Baby Robins

These are the two remaining baby robins that were on our porch nest two days ago. (There were four. Number four disappeared overnight one night a week ago, number three was the biggest and jumped out a couple of days ago.)




I was awakened from an after-dinner nap on my couch this afternoon by a weird screeching sound from the porch. It seems both remaining birds decided to leave the nest this afternoon. One bird was gone, but one was being attacked by a stray cat on my porch. I scared the cat away, but the remaining bird just could not seem to fly. He kept trying to fly into my big living room window, but was smacking into the siding below the window. Eventually I got tired of seeing him brain himself on my house, coaxed him onto a paint-stirrer, and put him back in his nest.

His brother (or her sister, too young for me to tell) was sitting on my back porch, and migrated to my Jeep when I came outside.




A short while later, my wife informed me that the house-crashing robin was now sitting at my front door staring into the screen and chirping. *sigh* I went out to check him out and make sure the cat wasn't around. He waited until I was watching him and then chirped "Look at me! I can fly!" and then proceeded WHAM WHAM WHAM to repeatedly launch himself against the side of my porch. (I think the other fledgelings got all the brains.)

OK, I get it, you don't want to stay in the nest. I also think that you are cat food if you stay on the porch. Let's try moving you to the backyard where your brother was and see if you can perch in a bush or something high enough to stay safe.

Nope, halfway to the backyard the robin decided that it was going to sleep on the paint stirrer. (Just like my baby, it apparently likes to fall asleep to a nice rocking motion.) Grrrr. I put the robin - stick and all - on my Jeep, hoping he would flutter off to a bush or something. Nope. Not wanting to leave the sleeping moron where the cat could come back and munch on him, I decided that he should sleep somewhere safer.

Delta Children’s Products Eclipse Double Dresser - Black Cherry

Horrible quality, horrible company, July 16, 2010

Reviewer:

J. Star "Agent.X7" (Endicott, NY 13760) - See all my reviews

My in-laws ordered this for us 2 months before our baby was due. It's now 3 months after our baby was born, and this dresser is still in pieces in the baby's closet.

When we got the dresser, all of the wheels on the drawer tracks were broken, and the sides had big gouges in the wood. Target did not have this in stock, and we really wanted to finish putting it together, so we called Delta. Big mistake.

Delta sent us 2 replacement sides. Great, except that the sides they sent us did not fit the top of the dresser. Apparently they have 2 or three factories in Asia, AND THEY ALL MAKE THE PARTS A DIFFERENT WAY. So a dresser made in Thailand has parts that do not fit a dresser made in Vietnam. I guess corporate communication doesn't exist in Asia? Anyway, these replacement sides took weeks to get to us. Once we got them and realized they did not fit, we called Delta again. They promised to send us a new top, but it was back-ordered. And back-ordered. And after weeks of being on back-order, Delta finally promised to just send us a new Dresser. Meanwhile the baby had been born, and we still don’t have a place to put her clothes.

Finally a package arrived from Delta, 2 MONTHS LATER. Guess what? Yeah, it’s not a new dresser, but the top that had been on back-order. Guess what else? Yeah, it is THE SAME TOP WE ALREADY HAVE. It doesn’t fit the new sides either. After calling Delta for a week, we finally got them to send a new dresser. They refused to have it shipped to us by a faster means, so now we’re looking at 2 more weeks of waiting. I have zero hope that it will not be broken, or that it will actually fit together. I have very little hope that the Delta rep. isn’t lying to us again about sending a new dresser altogether.

Bottom line, Delta is a God-awful company and I will never purchase anything from them again, and will return gifts manufactured by them.

Well played, trolls, well played.

Blizzard officially backed down on using real names in their forums today. Congratulations, trolls, you can now go back to calling everyone niggers, fags, kikes, and chinks without fear of anyone in your life knowing what a prick you really are.

Disclaimer

Yes, I play World of Warcraft. No, I don't plan on buying Starcraft II. (Not a fan of RTS games.) Yes, I do plan on buying Diablo 3. Yes, I do use Real ID in WoW now. Yes, I own stock in Activision-Blizzard. (Why would you not, if you give them so much money?) No, I do not agree with everything they do.

RealID

Blizzard has begun a new "thing" in World of Warcraft (and soon Starcraft II) that requires you to use your real first and last name to "friend" people cross-game, or so that you can always chat with your friend no matter what character they are playing. Soon they will require that people use their real first and last names to post in the forums.

The reaction to this, of course, is outrage. I won't go into the myriad of ridiculous reasons why people think this is bad, I will simply translate them all for you in one sentence: I'm worried about using my real name because I am ignorant of real world security issues, or I am worried about using my real name because I am - in fact - a giant fucking asshole to everyone online when I think I am anonymous and now everyone will know who that giant fucking asshole really is.

I think it's a great idea. It may cut down on the retards who feel the need to post bullshit and clog up the forums with useless posts.

Some slogan suggestions

You know, I think some people could benefit from some news slogans.

The Brady Campaign - Spreading hatred for law abiding gun owners since 1974.

The Brady Campaign - Trying to make rape and murder easier since 1974.

Too much truth in that advertising?

The Brady Campaign - A hate group?

Inspired by this article:
http://www.peoplespresscollective.org/2010/06/brady-campaign-is-newest-hate-group/

As discussed on the NY Firearms forum by myself and others.

i think its funny that people are saying all of this... but i also think its a cheap shot on an opponent which im not a fan of. The brady group isnt a hate group as much as MADD isnt a hate group against alcohol consumption... they are however a group of poorly informed, closed minded... dare i say elitists?

My Response:

No, they really are a hate group. The difference is this: MADD is Mother's Against Drunk Driving. Drunk driving has been illegal for a long time, and before that it was frowned upon as something jackasses did. MADD spreads awareness of this illegal activity in the hopes to persuade people not to do it by showing the consequences of breaking this law.

The Brady Campaign spreads ill will towards a group of law abiding citizens enjoying their God given right to keep and bear arms as provisioned for in the Constitution of this United States. How often do they also mock and insult lawful citizens? They promote hatred towards gun owners. Hence, Hate Group. The NRA makes mock of them, yes, but the NRA isn't asking us to outlaw non-gun owners, or harass them with nonsense lawsuits, or blame them for every evil thing that happens to us. Brady promotes hate, and that is a fact.

I never really thought about it until I read that article, but it really does make sense. I read news articles all the time where the Brady folks try to paint every gun owner as a destructive beast who willingly brings society to the brink of destruction, and it brings to mind the Nazi's painting the Jews as the bad guys, or racist people in the US calling other people unintelligent beasts simply because of their skin color. The Brady Campaign seeks to spread hatred of gun owners. They are, in fact, a hate group. Sure, sometimes they try to hide it behind flowery BS - in the same way that religious zealots spread hatred of gays by "hating the sin but loving the sinner" - but they are, in fact, a hate group.


EDIT: I have been informed that MADD is, indeed, fairly wacky now and is calling for prohibition and other such nonsense.