Journal Entries
I am writing in order to apologise...
Posted Sep 25, 2008
So begins a letter I recieved today about "the loss of some personal data in transit". This time from the GTC.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/7636822.stm
I believe this is the third such letter I've been sent in the past 12 months. I'm sure by now anyone and everyone has my name, home address, email, date of birth, place of work etc. I'm such a private person too!
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Latest reply: Sep 25, 2008
Oh dear...
Posted Sep 21, 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7624953.stm
In other news, my new job as a teacher educator is going suspiciously well and my students are lovely. Although maybe next year I'll have a class of bankers.
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Latest reply: Sep 21, 2008
Gardening Leave
Posted Jun 5, 2008
I'm serving out my notice at home, which is nice and gives me plenty of time to prepare for my new job. But it does feel strange! In total by the time I start I'll have been off for 12 weeks. I'm told that being off doesn't take long to get used to, but that going back to work does. So we'll see what happens in September. At least the garden will look good!
However, it's given Moonlight a bit of a fright. After a nice idle time of it, pretending there were no jobs around for someone on a gap year, thereby forcing her to sleep 
til noon then stagger to the sofa to watch daytime TV in her pyjamas and text everyone about it, there's a new regime.
She has had some work in the past year of course, but every single thing has been sorted by me. I've found her work as a film extra, she's done the Christmas Post, worked in a fast food place, done some bar work and cleaning, but for at least half the time since last July she's done absolutely nothing at all, happy to watch me take second and third jobs to make ends meet.
Now that I'm off I make her get up in the morning and if she's not actively seeking work she's doing odd jobs for me. So my shed has been painted, the garden furniture has been oiled, bedding plants have been put in and a friend's fence has been repaired and painted too.
There's been no sleeping til noon, pyjamas and daytime TV. Today she applied for a 12 week, full time, job. Found by me.
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Latest reply: Jun 5, 2008
The Asian coelacanth
Posted Aug 1, 2007
They've found another one!
In 1998 what seemed to be a coelacanth was found off the coast of Indonesia, some 6,000 miles away from any known colony. At the time it wasn't known if it was the same species as the ones found off East Africa, the Latimeria chalumnae.
Tests showed genetic similarity, but they weren't identical. They shared 96.5% but the differences were enough for this one to be given a new classification name of Latimeria menadoensis. No more had been found - until now.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6925784.stm
It was caught alive by an Indonesian fisherman and lived 17 hours. If tests show this is L menadoensis not L chalumnae then this is enough to confirm that there must be a colony.
There are 3 mysteries. Why there are two species, how they came to be so far apart and how many millions of years ago did the split happen.
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Latest reply: Aug 1, 2007
Extinction is not an option!
Posted Jan 11, 2006
There are perhaps less than 1000 live coelacanths left in the world. They've been around an estimated 400 million years and live at a depth of 100 to 300 metres. There are known colonies in East Africa and the Comoros Islands in the Indian Ocean.
In September 2003 one was caught off the coast of Tanzania suggesting another permanent coelacanth location in the world. Good news for a rare fish. But new Japanese deep trawling methods of catching edible fish are accidentally netting the few remaining coelacanth off the coast of Tanzania, or frightening them to come closer to the surface, where they are unable to survive due to their delicate metabolism. It's possible that about 25 have died in the last year although some 40% are still alive when they get caught in the nets and could be rescued, with skill.
There is a local coelacanth conservation project but it doesn't seem to be working. Tanzanian fishermen might have been offered rewards for catching them although this is thought to have been stopped. They need Deep Sea Release kits (see http://www.dinofish.com) and education about conservation, but they can't see the significance. What's the use of a huge fish that you can neither eat nor sell?
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,16937,1681745,00.html?gusrc=rss
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Latest reply: Jan 11, 2006
coelacanth
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