But I am reasonably sure that both magpies and crows can read. And draw small diagrams on flip charts. How else could they co-ordinate their raids so effectively?
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
My theory is that in previous decades or century people just dropped dead from all kinds of causes that we had no idea of. Just as autism was not diagnosed as a thing, so a variety of allergies and illnesses were not defined.
I imagine there are processes that are making us more sensitive to nuts but we in the UK did not have an exposure to anything like the amount of nuts we have now until relatively recently (macadamia, almonds, pistachio etc) as most don't grow here.
Or it might be that processed baby foods have until fairly recently contained too much nut protein - I think I've read somewhere it's something that we aren't born able to process but that we develop as we get older (the opposite of milk). So if you get too much in your system before you can deal with it, it can trigger an immune response (allergy). A lot of children with quite severe nut allergies seem to grow out of it, though not all. Before processed mush in a bottle became normal food for babies, you'd never have even considered giving them a nut - it's an obvious choking risk. So even in parts of the world where those nuts do grow, babies wouldn't eat them. Not until they have their molars through at the earliest.
We may begin to see a reduction in the problem now, as it's become better recognised and food manufacturers are taking the issue of avoiding contamination far more seriously
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
We once held up a queue of people trying to check in on Virgin flight to Mumbai. What a performance! My daughter always carries a letter from her GP to say she has to carry an Epipen. So far so good. But no. Various people were called, ending up with a GP and a letter was produced to sign before we could check in ( and the very long queue behind us ) We kept saying " only if they're ingested " " ah but what if someone on a previous flight had been eating them and they'd rubbed their hands on the seat. "Nope, only if ingested" " what if........" "nope, that'd be fine too" and so it went on, and on and on. Better to be safe than sorry and all that, but it was verging on paranoia.
My theory is that in previous decades or century people just dropped dead from all kinds of causes that we had no idea of. Just as autism was not diagnosed as a thing, so a variety of allergies and illnesses were not defined.
I think a lot of historical people we think of as geniuses or who accomplished great things would be diagnosed with mental health problems or learning difficulties these days. We cram modern kids into a one size fits all mould and the one's that don't fit are 'problem children'.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
@raisingirl: Isn't the current advice the other way around? Parents are supposed to give babies peanut butter from 6 months old because this makes it less likely that they will develop nut allergy. Certainly this is what my daughter has done with my grandson so hope it's correct!
In fact, I think it is a general advice that early exposure to many things will reduce the chance of allergy. So for instance parents being too obsessed with cleanliness and hygiene will mean that children are more likely to develop asthma. I definitely never had that problem!
I remember hearing something a good while back about peanut oil being used in baby skin preparations and the theory was that absorbing the nut oil into the skin when the child's system hadn't first come across it via the digestive system was triggering the allergy. No idea whether it's true or not ......
Posts
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Before processed mush in a bottle became normal food for babies, you'd never have even considered giving them a nut - it's an obvious choking risk. So even in parts of the world where those nuts do grow, babies wouldn't eat them. Not until they have their molars through at the earliest.
We may begin to see a reduction in the problem now, as it's become better recognised and food manufacturers are taking the issue of avoiding contamination far more seriously
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
What a performance!
My daughter always carries a letter from her GP to say she has to carry an Epipen. So far so good. But no. Various people were called, ending up with a GP and a letter was produced to sign before we could check in ( and the very long queue behind us )
We kept saying " only if they're ingested " " ah but what if someone on a previous flight had been eating them and they'd rubbed their hands on the seat. "Nope, only if ingested" " what if........" "nope, that'd be fine too" and so it went on, and on and on.
Better to be safe than sorry and all that, but it was verging on paranoia.
In fact, I think it is a general advice that early exposure to many things will reduce the chance of allergy. So for instance parents being too obsessed with cleanliness and hygiene will mean that children are more likely to develop asthma. I definitely never had that problem!
ETA https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/4707134/Baby-lotion-may-be-to-blame-for-nut-allergies.html
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.