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A Call For Humor!

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Think about this: one guy pretty much invented C and Unix. The basis for Mac OS, Linux, android, JavaScript.
I'm with you for the first part - a huge contribution. The others are increasingly more tenuous, but this probably isn't the thread for that discussion.
 
I once encountered a person who didn’t want to drink recycled water. Was not happy when I pointed out that all water was recycled.
If you're in east London there's a fair chance it's been through 7 other people since it fell as rain.
 

I'm sure it's a Black-bodied Yellowbird

Bird names.
Skipping recent, somewhat political dust-ups in the common names of many bird species, and skipping the sometimes massive reclassification of bird species based on gene sequencing, we're still left with some odd common names.

John James Audubon (ahem, one of the epicenters of the political side of the bird naming imbroglio ;)) did much of his field ornithology with the help of a shotgun. :eek: He examined birds in hand and was wont to name them on the basis of features that weren't obvious on living birds in situ.

Here's one of my favorite examples.

As you may know, there's a woodpecker species (common in the US South, and drifting northwards) called the red-headed woodpecker*.
This is not it.




The two males in the photos above are red-bellied woodpeckers. :p
Extremely careful examination (e.g., of a corpse!) may show a reddish wash on the abdomen of members of this species.
As to the unmistakable red head color, seen on males, and (in a smaller patch) also on the females... I guess the name was already taken. ;)

PS This isn't a red-headed woodpecker, either. :cool:


It's a pileated woodpecker. :)
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* Here's a random internet photo of the aforementioned, bona fide red headed woodpecker.

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actually, not so random! source: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-headed_Woodpecker/overview

Both red-headed and red-bellied woodpeckers can be found in the same habitat; e.g., at Huntley Meadows regional park in Alexandria, VA -- just a George Washington-grade silver-dollar-throw across the Potomac River from Washington, DC. :)
 
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