Scrapbook for learning

I noticed recently how much new stuff I'm learning these days. In fact, it feels like I give myself more homework now than I ever used to do when I was at school or university. For example, in the past week I've been:

- teaching myself to transcribe 17th century manuscripts
- helping a friend rewrite a research report on Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (which meant getting my head round enough of the science not to mess up the meaning of what I was editing)
- editing a magazine about "commons" and "common sense"
- taking part in an extended email discussion about copyright and ethics

I was talking to my friend's piano teacher Roland Perrin (http://www.rolandperrin.com/) recently about how to play jazz piano, and one of the things he said was that jazz piano rhythms are basically two conventional rhythms layered on top of each other.

And I've also been following Shawn Cheek's "Easy Piano Lessons" on YouTube, and he says a similar thing about jazz chords, that he hears jazz chords as two chords layered on top of each other. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=MMXYdD7rDhc, about 1:30 in)

- That it's cheaper to get from Biggleswade to London at peak rate than I thought
- That Google has lots of tools to help you advertise using their stuff
- That not wearing socks is a bad idea in British August
- That Wednesday is an odd day to come back after a holiday.