Mockers, Sat night misc.

This season of the year the mockingbirds are in full throat. One on the southeast corner of the yard is a particularly talented singer, running out long, sweet riffs on themes only heard in the mockingbird repertoire. He could appear with any jazz combo that ever played. Unfortunately, like a jazz artist, he does his best work after midnight.
There was a little piece in the Vicad today about mockers being able to recognize people who had messed about with the birds' nests and taking aggressive action against those people. It was pretty neat, but anyone who's ever studied on mockers would not doubt their intelligence. Scientific types have observed that mockers with complex songs have better luck hustling the chicks.

A team of US scientists has found that mockingbirds living in variable climates sing more elaborate songs.
Complex tunes, sung by males to impress females, are likely to signal the birds' intelligence.

All of that story can be found in the BBC Website.
In similar, sorta, vein, scientists have found that rooks, a crow cousin, use tools in ways thought beyond bird brains.

Rooks have a remarkable aptitude for using tools, scientists have found.
Tests on captive birds revealed that they could craft and employ tools to solve a number of different problems.
The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, came as a surprise as rooks do not use tools in the wild.

Read all that story here. It's cool; go read it.
You no doubt remember the stories about crows being able to count the number of people in a small group and to know when a human was carrying a gun.
Sometimes I will briefly misread a shrike for a mockingbird. There seem to be lot of shrikes this year. Shrikes are fascinating. A songbird, they have developed as raptors, birds that prey on small mammals and lizards and like that. As their claws are weak, shrikes impale their small victims on thorns or even the barbs on a fence. I have to admire a creature that has learned to do things not natural to their race. It's sort of like French heavyweight boxers. They're seldom any good, and it's amazing that they even exist.
The Pilot reports that someone has nominated Little Me as one of the most fascinating people in the Coastal Bend. I cringed at first and then remembered how many TV shows are devoted to the narcissistic maunderings of vapid but nubile young women and their moronic consorts. Anyone who liked those shows would see her as fascinating.
After all the hoohah about the readers selecting coverage at the paper, someone wrote in and complained about the interminable Fatal Funnel series, and Vicad editor Chris Cobler told the correspondent too bad. The same thing happened with the comic-strip vote, when the readers threw the silly Baldo strip off the page and the editors picked it up regardless. They even give it privileged spot on top of the page. Don't be too taken in by the idea that readers select content.

Little Me does it again

Little Me, the Vicad arts reporter, continues to share with us every detail of her fascinating and glamorous life. We are so lucky. In today's Page 1 piece she wrote, in part, "… I had horrific visions of perky girls named Brandi and Christi using their hot pink talons to try and stuff me into a 52-layered white cream puff that weighed as much as Rhode Island. …" Apparently someone named Aprill-with-two-ells is entitled to make a little fun of someone named Brandi-with-an-eye. To me one is a month, misspelled, and the other is something I like after dinner, likewise misspelled. Neither is a name. Little Me's solipsism just knocks me out, but not in a good way.

National dogs of Uruguay

The Internet is such fun. Noodling around this weekend, I found a site devoted to a breed of dog called the perro cimarrón, billed as the national breed of Uruguay. They are good sized, descended from the dogs that came with the Spanish and Portuguese, and look like something that would be a hog dog around here. They are listed by a breeder as being good for hunting large game, working stock, and guard duty. Some of them look a little blackmouth cur and some look a little pitbull. There are a lot of brindle coats.

Go to this site to see samples of the cimarron. Click around on the pix and videos ("perros trabajando") to see the dogs working the Hereford cattle that predominate in that South American country. Like many real working breeds, the cimarrones look to vary considerably in appearance. Hate to think what the AKC would do if they ever got ahold of this likely looking breed of dog. What cachet to have a cimarrón to walk on the sidewalks of New York. That cimarrón means 'wild.' (Bands of runaway slaves in the Caribbean were known as maroons and the name came not from the color but from a corruption of the word cimarrón.)

Cool site

A friend sends along this site, called You Are What You Eat and featuring photos of the contents of people's refrigerators and a short description of the people involved. Never mind "the eyes are the windows of the soul"; try "The fridge is the window of the soul."

Something to remember on Memorial Day weekend

A sad byproduct of the Mid-Eastern occupation with the long tours and stressful conditions for the U.S. military forces has been a disturbing rise in suicides by troops. From the WaPo:
The Army's biggest challenge is that its volunteer force is in uncharted territory. Many soldiers are now in the midst of their third or fourth combat tour, and Army surveys show that mental health deteriorates with each one. Senior Army officials said they are focusing more resources, including extra mental health counselors, where troops are returning from multiple deployments. This year, Fort Campbell, Ky., which is home to the frequently deployed 101st Airborne Division, has had 14 suicides.
You can read the whole thing here.

Commerce in P.L.

Walgreen's is building a new store on the corner of Virginia and Texas 35. I'm tickled to have a Walgreen's, but just a couple of blocks up Virginia there are two little locally owned pharmacies. In the little shopping center catty-cornered from the new store we already have an H-E-B with a pharmacy and a CVS drugstore. Isn't this excess? Guess we'll see what shakes out from all this, but surely someone will die, and it will probably be the little shops.

Goofy spam

A note from my old buddy Max Fernandez, who has somehow escaped my memory:

Would like you have a good mood!
I want to introduce a good web store, where sells all kinds of electronics: mobile phones, laptops, TV, camera and so on.
I bought a motorcycle there. It is very nice and with lower price. I think it is reliable and competitive with so good quality and reasonable price. You can have a try. The website is:(www).ccydyz.com.cn
Hope you can enjoy yourself in shopping from that company!
Regards

Stuff like this tickles me inordinately.
Mad Mike Austin cozened us into a kayak paddle this morning, out about 7:30, back at 9:30. It was fun, we saw a gator and myriad birds, and I will be needing Tylenol tonight at bedtime. He may have some pix posted at his place.