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Attended (remotely) this lecture on artificial selection by Professor Robin May at Gresham College tonight - really interesting stuff about our impact on evolution, both our own and other species. You can catch it on line here: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/human-led-evolution

I had the pleasure of doing a day's axe forging at the Oldfield Forge near Hereford last summer. It's taken me until now to find the time to heat treat it (ran out of time on the day 'cos I had a dinner date :)) so, now it's hafted, I thought I'd tell you about it! There were a number of...

OK, not quite entirely DIY as it's based on a Record BDS150 belt sander - but you'll see what I mean :) I don't make enough knives to justify buying another piece of kit but at the same time I was getting frustrated with not having 'the right kit' so I converted my belt sander into a knife...

I've finally got round to extracting some stable core out of rotten 350 year old oak beams I have. I plan to make a knife handle from this blank but I'm also going to try turning some small items. It's unbelievably hard!

First time down in the wood today since I finished coppicing two weeks ago - what a change! Primroses, lesser celandine, and carpets of wood anemone - no chiffchaff here yet but any day now :)

Tony has kindly agreed to me putting this notice up in case any of you are interested and/or local enough to come along (though anyone is welcome from near or far) :) - https://www.mont-hmg.co.uk/2024-symposium/

I carry very little that could be classified as EDC (that is 'every day'). I always have a SAK (Farmer Alox X about town, Swiss Champ in the woods) but the one thing I always have in my pocket and fret if it's not there is this, it's called a luck stone, it's about 30mm long and 7mm thick, and...

I know we've talked about recharging PCPs before, but I have a more specific question. I'm finding it increasingly difficult to get my tank (gun mounted) recharged - neither of the two gun shops within sensible distance of me hold air any more. So, it's either diver's air tank, 300bar...

Please help me find some new music! OK, I like to think I’ve got reasonably broad tastes in music but I’m struggling to find some new stuff that I can appreciate. I like a wide range of stuff by a very broad list of artists but I find so much of the current stuff winey love/loss-of-love drivel...

We had the pleasure of this little fella (or lass!) entertaining us for a good half hour today until it clocked we were about :) A rare sight even if they are reasonably common (well, in Wales anyway). It really made today into a great day; an uplift of the soul!

Do any of you feel irrational sentimental attachment to any object? I thought I was relatively immune from such feelings - strong will power, a belief in the Buddhist 'Attachment to Things' philosophy (Ajahn Chah) - but I surprised myself today. I was working in the wood on Thursday and, after...

I've recently taken up archery again; a new club has started up just 5 miles away from me :) Despite having a number of self-bows, I've bought myself a modern recurve to practice and get some consistency back into my shooting. However, I don't like all the plastic/aluminium modern...

I have decided that this great tent is just not for us :( - it's too big for two! So: Robens Klondike with inner tent which creates 1 or 2 separate rooms. Used once (erected a second time to take the photos) Undamaged Complete with full set of original pegs Total price, inclusive of insured...

Here is the photo of my tree - the competition doesn't allow direct upload for some reason

The main seal for the propellant canister was leaking on my CP88. I managed to get a new one for about £6 but replacing it meant completely dismantling the gun :( I'm sure you'll all be as relieved as I was when it went back together and worked :)

Experiments with ChatGPT I am intrigued by the idea of AI conversations and so I’ve finally got around to trying out ChatGPT. First, I asked about the discovery and development of fire by mankind. Naïve questions resulted in relatively simple and shallow answers but, as in real conversations...

As well as loads of plants in flower - today: first Chiffchaff and first Comma butterfly :)

I've been toying with the idea of making one of these for a while so, over the few days we were snowed in, I had a go. I wanted a leather cover for an A5 sized ring binder with a storage sleeve for my iPad mini. I've also been playing with the Raven graphic for a while and this was the first...

In 1997 I, and everyone else, had to surrender my target pistol (a Vostok semi-auto .22) but I kept the old pistol case. I spent the surrender money on a Walther CP88 CO2 .177 air pistol; it's fun, but not as much fun as the Vostok. I have never been satisfied with the cheap plastic case that...

A bit of a curved ball this one but I'm hoping someone out there has the knowledge :) I want to rip all my CDs onto a large hard drive - I know CDs are very passé but I don't like the new structure of Prime Music and I'm not paying more a month for their 'better' service. Anyway, I find myself...