h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QW85kfakJc

But the photo turns out to be about bearded tits, surely one of the odder names in Nature.

I will sit back and enjoy the earworm from the video.

That is a cute video to illustrate the Mud song!

Yes that is an odd name for the - the markings look more like a moustache than a beard to me!

Believe it or not, I sang the Hippopotamus Song in college. It was arranged for four-part men's chorus.

Probably because no women wanted to sing something like that. Most avoid any association with the Hippo anyway.

"The Hippopotamus song" was in the album "Christmas in my heart," by Gretchen Wilson.
http://www.bnd.com/living/liv-columns-blogs/answer-man/article184394188.html

I remember this song from early childhood. It was sung by an alligator (puppet) in the show 'Looney Zoo' in Memphis, Tennessee. Here's an article about the host of the show, who went on to a career in banking, the clown (who was a college professor!), and a story about Elvis Presley singing at the local wrestling matches.


http://memphismagazine.com/ask-vance/your-time-has-come/

Children's TV programs were a hoot. There as Uncle Floyd in New jersey. In Boston we had "Boom Town." "Captain kangaroo" ran from 1955 to 1992 on national TV, as did many Hanna Barbera series. Another Naitonal children's show was "Howdy Doody." Robert Keeshan, who played Clarabelle the Clown for Howdy Doody later played Captain Kangaroo.

Howdy Doody gave me the creeps.

There's probably something inherently creepy about puppets. Even Candace Bergen thought there was something off about her father (Edgar Bergen), who insisted on bring Charlie McCarthy to the dinner table and speaking through him. There's a puppet in the Goosebumps series. His name is Slappy the Dummy, and he is as creepy as can be.

On the other hand (yes, there is another side to the argument), you couldn't ask for a more reassuring group of puppets than the Muppets.

Obviously, the 1950s, when Howdy was being filmed, was a period of (ahem!) puppet governments. Look at what the U.S. tried to do to Mossadegh in Iran. Sadly, we did not learn from that, moving to a puppet regime in South Vietnam in the 1960s, and a puppet regime in Chile in the 1970s and 1980s. Jimmy Carter was one of the few recent presidents who didn't get into any new wars or captive regimes, but Clinton was bombing Syria and then 2001 touched off a new round of U.S.-backed regimes in Iraq and Afghhanistan.

Puppets are alive and well, whether human or made of cloth and plastic.

At some point it will become clear that more than one researcher has allowed the topic to drift in this thread. Therefore, I'd like to combine birds with mud, and talk about the Mudhen, a marsh bird with short wings and long legs. The Mudhen was also a character in some stories but Merritt Parmalee Allen. The Mudhens are a sports teami n Toledo, ohio.

Take your pick

Maybe the mud can help keeping the birds stuck to one place, so that you can take proper pictures before they fly off.

I didn't think of that, but it's a good point.

It does for things like Oystercatchers and other wading birds, that the mud provides them with hours of digging opportunity, but the Bearded Tits were only interested in the seeds in the reeds so they flew past too quickly!

The bird of ime has but a little itme to fly,and lo the bird iso n the wing
--Omar Khayyam

The bird may find some time to eat the breadcrumbs that paralyse your keyboard though.

We have mice for that here.

...Trying to find peace-mouse smiley...

Well, at least we *had* mice here. I think I smell decaying mouse, and there are no longer any fresh signs of mouse mischief.

Any mice that have not yet entered the building will have to get past / stand in line with the neigbours' cats who attempt to get inside as well but usually settle for a still warm bonnet as a good alternative.

Speaking of glorious mud, the place where my rabbit suns himself (herself?) is covered with snow now, and will be muddy when the snow melts. But when it dries out, I expect to see bunny back there. I'm okay with that for now. I give the bunny credit for fertilizing my phlox with droppings. Keeping the bunny from eating my echinacea will be a project in May or June, but my mixture of chili powder, garlic, and laundry detergent should keep it away.