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Some people are poor; all they have is money

02/05/2024

Daddy-daughter duo seeing galaxies far, far away

An amateur photographer has been capturing spectacular images of space with his daughter from their back garden in Lincolnshire.

Kevin, from Crowland, took up astrophotography two years ago as a way of bonding with 9-year-old Isabelle.

The duo recently captured an image of the Whirlpool or Messier 51 (M51), which shows two galaxies colliding 31 million light-years from Earth, according to NASA.

The former soldier told the BBC that capturing images of stars, planets and other far away objects is "epic and humbling".

Kevin wanted to find a hobby to give himself and his daughter a shared interest.

"The first time we saw Jupiter she was so full of joy and she was amazed. It just builds an interest as a kid and she might take it further as an adult," he said.

"She loves looking at the planets and the finished pictures. She's not too interested in taking the actual images but likes to get the telescope out and help set it up."

One of their most recent images shows the spiral cluster of stars in the M51 galaxy, which was first discovered in 1773.

"We tried getting the picture of it last year but our skills weren't good enough," Kevin added.

The duo started their pastime by looking at the moons and planets through a telescope but then delved further into the universe.

Many of their images take several hours to capture using long exposure times, specialist kit and tracking technology. They also leave their images uncoloured to show how they look naturally.

He said: "The light that left some of these galaxies left when the dinosaurs were here, so it's like time travel almost. It's just epic that you can see stuff that far away.

"As a kid I always wanted aliens to be real, see a UFO, that kind of stuff. As I've got older I just appreciate it more and you can't not be humbled by it."

15/04/2024

The ceilidh isn’t the only part of traditional Cape Breton life that people are trying to preserve. Many locals are learning to speak Gaelic – commonly known as Nova Scotia Gaelic – which had nearly become extinct due to an education act issued by the English-speaking majority in the early 1900s that forbade its use in schools.

“My grandmother told me several times that when she started school she had actually gotten the strap for speaking Gaelic, but that was her mother tongue,” Gillis said.

According to Gaelic language teacher Carmen MacArthur, English was also thought of as ‘the language of progress’, so many islanders stopped speaking Gaelic to their children so they wouldn’t be at a disadvantage. However, thanks to enthusiasts like MacArthur, who value Gaelic as an essential part of Cape Breton identity, the language is seeing some resurgence.

03/04/2024

There’s a saying on the island that’s often seen written on signs, including one on a wall in Aunt Sandra’s kitchen: céad míle fáilte, meaning ‘100,000 welcomes’. For a community that readily invites people into their homes, it seems fitting.

“I think hospitality is a natural thing here, you know, I think people get a satisfaction out of bringing people into their homes and letting them enjoy a ceilidh, an evening together,” Gillis said. “In a way, it’s sad that it is dying out, but the movement to keep it afloat is good.”

12/03/2024

A fiddle in every household
With its roots in Gaelic culture, the ceilidh is a true slice of Cape Breton life. But over the years, it has faced some challenges as islanders have lost (and regained) interest because of modern life and lack of time.

According to local resident and general store owner, Austin Patterson, “There was a fiddle in every household and no doubt a person in every household that could play. That died away for a number of years until people realised what was happening and took an interest in it.”

29/02/2024

A Cape Breton ‘kitchen party’
On a rainy Friday afternoon, Dale Gillis stepped into his Aunt Sandra’s kitchen carrying an old teak table top. “A little dancing board,” he said, referring to how the house’s soft grey carpet was not a suitable platform for the evening’s festivities. That day, they were preparing to host a ceilidh, a special party that would involve food (like oatcakes and cheese), drink, and plenty of music and dancing – and include the whole of Scotsville, a small town tucked into a remote corner of Cape Breton Island in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.

Pronounced ‘kay-lee’, ceilidh is a Gaelic word for a gathering of people or a visit. On Cape Breton, these often impromptu get-togethers – commonly referred to as ‘kitchen parties’ – have evolved from the early days (when people settled here from Scotland in the 18th and 19th Centuries) to centre on fiddle music.

16/02/2024

Pink and purple lupins swayed along Prince Edward Island's Highway 101, where I'd just walked out of the town of Kensington. It was 09:00, and the road was busy with cars whose drivers seemed intent on finding coffee or getting to work. The smell of cow wafted across the wind before I spotted the animals grazing on the ridge. They were standing next to a sign that said, "Get high off our milk. Our cows are on grass."

It was my fourth day walking the Island Walk, a new 700km route that circles Canada's smallest province. Starting on PEI's rural west end, I had walked past vinyl-clad farmhouses with ocean vistas, along a boardwalk beneath whirling wind turbines, and above red clay cliffs that plunged sharply into the sea. I had stopped for a midday country music hour at the Stompin' Tom Centre, honouring Canadian singer-songwriter Tom Connors. I'd tromped through the rain along a secluded, wooded trail where swarms of canny mosquitos tried to shelter under my umbrella. And after learning about PEI's major crop at the Canadian Potato Museum, I had fuelled my day's walk with an extra-large cheese-topped baked potato served with freshly made potato chips. You know that a place is serious about its spuds when your potato comes with a side of potatoes.

30/01/2024

T
Tracing the jagged edge of Vancouver Island, the epic West Coast Trail is a six- to eight-day backpacking adventure within Canada's remote Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. This 75km self-sufficient expedition challenges around 7,500 hikers each season to climb more than 100 ladders, trudge along beaches ankle-deep in sand and slippery stones and endure the unpredictable West Coast weather.

When Diane Lloyd, a runner, leadership coach and facilitator, hiked the trail in 2019, she realised just how challenging it was. At one point, a curtain of rain poured over the hood of her jacket as she clung to a slippery wooden ladder 20ft from the ground. Clusters of spiky sword ferns clung to the crumbling bank in front of her. Blinking water from her eyes, she gingerly looked up, trying not to disturb her hulking backpack and lose her balance. "One more step seemed like a lot perched on this ladder in the drenching rain," she told me, "and I was just beginning the 75km hike."

However, well before experienced hikers began testing themselves against Mother Nature and this wild coastal terrain, First Nations depended on this trail for survival. It had long been part of an Indigenous trade and travel route when 14 survivors from the Brig William, the earliest recorded shipwreck off the treacherous coastline, made it to shore in 1854. First Nations fed, clothed and cared for the survivors before paddling them in a canoe to the closest settlement.

As ship traffic increased, so did the number of wrecks and casualties, and the coastline became known as the "Graveyard of the Pacific". When the US passenger steamer SS Valencia hit a reef near Pachena Point in 1906 and 136 people perished, the government responded with updated maritime safety and rescue infrastructure. One of the initiatives was the Dominion Life Saving Trail to aid shipwreck survivors, complete with emergency shelters and supplies along the First Nations path.

26/12/2023

Some recent global developments have been positive.

At COP28, the world agreed the need to "transition away" from fossil fuels for the first time - although the deal doesn't go as far as many had hoped.

This comes alongside a goal to triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030, building on the strong recent growth of these technologies.

Countries also agreed to implement a specific "loss and damage fund", seen as a major win for developing nations.

This money will help poorer countries cope with the destruction caused by extreme weather. These events are getting worse in many places as the world warms.

Despite some positive signs, the world is "not on track" to limit global warming to 1.5C, the UN says.

The hope is that the agreements at COP28 will translate into meaningful action to keep this target within reach.

14/12/2023

The world has reached a new deal to tackle climate change at COP28 in Dubai.

The agreement stresses the importance of limiting long-term warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels - the time before humans started burning large amounts of fossil fuels - in order to avoid the most dangerous impacts of climate change.

This goal was first agreed in 2015, when nearly 200 countries signed a landmark deal in Paris.

However, meeting this target will require steep and rapid cuts to emissions of the greenhouse gases that are heating the planet.

Use the interactive chart below to see which countries are on track with their commitments to meet the Paris climate goal of keeping global temperature rises below 1.5 degrees. #поставьлайк #лайкизалайки #поставь #лайкивзаимно #лайкиинстаграм #лайквзаимно #лайкнименя #инстатаг #лайкни #лайкивинстаграме

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