Cancer Posted October 31, 2018 Report Share Posted October 31, 2018 On October 28, 2018 at 1:34 AM, L. Marcus said: The tits abound. They seem to have revamped the taxonomy, so those are a separate genus from what we have over here: two closely related separate groups, the titmice and the chickadees. The titmice are south of here. Chickadees are more northerly and seem to like woodlands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted October 31, 2018 Report Share Posted October 31, 2018 Lately the wild parrots have become commonplace. They are pretty noisy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted October 31, 2018 Report Share Posted October 31, 2018 Here in Seattle we get intermittent reports of escaped parrots successfully wintering over within the city, but I haven't seen confirmation of any of them, and I haven't knowingly seen a free-flying parrot here (and I think I'd recognize it; hummingbirds are about the only bright green native bird in our area, and most of the parrots are largely green, and I'm quite confident I would never mistake the two). There are places in the city where an overwintering parrot (or several) might happen -- parks where there's lots of edible trash, with shelter near continuous technological heat sources -- but it's a stretch, especially in a harder-than-normal winter. But yeah, parrots are noisy. Crows and jays are vocal, but nothing like parrots. I remember the enclosure with the sun conures in the Honolulu Zoo ... you could hear those guys a block away. EDIT: Seattle Parks says they're here. Seward Park is about as far away from my house as you can get in the city (I'm a block from the north city limit), and while I've been there, it's sort of a once-a-decade thing, and it wasn't in winter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted October 31, 2018 Report Share Posted October 31, 2018 The noisiest birds around here are magpies. They have a disturbing habit of screaming outside one's window on mornings when you have to get up early, or on mornings when one can finally get to sleep in. Bloody birds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted October 31, 2018 Report Share Posted October 31, 2018 I know magpies well, but we have none here west of the Cascades. The jays and crows are their replacement. At times (mostly winters) the crows will gather in vast mobs (hundreds of individuals) and talk politics. Take the old Skaramine - Worldmaker - Seenar - et al. discussions, translate into corvid, simultaneous continuous denunciations, remove all moderators, and put it in a clump of trees taking up most of the block. Play for half an hour or more. I remember one of those times when it happened just north of us, and we opened the door to let the cats out. They went out onto the porch, looked up at the crows in the trees, and decided to come back in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted October 31, 2018 Report Share Posted October 31, 2018 Reminds me of a tree or two of galahs or cockatoos in full song. It is like a plane taking off it is that noisy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted October 31, 2018 Report Share Posted October 31, 2018 I can believe that. The crows are not musical in any way when they do this; it's a full-throated avian flamewar. Bazza 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted November 2, 2018 Report Share Posted November 2, 2018 "Wild-eyed pistol waver who ain't afraid to die" might make a good character tagline in an appropriate genre. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted November 4, 2018 Report Share Posted November 4, 2018 Must be a pretty quiet night when it's seven minutes into the ten PM news and they're already into the "Firemen save cat from house fire" clip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted November 4, 2018 Report Share Posted November 4, 2018 Honestly I was expecting a hell of a lot more October Surprise by now. Shootings and bombings notwithstanding. Maybe Monday will be really interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted November 4, 2018 Report Share Posted November 4, 2018 October Surprise is coming...we are just a little behind schedule. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted November 4, 2018 Report Share Posted November 4, 2018 Aaand ... this morning we have chestnut-backed chickadees at the feeder. The squall that passed through last night seems to have brought them down out of the hills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted November 4, 2018 Report Share Posted November 4, 2018 In other developments, I am grading mid-terms this morning, the kiddies are stinking it up, and all distractions are welcome. And it is too early to crack open the six-pack I bought yesterday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted November 4, 2018 Report Share Posted November 4, 2018 No it isn’t. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pariah Posted November 4, 2018 Report Share Posted November 4, 2018 As Alan Jackson would say, It's five o'clock somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted November 4, 2018 Report Share Posted November 4, 2018 Well, the day got much better. The published announcement may not become public until tomorrow, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted November 7, 2018 Report Share Posted November 7, 2018 Late yesterday afternoon as a meeting broke up (with several people saying they were going home to see election returns come in), I said I had no intention of watching anything. The results would be there the next morning, the next weekend, the next month, and there wasn't anything I could do about it, and with most of the elections with the new officeholders taking their positions sometime in 2019, there really isn't much requirement to pay attention until December at least. This seemed alien to most people (a couple were kind enough to call me "disciplined" for not turning on the TV). I really don't understand why. It isn't like news of an hurricane (now there's a reason to watch the news updates fervently!), or current traffic conditions (again, that has the potential of being useful and time-saving in the immediate future), or stock market figures (if you're into financial markets, yeah, real-time attention that might be your thing in a big way), or even local sports news (again, the areas where the fans congregate get affected directly, so that can affect you the way traffic reports affect you). Given the networks' goal of making people watch them by scaring people ... nope, don't need that; I really DGAF about what happened even in local elections in the next county, let alone nine states away. My own district wasn't heavily contested, and the state stuff can wait until the recap in the Sunday paper after some of the hyperbole can calm down. All things considered, a nice tabletop RPG session with a simple dungeon crawl adventure would've been a perfect way to spend the evening. Unfortunately, our gaming group meets on Fridays, not Wednesdays. Pariah 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted November 8, 2018 Report Share Posted November 8, 2018 So basically, it is what it is and I'll continue to live my life. Right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted November 8, 2018 Report Share Posted November 8, 2018 Yup, though my explicit thumbing of the nose at Big Media is also something unusual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted November 8, 2018 Report Share Posted November 8, 2018 I refer to them as the corporate media, personally. Driven by ratings and sensationalism for the most part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pariah Posted November 8, 2018 Report Share Posted November 8, 2018 56 minutes ago, Bazza said: So basically, it is what it is and I'll continue to live my life. Right? In the end, it's all any of us can really do. Make a difference where you are. Trust that the rest will sort itself out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted November 8, 2018 Report Share Posted November 8, 2018 What sorting algorithm are we using? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted November 8, 2018 Report Share Posted November 8, 2018 Quote Thought is an Idea in transit, which when once released, never can be lured back, nor the spoken word recalled. Nor ever can the overt act be erased.⚫Pythagoras Apparently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted November 8, 2018 Report Share Posted November 8, 2018 17 hours ago, Bazza said: What sorting algorithm are we using? Shuffle-sort. I forget how that scales. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted November 8, 2018 Report Share Posted November 8, 2018 Only one I remember is Bubble Sort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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