Entering the office of New Deal, the agency that handles the unemployed in Britain, I notice the young security guard at reception looking at me in that 'Don't I know you?' way.

"Have you claimed in the last three months Sir?"

I truthfully reply I that I hadn't. He looks me in the eye and clearly doesn't believe me. This does not bode well. What worries even more is that the familiar faces of the dole office aren't there... Uh-oh...

Fossil of the Week

Goes to a chap in america who recovered the tooth of a Megalodon. These were big sharks, up to sixty feet long with jaws large enough for a grown man to walk through, and believed to have become extinct as little as two million years ago. When you look at the fossil record, its clear that size is an important survival advantage. You can be too big to be attacked and eaten. Its also clear that since mankind started walking around, the large species have gone. Megalania, a giant komodo dragon from Australia - vanished. A two ton marsupial grazer from the same period - gone. Deinotherium, a truly massive african elephant - gone. Gigantopithecus, a king kong version of african gorilla - gone. Mammoths, mastodons, woolly rhinos, ground sloths, flightless birds, huge bears and cave lions - all gone.

You could argue that most of these died because of climate change, loss of natural enviroments, and so forth. There is however an uncomfortable feeling that human beings have burned, stampeded, hunted, and chased out these animals either because they were a threat or because they were tasty. Whilst some primitve peoples are extraordinary survivors and very aware of the ebb and flow of resources, it takes a long time for a species to fit in with the locals and become part of the ecology proper. Our ancient forebears may also have unwittingly spread disease via our faithful friend, the domesticated wolf.

Destructive little beggars aren't we? Somehow though, I doubt we had much to do with the demise of a sea-going monster of a shark!