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The World’s First Freeway
Local History Files
In 1939 The Arroyo Seco (Dry Creek) Freeway – now the Pasadena or #110 Freeway – was still being built, but sections were already open to traffic. This early film captures the look of Los Angeles’ – therefore California’s, therefore the U.S.’s, therefore the world’s – first freeway.
As you might expect, drivers weren’t really ready for it. If you closely watch this film, and several other films on the same YouTube page, you’ll see some close calls, bad merging, bad exiting, too-fast cornering and people driving on the wrong side of the road.
If no film or link appears in this email, go to the blog to view it by clicking on the blog title above. If the film stops & starts in an annoying manner, press pause (lower left double bars ||) to let it buffer and get ahead of you. Thanks to Hollywood Dave for the link. [Chuck Almdale]
The Bearded Vulture
An amazing clip from a BBC film showing how the Bearded Vulture gets and eats its food.
Links: HERE for the vulture episode. You will have to keep an eye peeled for the longer (57 minutes) film – I could not find it online.
Science News for Students
One of my favorite magazines, to which I began subscribing about thirty years ago, after learning that Isaac Asimov was a long-time reader, is Science News, the magazine of the Society for Science & the Public. For decades the Society has run an annual science competition for students, with significant cash awards.
The magazine comes twice a month, 32 pages of 1/4-page to 8-page stories, covering all sorts of science topics. I recommend it, but that’s not the point of this posting.
They also have a free website of Science News for Students, designed to spark and encourage a thirst for science, science research, science reading. That’s all good, in my book. [You may have noticed that while our blogsite was created to focus on birds, we’re also interested in many other areas of science.]
Here’s a series of screen shots from the site, beginning with the top of the opening page.
A bit lower down on the first page, some categories of topics…
Here’s one of those topics, experiments you can do at home…
They have a section on our most recent planetary catastrophe, obsession and favorite pandemic…\
Check them out.
[Chuck Almdale]
The Far Side Strikes Back!
It’s been only six months since Gary Larson’s The Far Side cartoons reappeared (legally, unlike all the other copies) on the web, a fact we previously mentioned here and here. The millions of illegal cartoons already on the web was part of the reason Larson started his own site.
The other reason is that he bought a digital tablet with a good drawing program, tried it out, and rediscovered his love of cartooning. As he put it today, in his introduction to some NEW CARTOONS (Ta Da!):
So a few years ago—finally fed up with my once-loyal but now reliably traitorous pen—I decided to try a digital tablet. I knew nothing about these devices but hoped it would just get me through my annual Christmas card ordeal. I got one, fired it up, and lo and behold, something totally unexpected happened: within moments, I was having fun drawing again. I was stunned at all the tools the thing offered, all the creative potential it contained. I simply had no idea how far these things had evolved. Perhaps fittingly, the first thing I drew was a caveman.
So check out the start of his new stuff.
I assume his old cartoons will continue on The Daily Dose, as well as access to the new. And put a permanent link to them on your computer, pad or phone fer cryin’ out loud!
[Chuck Almdale]
while passing through a duck one day…
…in the merry merry month of May…
Bufflehead male (Joyce Waterman 12-9-17)
Fish Eggs Can Survive a Journey Through Both Ends of a Duck
A new study finds some eggs remain viable even after being eaten and pooped out by waterfowl
Smithsonian Magazine | By Alex Fox | July 2, 2020
In lakes and pools that appear physically cut off from other bodies of water, fish sometimes seem to materialize out of nowhere. This somewhat mystical sounding theory might not be far off: a new study suggests fish eggs may simply fall from the sky. In experiments, some fish eggs hatched after being pooped out by ducks, suggesting that feathered flight could facilitate seemingly immaculate piscine invasions, reports Priyanka Runwal for Audubon.
Maybe that’s how those minnows got into your backyard inflatable kiddy pool.
[Chuck Almdale]
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