Another Plethora of Ponderables

Sometimes I sit around and simply ponder. Do you? I wonder “how did that happen?” or “how did they do that?”

For example, I decide I’d like to read a certain book. I go to Amazon.com, find the book and download it to my Kindle.  Instantly, it’s there in its entirety, pictures and all. How? 

How did they get the entire book digitized like that? Are there people sitting around in their cubicles typing in every book to be uploaded?  

Where is that book stored until I download it? And how does Amazon know how to send it to my Kindle?  Not Sam’s or Sally’s.  Mine. 

I also wonder…and marvel…at smart phones.  I literally have most of the world’s body of knowledge in my hands.  A few thumb strokes and I can find almost anything.

How? How/where does that signal go from my phone and instantly come back with the answer? And again, it comes back to my phone, not Sue’s or yours. 

What about waves?  We are bombarded by all different kind of waves all the time.  Radio waves, microwaves, light waves, sound waves, etc., etc. Why can’t I see them? What would they look like if I could? And what are they doing to my body smashing into me continuously? 

Construction is something else that has always intrigued and puzzled me. I know next to nothing about it, but admire the people who do. Obviously, it’s important that the builders do things in a certain order.

Don’t hang drywall before the frame is up, for example. Or try to add another story before the foundation is finished. Fascinating how each crew knows when to show up to do their part, all in the proper order. They must have gone to builder’s school and trained for their specialty. 

But what about nature’s other creatures?  How do they know how to construct things?  How does a beaver know how to build a dam or lodge? 

He/she (beavers mate for life and share tasks) swims out, picks up a stick or gnaws one off a bigger stick, if necessary, then swims back and places it in exactly the right position. They repeat the process until what they are constructing is finished. 

Spider web construction is another marvel to me. How do they do that? They squirt some stuff out that turns into a solid “string” that clings to a branch and they keep repeating that until they have a web. Then they wait for some unsuspecting fly to get ensnared and it’s lunchtime. 

But I think the one that intrigues me the most is the robin’s nest.  The robin, as you know, is the state bird of Michigan, even though it winters elsewhere. It’s hard to tell a boy robin from a girl but they figure it out.  She does most of the work. 

She starts by finding a twig just the right size and placing it firmly in the safe site she has chosen. Then she finds another twig and attaches it to the first. More and more twigs (sometimes he brings a few) then they add some mud to hold it all together, and line it with some grass to make it softer and more comfortable. 

What I don’t understand is how all of those robin’s nests look almost identical.

Look at a nest in Dryden, Michigan, Dayton, Ohio or Dunn Loring, Virginia and they all look the same. Same size, same shape, same depth, etc. How do they do that? Is it pure instinct?

Or, maybe, just maybe, when they go to Florida in the winter, there’s a nesting night school they secretly attend. Wouldn’t surprise me.  What do you think?

Contact Rick at dave@tri-citytimes.com