Short Takes Short Takes (March 31, 2004)

Multiplying like, well, rabbits

To everything there's a season, and for the Peninsula Humane Society, rabbit season usually peaks in summer, when parents realize their children would rather have had chocolate bunnies in their Easter baskets. For some reason, PHS spokesman Scott Delucchi says, an unseasonably large number of rabbits are currently hopping around the shelter.

The bunnies need homes, and shelter officials hope that anyone in the market for a rabbit will adopt rather than buy. They also want prospective owners to think about whether they are ready to commit to caring for a rabbit, so that the shelter won't see a second wave of unwanted bunnies later this year.

For information, check PeninsulaHumaneSociety.org.

Here comes the pride

The recent parade of same-sex weddings in San Francisco raised a spectrum of emotions among onlookers, from approval to heated indignation, and it inspired a Menlo Park police officer and his wife to write a song.

As a tribute to couples who have overcome obstacles to be wed, Officer Ron Sfarzo and his wife, Maryann, recently penned "I Do," a wedding song intended for same-sex unions.

The two have written several songs, including "America Our Country, America Our Home," created shortly after September 11, 2001.

To check out "I Do," go to www.idoo.us.

Teens who know the value of a dollar

Do you know the current value of the discount rate?

If you ask one of the Menlo-Atherton High School seniors who recently visited the Federal Reserve Bank in San Francisco, they can tell you that the discount rate -- the interest the Fed charges for loans to banks -- is 1 percent.

The M-A students were among the first to take the bank's new hands-on tour intended to demystify the central bank. The exhibit on the Fed's role in fine-tuning the U.S. economy, for example, is a free-floating sphere whose subtle movements a visitor can influence with magnets.

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