The parrott tells all…maybe my counseling worked!

Yosuke the parrot rests in his cage at his home in Nagareyama in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, Wednesday, May 21, 2008 after he went missing for two weeks. When the African greay parrot flew out of his cage and got lost, he did exactly what he had been taught _ recite his name and address to a stranger willing to help. (AP Photo/Kyodo News)

Lost parrot tells veterinarian his address

Thursday, May 22, 2008 11:36 AM EDT
The Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — When Yosuke the parrot flew out of his cage and got lost, he did exactly what he had been taught — recite his name and address to a stranger willing to help.

Police rescued the African grey parrot two weeks ago from a neighbor’s roof in the city of Nagareyama, near Tokyo. After spending a night at the station, he was transferred to a nearby veterinary hospital while police searched for clues, local policeman Shinjiro Uemura said.

He kept mum with the cops, but began chatting after a few days with the vet.

“I’m Mr. Yosuke Nakamura,” the bird told the veterinarian, according to Uemura. The parrot also provided his full home address, down to the street number, and even entertained the hospital staff by singing songs.

“We checked the address, and what do you know, a Nakamura family really lived there. So we told them we’ve found Yosuke,” Uemura said.

The Nakamura family told police they had been teaching the bird its name and address for about two years.

But Yosuke apparently wasn’t keen on opening up to police officials.

“I tried to be friendly and talked to him, but he completely ignored me,” Uemura said.

Do you know what ‘Gender’ your computer is?

A Spanish Teacher

Was explaining to her class
that in Spanish, unlike English,
nouns are designated as either
masculine or feminine.

“House”
for instance,
is feminine:
“la casa.”

“Pencil,”
however,
is masculine:
“el lapiz..”

A student asked,
“What gender is ‘computer’?”

Instead of giving the answer,
the teacher split the class into two groups,
male and female,
and asked them to decide
for themselves whether
“computer”
should be
a masculine or a feminine noun.

Each group was asked

to give four reasons
for its recommendation.

The men’s group decided that
“computer”

should definitely be
of the feminine gender
(“la computadora”),
because:
1. No one but their creator
understands their internal logic;

2. The native language
they use to communicate
with other computers is
incomprehensible to everyone else;

3. Even the smallest mistakes
are stored in long term memory
for possible later retrieval; and

4. As soon as you make
a commitment to one,
you find yourself spending
half your paycheck
on accessories for it.

(THIS GETS BETTER!)

The women’s group,
however, concluded
that computers should be Masculine
(“el computador”),
because:
1. In order to do anything
with them,
you have to turn them on;

2. They have a lot of data
but still can’t think for themselves;

3. They are supposed

to help you solve problems,
but half the time
they ARE the problem; and

4. As soon as you commit to one,
you realize that if you
had waited a little longer,
you could have gotten
a better model.

The women won