h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Some of you who have been researchers for a long time might remember that I wrote a little memoir about watching whales giving birth to their young . The wonder was how dolphins formed a protective ring about them to save both the mother whale and the new born infant whale from the predatory sharks surrounding them.

You can imagine my pleasure when I watched a BBC programme last night with an energetic walker from England presenting it , She also apparently loves South africa and was talking about it. It was also mentioned on the BBC news.

It brought back so many happy memories and I slept the sleep of the just and had a very happy ending to a day full of reminiscences. .

I think there is another programme next week. Also pleased to see Johanthan Dimbleby cavorting down Africa. The BBC are giving us a real feast of the wonderful continent of africa.
Christiane
AlsoRan80

Thursday 10th June 2010 8.10 BST

Hi there Christiane! Yes I remember that very interesting story of yours about the whales and the dolphins! And I'm happy you're enjoying the BBC nature programmes. Right now my mom and I are without television! With all the stuff happening we've not been renewing our satellite TV contract. I haven't really missed it much so far, though ... but I, too, like the nature programmes.

Vriendelike groete,

Willem

Disney has come out with two nature movies. Last year, they had "Earth," and this year they had "Ocean." Both very good, though a bit sad with the Polar bears languishing from lack of food and climate change, and the little baby sea turtles having to run faster than any turtle can in their race to the safety of the sea after hatching on the bach. The waiting birds swooped down and picked some of them off as they ran.

Better the birds had them than the humans paulh That is natural, raiding nests for eggs, killing the turtles for meat, and destroying nests on beaches just to put deck chairs on is not, and much sadder.

I love watching the teeny ones heading for the sea. So tiny and cute. To think the females come back years later to lay their own eggs on the same beach is wonderful.

Websailor

The movie's narrator made the point that when the eggs hatch at night, the turtles have a much better chance of getting safely to the sea. If they hatch during the day, fewer will get to the sea. Nowadays, staying away from oil spills can be added to the skills a turtle needs. )

Hi WS,

Well, my dear you were obviously replying to paulh's comment. !! I was writing and the title of this posting is about whales and their birthing process. I had written yoincks ago on how and where the calving was carried out. !!

Oh dear. !!

Willem appears to be the only one who read the article but \i think it was actually featured in .

Christiane
AlsoRan8-
Saturday 12th June 2010 8.00 BST
Sorry about the incorrect date for Friday the 11 th Juune 2010 in my original posting.

Dear paulh

See my reply to WS

I was writing about whales!!

I originally took your comments as giving me more information about films on RL wildlife. !!

However, as usual, go well,

Christiane
Alsoran80
Saturday 12th June, 2010 8.10 BST
Apologies for the wrong date yesterday when I wrote Friday the 12 th June 2010

Hi Willem,

Well, I have just paid you a great big compliment.

How wonderful to be seeing all that marvellous S.A. scenery It makes me very homesick.

Also it is very interesting that the housing position for Africans does not appear to have improved; However with such a a backlog as I featured in my Masters thesis on African housing, it is going to be incredibly difficult, and take a long time to provide enough third world housing for all who up to now have not enjoyed this facility.

Tonight is the big match between the USA and GB. I wonder who is going to win.

Vriendelike groente (thank you for that phrase!!)

Christiane
AlsoRan80
Saturday 12th June 2919 2010 8.18 BST.

Apologies for giving you the wrong date yesterday when I said that Friday was the 12th June 2010!! Silly me!!

Christiane,

I did read your post and your article but didn't have anything to add. I answered Paulh's post in passing. Sorry we went

Websailor

Speaking of whales... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37720312/ns/technology_and_science-science/

I hope the whales steer clear of the oil spill in the Gulf. They're so big that it would be hard to wipe oil off them.

I hope so as well. Recently (before the spill) I was reading several articles concerning "surveys" of the Gulf showing how surprisingly healthy and diverse it was (past tense). They were even finding creatures they'd never seen before on the sea bottom.

So far 41 mammals have been found dead. I don't know if any of these were whales.

Were there dead dolphins? Seals?

Dolphins, yes. Seals, no. There are no seals, sea lions, walruses or otters in the Gulf of Mexico even though BP's environmental response plan for the Deepwater Horizon (2009) lists contingencies for cleaning them. This same report lists a Dr. Peter Lutz in Miami as their expert on cleaning befouled sea turtles. Dr. Lutz moved out of Miami 20 years ago. If that weren't bad enough, he DIED 4 years before the report was filed.

Sadly, I awoke to news from NPR that they'd spotted a dead sperm whale floating in the gulf. It's yet to be determined if its death was caused by the oil, but that's most likely the case.

Hi my friends,

I shudder when I think what peoplekind have dione to this wonderful planet of ours. It is as if we have a veritable annihilation wish against it.

First of all in the stratosphere and now deep on the ocean bed.

Is this progress, or willful self aggrandisejent.?

Or is it possibly part of a "Great Plan" - something which means that the planet needs to be regenerated to start again in a couple of million years. I wonder. But one must still do one's best and not lose heart.

With affeftion to you all

Christiane
AlsoRan80

Thursday 17th June, 2010
14.26 BST

"There are no seals, sea lions, walruses or otters in the Gulf of Mexico even though BP's environmental response plan for the Deepwater Horizon (2009) lists contingencies for cleaning them" [Count Zero]

Yes, but there used to be seals there:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080608074828.htm

Dear Count Zero

Is all this happening near to where the NASA launch pad and base is?

It is really a hive of peoplekind's ingenuity there where you are? You must be very distressed at the wild life that is contaminated by this oil. It looks dreadful on TV. And there is no way that one can go back to a horse and car, or a camel train, or elephant riding, or all the other methods of transport which poplekind have thought up over the 21 centuries of this civilisatiobn.

|I wonder what will survivie of our civilixzation - if anything?

Nice to chat to you again even if it is rather mournful. !1

sincerely,

Christiane
Alsoran80
Thursday 17.VI.2010 14.37.

It's not near the launch pad, yet. That's at Kennedy Space Center on the Atlantic coast of Florida. Hopefully the worst of the damage will remain in the Gulf and not spread up the East Coast in the Atlantic. The currents could take it that way, but after that much time in the water it's not as much of a mess, more tar balls than slick. I'm at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. We're up current from the gusher and so far Texas waters and beaches have been spared.

I'm still rooting for the expansion of bicycle transportation, particularly the three-wheeled versions that have replaced rickshaws in some places. Bicycles and tricycles were the greenest form of transportation ever invented. (Walking is greener, but it wasn't invented, nor does it get you as far or as fast as the bicycle)

There's still the problem of long-distance hauling of freight, which trains do four times as efficiently as trucks. Barges are five times as efficient, but they can't go where there is no water. Galley ships are another interesting possibility .

The human body is a machine of a sort. The medical profession smiles on the concept of getting enough exercise. What would be so terrible about people using their muscles to walk places where they would otherwise drive, or connect their stationary bicycles to electric generators so as to reduce the need for fuel to make electricity?