US baseball legend Clemente honoured with life-size statue in namesake park

The lifetime achievements of late baseball legend Roberto Clemente has been honoured by a Hispanic-owned US food brand by unveiling a life-size bronze statue of him at his namesake park in New York on Thursday. According to an official of Roberto Clemente State Park, the 3,000 pound bronze likeness, commissioned and donated by Goya Foods, is the city's first statue erected in tribute to a person of Puerto Rican heritage, the New York Daily News reports. The statue, cast by sculptor Maritza Hernandez, captures Clemente thanking fans after his 3,000th hit, the report further said. At the unveiling of the statue, president of Goya Foods Bob Unanue said that Clemente will always be remembered and they hope that his spirit of giving will encourage and inspire others to do the same. Expressing their honour to receive the statue, park director Frances Rodriguez further said that the significance is great because Clemente was a true humanitarian, who truly cared about other people. The dedication of the statue takes place 40 years after Clemente became a member of the Hall of Fame, the same year the riverside park, originally called Harlem River Park, that now bears his name, was built. Stating that the statue is a great way for the children playing in the park to find out about Clemente, the legend's son Roberto Clemente Jr said that after seeing the statue, people will learn not only about Clemente the player, but also the human being behind that facade. The report further said that Clemente, who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates, became the first Latin-American inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame and the first to play in a World Series game, and finished his career with his 3,000th hit in his final regular season at-bat in 1972. The star, who was known as much for his humanitarian efforts in the off-season as for his work in right field, tragically died at the age of 38 in a airplane crash in 1972, while he was on his way to Nicaragua to ensure that aid was being properly delivered to earthquake victims. Clemente was posthumously awarded a Congressional medal of honor for his work, the report added.

How music and dance are deeply intertwine

As male superb lyrebirds sing, they often move their bodies to the music in a choreographed way, adding evidence from human cultures around the world that music and dance are deeply intertwined activities. "Like humans, male superb lyrebirds have different dance movements to go with different songs," Anastasia Dalziell of Australian National University, said. "Just as we 'waltz' to waltz music but 'salsa' to salsa music, so lyrebirds step sideways with their tail spread out like a veil to one song-which sounds like a 1980s video-arcade game-while they jump and flap their wings with their tail in a mohawk position while singing a quiet 'plinkety-plinkety-plinkety'," she said. The lyrebirds' dance movements are a voluntary embellishment to their singing; in other words, they can and do sing without dancing. As much as people love to dance, the activity is even more crucial for the birds. Before they can mate, males must impress females with their dancing skills. They put a lot of work into their dances, with years of practice before they reach maturity. In the breeding season, female lyrebirds will visit several different males to watch their song-and-dance routines. Exactly what those females are looking for is still anyone's guess. The findings are published in the Cell Press journal Current Biology.

Odin Mobile, a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) on the T-Mobile network

Beginning in July, Odin Mobile will offer comprehensive cell phone service for the visually impaired, including innovative accessible handsets, rate plans for every budget, as well as a unique customer service experience designed to address the needs of its customers. This unique experience will include sending user guides to each of its customers via email in Word and HTML formats and providing customer support that is expert in the accessibility features of its phones. "Everyone should be able to experience all of the wonderful things that go along with mobile technology, and we're thrilled to see Odin Mobile stepping up in this way to help make sure that they can," said Doug Chartier, senior vice president of MVNO, partner brands and national accounts for T-Mobile US, Inc. Odin Mobile will offer a range of accessible handsets, including the RAY, an innovative mobile device developed by Project RAY Ltd, featuring a unique user interface built from the ground up for eye-free operation. This unique device offers users a range of capabilities, such as calling and SMS, contact list services, calendar, GPS, advanced WEB remote assistance, voice recorder, emergency services and more. In addition, the RAY is a fantastic device for accessing audio books, newspapers and magazines with one single user interface across all services and applications for unprecedented simplicity and ease of use. "The RAY is an amazing device that fills an important need in the blind community. It offers the visually impaired the benefits of a smart device through a unique user interface that makes it easy to use by the tech savvy and reluctant adopters of advanced technology alike" said Robert Felgar, general manager of Odin Mobile. "We are extremely excited to collaborate with project RAY to improve the lives of the visually impaired." Odin Mobile will also offer great mobile phones for those persons who are visually impaired and simply want to make calls and text message. These mobile phones, manufactured by Emporia, will be extremely easy to use and have numerous accessibility features, including buttons and functions that "speak" and a high contrast display. To further improve the lives of its customers, Odin Mobile will donate two percent of its voice and text revenue to organizations dedicated to serving the needs of the visually impaired. For additional information about Odin Mobile, please visit www.odinmobile.com.