A crocodile named “Muammar Qaddafi” may be given a new name to spare his life after Libyan rebels stormed Tripoli, in a move likely to spell the end for the country’s autocratic leader Muammar Qaddafi.
News out of Libya has worried keepers at the Hamat Gader crocodile farm on the occupied Golan Heights, who are concerned the demise of the Libyan strongman could spell a sticky end for their own “Qaddafi” — a three-meter giant who weighs some 230kg.
In 2004, another of their crocodiles called “Yasser Arafat” died just weeks after the veteran Palestinian leader passed away in a Paris hospital in November 2004, spokeswoman Meital Dana told AFP.
Photo: AFP照片:法新社
“He died at the end of 2004, just a few weeks afterwards,” she told AFP, confirming a story first reported in Maariv.
Park officials are now looking into a new name in the hope it will spare “Qaddafi” the same fate, she said.
The giant crocodile won his name for both his size and the year he was born: 1975, when Qaddafi first published The Green Book outlining his political philosophy, Dana said.
Hamat Gader is the largest crocodile farm in the Middle East, and home to around 200 crocodiles from all over the world, including several others named after world leaders, Dana said.
Besides Qaddafi, they have a “Putin,” after Russian Prime Minister and ex-president Vladimir Putin, and one named for the Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi.
(AFP)
利比亞反抗軍猛攻首都的黎波里,此舉意味該國專制領導人穆阿邁爾‧格達費長路將盡。為了不傷及無辜,一尾名為「穆阿邁爾‧格達費」的鱷魚,可能被另取他名。
利比亞傳來的新聞,已讓哈馬特加代爾鱷魚農場負責人憂心忡忡,該農場位於被侵占的戈蘭高地上,而負責人對於利比亞強人權位不保,意味他們三公尺長且重達兩百三十公斤的「格達費」鱷魚,也可能會有不好的下場,感到憂慮。
農場女發言人梅托‧達娜告訴法新社說,他們在二零零四年有一尾名為「雅瑟‧阿拉法特」的鱷魚,但就在巴勒斯坦資深解放組織領袖二零零四年十一月在巴黎的一間醫院過世後,這尾鱷魚也在數週後身亡。
她證實以色列《晚禱報》的第一手報導屬實,並告訴法新社說:「牠在二零零四年底死亡,也就是數週後。」
她說,農場人員正在尋找一個新名字,希望改名將能讓「格達費」免於承受與格達費一樣的命運。
這尾巨大的鱷魚名字來自牠的體型,以及牠出生的年份:一九七五年。剛好格達費就在這一年出版《綠皮書》,闡述其政治哲學。
哈馬特加代爾是中東地區最大的一座鱷魚農場,養殖大約兩百尾來自世界各國的鱷魚,其中有許多鱷魚是以世界領袖的名字命名。
除了格達費之外,農場有一尾鱷魚以俄羅斯總理與前俄羅斯總統弗拉吉米爾‧普廷命名的「普廷」,另外還有一尾以義大利總理希爾維奧‧貝魯斯柯尼而命名的鱷魚。
(法新社/翻譯:林亞蒂)
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, the streets of Taiwan are filled with the delightful aroma of zongzi, a traditional snack made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves. The leaves are folded into a cone and then filled with sticky rice and other ingredients such as braised pork belly, peanuts and salted duck egg yolks. The filled leaves are then tightly tied with kitchen twine and ready for cooking. 每到六月端午時節,街頭巷尾就會飄出粽子的香氣。粽子是將糯米包進粽葉的傳統美食,先將粽葉折成圓錐狀塞入糯米,以及紅燒肉、花生、鹹鴨蛋黃等配料,用棉線綁緊後即可烹煮。 Dragon Boat Festival (n. phr.) 端午節 aroma
Everyone has seen a piece of fruit turn brown after being cut. Have you ever wondered why that happens? It is a common phenomenon that occurs due to a chemical reaction called enzymatic browning. The appearance, flavor and nutritional value of the fruit are all affected by this reaction. Some fruits, such as apples, pears, bananas, avocados and peaches, are more prone to enzymatic browning than others. These fruits contain high levels of an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase, or PPO for short. __1__ This causes a chain of chemical reactions that ultimately transforms the phenolic compounds into