jennefer harper

We've also used oats, and cherrios is good too. If
you do it in the house, placing a towel or a rug under
the box helps in clean up. We got a big rubber maid
box with a lid to use for our kids. Lots of fun.

-Jennefer



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In a message dated 8/19/04 7:11:19 PM, jenneferh2000@... writes:

<< We've also used oats, and cherrios is good too. If
you do it in the house, placing a towel or a rug under
the box helps in clean up. We got a big rubber maid
box with a lid to use for our kids. Lots of fun. >>

What about seed intended for wild birds? We just bought 50 lbs or so at
Costco for $8 or so, and I did stick my hand in and it felt great! It could also
be used for sorting. You could plant some later and see what grows, and sweep
the rest up and put it in a bird feeder, or throw it out for pigeons
somewhere.

Sandra

jennefer harper

>Isn't it true that people throw bird seed
>at weddings instead of rice b/c uncooked rice isn't
>safe for birds

This *may* be an urban legend, but I heard that the
uncooked rice exploded in their bellies (?) Or made
the birds explode.

-Jennefer



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Fetteroll

on 8/20/04 2:50 AM, jennefer harper at jenneferh2000@... wrote:

> This *may* be an urban legend

A good place to check urban legends out before spreading them further is
http://www.snopes.com

Here's the bit on birds and rice:
==========
http://www.snopes.com/weddings/horrors/birdrice.htm

Claim:   Rice thrown to wish newly-wedded couples well can kill their fine
feathered friends.

Status:   False.

Origins:   We're cautioned not to throw rice at the bride and groom,
because the grain will prove harmful to the birds who swoop down to eat
it. The rice expands in those little birdy stomachs, causing our avian
companions to explode, we're warned. Let's quit worrying about the birds.
They'll be fine. Seagulls don't explode when they eat Alka-Seltzer; pigeons
don't explode when they eat rice.

This response to a 1996 Ann Landers column in which she "informed" readers
about the danger rice poses to birds just about says it all:


The USA Rice Federation in Houston has a message for advice columnist Ann
Landers - straighten up and fly right when you talk about birds. In a recent
column, Landers warned readers that throwing rice at weddings is unhealthy
for our feathered friends: "Please encourage the guests to throw rose petals
instead of rice. Rice is not good for the birds."

"This silly myth pops up periodically, and it is absolutely unfounded,"
responded rice expert Mary Jo Cheesman at the USA Rice Federation. Many
migrating ducks and geese depend on winter-flooded rice fields each year to
fatten up and build strength for their return trek to northern nesting
grounds.

Uncooked, milled rice is no more harmful to birds than rice in the field,
Cheesman said. The Curator of Ornithology at the University of California at
Berkeley agrees.

"It's a myth. There is no reason why birds, including small songbirds, can't
eat rice," said Ned Johnson, a professor of biology at Berkeley who lectures
frequently on the food and feeding of birds.


Many churchs and reception halls have rules prohibiting the throwing of
confetti or rice. These rules work to keep the property clean so that the
next happy couple doesn't get its send-off amid the leavings of the previous
pair. Confetti is notoriously hard to clean up; not even vacuuming a lawn
will return the grass to its pristine condition.

Rice poses a unique danger. Not to birds, though; to people. Scattered on a
hard surface (such as the steps of a church or a dance floor) it puts anyone
who walks across that surface at risk of taking a nasty spill. Far better to
prohibit rice throwing at a wedding than to end up with an injured guest.

Don't do it for the birds, do it for the inlaws.

Barbara "slip covered" Mikkelson
============
Joyce

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<< This *may* be an urban legend, but I heard that the
uncooked rice exploded in their bellies (?) Or made
the birds explode. >>

I think it's important for unschooling parents not to report things or
believe things without really looking at them and thinking about them, and maybe
double-checking.

Kids at school are given textbook, watered-down versions of truth.

I worry that some homeschooled kids are being given tidbits of nonsense their
moms overheard or learned in e-mail and didn't really think about and just
passed on as "they say."

"They say" coke will dissolve a nail, but why repeat it? Stick a nail in
some coke and see if it's true or not. (Or just think about it, with all the
information you have in you about what coke does or doesn't do. Does it dissolve
a plastic bottle? An aluminum can?)

"They say" rice will blow up in a bird's stomach? Did people invent rice
and birds? What protected birds from eating rice before people were around, or
out in the wild, do forest rangers put netting over all rice? In Japan are
there blown-up birds littering the ground? For the hundred(s?) of years that
throwing rice at weddings was common, are there any stories of sweet little
flower girls bursting into tears after sparrows blew up around her during the
reception?

It's really okay to use our own powers of reason.
It's better than okay, for unschoolers. It's crucial.

Sandra