Fun Facts about Cardinals (The Bird, not the Person)

Here are a couple things I've observed since putting birdseed out on my windowsill -

1- Cardinals chirp while they eat

2- Cardinals like to eat at 5am

That is all.

Video

I did this.  And you can, too.  Probably.

IDK bros i've been spamming the hell out of this link.  I love building models and feel like i've unlocked secret powers by learning how to use imovie better to like... speed up the video and do voice overs.  I don't know how I feel about youtube as a Thing though.  It's great but it's also the worst for a lot of reasons.

Nanoblocks are also great but also the worst, for less reasons.

Thanks anyway.

The Lion in my House

There's a lion in my house.  He is small, but he is all Lion.  This is among the few things he knows for certain.  He knows that he is loved, and he knows that he's a lion, and that's about it.

I've been making a point to spend more time at home, and I'm now getting to see him sleep.  Little greengold eyes slowly shutting, tiny pink paws kneading at nothing, grabbing at the arm of the sofa, slipping.  I wonder what he dreams about.  Because I spend too much time at work, getting to see this small lion sleep is a rare treat.  But I know he needs the beauty rest.  He has busy days too, making sure the birds that come to our windowsill to eat stay out of trouble.  We live in an apartment now, so he no longer has to keep the proseletysers and political canvassers at bay, but keeping the birds and occasional squirrel in line have replaced that task.  And at night he has to chase the ghosts.  That's when I see the true Wild in him.

We almost thought we had lost him earlier this year, his body becoming thin and frail, his preference suddenly to just hide from the world.  But with the help of a very good veterinarian, we were able to learn of an overactive thyroid that was making him ill.  Something that can be treated with medicine.  A radiation therapy may be in the future for him, which would cure him forever, but it would require boarding him at the vet's office for five days, so I'm on the fence about that.  So for now I go into the city every month to pick up his medicine, and I stop in the zoo whilst down that way to say hi to his cousins, the big lions.

Shortcut

I have a long commute.  I used to take a shortcut home that took about 5 minutes off of it.  It is no longer a shortcut now.

The airport is right there, so my old shortcut is where the TNP lot is now located.

For those who aren't in the loop, the TNP lot is where rideshare drivers can wait til their pickups are ready.

It's exactly the dystopian wasteland one would imagine would be brought on by the share economy, but with like 50% more fistfights.  And 9001% more traffic.  So I don't go by there anymore.   It is a mess.

Rideshare drivers went on strike today, for many of the same reasons that I won't use rideshare services, but hunger trumped nosiness and I still didn't bother to drive by.

Maybe there really are no shortcuts in life lol.

Shameless self promotion here.

I updated my other blog.  It's not pretty.  Enjoy.

technology as a factor to bring on revolutions

I do a lot with computers.  It is my job.  I sit in front of a screen for most of the day.  It's also one of my hobbies, my passion to learn about how to get things done harder, better, faster, stronger.  So I sit and work, and then I sit and learn, and when I'm AFK, I sit and think a lot.

Thinking back to my Western Civ class, from uni, some 5 or so years ago.  That was a great class.  But one of the things we discussed was what technology brought on what revolutions and why.

Most recent- the internet.  Suddenly we are all connected, to nearly everywhere in the world.  It still seems semibrand-new to us, to most people, even starting out on their AOL accounts 2 decades ago.  And how we live now thanks to that.  It is different than how we were living 20 years ago.

Further back than that- computers.  Just computers in general.  They've technically been around for a century, in the form of punched-out cards fed into machines.  Even then they made things get done faster.

And still further back- the assembly line.  How that revolutionised the way people work, the way goods are produced.  Whether that's good or bad I don't know.

Before- the printing press.  Books suddenly accessible to anyone, when before books had been handwritten.  People could now learn more.

Perhaps earliest- the plough.  Leading to that first revolution, the agrarian one, influencing still how we get our food.  No longer were we the hunter gatherers.  No.  Now we could tame out environment.

These technological revolutions seem to come on more frequently as time passes, and I wonder what the next one is, and when.  I hope it's not cybernetics.  That'd be scary.  Anyway if it's cybernetics I'll personally go out and buy all 5 of you who are reading this a beer, because I'll feel like I've lost some sort of bet.

Thanks.

Things I am up to Just Now (Or: Why I Never Blog)

Mostly I work.  I control the inventory databases.  I total up invoices.  Sometimes when there has been a large volume of sales I assist with the bookkeeping.  Also, whenever there is something requiring a second set of eyes to check over, such as last month's commissions, I am that second set of eyes.  I get to do this while wearing my DBZ hoodie, but pyjamas are unacceptable still where I work.
I'm taking online courses.  I'm one of them "lifelong learners" who wants all the information.  I want to learn SQL.  I want to learn Python.  Computer stuff is a lot of fun if you're willing to be patient with it.
I went back "home" recently.  Basically straight from work to airport to his house, and then from his house to airport to work.  I like to pretend it's just a long business trip.  I'm just doing it so I can work anyway.  We had a wonderful time.  We went to the park.  We went into town.  We visited lots of old friends.  And sometimes we just hung out on the couch and watched TV.  There's gotta be some obscure German word for "being a guest in someone's house, being told TV's all yours, and not being able to figure out their remote control."  But when you get to see your better half about twice a year, sometimes even average stuff like hanging out on the couch and watching TV together seems like the most wonderful thing.

My tumblr blogs get updated far more often.  They are about pictures.  Sometimes pictures are easier than words.
the place where all my photos go to die
same, but with paintings instead

Thanks.