海角大神

In today鈥檚 edition, we鈥檒l look at continuity in U.S. Supreme Court decisionmaking, address conflict with Iran, break down quantum jumps with a cartoon strip 鈥� and learn how California oyster farmers are coping with climate change and why one South African reads while he runs.

But first, here鈥檚 a question: What do ducklings and neo-Nazis have in common? Not much. But check out the creative solutions found for two civic problems on opposite sides of the world.

First, let鈥檚 go to Germany, where white supremacists descended on the town of Ostritz this past weekend for a 鈥淪hield and Sword鈥� music festival. To prevent violence from breaking out (and frankly, discourage attendance), locals got a court order to reports Deutsche Welle. Police confiscated 4,200 liters of beer. But just in case concertgoers tried to replenish in town, residents bought out all the beer in the local supermarket. 鈥淲e wanted to dry the Nazis out,鈥� Georg Salditt . Did it work? About 600 people attended this year鈥檚 festival, half as many as last year.

Meanwhile, in Littleton, Colorado, authorities faced a completely different challenge. Last Thursday, eight ducklings were swept into a storm drain. Half were easily rescued. But four were still out of reach in a pipe. That鈥檚 when a member of the South Metro Fire Rescue team pulled out his phone.

He found a YouTube video of a duck quacking, and held his phone near the pipe. The frightened baby birds stopped chirping long enough to listen. Perhaps they heard the sound of safety. Or a stern rebuke. In any case, they responded by . 聽

Whatever the challenge, lost ducklings or neo-Nazis, there just might be a lesson for all of us in pausing to listen for an inspired solution.