In the show notes deprecate is misspelled as depricate. I agree with the explanation given in the show for the difference between deprecate and depreciate, but when I looked up deprecate on dictionary.com I was surprised to see that the third definition was: "to depreciate, belittle".
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/deprecate

"The Seagull Incident."

80's cover band?

The seagull incident reminded me of a bird story that happened back in 1989, while I was in veterinary school. A classmate, Jeff, had spent months treating a very sick pigeon that had been admitted through Penn's Wildlife Service. The bird was ready for release. Jeff asked if I would photograph the event, for use on his yearbook page.

So, we arrived at a little park just as the sun was rising. I had a cheap, disposable camera that didn't have a flash. Jeff got into position, with the pigeon in his hands. I got situated and began a 3..2..1 countdown.

When the picture was processed, it was incredible. Jeff was silhouetted artfully, yet his identity was obvious. His hands were stretched out, his fingertips pointing toward the bird which was about 18 inches from his hands. The birds flapping wings were blurred just right, while the birds body was in crisp focus. To this day, I've never taken such a perfect picture.

Jeff didn't use the picture, though. Because milliseconds after the shutter clicked, the bird dropped to the ground, flapped around a bit, then died. C'est la vie.

Damn you, Geo. I was listening to Quackcast 43 earlier this week, and Mark Crislip moved away from the mic for a few seconds. I thought you'd accidentally done the same thing.

You got me.

They make $30,000 snare drums?!

My own, non-musician's take on instrument quality: Recently my sister purchased a violin for my niece, and I helped with some research. I'll skip the gory details, including my grumpiness over inflated price. The point is, once my niece began playing violins at the store I learned how important simply playing an instrument is in its selection. My research was mainly irrelevant. Many violins of the same model sounded different, and the one she chose was an instant standout to all of us. It had the right sound, not just nice but the kind of sound she preferred, and it was easier for her to play well than most others. She just fell in love, despite it being on the lower end of the scale, less than half the price of the priciest models, and a less attractive varnish. Her instructor's opinion was that the more expensive models were good and showed more consistency between individuals, but that some of the cheaper models could match them if one sorted through them.

We were prepared to spend quite a lot more, but the girl who was afraid she'd miss out because we had a budget wouldn't let us leave with any other instrument.

Hey! I had my ears pierced when I was 6 weeks old. :-P

First you state the wicked witch was 37
then you say Madonna is 50
make up your mind , which is it

Joy!

I am drawing a freaking diagram to try to figure out this comb-over thing. Can you draw a picture?

Speaking of comb-overs (and I'm sure I've shared this before):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M2ap5JznqE