Live from Austin!

Once Chester had finished his molt, he began growing new a lot of new feathers. This included his flight feathers.

The flight feathers are the outermost 6 feathers on the trailing edge of each wing. When the bird has his wings folded on his back, they stick out at the bottom . If the flight feathers are clipped back so that they no longer protrude beneath the wing when it’s folded, then when the wing is unfolded the bird can’t gain enough lift to gain altitude.

In other words: with clipped flight feathers, a budgie can fly downwards, but can’t fly up. A bird with a full set of flight feathers is referred to as "flighted".

The question of whether a companion bird should be flighted is somewhat controversial . It’s said that being flighted makes a bird more confident. On the other hand, a house can be a dangerous place for a fully flighted bird.

My feeling was that so long as Chester’s flying didn’t become problematic, and he continued to be well behaved enough that we could keep him safe, he could keep his flight feathers.

Sadly, it didn’t work out that way. Last week his flight feathers got long enough that he was able to demonstrate his ability to fly up to ceiling level. When he landed on the floor, I bent down and offered my hand so he could step up to safety, which he had been trained to do and had always done in the past. He gave me a look as if to say "Screw you, human, I can fly !" and took off.

He flew around the kitchen. He flew into the utility room. He flew back out onto the windowsill above the sink. It became clear that he could easily end up on top of the kitchen cabinets, down the back of the fridge, behind the washing machine, or in the sink disposal. This was not good for him or us.

So regretfully, we took him to the vet and had his wings clipped again. It is, of course, a totally painless process. He was fluffing his feathers and enjoying the car ride by the time we were driving home. But for the time being at least, he’s grounded. He can make short hopping flights, but no soaring around the ceiling fan.

Ironically, he loves his cage so much that if we were willing to let him spend his life in the cage, he probably wouldn’t make any effort to come out, and we could let him stay flighted. It’s because we want him to come out and have a rich and stimulating life that he needs to be clipped for the time being.

Danger!

[...] websites are targeting your children with so-called digital drugs. These are audio files designed to induce drug-like effects.

All your child needs is a music player and headphones.

There are different slang terms for digital drugs. They’re often called "idozers" or "idosers." All rely on the concept of binaural beats.

[...]

Some sites provide binaural beats that have innocuous effects. For example, some claim to help you develop extrasensory powers like telepathy and psychokinesis.

[...]

However, most sites are more sinister. They sell audio files ("doses") that supposedly mimic the effects of alcohol and marijuana.

But it doesn’t end there. You’ll find doses that purportedly mimic the effects of LSD, crack, heroin and other hard drugs. There are also doses of a sexual nature. I even found ones that supposedly simulate heaven and hell.

A transcript of a Chris Morris Brass Eye special? No, it’s a loopy news story from CNN.

John McCain is surprisingly honest and direct about his desire to ban abortion:

John McCain believes Roe v. Wade is a flawed decision that must be overturned, and as president he will nominate judges who understand that courts should not be in the business of legislating from the bench.

[...]

However, the reversal of Roe v. Wade represents only one step in the long path toward ending abortion.

The pro-life movement has done tremendous work in building and reinforcing the infrastructure of civil society by strengthening faith-based, community, and neighborhood organizations that provide critical services to pregnant mothers in need. [...] These important groups can help build the consensus necessary to end abortion at the state level.

Straight talk indeed.

I subscribe to Nutrition Action Healthletter . A recent edition carried an article on ethical (and healthy) fish consumption. It included handy lists of fish that can safely be eaten, fish that are good alternatives in a pinch, and fish which you should avoid eating–either because of health concerns, or because they are endangered.

I just scanned, OCRed and edited the lists to put in my BlackBerry, so I thought I’d post them here in case you want to copy them to your own phone’s notepad.

Best choices

Arctic char (farmed)
Barramundi (U.S. farmed)
Catfish (U.S. farmed)
Clams (farmed)
Cod - Pacific (Alaska longline)
Crab - stone or Dungeness
Halibut - Pacific
Atlantic Herring/Sardines
Lobster - spiny (U.S.)
Mussels (farmed)
Oysters (farmed)
Pollock (Alaska wild)
Salmon (Alaska wild)
Scallops - bay (farmed)
Striped bass (wild* or farmed)
Sturgeon (farmed) or its caviar
Tilapia (U.S. farmed)
Trout - rainbow (farmed)
Tuna - albacore (U.S. or British Columbia, troll or pole)
Tuna - skipjack (troll or pole)

Good alternatives

Basa (farmed)
Clams (wild)
Cod - Pacific (trawled)
Crab - blue*
Crab - king (U.S.)
Crab - snow
Flounder (Pacific)
Lobster - American (Maine)
Mahi mahi (U.S.)
Oysters (wild)*
Scallops - sea (Northeast U.S. and Canada)
Shrimp (U.S. farmed or wild)
Sole (Pacific)
Squid
Surimi (imitation crab)
Swai (farmed)
Swordfish (U.S. longline)*
Tilapia (Central America farmed)
Tuna - bigeye (troll or pole)
Tuna - yellowfin (troll or pole)
Tuna - canned white (albacore)* or canned light

Fish to avoid

Chilean seabass*
Cod - Atlantic*
Crab - king (imported)*
Flounder (Atlantic)
Grouper*
Halibut - Atlantic
Lobster - spiny (Caribbean imported)
Mahi mahi (imported)
Monkfish
Orange roughy*
Rockfish (Pacific)
Salmon (farmed, including Atlantic)*
Scallops - sea (mid-Atlantic)
Shark*
Shrimp (imported farmed or wild)
Snapper - red*
Sole (Atlantic)
Sturgeon (imported wild)* or its caviar*
Swordfish (imported)*
Tilapia (China or Taiwan farmed)
Tuna - albacore (Iongline)*
Tuna - bigeye (Iongline)*
Tuna - yellowfin (longline)*
Tuna - bluefin*

* indicates mercury contamination is a concern, and you should limit consumption for health reasons.

And if you’re wondering why someone who doesn’t eat meat would eat fish, evidence is that humans evolved on a diet heavy in fish , which is why Omega-3 seems to be so good for mental health and skin problems.

Or as the cliché puts it: meat is murder, fish is justifiable homicide.

We should legalize drugs, and make poetry illegal. The Mafia would have to make money by running speakeasy underground poetry slams, smuggling Faber & Faber books from Europe, and offering schoolkids a free stanza or two to get them hooked. Kids would all be writing poetry in order to be cool.

What do you put mothballs in, if you don’t plan to use them for a while?

We bought this stuff:

But it’s exactly the same size as ordinary rice.

You know you’ve been playing a lot of Grand Theft Auto when you look at the Long Center and think "Cool, I bet if I get up on the roof there’s a weapon cache there."

On Sunday, I was sitting in the living room when one of our female squirrels came to the back door and tapped on the glass to ask for food.

Entirely too cute, so by way of balance here’s a cockroach story:

This morning rothko found a cockroach in her shoulder bag. So of course, she immediately said "Eww! Roach!" and tipped it out onto the living room floor, at which point it retreated to under the sofa. I decided I might be able to get it, but I’d only have a single chance, so I fetched the Dyson. Sure enough, when I moved the sofa it scuttled towards the exercise machine, but the vacuum did the job. My intention had been to release the insect outside, but it turns out that a 1000km/h cyclone leads to incipient cockroach moribundity.

At this time of year they mostly creep in under the front door in search of water. Three this year, which seems to be about the usual number.

Update: I spoke too soon. This evening I noticed Chester staring intently at something in the bottom of his cage…

I’ve finally done some online gaming a couple of times, playing GTA IV with a couple of people.

I also have The Orange Box. I bought it mostly for Portal, but I’m amenable to the idea of Team Fortress 2.

At some point I need to find out whether my USB headset works with the PS3.