Monday Meanderings - 8.5.2013

Barb and I use an App on our phones to track the books we have read. If you want to add a book to your database, you just scan the ISBN number and it does the rest. The other day she scanned a Phillip Margolin book, a suspense story titled Wild Justice, and this is what got loaded:

Do you think there might be a mistake or three in there somewhere?

Yea! Learning Ally finally got their air conditioner working again this weekend!  I'm sure the Studio is thankful that their readers can be comfortable in the recording booths and keep their clothes on.

Walking for an hour or so on the treadmill is just plain boring. I've tried several methods to deal with the monotony, but what's working at the moment is Pandora. Silver's Gym has WiFi and I created a channel that features Allman Brothers, Stevie Ray, Hendrix, Clapton and the odd and assorted blues musician. Good times!

You can't make this stuff up, folks. Item in the news recently said that a Chinese man named Li tried to smuggle his beloved pet turtle through airport security by putting it in a hamburger container between two buns and a slice of cheese. Oh, my. Where to even begin with this one?

Crow Mystery Solved.

The Texas Department of Public Safety was called in when police found over 200 dead crows near downtown Austin recently, and there was concern that they may have died from Avian Flu. A Bird Pathologist examined the remains of all the crows, and, to everyone's relief, confirmed the problem was definitely NOT Avian Flu. The cause of death, rather, appeared to be vehicular impacts.

However, a detailed analysis of the paint particles found on the bird's beaks and claws determined that 98% of the crows had been killed by impact with trucks, while only 2% were killed by an impact with an automobile. DPS then hired an Ornithological Behaviorist from A&M to determine if there was a cause for the disproportionate percentages of truck kills versus car kills.

The Ornithological Behaviorist very quickly concluded the cause: when crows eat road kill, they always have a look-out nearby to warn of impending danger. The conclusion was that while all the lookout crows could say "Cah", none could say "Truck."