Saturday, March 23 2019

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!!!!