Koko

Posted on October 4, 2018 by babbityjean

Koko died in June 2018. I was so sad because I had followed the career of the gorilla and her trainer, Penny Patterson.  I have always been fascinated by the bond between animals and humans and by the languages they may have shared.  Koko was special because she was taught sign language to communicate with humans.  Of course, there are some skeptics along the way.

Koko was born on the Fourth of July at the San Francisco Zoo and given a Japanese name that meant Fireworks. At about a year old she was taught sign language by Penny Patterson as part of her doctoral thesis, first at the zoo and then at the Gorilla Foundation in Woodside, California, near Stanford University.  Koko eventually understood about 2,000 English words and had a human IQ of between 75 and 95 points.

Here is one of my favorite stories about Koko. She loved cats.  Her favorite picture books were “The Three Little Kittens” and “Puss ‘n’Boots.” At about the age of 12, Koko asked for a kitten as a Christmas present.  The researchers gave her a stuffed animal that looked like a cat.  Koko was very upset and refused to play with it.  She repeatedly signed “Sad.”  Therefore, for her birthday, she was allowed to choose a kitten from a litter.  She called her little gray and white Manx kitten “All Ball.”   Koko loved to rhyme in sign language.

All Ball was not afraid of Koko who weighed about 230 pounds.  They played chase together and Koko loved to hold and pet him.  When All Ball grew tired of being cuddled, she would bite (lightly) Koko and escape.  Koko would sign, “Obnoxious. Cat.”  But Koko also took care of the kitten and was very gentle and loving. At these times, she said in sign language, “Soft. Good. Cat.”

When All Ball was hit by a car and killed, the researchers had to tell Koko.  At first, she acted like she didn’t hear them.  Then she began to whimper—then with a distinct scream that gorillas make in mourning.  Everyone cried together.  Then, Koko said, “Sleep. Cat.”

I have another story, and I swear that it’s true.  A friend of mine introduced me to a friend of his, who was a professor at Stanford. One Halloween the doorbell rang, and his son answered.  He yelled to his father, “the gorilla is here.”  The father responded, “Give him some candy.”  The son protested that this was not a gorilla costume.  The father came to the front door and saw Penny and Koko. Penny asked if Koko could use the bathroom. Koko went into the bathroom…but she didn’t close the door.

 

Posted in Animali, California, English, Foto | 1 Comment

I gladiatori

Posted on September 28, 2018 by babbityjean

Il seguente articolo è stato riportato su La Repubblica.it nel 5 gennaio 2005.

“I Gladiatori lottavano per finta”

Nuova teoria di un archeologo

Morire al Colosseo?  Per un gladiatore sarebbe molto più probabile essere ucciso a Hollywood.  È quanto sostiene Steve Tuck, archeologo statunitense che, esaminando una serie di reperti provenienti dall’antica Roma, si è convinto che i combattimenti gladiatori erano delle messe in scena, paragonabili ai moderni match di wrestling, nei quali nessuno si faceva male davvero. Nulla a che vedere, dunque, con le scene cruente di certi kolossal hoolywoodiani, come Quo Vadiso il Gladiatore.

 

“La lotta gladiatoria è sempre stata associata all’uccisione e allo spargimento di sangue,” ha spiegato Tuck in un articolo pubblicato dalla rivista New Scientist, “ma in realtà penso che si trattasse di un’arte marziale a puro scopo d’intrattenimento, volta a far divertire gli spettatori.”

 

Per circa 800 anni criminali, prigionieri di guerra e schiavi erano comprati da facoltosi romani per essere addestrati a combattere nei giochi gladiatori. Lottavano fra loro o contro gladiatori professionisti, che erano uomini liberi, in anfiteatri come il Colosseo usando spade, arpioni e lance.  Generalmente dovevano sostenere due o tre combattimenti l’anno e se riuscivano a sopravvivere a cinque anni di combattimenti, potevano ottenere la libertà. Ma secondo Tuck, che ha analizzato 158 immagini risalenti a quel periodo raffiguranti i giochi, il rischio per un gladiatore di venire ucciso era quasi inesistente.  Lo studioso fonda la sua tesi su un raffronto delle immagini contenute su lampade e dipinti murali con i manuali sulle arti marziali prodotti in Germania e in Italia durante il Medioevo e il Rinascimento.  Da questo confronto emergono una serie di similitudini, dalle quali risulta che lo scopo del gladiatore era semplicemente quello di sconfiggere l’avversario, non di ucciderlo.

Posted in Film, Italia, Italiano, Lo Sport, Roma, Storia | Leave a comment

The Gladiators

Posted on September 28, 2018 by babbityjean

The following article, translated from the Italian, was reported in La Repubblica.it in January 2005.

“The Gladiators faked fighting”

New theory of an archaeologist

To die at the Colosseum? For a gladiator it would be much more likely to be killed in Hollywood. According to Steve Tuck, an American archaeologist who, examining a series of finds from ancient Rome, was convinced that the gladiator fights were staged, comparable to modern wrestling matches, in which no one really gets hurt. They have nothing to do, therefore, with the bloody scenes of certain Hollywood colossal, such as Quo Vadis or the Gladiator.

“The gladiatorial fight has always been associated with killing and bloodshed,” Tuck explained in an article published by New Scientist magazine, “but I actually think it was a martial art purely for diversion, to entertain the audience. ”

For some 800 years, criminals, prisoners of war and slaves were bought by wealthy Romans to be trained to fight in gladiatorial games. They were fighting among themselves or against professional gladiators, who were free men, in amphitheaters like the Colosseum using swords, harpoons and spears. They generally had to perform two or three fights a year, and if they could survive five years of fighting, they could gain their freedom. But according to Tuck, who analyzed 158 images from that period depicting the games, the risk for a gladiator to be killed was almost non-existent. The scholar based his thesis on a comparison of images on lamps and wall paintings with manuals on martial arts produced in Germany and Italy during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. From this comparison emerge a series of similarities, from which it appears that the purpose of the gladiator was simply to defeat the opponent, not to kill him.

 

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