I couldn't help but laugh when I saw this article in today's paper about the problem they are having with escaped Monk parakeets/parrots aka Quakers. Researchers think they have devised a way to give them birth control because they are multipling fast and are a nusance because they build their nests on top of electrical utility structures.   But you can just look into the beady eye of this bird and tell that he thinks YOU are the one who is a nusance.

 My Quaker is what I call "a low class bird" because he cost very little when compared with other parrots.  I bought him when he was a baby and named him Monkeybird.  I taught him to say several things, among them, "What a good boy."  That was before he started laying about six eggs every three months.  I can see how they may increase in number pretty fast!

"It wasn't until the early 1990s, most notably after Hurricane Andrew, that the birds' habitat preference became a problem, said Jim Lindsay, a principal biologist with Florida Power & Light."

http://www.gainesville.com/article/20080719/NEWS/121332929/1105/NEWS&title=Parakeet_population_causing_problem_for_power_companies

Posted:  07.19.08

Things to include:

• Use both numbers, letters, and symbols. (Example: #g%6n4x)
• Include capital and lowercase letters. (Example: QwERty)
• Substitute different symbols for letters.  (Example: Use the number '0', zero, instead of the letter 'O')
• Make a unique acronym.  (Example: "ILG" instead of "I love God.")
• Use phonetic replacements. (Example: "IOU" instead of "I owe you.")

 Things to avoid:

• Do not use an example password. 
• Do not use a password that includes personal information.  Personal information includes your name, initials, birth date, etc.  (Wrong: "Nate")
• Do not use words or acronyms that can be found in the dictionary.
• Do not use keyboard patterns. (Wrong: "qwerty")
• Do not use sequential patterns.  (Wrong: "abcd" or "1234")
• Do not make your password all numbers, all symbols, all uppercase letters, or all lowercase numbers.  You should include some of each.  (Wrong: "18536", "@*%$&", "AGJDC", or "fhbmr")
• Do not use repeating characters. (Wrong: "ffDD##55")

Tips for keeping your password secure:

• Never tell your password to anyone.  (This includes your pet parrot. :) )
• Never write your password down.
• Never send your password in an email.
• Periodically change your password.

If you follow these tips, your passwords will be reasonably safe.

At one point, it was so windy that my car was getting blown around on the road, so I stopped to take a break.

Don't tell my rental car company, but I took the car off road for a few miles so that I could get to Pebbly Beach. There, I ran into my friend, Parrot Herbert, and a couple of his buddies.

I also saw some kangaroos just kickin it on the beach.

I didn't touch them though because they have claws that look sharp, and I didn't want to tempt fate.

During one of those times when the camera was snapping away, I turned around to see my jacket (with cell phone in pocket) blow into the ocean.

After returning to Sydney, I stayed one night again with Chris and his family, who are by the way awesome people, and then, I flew out for Vegas.

Come back each day and let me know what you think of Australia's birdlife.

Sports Catalog

• Click On Soccer Ball For Cleats

Rockhopper

• The Free Item is the Stuffed Parrot. This is an item brought back.

A new wig and clothing catalog is coming out Friday July 4, 2008! How cool for the people who live in the USA like me! And the fireworks will start soon!

Well thanks for reading!

-Waddlguin

HOWL 앵무새 (AENG MU SAE) (GOONG OST) LYRICS

Are your wings drooping from the heat?

Yeah, my parrot species may be from tropical places but I'm now acclimated to Northern NJ USA! 100 degrees is too much for me now! After all, I am the house princess.

My human caretakers made me my own special treat. They froze organic natural pineapple juice in small ice cubes. These are fun, cold, and great tasting treat that help me get through these very HOT days. It actually works for apple and orange too. My favorite is still pineapple.

They also freeze strawberries and banana into small bites. They never totatlly freeze (or thaw quickly) so it tastes more like ice cream to me. Let them eat their chocolate ice cream. I like mine better!

I also took a really long cool shower. That makes me look beautiful and cool.

Yeah...I've got it made (but don't let my caretakers know that).

Photo by Dave
Location: Moab, Utah
Twins: Blue Throated Macaws "Dreadful" and "Gleam"

Thinking about traveling internationally with your blue throated macaw? I was, so like me, think again.

Now, I'm not completely inexperienced with traveling with my parrots. I've done it before, but never with a blue throated macaw who is considered an Appendix 1 to CITES. Half way down the page you will see the scientific name for blue throated macaw which is Ara glaucogularis. CITES goes by all scientific lingo and sometimes blue throated macaws can be mistaken for blue and gold macaws which are known as Ara caninde.

It's important to know the scientific terminology when wanting to travel internationally with your birds.

Also, from easy to hard, appendix III is the easiest, II is the middle ground and I is the hardest to obtain permits for and travel with. The difference between the three is explained more in depth here. If you don't feel like reading it, it basically states that the most endangered animals are on appendix I (animals such as tigers, etc). African Grey parrots are listed on appendix II and birds such as parakeets and Swainson toucans are not on CITES at all.

Information on how to properly import and export species on appendix I: Text of the Convention.

It's hard to say what the exact rules are with traveling with an appendix I species as they change very often so if I were to state specifics with what they are today, they could be different in a couple of days and then this wouldn't be useful at all. Traveling state-to-state is a different story than trying to travel into a different country such as Canada or Mexico, even though they are one the borders of the US (if that is where your residence is).

It can take up to a year to get a permit for your bird to travel with you. For my rose breasted cockatoo it took exactly one year to get her a "pet passport". A pet passport is strictly for people traveling with their appendix II species as pets and pets only. Because you're dealing with an appendix one, it can take even longer but hopefully not!

With an appendix one, you would need a CITES Import permit from the foreign country and CITES Export permit from the United States (or country of residence) I only know this from experience from the US to other countries and Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands to the US (keep in mind the CNMI is a US Commonwealth).

Also, it's good to know where your bird is from and it's entire family history. CITES Appendix I  species that are not CITES Pre-Convention or certified as captive bred by the Division of Scientific Authority are more difficult to obtain CITES permits for. Proof is a huge requirement for processing permits and any other paperwork you may need from CITES for your travels.

Sadly, I could not get my permits in time for Jinx and I had to contact the breeder to get a different baby from another clutch because I'd be gone for 2.5 months (over this summer) good thing I'm dealing with an amazing breeder who has been understanding of my position as well as how the process for CITES applications work. They are not always meeting our own personal deadlines (keep in mind they get tons of requests daily) and luckily, she had her own experience with that! It was pretty hard on me to not be able to get the permits in time for my leave and have to get a different baby, just because I have seen this one grow up from an egg to 1.5 months old. But I will love whichever baby I end up getting and will still call him or her Jinxi.

My caretaker, Pat, just got her Pet Business Issue that contains the 2008 Pet Industry Almanac & Handbook . They had a picture of a parrot on the cover (with many other animals). Take a look at the index!

If you can't read the image, let me clarify. On the index of advertisers:

• Cats
• Dogs
• Fish
• Grooming
• Herptiles
• Small Animals
• Cross Category

Notice anything missing?!?! NO PARROT not even birds are listed! Crickets get a one page article. Are they trying to say that no parrot things exist? That parrot-customers don't exist?

The only pictures of a parrot is included (with other animals) on a PIJAC, Companion Habitats, and Petrotech magazine ads. (BTW, Petrotech was for oder control...if a parrot has an oder...see a vet immediately!)

The only reason I can imagine why no parrots is that the pet business has finally accepted that we parrots are more human than those other companions! Why else would parrots be eliminated from the industry almanac and handbook? Maybe they plan on adding us to the people business issue.

P A R R O T S   R U L E !

screaming cockatoo
parroting insanity;
infernal white noise

~~~

Photo by Dave
Location: Sandpoint, Idaho
Showerer: Rose Breasted Cockatoo "Bandit"

I took Bandit into the shower for the first time while staying at my parents' house in Sandpoint, Idaho. I didn't take a shower perch but he had watched Bondi (a 3 year old of the same species) from a shower perch before.

He merely perched on my hand and I covered his face and head and let the water mist the rest of his body since he was getting pretty messy looking from all the hand feeding I have been doing! Sometimes with the hand feeding I would miss, or he would move and I would miss and get it all over his face. Also, baby birds can just be messy like that so it's not a clean process!

Bandit wasn't excited about the water but he wasn't intentionally trying to lean out of it, either. Which made it easy to bathe him even though he wasn't that responsive to it. I have since bathed him and he has been the same way. He just shuts his eyes and sits there - no fluffing up about it but no running to get away either. Since he is a type of cockatoo (also referred to as a galah) he produces quite a bit of dander so he needs his bathes often.

Just wanted to share the differences between how some birds percieve their first bath! Or few baths! In case your bird is the same way as Bandit.

A parrot silhouette in blue using poster paints. This is on cavas board again and like most of the other recent entries, this is quite a few years old. Copied it from a picture.

1. Theme Parties: one of the top themes mentioned was luau and another is pirate.

2. Balloons: I have seen a parrot shaped balloon. A little warning, I know Scarlet gets very scared when one pops. (BTW, if you are looking for a GREAT Balloon Decorations Guy...see Balloons by Robbie.)

3. Personalized Product: Candy Bars, Invitations, to Thank You's are all things you can personalized for parties. Scarlet's Feathers does offer a couple of invitations and some thank you's. If you need something customized, just send us a feather-gram (eMail) and we'll see what we can do.

4. Licenses: Using licensed items like cartoon characters. Don't know of any licensed but we do LOVE Caribbean Soul Parrot Party stickers and T-Shirts.

5. Green Goodies: Ego-friendly products go hand-in-hand with the theme section. Throw a Recycle Party to help save the Rainforest!

6. Colors: Chocolate is the current trends paired with pink. We parrot-lovers like bright colors. That never goes out of style for us!

7. Halloween: Children love halloween almost as much as adults! Yes, parties are for the adults. It is also among the card designs we enjoy creating the most.

8. Milestone Birthdays: Yes, the usual, 21, 30, 40, 50, and 60 but don't forget the Swee 16 and Quienceneras celebration as well.

Now, go out and plan a party. We all need a little extra cheer these days. Just have everyone bring something to share the expense. Getting together for a good time with friends...priceless!

The role of the Queen of the Night, which is sing by a dramatic coloratura soprano is famous for its difficulty. A particularly demanding aria is the Queen of the Night's "Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen" ("The vengeance of hell boils in my heart"), which reaches a high F. Whether they can sing it or not, everyone takes a crack at this aria:

Florence Foster Jenkins was a wealthy socialite and benefactor of the arts in the first half of the 20th century. She recorded her renditions of classical vocal works to give as gifts to friends. Here she sings Mozart's aria "Queen of the Night".

Parrots like to repeat what they hear people around them saying. I wonder who this parrot's owner is.

Now I don't know why someone would make a child learn this aria, but listen to this boy soprano. He is very accurate with the pitches and without the dramatic intent, he performs this aria very well in recital format.

Now for the real deal. Diana Damrau is the best I have seen (I haven't seen everyone one, so don't be offended if you like someone more.) She is scary as hell and sings the crap out of this aria. Not to mention that she looks fierce.

Check out YouTube for more Queen of the Nigh clips. See a production of The Magic Flute, because it's awesome!

Find out stuff about Monty Python.
http://www.pythonline.com/ Official Site
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Python
http://www.intriguing.com/mp/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063929/

Check them out! (Search, find, watch, buy)

TV Show
Monty Python's Flying Circus (BBC 1969-1974)

Movies
And Now for Something Completely Different (1971)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
Life of Brian (1979)
The Meaning of Life (1983)

Relative to Monty Python
Fawlty Towers (12 episodes, 1975-1979)
A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
Fierce Creatures (1997)
Time Bandits (1981)
Brazil (1985)
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
The Fisher King (1991)
Twelve Monkeys (1995)
Medieval Lives (2004)
Barbarians (2006)
Ancient Inventions (1998)
The Crusades (1995)
"Around the World in 80 Days" (1989)

Photo by Dave
Location: Moab, Utah
Filming: Blue Throated Macaw "Gleam"
Without the help of: Calico Macaw "Siren"

How lucky I am! This is what I do for a living, well, among other things I choose to do on the side but this is my primary passion (although it wasn't always this way) and I love it to the fullest extent. Though, you know, that probably isn't true because I haven't even experienced it all and everytime I experience something new, I fall that much more in love with what I do (and a bit more confused, too!)

Those who know me know I do not claim to be all knowing... in the least! I have been bitten my fair share of times and I am sure they will continue to come. Bites come from intentions, discomfort and even accidents.

I learn constantly and am always going back into my posts every so often and adding things as they come into my head and into my line of vision.

My favorite times in bird training have been with flight training and trick training. I have found (so far) that birds that are flying outside have less of an interest in trick training (as well as less of a need) than birds that do not get that freedom.

Photo by Dave
Location: Reno, Nevada
My Little Helper: Swainson Toucan "Meaka"

Most people in social jobs say they enjoy meeting new people, well, I can happily say I enjoy meeting new birds! I really enjoy raising birds for other people and training them for other people and although it is hard to hand them back over to their real "parronts", the time comes and you feel proud. You don't ever "get used to it" because your experience with one bird is completely different than the one you will have with the same species of bird the next time.

The best times I have are traveling with my feathered friends to new places and exploring it along with them. I love experiencing something new with my birds; such as a new place, scenery, or even object. I have a great time "desensitizing" and socializing my birds. It is harder at first, but once they get used to change and start seeing new things as exciting and fun instead of intimidating and scary... it becomes so enjoyable and rewarding.

Two rules I strictly follow with my birds which I believe everyone should try to follow, too;

1. Socialize your bird like crazy. Introduce one new person a day (neighbors, family, friends, kids, spouses, fellow workers, bosses, anyone!) It will do wonders for your bird.

2. Introduce one new thing a day, such as an object. This works well for "desensitizing" your bird to new things so he takes on to new toys in his cage easier and doesn't spook when someone sets down their homework or drops their pen near them. These can be normal, every day things such as draw strings from your sweater, a pen, your car keys, your husband's watch, your wife's lipstick, etc.

PS... this doesn't mean give your bird the new object and let him "have at it", just introduce it and make sure it becomes unthreatening to your bird and the job is done. You just don't want your bird  to fear the new object, once that is accompished, you're done!

Anyway, I hope those of you that do come across this blog enjoy it as much as I enjoy reliving my experiences while telling about them here!

The page has great links to quality articles and resources with commentary and context for each. It also includes sections specific to C, Objective-C, C++, Java, Python, JavaScript, and Haskell.

What, no Perl? Well, using threads in Perl 5 is rather painful. I've never had to use threads with Perl 5 (beyond making DBI thread safe a few years ago) and I'd be happy to never have to.

On the other hand, I believe people are using threads successfully, though I've no handy links for you beyond pointing out that CPAN offers a number of solid Thread:: modules.

All this reminded me that I'd never got around to reading Parrot's Concurrency design document. So I did. I liked it as a statement of direction, though it's a little thin on the interaction between schedulers.

I couldn't find many interesting links discussing both Parrot and Erlang. An O'Reilly Radar post called Parrot and Multi-threading from September 2007 was hopeful.

I'm still wondering if Parrot could act as a virtual machine for Erlang. I think that would be a valuable test case for the quality and scalability of the concurrency design.

Cal posar la versió 4.17a de firmware del Parrot perquè funcioni. A les release notes de la 4.17a ja dóna pistes, i realment funciona.

Si no es posa aquesta versió, passen coses rares que ja us sonaran, com per exemple:

- Trucada fantasma: a vegades a l'entrar al cotxe, la pantalla posa "llamando ..." i no deixa fer res

- No connecta: la majoria de les vegades el Parrot no connecta. A vegades mentre esta trucant pots sentir pels altaveus que esta trucant, però al connectar, apareix un simbol de silenci, i no s'escolta res.

- Es reseteja: A vegades diu Desconectado / Desconectado a la pantalla, i fins que no tanques el contacte del cotxe, no desapareix.

Doncs bé, amb la versió 4.17a ja funciona tot.

Només cal baixar el "Parrot Software Update Tool" de http://www.parrot.com/es/apoyoalcliente/descargar 

i ja funciona.

Per actualitzar el firmware, cal seguir aquests passos (tot i que ho explica molt bé a la web):

1) Anem a preferencias avanzadas del parrot i activem la actualización de software

2) des del PC, fem un descobriment dels dispositius, i trobem un "parrot serial: UPDATE".

3) El connectem posant "1234"

4) Aleshores connectem aquest port sèrie virtual i el deixem connectat.

5) Arrenquem el "Parrot Software Update Tool", i després de triar el idioma i baixar la última versió (la famosa 4.17a), li fem actualitzar.

6) Triem la opció Bluetooth virtual serial port, i comença el "flashejat" del firmware.

7) Després d'uns inacabables 4 o 5 minuts (inacabables perquè estem amb el portàtil amb la bateria, patint de que no s'acabi i que no es pengi el procés, deixant el Parrot inservible ...), acaba el flash, i es reseteja el aparell.

8) Després d'això s'ha perdut tota la config. cal tornar a aparellar el telèfon, des de la opció Preferecias avanzadas, i seleccionant "Windows CE device" (encara que suposo que amb els altres també anirà). Un cop aparellat, es copiarà l'agenda de manera automàtica.

9) Pim-pam. Ja funciona. No falla cap vegada. Comprovat amb el Touch II, que fallava moltíssim més que el Touch normal.

Outside verse: Senior moments are nothing more than...

Inside verse: ...discarding the crap so our wisdom can flurish.

Closing verse:

(any ocassion) Now, don't you feel better?

(birthday) Now go and have a Happy Birthday