lotusinthemud

a gorgeous picture of simon and jack from our visit on saturday

::from Simon's blog

marsedit and apple leopard timemachine - transforming my computer usage

....thanks to the amazing Apple Leopard's Time Machine, but, also thanks to my lovely son Simon (who spent Saturday backing up the contents of my PowerBook onto an external hard drive and installing Leopard - and gave me the below as part of my Christmas present along with the wonderful IT Crowd), I'm now uploading to the blogging universe using MarsEdit. I love Apple!

not only am i a timelord...

....thanks to the amazing Leopard's Time Machine, but, also thanks to lovely Simon (who gave me the below as part of my Christmas present along with the wonderful IT Crowd), I'm now uploading to the blogging universe using MarsEdit. So I have plenty to smile about.

leopard on the prowl

All thanks to my son for setting up Leopard on my Powerbook

poor wee thing

Here's (brother-in law) Dougal's photo of this little great tit - bet he wished he'd stayed cosy and warm in his nest.

everyone on earth is related: get used to it!

Boomer says:

When renowned geneticist Spencer Wells is asked where the very first human lived, he responds:

“The unequivocal answer is that he lived in Africa. Every piece of DNA in our bodies can be traced back to an African source. The Y-chromosome traces back to eastern or southern Africa, around 60,000 years ago…”

Wells, who is probably best known for his book The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey, which is also the subject of a fascinating PBS special, has collected blood samples from people all over the world to study the human journey out of Africa and into the rest of the world. Technological advances in a field known as population genetics have made this possible. You can read the full interview with Wells here.

Basically, it comes down to this: We’re all related. Can we all just get along now?
::link

Any chance the BNP (and other racists) will take this on board? If they want everyone to go back to where they come from, Africa is going to get very crowded.

 

wonderful open spaces on mersea island......

....under threat. Here's what my sister, aka Councillor Urqhart, has written. But she's up against the more materialistic of her fellow councillors. Wanting to care for the environment, the sparrowhawks and beetles, isn't the easy option!

Updated

the great firewall of china

 

Since my son blogged about this, I have discovered that both my blogs are censored in China. That's what comes of supporting the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people. I consider this to be a badge of honour! I'm in good company - the BBC, the Guardian, Amnesty, Wikipedia etc.

Want to see if you are censored too? I have the idea that at least a couple of my friends will be! I won't say who you are, but I've looked and, yes, you are.

            

toads, confused by the warm weather, and looking for love...

...and crossing roads in the dark, en route to a pond, have been coming to a sad end. My brother-in-law,Dougal Urquhart, Country Park Ranger on Mersea Island (off the north east Essex coast), and my sister were out on a rescue mission last night. Read about this on his weblog about the wildlife on the island :: link

great news - my son has a new job - i am a happy mummy

He says:

This morning, I handed in my notice, and in a month or so (exact date TBC) I'll be starting at ThoughtWorks.

Exciting, and a bit scary. I'm looking forward to working with the ThoughtWorkers - I think I'll really learn a lot. It's going to be a struggle to keep up.

But I've been with my current employers for a long time, and it's a wrench to leave. The people are lovely on the whole, and I've really enjoyed my time here, but I do need to move on if I'm to keep learning at the rate I want to.

::link