The SHIFT bike, designed for young children learning how to ride, eliminates the need for a parent to hold on at the rear.

The bike appears to have three wheels, but the two rear wheels merge into one as the rider learns to balance.

My neighbors like to enjoy a nice fire on a winter’s night. It’s unfortunate that none of them seem to realize that burning green wood is not an environmentally good thing. Especially if I go outside, look up to see if it’s clear enough for stars, and get a noseful of all of the above.

At least I stocked up on Kleenex.

My favorite daikon appears in Spirited Away, but to the Japanese, the all-time most wonderful radish was slashed and left for dead last year.

That would be the daikon that poked its way through a crack in the pavement. It was known as Dokonjo, the radish with fighting spirit.

Such a public outcry arose that the criminal returned the missing part, which the town council has been trying to regrow.

A previously untouched world full of new species awaited a team of Conservation International scientists last November and December. They were amazed to see birds such as Berlepsch’s six-wired bird of paradise, formerly thought to have vanished. Giant cassowaries, long-beaked echidnas, golden-fronted bowerbirds, and a wattled honeyeater were seen in an area reachable only by helicopter.

Before touching down, the scientists reported seeing unknown plants with enormous flowers.

On the BBC news front page, there is a link to pictures.

Young players bulk up to over 300 pounds, knowing that scouts look for really big guys. But the toll exacted on their health is very, very high.

There I sat at the stop sign, waiting as the bus made its way into the intersection, turning left in front of me. It had the right of way. The driver behind me honked.

As we went down the two-lane road, curvy in spots, I had to turn right into the library. Sure enough, the car roared past to a spot right on the bus’ bumper. I wondered if he would honk at the bus, or try to pass on that stretch where cars coming off Foothill Expressway zoom into the road.

The pears bought over the weekend have little tabs on the stickers, no doubt meant for easier removal. Some did, some still tore off fruit peel.

I have no luck with tabs on ketchup and mayonnaise bottle either. The tab, if it can be grasped at all, only succeeds in taking off the first layer of protective paper.

Google punishes BMW, who tried to manipulate search results, using tactics frowned upon by the search engine.

BMW’s website PageRank has been demoted to zero.

The salty seas, at that. Scientists are puzzled when it comes to the far-flung travels of land snails, who have moved from Europe to remote islands in the South Atlantic.

Some think the snails hitch a ride on birds. Others suspect the wind, or flying snail theory.

It has begun here already, the allergy season. Before heading out for a walk yesterday, I made sure to take an antihistamine. The air is sweet with the scent of blooming trees, but inhaling deeply is not recommended if you are prone to allergies.

Decades ago, scientists noted that people with hookworms were free from asthma. Today, a brave team is setting out to prove that the infection caused by hookworms helps to tone down the body’s reponse to allergens. How else to do this but introduce hookworms to their bodies?

Perhaps the day is coming when I don’t head out for a walk without first strapping on my special allergy device, which fools my immune system into thinking it is infected with hookworms. Maybe it will be built into my iPod.

Outsmarting the octopus means the fisherman must be able to read the arrangement of pebbles blocking the entrance to the octopus dwelling hole. Among other things.