bear keeper, urged people to "remember the ancient tradition of the Bear Pit and look forward to a new era that gives Bern and bear care a new face."

Bears have played an important role in Bern, which features the animal on its flag and coat-of-arms. The animals were plentiful in Switzerland until being hunted to extinction in the country about a century ago, and the legend of Bern has it that Count Berchtold V named the capital after killing a bear in the city he was founding.

Bern's Bear Pit dates back to at least 1513, when the chronicler Valerius Anshelm described the Bernese Army's return from a military victory with a living bear as booty. The animal was put in the defensive trench along the city walls.

A new pit was created in 1764 just outside the city's former limits, and as many as a dozen bears have lived in the 3.5-meter (11.5-foot) deep space more or less since then as the city has expanded around it.

The pit was empty for a dozen years when Napoleon occupied Bern in 1798 and shipped the city's bears to Paris. It was briefly empty again in 1853, when a family of French bears died out and new ones were imported, and during modifications in 1974-1975 when the bears were housed elsewhere.

While the Bear Pit has remained a ubiquitous feature of tourist guides, its allure had dimmed amid concerns from animal rights activists and the public that it offered the bears little dignity.

The city began studying how to make a better home for its bears at the beginning of the decade and construction on the new Bear Park started in 2008. It is scheduled to open in October and will stretch over 6,000 square meters (65,000 square feet) from the current pit to the Aare River below, giving bears the chance to roam over a wide expanse of greenery and catch fresh fish from the water. A wall in the river ensures they will not be able to swim away or be carried away by the current.

Bosshard said two Scandinavian bears in Bern's Daehlhoelzli Zoo, Bjoerk and Finn, would move into the new park in October.

Bern is a nice wee city, I've been to that pit. Also the bear is the symbol on berns cantonal flag.

 

[gypsy*seer]

Bern is a nice wee city, I've been to that pit. Also the bear is the symbol on berns cantonal flag.

Really? I feel for the bears! Never even knew that it existed!

 

[gypsy*seer]

Really?? Nothing at all since May 2nd?


BUMP.....

Don't make me come back here......

 

[DVS]

OK, just tossing something out there, in case you all didn't know.

A peanut isn't really a nut. It's a goober, also known as a goober pea. It's a member of the Legume family and not of the nut family. Look up legumes on the Internet. It's so named because of how the plant grows.

But, because nut is in its name, the common misconception has been that it is a nut and because of that, it has become a nut, sort of. Basically, because people have been calling it a nut for so long, it has become a nut, some what by proxy.

But, actually, it's not a nut, in the eyes of those who decide these things. It's a legume.


Sorry, if I've already posted about this in here. It's one of the few things I know about as fact.

Now, if you want to talk electricity...

 

[gypsy*seer]

OK, just tossing something out there, in case you all didn't know.

A peanut isn't really a nut. It's a goober, also known as a goober pea. It's a member of the Legume family and not of the nut family. Look up legumes on the Internet. It's so named because of how the plant grows.

But, because nut is in its name, the common misconception has been that it is a nut and because of that, it has become a nut, sort of. Basically, because people have been calling it a nut for so long, it has become a nut, some what by proxy.

But, actually, it's not a nut, in the eyes of those who decide these things. It's a legume.


Sorry, if I've already posted about this in here. It's one of the few things I know about as fact.

Now, if you want to talk electricity...

Remember the 'goober peas' song??

"Eating goober peas, eating goober peas...."
(sung to the tune of "Bringing In The Sheaves")

Where does this stuff in my head come from....

 

[DVS]

Remember the 'goober peas' song??

"Eating goober peas, eating goober peas...."
(sung to the tune of "Bringing In The Sheaves")

Where does this stuff in my head come from....

I think I've heard that one, but I found another one...suffer!


I tried to link it here. I hope it comes through. Some group from Canada called the Raftsmen.
Goober Peas

 

[gypsy*seer]

I think I've heard that one, but I found another one...suffer!


I tried to link it here. I hope it comes through. Some group from Canada called the Raftsmen.
Goober Peas

OMG!
I'm dyin' here......

ROTFLMAO!

Yup...that's the one! Thanks for the laugh, DVS!

 

[WriterDom]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f06qKlhkKG4

That's an old song. They were singing that during The War of Northern Aggression. Wish I had some boiled goobers night now.

 

[Sir_Winston54]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f06qKlhkKG4

That's an old song. They were singing that during The War of Northern Aggression. Wish I had some boiled goobers night now.

And some lightnin' to help 'em slide down...

 

[gypsy*seer]

And some lightnin' to help 'em slide down...

Would that be liquid lightnin', Sir W?

 

[Sir_Winston54]

Would that be liquid lightnin', Sir W?

It would indeed. What else do normal folks drink in Georgia and East Tennessee? :innocent look:

(Besides my beloved Maker's Mark, that is.)

 

[gypsy*seer]

Frenemy, locavore among new words in Webster's

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Do you use a sock puppet to secretly keep track of your frenemies?

Plan to spend your staycation watching vlogs and webisodes? Or perhaps you plan to signal a flash mob for a quick bite of shawarma.

If you're not entirely certain what all that means, turn to the latest edition of the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, which has added about 100 new words that largely reflect changing trends in American society.

John Morse, president and publisher of the Springfield-based dictionary publisher, said many of this year's new words are tied to changes in technology, increasing environmental awareness and aging baby boomers' concerns about their health and have become part of the general lexicon.

"These are not new words in the language, by any means," Morse said. "(But) when words like 'neuroprotective' and 'cardioprotective' show up in the Collegiate, it's because we've made the judgment that these are not just words used by specialists. ... These really are words now likely to show up in The New York Times, in The Wall Street Journal."

There are words such as locavore (one who eats foods grown locally), frenemy (someone who acts like a friend but is really an enemy), waterboarding (an interrogation technique use to induce the sensation of drowning), vlogs (a blog that contains video material) and webisode (a TV show that can be viewed at a Web site).

There's also flash mob (a group of people summoned electronically to a designated spot at a specified time to perform an indicated action before dispersing) and green-collar (involving actions for protecting the natural environment).

Some words that just now made the cut have been around for generations. The term "sock puppet" — a false online identity used for deceptive purposes — was tracked to 1959 but has taken on new popular use with people using fake IDs on social networking sites.

Many words have cross-cultural roots, including shawarma (a sandwich especially of sliced lamb or chicken, vegetables, and often tahini wrapped in pita bread) and reggaeton (music of Puerto Rican origin that combines rap and Caribbean rhythms).

Once words like these become so common that they regularly pop up in conversations and published articles, Morse said they pass muster for being included in the dictionary.

Some words, such as "staycation," have become so popular the dictionary could not ignore them, Morse said. Staycation refers to staying home for vacation and has gained popularity as the economy worsens.

But Morse said some words face years in limbo as wordsmiths wait to see if they are just fads.

Dave Wilton, author of "Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends," said it's difficult to draw conclusions about trends in society with just a handful of new words.

"It's also an editorial decision and reflects what the (dictionary) editors deemed important that year," Wilton said. "Most of these words have been around for a while but for some reason they grabbed the attention of editors this time."

Researchers often keep track of words over many years. One to watch: prepone.

The word is commonly used in India among English-speaking Indians and refers to the act of arranging for an event to take place earlier than originally planned — the opposite of postpone.

"Prepone didn't make it this time," Morse said. "But we know about it."

___

 

[HoHoBomb]

How much my friends value me