Pigeon1
Coo, this is certainly whimsical – who could fail to be impressed by this tale of hi tech spy-pigeons?

Pigeon photography is an aerial photography technique invented in 1907 by the German Julius Neubronner, who also used pigeons to deliver medications. A homing pigeon was fitted with an aluminium breast harness to which a lightweight time-delayed miniature camera could be attached. 

In 1903 Julius Neubronner, resumed a practice begun by his father half a century earlier and received prescriptions from a sanatorium in nearby Falkenstein via pigeon post. He delivered urgent medications up to 75 grams (2.6 oz) by the same method, and positioned some of his pigeons with his wholesaler in Frankfurt to profit from faster deliveries himself. When one of his pigeons lost its orientation in fog and mysteriously arrived, well-fed, four weeks late, Neubronner was inspired with the playful idea of equipping his pigeons with automatic cameras to trace their paths. This thought led him to merge his two hobbies into a new “double sport” combining carrier pigeon fancying with amateur photography. (Neubronner later learned that his pigeon had been in the custody of a restaurant chef in Wiesbaden.)

Hooray, it’s Eurovision Song Contest time again! Frank enthuses about the Irish and Montenegrin entries…

Watching the first Eurovision Song Contest semi-final earlier this week, I was pleased to learn that the Irish contestant was accompanied to Malmö for the occasion by his priest.

I learned other things, too, chief among them being that Montenegrin rappers dressed in spacesuits should, by law, be the only people allowed to rap. But let that pass.

I applauded the young Irish crooner for taking his priest with him. It struck me that, just as Gloria Steinem in 1993 instituted “Take Your Daughter To Work Day”, so “Take Your Priest To The Eurovision Song Contest” could be extended to “Take Your Priest To Work Day”. After all, few of us are likely to get the opportunity to perform at Eurovision.

The advantages of taking your priest to work are legion, and also blindingly obvious, so I will not bother to enumerate them. Suffice to say that priests are surprisingly adept at photocopying, refilling the paper cup dispenser, and celebrating mass. Everybody wins.

Unlike Eurovision, where there can be only one winner. My fervent hope is that the Montenegrin rappers in spacesuits come out on top. While waiting for the result, however, one question is playing on my mind. Who, exactly, are those teeming throngs in the live audience, cheering and waving national flags? I ask because I have never, ever met anybody who has attended the Eurovision Song Contest, nor anybody who knows anybody who has. And I am willing to bet that no Dabbleristas know of such a person either. It is a pretty conundrum, to be sure.

Punditry

If you’re looking for a double entendre, Mr Slang is just the man to give you one… Those who, gazing at last week’s cab-referrent illustration, could tear their eyes from what Joyce, a connoisseur of such things, would have termed Judy Geeson’s ‘frillies’, would have noticed the strapline: ‘He gets more than his fare share.’ [...]

Professor Parker’s Patented Poetry-writing Machine

This automated poetry-writing computer system is so good that most readers ‘strongly prefer’ its verses to those of Shakespeare. Or at any rate, that’s what its creator claims. Jonathan Law investigates… On a bone-cold day in March the Wikiworm brought us some much needed cheer by digging out “The Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of [...]

Chess, Cricket, and Man versus the Machines

Machines are already better than humans at chess, and now computers are increasingly important in sports like cricket and baseball. Author Jon Hotten ponders the implications… Writing about the 1986 world championship match between Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov, Martin Amis said of chess: ‘[They are playing] the foremost game of pure skill yet devised [...]

Dabbler Diary – Giant spiders

What’s the earliest age it is possible to develop a phobia? I ask because my younger daughter E, who is seventeen months old, has taken to seeing spiders everywhere. She will be playing happily enough when, suddenly spying some bit of fluff or black smudge on the floor, she will squeak ‘Pider!’ and leap into [...]