Diatoms, Protozoa, Trump AND Brexit debates

Campylodiscus (250x) and Surirella (1000x) using Phase A contrast

Campylodiscus in brightfield (stack of 80 photos) amd Surirella in boundary between brightfield and darkfield (stack of 3 photos)

Up uncharacteristically early to meet a GP appointment booked online last Friday. The bruised foot was stlll assuming various shades of purple, green and orange and the ankle continued to hurt at the time of making the appointment. By today, the bruising was much reduced, the foot not swelling as much and the pain reduced. I was in and out with a minimum of fuss and the reassurance that I'd not broken anything.

Caught up with emails and admin in readiness for doing some project work tomorrow whist Jane was on the long train journey cross country to visit her mother.

This evening, had another bash at photographing the diatoms Surirella and Campylodiscus on prepared slides (not by me) using different lighting conditions. Diatoms are a type of algae, single celled plants that are common as phytoplankton in seas as well as colonising any piece of water from puddle to lake to river. They are are a favourite subject of microscopists because they produce delicately sculpted and patterned glass shells and are yet less than one tenth of a millimeter long. Surirella is oval and relatively flat in one plane. Campylodiscus is disc shaped, but like a bent coin. Different lighting techniques give dramatically different appearances. Not sure how or whether I will take them further for Cambridge Open Studios.

The House of Lords has begun debating the Brexit Bill but the main news so far is that Prime Minister May sat in to watch proceedings - or attempt intimidation, depending on the reporter. More interestingly, there has been a debate on whether Trump should have a state visit to the UK after 300,000 petitioners supported his visit but 1.8 million argued against. Protesters were voluble outside as the arguments continued within. There were interesting quotes coming out of the debate (Trump has the intellect of a protozoan; President behaving like a petulant child etc.) but this was just a symbolic debate, the government is not changing its position. Interestingly, a YouGov poll found that the majority of British people do want the state visit to go ahead and whilst overall, there was an objection to the US immigration ban, a significant minority would welcome a similar ban in the UK.

President Trump has made his choice for National Security Advisor, Lieutenant General Herbert Raymond McMaster, generally believed to be quite a rational choice. US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis is in Iraq persuading the Iraqis that POTUS is not going to take over their oil, as US and UK provide support for Iragi mission to retake western Mosul.