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My husband and son hate it.  I know that Mrs. B. is doing well with her chemotherapy.  Mary at CVS' brother is doing much better now that he's been out of intensive care for a while.  And Antoinetta's grandson is entering second grade in the fall. I talk to everyone when I'm out around town.  Pharmacists.  Supermarket checkers.  Owners of small businesses.  I started doing it because I was bored, waiting in line.  But then I started to enjoy it.  I've seen Antionetta's grandchildren grow from one to four (Mia is my favorite).  And I've come to feel really good when Mrs. B. asks how I'm doing in that caring, kind way.  And now The New York Times is telling me what I knew all along.  Striking up conversations with strangers is good for everyone. I've made friends on airplanes -- from the young professional with a full bladder who forgot to undo his seat belt before getting up (fortunately, nothing more serious than a big ca...

It's for the birds.  The way we learn, that is.  A recent study has found that the way birds learn to sing is the same way humans learn to talk. According to newswise.com, songbirds " learn their songs during development in a manner similar to how humans learn to speak. Songbirds memorize the song of their father or tutor, then practice that song until they can produce a similar song." In much the same way babies mimic their parents and others who speak to them, and why it's so important for people to talk to babies all the time, even when you know they can't understand you.  The sound of the words is what's important. “As adults, (songbirds) continue to produce this learned song, but what's interesting is that they keep it just a little bit variable” the Web site quotes  Duke University, Professor Sarah Woolley   . “The variability isn’t a default, it isn’t that they can’t produce a better version, they can -- in particular when they sing to a fem...