12 December 2014 (Friday) - Mass Extinction Events

As I came down for brekkie so my dog shot up the stairs hoping to sleep where I’d just been. I wish he wouldn’t do that.
I scoffed brekkie, and on seeing the rain outside I decided not to go for our walk. The weather forecast said it would brighten up later so I made a start on this week’s Coursera work. Today we were doing about the effects of mass extinction events on vertebrate evolution. The last time I really studied any non-human biology in any real detail was quite some time ago; it’s amazing just how much theory has changed in the past thirty years.
When I was a lad the theories held no truck with mass extinction events. This is why (as a scientist by trade myself) I get wound up with those who hold science up as the be-all and end-all and are every bit as blinkered about it as others are about their religions. Science really does complete change its mind every so often.

By nine o’clock the rain had stopped, so I took “Furry Face TM “ for a walk. We went back to Singleton Lake. My furry associate played with (chased) the ducks. He found it most unfair that they took refuge on the lake; he wasn’t prepared to go in the water after them.
Whilst he did his thing I did more field trials on my latest Wheri-project. Despite my feeling the thing was completely ready I still found half a dozen little glitches in it.

Pausing only briefly to roll in fox poo we made our way home. As we walked, so my dog played with other dogs as we went. Sometimes it might look a little rough, but that’s how dogs play. Usually.
On our way home we encountered a really nasty small white Jack Russell names Pippa. Fudge ran up to her playfully…. To cut a long story short I didn’t break Pippa’s jaw to get her off my dog’s leg. But (if necessary) I would have done.
The foreign–sounding woman with this Pippa smiled sweetly, and said she didn’t know which dog was to blame for the altercation. I told her that I did, and I walked off. (But perhaps I’m biased)
Mind you  “Furry Face TM “ seemed none the worse for the ordeal, and he carried on playing with other dogs as he went.

Once home a certain Patagonian Tripe-Hound went in the bath. With mud, grime and fox poo hosed off of him I then spent an hour making the final changes to my latest Wherigo. Then over a spot of lunch I watched the last video lectures in this week’s Coursera module. I didn’t do as well as I was hoping in the test this time. Such is life.

I took myself off to bed; I try to get some sleep before the night shifts but whilst it’s easy to doze off when you don’t want to, getting sleep isn’t something that can be done at will. Despite next door’s new bathroom build, phone calls and dogs declaring “Red Alert” I managed three hours. Not bad really.

I’m off to work now…

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