Keeping a blog upto date is tough!!!

Things I learned this week.

1. Huge respect to those of you who have the life styles, time, interest and/or dedication that enables you to post regularly. Maybe a list of things I learned on a daily basis is too tall an order.




2. Darwin was taking the waters in White Wells Bath House in Ilkley, when his famous work "On the Origin of Species" was published. I attended an excellent and thoughtful lecture on Thursday to mark the 200th Anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin. This was given by Dr Jeremy Pritchard from Birmingham University and was a Tour de Force on how to teach Evolution in schools. The bath House is at LS29 9RF. The powerpoint of the lecture can be found here. Thank fully we are not in the USA where in several states the teaching of evolution is banned. He showed hopeful data that more people are becoming, once again, more in favour of evolution as a theory, and that good teaching can make a difference.




3. One of those interesting coincidences was pointed out in the press this week, that Darwin and Abraham Lincoln were born on the same day. Simon Jenkins' article about who was the most important, not surprisingly for a political journalist comes down in favour of Lincoln, but is still worth a read. But Isn't this abit like asking which is most important for life....water or oxygen.



4. Dwarf Aquatic Frogs are fascinating and easy to keep pets (so far.)

Things I have learned in the last few days.

1. Bad weather is great for bird watching. We've been making sure we keep our feeders topped up over the last week. We have been rewarded by tens of birds visiting our garden. We've had feeders that look like pictures in an RSPB catalogue. We've also had some rarish visitors like flocks of waxwings and fieldfare. So feed the birds! (bit more than tuppence a bag but it's worth it)

2. Get a job as a banker if you can. How can they get bonuses? A bonus has to be performance related. Some of these guys seem to have negotiated contracts where their bonuses are guaranteed!!!