What a splendid morning at the beach!
I think someone mentioned the other day that there aren't enough cat photos round here? Aphra. 😀 🐈
This is a good start: Auckland Council will be lobbying the government to stop the sale of private fireworks.
Last year Fire and Emergency received more than 100 firework-related calls on Guy Fawkes day, the highest number since 2012.
Now other Councils should join in.
Is it possible to have too many photos of a baby quail? Here's baby Glee at 3 days. 🐦
I’d forgotten how big a pile 15 cubic metres of mulch makes. Most went down by the gate, a (too) small portion arrived at the top of the drive, by the house. Now I have a lot of work ahead of me.
Pleased to see baby Quail, Glee, up and about this morning, strolling through the chick food. This is Day Three.
Last night wasn’t so cold and I moved the run to fresh grass and with a deep pile of fresh straw in their house. 🐦
Quail chick Glee, 2 days old, is thriving. 🐦
Brrrr: that's a chilly summer morning: 3.4C.
Little Glee is an excellent quail chick. She’s 1 day old and looking strong and healthy. Her wonderful mother, Felicia, is looking after her carefully. Glee is yellow now so will grow up to be white.
One stripy chick hatched but died without getting fully free of the egg. 😒 🐦
Periodic Videos comes up trumps again: Diamonds Uncut
The Professor looks at uncut diamonds of all shapes and sizes.
10 minute video showing diamonds being sorted by hand in Moscow. Also fluorescence caused by nitrogen, shapes, and more.
Quail mystery solved. Two eggs from 06 February have hatched. The two from 05 February are still there, and someone had laid a new egg! I doubt the two from the 5th will hatch now.
Little quail chick Glee is up and about and pecking for food. Three of the original 4 eggs remain. So where did this wee dead chick come from? Was Glee a twin? Could twins even be different colours?
I was investigating what looked like a hard boiled quail egg beside mother Felicia when she moved. Welcome to the world baby quail Glee! 🐦
Ahhh, starting the day with my favourite morning tea, China Snowbuds
quality white tea buds from the Fujian province in China. The taste is dry and sweet, a treat for the tea connoisseur and lovers of white tea.
Well, we were meant to go to Kāpiti Island (nature reserve) tomorrow for an overnight stay but the trip’s been cancelled because the weather forecast is for gales, high seas, cold and rain.
It’s a bit of a relief as perhaps 4 quail chicks will hatch tomorrow. 🐦
So glad the Mothers of Invention podcast is back for Season 2.
Join former Irish President Mary Robinson and comedian Maeve Higgins in this uplifting new podcast, celebrating amazing women doing remarkable things in pursuit of climate justice.
A high-ranking female Viking warrior
Luckily genetic analysis has overridden the sexism of a bunch of archaeologists who assumed that a Viking warrior must be male because they thought only males could be warriors. Apparently there's still pushback, but hooray for genes!
Already in the early middle ages, there were narratives about fierce female Vikings fighting alongside men. Although, continuously reoccurring in art as well as in poetry, the women warriors have generally been dismissed as mythological phenomena.
… Situated in Eastern Central Sweden, Birka was a key centre for trade during the 8th–late 10th century, linked to a social, cultural and economic network that reached beyond the Ural Mountains into the Caliphate in the east and south to the Byzantine Empire. Birka's population of approximately 700–1000 inhabitants consisted of trading families, artisans and warriors.…
One warrior grave, Bj 581, stands out as exceptionally well‐furnished and complete. Prominently placed on an elevated terrace between the town and a hillfort, the grave was in direct contact with Birka's garrison. The grave goods include a sword, an axe, a spear, armour‐piercing arrows, a battle knife, two shields, and two horses, one mare and one stallion; thus, the complete equipment of a professional warrior. Furthermore, a full set of gaming pieces indicates knowledge of tactics and strategy, stressing the buried individual's role as a high‐ranking officer. …
[Genetic testing showed] Bj 581 was a female. Hence the individual in grave Bj 581 is the first confirmed female high‐ranking Viking warrior.
Source: A female Viking warrior confirmed by genomics - Hedenstierna‐Jonson - 2017 - American Journal of Physical Anthropology - Wiley Online Library. (References removed; see the original.)
Dashed off to brush my teeth during the long ads in an online TV show. Had a sudden memory of the first 40 or so years of my life when if you weren’t in front of the TV set while something was playing you just plain old missed it. How things have changed!
Last week I watched the sun set over our beach. This morning I watched a full moon set over the beach. The dogs and I arrived just in time.
Excellent 7 minute video from Tom Scott: Why Denmark Is .07 Seconds Behind The World
Measuring time is a complicated thing. Computers, banks, and stock markets in Denmark all use UTC, the international standard: but according to the law, they shouldn’t.