There once was and old man who grew crops. He resented the lazy young fops. He leaned on his shovel, went back to his hovel and wrote the world's greatest Props.

Friday Props. Brought you to today by the letter 'bird.'

 Frequently, I reflect on what we are trying to accomplish here in the Official Department of Props at Edgeworks Creative. What IS our purpose on this blog? Are these things Prop-worthy? What is the theme? Then, I remember....Props are cool. That is all. Very Zen, dontcha think? Though I initially felt very verbose after celebrating Adam's birthday this morning over Huevos Rancheros at The Stagecoach Inn, when I began my research for Friday Props I was dumb-struck. Amazed. Silenced quickly by what I'd found. The technological coolness factor in our first Props is awesome. Like The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota, I have to ask "Why did he do it? How did he build it?" It doesn't matter. Whoever made this did it in 1890. Yeah. That's what I thought, too.

That little machine imitating a bird song? That blew me away. I watched it with a slight grin on my face. A healthy sense of awe. Then I saw our next Prop. Another little machine imitating a song bird. Made in 1820. This one damn near made me fall out of my seat. My jaw dropped. I couldn't stop my tongue from trying to catch a glimpse. Sure, the jewels and stuff make it purty, but mechanically? The folks that worked on this could design the most powerful computer ever if they were working in Today.

With crazy precision, both of these machines are some fine examples of humans creating machines to imitate Nature. It happens all the time. And when Nature imitates the machine, we should be no less impressed. Birds, birds, birds. They may not be the smartest creatures, nor are they the best animals when it comes to standardized testing as demonstrated by the SAT's and No Child Left Behind. They are, however, unparalleled when it comes to singing and mimicry. Our Friday props are for the lovely songbirds we often forget to notice and listen, too. I eagerly await your migration north, my avian friends.

Have a lovely weekend, featherless friends.