DNA study suggests hunting did not kill off mammoth

The traditional view of the woolly mammoth as a hardy, abundant species will have to change

Related Stories

• 'No human link' to mammoth demise
• Mammoths survived late in Britain
• Mammoth's genome pieced together

Researchers have found evidence to suggest that climate change, rather than humans, was the main factor that drove the woolly mammoth to extinction.

A DNA analysis shows that the number of creatures began to decrease much earlier than previously thought as the world's climate changed.
It also shows that there was a distinct population of mammoth in Europe that died out around 30,000 years ago.
The results have published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
The view many researchers had about woolly mammoths is that they were a hardy, abundant species that thrived during their time on the planet.
But according to the scientist who led the research, Dr Love Dalen of the Swedish Museum of Natural History, the study shifts that view.
"The picture that seems to be emerging is that they were a fairly dynamic species that went through local extinctions, expansions and migrations. It is quite exciting that so much was going on," he told BBC News.
Dr Dalen worked with researchers in London to analyse DNA samples from 300 specimens from woolly mammoths collected by themselves and other groups in earlier studies
The scientists were able to work out how many mammoths existed at any given time from the samples as well as tracing their migration patterns. They looked at the genetic diversity in their samples - the less diverse the lower the population

The researchers analysed samples DNA from 300 remains

They found that the species nearly went extinct 120,000 years ago when the world warmed up for a while. Numbers are thought to have dropped from several million to tens of thousands but numbers recovered as the planet entered another ice age.
The researchers also found that the decline that led to their eventual extinction began 20,000 years ago when the Ice Age was at its height, rather than 14,000 years ago when the world began to warm again as previously thought.
They speculate that it was so cold that the grass on which they fed became scarce. The decline was spurred on as the Ice Age ended, possibly because the grassland on which the creatures thrived was replaced by forests in the south and tundra in the north.
The reason they died out has been a matter of considerable scientific debate. Some have argued that humans hunted them to extinction while others have said that changes in the climate was the main factor.
A criticism of the climate extinction argument is that the world warmed well before the creatures became extinct and so that could not have been the cause.

Prof Adrian Lister Natural History Museum London

The new results show that mammoths did indeed nearly go extinct between Ice Ages and so backs the view that climate change was the principal cause for their demise.

These results back a computer simulation of conditions at the time carried out by researchers at Durham University in 2010.
And of course other animals, including humans, became more active after the Ice Age and so competition with other species and hunting may also have been a factor in their extinction, though not the principle cause, argues Prof Adrian Lister of the NHM.
"During the last ice age, between about 50,000 and 20,000 years ago, there were substantial movements of mammoth populations - European populations being replaced by waves of migration from the east, for example," he said.
"But from about 20,000 years ago onwards, the population started the dramatic decline that led to its extinction, first on the mainland about 10,000 years ago, and finally on some outlying Arctic islands. The pattern seems to fit forcing by natural climate change: any role of humans in the process has yet to be demonstrated".'

Martin Luther King and the race riot that never was

In today's Magazine

• Democracy and Islamic law
• Taiwan's knife-wielding masseurs Watch
• The 95-year-old guardian of musical form
• What to avoid when you're expecting

History remembers the speech, the huge numbers and the peaceful protest. Yet behind the scenes, the famous march on Washington in 1963 provoked suspicion, anxiety and deep-seated fears in the White House that the day would end in violence.

Across America, black fury had broken loose.
A swirl of protests, touched off by weeks of racial strife in Birmingham, Alabama, where police dogs had torn at the flesh of protesters and powerful fire hoses had been trained on children, now engulfed much of the country.
Between May and late August in 1963, there had been 1,340 demonstrations in more than 200 cities. Some were communities long splintered along racial lines. Others had never before been touched by violence. The randomness of the disturbances made it all the more terrifying. Now, with 200,000 protesters about to converge on the nation's capital, there were fears that Washington itself could witness the same chaos and disorder.
For the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr, the untitled leader of the civil rights movement, the events of the early summer had transformed the struggle for black equality from what he called a "Negro protest" into a "Negro revolution". America, he feared, had reached "explosion point".

Four girls died in the 1963 bombing of this Alabama church, which served as a meeting place for civil rights activists such as King

Anxious voices made themselves heard within the Kennedy administration as well.
"Issues which are not settled by justice and fair play will sooner or later be settled by force and violence," warned Vice-President Lyndon Baines Johnson. President Kennedy's sole black adviser Louis Martin also raised the spectre of a breakdown in order.

From pastor to martyr

• Born to Baptist minister and schoolteacher in Atlanta, Georgia
• Followed father's footsteps and joined clergy
• Helped Montgomery bus boycott in 1955 that led to Supreme Court victory against segregation
• Imprisoned after involvement in protests in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963
• Made his most famous speech on steps of Lincoln Memorial
• Awarded Nobel Peace Prize the following year
• Assassinated in 1968 in Memphis

"The accelerated tempo of Negro restiveness," he warned privately, "may create the most critical state of race relations since the Civil War." During a tense White House meeting in May, Attorney General Robert Kennedy also warned his elder brother that the situation risked getting out of hand. "Negroes are now just antagonistic and mad and they're going to be mad at everything. You can't talk to them," he said. "My friends all say [even] the Negro maids and servants are getting antagonistic."

For most of his presidency, John F Kennedy had viewed civil rights as a political issue to manage rather than a moral question to champion. To take on the south was to risk splintering the Democratic Party, then an angry amalgam of northern liberals, southern segregationists and pragmatists like the president, who tried to straddle the divide. Nor did Kennedy, who was famed for his cool detachment, have a strong emotional commitment to the freedom struggle. He had largely been a bystander to the great social revolution of the age.
By the summer of 1963, however, he realised that his presidency might come to be defined by his response to the racial crisis. Inaction was no longer an option. As he cautioned during a nationwide television address in June, the "fires of frustration and discord are burning in every city, north and south".

To get protesters off the streets, he had finally introduced a long-awaited civil rights bill that would begin to dismantle segregation, the system of racial apartheid that prevailed across much of the American south. But even after he had made his nationwide address, and finally lent the weight of his office to the black struggle, the protests and violence continued. A massive demonstration in Washington, then, was fraught with danger.

“Robert Kennedy's warning to JFK

When the administration learned mid-way through June of plans for the march on Washington, its first response was to pressure black leaders into cancelling. At a White House meeting, Kennedy told Martin Luther King and other civil rights leaders that he did not want "a big show on the Capitol" because it would complicate efforts to enact the civil rights bill into law. When attempts at persuasion failed, the administration decided instead to try to wrestle control of the demonstration. Here, the president was adamant - shockingly so. "They're liable to come down here and shit all over the [Washington] monument," he told aides. "I've got a civil rights bill to get through. We'll run it."

To prevent the demonstration turning into a massive race riot, Kennedy ordered a mobilisation of the federal government's security apparatus unprecedented outside of wartime. To start with, the FBI ramped up its already vast surveillance operation on the civil rights movement, which included electronic eavesdropping on King. It instructed every field office across the country to provide intelligence on how many local black activists planned to converge on Washington, and whether they had any affiliation with communist organisations.
An additional fear was that black radicals, who had rejected the non-violent tactics of the more moderate civil rights groups, would hijack the march. Almost 150 FBI agents were assigned to mingle in the crowd, working in tandem with secret service agents. Others were stationed at rooftop observation points on the Lincoln Memorial, Union Station and the Commerce Department overlooking the Mall. At the FBI headquarters, which director J Edgar Hoover feared might come under attack from protesters, security was also tightened. Staff were warned to sit away from the windows.
For weeks beforehand, the prospect of violence also preoccupied the Washington police department, which was placed on its highest state of alert. It came up with no less than 72 potential disaster scenarios, and plotted a response to each one. It helped that the Lincoln Memorial was enclosed on three sides by water, which made it easier to police. But every corner of downtown Washington would also be protected. On Capitol Hill, a thin blue line of officers, standing 5ft apart, would surround Congress.

A policeman or National Guardsman would be stationed on every corner in downtown business district to guard against looting. To beef up the police presence, hundreds of additional officers were drafted in from neighbouring suburban forces, who attended specially organised riot training courses. So many law enforcement resources were devoted to policing the march, the FBI feared a spate of bank robberies in the capital's outlying neighbourhoods.
Despite this massive mobilisation, police dogs remained in their kennels. Mindful of the ugly images from Birmingham in May, where the photographs of young protesters being mauled by snarling dogs had shocked so many white Americans, their presence could easily incite the crowd.

So many law enforcement resources were devoted to policing the march, the FBI feared a spate of bank robberies”

Because so many arrests were expected, a team of local judges was placed on round-the-clock stand-by in the city's courtrooms. At the District of Columbia's jailhouse, 350 inmates were evacuated to create space for disruptive protesters. Elective surgery in the greater Washington area was cancelled, so that more than 350 beds could be set aside for riot-related emergencies. The DC General Hospital even went as far as to activate its "national disaster plan".

Life in Washington was completely disrupted in the run-up to the march. Government offices shut down and federal employees were advised to stay home. There was a 24-hour ban on the sale of alcohol, the first time liquor had been banned in the nation's capital since Prohibition.
Fears about the violent potential of the march also worried its organisers, led by the charismatic Bayard Rustin, who decided to work closely with the administration to make sure it passed off peaceably. They agreed to bring forward the start time so that protesters would not be left wandering the streets after dark. More reluctantly, they consented to a change in venue. The original plan, for a mass protest on the steps of the US Congress, was shelved. Instead they chose Lincoln Memorial, a more manageable and less politically sensitive site.

Other Lincoln Memorial events

• Marian Anderson sang on the steps to 70,000 people in 1939 after being barred from Constitution Hall because she was black
• King was the final speaker at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, and the spot on which he stood was engraved in 2003
• President Richard Nixon met Vietnam War protesters and chatted to them in an unplanned visit in 1970, startling his aides in the process
• Broadcaster Glenn Beck summoned a huge crowd in 2010 (above) for a One Nation Working Together rally

Even after weeks of meticulous planning, administration officials could not rule out the threat of violence. So on march day itself, the District of Columbia was placed under virtual martial law, with the president ordering the biggest peacetime military build-up in US history. By mid-morning on 28 August, five military bases on the outskirts of the capital were bursting with activity, as a heavily-armed 4,000-strong task force with the code-name Inside prepared for deployment.

At Fort Myer, Fort Belvoir, Fort Meade, Quantico Marine base and the Anacostia Naval Station, 30 helicopters had been flown in especially to provide a rapid airlift capability. At Fort Bragg, North Carolina, 15,000 Special Forces troops, dubbed STRICOM, were placed on stand-by, ready to be airlifted at the first sign of trouble.
If violence flared, speed of deployment was essential. All the necessary presidential proclamations, executive orders and letters of military instruction were prepared in advance. If rioting erupted, the White House would issue a presidential proclamation calling on protesters to disperse forthwith.
If the violence continued, the president would sign an executive order authorising the Pentagon to take "all appropriate steps" to disperse the crowd. As a confidential memo put it: "Desire for use of minimum force must not jeopardise successful completion of mission."

Mahalia Jackson

• The role of Mahalia Jackson in King's I Have A Dream speech is often overlooked
• It was her heckle - "Tell 'em about the dream, Martin" - that led him to go off-script
• She was a Grammy-winning gospel singer from a poor family in New Orleans
• Jackson became heavily involved in the civil rights movement and sang at King's funeral

In response to an escalating situation, troops would first brandish unloaded rifles with bayonets fixed and sheathed, then bare bayonets. If that failed, tear gas could be used, and then loaded rifles with bare bayonets fixed. The mission went by the code-name Operation Washington. So heavy was the military build-up that one reporter observed that "the city was transformed from the capital of a nation at peace to a nation at war".

Throughout the morning of 28 August, as the demonstration took shape outside his windows, President Kennedy remained safely inside the White House chairing a meeting of foreign policy advisers on Vietnam. Ahead of the march, he had resisted demands from King and the other leaders of the so-called "Big Six" civil rights organisations for a presidential audience that morning, since he did not want to be identified too closely with a demonstration that might become violent.
His advisors also worried that black leaders would arrive at the White House with a list of unreasonable demands which the president would find impossible to meet. If they left the Oval Office aggrieved, the whole tenor of the demonstration could rapidly change. Much to the march organisers' disappointment, Kennedy also decided against sending protesters a presidential statement, fearing it could spark demonstrations against him on the Mall. Instead, he agreed to host a delegation of black leaders at the White House after the march was over, hoping it would soften their rhetoric against him.
As a further precaution against fiery speechifying - and also to prevent subversives from seizing control of the public address system - an administration official was positioned to the right of the Lincoln Memorial with an automatic cut-off switch and a record turntable. If protesters overran the speaker's platform, the sound feed would be cut and replaced by Mahalia Jackson singing "He's got the whole world in his hands."

Kennedy on King

Wearied by the suffocating heat, the crowd's initial response was muted. The speech was not going well. "Tell 'em about the dream, Martin," shouted Mahalia Jackson, referring to a rhetorical riff that King had used several times before, but which had not made it into his prepared speech because aides insisted he needed fresh material. But King decided to cast aside his prepared notes, and launched extemporaneously into the refrain for which he will forever be remembered.

"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed," he shouted, his out-stretched right arm reaching towards the sky. Soon he was hitting his rhythm, invigorated by the chants and cries of the crowd. "Dream on!" they shouted. "Dream on!"
With his voice thundering down the Mall, King imagined a future in which his children could "live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character". Then he reached his impassioned finale.

 

 

 King asked the crowd to yell so it was heard the world over

Watching at the White House, the president was riveted. Like so many Americans, it was the first time he had heard the 34-year-old preacher deliver a speech in its entirety - the first time he had taken its measure, listened to its cadence. "He's good," Kennedy told one of his advisors. "He's damned good." The aide was struck, however, that the president seemed impressed more by the quality of King's performance rather than the power of his message.
But a vital message it was. King had made a compelling case for non-violent racial change, and done so with such eloquence and power that it reverberated not only on Washington's Mall, but also in the living rooms of white Americans. Terrible and violent days lay ahead. But, for all the fears beforehand, this one, 28 August 1963, was staggeringly beautiful.
So happily, the march proved anticlimactic for the Washington police. By dusk, there had been just three arrests, all involving whites. In the event, the only threat to police came not from unruly protesters but the chicken box dinners handed out earlier in the morning, which had not been properly refrigerated. Just after 4pm, the police chief issued his most important order of the day: that under no circumstances should his officers touch the chicken.
At the foot of the Lincoln Memorial, King and his colleagues were bundled into a caravan of government limousines, which then edged slowly through the departing crowds to the White House. Kennedy met the black leaders with an out-stretched hand, and a jaunty reprise of the lilting refrain that had lifted the whole civil rights movement to a new spiritual plain: "I have a dream."
And with that, he ushered them into the Oval Office.
Nick Bryant is the author of The Bystander: John F Kennedy and the Struggle for Black Equality

Jackson Security Chief Reveals Drug Concerns

The former security boss says the star's children called emergency services when their dad collapsed at Disney World.

Michael Jackson's former security boss has told a jury that he was once concerned the singer would overdose on prescription drugs - but not around the time of his death.

Michael La Perruque said he spoke to two of Jackson's doctors about his concerns about the singer's medication use, but that he never spoke directly about it to the star because he did not want him to become defensive.
"It was my concern that he may overdose," he said.
Mr La Perruque said he occasionally went into Jackson's hotel room to make sure he was breathing and would often find doctors to treat the pop star when he travelled.
Mr La Perruque said Jackson called him in the middle of the night between 20 and 30 times in the early 2000s and was often mumbling and incoherent.
Half those times Mr La Perruque said he went to the singer's room to check on him, and they would start talking.
"I think he was just lonely," he said.
"He wanted somebody to talk to."
He said the singer's children called emergency services during a trip to Florida in 2001 or 2002 after their father collapsed in a hallway in a hotel suite at Disney World.
He said he found Jackson unconscious, revived him before paramedics arrived and never saw any signs of drugs or alcohol that the singer may have taken.

The court heard Jackson collapsed in front of his children

Paramedics checked out the singer and determined he did not need further medical attention, Mr La Perruque said.
He told jurors that his testimony on Thursday was only the second time he had told the story.
The first came in a deposition with lawyers for AEG Live LLC, which is being sued by Jackson's mother claiming the company negligently hired the doctor convicted of giving her son a fatal overdose of the anesthetic propofol.
Deborah Chang, an attorney for Jackson's mother, said there was no evidence that his collapse at Disney World was drug-related.
Mr La Perruque retired from his job as a deputy sheriff in 2001 to work as the head of Jackson's security detail and frequently travelled with him until 2004.
He then returned to oversee his security in late 2007.
Mr La Perruque said he did not see any signs that Jackson was impaired during the few months he worked for him again.
He testified he last saw Jackson two weeks before the singer's death and he looked fine, but he noticed that his former boss was skinnier than usual.
Mr La Perruque said Jackson kept members of his family away because he knew they were trying to stage an intervention.
He told jurors that Jackson's younger brother Randy arrived at Neverland Ranch one day in a helicopter to speak with his brother about his medication usage.
Mr La Perruque said he turned him away.
Jackson was rehearsing for a comeback tour when he died in 2009.

 

Falklands: Argentina Lodges New Claim At UN

President Cristina Kirchner renews her demand for sovereignty over the islands as her country chairs the Security Council.

Argentina has renewed its demand for sovereignty over the British-ruled Falkland Islands at the United Nations Security Council.

Speaking at the UN in New York, President Cristina Kirchner said: "This is not a fanciful stance. We simply want the United Nations resolution to be enforced and for our two countries to sit down and discuss this."
Argentina is currently chairing the Security Council, and Ms Kirchner admitted it was controversial to raise the Falklands during a debate ostensibly about the UN's ties with regional bodies.
Britain is a permanent member of the Security Council and its ambassador, Sir Mark Lyall Grant, was in the chamber to hear Ms Kirchner's speech.

Britain has ruled the islands since 1833

She recalled that the UN General Assembly passed a resolution in 1964 urging Britain and Argentina to hold negotiations over sovereignty of the islands, which Britain has ruled since 1833.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon informed Ms Kirchner on Monday that Britain had again refused to discuss the sovereignty issue.
Argentina invaded the islands in April 1982, prompting Britain to send a task force of 100 ships to recapture them.
Ten weeks later the Argentine forces surrendered. By then 255 British servicemen, more than 600 Argentinians and three islanders had been killed.
In a referendum in March, 99.8% of islanders voted in favour of remaining a British Overseas Territory, but the poll was rejected by Argentina as a meaningless publicity stunt.

World’s Greatest Fishing Hole

World’s Greatest Fishing Hole

When John Rafter asked me “Pete, if you knew tomorrow was going to be the last day you ever got to fish in your life, but you could be wherever you wanted to be, and in the prime time or season, where would you choose?” A thousand images flooded my brain. “That’s really tough. There are so many places.” I replied.
“What about St. Thomas?” Rafter queried, “We were talking about this at Oden’s Dock in Hatteras and someone said that was the best blue marlin fishing ever.”
St. Thomas is a lovely island and the Virgin Islands have great diving and snorkeling in crystal clear bays over sand so white it hurts the eyes—and some of the best reefs in the Caribbean. With 5 to 10 bites a day on blue marlin not guaranteed, but also not unusual, it conjured up fond memories.
“I’d have to think about that and Cape Verde would probably win if I was going after blue marlin. There are even more fish there, and lots of action would probably win out over someplace like Madeira, which is such a gorgeous place just to be, that the fishing is almost a bonus. In Madeira, even though the action is not as red hot when you do get a bite, it is likely to be a real monster. But the biggest blue I ever saw was off Mindelo in Cape Verde so that’s a tough one.” I mused.
I make my living fishing for monster marlin and tuna and love that kind of fishing even though it can be hard work and is often stressful when we’re under pressure to produce. When I fish for the sheer fun of it, I’m often targeting smaller fish.

The Great Barrier Reef is the ultimate. Not just lots of marlin, but monsters over 1000 pounds..."

“I haven’t had a chance to take Bimini after bonefish yet.” I told Rafter. “I can remember wading the flats east of the island she’s named after at sunrise, and that’s pretty darn gorgeous. With a rising tide and those schools of fish pushing up onto the flats trying to pick out tails and get a bite out of those spooky devils, if I could only fish one more day I’m not sure I wouldn’t like to share that with my little girl.”
Then I thought about tarpon. It’s cooler and yuppier to fish with fly rods on the flats and that is also great fun, but Boca Grande won for that scene. I remembered the sun setting in the west just as a full moon was rising in the east. Calm water shimmering in the light that never really quit with the big full moon spring tides carrying all that LIFE. Weed and crabs and minnows all going with the current and then the tarpon— thousands upon thousands of them rolling in huge packs of prehistoric predators eating every bait we put out. No records, no pressure to perform, just fish after fish jumping, fighting, and being released-healthy. I’d hate to think I’d never see that again.
“What about those days we had in Hatteras when the bluefins were THICK?” Rafter interrupted my silent thoughts.
Boy could I see that in my minds eye. Enormous shapes zooming through the water eating chum before it could get really wet. Giant tuna eating chicken wings and squashed Pepsi cans if they were thrown in the cadence of the cut up baitfish chum. The line crackling off the reel. Using 100 pounds of drag on custom Cal Sheets Penn 130 reels with a top shot of 300 pound line.
Or sunny days off Cat Cay and Bimini in the old days with even bigger tuna running before the sea. Harder there to get a bite but even bigger fish!
“And the diving there is truly wonderful. The dive industry is WAY bigger than fishing down under. We get to snorkel and dive in the best spots that even the dive boats don’t go to – in fact, the fishing guys found most of the dive spots when we were the only ones out there and that was only during our short black marlin season.”
Then Rafter stopped me cold. “You know what? Ernie Foster was in the crowd at Hatteras and here’s what he said. ‘Boys, you never know which day IS going to be the last one you do get to go fishing. You better enjoy each one as if it WAS the last.’”
Thinking about this has made me appreciate my time on the water even more and I’ve resolved to concentrate even more than I already do on two aspects of my fishing.
Share it with kids. There is no better way to enjoy a day on the water than taking a kid fishing. Someday, I’m going to finish a book I’ve started called “Mentors” partly about men who took me fishing. In the meantime, I’m going to do more of what my grandmother called “Paying for my raising.”
Help out the fish. Only strong resources and good management can ensure what I have loved for future generations to enjoy.
For a complete list of our other featured blog posts and to see the full line of Guy Harvey Sportswear, please visit: www.guyharveysportswear.com

Related posts:

1. A Tough Question with a Surprise Answer
2. Fishing History is Fun
3. Blue Marlin Fishing After Filming Grouper Documentary- Part II
4. Fishing the Nest
5. Boat-Shy Bluefin Off Southern California

Seven Foods That Fight Inflammation and Belly Fat

      

Fruits and vegetables

All fruits and vegetables, due to their rich nutrient and fiber content, help to combat chronic inflammation, so make sure to include adequate amounts of these foods daily. Some types of fresh produce, however, are even more potent than others.
Some terrific anti-inflammatory fruits and vegetables to include in your meal plan include apples, berries, broccoli, mushrooms, papaya, pineapple, and spinach.

For Aston Martin, 100 years is worth £1bn

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The British marque pulled out the stops for the culmination of its yearlong centenary celebration, bringing together the largest ever assemblage of Aston Martin cars.
Some 50,000 visitors strolled through London’s Kensington Gardens on 22 July, ogling a hundred-year array of Astons, including concept, production and racing models and, naturally, a display devoted to a certain British secret agent’s affinity for the sports cars from Gaydon. The gathering, comprised of more than 550 cars with an estimated value of approximately £1bn, was the fruit of a collaboration between the Aston Martin Owners Club, the Aston Martin Heritage Trust and, of course, Aston Martin itself (with a tip of the hat to the Royal Parks and the Royal Household for the venue).
“Exclusivity is a key part of the Aston Martin mystique,” said Aston CEO Dr Ulrich Bez in a statement. “We have made only around 65,000 cars in our entire 100-year history to date – so to see so many of these rare beauties gathered together in London was a truly historic occasion.”

Rolls-Royce at the drive-in

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In a reciprocal gesture 60 years in the making, the British have sent back across the Atlantic the 563-horsepower, 6.6-litre, twin-turbo Rolls-Royce Ghost Extended Wheelbase. It similarly pairs incomparable luxury with improbable speed, thanks to its combination of leather, wood and V12 muscle.
In an age when darty handling has displaced cushiness as the desired luxury-car behaviour, the term “boat” rings as an automotive pejorative, chasing most carmakers away from nautical analogies. But Rolls-Royce continues to embrace the land-yacht persona, touting proportions that intentionally recall a vintage mahogany Chris-Craft.
But how to introduce English royalty to workaday America?
As our colleagues at BBC Culture recently observed, there are few more traditionally American automotive activities than going to the drive-in to catch a double feature. Drive-ins were once commonplace, but today they belong to a specialised realm of nostalgia-inducing entertainments, not unlike vinyl records (and manual transmissions). Though every US city contained them a half-century ago, only the hardy few remain.

It is considered poor form in rural Virginia to run over speaker posts in your Rolls-Royce.

Among these is the Family Drive-In Theatre in Stephens City, Virginia, about a 90-minute drive from Washington DC, nestled in Virginia’s historic Shenandoah Valley. This particular drive-in dates from 1956, and the hospitality and low prices could convince visitors that little time has passed since.
Parking spaces that often accommodate pickup trucks and Chevy Suburbans were just the place to moor the Ghost for the evening. The Rolls stretches 219.3in, a scant 3in shorter than those Suburbans. While such proportions are not problematic at the drive-in lot, a pilot should take care not to mow down the speaker posts sprouting across the grounds. (It is considered poor form in rural Virginia to run over speaker posts in your Rolls-Royce.)
The view from the Ghost's front seat is splendid, unsurprisingly. In many cars back-seat viewing would be made difficult by the roof’s intrusion, but the Ghost's sofa-like rear seats position occupants low enough for a clear view of the screen through the windshield. Traditionalists mount a classic drive-in metal speaker to the window for audio. But with the Ghost’s 600-watt, 16-speaker sound system, tuning in Hollywood surround sound via the car’s radio dial seemed the more suitable choice.
Granted, few sounds emanating from those speakers could compete for sheer drama with the Ghost’s V12, which even sounds expensive on start-up, sparking to life with the high-speed whirr of a jet engine. On the trip west to the drive-in, flattening the accelerator made the Ghost assume the nose-high attitude of a powerboat climbing up on plane. In such moments the Rolls’ Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament sooner resembled a ship prow’s figurehead.
Of course, the hydraulically smooth V12 never betrayed any effort, despite its tremendous output and hefty load. The Ghost’s eight-speed automatic transmission also faded into the background, with the only discernable shifts coming when changing from forward to reverse gear.
The Ghost is a luxury liner and never fails to remind occupants of this truth. At highway speed the car shoulders aside the air with its bluff front, but passengers never notice, as no wind noise penetrates the Ghost’s vault-like sheet metal, and the car’s air shocks erase any bumps not flattened by the optional 20in tires.
The English White worn by this tester was complimented by Seashell-hued leather upholstery. The white-on-white layout underscored the Ghost’s extravagance; who could live with such a colour scheme? Children with a modicum of dirt on their jeans would be forbidden passage. Even better, only passengers in all-white ensembles would be allowed inside.
Maybe this was the Ghost’s arch way of conveying that it truly was intended for the yachting set. But as the Hollywood studios know, it sure is fun to play make-believe.
Vital stats: 2013 Rolls-Royce Ghost Extended Wheelbase

• Base price: $296,000
• As tested: $356,290
• EPA fuel economy: 13mpg city, 21mpg highway
• Powertrain: 6.6-litre, 563hp, twin-turbocharged V12 engine, eight-speed automatic transmission
• Standard equipment: Electronically retracting Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament, 600w audio system, GPS navigation, power-closing rear doors, umbrellas built into front doors, leather and wood interior appointments
• Major options: 20in forged aluminium wheels, front and rear ventilated massage seats, lambs’ wool floor mats, head-up display, night vision, panoramic sunroof

Techno-pup: Watching your cats and dogs by remote control

Puppy love: Rocky with his new friend, Petcube, which keeps him occupied - and the neighbours happier

The death of a pet is something you never forget.

It separates the pet owners, who understand the wrenching pain and sense of loss, from those that live a life without small, loyal, four-legged life companions.

Ben Jacobs is a pet owner.
"It is one of the things that as a dog lover, it really stays with you," he says.
Growing up he had a German Shepherd called Bear.
"Bear passed away when he was only five years old," he remembers.
"It was one of those seemingly sudden issues to our family. He seemed fairly healthy one day, and then all of a sudden Bear had an intestinal issue where his intestines were twisting and sadly we had to put him down."
Dogged determination That experience stayed with him, leading many years later to the creation of his start-up, Whistle.

 

Status update: The app lets you look in on your pooch wherever you are, and see what they're doing

"Over four in 10 UK households have a dog, here over six in 10 US households have a dog or cat," says Mr Jacobs.
"They are such part of the family, and yet we don't have the information to take good care of them. So my goal was to help people with dogs like Bear try to understand their day-to-day patterns of health, and maybe some long-term trends as well."
Whistle records your dog's movements, and flags up any unusual behaviour that could indicate illness. A small activity tracker containing an accelerometer is attached to the animal's collar, and transmits the data gathered to the company's servers over wi-fi.
This is then analysed, comparing it to your dog's normal behaviour - and a database the start-up is building of typical behaviour. You can also send a full activity report to your vet.
"We can know if your dog went for a walk or played in the park, and you can see that activity in an fun timeline-like format on your mobile phone," he says.
The app means you can follow what your pet is up to when you're not around, as well as add comments and photos to the timeline to share with family members or friends.

Dressing up: The Whistle collar device is being used at the University of Pennsylvania to track sick dogs at their research facility - the data gathered by the tag tells them what the dogs can't

The pet industry is worth over $50bn (£33bn) in the US alone each year, so it's not surprising a growing number of start-ups are targeting the market, especially when you consider the love affair between furry animals and the internet.
There is the eminently useful, like Pintofeed, a remote feeding system controlled using your smartphone. Or New York's Swifto, which lets you book dog walkers online and track your pet's walk using GPS.
There's philanthropic endeavours like iPet Companion - you can play with abandoned cats living in shelters across the US, online.

 

 iPet Companion lets you play with cats in shelters in the US from your desktop - and take a photo

And then there's the quirk, like Snapcat, which lets your kitty take selfies - photos of themselves - by themselves.
A dog's life Many have been inspired by the love their founders have for their pets.
When Alex Neskin and his girlfriend moved to a new apartment in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, their canine roommate Rocky wasn't happy.
The new surroundings didn't suit him. And as he's a very small dog, and his owners have to work, there wasn't a lot he could do about it. Mr Neskin was worried about him.
"He [decided] to hack something with an Arduino, which is like a prototyping board for geeky people. He mounted a camera, connected it to the computer," says Yaroslav Azhnyuk, Mr Neskin's friend and co-founder.
Watching what happened when Rocky was on his own made for grim viewing. He spent his days sitting in front of the door, barking. He was bored and lonely.

Current occupation: One of Rocky's favourite things to do is chase the light from a laser pointer

Being a programmer with an interest in robots, he decided to improve on his robot by attaching a low-light laser pointer that moved with the camera. He linked it up to a website so that he and his friends could play with Rocky from anywhere in the world.
To the relief of his neighbours, Rocky loved it.
"Everyone was saying: 'Well I want this thing for my dog or for my cat' and that's how an idea to make it a business appeared," says Mr Azhnyuk.
The two friends and their third co-founder Andrey Klen created Petcube, and started to work out how to make their idea a reality.
It launched for pre-order in May, and already 2,000 people have signed up. The plan is to launch a Kickstarter campaign in August to raise the production capital.

Long distance relationship: The Petcube app will let you play with your pets - and talk to them - on your smartphone from wherever you are in the world

The device can be accessed from the web or a smartphone app, and the laser has been checked by a vet to make sure it's perfectly safe.
Cubes can be made public, so anyone can play with your four-legged friend.

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 End Quote Yaroslav Azhnyuk Petcube

"You can message other people and ask them about different stuff about their pets, what they doing and so on. So the grand vision behind this is to make this kind of a social network for pet owners," says Mr Azhnyuk.

Holiday home If keeping your pet properly occupied when you're a little farther from home is the problem - a beach in the Philippines for example - then Seattle-based Rover.com might be for you.
The start-up and its main competitor, DogVacay, let you book pet-sitters online.
The idea is that dogs are happier staying in a home rather than kennels. Rover founder Greg Gottesman had the idea for the service after his golden retriever, Ruby Tuesday, developed health problems after a kennel stay.
Prospective sitters have to go through a rigorous selection process, that now includes background screening.

Home from home: Rover.com believes that dogs are happier being looked after in a home environment when their owners are away - these Rover owners from Austin, Texas, agree

"To qualify as a Rover.com sitter, an applicant must have experience with dogs and obviously love them," says the company's Susan Koehler.
"We require that each sitter demonstrate a care plan for Rover dogs, and we look for and highlight advanced skills and affiliations such as medical/vet training, CPR certification and associations with Humane Societies, Pet Rescues and other charitable organisations."
Sitters also have to provide a reference from a reputable third party.
While on holiday owners receive daily photos and updates on their pets, so they know they're being taken care of.
"It's a lot less stressful on the pups because they are in a real home, so it's easier to keep a dog on their general routine for walks, playtime, eating, cuddling on the couch and even sleeping in a bed with the sitter," she says.
Littlest hobo Next to critical illness, one of the most worrying moments in a pet owner's life is when their small friend decides to go walkabout - alone.

Tag team: The Pethub tag has a QR code (Quick Response code - or 2D barcode) linked to your pets profile

Pethub started in the US, and now operates in 22 countries. It produces collar tags that have a QR code, website address, phone number and more recently an NFC (near field communication) chip that connects people that find stray pets with their owners.

 

End Quote Lorien Clemens Pethub

By reading the QR code or the NFC chip with a smartphone, a profile for the lost animal is brought up, with a list of emergency contacts. An alert is sent either to you or to Pethub to say that the tag has been scanned, as well as an email with GPS coordinates so you can track Spot down.

"It can help the pet get home before they even get to the shelter to be scanned from microchip," says Pethub's Lorien Clemens.
"In the United States only 5% of pets have microchips and about 58% of those are out of date."
Pethub can also sends details of lost pets to local shelters and vets.
As well as dogs and cats, Pethub has horses, goats and even two "escape artist" tortoises as customers.
"Last year we looked at all of our pet recoveries, and we found that 97% of them had gone home on the same day that they were missing, and 25% have gone home within an hour after going missing," says Ms Clemens.
Now, if technology could just find a way to get the dog to wash himself...