My Dad asked Jean if she knew fish had been alive on the Earth for millions of years, predating the dinosaurs.
Jean's response was - no they haven't!
Dad and Mum were like - yes they have been.
Jean got emphatic that they hadn't at which point I asked her why she thought that - Ferfer is wrong fish live in water not on earth.
Dad's face was a mask of amused disbelief. I explained that in this instance Earth meant the planet including the seas and oceans and not land. Jean thought it was silly we have two meanings for one word :/
Going through the zillions of photos I have taken I found this photo of Jean in Cheltenham - Jean likes Chelt especially the bit with the Bull and Hare statu - It has a conquer tree and she doesn't have to hold hands with an adult and there are flowers!
It also generally means we are off to do something fun!
I realised from Alaric's post on heating that I had yet mentioned our new Electricity company Ecotricity. We decided to move to this local company as they sit with our green ethics better than any of the larger companies plus they are just up the road and they sent us stickers!
I am aware that there are funding cuts all around and that some people view the problem as art verses science and argue things like art never took part in war. But a) this is wrong art very much does take part in war - in the form of writing or visual arts - think propaganda and b) the whole concept of there being an art/science dichotomy is blatently wrong. They are not opposites, they are not diametrically apposed things.
Art and science are subdivisions of Creative, they both use similar processes in creation of new things and more over one fuels the other. Now the issue with limited finding is - how much does it cost for paint brushes verses and MRI scanner? In an ideal world there would be no limitations but that is not the case. And the thing about science funding cuts is that is going to cost lives in the short and long term. Now don't get me wrong art does save lives but it is more of an enrichment thing (not that science doesn't enrich lives but you know what I mean!).
Of course I am biased in this due to the fact I chose to study science at university when I could have studied art - the deciding factor was that I could do art anywhere anytime but for science I needed access to machines - expensive machines.
This I suppose does mean the artists have to take more of an initiative in getting themselves going which due to social constraints means it sometimes doesn't happen.
Something else I have been meaning to blog on is how 'normal' people view both artist and scientists and too my suprise it is basically the same - but more on that later!
Today there is a rally where scientist and anyone passionate about science are going to march over the funding cuts to their fields. I can not be there not least because I am on crutches - this probably wouldn't have stopped me normally but baby has to come first!
Information can be found here.
And you can sign the petition here.
If you feel it's too late for today you can still join in the lobbying of our government on the 12th! Info on that is here.
And then there is always the ol' Write To Your MP.
Uncategorised | sarah | 
Tue 12th Oct 2010 7:32 am | 
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