Turkey Talk

I try to minimize the number of subscriptions I receive from various daily email newsletters, but I do sign up for things now and then. Even if I don't read them every day there are sometimes interesting subject lines and if not in a hurry I open and read it. Most also link to a website or blog for increased engagement. And if you find yourself never opening them, eventually you can choose to unsubscribe and reduce the inbox clutter that can oft be so time consuming to deal with.

One email that I still get every day is called wiseGEEK. It's essentially a daily bit of "Oh, that's interesting" or "Gee, I didn't know that" types of information. Today it was about turkeys. The subject line in the email stated, Only male turkeys gobble.

Although turkeys of all types share many characteristics, gobbling is not something every turkey does. Only male turkeys make the sound that is referred to as a gobble. Along with being known as tom turkeys, male turkeys are often referred to as gobblers. Female turkeys, generally known as hens, make a sound that is somewhat like a clicking noise.

If you clicked on a link for more info, you would go to their website and learn still more about turkeys, the first item below being one that I had written about in the past when writing about turkeys.

~ During the early years of the United States, Benjamin Franklin supported the wild turkey as the national bird. Instead of the wild turkey, however, the bald eagle was selected.

~ Wild turkeys tend to follow a similar pattern when it comes to eating times. Feeding in the mid-morning, followed by a second feeding in the mid-afternoon is most common. Many turkeys feed by using their beaks to cut through or rip vegetation. Their feet are used to scratch through snow or leaves to find other food sources.

~ The Turkey Trot was a popular dance move in the early 1960s, but the term also is used to describe the mating efforts of male turkeys. In the spring, male turkeys often spread their tail feathers while puffing out their chests and strutting around in the presence of hens. It is during this season that the male turkey is particularly prolific with gobbling, using the sounds to attract as many females as possible.*

What I find especially interesting about all this turkey talk is that our images of Thanksgiving as a holiday are so frequently filled with pilgrims and pumpkin pie and a horn 'o plenty that we forget that its origin was none other than Abe Lincoln, who in the midst of a great civil war set aside the last Thursday of November as a national day for giving thanks to God for His bounty.

The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.

You can read the proclamation in its entirety here.

Speaking of Lincoln, the new Spielberg film is exceptional and worth seeing. I'll be writing a review soon.

As for the original topic, if you'd like to hear a couple turkey gobbles up close, my YouTube clip might fit the bill to make your Thanksgiving day that more complete. Enjoy.


* Source:  wiseGEEK

Camnesia and Other Wonders

We live in amazing times. I'm referring to the power of the Internet here. Whatever your interest, you're but a mouse click away from more info, images, sometimes even videos about that subject. And many of these cyber places and spaces have email newsletters and RSS feeds which you can subscribe to so you don't even have to look for them any more. They come looking for you.

Whatever your interest, whether literature, languages, rhetoric, philosophy, ethics, logic, sports, science, history, theology, politics, media, auto mechanics, art, shopping or simply diversion, you can probably find something in your daily inbox just for you.

I personally dislike subscribing to too many things, especially since some seem hard to unsubscribe to... and some are probably collecting emails for other things you don't really want like Rolex watches and enhancement meds. But there are some really cool things out on the Net and here are a couple of my favorites: Storypeople and wiseGEEK.

I wrote about Storypeople a few months ago and you can click the link here in my favorites list, just below Quiet Heart Music. The wiseGEEK emails are something akin to a trivia feed where the subject line is usually a question and you can read the first portion, or click on the link and read the entire article.

Here's what I received this morning...

What is Camnesia?

There's a reason why the world is not overrun with pictures of Bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster, UFOs or your cousin Jim's first birthday party, and that reason is known as camnesia. Camnesia is a condition in which a person either forgets to take pictures at a once-in-a-lifetime moment, or else forgets to bring a camera at all. Many sufferers have a flare-up of... hotlink here

Apparently camnesia is a real condition, even though I never heard about it till this morning. I've experienced it, though.

As for the Loch Ness monster, a friend of mine did not have camnesia when he was in Scotland. He came home with an interestingly ambiguous shot and I wrote about it for the Highland Villager, one of my first published stories. Undoubtedly he'd only captured shadows, and maybe there had been a little too much time spent at the pub before that sunset boat ride. It was fun to hear and write about.

Let's hope we remember our cameras when we go to the Grand Canyon next spring.

To get your own daily wiseGEEK insights visit http://www.wisegeek.com/

Throughout this blogsite, you may click on photos to enlarge.