Coffee and Provocation

Joseph C. Leyendecker, November 1922 for The Saturday Evening Post.


The Domestic Turkey is a Cancer Bomb:
In creating the domesticated turkey, humans concentrated a genetic mutation that makes the birds extremely sensitive to carcinogens and extremely vulnerable to cancer--"probably the most susceptible animal known to science," says Roger Coulombe, a veterinary scientist and toxicologist at Utah State University.

How Did We Come to Call it a Turkey?
Over at Treehugger, they tell us: "Centuries ago, Constantinople was an important hub of international trade, where merchants sold goods from Africa and the Far East to distributors in Europe. These products, instead of retaining a sense of their origin, often became known by the nationality of the exporters. For example, Persian rugs sold wholesale by Turkish vendors were called 'Turkish rugs.' In turn, one popular type of bird shipped from Africa, called a Guinea fowl, became known as 'Turkey cock' throughout England. And, when British settlers arrived in the New World and encountered a large woodland bird that looked a bit like the Guinea fowl fowl they'd grown fond of eating back in England -- perhaps out of confusion that the two were the same species, or maybe in longing for something familiar so far from home -- they ended up referring to this bird as a 'Turkey cock' too. Later, it was shortened to simply 'turkey'.

A Nice Obituary of a Terrierman:
Charles Parker, age 87, who worked for the Cotswold Hunt, the Heythrop, the Ludlow, and the Exmoor, has died.  As The Telegraph phrased it:  "Parker shared an extraordinary understanding of foxes with the famous huntsman Capt Ronnie Wallace, for whom he worked – Wallace called him 'my outstanding practitioner' as a terrierman. And as well as being a keen and knowledgeable otter hunter, Parker acted as Harbourer (going out on to Exmoor the night before the hunt to locate likely deer) for the Devon and Somerset Staghounds.  He had a circle of devoted friends, but could be disconcerting on a first encounter, due to his complete lack of political correctness. He treated everyone the same, regardless of background, and could be utterly charming or, occasionally, downright rude."  Read the whole thing.  Not too many obituaries of terriermen!

I Will Do Full Frontal Nudity  - Just Ask:
The radiation you get from body scanners is the same as what you get in two minutes in an airplane at 30,000 feet.

A Good Day at JRTCA Nationals:
Gideon's father, Kingsway Hustler of Briar Run (bred by Jan DeWinter who recently visited from Belgium) won the Veteran Working Dog Class, while his half-brother (on the dam's side), Briar Run Wango, won Best Working Dog.  Congratulations to owner and breeder Dawn Weiss at Briar Run!

A Little More Polar Bear Protection:
On Wednesday, the U.S Department of Interior designated 187,157 square miles of Alaskan seas and lands as critical to the survival of the polar bear. More than 95 percent of this area is offshore ice and ocean.  Among the land areas protected are Polar Bear denning sites located in  coastal regions of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

An American Indian Sailed to Europe With the Vikings?
Maybe.  At least, that's the conclusion of a new DNA study of Icelanders which found more than 80 living individuals with a genetic variation similar to one found mostly in Native Americans.  The Icelanders are all descendants from four specific lineages, and those lineages are probably descended from a single woman with Native American DNA who arrived in Iceland at least "several hundred years" before 1700.

Joseph C. Leyendecker, November 1921 for The Saturday Evening Post.