Word: pinged
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...second day out, an Australian destroyer escort recorded a loud "ping" on its sonar, confirmed what Admiral Doyle had suspected: Russian submarines were keeping close tabs on U.S. naval movements. But this sub apparently was interested only in observation. Said an Australian destroyer officer later: "We held her for three minutes, but she cut through the convoy and we lost contact...
Much different was the behavior of pigeons trained to compete in fierce individual enterprise. Pigeons that got this conditioning were put on opposite sides of a small table and urged to knock a ping-pong ball back & forth between them (see cut). When the ball was missed, it fell into a trough and released some grain for the opponent. Pigeons that played this game quickly caught the competitive spirit: until Dr. Skinner decided to restrain them with wire shields, a loser sometimes tried to fly over the table and murder his victorious opponent...
...only be doubly suspicious of the cooperation Professor Skinner is getting from his birds. A pigeon that can play ping-pong can certainly learn close-order drill; it is only a short step from that to organized rebellion. Buried in Professor Skinner's report is the note that at least one of his pigeons appeared on a window sill and virtually volunteered for the experiment; the word is obviously getting around. As far as we're concerned, pigeons exist solely to give monument cleaners a chance to earn an honest living. An educated pigeon will inevitably try to get something...
Professor Skinner has found that ordinary park pigeons make good subjects. He took one bird, in fact, right off his window sill; the pigeon can play ping-pong as well as the best of the breed...
Although homing pigeons are usually used, Harvard Yard pigeons have also shown aptitude, readily learning to play a modified game of ping pong as well as the piano tunes...