Floods of Rain, Threatened flood of Missiles. Family History and Microsccopy

Aulacodiscus kittonii Phase contrast, 400x mag

It rained today, perhaps in sympathy with tropical storm Harvey, which has returned now to drench Louisiana, and with the horrendous Monsoon floods that have killed over a thousand people in Mumbai and Bangladesh.

The other thing promised to rain down upon the world is missiles from North Korea. Despite further condemnation from the UN and the countries bordering the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Kim Jong-un vows to send more missiles.

President Trump has said that the US has been paying blackmail money to North Korea for long enough, indicating that there might be action. Top military aides in the US however state that diplomacy is always still an option.

Prime Minister May is currently in Japan lending her voice to criticism of the last missile launch over Japan yesterday and offering support to Japan. However Japan is not exactly pleased with the current situation with Brexit. All those years investing in business in the UK as a gateway to Europe. It is a bit of a dilemma, with Japan already conducting trade talks with the EU and close to an agreement. 'Negotiate a successful trade agreement with a trade block of 27 nations - and then go through the process all over again with the UK, separately when we leave'.

My microscopy evening was disrupted by a family history research session with L & S. We spent several hours linked by phone as we attempted to decipher the German Sitterlin calligraphy on an old German official family tree. With some degree of success! Returned to finish off photographing two samples under the microscope and creating image focus stacks such as the one here.