It sounds like something from an idyllic calendar: hens pecking in the grass, farm-fresh eggs every morning.

But what if they stink? What if the neighbors complain about the noise?

For those casual or new-and-unsure homesteaders, a Freeport couple with Indiana ties is offering an unusual way to decide if chickens are right for you: rent a couple for the summer.

“It really is a trial period for someone who wants to have chickens long term,” said “Homestead” Phil Thompkins, who runs Rent the Chicken with his wife, Jenn. “A lot of people don’t know where to start.”

http://www.indianagazette.com/news/indiana-news/want-to-rent-a-chicken-area-couple-has-an-answer,18097779/

One of the more pernicious effects of constant communication through technology is the magnified anxiety over a system failure when people manage to talk face-to-face: a limp handshake, a joke that doesn’t land, an awkward pause, a collision with a doorway. There’s the knowledge that, in different circumstances, the blunder might have been deleted before hitting “send.” Technology-enabled tendencies like revision, evasion, retraction, and a sense of familiarity that eludes intimacy, have come to feel as natural as the mechanics of an in-person chat. In what should have been foreseen as an obvious twist, a team at M.I.T. has developed technology that can help people perfect their human-interaction skills.

The program is called MACH, or “My Automated Conversation coacH.” A computer-generated advisor-bot—either a dark-haired woman with steely blue eyes or a Midwestern-looking fellow with glasses, both wearing the same black T-shirt, gray sweater, and black blazer outfit—simulates a conversation. Using a standard web camera, MACH scans facial expressions, listens carefully to patterns of speech, and reads behavioral cues. As you speak, the robo-coach will attentively nod its head, as if it’s hanging on your every word. “It smiles when you smile,” M. Ehsan Hoque, who led the research, said. “It gives you the feeling, ‘Hey, this software is listening to me.’”

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/08/a-machine-that-teaches-people-how-to-talk.html

The white exterior and spartan grey staircase of Jian Yang's tidy rowhouse give no hint of the shock that lies within - a pink living room floor and his collection of more than 6,000 Barbie dolls.

The 33-year-old Singaporean favors minimalist decor but the Barbies and 3,000 dolls of other kinds dominate three sides of the main room and spill over to fill nine mirrored cabinets in his dressing room and the shelves of his study.

"Incongruous is kind of me," Yang told Reuters. "When you meet me outside of this, I'm not that kind of guy. I'm not what you expect from a guy that collects dolls."

Yang has a professional interest in toys and consumer trends as director of strategy at Omicom Media Group. But his Barbie collection began at age 13 when he bought the "Great Shape" model in a turquoise Spandex gym outfit and striped leg warmers.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/02/us-singapore-barbie-idUSBRE98106E20130902

Two men have been arrested for breaking into Wrigley Field and attempting to steal ivy from the historic ballpark, according to multiple media reports.

Kevin Burge and Steven Gudknecht, both 25, were charged with misdemeanor trespassing after being arrested at 3:45 a.m. CT at the stadium, police told the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune.

The men, who are both from Chalfont, Pa., entered the ballpark by squeezing through metal security bars but were spotted by security guards on closed-circuit surveillance cameras, according to the reports.

http://espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/story/_/id/9626835/two-men-arrested-trespassing-wrigley-field-attempting-steal-ivy-according-reports

Someone bring in a carpet cleaner before this airplane crashes.

A smelly carpet on board a flight to Frankfurt on Friday was so powerful it grounded the flight because of safety concerns, the Aviation Herald reported.

The crew on board flight Lufthansa flight LH-809 from Stockholm, Sweden to Frankfurt, Germany smelled something strong during the flight, and so they landed the plane early in Copenhagen and moved all of the passengers to new flights, the Aviation Herald reported.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-buzz/plane-diverted-stinky-carpet-bothers-passengers-144022512.html?.tsrc=warhol

GUELPH, Ont.-- If you ever need to know who was the prime minister in 1960 and you’re willing to wait 10 minutes for the answer, Blair McMillan is your man.

He’ll thumb through a volume of his vintage encyclopaedia set, donated by a bewildered soul who probably wondered why the 26-year-old father of two couldn’t just get an Internet connection.

Blair and his girlfriend Morgan, 27, are pretending it’s 1986.

Their house has banned any technology post-1986, the year the couple was born.

No computers, no tablets, no smart phones, no fancy coffee machines, no Internet, no cable, and - from the point of view of many tech-dependent folks - no life.

The family started shunning technology after Blair asked his son Trey to join him in playing outside.

http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/canada/archives/2013/09/20130901-170652.html

Drink to this: A Bronx judge gave the thumbs up to people who want to drink booze in apartment building elevators, gyms, lobbies and laundry rooms.

“It’s a victory for everybody. It’s a victory for the community,” said Steven Chavez, whose November 2012 arrest led to Judge Shari Michels’ ruling.

Chavez was in his aunt’s apartment building on Rogers Place at 1 a.m. when two cops said they spotted him “inside an elevator holding a half-full, open bottle of Ciroc vodka.”

The cops slapped Chavez with a summons for drinking in public, then arrested him for allegedly shoving the officer who tried to give him the ticket.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bronx/bronx-judge-rules-people-drink-booze-apartment-buildings-article-1.1441221