Henry Ramsager's Blog
Posted by Henry Ramsager
Art thieves in Sao Paulo made off with paintings during a Thursday night don't-mind-if-I-do raid at Sao Paulo Museum of Art.
The art world is now mourning the loss of Pablo Picasso's Portrait of Suzanne Bloch as well as the Coffee Worker, a famed painting by Brazilian Candido Portinari.
The thieves were in and out in just 180 second-hand ticks of the clock. Museum officials have admitted that there were no alarms and no movement sensors in the galleries, all of which smacks suspiciously of an inside job.
Security cameras -- without infrared capability of course -- produced only unclear images of the raid.
To complete this Keystone Cops picture, it has now surfaced that none of the museum's paintings were insured, which has come as something of a monocle-popping-out shock to the more sensible and conservative outside art world.
The value of the 1904 Portrait of Suzanne Bloch is estimated to be about $50,000,000. As for the 1939 Coffee Worker (or O Lavrador de Cafe in Portuguese), its value is said to be around 5,000,000 big ones.
Would-be art thieves, take note. The Sao Paulo Museum of Art still has paintings by Renoir, Van Gogh and Modigliani that, apparently, are ripe for the picking.
Posted by Henry Ramsager
The Venezuelan citizenry has spoken. They have narrowly rejected their ambitious president's grand scheme to reform the constitution. A "yes" vote would have given President Hugo Chavez the right to run for president for the rest of his natural life.
The vote was 51% to 49% against the Chavez' proposals.
Meanwhile in Washington, long-time arch-enemy rival George Bush can hardly contain his glee that Chavez' days are numbered.
The bad news for Mr Bush? Chavez won't be leaving office until 2013, when his term expires. This will be long after Bush has left the scene and rode off into the sunset of his dude ranch in Texas.
Posted by Henry Ramsager
Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca was--no reliable confirmation exists-- born around 1490 and died about 1557.
In the year 1527 Cabeza de Vaca sailed on a Spanish ship to Florida, which then included part of Mexico, as part of an ill-fated expedition to conquer it. He ended up leaving Florida to sail to Texas on a raft. After a harrowing journey by raft, he and a few survivors then made their way overland from Texas to Mexico City after spending time being both rescued and enslaved by Indians.
Cabeza de Vaca later explored the Paraguay River in South America and became a governor. He was the first European to see Texas and was also among the first to see the American buffalo.
Posted by Henry Ramsager
Ana Maria de Jesus Ribeiro da Silva di Garibaldi (1821-1849) was born in Brazil. She is famous for her association with the revolutionary Italian hero Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882), who brought about the unification of Italy starting in the 1850's.
The couple met in Brazil, after which Anita, in 1839, left her husband, Manuel Duarte Aguiar, to be with Giuseppe Garibaldi. Upon seeing her for the first time, Garibaldi is said to have muttered, "You must be mine."
She took active part in the battles with him in the south of Brazil as well as in other South American countries. They were married in 1841.
Anita Garibaldi was said to be a skilled horsewoman and could handle a sword. She gave birth to four children and died while sick and pregnant with her fifth child. She and her husband took part in the defence of Rome, which was under siege by French troops. Advancing French and Austrian troops pursued them following a retreat from Rome. She died in her husband's arms.
Posted by Henry Ramsager
On Wednesday a 12-ton whale that had been separated from its herd ended up on a sand bank 1600 km (994 miles) off course from the Atlantic Ocean deep in the heart of the Amazon Rain Forest. It is said that it may have spent the better part of two months in the river Tapajos, a tributary of the mighty Amazon River, which, incidentally, is now recognised as the world's longest river, ahead of the Nile.
After being the recipient of some local hospitality in which people splashed water on the minke whale to keep it cool in the steamy jungle, the whale was then freed on Friday. Its back and dorsal fin were said to have been directly exposed to the merciless sun. Having been refreshed and freed, the whale then promptly swam away and was quickly lost to sight, no doubt with a more favourable view of mankind if its ever lost a relative to a harpoon-happy Japanese whaler.
