Not much going on

I've been kind of busy lately, without much to say.

Here's a story (with video) in today's paper about bird sounds.

Clark and Feo concluded that the squeaks and beeps made by the dive-bombing hummingbirds are not vocal - as some research has asserted - but instead are created by their tail feathers.

"I found it really interesting just because these birds were basically doing mechanical sounds," said Feo, 22, who played clarinet in the Cal Band for four years. "It sort of speaks to the musician in me."

But I like this LA Times story about a chess table in a Los Feliz coffeeshop better.

Tom Trellis, owner of the Alcove Cafe, put in a tiny antique chess table in his restaurant when it opened three years ago but forgot to put the pieces in the drawers. His customers have since filled the void with scores of notes, observations and journal entries, some of them labeled "Dear Chess Table."

Maybe later on I'll put up some pictures I took this week during my first-ever visit to Annie's Annuals.