Apart from Mrs and Ms T scanning the Saturday papers for in depth commentary on yesterday's event, I mercifully escaped the continued media follow up of yesterday's royal wedding.
News is returning to the stalemate in Libya, with threats of continued attacks against the besieged city of Misrata by Libyan forces and the death of Colonel Gadaffi's youngest son and several grandchildren. The violent suppression of protesters in Syria continues. The multiple tornadoes striking the USA and causing over 340 deaths also finally received attention. The images of tornadoes a mile wide and the aftermath were truly awe inspiring and tragic for those involved.
For me, the day was predominantly domestic, with two exceptions.
I had to dash out to Mrs H-T's establishment to sort out her mobile broadband. Frustratingly, whilst I had organised continued payment for continuation of the service online, for the venerable Mrs H-T, this did not immediately feed back to her mobile device attached to the computer and further effort on location was required. Whilst technology is supposed to make life easier, it often does precisely the reverse.
The other exception was the inability of my desktop to boot up, leaving a screen blinking the unhelpful message "cannot find NTLDR". A search on another device accessing the internet came up with a simple guidance, that resolved the issue within half an hour, much to my relief.
Miss T departed back to her University today, by train from Ely. This afforded an opportunity to test out my audio recording device with a newly arrived microphone windshield at the station. It did dramatically reduce wind noise, however, since the wind was whistling down the station, there was still sufficient to impact on the microphone. Best recording was of train departing from Ely towards Peterboro!
I also sampled the audio recordings from Thursday in London and was amazed by the quality of the recordings and the stereo effects. Walk from NHM to the Petrie Museum worked surprisingly well, despite the microphone being in my shirt pocket under jumper and coat as I walked along.
Saturday, 30 April 2011
Friday, 29 April 2011
The Royal Wedding
Today was the Royal Wedding of Prince William with Catherine Middleton.
IT was a solemn, very public and yet personal event that was seen by circa two billion people worldwide on television, our family included.
Afterwards, we joined the Hall End Barbecue which continued till the early evening, in response to - the wedding.
The evening news continued with - the wedding and the post wedding parties.
The reviews of tomorrow's newspapers dealt almost solely with - the wedding.
Finally at midnight, Miss T. and I sat down to enjoy a film that was - not about the wedding.
The time was also used to produce a children's photo story of - Monty Bear and the Easter Egg - which made no mention of the wedding at all..
IT was a solemn, very public and yet personal event that was seen by circa two billion people worldwide on television, our family included.
Afterwards, we joined the Hall End Barbecue which continued till the early evening, in response to - the wedding.
The evening news continued with - the wedding and the post wedding parties.
The reviews of tomorrow's newspapers dealt almost solely with - the wedding.
Finally at midnight, Miss T. and I sat down to enjoy a film that was - not about the wedding.
The time was also used to produce a children's photo story of - Monty Bear and the Easter Egg - which made no mention of the wedding at all..
Thursday, 28 April 2011
Pickled specimens and painted ceilings at the Natural History Museum
Miss T. had expressed an interest to visit London, to combine a foray into Oxford Street with a visit to a museum previously unknown to us, the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/museums/petrie). So we, the three remaining family members in Cambridge, set off this morning for the capital, by train from Cambridge, on the last day of sanity before the total mayhem surrounding the Royal Wedding tomorrow.
At King's Cross we separated as I was headed for the Natural History Museum. Laden with different recording technologies – trialled the audio recorder on the tube to gain travel noise, as well as the sounds surrounding the walk from South Kensington Tube station, through the tunnel to the Natural History Museum.
Emerging into the cold wind, the massed queues at the main entrance were visible, so, I entered through the lesser known and therefore queue-less Geological Museum entrance. My destination was the Darwin Centre on the far wing of the Natural History Museum. Having divested myself of equipment, coat etc., I was lucky enough to gain a last place of eight on the 11:45 Spirit Collection Tour.
Today's guide was biological researcher and science communicator at the NHM, Ms Jessica, who gave us an informative and interesting commentary as we descended into the depths of the Darwin Building. Today, the flesh eating beetles, as seen remotely on screen, were snacking on a killer whale tooth, roped into service for science in this instance, rather than romping destructively through the museums exhibits.
The NHM holds over 70 million specimens, many of them original species type reference examples. This is an incredible resource that promises to provide further centuries worth of novel research. The interesting aspect for me was the use of simple industrial methylated spirits (IMS - ethanol – methanol mixtures ) for samples stored in spirit. As a microscopist, the usual immediate preservation mixtures contain fixatives such as formalin (e.g. as in formol acetic acid -FAA for plant samples). However, from a DNA extraction perspective, the IMS has permitted recovery of functional DNA (for sequencing and analysis) from samples over a century old, according to our guide.
We passed the chilled rooms with banks of sample cabinets, kept below the flashpoint of alcohol, to the large sample room. Here I and the group were reacquainted with Archie, the female giant squid, the length of a London bus. It was also a thrill to see the Coelocanth, one of the first to provide real evidence that these living fossils still existed.
Of course, as a biologist, there was a special frisson to see some of the original samples collected by Charles Darwin during his trip on the Beagle; I've read the book, now I've seen some of the actual specimens!
I think this personal interaction between a museum scientist was the highlight of the visit as it brought the exhibits much more vividly to life. Even as a biologist, there is a limit to the excitement engendered by the static collections of pickled animals and plants in jars.
This positive feeling through interaction was repeated when I entered the Cocoon exhibition. The interior spiral path was very reminiscent of the Philips Evoloun Museum that used to exist near Eindhoven in The Netherlands.
But the innovative feature was the giant window into a working lab where a researcher was studying New Forest Blowflies. As visitors, we could see the specimens via a TV feed from the microscope and the researcher was actively talking about what she was doing and open to questions. The fact that blowflies could be used in forensic cases gave an immediate relevance, even for non-scientists.
Memories of DNA sequencing returned when seeing a later exhibit of eppendorfs with autoradiographs of sequencing gels. The initial trials with Maxam and Gilbert chemical sequencing; the gradual transition to Sanger dideoxynucleotide PCR based methods; the shift from using radiolabelled phosphate to the dye based systems. How in the mid eighties I was proud to sequence a few hundred bases of viral sequence, to then routine clone and sequence genes by the end of the nineties. Now, silica based methods allow genome sequencing in a matter of weeks.
On exiting the Cocoon, I chatted with another researcher, Ms Amy, who was specialising in science communication for her PhD and gathering data by interviewing visitors. It looks as if the NHM is again at the forefront of new approaches to communicating science effectively and accessibly for a public otherwise shunning the subject.
Retrieving my recording equipment, I tried taking a short video of the main hall with the old friend , the Diplodocus under Charles Darwin's thoughtful gaze. Then I turned my gaze upwards to the ceiling.
This was actually the result of an aside by Ms Jessica about the construction of the building and the hand-painted ceiling of the main hall with botanic motifs. As previously with Ely Cathedral, I attempted to photograph the ceiling panels in sections along the length of the hall. As ever, the column decorations caught my eye as the Victorian exuberant decoration meant that each aisle had different column designs.
Before I departed, I also took some photos of the Reeves commisioned botanical illustrations by Chinese artists and one or two of the modern examples – both to show Botanical illustrator, painter and friend Mrs Heather Maunders and as references relevant to my current Chinese Brush Painting course with artist Jane Evans.
The afternoon was then spent in reunion with the rest of the family at the Petrie Museum, where, on this first ever visit, I mainly recorded the pottery relative the different epochs. Something I will write upon when having evaluated the images.
At King's Cross we separated as I was headed for the Natural History Museum. Laden with different recording technologies – trialled the audio recorder on the tube to gain travel noise, as well as the sounds surrounding the walk from South Kensington Tube station, through the tunnel to the Natural History Museum.
Emerging into the cold wind, the massed queues at the main entrance were visible, so, I entered through the lesser known and therefore queue-less Geological Museum entrance. My destination was the Darwin Centre on the far wing of the Natural History Museum. Having divested myself of equipment, coat etc., I was lucky enough to gain a last place of eight on the 11:45 Spirit Collection Tour.
Today's guide was biological researcher and science communicator at the NHM, Ms Jessica, who gave us an informative and interesting commentary as we descended into the depths of the Darwin Building. Today, the flesh eating beetles, as seen remotely on screen, were snacking on a killer whale tooth, roped into service for science in this instance, rather than romping destructively through the museums exhibits.
The NHM holds over 70 million specimens, many of them original species type reference examples. This is an incredible resource that promises to provide further centuries worth of novel research. The interesting aspect for me was the use of simple industrial methylated spirits (IMS - ethanol – methanol mixtures ) for samples stored in spirit. As a microscopist, the usual immediate preservation mixtures contain fixatives such as formalin (e.g. as in formol acetic acid -FAA for plant samples). However, from a DNA extraction perspective, the IMS has permitted recovery of functional DNA (for sequencing and analysis) from samples over a century old, according to our guide.
We passed the chilled rooms with banks of sample cabinets, kept below the flashpoint of alcohol, to the large sample room. Here I and the group were reacquainted with Archie, the female giant squid, the length of a London bus. It was also a thrill to see the Coelocanth, one of the first to provide real evidence that these living fossils still existed.
Of course, as a biologist, there was a special frisson to see some of the original samples collected by Charles Darwin during his trip on the Beagle; I've read the book, now I've seen some of the actual specimens!
I think this personal interaction between a museum scientist was the highlight of the visit as it brought the exhibits much more vividly to life. Even as a biologist, there is a limit to the excitement engendered by the static collections of pickled animals and plants in jars.
This positive feeling through interaction was repeated when I entered the Cocoon exhibition. The interior spiral path was very reminiscent of the Philips Evoloun Museum that used to exist near Eindhoven in The Netherlands.
But the innovative feature was the giant window into a working lab where a researcher was studying New Forest Blowflies. As visitors, we could see the specimens via a TV feed from the microscope and the researcher was actively talking about what she was doing and open to questions. The fact that blowflies could be used in forensic cases gave an immediate relevance, even for non-scientists.
Memories of DNA sequencing returned when seeing a later exhibit of eppendorfs with autoradiographs of sequencing gels. The initial trials with Maxam and Gilbert chemical sequencing; the gradual transition to Sanger dideoxynucleotide PCR based methods; the shift from using radiolabelled phosphate to the dye based systems. How in the mid eighties I was proud to sequence a few hundred bases of viral sequence, to then routine clone and sequence genes by the end of the nineties. Now, silica based methods allow genome sequencing in a matter of weeks.
On exiting the Cocoon, I chatted with another researcher, Ms Amy, who was specialising in science communication for her PhD and gathering data by interviewing visitors. It looks as if the NHM is again at the forefront of new approaches to communicating science effectively and accessibly for a public otherwise shunning the subject.
Retrieving my recording equipment, I tried taking a short video of the main hall with the old friend , the Diplodocus under Charles Darwin's thoughtful gaze. Then I turned my gaze upwards to the ceiling.
This was actually the result of an aside by Ms Jessica about the construction of the building and the hand-painted ceiling of the main hall with botanic motifs. As previously with Ely Cathedral, I attempted to photograph the ceiling panels in sections along the length of the hall. As ever, the column decorations caught my eye as the Victorian exuberant decoration meant that each aisle had different column designs.
Before I departed, I also took some photos of the Reeves commisioned botanical illustrations by Chinese artists and one or two of the modern examples – both to show Botanical illustrator, painter and friend Mrs Heather Maunders and as references relevant to my current Chinese Brush Painting course with artist Jane Evans.
The afternoon was then spent in reunion with the rest of the family at the Petrie Museum, where, on this first ever visit, I mainly recorded the pottery relative the different epochs. Something I will write upon when having evaluated the images.
Wednesday, 27 April 2011
The early bird gets late to work. On focal depth.
A very short night, arising at 5am to take Mr T to Stansted Airport. Arriving at 6:15am, the airport seemed remarkably quiet, without the usual massed queues around the check-in desks of the bargain flight airlines. Even the queues through security were shorter. Having ensured that there were no last minute glitches to Mr T's departure, I wandered outside to the viewing area to the south. The intention was to record the noisy take-off of the passenger jets with my new audio recorder. The wind noise was too great and I lacked the microphone windshields, which were still in the post, so I desisted from further recording attempts.
I was therefore back in Milton by 8am and went back to bed for a couple of hours catch up sleep.
Ironically, this meant a late start to work, despite an early rise. Working on a design for a German client's flyer therefore extended into the evening, with the draft not entering the internet till past 8pm.
Yesterdays photos of patterns created by airbubbles in microscope slides were uploaded. Each scene was photographed as a series of images at different foci. Using an indispensable tool, the program Helicon Focus, These were assembled and a composite generated, featuring all elements that were in focus. The results were pleasing on the most part but the process was time consuming.
The process is necessitated because of the very narrow depth of field at high magnification, a consequence of the microscope objective lens being so close to the sample (the higher the magnification, the closer the lens is to the subject). The principle can be illustrated simply. The reader is invited to look out of the window and fix their gaze on a plant or object 30 or forty yards away. Without shifting the centre of attention, note that objects behind the centre of attention are in focus for a considerable distance beyond.
Now peruse a book or screen at a reading distance of about 18 inches and attempt to gauge the clarity of objects beyond without changing the focus on the nearby object. In this instance, objects such as a finger held closer to the nose or flowers at the other end of the room are out of focus. The focal depth, equivalent to the distance over which objects appear in focus, is decreased.
A low power microscope objective may be a couple of centimeters from the sample and the focal depth is reduced to no more than a millimeter above or below the focal point. At higher magnifications, the focal depth is within a tenth to a hundredth of a millimeter, so that in effect one is viewing optical slices through a transparent object.
With a microscope, the viewer gains a perception of the subject by moving the focus up and down. The phenomenon can be mimicked by a video or film recording of the same process. However, a still photograph will be a slice at one focal plane. Software such as Helicon Focus computes the areas in focus from a number of different images of the same object at different focal planes, creating a so called focus stack. It works particularly well with opaque objects and generally well with transparent ones.
I was therefore back in Milton by 8am and went back to bed for a couple of hours catch up sleep.
Ironically, this meant a late start to work, despite an early rise. Working on a design for a German client's flyer therefore extended into the evening, with the draft not entering the internet till past 8pm.
Yesterdays photos of patterns created by airbubbles in microscope slides were uploaded. Each scene was photographed as a series of images at different foci. Using an indispensable tool, the program Helicon Focus, These were assembled and a composite generated, featuring all elements that were in focus. The results were pleasing on the most part but the process was time consuming.
The process is necessitated because of the very narrow depth of field at high magnification, a consequence of the microscope objective lens being so close to the sample (the higher the magnification, the closer the lens is to the subject). The principle can be illustrated simply. The reader is invited to look out of the window and fix their gaze on a plant or object 30 or forty yards away. Without shifting the centre of attention, note that objects behind the centre of attention are in focus for a considerable distance beyond.
Now peruse a book or screen at a reading distance of about 18 inches and attempt to gauge the clarity of objects beyond without changing the focus on the nearby object. In this instance, objects such as a finger held closer to the nose or flowers at the other end of the room are out of focus. The focal depth, equivalent to the distance over which objects appear in focus, is decreased.
A low power microscope objective may be a couple of centimeters from the sample and the focal depth is reduced to no more than a millimeter above or below the focal point. At higher magnifications, the focal depth is within a tenth to a hundredth of a millimeter, so that in effect one is viewing optical slices through a transparent object.
With a microscope, the viewer gains a perception of the subject by moving the focus up and down. The phenomenon can be mimicked by a video or film recording of the same process. However, a still photograph will be a slice at one focal plane. Software such as Helicon Focus computes the areas in focus from a number of different images of the same object at different focal planes, creating a so called focus stack. It works particularly well with opaque objects and generally well with transparent ones.
Tuesday, 26 April 2011
Book proof editing and microscopic life in the marine tank
The cloudy day was less of a distraction on the return to work. It is said that it is the last five percent of any task that are the most time consuming and this is certainly the case with Mr McArthur's book, which required minor edits and re-generation of a cover design for renewed checking and approval. Also had to go through the digital text to identify page numbers for text amendments required, to be passed on to the printer. Since this book has numerous colour photographs, there was also an ongoing discussion on colour reproduction and the quality of the printing. Todays task ended with a trip to the post office to post the 5 pounds weight of printed material back to the printers. By this time it was early afternoon and time for a late lunch.
The marine aquarium was still engendering interest in the evening. Whilst the Idotea linearis and Gammarus had not been in evidence for several days now, the minute bivalves were visibly increased in size and the barnacles could be seen actively feeding. The latter having single arms that emerged with a net like "hand", grasping in rapid sweeps through the water. No matter how vigorously the water was stirred, once the coarse sediment settled out, the fine turbidity was rapidly cleared by the filter feeders, leaving the water glass transparent within the hour.
Shining a torch beam through the tank at night showed a myriad of small motile spots spiralling towards the light in the tank. So tonight, I took some sediment and placed it under the microscope for a quick glance. It was brimming with life when viewed at 40x magnification, with a few larger crustaceans, nematodes and many smaller animalcules. An attempt to use higher magnification was initially unsuccessful, primarily because the creatures were all moving so fast. It will be interesting to see what emerges from this soup of organisms over the coming months.
The microscope out, I also looked at a collection of pollen samples from the Postal Microscopical Society box that was due to be passed on to the next member in the circuit. The pollen had been prepared in glycerine jelly on slides and the slides had not all been sealed. In the intervening twenty years, the slides were slowly drying out. Whilst his was frustrating from a biological point of view, because the pollen was now obscured by air bubbles, the fine filigree patterns of encroaching air in the glycerol and minor interference effects created stunning patterns when viewed using phase contrast illumination. The camera was put to good use!
The marine aquarium was still engendering interest in the evening. Whilst the Idotea linearis and Gammarus had not been in evidence for several days now, the minute bivalves were visibly increased in size and the barnacles could be seen actively feeding. The latter having single arms that emerged with a net like "hand", grasping in rapid sweeps through the water. No matter how vigorously the water was stirred, once the coarse sediment settled out, the fine turbidity was rapidly cleared by the filter feeders, leaving the water glass transparent within the hour.
Shining a torch beam through the tank at night showed a myriad of small motile spots spiralling towards the light in the tank. So tonight, I took some sediment and placed it under the microscope for a quick glance. It was brimming with life when viewed at 40x magnification, with a few larger crustaceans, nematodes and many smaller animalcules. An attempt to use higher magnification was initially unsuccessful, primarily because the creatures were all moving so fast. It will be interesting to see what emerges from this soup of organisms over the coming months.
The microscope out, I also looked at a collection of pollen samples from the Postal Microscopical Society box that was due to be passed on to the next member in the circuit. The pollen had been prepared in glycerine jelly on slides and the slides had not all been sealed. In the intervening twenty years, the slides were slowly drying out. Whilst his was frustrating from a biological point of view, because the pollen was now obscured by air bubbles, the fine filigree patterns of encroaching air in the glycerol and minor interference effects created stunning patterns when viewed using phase contrast illumination. The camera was put to good use!
Sunday, 24 April 2011
Australian invading barnacle and Alzheimer delay from daffodils
Working on the video recordings taken on Saturday, I endeavored to correctly identify the assortment of life captured therein with the aid of Barrett & Yonge's Collins Pocket Guide to the Seashore and the Handbook of British Birds. This closer retrospective look revealed some unexpected surprises.
The first was in the identification of the barnacles observed on the shell of a periwinkle. Rather than the indigenous Balanoides balanoides or Chthamalus stellatus, they appeared to be Elminius modestus. E. modestus is an antipodean invader, thought to have arrived from Australia in British waters on ships in the 1950's. Due to its greater tolerance of variations in salinity and water temperatures, as well as fecundity, the invader has spread rapidly though British waters.
The second surprise was that the birds presumed to be Knot was not Knot but Turnstone, an avian winter visitor which would be departing these shores again in May.
Video editing is still not complete as a voice-track is yet to be added.
An item on the television program Countryfile, on Daffodils,caught my attention. It may be recalled that in March, I accompanied Mrs Kabitzsch to London, who promulgated the use of edible flowers and flower dishes, recorded in my business blog article "Von Blythen, flower liqueurs, syrups and condiments to the UK" at http://miltoncontact.blogspot.com/2011/04/von-blythen-flower-liqueurs-syrups-and.html. Amongst some personal trials of edible flowers, there was also the provision of a list of plants that should definitely not be eaten. Daffodils were amongst them as they contain harmful alkaloids.
The Countryfile article reported on the cultivation of daffodils in Wales at altitude for the production of a particular alkaloid, galantamine, reportedly efficacious in the early stages of the debilitating, memory robbing disease, Alzheimers.
Galantamine was first investigated medicinally in the Soviet union in the 1950's and it was there that Mashkovsky and Kruglikova-Lvova demonstrated the cholinersterase inhibitory properties of the compound. (Wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galantamine#Clinical_use).
Galantamine, also known as galanthamine, can be synthesised via a variety of routes, each protected by pharmaceutical companies. These routes were primarily followed because the intitial extraction from plant sources such as snowdrop and daffodils proved low yielding.
However, a Welsh company, Alzeim (http://www.alzeim.org/Default.htm), is currently developing a purification process utilising commercially grown special daffodil varieties. Growth of the plants above 1000ft (330m) above sea level apparently puts the plants under stress and increases the proportion of galantamine amongst its alkaloids.
There is a small risk of increased mortality associated with galantamine use. However, British guidelines by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, though amended recently give clear guidance and support for the use of galantamine for the early stages of Alzheimer's disease (downloadable here: http://www.nice.org.uk/nicemedia/live/13419/53619/53619.pdf).
The first was in the identification of the barnacles observed on the shell of a periwinkle. Rather than the indigenous Balanoides balanoides or Chthamalus stellatus, they appeared to be Elminius modestus. E. modestus is an antipodean invader, thought to have arrived from Australia in British waters on ships in the 1950's. Due to its greater tolerance of variations in salinity and water temperatures, as well as fecundity, the invader has spread rapidly though British waters.
The second surprise was that the birds presumed to be Knot was not Knot but Turnstone, an avian winter visitor which would be departing these shores again in May.
Video editing is still not complete as a voice-track is yet to be added.
An item on the television program Countryfile, on Daffodils,caught my attention. It may be recalled that in March, I accompanied Mrs Kabitzsch to London, who promulgated the use of edible flowers and flower dishes, recorded in my business blog article "Von Blythen, flower liqueurs, syrups and condiments to the UK" at http://miltoncontact.blogspot.com/2011/04/von-blythen-flower-liqueurs-syrups-and.html. Amongst some personal trials of edible flowers, there was also the provision of a list of plants that should definitely not be eaten. Daffodils were amongst them as they contain harmful alkaloids.
The Countryfile article reported on the cultivation of daffodils in Wales at altitude for the production of a particular alkaloid, galantamine, reportedly efficacious in the early stages of the debilitating, memory robbing disease, Alzheimers.
Galantamine was first investigated medicinally in the Soviet union in the 1950's and it was there that Mashkovsky and Kruglikova-Lvova demonstrated the cholinersterase inhibitory properties of the compound. (Wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galantamine#Clinical_use).
Galantamine, also known as galanthamine, can be synthesised via a variety of routes, each protected by pharmaceutical companies. These routes were primarily followed because the intitial extraction from plant sources such as snowdrop and daffodils proved low yielding.
However, a Welsh company, Alzeim (http://www.alzeim.org/Default.htm), is currently developing a purification process utilising commercially grown special daffodil varieties. Growth of the plants above 1000ft (330m) above sea level apparently puts the plants under stress and increases the proportion of galantamine amongst its alkaloids.
There is a small risk of increased mortality associated with galantamine use. However, British guidelines by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, though amended recently give clear guidance and support for the use of galantamine for the early stages of Alzheimer's disease (downloadable here: http://www.nice.org.uk/nicemedia/live/13419/53619/53619.pdf).
Saturday, 23 April 2011
Video editing and a potential Balsam Post article
Another gorgeous day. A quick glance into the aquarium revealed the the barnacles were actively feeding, so a quick stir (mimicking the returning tide) to make the water turbid for them and the small molluscs that were now almost 2mm in diameter.
Domestic chores were completed with the mowing of the lawns and then onto editing the videos taken on the beach yesterday. I had a range of short films, covering birds, starfish, hermit crabs and others. Their editing with Corel VideoStudio began. It is amazing how what might seem reasonable when recorded would turn out to be too poor to use on a larger screen. So each recording required editing where only a fraction might end up being used. The other element is also to try and arrange a series of short scenes into a thread that might have little bearing on the chronological order of their being taken. A fit of nausea and headache in the afternoon put paid to completion today.
Feeling better in the evening again, there was another task to complete; an article for the Balsam Post, in response to Mir Ives', the editor, request for entries before the submission deadline for the next quarterly edition. I chose to write about the invitation by Miss Fleming and Mr Snoswell to investigate the small threads in their pond as these turned out to be the fascinating giant single celled organism, Spirostomum ambiguum. A suitable subject for the Balsam Post, the quarterly newsletter of the Postal Microscopical Society. Article written and posted to Mr Ives tonight.
Domestic chores were completed with the mowing of the lawns and then onto editing the videos taken on the beach yesterday. I had a range of short films, covering birds, starfish, hermit crabs and others. Their editing with Corel VideoStudio began. It is amazing how what might seem reasonable when recorded would turn out to be too poor to use on a larger screen. So each recording required editing where only a fraction might end up being used. The other element is also to try and arrange a series of short scenes into a thread that might have little bearing on the chronological order of their being taken. A fit of nausea and headache in the afternoon put paid to completion today.
Feeling better in the evening again, there was another task to complete; an article for the Balsam Post, in response to Mir Ives', the editor, request for entries before the submission deadline for the next quarterly edition. I chose to write about the invitation by Miss Fleming and Mr Snoswell to investigate the small threads in their pond as these turned out to be the fascinating giant single celled organism, Spirostomum ambiguum. A suitable subject for the Balsam Post, the quarterly newsletter of the Postal Microscopical Society. Article written and posted to Mr Ives tonight.
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