Patriotic?

Are you patriotic? What does being patriotic mean to you?

I think I am patriotic, but not in a strong way. I disagree with acting in a xenophobic way. I think arguing that one race should rule one country isn’t right. I believe there is good and bad in all people’s and countries. Also there should be fairness to all. Attacking people because they are different is not a good thing to do.

Think about it, humans draw borders on maps, lines in the sand, rivers that seperate one place from another. But when you look at where humans came from in Africa, and how they spread out across the Earth, there was always movement. People gradually changed depending on the climate and amount of sunlight. In hotter countries skin colour was darker to protect skin. In Northern climbs lighter because of the lack of sun. I know it doesn’t completely fit that pattern, but I guess through evolution other changes occurred.

Once there is a slight difference in appearance or language it’s easy to get into an ‘us or them’ situation. We have probably always warred but I think its time the human race grew up. Learnt to be tolerant and fought for fairness not patriotic excuses such as invading neighbouring countries. Race, religion, money, fear can all cause problems, but sometimes strong patriotism can make it much worse.

Which Dino?

If you could bring back one dinosaur, which one would it be?

I’d bring back a brachiosaurus. Basically because I think they were herbivores and relatively harmless… Unless it went for a walk along a motorway? The cars that could be crushed would be awful! But if I bought it back I would feel sorry for it as I doubt we could afford to create more than one. It would be left to grow old and dies alone. If we did create a partner, what would we do if they were to breed? How would it effect the lives of other land animals? Would they strip the land of food? Would they be allergic to modern plants? Too many questions!

Or I would bring back a swimming dinosaur and release it into Loch Ness in Scotland. Then there would be a real monster in the Loch. I image that would increase the tourism in the area.

I’d be interested to know how it could be done, apparently the method in Jurassic park of getting dinosaur DNA from a fly trapped in amber is not possible. Maybe reverse evolution, taking out genes to de-evolve an animal, perhaps a bird, back to one of its ancestors? But how would they choose the right genes? Interesting thought though, maybe they would end up with miniature pterasaurs?

Fern fronds

Ferns are ancient plants. They predate flowering plants. You can find fossils of them in the carboniferous era. They propagate, not by seed, but by spores which are held on the underside of the leaves. In sporediea. They are discharged into the air and are blown away by the wind. From there they create tiny ferns, I can’t remember the exact details because its over forty years since I learnt about them. All I can say is I must look it up. I do know they have silica in their cells and can be toxic to cattle and sheep.

Ferns are beautiful, they have lovely spiral fronds which then unfurl. There are different colours shapes and sizes. I know that some people have gardens full of ferns. I obviously need to find out more.

Trees

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The trees spread across the world, as man finally withered and died. Killed off in a last great mass extinction caused by  humankind’s continuous destruction of the animal population and most of the plant world. Pestilence, fire, flooding and starvation had done their jobs.

All that was left were trees, rivers, marshes, seas and oceans.

The trees kept pumping out oxygen, the world was now habitable for any incomers, but there were none. Aliens may have admired our world, but they exist in civilisations too far away. None of them had things like warp drive. A nice idea, but not really feasible.

Nothing grew, except a soup of bacteria. One day that might evolve into the next great family of animals, insects, worms, critters. If man returned millions of years later he would not recognise the planet or its contents. Maybe the trees would remember….