London Zoo welcomes the birth of numerous baby mammals
A flurry of new births at London Zoo in the past months has been keeping zookeepers, and the new parents, on their toes. Footage from the zoo showed a pair of Asian short-clawed otters, Midge and Syam, looking after their two new pups.
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Boston Globe
3 hours ago
- Boston Globe
A professor's hunt for the rarest Chinese typewriter
It went into a suitcase and he took it back to California, where it joined a growing collection of Asian-language typing devices he'd hunted down. But there was one typewriter that Mullaney had little hope of ever finding: the MingKwai. Made by an eccentric Chinese linguist turned inventor living in Manhattan, the machine had mechanics that were a precursor to the systems almost everyone now uses to type in Chinese. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Only one -- the prototype -- was ever made. Advertisement 'It was the one machine,' he said recently, 'which despite all my cold-calling, all my stalking, was absolutely, 100 percent, definitely gone.' Mullaney's mania for clunky text appliances began in 2007, when he was preparing a talk on the disappearance of Chinese characters and found himself contemplating the disintegration of everything. Among the vast number of characters in the Chinese language -- around 100,000, by some estimates -- there are hundreds that no one alive knows how to pronounce. They are written down, plain as day, in old books, but their sounds, even their meanings, have been lost. Advertisement Sitting in his office, wondering at how something seemingly immortalized in print could be forgotten, Mullaney went down a mental rabbit hole. It would have been physically impossible to build a typing machine to include all the characters that were historically written out by hand, he thought. Some characters must have made the cut, while others were left behind. He sat back in his chair and asked himself: Could he recall ever having seen a Chinese typewriter? Two hours later, he was lying on the floor of his office, looking at patent documents for such devices. There had been, over the last century and a half, dozens of different Chinese typewriters made. Each one was an inventor's take on how to incorporate thousands of characters into a machine without making it unusable -- a physical manifestation of their ideas about language. Never plentiful, the typewriters were now increasingly rare, gone the way of most obsolete technology. Mullaney was fascinated. That evening turned into months of research, which turned into years of searching, as Chinese typewriters became one of his areas of historical expertise. He cold-called strangers and left voicemail messages for private collectors, people whom he suspected, from faint traces left on the internet, of having typewriters. He pored over looking for the next of kin of the last known owner of a particular machine. He called museums and asked, 'Do you, by any chance, have a Chinese typewriter?' Sometimes, they said yes. A private museum in Delaware happened to have a surviving IBM Chinese typewriter, of which only two or three were ever made. Someone at a Chinese Christian church in San Francisco got in touch with him to say they owned a typewriter that they were trying to get rid of. Mullaney took it off their hands. Advertisement The MingKwai is legendary among the handful of people who know about Chinese typewriters. It was invented by Lin Yutang, a Chinese linguist and public intellectual who had begun to worry in the 1930s that without some way to convert ink-brush characters into easily reproduced text, China would be left behind technologically -- perhaps destroyed at the hands of foreign powers. Attempts to create typing machines usually stumbled over the problem of cramming a galaxy of characters into a single machine. Lin's solution was an ingenious system housed in what looked like a large Western typewriter. But when you tapped the keys, something remarkable happened. Any two keystrokes, representing pieces of characters, moved gears within the machine. In a central window, which Lin called the Magic Eye, up to eight different characters containing those pieces then appeared, and the typist could select the right one. Lin had made it possible to type tens of thousands of characters using 72 keys. It was almost as if, Mullaney said, Lin had invented a keyboard with a single key capable of typing the entire Roman alphabet. He named his machine MingKwai, which roughly translates to 'clear and fast.' Lin, who was then living with his wife and children on Manhattan's Upper East Side, hired a New York machinist firm to make a prototype, at enormous cost to himself. He presented that prototype in a demonstration to executives from Remington, the typewriter manufacturer. Advertisement It was a failure. The machine malfunctioned at a crucial moment. Lin went bankrupt and the prototype was sold to Mergenthaler Linotype, a printing company in Brooklyn. And that, as far as Mullaney had been able to find out, was the machine's last known location. When Mergenthaler Linotype moved offices sometime in the 1950s, the machine disappeared. In his 2017 book, 'The Chinese Typewriter,' Mullaney wrote that he believed the MingKwai had most likely ended up on a scrap heap. This past January, Jennifer and Nelson Felix were in their home in Massapequa, N.Y., going through boxes that had been in storage since Felix's father died in Arizona five years before. They were looking at a wooden crate sitting among the cardboard boxes. 'What's this?' Jennifer Felix asked her husband. He'd had a peek in the crate back in Arizona. Oh, he said, it's that typewriter. She opened it, and realized it was not a typical typewriter. The symbols on the keys looked like Chinese. Nelson Felix, who often sold and bought items on Facebook, quickly found a group called 'What's My Typewriter Worth?' and posted some photos. Then they set it aside and moved on to other things. An hour later, Nelson Felix checked on his post. There were hundreds of comments, many written in Chinese. People kept tagging someone named Tom. The couple looked at each other. 'Who's Tom?' Mullaney was in Chicago to give a talk when his phone started going off -- ping, ping, ping. The small community of people he'd encountered in his long quest were sending up digital flares, urgently trying to get his attention. As soon as he saw the post, he knew exactly what he was looking at. It was the MingKwai. Advertisement But he didn't rejoice. He didn't sigh with relief. He was gripped with fear. What if they didn't know what they had and sold it before he could get to it? Someone could buy it with a click on eBay. They could make it into a coffee table. Take it apart and make steampunk earrings. It would be gone, just like that. He posted a comment on Facebook, asking the poster to contact him right away. After a few frantic hours, he got a reply, and the next day he and the Felixes were on the phone. He told them the MingKwai's story. He said that while it was up to them what they did with it, he hoped they would consider selling it to a museum. He was afraid that if it were sold at auction, it would disappear, a trophy hidden in the vacation home of an oil tycoon. Jennifer Felix was bewildered by what was happening. It was just a typewriter in a basement. But Mullaney had made an impression. 'It was lost for half a century,' she said. 'We didn't want it to get lost again.' 'To me it's just a typewriter,' she continued. 'But to other people it's history; it's a story, a life, a treasure.' Instructions and a box of tools were used to cast more Chinese character bars for the MingKwai 9 typewriter. CHRISTIE HEMM KLOK/NYT Mullaney figured out that Jennifer Felix's grandfather, Douglas Arthur Jung, had been a machinist at Mergenthaler Linotype. It's likely that when the company moved offices, he took the machine home. Then it was passed down to Felix's father, who, for more than a decade, had kept the MingKwai with him. 'That's what my dad decided to keep and bring across the country when they moved,' Felix said. Advertisement Keys on the MingKwai 9 typewriter. CHRISTIE HEMM KLOK/NYT Why, of all he had inherited from his own father, did he hang on to this typewriter? She doesn't know. But she feels it must have been a conscious choice: The MingKwai would not have been packed by accident. It weighs more than 50 pounds. In April, the couple made their decision. They sold the machine for an undisclosed amount to the Stanford University Libraries, which acquired it with the help of a private donor. This spring, the MingKwai made its way back across the country. When it was lifted out of the crate onto the floor at a Stanford warehouse, Mullaney lay down to look at it. The history professor could see that it was full of intricate machinery, far more delicate than any other typewriter he'd seen, and he began to imagine how engineers might help him understand it -- perhaps revealing what was going on in Lin's mind in 1947 when he invented a machine he thought could rescue China. Perhaps they could even build a new one. Lying on his stomach, Mullaney began to wonder. The MingKwai 9 typewriter. CHRISTIE HEMM KLOK/NYT This article originally appeared in
Buzz Feed
7 hours ago
- Buzz Feed
Might Surprise You: 7 Hollywood Movies That Were Filmed In Asia
Hollywood productions have increasingly utilised diverse Asian locations as settings for major films. In these movies, you'll see Asia's authentic backdrops—ranging from historical temples to vibrant urban centers—with recognisable landmarks and landscapes appearing throughout. So, grab your popcorn, and see if you can spot the scenes shot in Asia! 1. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) - Hello, Cambodia! Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft, exploring the mystical, vine-covered ruins of Angkor Wat? ICONIC. This movie basically put Cambodia's ancient wonders on everyone's travel bucket list. Those sprawling temples, especially Ta Prohm with its trees growing through the stones, were pure cinematic gold. 2. The Beach (2000) - Thailand's Secret Paradise (Before It Became So Famous!) Leonardo DiCaprio searching for paradise, only to find a hidden, idyllic beach in Thailand? We've all dreamt of it! While the movie's "secret" Maya Bay on Koh Phi Phi Leh definitely got a little too famous after this film, you can't deny the sheer beauty that Danny Boyle captured. Thailand's turquoise waters and dramatic limestone cliffs were basically another character in this cult classic. 3. Kong: Skull Island (2017) - Vietnam, You Lookin' Good! The fantastical, mist-shrouded landscapes of Ha Long Bay and Ninh Binh's Trang An complex were the PERFECT, otherworldly home for King Kong. Seriously, those towering karsts and lush greenery looked like they were made for giant monster battles. Pure epicness! 4. Crazy Rich Asians (2018) - Singapore, You Slayed! This movie wasn't just a rom-com sensation, it was a love letter to Singapore! From the glittering Marina Bay Sands infinity pool to the breathtaking Supertrees at Gardens by the Bay and the vibrant hawker centers, Crazy Rich Asians showed the world just how glamorous and delicious this little red dot truly is. 5. The Dark Knight (2008) - Hong Kong's Urban Jungle Christopher Nolan bringing Batman to Hong Kong? YES, PLEASE! The iconic verticality and neon glow of Hong Kong provided the most incredible, gritty backdrop for some serious superhero action. Remember that epic scene where Batman glides from a skyscraper? That was Hong Kong, baby! 6. Jurassic World: Rebirth (2025) - Krabi's Wild Stonescapes While the original Jurassic Park didn't use Vietnam or Indonesia, the latest installment in the Jurassic World saga, Rebirth, actually filmed in the stunning landscapes of Thailand. Imagine towering limestone karsts, lush rainforests, and crystal-clear waters providing the perfect, prehistoric backdrop for some serious dinosaur action! This movie truly embraces the natural beauty of Thailand, making its national parks and islands (like Khao Phanom Bencha National Park and Ko Kradan) look like the ultimate lost worlds. 7. Thunderbolts* (2025) - Defying Gravity Florence Pugh actually brought her superhero prowess to Kuala Lumpur for some epic scenes in Marvel's upcoming Thunderbolts*. Yep, the iconic Merdeka 118, the world's second-tallest building, was apparently a major backdrop for some thrilling stunts, with Pugh herself reportedly jumping off the skyscraper as Yelena Belova. Beyond the heart-pounding action, Florence was also totally won over by Malaysia's food scene, even expressing a desire to learn some local dishes for her "Cooking with Flo" series.
NBC News
a day ago
- NBC News
American pony raises rare Asian wild horse
An endangered wild Asian horse named Marat was critically ill after his birth at the Minnesota Zoo where he later survived due to intensive care. Marat's mother rejected him when he returned and he later found American pony Alice who accepted him as her own. NBC News' Kate Snow has more on what staffers call a "perfect fairy-tale ending."
