by Grania
Good morning!
In 1070 Roquefort cheese created in a cave near Roquefort-sur-Soulzon, France – accidentally, as the legend goes. In 1850 self-deodorizing fertilizer was patented in England (apparently still not available in Ireland). In 1982 “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan,” released in the USA. Although the movie has become infamous for the Khhhhaaaaannn! moment, it is better than the memes that endless circle the Internet would suggest.
In 1984 Bruce Springsteen released “Born in the USA” which became an iconic anthem for a generation.
In the same year on the science front, a team under Dr. Allan Wilson at the University of California Berkeley cloned fragments of genes taken from the extinct quagga (a subspecies of the zebra), just over a century after the species’ demise. You can read the paper here. There has been a controversial program of “back breeding” in South Africa to create a quasi-resurrection of the species, however the animal only looks like the quagga and cannot claim to be genetically similar.
And last, but never least, we head over to Dobrzyń to catch up on the doings of Hili.
Hili: Do you see what I see?
A: Not really. And what do you see?
Hili: A ladybird.
In Polish:
Hili: Czy ty widzisz to, co ja widzę?
Ja: Chyba nie, a co widzisz?
Hili: Biedronkę.
Find that back breeding very odd. Would seem the efforts should be primarily to avoid more animals going that way everyday.
I agree, and the program remains controversial.
That said, South Africa does have a robust conservation ethos. Probably their biggest challenge is poaching of horns and tusks and the like for the black market of pseudo-medicine.
http://www.awf.org/country/south-africa
/Grania
What a wonderful view!
Agreed! And since I visit Hili every day, it helps me orient to just where we are. My heart belongs to Dobryzn–or at least to an extraordinary couple and a certain cherry orchard. Oh yes, and a d*g.
Indeed. Hili’s domain is beautiful… and shows results of much tender care by her staff.
I consider the Wrath of Khan to be the best of the ST movies based on the original franchise. It is a pretty good movie on its own, but then it is further elevated by the general awefullness of rest of the movies.
Let’s hope that the Quagga project is only a warm-up for the Velociraptor project.
It’s extremely good.
Caveat: It’s sooo much better than the first Trek movie, that it is very easy to overlook its modest flaws.
I enjoyed 2, 3, and 4. The others were all pretty crap, especially the first one.
It may be a while before anyone manages to back-breed the turkey into a velociraptor 🙂
/Grania
I’d start with a blue heron or an cormorant. They’re already halfway there. 😎
.
I’m thinking a rhea, emu or cassowary. Looking at their legs they are half utah-raptor already.
M & A – how do you keep everything looking so beautiful at your place in Dobrzyn? Do you do it all yourselves, or do you have some help?
Some of it relates to those gardening genes. In my case they skipped a generation.
Haha – they might have skipped me too, ’cause all the time I am weeding, mowing, trimming and planting, I am thinking: “I need to move to a townhouse.”
Until about five years ago we did everything ourselves but, alas, it’s no longer possible. We have help now – a neighbour who retired while still full of energy keeps our garden in order.We both miss working in the garden. The time we had many more flowers, strawberries, wild strawberries, hallon and plenty of vegetables and herbs are a memory only…
Well, it looks beautiful! And, you have that gorgeous cherry orchard. How nice that you have such a neighbour to help you.
Hili’s fans are very happy that you share views of her beautiful queendom with us.