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Daily Bread, Language

Daily Bread for 2.1.26: Detecting the Location of an Accent

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Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 26. Sunrise is 7:09 and sunset is 5:08 for 9 hours 59 minutes of daytime. The moon will be full today with all of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1893, Thomas A. Edison finishes construction of the first motion picture studio, the Black Maria, in West Orange, New Jersey.

Something of a palate cleanser for today. Sophia Smith Galer, a British journalist writing about language, tech, and culture, interviews Zay Dupree, a student in linguistics and cognitive science, about how Dupree detects the region of someone’s accent. Dupree explains his informed method of assessment. Both Smith Galer and Dupree are well worth following — there are always new things to learn.

Click image for video

Capturing Epic Slow Motion Footage of Backyard Birds:

Slow down and enjoy the birds. Feeder birds like titmice and chickadees are fun to watch, but they move so fast it’s hard to fully appreciate their flying skills. So Tim and Russell Laman used a 1,000-frames-per-second camera to slow down the action, revealing a whole ballet of intricate motions involved in landing at a feeder. These little birds turn their bodies vertically in mid-air and almost fly backwards, braking with their tail and using their long legs as shock absorbers to stop on a dime. They’re so different from larger birds like Mourning Doves. At super-slo-mo, you can see how each feather works, and understand the whirl of motion you see at feeders every day.

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