Today’s pontification is a new animal, today I will cover the first two of 4 suggestions that were provided to me by my friend Phil

Topic #1 - Feeding hummingbirds with artificial feeders, Benefitting wildlife or exploitation for our entertainment?

Hummingbirds feed on the nectar of plants and are important pollinators, especially of deep-throated, tubular flowers. Like bees, they are able to assess the amount of sugar in the nectar they eat; they reject flower types that produce nectar which is less than 10% sugar and prefer those whose sugar content is stronger. Since nectar is a such a poor source of nutrients, like candy bars for us - sweet yet nutritionally bankrupt, hummingbirds meet their needs for protein, amino acids, vitamins and minerals etc. by preying mainly on insects and spiders, even more so when feeding their young. This is a good question and as simple as it seems on the surface there is quite a lot to consider here. I will start with the exploitation side of this first. By setting up the feeders we are screwing up their evolutionary path, they have, over time, adapted themselves to gather the nectar of certain flowers and the feeders are artificially providing something that is not found in nature. By providing a super sweet sugar water that is not naturally occurring it could be likened to enabling a heroin addict by providing him uncut heroin and if for some stroke of misfortune humanity were to disappear, we will have doomed the poor humming bird to extinction from withdrawal symptoms. Mainly because he will have evolved into a bird that only knows how to suck sugar water from an artificial feeder and when faced with the possibility of having to survive alone in the wilderness year around he will soon realize his kind are doomed. Even though their lifespan is short and that gives them the ability to adapt quickly, I think they would be hard pressed to make it.

So although I know lots of friends with those humming bird feeders I no longer think it is benefitting the wildlife at all and the artificial feeders, while enjoyable for us, is seriously exploiting the poor little birdies strictly for our entertainment and on top of that dooming them to evolutionary extinction.

Topic #2 - Should there really be speed limits on the German Autobahns?

NO! and here is why. If we go back to the beginnings of the automobile we find what is widely regarded as the world's first motorway as the one built in Berlin between 1913 and 1921. The 19 km long AVUS in southwestern Berlin was an experimental highway that was (and occasionally still is) used for racing. Adolf Hitler, when in power, saw the propaganda benefits of a high-speed road system as well as the immediate military and employment value, started a program to build two north-south and east-west links. The first of these Reichsautobahnen opened on May 19th, 1935 between Frankfurt and Darmstadt. At the end of World War II, the Autobahn network totaled 2,128 km. They build that road with all intentions of it being a high speed road. They are always at least two lanes wide but most often three and occasionally 4 lanes wide and the lanes are wider as well than the ones here in the US. A landscaped "green" median 3.5 or 4 meters wide (3 meters in urban areas) and a double-sided guardrail runs down the middle and blinders are often used on curves and more recent sections have concrete barriers instead of green medians for increased safety. Grades of 4% or less with climbing lanes are provided on most steep grades and gentle well banked curves help as well. Couple all of that with the constant minimum of 27 inches of freeze-resistant concrete or bituminous surface so as I see it there is just no real reason to have a speed limit.

Tomorrow I will answer the other 2 suggestions