Trump Strikes Again!

Last night I discovered a further twist in the saga of the Trump Enterprises plans for a golf resort near Balmedie, Aberdeenshire. He is wanting to forcibly buy land bordering the Menie Estate using compulsory purchase laws to push people out of their homes.

As if the whole project isn't horrible enough!

To find out more about the campaign against his golf resort (which includes TWO golf courses, a hotel, hundreds of holiday homes and the stabilising of sand dunes!) please see this site. To complain about the expansion of his resort and the compulsory purchase orders please go here (please do so by highlighting the negative aspects of such an expansion on material grounds etc. otherwise your complaint will be rejected).

Please spread the word!

E-Petitions

Recently I felt moved by an article on the BBC news website to sign an e-petition calling for the PM to apologise for the prosecution of Alan Turing. I'm not really sure whether there is any point in such things, but anyway, I browsed some other e-petitions. It's quite an amusing thing to do - I'd recommend it! There are some truly baffling ones, silly ones, racist ones, all kinds of ones! However, I found some which I whole-heartedly agree with and I would like them to be shared and spread around. (Whether they make any difference or not is to be disregarded here for the purpose of optimism and the naive belief in democracy.)

Here they are (including the Turing petition) -

A petition calling for the ban of a particularly nasty weedkiller called Aminopyralid: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/aminopyralidban/

. . . ban of a horrible insecticide called Neonicotinoid: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/BeeDeath/

. . . more funding for research into honeybees and their diseases etc. (this one is particularly important so please do sign this one, if only one!): http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Honeybees/

. . . Alan Turing petition: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/turing/

. . . to tackle the issue of over-population (thus silencing critics who believe in use of similar pesticides etc. as above as means of providing enough food for all of us (amongst numerous other reasons to reduce the population size)!!!): http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/toomanypeople/

. . . for planning laws to favour low-impact, sustainable houses and projects: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/LowImpactLiving/

. . . to ensure Sites of Special Scientific Interest are protected from development: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/protect-dunes/

As if we needed more "proof" but here it is. . .

Here is a Deer Mouse (click on image for full view), Peromyscus maniculatus, which has acquired the mutation for pale fur naturally and passed it on to further generations thereby ensuring their survival in the paler sands of Sand Hills in Nebraska to the advantage of the darker furred mice of just a few miles away who thrive in the darker soils. (Of course genes for colour are highly variable but in this case the light gene, the so-called Agouti, wasn't in existence, so had to mutate and then be selected over the years.) Evolution occurring before our very eyes - who can doubt it now? OK, I'm being naive, fanatical Christians et al will still doubt it, but a girl can dream, can't she?! There are obviously numerous more examples, but this is just the latest and one of the cutest ;) Here is the article on the BBC news website.

Tribute to the Nellew

It was a sad morning when Carole rang me up with the terrible news that her dog Nell had died. But rather than dwelling on the sadness, I think it only appropriate to pay tribute to her, water-dog extraordinaire!

Carole and Nell were an inseparable pair, well-known in every town they lived in. Indeed, it was on a walk with Nell that I bumped into Carole and had the chance to chat to her properly for the first time (both of us had the tendency to disappear off home sharpish after our lectures, to do exactly the same thing as it would turn out...and thus our friendship was sealed ;o). So I must thank Nell for taking Carole outside and making her bump into me! I must thank her too for alerting Carole whenever I would come whistling at her window. She took it too far, however, when she would bark like a maniac whenever I whistled on the phone to Carole, but it's the thought that counted, thanks Nellew.

The picture above best describes Nell and is how I like to remember her. Wet, stinky and eager to get into the water. I've never seen such a happy dog in the water - the way she could entertain herself for hours on end, swimming in circles, clapping the water so that she could snap at the splashes. She wasn't without her eccentricities, mind, and she always needed that stick or stone to be hurled into the water before she would stop barking excitedly and launch herself in. I never understood that... Me and Nell had some good swims together, though the party-pooping Carole would sometimes shout at me to get out for fear I'd tire Nell out! Ha! There was no tiring Nell once she was waterborne! The two of us would slump out of the water scowling at Carole for ruining our fun.



She was a happy dog with the best owner a dog could wish for. She didn't need any boats to cross the Styx. I'm sure she raced Caron, and I bet she won too. I reckon Nell is a seal now and happy as larry. Goodbye Nellew, it was a pleasure to have spent some time with you.

Death of a Gentle Giant

 

It was a sad day when our Ecology Field Trip took us to Courtmacsherry to see a stranded Fin whale. When we were there it was already dead, but our teacher had seen it alive. There was a crowd of people there and a rather crude and opportunistic fish and chip van! It was very depressing to be amongst a crowd of people gawking at such an incredible creature, but I was comforted by the reminder of the history of such gatherings and the 16th century Dutch and German engravings of people doing exactly the same thing.

The cause of death is not yet known, but its body parts were taken away for post mortem. There were some botched attempts to move the poor beast and then to bury it, but in the end it was cut in pieces. I think the skeleton will be put on display in nearby Kilbrittain (funny name, eh?!).

Here are some photos.