Tag: nature

Ant art

Geeks are sexy blog shares a story of a scientist who experimented with ants and colored sugar water.  Apparently, the color of the food is visible through certain ant parts.  Even though the experiment was quite simplistic, I’m sure someone will take this art opportunity much further.  I’m waiting for some vant Gogh, Rembrant, and Dantli.

The Holy Monastery of Saint Nicholas of the Cats

By following comments at Chris’ blog, I came across the fascinating story that I haven’t heard before – the story of The Holy Monastery of Saint Nicholas of the Cats.

The Monastery of Saint Nicholas of the Cats is regarded as a sacred cat haven in Cyprus, as it’s name has been linked to felines for almost 2,000 years.

The original monastery was built in 327 AD, by Kalokeros, the first Byzantine governor of Cyprus, and patronised by Saint Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great. At that time, a terrible drought affected the whole of Cypus, and the entire island was overrun with poisonous snakes which made building the monastery a dangerous affair. Many of the inhabitants left their homes and moved off the island, for fear of the snakes, but Saint Helena came up with a solution to the plague – she ordered 1,000 cats to be shipped in from Egypt and Palestine to fight the reptiles.

In the following years, the cats did their duty, hunting and killing most of the snakes in the Akrotiri Peninsula, which soon came to be known as the “Cat Peninsula”.

Signs of spring, 2012

It’s been a while since I pointed you, my dear reader, to the Big Picture blog.  I had to catch up with it myself.  While browsing through the horrible pictures of refugees and natural disasters, all of which are very sad and pessimistic, I came across a beautiful collection of images that capture the signs of this year’s spring coming.  It is these images – peaceful, beautiful, breathtaking – that I want to share with you.