MetaChat - Just got back from a spring peeper viewing.

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23 April 2008

Just got back from a spring peeper viewing. Man, that was that loud. I had no idea how loud they can be. Ear piercingly, rock concert loud (if a rock concert was all at about 5000Hz). My ears are ringing now.

No actual sighting occurred, just hearing, even though we tried hard to see one.

post by: DarkForest at: 19:15 | 11 comments

Ach, sorry, forgot the more inside...

posted by DarkForest 23 April | 19:16

The neuroethology of frequency preferences in the spring peeper.

Abstract

We studied the relationship between auditory activity in the midbrain and selective phonotaxis in females of the treefrog,Pseudacris crucifer. Gravid females were tested in two-stimulus playback tests using synthetic advertisement calls of different frequencies (2600 versus 2875 Hz; 2800 versus 3500 Hz; 2600 versus 3500 Hz). Tests were conducted with and without a background of synthesized noise, which was filtered to resemble the spectrum of a chorus of spring peepers. There were no significant preferences for calls of any frequency in the absence of background noise. With background noise, females preferred calls of 3500 Hz to those of 2600 Hz.

OK, not 5000Hz, but still...

posted by DarkForest 23 April | 19:29

Didja see Dig 'Em? He's been missing for decades. I assume he's hiding out in the swamp.

posted by jonmc 23 April | 19:49

OK, lets talk about sugary breakfast cereals of the past. My childhood favorite was Sugar Frosted Flakes. A bowl of them would probably kill me now.

posted by DarkForest 23 April | 20:10

DarkForest: years ago, I took a similar poll of my co-workers and everybody said Frosted Flakes except for one guy who said Cap'n Crunch because he liked 'the sheer masochistic pleasure of tearing your mouth to pieces.'

(I'm an Apple Jacks man, if that helps you in your quest for trurth)

posted by jonmc 23 April | 20:30

Yeah, Cap'n Crunch was great too. It was rather abrasive, but in a good way. It was really just spun sugar, wasn't it? I was a little older by the the time Cap'n Crunch came out, so it didn't make quite as big an impression on me.

posted by DarkForest 23 April | 20:51

Frosted Flakes where my cereal of choice, too. I had many siblings so I learned to eat the whole box very quickly. I'm a pack animal when it comes to my favorite snaks. I may need therapy. OH, and no milk. Yuck!

posted by MonkeyButter 23 April | 20:51

Oh, Apple Jacks, wasn't that the one that was supposed to keep the bullies off you?

posted by DarkForest 23 April | 20:51

We weren't allowed to have sugary cereals as kids. They were too expensive and, well, sugary. However, as an adult I decided fuck that, I can try any of them I want. I've decided Golden Grahams are the bestest. But Cap'n Crunchberries and Lucky Charms are pretty good too.

Sadly, I ~~have to~~ should avoid sugary cereals (teh diabetes) and generally stick to Cheerios.

posted by deborah 23 April | 21:47

Not only did we not buy sugary cereals (too expensive! not nutritious! ineffably immoral in a way your father cannot explain if it isn't obvious to you!), but when I returned from a sleepover and reported that I had Cookie Crisp for breakfast, my father acted as if my friend's parents had given me beer and cigarettes for breakfast. He was scandalized.

Years later, after an infuriating trip to the mall, Dad ranted on the uselessness of the consumer economy, ending it with the deathless utterance "I would rather see you sell heroin on the street than work for Wicks N' Sticks!"

posted by Elsa 23 April | 22:05

We weren't allowed sugary cereals, either (except for Quaker Harvest Crunch, which I loved, and which it turned out wasn't that good for you after all thanks a lot, joykilling food nazis). Whenever we flew out to visit my grandad, however, he always had a box of sugary goodness for me. I can't for the life of me remember the name of the cereal, but it was shaped like wagon wheels and was sweet and crunchy and all mine.

Elsa, that is hi-fucking-larious.

posted by elizard 23 April | 23:34

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