A strange day. Lois and I had planned to travel (just
over 100 miles / 165km) to Haslemere, Surrey, today to spend 2-3 days with
Alison, our eldest daughter, and her family. We had been looking forward to
seeing our 8-year-old grandson, Isaac, in a performance of the musical Bugsy
Malone tomorrow. But late last night, Lois began to feel rough: the
onset of the flu, or a bad cold or the
like.
Isaac (left), our 8-year-old grandson - a recent
picture: he has 2 passions,
drama and football: and he loves to dress up
and appear on stage,
which would be a nightmare for me to put it
mildly !!
We cancelled the visit this morning with regret, a little
in doubt as to whether it was the right decision or not. But as the day wore on,
it became increasingly clear that it was the right choice. And in the
afternoon, while I took my usual nap upstairs in the bedroom, Lois sat on the
sofa in front of the television and binge-watched old episodes of Victoria Wood’s
Dinnerladies sitcom, with the gas fire cranked up to the max - poor Lois !!!!!!!
I spent the afternoon in bed: I dozed and looked at the Danish media on my
smartphone: I read that a research team in China has made a groundbreaking find, according
to The Guardian and videnskab.dk. Many thousands of fossils, over 500 million
years old, have been found at an excavation in Hubei province in China. The
find consists of fossils of primitive life forms that include jellyfish,
fungi, algae, worms and arthropods.
The fossils are so well-preserved that the soft tissues
of the animals’ bodies - such as muscles, intestines and eyes - are still visible.
The total 4,351 fossils represent 101 species, of which 53 are new.
A distant relative of the modern jellyfish
This creature’s identity is uncertain,
but it may be in the same family as the
marine animal the "mud-dragon"
a fossilised Leanchoilia
"It is a huge surprise, but a large part of this find
is new to science," says co-author of the new study, Dr Robert Gaines, a geologist
at Pomona College, California.
The fossilised organisms date back 518 million years back
in time to the Cambrian “explosion”, the name for the sudden appearance
of multi-cellular organisms about 543 million years ago. Scientists are still debating
what caused the explosion.
“It's not just the quality of the fossils that is
amazing, but the huge amount. Throughout my career, I had never thought I would
experience archaeology as good as this, ”said Allison Daley, associate
professor and palaeontologist from the University of Lausanne.
How fascinating! I think I would very much like to be
fossilised when I die. It must be a great feeling to know that you are still going
to be in some museum or laboratory 500 million years into the future. I don’t normally like to be gawked at, but if I’m just a fossil in a museum, I don’t see any
problem on that score!
And what an incredible feeling it must have been to excavate
these Chinese fossils! Such finds do not turn up every day.
One has to go back several months to come across a comparable
discovery. Remember when area man Nolan Terrell found an incredible
source of fossils when he was on vacation in California? I recall reading the story on Onion
News, my go-to online news site.
Local man and
museum visitor Nolan Terrell was amazed by the archaeological treasure chest he
described as "hidden in plain sight" when he encountered a huge cache
of rare fossils on Friday while walking through the Los Angeles Natural History
Museum.
"My first
thought was that this is a gold mine - there is a massive diversity of fossils,
ranging from the jurassic to the cenozoic era, and they are in pristine
condition," said Terrell, as he marvelled at the large number of
prehistoric remains, which experts at the museum confirmed, could potentially
change the way people look at the timeline of life on earth.
"There seem to
be a few barriers that need to be overcome before [the fossils] can be
collected, but since these barriers apparently consist mainly of red velvet
rope and glass, I am absolutely sure that it is nothing that fossil experts couldn’t
cope with."
Terrell said he
would personally fund a palaeontological expedition with the fortune he
recently banked after discovering a
find of natural gemstones and crafted jewellery on the second floor of the
museum.
Lucky man, that Terry! And now also a multi-billionaire,
according to local rumours. And the discovery in the museum was perhaps the
most defining moment of his life, with hindsight (unless he comes up with a
similar breakthrough in the near future!). What a man! And seriously, I envy the
guy a lot, no doubt about that!
When I was growing up, my mother convinced me that
evolution was a ridiculous theory, and I recall, as a teenager, writing an
essay at high school where I definitively debunked the theory - unfortunately, the press did not
pick up on the story, which was a bit of a shame. I have no other choice now
than to come up with yet another groundbreaking insight - but I have to hurry:
time is quickly running out quickly – that’s for sure !!!!
Lois is sick today, so I spend most of the day sitting
with the computer and designing 4 Snapfish photo books, made up of the latest
3 months of best photos from our photo files. The site's software is not the
most user-friendly, and it all takes a hell of a time to put it mildly. My goodness!
The four Snapfish photo books I design
and order today
The photo books measure 8" x 6" and each contain
about 20-25 photos, so they are ideal for sticking in the handbag when Lois
visits "other" "old crows" just like us ha ha ha!
20:00 We spend most of the evening watching an
interesting documentary (part 2 of 5) about the life of the Queen. This second episode
is about the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, or thereabouts.
Ten hours of programmes about the Queen's life seem a
little on the long side, but Lois and I are her biggest fans - we think she has
done a great job so we don't have any inhibitions about seeing the whole series
from start to finish - yikes!
Lois and I have actually lived through all the events in
this evening’s programme, but there are many that we had forgotten and others we have fond memories of, and it is
nice to be reminded of them all, especially the Queen's silver jubilee in the
summer of 1977.
Flashback to the summer of 1977 and the Queen's
silver jubilee: we join the crowd
in Pittville Park - our elder daughter
Alison (2) is in the pram with her festive balloon
our younger daughter Sarah (2 months) is
crying in the pram,
while Alison watches her in fascination
Happy times !!!!!!
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzzz !!!!
Danish
translation
En mærkelig
dag. Lois og jeg havde planlagt at rejse (lidt over 100 miles / 165km) til
Haslemere, Surrey, i dag for at tilbringe 2-3 dage hos Alison, vores ældste
datter, og hendes familie. Vi havde glædet os til at se vores 8-årige
barnebarn, Isaac, i en forestilling af musicalen Bugsy Malone i morgen. Men
sent i går aftes begyndte Lois at føle sig dårligt tilpas: starten af
influenza, eller en ond forkølelse, eller lignende.
Isaac (til venstre),
vores 8-årige barnebarn – et nyligt billede: han har 2 lidenskaber,
drama
og fodbold: og han elsker at klæde sig ud og optræde på scenen,
hvilket
ville være et mareridt for mig, for at sige mildt!!
Vi aflyste
besøget i morges med beklagelse, lidt i tvivl om, det var den rigtig
beslutning, eller ej. Men som det bleve længere hen på dagen, blev det mere og
mere tydeligt, at det var det rigtige valg. Og om eftermiddagen, mens jeg tog min sædvanlige lur oppe i soveværelset, sad
Lois i sofaen foran fjernsynet og binge-kiggede på gamle afsnit af Victoria
Woods Dinnerladies-sitcom, med gaskaminen skruet op til max – stakkels Lois
!!!!!!!
Jeg tilbragte
eftermiddagen i sengen: jeg døsede og kiggede på min smartphone: et forskerhold i Kina har gjort et
banebrydende fund, ifølge The Guardian og videnskab.dk. Flere tusinde fossiler, som er over 500
millioner år gamle, er nemlig blevet fundet ved en udgravning i Hubei-provinsen
i Kina. Fundet består af fossiler af primitive livsformer, der tæller både
gopler, svampe, alger, orme og leddyr.
Fossilerne er så velbevarede, at det bløde
væv i dyrenes kroppe - som muskler, tarme og øjne - stadig er synlige. De i alt
4.351 fossiler repræsenterer 101 arter, hvoraf 53 er nye.
En fjern slægtning til den moderne gople
Dette væsen er
man ikke sikker på, hvad er,
men den kan være i familie med havdyret mudderdragen
I dette
fossil Leanchoilia kan man se mange detaljer
”Det er en kæmpe overraskelse at sådan en
stor del af dette fund er nyt for videnskaben, siger medforfatter til et nyt
studie, sagde Robert Gaines, ph.d. og geolog på Pomona College i Californien.”
De fossilerede organismer kan dateres 518
millioner år tilbage i tiden til den kambriske eksplosion, som er navnet på den
pludselige opståen af flercellede organismer for omkring 543 millioner år
siden. Forskere diskuterer stadig, hvad der var skyld i eksplosionen.
”Det er ikke kun kvaliteten af fossilerne,
der er fantastiske, men den enorme mængde. Gennem hele min karriere havde jeg
aldrig troet, jeg ville opleve en udgravning, der var så god som denne”, siger Allison
Daley, lektor og palæontolog fra University of Lausanne .
Hvor
fascinerende! Jeg synes, jeg vil meget gerne blive fossileret, når jeg dør. Det
må være en fantastisk følelse, at vide, man vil være i et eller andet museum
eller laboratorium om 500 millioner års tid – ingen tvivl om det!
Og sådan en
utrolig følelse må det have været at udgrave disse kinesiske fossiler! Sådanne
nogle fund sker ikke hver dag – det ved jeg med sikkerhed!
Man er nødt
til at gå tilbage flere måneder for at falde på en lignende opdagelse, da den
lokale mand Nolan Terrell fandt en utrolig stor kilde på fossiler, da han var
på ferie i Californien, ifølge Onion News, mit go-to online nyhedswebsted.
Lokale mand og museumsbesøgeren Nolan Terrell blev
forundret af den arkæologiske skattekiste, han beskrev som "gemt i almindelig
øjekast", da han stødte på en stor cache af sjældne fossiler fredag mens han
gik gennem Los Angeles Natural History Museum.
"Min første tanke var, at det her er en
guldmine - der er en massiv mangfoldighed af fossiler, alt fra jura til
cenozoiske æra, og de er i uberørt stand," sagde Terrell og undrede sig
over det store antal forhistoriske rester, som eksperter på museet bekræftede,
kunne potentielt ændre den måde, folk ser på livets tidslinje på jorden på.
"Der synes at være et par barrierer, der skal
overvindes, før man kan indsamle dem,
men da disse tilsyneladende hovedsageligt består af rødt fløjl-reb og glas, er
jeg helt sikker på, at det ikke er noget, fossile eksperter ikke kan
klare."
Terrell sagde, at han personligt vil finansiere en
paleontologisk ekspedition med den formue han for nylig scorede efter at have
opdaget et fund af naturlige ædelstene og udformede smykker på museets anden
sal.
Heldig mand,
den der Terry! Og nu også en multi-milliardær, ifølge lokale rygter. Og den
opdagelse i museet var måske hans livs mest definerende øjeblik i bagklogskabens lys (medmindre han ikke kommer
med et lignende gennembrug i den nærmeste fremtid!). Sikke en mand! Og
alvorligt talt, jeg misunder ham utrolig meget, ingen tvivl om det!
Da jeg voksede
op, overbeviste min mor mig, at evolutionen var en latterlig teori, og jeg
mindes om, jeg, som teenager, skrev en stil på højskolen, hvor jeg modbeviste
teorien – desværre hentede pressen ikke historien op, hvilket var lidt af en
skam. Jeg har ikke andet valg nu, end at komme med endnu en banebrydende
indsigt – men jeg må skynde mig: tiden løber hurtigt ud – det ved jeg med
sikkerhed!!!!
Lois er syg
i dag, så jeg bruger størstedelen af
dagen på at sidde med computeren og designe 4 Snapfish-fotobøger bestående af
de seneste 3 måneders bedste fotoer fra vores fotofiler. Webstedets software er
ikke den mest brugervenlig, og det hele tager en helvedes tid, for at sige
mildt. Du godeste!
(2
pics) De 4 Snapfish-fotobøger jeg designer og køber i dag
Fotobøgerne måler 8”x6”, og indeholder ca 20-25 fotoer, så
er de ideelle for at stikke i håndtasken, når Lois besøger ”andre” ”gamle
krager” ligesom os ha ha ha!
20:00 Vi
bruger størstedelen af aftenen på at se en interessant dokumentarfilm (2. del
af 5), der handler om der handler om livet af dronningen. Dette 2. afsnit
handler om 1950’erne, 1960’erne og 1970’erne, eller deromkring.
Ti timer af
programmer om dronningens liv synes lidt på den lange side, men Lois og jeg er
hendes største fans – vi synes hun har gjort en fantastisk job, så vi har ikke
nogle hæmninger med at se hele serien fra start til slut – yikes!
Lois og jeg
har faktisk levet gennem alle disse begivenheder, men der er mange, som vi
havde glemt, og det er rart at blive mindet om dem, i sær dronningens
sølvjubilæum i sommeren 1977.
Tilbageblik
til sommeren 1977 og dronningens sølvjubilæum: vi slutter os til folkemængden
i
Pittville Park – vores ældste datter Alison (2) i barnevognen med sin festlige
ballon
vores
yngste datter Sarah (2 mdr) græder i barnevognen,
mens
Alison kigger på hende fascineret
Lykkelige
tider!!!!!!
22:00 Vi går i
seng – zzzzzzzzz!!!!
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