Touching Birds and Eggs Myth

Many of us have heard that handling a baby bird or bird egg will cause the parent birds to reject it.

Most birds have a very poor sense of smell, so they are unable to notice human scent on baby birds (even a skunk’s spray doesn’t seem to bother many types of birds). In most cases, even if the nest is destroyed by wind or other means, you could create a new one and put all the nestlings back in it and the parents wouldn’t care that their baby birds were in a different nest when they come back; so long as the new nest near where the old one was so they can find it.

Hoopoe

Ducks and Hoopoe will often poop on their own eggs with particularly smelly discharge to discourage predators from eating them.

Parking Tip

Since most of us have smart phones and usually do not carry pencils, pens, or paper - take a picture of the nearest sign where you parked so when you return, it will be easy to find your vehicle.

Whats in a Name, Union Station

Many towns have a Union Station. Some larger ones are in Chicago, Chattanooga, Cincinnati, Denver, El Paso, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Nashville, St. Louis, Washington, D.C., and many more.

Union stations or depots were constructed to consolidate rail traffic into a single terminal instead of having each railroad build a separate station and approach-track system. They formed a 'union', or coming together of railroad companies, facilities, and tracks.

The intent was to save money and hundreds of acres of valuable downtown real estate. It was and remains a success for achieving those goals. In addition, It is handy for travelers to have one place to go, regardless of final destination.

A railroad operating only a handful of trains per day through a town couldn't afford to build a fancy station, but several railroads sharing one facility could. Many Union Stations were impressive works of architecture that were preserved long after the trains that used them disappeared.

Sticking to Legend

According to legend, Scotch tape earned its name when a frustrated customer told a 3M scientist to “take it back to your Scotch bosses and tell them to put more adhesive on it.” Today, Scotch “Magic Tape” is manufactured in one place in the world: Hutchinson, Minn.

The Real Little Mermaid

In the Disney version, the film ends with Ariel the mermaid being changed into a human so she can marry Eric. They marry in a wonderful wedding attended by humans and merpeople.

In the original version by Hans Christian Andersen, the mermaid sees the Prince marry a princess and she despairs. She is offered a knife with which to stab the prince to death, but rather than do that she jumps into the sea and dies by turning to froth.

Andersen later modified the ending to make it more pleasant. In the new ending, instead of dying when turned to froth, she becomes a 'daughter of the air' waiting to go to heaven.

Nero Didn't Fiddle

The violin (fiddle) was invented a thousand years after the Great Fire of Rome. It belongs to a family of stringed instruments, which includes the cello and viola. Among these three, it is the highest-pitched and smallest.

Renowned violin maker Andrea Amati constructed the very first violin sometime in 1555. Before that, there was a violin-like instrument called violetta, which only had three strings instead of the usual four strings that are found in modern-day violins.

Many archive documents relate that from about 1585 Brescia, Italy was the cradle of a magnificent school of string players and makers, all called with the title of 'maestro' of all the different sort of multi-string instruments of the Renaissance: viola da gamba, violone, lyra, lyrone, violetta, and viola da brazzo.

A Persian geographer, Ibn Khurradadhbih of the 9th century was the first to cite the bowed Byzantine lira, which is held upright as a typical instrument of the Byzantines and equivalent to the rabāb used in the Islamic Empires of that time. The Byzantine lira spread through Europe westward and in the 11th and 12th centuries European writers use the terms fiddle and lira interchangeably when referring to bowed instruments.

The rabāb was introduced to the Western Europe and both bowed instruments spread widely throughout Europe giving birth to various European bowed instruments.

Lutherie

This is the practice of crafting stringed instruments, such as a violin or guitar. Lutherie is commonly divided into two main categories: makers of plucked or strummed string instruments or makers of stringed instruments that are bowed, which may require the additional help of an archetier. An archetier is someone skilled in the crafting of bows.

Experimental luthiers are craftsman who design string instruments with altered parts, or who create new and original instruments as are commonly used in the rock and jazz genres. Most instruments are never replicated or mass produced on a scale like the guitar or violin. However, additions to major instruments, such as the original vibrato bar become a vital part of the instrument.

Yogurt Breath

Research shows that the live bacteria in yogurt can suppress levels of bad breath causing bacteria. "Good" bugs in yogurt may crowd out the "bad" stink-causing bacteria or create an unhealthy environment for it.

Wordology, Called on the Carpet

To be called 'on the carpet', i.e. for reprimand by superior, is likely an early 1900's, American colloquial, from one's uncarpeted work area to carpeted offices of one's superior.

During the early 1700s it also referred to a cloth (carpet) covering a conference table and therefore came to mean "under consideration or discussion." In 19th-century America, however, carpet meant "floor covering," and the expression, first recorded in 1902, alluded to being called before or reprimanded by a person rich or powerful enough to have a carpet.

Happy Friday

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

To be truly happy, practice compassion while having a Happy Friday!

Picnics and Barbecues

Just about all the ingredients to make a perfect ‘All-American’ picnic come from German origins.

There is the hot dog, wiener, or a Frankfurter; a pork sausage that originated in 13th century Germany. We also cannot forget the Brats or Bratwurst and Knackwurst, both great grilled. All of these washed down with a chilled beer, while not originating in Germany, was certainly made popular there many years ago.

Ketchup was developed by Heinz, and Mayonnaise, developed by Hellman, both German immigrants. Some of those items are based off earlier recipes (Ancient Rome: ketchup; France: mayonnaise) but the favorites eaten today are definitely German.

Then, of course, there is the Potato Salad. There are many different versions to this dish, one of the most popular variations is the traditional German potato salad.

Smallest Park in the World

The smallest park in the world is Mill Ends Park in Portland, Oregon. It is 452 square inches or barely two feet across and not quite suitable for a barbecue. The nearby Forest Park is 60 million times as big.

Mill Ends started in 1948, when Oregon Journal journalist Dick Fagan noticed a forgotten hole outside his office on Front Street. He planted flowers and began to write a weekly column about goings-on there.

When Fagan died in 1969, Portland took up the tradition and dedicated Mill Ends as an official city park in 1976. Sometimes it has a swimming pool for butterflies, with diving board, a miniature Ferris wheel, and statues. It hosts snail races, weddings, and regular rose plantings.

A Long Rhode Island

Speaking of small, it is the smallest state with the longest name. The official name, used on all state documents, is “Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.”

Remembering Elvis

Elvis Presley died at age 42 in August 1977. Thousands lined the streets of Presley’s hometown on the day of his funeral. The nation, the music world, and fans from around the world were in shock over his passing. Even to this day, some say that Elvis didn’t die, he just wanted to get away from it all.

The sales numbers may seem small compared to a few of today's musicians, but then many have come and gone without fanfare and few remained on top for 25 years. The number of hits remains large as Elvis had an 107 hits on the pop music charts. His first hit was Heartbreak Hotel in 1956 and his last was Guitar Man, after his death in 1981. Presley had 28 gold records, 12 number one songs and 38 top-ten hits.