Welcome to The Sunday Paper, Hubski's on-again off-again companion to your Sunday morning coffee.

Local to Me

The San Francisco Chronicle's Account of California's Napa/Sonoma Fires

Firefighters estimate that at times, the flames raced 230 feet per second and, inconceivably, threw embers a full mile ahead of the fire front. It moved so fast that chickens, cats and other animals were charred where they stood, left standing like blackened statues.

Non-Local to Most (but just as important)

Somalia experiences single most deadly attack - Washington Post

“Today’s horrific attack proves our enemy would stop at nothing to cause our people pain and suffering. Let’s unite against terror,” Mohamed said on Twitter.

Medical workers spoke about the scale of the attack, which quickly overwhelmed the city’s few hospitals.

“Today is the worst day of my life. We are overwhelmed by the high number of the casualties. I have been working at this hospital for more than seven years, and I never saw or heard this number of deaths,’’ said Ahmed Osman, a nurse in Mogadishu’s Medina Hospital, where many of the dead and wounded were taken.

Additional Reading - Why isn't 'Pray for Mogadishu' Trending? BBC Opinion

Popular Science (and a peer-reviewed article)

Why Crows are so Playful - Ars Technica

These experiments yielded several interesting insights. One is that the birds clearly did learn about the physical properties of objects by playing with them. When the birds were allowed to play with the tools before tackling the food test, they often made better choices about which tool to use. And yet not all of the birds were equally adept at turning toys into tools. The birds' behaviors were highly individualistic, despite the fact that they were all presented with exactly the same test conditions.

Additional reading - Function and flexibility of object exploration in kea and New Caledonian crows

Funnies

Calvin and Hobbes, Aug 6 1987

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