The story of 52 Hertz - the lonely whale

So you think you've got it tough?

Perhaps you want to reach for the Kleenex or at least sit down quietly for a few moments as you read this.

A humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) - a species of baleen whale
(from Wikipedia, author - Whit Welles Wwelles14)

It's the story of the lonely whale - a baleen whale apparently - who has spent the past couple of decades swimming around in the ocean all by herself - or himself according to some reports on the Net - nobody really seems sure.

What is certain is that the whale is alone, singing at a different frequency which means, writes Jesus Diaz on the technology weblog Gizmodo that, "No other whales can hear her. Every one of her desperate calls to communicate remains unanswered. Each cry ignored."

Yes there might be a fair bit anthropomorphising going on in the way Diaz tells the tale but that certainly doesn't lessen its impact.

In 2004 the New York Times took a look at the plight of the whale, revealing that the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution had been tracking it since 1992 with "a classified array of hydrophones used by the (US) Navy to monitor enemy submarines.

Scientists had no single explanation as to why the whale made a different sound but rather, "A host of them," wrote Andrew Revkin in the paper.

"Among them that the animal is malformed or, most likely, is a hybrid of a blue whale and another species."

Eight years down the line and still nobody seems to know why the whale is out of synch with those around it.

All that's certain is that it's out there all by itself, "Seeing other creatures around her but unable to communicate with any of them," writes Diaz.

The whale doesn't just sing differently, it also follows a completely different migration route according to the sustainability website TreeHugger.

"It fails to travel along any known migration route of any baleen whale species - so other whales can't hear it, and they don't run into it along migration paths," writes Jaymi Heimbuch.

It can't be seen and it can't be heard - apart, that is by researchers. And that's the way it looks set to spend the rest of its life.

You can hear the 52 Hertz whale’s song for yourself, here.

Yael Naïm wins Best Female Artist at France's Victoires de la musique awards

Tuesday evening saw part two of Les Victoires de la musique awards, the French equivalent of the Grammys, broadcast live from Paris on France 2.

"Part two" because, in their infinite wisdom, organisers decided viewers probably weren't up for several hours of tra-la-la-ing and thank you speeches to all and sundry and split the ceremony in two.

Yael Naïm (screenshot from YouTube video)

February 9 was dedicated solely to newcomers and "revelations" with the public getting to vote in each category and the whole shebang being broadcast live from the northern city of Lille on France 2's (much) smaller sister station France 4.

Meanwhile Tuesday saw awards handed out to the "more established" artists with industry professionals getting to determine who got what.

Of course the voting procedure is more complex than that; but by and large the heavyweight awards were decided by those "in the know" who had already whittled the nominees in each category down to four and, apart from the Song of the Year which was left to a public vote, determined who got the gongs.

Perhaps the most interesting category of the evening was that of Best Female Artist because it had, in a real sense, a truly international flavour to it.

Added to that, there were some stunning performances although only three of the nominees were present.

Canadian Cœur de pirate (otherwise known as Béatrice Martin when she's not performing) who won the award in 2010 for Best Song gave a simple voice and piano rendition of "Francis" from her self-titled 2009 album.

Nigerian-French singer-songwriter Aṣa (pronounced Asha), trademark big specs and velvet timbre of a voice, treated the audience and viewers to a groovy "Be my man" taken from her 2010 album "Beautiful imperfection".



And French-Israeli singer-songwriter Yael Naïm added a touch of soul and jazz as well as a heap of gospel to her pop-folk rock "Come home" from her "She was a boy" album.

Phew!

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Only Vanessa Paradis - French model-actress-singer and partner of Johnny Depp (or should that be the other way round?) was missing.

Perhaps she had guessed she wouldn't be picking up an award this time around but she already has a heap of them to her name.

And the winner is...Yael Naïm.

In the night's other categories awards were picked up by Gaëtan Roussel for both Best Male Artist and Best Album, M (full name Matthieu Chedid) and veteran Eddy Mitchell jointly for best concert/show/tour and Philippe Katerine (love him or hate him) for his splendidly as-usual off-the-wall "La banane" as Best Video.



The last award for Best Song - and the only one on the night left to the public vote - went to "Je veux" by Zaz.

As Paris Match said, "A lively evening and a long way from the seemingly interminable hours of poorly paced entertainment" viewers were subjected to last year.

New Michelin guide to France throws up a few surprises

Michelin Guide to France 2011 awards star to French restaurant that has closed

Back in January the word was, among those apparently "in the know" on the Net that the new Michelin hotel and restaurant guide for France would hold a few surprises.

(From Wikipedia - author, Trou)

How prescient that turned out to be, because to the consternation of many a top chef in this gastronomical delight of a country, there were no new names added to the list of those obtaining the much-revered three stars when the 2011 edition was published on Monday.

It was, as the national daily Le Monde reported, "The first time it had happened (or not happened as the case might be) since 1992."

And with Michel Trama's Les Loges de l'aubergade in Puymirol in the southwestern département of Lot-et-Garonne losing one of its stars the number of elite three-star restaurants in France now totals 25.

But wait. That's not really the surprise that has created something of a buzz since the guide's publication.

Instead it's the awarding of a star for the first time to Max Bichot's Les Hêtres in the village of Ingouville in the northern French département of Seine-Maritime.

Now hold your horses if you're thinking of making a beeline for the place to discover what's on the menu and try out some of Bichot's specialities.

Because, as the regional daily Paris Normandie reveals, Les Hêtres has been closed for the past couple of months.

Yep, Michelin has awarded a star to a restaurant that no longer exists.

"The star came too late," Bichot told the newspaper.

"I closed the restaurant on December 30; all the staff have been fired and the property has been sold." he added.

Bichot, who took over the restaurant in 2009, invested €200,000 in the business but was forced to close at the end of last year because,"There simply weren't enough clients."

"Perhaps if I had had a mention in either the 2009 or 2010 guide it would have made a difference," he told Europe 1 radio.

"Readers of the guide would perhaps have come to taste what was on the menu rather than going past the restaurant without stopping," he said.

So a Michelin star but no restaurant, Bichot is both reportedly proud and sad at the same time.

For the moment though he has no plans of opening another restaurant, preferring to "avoid the stress" by helping out in his partner's kitchen.