Alaska’ Dirty Dollars

Exxon has spent more than $2bn cleaning up ….. oil which spilled from ….. tanker Exxon Valdez, making it one of ….. world's costliest industrial accidents. Much of this money has found its way into ….. pockets of ….. few thousand inhabitants who lived in ….. path of ….. oil slick. Yet Exxon's gold has not brought contentment to their small Alaskan fishing towns. It has set ….. neighbour against …... neighbour and led to ….. allegations that Exxon succeeded in buying off ….. anger of ….. local communities.

….. largest US-based oil company invented ….. novel technique last summer to clean up ….. public relations mess left by ….. March 24 spill. It sprayed dollars around ….. shores of ….. southern Alaska almost as liberally as its supertanker had sprayed ….. oil into ….. clear waters of ….. Prince William Sound. Spending on this scale opened up unsuspected fissures in Alaska's inward-looking towns. Pragmatists were pitched against idealists; newcomers against oldtimers; and, at its crudest, those who welcomed against 35 those who were appalled by ….. chance to take Exxon money. ….. idyllic self-image which these communities harboured - of ….. last great American frontier, where ….. hardy, self-reliant people came to escape ….. modern world - was shattered in ….. process.

….. town of Homer is typical. It has just enjoyed one of ….. most prosperous years since its foundation in 1896 by ….. gold-digging adventurer from Michigan. Yet, like ….. gold rush itself, it is ….. feverish sort of prosperity which has divided Homer's 4,000 inhabitants.

John P. Calhoun, Homer's nervy, chain-smoking mayor, has only recently felt up to ….. task of talking to strangers about ….. impact on his town. ….. economics of ….. spill in ….. short term were very positive. It infused more money into our town than normal. ….. trouble was that not everyone gained to ….. same extent,' explains Mayor Calhoun in his pint-sized office in Homer's city hall.

The Financial Times (BrE)

Pigeons ‘not so bird-brained’

Pigeons can recognize …..individual human faces and ….. expressions on them, showing that they are far more intelligent than hitherto suspected, ….. psychologist said yesterday. 'We showed ….. birds black-and-white photographs of four people, each exhibiting four emotions - happiness, anger, surprise and disgust,' said Prof Edward Wasserman of ….. University of Iowa.

In each experiment, ….. bird was shown ….. picture, and was taught to reply by pecking at one of …... four keys. 'After being rewarded with …..pinches of …..grain for each correct answer, they all learned to identify ….. person and ….. emotion correctly,' he said. If they made ….. wrong identification, they were 'punished' by not being given ….. grain. To make it more difficult, ….. faces were photographed without any special distinguishing features such as …..clothing or jewellery.'

….. people pictured were all about ….. same age; ….. two men and ….. two women, one of each fair-haired, ….. other dark-haired. Their slightly exaggerated expressions showed happiness, with ….. broad grins; anger, with ….. furious, threatening scowls; surprise, with ….. wide open mouths and staring eyes, and disgust, ….. with twisted lips and screwed-up eyes. After each bird had been shown ….. expression on one face, it was shown another photograph and 'asked' whether ….. new face had ….. same expression. Once ….. birds had recognized ….. expressions, they never mistook them.

'….. experiments show that ….. pigeons are more intelligent than any animals except for ….. dogs and primates, 'Prof Wasserman said. 'We suspected this since, in ….. countryside, they can tell ….. difference between ….. man with ….. shotgun and ….. man carrying ….. walking stick. They showed ….. same amount of ….. intelligence as ….. human babies, who are not born with ….. ability to recognize ….. expressions on ….. people's faces, but have to be taught it. Charles Darwin speculated in ….. last century that some birds might have this ability, but it's amazing to have it proved.'

The Daily Telegraph (BrE)