OT Things to ponder

[bomccarthy]

ORIGINAL: wdolson

I didn't realize coyotes had become such a problem. They were rare when I was growing up. There was a flock of wild parrots in the neighborhood (escaped from an overturned exotic animals truck on the Pomona Freeway) and some massive lizards (up to three feet long), but the rest of the wildlife was pretty small.

Bill

The flock of parrots has grown and multiplied into several flocks, which now range all over southern California. Sometimes a flock will contain more than 30 birds, wandering within a square half-mile for 15 minutes, making a godawful racket. Local zoologists can't settle on a single hypothesis for their origin, only that they are not indigenous to California ... or didn't used to be.

I haven't seen the three-foot lizards, but all of the urban areas are now inhabited by possum, raccoons, and skunks. And the bears seem to be extending their foraging further south into urban neighborhoods. Plus, cougars (the four-legged kind) have been spotted in Whittier within the last 10 years.

Fun times.

[geofflambert]

But are there any two legged cougars prowling? Do you have the neighborhoods where they can be found?

[HansBolter]

ORIGINAL: bomccarthy

ORIGINAL: wdolson

I didn't realize coyotes had become such a problem. They were rare when I was growing up. There was a flock of wild parrots in the neighborhood (escaped from an overturned exotic animals truck on the Pomona Freeway) and some massive lizards (up to three feet long), but the rest of the wildlife was pretty small.

Bill

The flock of parrots has grown and multiplied into several flocks, which now range all over southern California. Sometimes a flock will contain more than 30 birds, wandering within a square half-mile for 15 minutes, making a godawful racket. Local zoologists can't settle on a single hypothesis for their origin, only that they are not indigenous to California ... or didn't used to be.

I haven't seen the three-foot lizards, but all of the urban areas are now inhabited by possum, raccoons, and skunks. And the bears seem to be extending their foraging further south into urban neighborhoods. Plus, cougars (the four-legged kind) have been spotted in Whittier within the last 10 years.

Fun times.

St. Petersburg, which is at the tip of the peninsula that forms Tampa Bay, is home to many flocks of escaped pet parrots.

I once lived near a lake with a large water tower a couple of hundred yards from my house and would see large flocks of 20-30 sitting on the tower every day.

There is a small flock of 4 pairs that visit my neighbors bird bath every week.

Having a subtropical climate we get quite a few birds here the tourists find to be exotic but are everyday species to us such as egrets and herons.

[bomccarthy]

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

But are there any two legged cougars prowling? Do you have the neighborhoods where they can be found?

Of course - you can find them in most of our neighborhoods. But be careful - some are not what they seem ...

[wdolson]

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

Bill, are you telling us you inherited your moderator talents from your mother? [:'(]

I doubt it, my mother was only able to express one emotion: anger. She toggled between being an emotionless Vulcan and screaming at people for anything and everything. I don't actually take after either of my parents. My sister and I are a lot alike (though she's a lot more yang than me), but neither of us are much like either of our parents.

Bill

[wdolson]

ORIGINAL: wdolson

I didn't realize coyotes had become such a problem. They were rare when I was growing up. There was a flock of wild parrots in the neighborhood (escaped from an overturned exotic animals truck on the Pomona Freeway) and some massive lizards (up to three feet long), but the rest of the wildlife was pretty small.

Bill

ORIGINAL: bomccarthy
The flock of parrots has grown and multiplied into several flocks, which now range all over southern California. Sometimes a flock will contain more than 30 birds, wandering within a square half-mile for 15 minutes, making a godawful racket. Local zoologists can't settle on a single hypothesis for their origin, only that they are not indigenous to California ... or didn't used to be.

I haven't seen the three-foot lizards, but all of the urban areas are now inhabited by possum, raccoons, and skunks. And the bears seem to be extending their foraging further south into urban neighborhoods. Plus, cougars (the four-legged kind) have been spotted in Whittier within the last 10 years.

Fun times.

I saw a documentary several years ago about a flock of wild parrots that have inhabited a neighborhood in San Francisco for generations, so the LA flock(s) are not unique. The parrots were extremely noisy. I forgot about the possums, I remember seeing them occasionally.

Cougars in town are bad news. They were probably driven down from the mountains by the drought. The Seattle area had a problem about 15 years ago when there was a temporary ban on hunting cougars (the state had allowed limited hunting to keep numbers under control) and a drought forced them down from the Cascade Mountains. There was one story in a town on the edge of the metro area where a woman's dog had been going nuts and when she shown a flashlight around the backyard there was a cougar in her apple tree. A park in Tacoma had an ongoing problem with a couple of cougars that attacked dogs and once a small child. I don't know how the cougars got there, it was a big park, but it was bordered by Puget Sound on one side and the city on the other.

I remember reading the Sunset Garden book many years ago and it listed various garden pests. Among them were deer which I thought funny. I could understand having a deer problem if you lived in a rural area, but not in town. We currently live in a town, but we're on the edge of the Portland metro area. I'm constantly trying to discourage the deer from eating my fruit trees. We also have lots of raccoons as well as rabbits, possums, and coyotes. I'd be fine with the deer if they just left my trees alone.

[geofflambert]

ORIGINAL: bomccarthy

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

But are there any two legged cougars prowling? Do you have the neighborhoods where they can be found?

Of course - you can find them in most of our neighborhoods. But be careful - some are not what they seem ...

Cat people? Beggars can't be choosers.

As long as Joan Crawford is in her cage, I'll not worry.

[geofflambert]

Just want to make sure we're all on the same page. Are any of us talking about Parakeets? There are lots of species of parakeet, some fairly large. Budgerigars are small parakeets and quite common escapees in some areas. Can anyone be more specific?

[wdolson]

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

Just want to make sure we're all on the same page. Are any of us talking about Parakeets? There are lots of species of parakeet, some fairly large. Budgerigars are small parakeets and quite common escapees in some areas. Can anyone be more specific?

I've been talking about actual parrots, these were the sort of green birds you'd find on a pirate's shoulder. They are a little bigger than a pigeon.

Bill

[geofflambert]

Sounds like Amazons. To try and match Bill or even surpass him, my mother was entirely sane from any point of view. My father was not. Before he was unhinged and violent sounding (but I think it was bluff). It was miserable for myself and my brother. Then he went through electroshock treatment. Afterwards he acted like a normal human being, but every bit as intelligent as he was before, which was substantial. Without direct experience, I'm sure I'd say that electroshock was madness in and of itself. Afterwards, you couldn't ask for a better dad.
A

[geofflambert]

For any of you who might know someone considering electroshock, it was like night and day. Don't fear it.

[AW1Steve]

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

For any of you who might know someone considering electroshock, it was like night and day. Don't fear it.

Tried it once. Didn't do much for me...except blast me butt over tea kettle across the room and turn my hands black. I also learned that a tv condenser needs to be completely discharged before you touché it. [X(][:D]

[warspite1]

Is anyone interested in a separate Jutland thread to air some of the many, many points and controversies that surround the battle?

I guess that's a no [:D]

[wdolson]

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

Sounds like Amazons. To try and match Bill or even surpass him, my mother was entirely sane from any point of view. My father was not. Before he was unhinged and violent sounding (but I think it was bluff). It was miserable for myself and my brother. Then he went through electroshock treatment. Afterwards he acted like a normal human being, but every bit as intelligent as he was before, which was substantial. Without direct experience, I'm sure I'd say that electroshock was madness in and of itself. Afterwards, you couldn't ask for a better dad.
A

My SO (MA in Psych and a DV perpetrator counselor as well as a lawyer) said it sounds like he may have been bipolar. She has taken a lot of guys who are violent at home and turned them around. When we see someone violent on TV she usually comments, "I have a group for that".

Bill

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: AW1Steve

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

For any of you who might know someone considering electroshock, it was like night and day. Don't fear it.

Tried it once. Didn't do much for me...except blast me butt over tea kettle across the room and turn my hands black. I also learned that a tv condenser needs to be completely discharged before you touché it. [X(][:D]

I never messed with TV condensers because I know they work by storing the charge, but I have done quite a bit of home electrical wiring. On a recent reno There was a stage where we needed to turn back on some of the circuit breakers because power was needed for the rest of the house, but we had not yet finished removing all the old wire from the basement. Most had been disconnected from the panel but I found one loose wire and could not trace the path for sure because of all the structure. I had left my little circuit test LED device across the room so, being tired, I just used a screwdriver to test the black and white wires for power. Poof! When my eyes recovered from the blinding flash I could not believe how badly the screwdriver had been damaged from the momentary contact.

That was enough to persuade me to do more to avoid electroshock treatments!

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

But are there any two legged cougars prowling? Do you have the neighborhoods where they can be found?

I suggest you ask Cap Mandrake for his home address and then go door-to-door selling your services as a gardener. No need to bring your own hoe.
Cap says the HOA president is also hot, so you should ask her if you can park your van in her driveway.

[wdolson]

I worked with a guy who had worked in a cal lab for the Navy for a while. He said one time they received some capacitors that were so large they had to be transported on a flatbed semi. Capacitors can charge up from static electricity so big ones like that have shorting bars for traveling. On this occasion one of the bars had fallen off in transit and without thinking he decided to put it back on. As soon at the circuit was complete, the bar vaporized in his hand. He was just lucky the current didn't flow through him.

As an Electronic Engineer I usually work with fairly low voltages and don't usually encounter dangerous voltages, but I have dealt with a few mishaps. I'm very careful around electricity, especially house wiring.

Bill

[anarchyintheuk]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Is anyone interested in a separate Jutland thread to air some of the many, many points and controversies that surround the battle?

I guess that's a no [:D]

I am. Hopefully, one of them is why was Seymour was ever employed as a signal officer, especially after the BC raid and Dogger Bank.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: anarchyintheuk

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Is anyone interested in a separate Jutland thread to air some of the many, many points and controversies that surround the battle?

I guess that's a no [:D]

I am. Hopefully, one of them is why was Seymour was ever employed as a signal officer, especially after the BC raid and Dogger Bank.

warspite1

Its an interesting question. At the end of the day he had proven himself a liability twice previously - that he remained in situ at Jutland has to be a serious black mark against Beatty's judgement.

[Orm]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Hodgson has said he is still his main man....

I wouldn't argue with Mr Hodgson so Rooney must be The Man.

Now I need something strong to swallow that with.

[:)]