My twitter feed today has had many links to campaigns relating to nature, so I have decided to share the featured campaigns here as well. First to set the scene here is…
AN OPEN LETTER TO LEADERS
I shared this when Anna first posted it but it deserves further exposure, and ties in beautifully to the theme of this post (nb all screenshots in this post are formatted as links – click on them to visit the originals).
A very interesting post from lagnobo, brought to my attention by Anna. The original post is in Swedish, so here is an English translation courtesy of Google:
A vision becomes reality – we move in! 7 JANUARY 2018LAGNOBO In autumn 2010, Sörmlands Nyheter had an article with a picture about a house to be built in Nyköping. Very big, not so beautiful but with large conservatory. It sat on the fridge at Lagnö Gård and raised thoughts about a house, but smaller, more beautiful and in the countryside. In December 2010, on a journey to Gothenburg, a vision was formed which later became the basis for a leader application and a preliminary study.
A report on the preliminary study with the whole vision and the work to the association was formed (pdf). ✎ EditSign
Excerpt from Vision: We thought: “We like to have close to the neighbor to go in and have a cup of coffee, have a party in the evening or on a walk.” _ _ “We want to grow old with company because we feel better. We think of many dinners with company without having to go somewhere. We think it will be cheaper to have some things together. Perhaps guest room, dining room, cafe, car pool or electric car, conservatory, storage room, library, spa. We think that this accommodation creates jobs for others, like gardeners, housekeepers, cooking driver, foot care, massage, wellness etc. By coordinating our needs we can get economic opportunity to utilize these services. “ “We think that if we want our children to be able to live on our soil, we need to develop housing that is scared of the environment, both in the construction process and in the accommodation. We think of a house with maybe 10-12 apartments, two-three rooms and a kitchen, large garden, please both inside and out, adapted for building in the countryside. We think of a house that we own and manage, for example, cooperatively or otherwise in common. We are thinking of a house for residents, not to make money. “
We who lived at Lagnö Gård invited everyone interested in exploring the possibilities. The architect who helped us when we got started urged us to write a wish list, without limits, before we started. Here is the one we liked wild wish list:
“Our very own wildly wish list! All this we would wish for in our common, comfortable and sustainable home! Here is the place for dreams and fantasies! Everything is possible!” _ _ “Winter garden, Spanish bar, party room, dining room, kitchen, kitchen kettle with stove, hot air oven and sorting space! Living room, guest room, laundry room with drying room and lack, carpentry, sewer and ironing room, storage room for the apartments, common storage inside and out, food storage and pantry both for common and private. Caretaker / personal butler, sauna, broadband, thrift room, compost, garden land or colony lilac, pets, reclining room, wellness area, pool, fireplace. Patio, room with library and computer, film screen and projector, glass door to the greenhouse section, solar collectors and water tanks, solar cells, car pool with shared car, echo at the pier, electric bicycle, parking, bicycle storage, electric car with garage to, earth source. Berry bushes, fruit trees, boulebana, storage room, playroom, tv, indoor and outdoor seating, barbecue area, music system, bulletin board, speed dial phone …… .. and in the apartments we wish bathroom, kitchen / kitchenette, walk-in closet, pantry, open plan living, fireplace, balcony / patio, bay windows. “
Moving in! After 7 years and an incredible amount of people’s commitment and non-profit work, the first tenants now move! And when we read the vision and wish list that then felt so unattainable, that’s incredibly probably the most. Surely there is a bit left, but we see that everything is possible!
Hösten 2010 hade Sörmlands Nyheter en artikel med bild om ett hus som skulle byggas i Nyköping. Väldigt stort, inte så vackert men med stor vinterträdgård. Den satt uppe på kylskåpet på Lagnö Gård och väckte tankar om ett hus, men mindre, vackrare och på landet. I december 2010 på bilresa till Göteborg formulerades en vision som senare blev grunden för en leader-ansökan och en förstudie.
Utdrag ur Vision:
Vi tänkte oss:
“att vi gärna har nära till grannen för att gå in och ta en kopp kaffe, få sällskap på kvällen eller på en promenad.” _ _
“Vi vill bli gamla med sällskap för att vi mår bättre så. Vi tänker oss många middagar med sällskap utan att behöva åka iväg någonstans. Vi tänker oss att det blir billigare att ha en del saker tillsammans. Kanske gästrum, matsal…
Two birds of different species exhibiting similar behaviour (which I have previously only ever observed in cormorants).
INTRODUCTION
This is whimsical little post inspired by an odd coincidence I observed while out walking yesterday.
DIFFERENT BIRDS, SIMILAR POSES
While I was out walking yesterday afternoon I saw a Muscovy duck in the stretch of the Gaywood River that is currently serving as home to a small colony of these unusual visitors to our shores posing in the fashion that cormorants sometimes so (for an amusing take on this see Anna’s recent cormorant drawing). Here is a composite picture featuring both posing birds:
My official response to being nominated for a blogger recognition award.
INTRODUCTION
My thanks to thetshirtblogger for nominating for a blogger recognition award. This post is my official response to that nomination. This is the tshirtblogger’s own description of what they do:
The Tee Shirt Blogger focuses on diversity in the main, and rather the celebration of diversity, in many ways it is no different to my other blogs, l love the intrinsic rawness and freshness that eclecticism offers us in life for all the good, bad and of course downright ugly.
ABOUT ASPI.BLOG
I blog about a wide range of stuff, with my principal interests being cricket, public transport, nature, science, politics, autism and photography. Nearly all the posts that I produce feature some of my photographs, and this one will be no exception. As branch secretary of the National Autistic Society West Norfolk and an autistic person I have strong opinions on autism and they way in which autistic people are treated, and this frequently comes into the blog. When I share something from another source I will always acknowledge that fact, and link to my original source. If I make an error in a blog post I will correct it, and give the correction at least as much prominence as the initial error had (for an example of me calling myself out go here). For more detail please visit my page “About Aspiblog“.
PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERLUDE – BIRDS
These were taken on Monday:
ADVICE FOR NEW BLOGGERS
Your blog is yours – blog the way you want to.
Visit lots of other blogs and leave likes and comments – this helps you get noticed and increases the number of people who read your blog.
MY NOMINEES
I could just list my 10 nominees, but I actually going to say something about each of them as well.
Fargaregardsanna. Anna’s pet subjects include nature, her home town of Trosa and her artwork. As a sample of her work I give this recent post titled “Save Trosa nature – Behåll och stärk Trosas natur“, which features a picture she created based on a comment of mine:
Cindy Knoke. Cindy is a photographer with a great interest in nature. Her most recent post is titled “Punto Tombo~“.
Ioinvaggio. An Italian blog which regularly features lovely pictures. I give you a link to a post titled “Io sono Volpina Blu”
The remaining nominees all have some connection to autism, starting with stimtheline, and by way of an introduction I give you “8FavoriteQuotes About Autism“
Yarn and Pencil. This blog covers autism, sensory issues, knitting and various other stuff. As an introduction I offer you “Dunster Castle“.
Autism Mom. An excellent blog about one family’s experience with autism. I have an additional reason for including this one – to show that autistic people do not object in principle to neurotypical parents of autistic children writing about their children – we object to neurotypical parents of autistic children writing in a way that contributes to the ‘othering’ of autistic people. Thus the post to which I link to introduce you to this blog is the self-explanatory titled “I Want to be Called Autistic“.
International Badass Activists. This was American Badass Advocates, run by Eve Hinson, when I started following. It has since become first American Badass Activists and then International Badass Activists, while Eve Hinson has become Eve Reiland. I have been introduced to many interesting and important stories by this blog. As an introduction here is her Autistic Union Pledge.
Finally, we come to thesilentwaveblog. This splendid blog is run by Laina, who also has blog specifically for sharing aspergian/autistic writing called Laina’s Collection. As an introduction to thesilentwaveblog I give you my all-time favourite from that site, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Neurotypicality“.
PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERLUDE TWO: MUSCOVY DUCKS
PARTCIPATION IN THE BLOGGER RECOGNITION AWARD
These are the requirements for those who wish to participate in the Blogger Recognition Award:
1. Show your gratitude to the person who nominated you and provide a link back to the person’s blog. 2. Give a brief story on your blog. 3. Share two or more pieces of advice for beginner bloggers. 4. Choose 10 other bloggers to nominate. 5. Comment on each blog, letting them know they’ve been nominated and provide a link to your award post.
Läs detta före 9 januari 2018, så har du chansen att bidra till att bevara och stärka Trosas natur.
Read this before January 9 2018 of you want to participate in the efforts to save Trosa nature.
Du har antagligen redan läst att 2017 uppmätte de högsta medeltemperaturerna någonsin (sen vi människor klarat att mäta de värdena). I SvD uttalade sig professor Johan Rockström och sade följande: “Om vi ska kunna leverera på Parisavtalet får vi inte chansa. Om planetens förmåga att buffra våra utsläpp går ner måste vi minska våra utsläpp ännu snabbare.” Han sade också “Vad vi gör de kommande fem åren blir avgörande för klimatets framtid”.
You have probably already read about how 2017 was the warmest year ever since mankind started to measure temps. In the Swedish newspaper SvD the professor Mr Johan Rockström said “If we’re gonna live up to Paris agreement we can’t take…
The title of this post is how snow is referred to on Anna’s blog, where there is rather more of it to be seen than here as she is Swedish. Today we have it in King’s Lynn, a thing that is almost unheard of.
Anna has more for us on the Save Trosa Nature campaign (and features a classic infographic/ meme that she created out of a comment on mine on an earlier post)…
One of my Save Trosa nature friends and I have worked on a report. We have examined if the project new big road can proceed without negative climate effects. It can’t, so we told the authorities and media. Here’s the first news article about our report. You can read it in Swedish at itrosa.se.
Here’s what the Swedish news article says:
Municipalities Ingrid Benson and Anna Bohlin have examined the project New big road and the exploitation of the Tureholm Peninsula. They have compiled a 10-point list of climate councils that Trosa Municipality has not taken into account. The following press release has been published to media and environmental stakeholders:
Project New big road and the exploitation of Western Trosa – Tureholm Peninsula will counteract climate targets of 10 points.
In a review of the project based on climate reports from the Swedish Transport Administration, the Swedish Environmental Protection…
An account of an educational event about the Gaywood River that took place in the Scout Hut on Beulah Street on Sunday.
INTRODUCTION
I have had a very busy few days, which is why there have been no new posts here since Saturday. I will mention my activities since Monday in later posts, but this post is solely concerned with the activity that dominated (in a good way) my Sunday. At the end of this post I will be including a variety of links related in various ways to its content. Here is a map showing the course of the Gaywood River:
FINDING OUT ABOUT THE EVENT
I got an email from my aunt a few days before the event was due to happen explaining her role in it and asking if I wished to meet her there and go back to hers for sausage and chips or if I would prefer a saturday supper. I decided that the event could be quite interesting, so I opted for the former course of action.
GETTING THERE
Since the event was taking place at the Scout Hut on Beulah Street, which is on the bank of the Gaywood (Beulah Street ends in a bridge that crosses the Gaywood into the car park that serves the Scout Hut) I was going to walking, and since it was a bright, sunny morning I decided on an extended route. Leaving my flat I headed across Baker Lane Car Park to the bridge over the upper Purfleet, heading across King Street to the north bank of the lower Purfleet. Here are some photos from that early part of the walk:
From there I followed the line of the Great Ouse as far as my favourite cormorant observation point…
…before heading round by way of All Saint’s Church to the Library and entering the parkland area, following the Broadwalk until the path through the Vancouver Garden splits off from it, when I followed that and then the path out of the Vancouver Garden that joins the Tennyson Road end of St John’s Walk, at which point I was back on what would be the officially recommended walking route to Gaywood. There were squirrels about (in King’s Lynn only the grey ‘bushy-tailed rat’ variety as opposed to the red ‘Squirrel Nutkin” variety), though it is not always easy to get good photos of them…
This picture and the next feature the heavily sculpted segment of the Gaywood River that passes through the parkland.
Apart from photograph opportunities the other plus side to being held up a by a train at the Tennyson Road level crossing is that you can cross the road itself in perfect safety as the cars are all stationary.
From Tennysod Road I followed the footpath the runs between the King Edward VII Academy and the Lynn Academy to Gaywood Road, which I crossed, then crossing the Gaywood on a pedestrian bridge before following its bank all the way to the Scout Hut.
Although darker than their usual colouring I think from the markings that this is a peacock butterfly.A section of the Gaywood River
AT THE SCOUT HUT
Immediately outside the Scout Hut the Gaywood Valley Conservation Group had a gazebo and display boards (it was there that I took the photo that appears in the introduction).
Inside the hut was the Civic Society Stall, a cake stall, and various river related learning activities (colouring in pictures of river creatures for the artistically minded, an A-Z quiz of which more later). Although it was not the first thing I looked at, because it was my aunt’s reason for being there I start with…
THE CIVIC SOCIETY STALL
They were looking for people who knew about the history of the Gaywood river, because information boards will be going up at various points along it. They already had some good stuff, but wanted more.
Now we turn out attention to…
THE REST OF THE INDOOR ACTIVITIES
The cake stand looked awesome but discipline prevailed, and I did not sample any of the products. Although it was not really aimed at people my age I did the quiz, and predictably got all the answers in short order. The colouring proved popular, and many of the coloured creatures were then stuck on to a large picture of a river on the wall of the hut.
I will reveal the answers (just in case anyone did not get them all) in a later post.
That is the inside stuff finished, but there was also plenty going on…
IN THE BACK GARDEN
There were two major centres of activity in the back garden, and I make my first port of call there, as I did on the day, at…
THE NORFOLK WILDLIFE TRUST GAZEBO
The Norfolk Wildlife Trust were showing children how to make portable ‘bug hotels’, and they also had a natural history display including a folder full of photographs of animals, and a stash of leaflets, to which I may return in a later post.
We now come to what was for me the best of all the exhibits, courtesy of…
THE NORFOLK RIVERS TRUST
There were two parts to this exhibit. The minor part was display showing graphically how different treatment of land in the winter affects the soil:
These three models were side by side demonstrating what happens to soil when there is nothing there at all – gets washed straight into the river)…When there are dead leaves covering it – still lots of it ends up in the river……and what happens when something suitable is planted – note the much clearer water at the end – most of this soil remains in place.
The second part of this display was a living exhibit from the river – two large buckets of river water with creatures that naturally live in it there to be seen (the amount of dissolved sediment in the water, the small size of these creatures and the fact that some of them live on the bottom of the river means that this the only way to make them visible). There was also a small sample dish which the person running the exhibit used to show as very small curiosities…
This is one of nature’s smallest houses – within it is a caddis fly larva, and at some point the adult fly will emerge.The next three shots are of small sticklebacks.
This was described as a gudgeon, but looks different to the other gudgeons we will see later. The silvery sheen to its scales suggests a dace to my eyes.
I am not sure what this piebald fish is, though it could be a stickleback.
This shot of the sample dish showing the thumbnail of the dxemonstrator reveals just how tiny that Caddis fly home actually is – it was in this same dish that I saw it.
Two gudgeons in the second bucket – note that as would be the case in the river they are at the bottom.
There was also a story teller outside…
LINKS
To start this section we look at organisations who were actually involved in some way or other with this event:
Wildlife & Planet – interesting stuff about wildlife from all over the world.
WEIT– the website that grew out of Jerry Coyne’s classic book Why Evolution is True.
Science Whys – the blog of Brandeis biology professor James Morris.
Rationalising the Universe – sets about accomplishing the big task laid out in its title and does a good job of it.
Faraday’s Candle – a science website that will really illuminate your life.
I conclude this section by mentioning a couple of bloggers who regularly feature nature in their work:
CindyKnoke – keen photographer and nature lover. Below is the feature image from (and link to) her most recent post:
Anna – her posts about fighting to save nature in her part of the world are always inspiring, and her two recent series of posts “Paradise on Earth” and “Butterflies in Trosa” are both stunning. Below is the feature image from (and link to) her most recent butterfly post.
CONCLUSION
This was an excellent event and I learned a good deal about the history and nature of the Gaywood River. I have one kvetch which is that the event was poorly publicised – I only found out about it through my aunt and then only a few days before it was happening, meaning that anyone else I might have alerted would almost certainly have had other plans. If half of you have enjoyed this post even half as much as I enjoyed the event I have done a good job. I finish by urging you to take the time to follow up those links.
Jimmy Anderon’s 500th test wicket, some links, some puzzles and some photographs.
INTRODUCTION
As well as the title piece this post will feature links, pictures (items that will be going under the hammer at the end of September principally) and puzzles – including answers to a couple.
ANDERSON JOINS 500 CLUB
As predicted by me in a previous post the third and final test match of the England v West Indies series has featured a moment of cricket history as James Anderson duly collected his 500th wicket in this form of the game. Among bowlers of anything other than spin Glenn McGrath leads the way overall with 563 (off-spinner Muralitharan’s 800 for Sri Lanka is the record, followed by leg-spinner Warne’s 709 for Australia). The two spinners have set marks that are not realistically within Anderson’s grasp but the 563 of McGrath is well and truly catchable.
The historic moment came near the end of play yesterday, in the West Indies second innings (btw as I write this Anderson has increased his tally to 504) and it was a dismissal worthy of the occasion. He was denied in the West Indies first innings not by their batting (they managed a meagre 123 all out) but by a remarkable spell from Ben Stokes who finished that innings with figures of 6-22 – a test best for him. England led by 71, which looks like being decisive – the top score coming from Stokes (60). This combination of circumstances leads to me to finish this section with a raft of predictions/ hostages to fortune:
The Brian Johnston champagne moment – James Anderson’s 500th test wick – 100% certain whatever happens in what is left of this match!
Player of the match – Ben Stokes barring miracles.
Player of the series – Ben Stokes – 100% nailed on.
Match and series results: England win and take the series 2-1 – West Indies have just been dismissed for 177 in their second dig leaving England 107 to win – Anderson a career best 7-42 taking him to 506 test wickets.
LINKS
I am grouping my links in categories, starting with…
AUTISM
Just two links in this subsection, both from americanbadassactivists and both concerned with that hate group masquerading as charity Autism Speaks, or as Laina at thesilentwaveblog calls them A$.
With the unprecedented sight on weather maps of America and the Caribbean of three hurricanes poised to make landfall simultaneously (by now one of those, Irma, is already battering Cuba), A C Stark has prodcued a very timely piece whose title “Climate Change: The Elephant in the Room” is sufficient introduction.
This subsection closes with links to two posts from Anna. First we have Part 7 of her series about Butterflies in Trosa. The other post features a link to a video of a swimming sea eagle (only viewable on youtube) and a picture taken by Anna in which 11 sea eagles are visible.
My remaining four pieces concern a single individual who is widely tipped to be the next leader of the Conservative Party. It is this latter fact which has exposed him to intense scrutiny, resulting in the following collection about…
JACOB REES-MOGG
To set the scene we start with Richard Murphy of Tax Research UK’s piece simply titled “Jacob Rees-Mogg“.
The second and third pieces in this sub-subsection both come courtesy of the Guardian:
Harriet Harman, referring to comments of his about how even though he is the father of six children he has never changed a nappy labels him as a “Dead-beat dad“.
My final piece comes courtesy of the Skwawkbox. It is titled “MOGG: “DENY ABORTION TO RAPE VICTIMS”. PHILLIPS: “LET’S DO CHELTENHAM!”” referring simultaneously to one of the more odious statements to have emerged from the ‘honourable member for the 18th century’, and Jess Phillips’ friendship with him. The body of the piece fleshes out the difference between the Phillips approach and the more forthright approach of new MP Laura Pidcock.
A SEGUE LINK – A QUIZ
With apologies to those of my readers whose first language is not English, and who therefore cannot take on this quiz, I offer you courtesy of quizly a test on one of the biggest sources of grammatical mistakes in English, safe in the knowledge that my own score in said quiz can be equalled but not beaten:
PUZZLES
I appended a question to a link that featured the year 1729 in a recent post. This was the question:
The puzzle I am attaching to this is: which two famous mathematicians are linked by the number 1,729 and how did that link come about?
The two famous mathematicians linked by the number 1,729 are G H Hardy and Srinivasa Ramanujan. The link came about when Hardy visited Ramanujan in hospital during the latter’s final illness and mentioned the number of the cab in which he had travelled – 1,729 and went on to suggest that this was a very dull number. Ramanujan said in response “No Hardy, it is a very interesting number, the smallest that can be expressed as the sum of two cubes in two different ways”.
The other puzzle I set in that post was this one from brilliant:
If the statement on door 1 is true, then the treasure is behind door 2, which makes the statements on doors 2 and 3 both false = not acceptable.
If the statement on door 2 is true then the treasure is behind door 3, which makes both the other statements false = not acceptable.
If the statement on door 3 is true, then the statement on door 1 could also be true, making the statement on door 2 false – this scenario is acceptable.
Thus we open door 2 and collect the loot.
I finish by setting you another puzzle, again from brilliant, the 100th and last problem in their 100 DayChallenge, and a cracker:
Don’t be intimidated by that maximum difficulty rating – it is not as difficult as the creators thought. Incidentally you still have a couple of days to answer the problems properly on that website should you choose to sign up – although it would be tough to them all in that time!
PICTURES
This is lot 1 in our next sale – the first of 200 lots of old military themed postcards. Can you guess which of the lots pictured here is on my radar as a potential buy?Lot 329 (four images) – a fine volume when new but this copy is in terrible condition.
Lot 340Lot 347 (two images)
Lot 341 (six images)
I picked up this coin in change at Morrison’s today and I took two photos of it, both of which I offer you to finish this post (it is only the Reverse that makes it interesting – the Obverse is the usual portrait of ludicrously over-privileged old woman).
Some nature themed links and some of my own photographs. Snakes, butterflies and slugs feature prominently in this post, hence its title.
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to this nature themed post on aspi.blog. The title is formed from the initial letters of snakes, butterflies and slugs, all of which feature prominently.
SOME SWEDISH STUFF
Of course when posting about nature and mentioning Sweden, Annais going to feature prominently, but also featured here is the work of two Swedish photographers, Ingrid Benson who specialises in butterflies and John Jonasson who photographs reptiles.
A SERIES OF BUTTERFLY POSTS
Some of you may remember that I reblogged a post from fargaregardsanna about butterflies in and around Trosa that was marked as the first of a series. Well that series now runs to six posts, four posts based on the work of Ingrid Benson and two more featuring some of Anna’s own photographs. I now provide links to all of them:
Anna put up a post titled “Snake day” featuring some pictures of snakes near where she lives… …at the end of it she included a link to the site run by John Jonasson and featuring pictures and information about snakes.
The first four of the six butterfly pics that open this set of photos were taken yesterday.
This was taken today, and I thought even at the time that it was out of focus, but luckily…I then got this.
This was floating along the Gaywood river too rapidly for its progress to be down to the flow of the river (which is sluggish).The slugs (three pics) – today is warm and just a bit damp – and the slugs love it that way.
Two swimming cormorants in one shot – a first for me.This cormorant went into a dive as I was clicking the shutter……but then came up again not much later.
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