insignificant ramblings of a 50-something woman
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The wrongness of killing and abortion
I cried when I watched this clip this morning. The baby’s mother has just died in a car accident and the infant is visibly distressed and mourning for her mother. Story in The Independent. We’re not the only animals to mourn the loss of loved ones. We’re not the only animals who love and care for…
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What is Twitter good for?
Lots of things! I found one particularly good use for it recently. Yesterday I published a fact sheet which I copied directly from George Monbiot’s blog about the harm traffic pollution does to children. I thought I’d better double-check with him that this would be ok and so I sent him a Tweet. He replied almost…
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Animals eat each other, so why shouldn’t we eat them?
People criticise and mock vegetarians quite a lot. I’m always happy to be laughed at and I’ve taught my kids that this is a good thing because it means you are making someone else happy and there’s nothing bad about that. However I get annoyed when people say silly things or incorrect things. Maybe I just like…
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What Traffic Fumes Do to Our Children
I copied the following factsheet from George Monbiot’s blog, Car Sick. He is encouraging people to share it: I've written a simple factsheet for schools and parents on what traffic pollution does to children. Please share: https://t.co/DFSDmUIQUX — George Monbiot (@GeorgeMonbiot) March 6, 2017 I shared it with our local primary school on Twitter in the…
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When is a reasonable time to eat dinner?
I’ve got a work trip to Spain coming up and I’ve been looking for places to book for dinner since we’ll be a large group. However many of the restaurants don’t open until 9pm which is ridiculous. I’m usually in bed by that time. One place said they’d open early especially for us but even…
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Gardens and woodland walks at Crathes Castle
Most weekends I find myself craving for some fresh country air and a walk through the woods or up a hill. Today we satisfied my craving with a trip to Crathes Castle and a walk on one of the woodland trails there. I keep telling Ben we need a country house where we can spend…
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Music from Pride and Prejudice
I love Pride and Prejudice. It’s my favourite book. I’ve read it numerous times and I’ve seen the Greer Garson 1940s film as well as the Keira Knightly 2005 movie several times; Elizabeth is partly named after my grandmother Elizabeth and partly after Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice. I’ve also seen the BBC mini…
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The food revolution
America sometimes seems like a country of extremes but one thing they do very well is innovation and entrepreneurship. I don’t think any other country in the world does these two things as well as America. One industry I have been watching with great interest is the food technology industry and America is leading the way.…
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Keep calm and carry on or panic and freak out?
One of my coworkers told me recently how when we Happiness Engineers report bugs it’s not always clear how bad the bug is. We use the same tone, if there is a tone in text, for all bugs. So a minor user interface glitch will have the same tone as a major bug. There are ways…
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Turkey neck and gardening
I’m trying to reduce the amount of sugar I eat, partly for health reasons and partly for vanity. I’m starting to notice the wrinkles more and more and – dare I admit it, a turkey neck! – and sugar ages you. I’ll never be able to give up chocolate but sugar sneaks into things that don’t…
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A prickly thistle
Last August I planted an apple tree in the school garden. Since then I’ve watched with dismay as all the branches have slowly been ripped off. I don’t think the children are doing this to deliberately destroy the tree. It’s just that they’re playing there and it gets knocked about and they grab onto it as…
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Pumpkin and the Dog’s Bollocks
Suppose there’s a planet called Dog’s Bollocks and the aliens on Dog’s Bollocks have been using something called pumpkin for all their energy needs. But pumpkin has several problems. One: it’s running out. There’s a limited supply of it and eventually there’ll be none left. Two: it produces pollution which when inhaled can cause asthma in young aliens and reduces…
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The dumbest of the dumb
It’s hard to see how the Donald Tump presidency will survive four years given the amount of lunacy and chaos he has unleashed in just three weeks. Sometimes I feel a bit sorry for him because he has become a laughing stock and I don’t think he realises it. Every week there’s something new and outlandish…
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Burn O’Vat
Someone recommended Burn O’Vat on my Scolty Hill post from last week and so we decided to check it out today. It’s a WOW place. How have I never discovered it before? It’s at the Muir of Dinnet Nature Reserve which is about 34 miles west of Aberdeen. There’s a terrific visitor centre there. The main attraction is the Burn O’Vat…
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I am fashion-forward
Earlier in the week I posted about how I inadvertently crocheted myself a Marge Simpson hat. My sister pointed out to me today that my fashion faux pas is IN. This is straight out of New York Fashion week 2017. Source: http://www.vogue.com/ You saw it on rachel.blog first.
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When crochet goes wrong
Not all the things I crochet are a success. In fact most of the things I make are dismal flops like the hat I just made which looks more like a Marge Simpson hairdo than a slouch beanie. I won’t be going anywhere in this.
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Scolty Hill
Next to the village of Banchory, which is about 18 miles from Aberdeen, is Scolty Hill. Desperate to get out of the house and into the countryside I suggested we go there after lunch and walk to the summit. It was a superb outing. The walk is about 1.5 hours and not too strenuous. There…
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Accessorising with snow
It was snowing when I dropped the kids at school today. I love it when it snows. Snow is not wet like rain and this morning I discovered it makes a nice hair accessory. As you can see I’m holding a Doctor Who magazine – there’s a story behind this. We gifted Daniel a subscription…
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The stick insects have been fornicating
Last week I discovered lots of little baby stick insects in our stick insect habitat. We started with four nymphs which I purchased on eBay last year and they ate lots of leaves and grew and they must have laid eggs at some point because now there are babies. I’m not even sure how many –…
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