Danskcolin: Tuesday October 29 2019

09:00 Lois and I tumble out of the shower cubicle and I sit down with the computer. I devise a Hungarian vocabulary test that I want my friend "Magyar" Mike to take when he arrives at 10 am for our weekly "Hungarian hour" - I'm so demanding ha ha ha! But he will do the same for me: we have a habit of exchanging our respective vocabulary tests at the beginning of every "Hungarian hour."

10:00 Mike arrives and we study Hungarian for 60 minutes. Mike has aged a lot over the past 1-2 years, and he has a hard time remembering even the most basic Hungarian words. But we somehow manage to get through the hour and he says goodbye until next Tuesday.

Flashback to 1994 - "Magyar" Mike (right) in happier times,

together with our Hungarian friend, Laszlo.

Me in 1994 in Hungary on our visit to Laszlo’s weekend house

11:00 Mike leaves, and Lois and I rush into the backyard to do more weeding in the vegetable garden, part of our mini project to put the garden to bed for the winter. The weather girl has said that the rain will start again tomorrow night (Wednesday) and will continue for a few days thereafter - damn!

Lois and I continue to work on our mini-project

to put the garden to bed for the winter

13:00 We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap. I feel exhausted again - damn (again)!!!

15:00 I get up and look at my smartphone and I get a bit of a shock to put it mildly. I browse the Danish news media and I read that scientists now believe that humanity may have originated in Botswana rather than East Africa (ekstrabladet.com / videnskab.dk) .

According to the article, if we go far enough back in time, we will find that all our ancestors lived in the wetlands that covered what is today the Makgadikgadi Salt Plains of north-eastern Botswana.

Yes, we all come from there, according to new genetic research, outlined on the videnskab.dk. website. Between 200,000 years ago and 130,000 years ago, humanity was confining itself to this area of southern Africa, and only after that did we begin to migrate to the northeast and southwest, the study shows.

In the study, researchers examined databases with thousands of analyses of 'mitochondrial' DNA from across Africa. And their conclusion is that our ultimate place of origin can be identified with the Makgadikgadi salt plains, where elements of the Khoe San bushmen live today.

It is inconceivable, however, that mankind should have emerged and survived in the extreme environment that is today's Botswana salt plains. However according to climate models, 200,000 years ago the Makgadikgadi salt plains were part of a gigantic wetland left behind when a lake, which stretched all the way from Namibia to Zimbabwe, began to dry out.

Fascinating! But unfortunately, a Danish researcher has warned Botswana enthusiasts not to celebrate this astonishing result too soon - mitochondria are passed on only from mother to child, and therefore, humanity’s DNA could in theory have been influenced by a father from elsewhere in Africa, without this being visible in the mitochondrial DNA, says Danish scientist Mikkel Heide Schierup. The 'mitochondrial DNA' can, in principle, only tell us that in all our family trees a mother turned up in Botswana 200,000 years ago, but we may well have had a forefather from somewhere else in Africa.

mitochondrial Eve - did she actually come from Botswana?

My Goodness! Schierup may be right to be cautious, but I think there would have been tons of suitable men in Botswana who would have been more than happy to have the chance to make Eve pregnant - no doubt about that. And she would probably have had no need to mate with a stranger from some remote part of Africa, a so-called sex tourist perhaps.

I have a feeling that Eva was quite attractive - maybe she looked like a supermodel, but not so skinny. But I'm not entirely sure - the woman didn't leave behind any photos as far as I know apart from the one above, where she was clearly not looking her best (minimal make-up etc), so that's something the jury’s still out on.

And what was the headline at the time? “Area woman gives birth to first child - and it’s a "sapiens"” ???? And how did the report continue? ... “And the father is a local man / sex tourist from Tanzania, according to sources”? But after all when all's said and done, who would know, frankly, after all these years!!!! We have to resign ourselves to the fact that we'll probably never find out, and just "move on" !!!!!

It is well known that Scandinavians have a special system for differentiating the average man's 4 grandparents: “mormor” (one’s mother's mother), “morfar” (one’s mother's father), “farmor” (one’s father's mother) and “farfar” (one’s father's father).

I am our grandchildren’s “morfar” and Lois is their “mormor”, and it is through Lois that Eve's mitochondria are inherited by Alison and her children, out grandchildren. So Eve was Josie, Rosalind and Isaac's mormormormormormormormormor .... (about 600,000 times) ...mormormor. My god, what madness !!!!

Incidentally, Lois and I have an impressive collection of Scandi-themed teacups, thanks to Alison and Ed's 6-year stay in Copenhagen, including a "mormor" cup and a "morfar" cup from the Magasin department store in Lyngby, Copenhagen. All five Scandi-cups still hang proudly on our kitchen wall:

our proud collection of Scandi-themed teacups -

a recent picture

18:00 We have dinner and afterwards talk a little on the phone with our daughter Alison. Hers and Ed's three kids are not going to school this week because it's the autumn break. Lois and I will see them all this weekend, which will be nice.

We spend the rest of the evening watching some television, the latest episode of "Motherland", which I recorded last night on our YouView unit: the program airs at 10 pm, which is a little past our bedtime - we are normally tucked up in bed by 10 o'clock.

"Motherland" is a fun sitcom revolving around Julia, a mother of 2 children, who is also trying to juggle a stressful job, mostly unsuccessfully.

Julia's best friends are the down-to-earth Liz with the lugubrious face, and the useless, wimpish "papa latte" stay-at-home-dad, Kevin.

The stressed-out Julia (left) with her best friends,

the lugubrious Liz and the useless wimpish papa-latte stay-at-home-dad, Kevin

This week’s episode is Halloween-themed, and dominated by the usual chaos generated by Julia and the other crazy parents in Julia's circle.

Tonight, the useless Kevin organises a trick-or-treat tour for the group’s children around the neighbourhood.

Good grief, what a crazy world we live in !!!!!

22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzz !!!!!

Danish translaton: tirsdag den 29. oktober 2019

09:00 Lois og jeg vælter ud af brusekabinen, og jeg sætter mig med computeren. Jeg udfærdiger en ungarske ordforrådtest, jeg vil have min ven ”Magyar” Mike til at tage, når han ankommer kl 10 til vores ugentlige ”ungarske time” – jeg er så krævende ha ha ha! Men han vil gøre det samme for mig: vi har for vane at veksle vores henholdsvisse ordforrådtest i begyndelse af "den ungarske time".

10:00 Mike ankommer og vi studerer ungarsk i en time. Mike har meget ældes de seneste 1-2 år, og han har svært nu ved at mindes selve de mest grundlæggende ungarske ord. Men vi når på en eller anden måde at komme igennem timen, og han siger farvel indtil næste tirsdag.

tilbageblik til 1994 - ”Magyar” Mike i lykkeligere tider,

sammen med vores ungarske ven, Lászlo.

Mig i 1994 i Ungarn

11:00 Mike skal af sted, og Lois og jeg skynder os ind i baghaven for at luge lidt i grøntsagshaven, en del af vores mini-projekt til at putte haven i seng til vinteren. Vejrpigen har sagt, at regnvejret starter igen i morgen aften (onsdag) og vil fortsætte i nogle dage derefter – pokkers!

Lois og jeg fortsætter med at arbejde på vores mini-projekt

til at putte haven i seng til vinteren

13:00 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Jeg føler mig udmattet igen – pokkers!!!

15:00 Jeg står op og kigger lidt på min smartphone, og jeg får lidt af et chok for at sige mildt. Jeg blader de danske nyhedsmedier igennem, og jeg læser, at forskerne nu tror, at menneskeheden kan have stammet fra Botswana snarere, end Øst-Afrika.

Ifølge artiklen, hvis vi går langt nok tilbage i tiden, vil vi finde, at vores forfædre boede i et vådområde, der dækkede det, som i dag er Makgadikgadi-saltsletterne i det nordøstlige Botswana.

Vi stammer nemlig alle sammen derfra ifølge ny genetisk forskning,skriver skriver Videnskab.dk.

Fra for 200.000 år siden indtil for 130.000 år siden tog menneskeheden udelukkende sine første skridt i dette område i det sydlige Afrika, og først derefter begyndte vi at migrere mod nordøst og mod sydvest, viser studiet.

I studiet har forskerne undersøgt databaser med tusindvis af analyser af ’mitokondrielt’ DNA fra hele Afrika. Og deres konklusion er, at vores ultimative oprindelsessted kan identificeres med Makgadikgadi-saltsletterne, hvor en del af Khoesan-folket bor i dag.

Det er dog utænkeligt, at menneskeheden skulle have opstået og overlevet i det ekstreme miljø, som Botswanas saltsletter udgør i dag, men ifølge klimamodeller, var Makgadikgadi-saltsletterne for 200.000 år siden en del af en gigantisk vådområde, som blev efterladt, da en sø, som strakte sig hele vejen fra Namibia til Zimbabwe, begyndte at udtørre.

Fascinerende! Men desværre har en dansk forsker advarede Botswana-entusiaster ikke at fejre dette forbløffende resultat for snart - det er nemlig sådan, at mitokondrierne kun nedarves fra mor til barn, og derfor kan der i princippet godt have været indflydelse fra en far fra andre steder i Afrika, uden at det kan ses i mitokondrie-DNA’et, siger Mikkel Heide Schierup. 'Mitokondrie-DNA’et kan i princippet kun fortælle, at der i alle vores stamtræer optræder en moder i Botswana for 200.000 år siden, men vi kan godt have haft en far fra et andet sted.

mitrokondielle Eva – stammede hun faktisk fra Botswana?

Du godeste! Schierup har måske ret i, at han vil være forsigtig, men jeg mener, der ville have været tonsvis af passende mænd i Botswana, der ville have været mere, end glade, for at få chancen for at gør Eva gravid – ingen tvivl om det. Og hun ville ikke have haft brug for at parre sig med en vildtfremmed fra en eller anden fjerne del af Afrika, en såkaldt sexturist måske.

Jeg har på fornemmelse, at Eva var ganske attraktive, måske lignede hun en fotomodel af en eller anden art, men ikke så afpillet. Men det er jeg ikke helt sikker på – kvinden efterlod ikke nogle fotoer, så vidt jeg ved, så det er juryen stadig ude om. Og hvad var overskriften: områdekvinde føder første barn – og det er et ”sapiens”. Og hvordan fortsatte rapporten? ...ifølge kilder er faren en lokal mand / sexturist fra Tanzania eller hur? Hvem kunne vide, ærligt talt, efter alle disse år!

Det er velkendt måske, at skandinaver har et specielt system til at forskelne det gennemsnitlige menneskes 4 bedsteforældre: mormor (éns mors mor), morfar (éns mors far), og farmor (éns fars mor) og farfar (éns fars far). Jeg er vores datter Alisons morfar, og Lois er hendes mormor, og det er gennem Lois, at Evas mitokondrierne er nedarvet af Alison og vores børnebørn, Josie og Rosalind. Så Eva var Josie og Rosalinds mormormormormormormormormor.... (ca. 600.000 gang)…mormor. Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!!

I øvrigt har Lois og jeg fået os en imponerende samling af skandi-tematiserede tekopper, takket være Alison og Eds 6 års ophold i København, inklusive en ”mormor” kop og en ”morfar” kop, der stadig hænger stolt på vores køkkenvæg:

vores stolte samling af skandi-tematiserede tekopper –

et nyligt billede

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bagefter snakker lidt med vores datter Alison. Hendes og Eds tre børn går ikke i skole denne uge på grund af efterårsferien. Lois og jeg ska se dem alle i weekenden, hvilket vil være rart.

Vi bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn, det seneste afsnit af ”Motherland”, som jeg i går aftes optog på vores YouView-enhed: programmet bliver udsendt kl 22, hvilket er lidt over vores sengetid – vi har for vane at være gemt i sengen ved 22-tiden.

”Motherland” er en morsom sitcom, der kredser om Julia, en mor til 2 børn, som også forsøger at jonglere et stressende job, uden succés for det meste.