Friday, May 14, 2010

Poll: Who Is Smarter?

From September 8, 2006...



Not only does the bird use a tool to get what it wants, but it bends that tool into something that works even better. Amazing.

From March 26, 2008...



Not only does the tool use numbers to get what it wants, but it bends those numbers into something that works even better. Amazing.

It's a tough call clearly. I'm not going to determine the winner. That's for the readers to decide. Yes, I'm opening up the polls again! It will be appearing shortly. Be sure to vote.

8 comments:

EconomicDisconnect said...

What about hanging chads on the vote? How will you address this issue?

Stagflationary Mark said...

GYSC,

This is a chad friendly blog.

'Hanging chads' often viewed by courts as sign of voter intent

State courts often count ballots where election administrators don't see clear voter intent, but not always. A 1984 Louisiana case refused to count punch-card ballots merely marked with a pencil.

But in other cases, courts look closely for voter intent. In a dramatic case from South Dakota, one judge examined two disputed ballots under a microscope. The county-level race in question came down to a single bit of bulging or "pregnant" chad, with only two corners detached.


I'm siding with South Dakota on this one. This poll is just too important to let voters fall through the cracks.

Anonymous said...

How did the crow bend the wire?
The wire looked straight, then the crow did something*, then the wire was bent.

* Apparently stuck one end of the wire into "something sticky," but what was that?

Stagflationary Mark said...

Anonymous,

If you go to full screen it appears that the crow jams the wire into the duct tape and bends it by walking behind the clear cylinder and to the left.

It is truly amazing to me. Here's the description that went with the video.

quisling76 — September 08, 2006 — In the Brevia section of the 9 August 2002 issue of Science, Weir et al. report a remarkable observation: The toolmaking behavior of New Caledonian crows. In the experiments, a captive female crow, confronted with a task that required a curved tool (retrieving a food-containing bucket from a vertical pipe), spontaneously bent a piece of straight wire into a hooked shape -- and then repeated the behavior in nine out of ten subsequent trials.

I also love this comment.

I know humans who wouldn't have figured that one out. Kudos Mr. Crow!

I was a lab assistant in a college physics lab. Many people could not create light when given one wire, one bulb, and one battery. This was especially disturbing to me since people worked in groups of two! I think with proper motivation, that crow could do it alone. :)

watchtower said...

"...tell me truly, I implore —
Is there — is there balm in Gilead? — tell me — tell me, I implore!"
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

Stagflationary Mark said...

watchtower,

"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil!

G.H. said...

Attitude

"We all need a daily check up from the neck up to avoid stinkin 'thinkin' which ultimately leads to hardening of the attitudes."

Stagflationary Mark said...

G.H.,

Hahaha!

Truth be known, I could probably use an attitude readjustment.

From your link...

Most of us would be upset If we were accussed of being "silly" comes from the old English word "seilig" and it's literal definition is"to be blessed , happy, healthy and prosperous."

This quote really amuses me. I'm a believer in being silly. I ask my bird if she's being silly quite often. I normally do it when she's being a bit goofy in a happy way. It's a good thing!

I certainly don't mind being silly, but you'll get nothing but Sound Financial Advice here of course.

You can take questionable advice from a phaser toting anonymous blogger for free, or you can shell out the big bucks for...

Hahaha!