Falling under the category of random musings during car rider line:

If we gaze up at the clear blue sky and see shapes in the clouds, do birds look down and imagine things on the ground?

Does a bird see a grove of trees in winter and believe he’s stumbled upon an enormous raptor’s nest?

What about a long dirt road ending in a tobacco crop?  Does that make birds chirp “tree!” or think landing strip?

And if there’s a herd of cattle resting lazily in a pasture, sprawled about in the midday heat, does that look like the best roadkill ever?  Does it lure small birds into a nosedive only to send them scattering once they realize that the roadkill is a) not dead, and b) actually animals fifty times their size?

Where exactly is the tipping point for a riding mower on an incline?

Is this one of those sensory things?  You’re puttering along, mowing the part of your yard beside the road that slopes gently toward the asphalt, when suddenly you feel a shift.  A slight slip over the grass, a small slump in the seat as you grasp the wheel tighter.  Or is this one of those real world math application scenarios?  One of those times when there’s an actual algebraic equation to identify the precise tipping point?  I hear they exist, you know.

Exactly how did the whistle gain so much power in our society?

Few things make my head whip around as quickly as the traffic guard’s shrill whistle.  A police siren.  Ambulance siren.  Fire engines, too.  All sounds of urgency.  Oddly enough, my limbic system has the same instinctive response to that sharp whistle as it does to the emergency vehicles.  Since when does something a coach uses have the same effect as the rescue squad?

What’s in a McDonald’s caramel mocha and why does it have more calories than my entire breakfast at home?

Warm, velvety, delicious goodness with a caramel swirl on top.  What could be better than that? Not much as far as I can tell.  It’s a serious trade off as far as calorie counts go, but mmmmm…caramel mocha…