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and served as an ambulance driver on the Western Front. He turned 109 in February 2010.
    …major film released on VHS: The 2005 Oscar-nominated thriller A History of Violence .
    …30-game-winning pitcher in Major League Baseball: Denny McLain of the Detroit Tigers, in 1968, amassed a 31–6 record.
    …ABA player in the NBA: The NBA absorbed the failing American Basketball Association—and its top players—in 1976. The last one still playing in the NBA was Hall of Famer Moses Malone, who retired from the San Antonio Spurs in 1995.
    …Soviet head of state: Mikhail Gorbachev was the General Secretary of the Communist Party when the U.S.S.R. dissolved in 1991, making him the last leader of the Soviet Union.
    …U.S. president who was neither Democrat nor Republican: In 1850 Vice President Millard Fillmore—a Whig—assumed office upon the death of President Zachary Taylor and served until 1853.
    …guest host of The Muppet Show: Roger Moore, then-portrayer of James Bond, hosted the last episode of the original show in 1981.
    …person publicly executed in the guillotine: Eugene Weidmann, convicted of six murders, was beheaded on June 17, 1939, outside a prison in Versailles, France.
    …black-and-white series on American television: Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood . It didn’t switch over to color until 1969.
    …immigrant to enter the U.S. via New York’s Ellis Island: A Norwegian man named Arne Peterssen was the last person to be processed at the facility, in 1954.
    …time Coca-Cola was made with cane sugar: 1980. That year, American bottlers switched to the cheaper sweetener high-fructose corn syrup. (But Mexican and kosher bottlers still use sugar.)
Buckwheat is not related to wheat.

BIRD BRAINS, PART I
It’s long been assumed that the world’s most intelligent animals (after humans) are the “higher” mammals—great apes, dolphins, whales, and elephants, each of which uses tools and complex forms of communication. Over the past few decades, however, biologists have discovered that one non-mammal group also belongs to that exclusive club: birds .
    W INGS
    Earth’s 9,000 avian species include expert toolmakers, communicators, navigators, architects, and problem solvers. Numbering at least 100 billion, birds range in size from the tiny hummingbird—which is lighter than a penny—to the ostrich, which stands nine feet tall and can weigh 300 pounds. Birds inhabit every continent; some can fly five miles high (Rüppell’s vultures) and others can dive 1,000 feet below the surface of the ocean (Emperor penguins).
    Birds’ levels of intelligence vary greatly as well. And even the so-called “dumb” ones are smarter than previously thought. Many farmers dismiss domestic turkeys as being quite stupid, but after studying poultry for 30 years, Oregon State University biologist Tom Savage says that turkeys are misunderstood: “They have a keen awareness of their surroundings. The dumb tag simply doesn’t fit.” As scientists are only recently finding out, this can be said of many bird species. In fact, a more fitting insult than “bird brain” is “lizard brain”: Birds’ brains are very large in proportion to their bodies—6 to 11 times larger than those of similar-size reptiles.
    So which bird is the most intelligent of them all? The answer (coming later) may surprise you.
    GIMME SHELTER
    One way that scientists define intelligence: the ability to physically alter an object to suit a specific need, such as toolmaking or elaborate nest construction. Starting with nests, here are two of the most impressive avian abodes.
    • Tailorbird: Native to tropical Asia, this warbler is known as “nature’s seamstress.” After finding two suitably large leaves in the top of a tree, the female pierces holes into the opposite edges of each one with her sharp beak (the holes are so tiny that the leaf doesn’t brown). Then the male brings her either spider silk, cocoon silk, or plant fibers. Using her beak as a needle,