Font of Useless Knowledge
That is what the Internet is good for, a veritable fountain of gushing trivia. We mean the word "font" in the old-fashioned sense, as a source of liquid similar to a fountain, not as the other meaning of character shape or size which is what it is mostly used for now in our Internet age. We discovered while researching yesterday's entry on the Jetsons that the actor who voiced the character of the dog Astro in the Jetsons 60s cartoon series used a very similar voice and delivery for the character of Scooby-Doo. We had never made the connection.
And then the puzzlement began in the back of the brain for us as we wondered. We wondered if the futuristic Astro, set in some distant future, was chronologically the ancestor, creatively speaking of course, of Scooby-Doo? That meant that we had made a new neural connection between two distinct fictional characters. Which meant that we had actual brain substance in the form of multiple neurons dedicated to pattern recognition and memory of both characters. It is something about the "R"s. Both characters speak a form of English with a plethora of R-sounding words. We found some sources on the Internet that claim this is a form of speech impediment. But as on the video show "America's Funniest Home Videos" that shows cats and dogs imitating human speech, an animal that can demonstrate even rudimentary language communications skills can not be held to have an impediment, rather it could be termed an evolutionary enhancement. The facial recognition skills of dogs are supposed to be superior than that of wolves, their wild ancestors, since presumably selective breeding has created canine companions who watch the faces of their human masters for cues about such things as food.
And another small blip on the radar of life. We found that the creator / animator for the Scooby-Doo character named the dog after the last line of the Frank Sinatra Song "Strangers in the Night". Did you know that? Well now you do. We will be carrying around another bit of useless information for at least the next 24 hours.
Here are some samples of canine speech, which given the already-pampered status of dogs evident by the human prompting, are just on the verge of a futuristic talking dog. A little cross-breeding of the candidates presented here, and a full fledged linguist of the canine persuasion cannot be far way. Just don't expect an intellectual conversation, be grateful that they can be so entertaining (and they work for kibble). It is what the Russians used to say proverbially about dancing bears, not that the dancing was done well, but that it could be done at all!
And then the puzzlement began in the back of the brain for us as we wondered. We wondered if the futuristic Astro, set in some distant future, was chronologically the ancestor, creatively speaking of course, of Scooby-Doo? That meant that we had made a new neural connection between two distinct fictional characters. Which meant that we had actual brain substance in the form of multiple neurons dedicated to pattern recognition and memory of both characters. It is something about the "R"s. Both characters speak a form of English with a plethora of R-sounding words. We found some sources on the Internet that claim this is a form of speech impediment. But as on the video show "America's Funniest Home Videos" that shows cats and dogs imitating human speech, an animal that can demonstrate even rudimentary language communications skills can not be held to have an impediment, rather it could be termed an evolutionary enhancement. The facial recognition skills of dogs are supposed to be superior than that of wolves, their wild ancestors, since presumably selective breeding has created canine companions who watch the faces of their human masters for cues about such things as food.
And another small blip on the radar of life. We found that the creator / animator for the Scooby-Doo character named the dog after the last line of the Frank Sinatra Song "Strangers in the Night". Did you know that? Well now you do. We will be carrying around another bit of useless information for at least the next 24 hours.
Here are some samples of canine speech, which given the already-pampered status of dogs evident by the human prompting, are just on the verge of a futuristic talking dog. A little cross-breeding of the candidates presented here, and a full fledged linguist of the canine persuasion cannot be far way. Just don't expect an intellectual conversation, be grateful that they can be so entertaining (and they work for kibble). It is what the Russians used to say proverbially about dancing bears, not that the dancing was done well, but that it could be done at all!
Posted by mylynx at 9/30/2010 10:26 AM 
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: Astro Scooby-Doo Frank Sinatra Talking Dogs
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: Astro Scooby-Doo Frank Sinatra Talking Dogs
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