Author John Shannon says he smelled something burning while driving home today. Under the hood of his car he found this bird's nest smoldering atop the engine. His ride had only been idle for two days, and he guesses for a nest this size a scrub jay that hangs around his place had to be responsible. Sounds like a case for Jack Liffey.

Speaking of authors: Ken Jennings, the guy who had that amazing run on "Jeopardy!" in 2004 then wrote a best-seller, is now writing "Maphead," described by Publishers Lunch as "exploring the world of map nuts and geography obsessives, from the days of 'Here be dragons' to the spinning globes of grade school to the revolution that is Google Maps."

And speaking of Jeopardy!: "What is the Santa Barbara News-Press?" was the correct question to a "Jeopardy!" answer last night about which newspaper fired reporters for joining a union. Wendy McCaw wasn't mentioned personally. * Oops: Correction to the wording of the question, from the Jeopardy archive.