Simanaitis Says
On cars, old, new and future; science & technology; vintage airplanes, computer flight simulation of them; Sherlockiana; our English language; travel; and other stuff
NICE NEWS—AN ONLINE SOURCE OF POSITIVITY
THESE DAYS, NEWS NEGATIVITY isn’t hard to come by. But the Nice News website offers a much welcome reason to visit online (as well as a great source for SimanaitisSays). Here are tidbits, based on recently appearing items at the Nice News website.
Fido’s Vision. Nice News cites the American Kennel Club reporting research correcting the myth that dogs see only black and white. Actually, it isn’t that simple and a great reason for getting Fido a yellow tennis ball or blue tug-toy.
Humans and a few other primates are trichromatic, with their eyes’ retinal cones sensing red, blue, or yellow. There are animals, in particular fish and some birds, that are tetrachromatic, with additional cones sensing ultraviolet. Dogs, and most placental mammals, are dichromatic, with cones sensing yellow or blue, but not red.
In compensation, canine evolution has given dogs more retinal rods, larger lens and corneal surfaces, and a reflective membrane known as a tapetum, all enhancing night vision. (Fido’s ancestors used to hunt at night.)
By the way, unlike the vertical slits of cat eyes, dogs have circular irises, akin to those of humans, other primates, and larger felines.
The Brothers Cevallos. Nice News cites the tale of Carlos and Miguel Cevallos reported on abcnews.com: “For years, Miguel and Carlos made a living by drawing posters for neighborhood nightclubs, taco trucks, and restaurants in Queens, painting in the businesses’ basements or on their tables and attracting clients by word of mouth.”
Appearance of their work on Instagram brought other businesses: “They’re in demand in San Francisco music stores, national restaurant chains, bars in Belgium, and bakeries in South Korea.”
The report continues, “It doesn’t matter that the brothers are more than 80 years old or that the two, born in Ecuador and raised in Colombia, speak limited English. They have embraced their new customers and draw all day in the Manhattan apartment they have shared for nearly 20 years. ‘Destiny is like this. Sometimes one finds success later in life,’ Carlos Cevallos said recently….”
In Other News. In addition to its feature items, Nice News also has capsule comments with linked sources. A favorite: “The National Toy Hall of Fame (yes, that’s a thing!) has announced its annual finalists, with Lite-Brite, Bingo, and Nerf among the top contenders. Vote for your favorite through September 21.”
It isn’t only a thing for toy conglomerates: Among the twelve finalists is the piñata, the centerpiece of kids’ parties throughout Hispanic cultures.
“Commonly associated with Mexican culture,” the Strong National Museum of Play notes, “… the object may date back to early 13th-century China. Although there is an inherent impermanence to the piñata as a plaything, it has been and continues to be used in religious and secular celebrations all over the world.”
Tidbit Gleaning. What a great place Nice News is for gleaning tidbits! ds
© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2022
Simanaitis Says 
Interesting about dog eyes. FYI, dog cats had a hard time watching analog TVs, Guess the picture rolled or whatever.With digital TV, they see it much better. Now our Golden notices all the animals and barks at them.The Siamese cats try and touch the people on the screen and look behind it to see where they are.Maybe they think they are looking through a window.John McNulty Remember our letters on the “Blue Boy” ad in R&T ?
Hello, John,
Was that about the smelly men’s cologne insert?
In the mid – 80s to mid – 90s I had a very large male Dobermann – Pinscher, who, when canines were vocalising on tv, would watch. Once during a NatGeo show about wolves, he stalked over to the 25″ Zenith console, (with tubes, without remote control) stared at the screen, and when the wolf exited screen right looked behind the tv. The poor dog, most adults found him terrifying, most children would run right up to him, and if they were adventurous, could ride him as if the dog was a small pony.
Great tip, Dennis on the Nice News! A new stop on my daily, positive perusal of life.
Thank you, Mark. So far so good as to its ad/content ratio. My compliments to Nice News.
By contrast, I have grown sick of potentially interesting websites that cram cheesy click-bait ads into their info.
Dennis, you must be older than I thought. Time does go faster & faster.The Morgazette just printed a story you wrote in 1955 on Morgan , “A Multiple Time Machine”. I was 11 years old.Keep it up.John McNulty
Ha! That 1955 road test was described recently here at SimanaitisSays. Indeed, John, I’m just two years older than you.