Buzz: A sawfish story.

Last week I went with some friends to the Audubon aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans.  It was probably the coolest aquarium I've ever seen! At the end of the aquarium, you got to see in the shark tank, (through glass) there were all kinds of sharks and other big fish, but one stood out, or stood in for me. It was the biggest shark in the tank, you could only see a shadow of it, but it had 3 fins.
I looked to the signage telling us what kinds of fish were in there, and there was a featured sign that had a drawing of the big shark on it.  It pretty much said that the big shark's name was Buzz, and it's a Smalltooth Sawfish. It had been in captivity in the Ripley's aquarium since the 1960s. It is 80 years old, but that is not even elderly by Smalltooth Sawfish standards.

Smalltooth Sawfishes are critically going extinct, and Buzz is one of 10 in captivity, there is not much more in the wild. His story is so fascinating!
To think of the stories that one fish could tell...

One of Buzz's distinct features is his long snout, with pointy "teeth" sticking out the sides.

The "teeth" are not used for eating, if you look closely at the picture above, you can see his mouth. The teeth are simply spikes used for intimidation and fighting.

I googled Buzz for you so you can find out more about him: Buzz Google search.

Here is a video of Buzz:
Buzz the sawfish.

Your friend,
Jackson

The life and times of Georges Méliès

Georges Méliès is a very famous old movie director. He was the first to understand that movies can tell a story, he was born to a family of shoemakers and promptly rejected the family business and bought a theatre to become a magician, then in 1895, he witnessed something more worthwhile to him: Moving pictures. Méliès offered to buy the Lumière brothers camera, when they refused, he made his own using spare gears and springs. 

Many say that Le voyage dans la Lune ( A trip to the moon) was his first masterpiece. (Which you can see here)

He made over 500 movies in his glass studio.

After world war I, peoples tastes changed, his camera was still, and rivals swooped there cameras on tracks for multiple shots, people wanted to see action, not drama. He went bankrupt, and sold his movies to a chemical company that burned them down to make, ironically, shoe heels.  He made a living working in a toy shop in a Paris train station. 

But he made a small comeback, at the time of his death, (1930s) he was at work on a new movie, The ghosts of the metro.  Today is his birthday.

Happy birthday Georges Méliès. 

Your friend,

Jackson

Here are some more of his movies:
The Astronomers Dream,
The vanishing lady,
The Melomaniac,
The haunted castle.