Today we decided to have out half term day out and this time we decided that the venue would be Knowsley Safari Park. The delivery of my new camera (Panasonic DMC-FZ7 was perfectly timed this morning!).

For those of you not from the area Knowsley Safari park is located not a million miles away from Liverpool just off the M57 motorway. From our house the drive is about 40 minutes and for once we didn’t get stuck in traffic. We decided the take Helen’s car as we didn’t want a stary Lions claw going straight through the roof of mine!

We have used some Tesco Clubcard points in order to reduce the cost and so entry was a bargain £2. First came the Safari drive with some magnificent animals all the way around the drive. The Lions were one of the bottle necked areas. Here there was just the one male and about 10 females. These must have been all his bitches! There were beautiful creatures and they were not really bothered in the slightest with all the cars and people viewing them. You think that they would get a little annoyed by it, but like us, on a beautiful day all they wanted to do was to sunbathe in the lovely weather. The male is the one with the mane and amazing it was to. At one point 4 of the females were getting restless. He wandered over and put a stop to it very quickly. It was funny to watch.

Half way around the drive there is the Baboon pen. This is the one were there is the ‘friendly’ drive and the ‘normal (not so friendly?)’ drive. Clear warning signs are displayed warning you that they will jump on cars and may cause damage - enter at your own risk. You hear this and don’t really every believe it but it was true. They were all over most cars and some of them doing some tremendous damage. There was a Vauxhall in front of use with the wing mirror ripped off and a Volkswagen that had a plastic roof seal (the bit that goes in the gutter were the roof rack would fit) ripped upwards. Thankfully our car did not attract any Baboon attention.

At the end of the safari drive there are some other attractions to see. We went and watched the Sea Lion display which was amazing. The get the Sea Lions doing all sorts of tricks and you really do wonder how they train them to do that. Also in this area was the Otters and the Meer Kats. I remember watching a program (Wildlife on One I think) many years ago about Meer Kats and the way that the keep guard on their back legs. What I didn’t realise was how small they were. There are smaller than a pet cat by a long way. In fact George and Jeremy are bigger than them. The other highlight of this area was the Otters. We never thought we would see them as they are very good at hiding but they were out about in force. Two of them, fighting over an empty Skittles rapper that some, not so nice visitor, had left behind for them. They were such interesting and energetic creatures and it was lovely to get a big glimpse of them in the pool and messing around with each other.

We really enjoyed the trip and would definitely go back. You will need a good 3 hours as the drive takes around 2 hours with all the cars stopping etc. to look at the various animals.

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Knowsley Safari Park
Full Gallery of Photos

Controversy today as a new reality TV show was announced for TV in Holland. The Big Donor Show is supposed to involve a terminally ill woman and she has to decide who gets her kidneys. Three people wait for the donor.

It has been all over the news all day with everyone saying that it is outrageous and should not happen. It does seem a little too far in terms of reality TV. It was Big Brother that started off the craze and currently there is Grease is the Word on Saturday nights. It is TV that we all seem to relish watching and take part in.

Personally I am not that big of a fan. I have watched Big Brother however the rest I have not really got involved in. Also I have never felt the need to vote which I suppose is the whole point of it.

What I really wanted to say about this issue is that first of all I am with the news on this one in that it is something that I think is wrong. However if people are not happy with it then to me it is simple, DON’T WATCH IT!. It does annoy me that all these adverts and TV shows that get banned etc. Have people nothing better to do than complain to whatever watchdog it is about the content. If you don’t like the look of a program don’t watch it. This new program have got the exact reaction they wanted from the media. Now everybody world (certainly European) wide will now about the show and this is a good thing for the makers. I bet that a good percentage of the people that are saying it is terrible are going to end up watching it.

I was mailed these earlier today from various people. Very funny I thought.

I particularly like the first one - Round in a Shot. That is so true for some many things. Very clever really but I wonder what actually happened to him. Did he get punished?

Also How many times have we said that we were heading up this creek? We never stop to see if we have a suitable paddle. Well not you all know where to make that purchase from!

Yesterday evening I had a crisis. Not a major one but it did mean that, for now at least, sandwiches of a certain variety would no longer be on the menu. The crisis was that I had run out of Picalily.

Well Peter Kay said he would rather “lick his own ass hole” than eat it but I don’t care - its good. You may well be thinking why doesn’t this fool just buy some more from the supermarket? Well I would but my family have made their own Piccalilli for some time now and it outshines bought Piccalilli by a long long way. It has got to the stage now that I can no longer eat the shop bought stuff as it tastes completely different.

The best use of this product is to eat it along with some corned beef on a sandwhich. The recipe is simple. Buy a tin of corned beef, brown bread, and the famous Piccalilli. Note the absence of any margarine or spread of any kind. I have never eaten this on sandwiches and this goes along way to creating this delicious sandwich. It is always best to chill the corned beef in the fridge for a couple of hours before slicing as it collapses otherwise.

So if you are reading mum and dad, please, please, please get making another batch quickly!

I have wondered for a while about how to go about customizing the Wordpress dashboard to make it more your own, and finally I have managed to it. It is really rather easy.

First of all you do need to have some knowledge of CSS as all the changes (well nearly) involve changing the CSS style sheet in order to change the look of the pages. You will also need to change a few images here and there in order to create the look that you want. I would also recommend that you download the web developer add on for Firefox. This is very helpful when working out which parts of the CSS file does what.

The first thing that I thought about changing was the login screen. For Penny4Them this seems a little strange I know as I am the only one that sees it however for MW Teaching Resources Blog it was something that I wanted to investigate. Below is what I managed to change the login screen to, a rather cool customization I thought!

To do this you need to change two different images. These are located in the images folder inside wp-admin. An image called login-bkg-tile.gif and login-bkg-bottom.gif are the ones that you need to change. Just create new image however you want them to look and then replace these files keeping their names the same.

Then I thought about changing the dashboard area of the blog. To do this you will need to edit the wp-admin.css style file that is in the wp-admin folder. Load your dashboard in your browser and then use the “Information + Show ID & Class Details” option from the web developer toolbar to work out which parts of the CSS file change what. Using either a text editor or web design software (I use Dreamweaver) you can then change the colours etc. like I have done below.

It will at first take you a few minutes to work out what CSS rules changes what but once you have got the hang of it it really isn’t that difficult. For the logo in the footer you need to change wordpress-logo.png which is in the images folder in wp-admin. Once again create your own logo or image, call it the same name and then upload to the same location.

And there you have it a customized version of the wordpress dashboard and login pages. You can either go further still and edit the php pages of the dashboard so that it only shows certain things. For example I have edited the pages of MW Teaching Resources Blog so that users only have limited options of what they can do. Give it a try.

I received this email today which I thought was rather funny - and very true!

Excerpts from a Dog’s Diary

*8:00 am - Dog food! My favorite thing!*
*9:30 am - A car ride! My favorite thing!*
*9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!*
*10:30am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!*
*12:00pm - Lunch! My favorite thing!*
*1:00 pm - Played in the yard! My favorite thing!*
*3:00 pm - Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!*
*5:00 pm - Milk bones! My favorite thing!*
*7:00 pm - Got to play ball! My favorite thing!*
*8:00 pm - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing! *
*11:00 pm - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!*

Excerpts from a Cat’s Diary

*Day 983 of my captivity. My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat
something in order to keep up my strength. The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet.*

*Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a “good little hunter” I am. Bastards! There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of “allergies.” I must learn what this means, and how to use it to my advantage.*

*Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow — but at the top of the stairs. I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released - and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded. The bird has got to be an informant. I observe him communicate with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe. For now…*

With everybody talking rubbish at the moment it has got me thinking about recycling once again. How are we going to make sure that the vast majority of the population are recycling their waste?

Many councils including my own have offered green boxes and brown bins in order for you to collect your recyclable waste and then it is collected from you once a week or in many cases once every fortnight. However although it doesn’t bother me to complete this, some are suggesting that the time it takes to sort your waste into the different piles is too long and that it is putting people off recycling.

I do agree that it can get a little confusing. Our council are good in that they collect many different types of waste, however knowing when to put which bin or box out at what time can be confusing and mean you can forget to put the right recyclable waste out at the right time.

Therefore I was thinking why isn’t the process made easier. I was watching the program “How Do They Do It?“. It was explaining how the waste that we put out for collection is recycled. The first stage in this process was to sort through all the waste, even though it had been put into the different categories by the public. Therefore this seems to me as though you are sorting the materials twice. Why not just provide every household with three large Wheelie bins in which to put their waste in. In one can go the general waste which cannot be recycled (your traditional dustbin!), in the second can go composting materials such as grass cuttings and vegetable peeling etc. and then in the last anything else that is recyclable such as cans, bottles, plastic and paper etc. This could then all the sorted at the recycling centre instead. It would mean that the public isn’t really having the do an awful lot extra in order to recycle their rubbish and improve the environment for everyone.

Of course it would take longer to sort but surely it would increase the number of people recycling which is what we all need.

Searching around on Youtube the other day I found some formula one videos of the 1980s and 1990s. Much of them were crash videos which I have already spoken about, however it did get me thinking about watching Formula One over the years.

I started watching F1 in 1991. I missed the first 6 rounds or so and caught up mid season. Mansell had a poor start but was challenging until the Japanese Grand Prix when Senna just pipped him as he slid off at the first corner. I followed F1 closely all the way through the 1990s watching Senna’s brilliance and then of course his tragic death and then watching the Schumacher dominance broken breifly by Hill, Villeneuve and Hakkinen.

All this new found interest got me wanting to purchase some of the seasons review DVDs that I used to buy as a kid and watch over and over again to the annoyance of my brother, hogging the video recorder. However doing a search it became clear that they were not available on DVD. Therefore I got onto eBay and started looking.

This morning my first of 6 VHS videos arrived. The 1986 season review. Mansell and his blow-out tyre in the final race was almost the champion. The VHS has to come out from under the sofa and I spent an uninterrupted hour enjoying this great video. I can’t wait for the others to arrive - hopefully tomorrow morning!

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Official F1 Site

So today we here that there are worries over the safety of many of the wireless signals that are used for Wi-Fi wireless Internet both in Wi-Fi hotspots and many office and school wireless networks. Being a teacher and in charge of ICT it is certainly something to think about.

As far as I am aware the wireless access points that give off a wireless signal do so in much the same way as a mobile phone. The debate around the safety of mobile phones has raged for a while now with the eventual outcome being that they are safe - surprise surprise! Studies were hardly going to say they were killing us were they. Just think of the uproar and effect on the economy. Still that said I think the the ‘this and that’ user like me and 90% of the population they are fine.

However it will be the parents of the pupils in school that will no doubt have concerns now over the use of wireless Internet systems in schools. The very fact that all of their children will be subjected to far greater doses of radiation than what they would receive from a school wireless network is irrelevant. I am sure all they will want is someone to blame if something goes wrong.

Personally I think that the risks from having these devices in and around our lives are minimal and wouldn’t hesitate to install a wireless network in our school. I wonder what everybody else thinks.

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Schools want urgent Wi-Fi advice
School radiation levels warning
Panorama on the dangers of Wi-Fi signals

Spaghetti Bolognese has always been a classic favourite in our family. It is one of those timeless meals that never goes out of fashion, that is easy to make and (nearly) everybody loves it. So here is my version.

First of all the ingredients that you will need in order to make Mark’s Spaghetti Bolognese are:

• 454g (1lb) pack of lean minced beef
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 carrot, finely diced
• 2 stick of celery, finely diced
• 250g mushrooms. sliced
• 2 large tins of chopped tomatoes
• 1 tbsp. tomato puree
• Slug of red wine
• 1 tsp. dried mixed herbs
• Pinch sugar
• Salt and freshly milled pepper to taste

Now for the method. Follow these simple instructions in order to create your spag bol:

1. First of all place the mince in a large bowl and microwave on full power for 3 minutes. Then drain the fat off the mince, break it up with a wooden spoon and microwave for a further 3 minutes. Drain the fat and break up again.
2. Heat some oil (not virgin olive!) in a large pan (a wok is best) and then add the onion, garlic, celery and carrot and fry over a medium heat, moving around from time to time for around 5 minutes or until they have taken on some colour.
3. Add the mince beef and mushrooms and continue to fry, stirring now and then over a high heat for 2 - 3 minutes.
4. Add the tomatoes ad tomato puree and stir well. Pour in the wine and add the sugar and herbs.
5. Stir well and then bring to the boil. Once boiling turn the heat down to low and allow to simmer for around 80 - 90 minutes until it has reduced down into a thick consistency.
6. Seasons with salt and pepper to taste and serve with your favourite pasta.

To make it extra special you could add a few rashers of bacon in with the onions, carrots and celery and also fresh herbs are always better than dried. If using fresh herbs then you should add these at the last minutes before serving.

This is one of those dishes that freezes really well and therefore as the above recipe serves four you can always freeze the left overs if there is only two of you. Also kept for a few days in the fridge, like most stews it tastes better a few days after. The flavours really develop well.

Many friends and family always ask me what wine to put in a bolognese. Well I have the school of thought that says it doesn’t matter. The only rule with the wine, is if it isn’t good enough to drink, don’t cook with it. Still a reasonable £bottle will do fine!

Do enjoy the recipe it is delicious to come home from work to with a nice glass of red wine.

P.S. - always serve in a large bowl. It feels more authentic and it is easier to eat spaghetti out of!

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Cooking section of markdw.co.uk/hobbies