Sunday, May 14, 2023

The Mind of a Bee, Lars Chittka, c. 2022

Locator: 44640SCI.  

One of several books I am reading, still from my winter reading program:

  • The Mind of a Bee, Lars Chittka, c. 2022. Princeton University Press. A scientific treatise. 

Chapter 3 begins with a quote regarding the complex organs of sense (sight, sound, touch) among non-human animals. The quote is by John Lubbock. The author, Lars Chhittka, writes:

If Britons today recognize the name John Lubbock at all, it is mostly becauuse he was the father of "bank holidays" -- official holidays on which banks and other businesses are closed

In addition to traditional holidays such as Christmas and Easter, the parliamentarian and banker Lubbock introduced several new ones clustered in the spring and summer months. This was because he was also a keen entomologist who lamented that his "parliamentary duties ... have absorbed most off my time just at the season of year when these insects can be most profitably studied."

Of all the ways politicians could use their powers to serve themselves and their public at the same time, letting an entire nation off work so one could study insects is surely the most wonderful.

These are the UK bank holidays:

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