At Home: Turkey Trot
It may be the middle of summer, but as far as Barrie, Ontario residents are concerned, It’s looking a little like Thanksgiving. This time, though, the turkeys aren’t resting on roasting platters: they’re taking to the streets and apparently attacking cars and pedestrians.
As The Barrie Examiner reports, wild turkeys have been ?behaving aggressively,? including ?going after vehicles.?
Residents are becoming more and more concerned; in fact, as one city councillor told reporters, ?People are getting out of their cars and the turkeys are chasing them back.? He added that while it was ?cute in the beginning,? It’s ?not funny anymore.?
There are an estimated ?40 or 50? of the birds in the area, but because they are a protected species and subject to hunting restrictions, dealing with them poses difficulties. Additionally, ?wild turkeys are very territorial and it would be difficult to relocate them.?
Around the World: Go the Distance
If You’re experiencing a heat wave this week, you’ll find it hard to believe that the sun’s not moving a little closer to Earth in some strange apocalyptic manner. But don’t worry: as unlikely as it sounds, Earth is actually at its furthest point from the sun in its yearly cycle.
As National Geographic‘s Daily News site reports, Earth’s elliptical orbit around the sun means that the ?sun [is] offset from the center,? Adler Planetarium astronomer Mark Hammergren told reporters.
The point at which our planet is furthest from the sun is called aphelion, and the fact that this year it falls during the northern hemisphere’s hottest time of year is purely coincidental.
The difference between aphelion and perihelion, which is the point at which Earth is closest to the sun, is about 2.5 million kilometres, but the only noticeable difference is that ?the apparent size of the sun in the sky will be about 3 percent smaller.?
But what about the summer temperatures? they’re not affected by perihelion and aphelion, but are caused by the ?tilt of the Earth and not our distance from the sun.?
