Sideswipe: February 21: Bus stop or sheep shelter?

Did you know ...

1. When you dream, one portion of your brain creates the story, while another part witnesses the events and is really shocked by the plot twists.

2. Whales will grow up singing a specific song based on where they were born, but they'll learn verses of other songs from whales they encounter throughout their lives!

3. Hippos sweat sunscreen. They produce "sweat" made of one red and one orange pigment. The red pigment contains an antibiotic, while the orange absorbs UV rays.

4. The Cathedral Effect. If you work in a room with low ceilings, you will stay a bit more focused and be better at detailed, analytical work. If you are in a room with high ceilings, you will be more open and creative. This can be simulated by wearing a brimmed hat if you'd want to hammer away at say data entry or data analysis.

5. If the entirety of the Earth's history were compressed down to a single day, humans of any sort wouldn't appear until the last second before midnight.

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Erotic Almond

Wait till they work out Santa is also Satan.

Kamikaze birds

There is no shortage of theories as to the cause of a bizarre wildlife event in the city of Cuauhtémoc in northern Mexico caught on security video camera caught footage: a flock of migratory yellow-headed blackbirds suddenly plummeted out of the sky and slammed into the ground. While most of the birds managed to fly away, dozens of them were left on the ground, apparently dead from the impact. But what could have caused hundreds of birds to fall from the sky like that? The local newspaper reckoned that the birds were affected by toxic gas or pollution from wood-burning heaters and agricultural chemicals and the cold weather in the area. An ornithologist thought the birds were fleeing from a predator, and they made a big mistake in swooping down while flying. Wild guesses from non-experts and conspiracy theorists had a field day: fanciful theories like avian flu, 5G or collision with an invisible spaceship were touted on various social media posts. Others suggest that the birds hit an electrical power line and were electrocuted.