Sunday, September 23, 2007

A Resting Inspiration

Alex the African Grey parrot died earlier this month, at the tender age of 31 years. Alex was made famous by Dr. Irene Pepperberg's studies into intelligent use of vocalizations by parrots, which have also inspired me in my care and interaction with my own flock members.

Here's a video obituary from ABC news that shows some of Alex's responses, and as well, here's a CNN live interview with Irene Pepperberg after Alex's death. The part when he asks Irene about Alex also being her friend was very moving for me. I interpret Irene as trying to protect Alex's legacy, as well as her work, by refusing to explicitly acknowledge any emotional attachment she felt for her avian colleague. Perhaps more revealingly, she also doesn't explicitly deny caring for him as a friend.

In Alex's memory, I'm also including a favourite anecdote about him from "That Damn Bird", a 2003 talk with Pepperberg:

We were training Alex to sound out phonemes...to see if he understands that his labels are made up of sounds that can be combined in different ways to make up new words... Thus we are trying to get him to sound out refrigerator letters, the same way one would train children on phonics. We were doing demos at the Media Lab for our corporate sponsors; we had a very small amount of time scheduled and the visitors wanted to see Alex work. So we put a number of differently colored letters on the tray that we use, put the tray in front of Alex, and asked, "Alex, what sound is blue?" He answers, "Ssss." It was an "s", so we say "Good birdie" and he replies, "Want a nut."

Well, I don't want him sitting there using our limited amount of time to eat a nut, so I tell him to wait, and I ask, "What sound is green?" Alex answers, "Ssshh." He's right, it's "sh," and we go through the routine again: "Good parrot." "Want a nut." "Alex, wait. What sound is orange?" "ch." "Good bird!" "Want a nut." We're going on and on and Alex is clearly getting more and more frustrated. He finally gets very slitty-eyed and he looks at me and states, "Want a nut. Nnn, uh, tuh."

Not only could you imagine him thinking, "Hey, stupid, do I have to spell it for you?" but the point was that he had leaped over where we were and had begun sounding out the letters of the words for us. This was in a sense his way of saying to us, "I know where you're headed! Let's get on with it," which gave us the feeling that we were on the right track with what we were doing. These kinds of things don't happen in the lab on a daily basis, but when they do, they make you realize there's a lot more going on inside these little walnut-sized brains than you might at first imagine.


I also figured out how to update the links section on the right sidebar of my blog, so now there are finally some real links in there instead of the dummy default links. Amongst others, I've included a link to The Alex Foundation, where more information on Pepperberg's research can be found. I even managed to hack a bit of html in the template (which is really not my forte, so this is a big deal for me!) to include an inspiring bit from Unger in my sidebar, so I hope these changes will improve the blog and encourage further exploration.

Rest in peace, Alex.

Friday, September 21, 2007

Look Ma! Spray Millet!

It looks like I've managed to make my very own homegrown birdseed after all!

After letting some of the pointy mystery seeds that I blogged about in July mature, we did a taste test. Once the birds figured out how to extract the seeds from the outer husks, they loved munching on it! I put some photos up in yesterday's post, although they were actually shot last month. Unfortunately, the monster squirrels grabbed most of the pointy seed heads for themselves, so the birds only got one or two. I also grew some oats, but the squirrels also ate that all up before I could harvest it for the birds.

Last week, though, I noticed a new kind of seed growing in my soil! Look familiar to anyone?

Yay for spray millet! The birds love it! They were just finishing up this one today!

Now I just have to figure out how to keep the squirrels away from the birdseed long enough for the birds to eat them!

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Hopping Up

Today felt like summer, so the flock's been taking advantage of the good weather. B's quite good and still affectionate. Where C will be taking a birdnap, B hops around trying to preen everything on me, including clothing parts like zippers, ties, as well as the usual preening targets. A bit scarily, he likes to go for my eyes. Actually more than a bit scary, since he's not the most gentle bird, and he's liable to get very excited and vehement. He was being super cute today, trying to angle in closer to hop from the branch perch onto my knee, with his tail getting caught in the branches.

I think the wild birds have their eyes on B. A few days ago, B flew around for some exercise and landed on the roof. He was being coy again about flying back to me and C, when a mourning dove promptly landed next to him on the roof. The dove eyed the cockatiel, then fluffed up a bit and approached my B. B looked a bit nervous, and when the dove got even closer, B quickly flew back down to us. I don't think he welcomed the dove's advances!

Then, while we were hanging out today, I saw a blue jay land in a nearby tree, who I also think was eyeing B. In the past few months, B has landed in the big spruce out back a couple times, and both times, I saw a blue jay join him there as soon as B landed. So I think it might be the same blue jay curious about who B is, and why B's crest is yellow and not blue. He seems to be just friendly though, and not as amorous and intimidating as the dove!

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I've been a bit sick lately -- I think it's the flu -- so I have been trying to self-medicate. Tried the olive scallion tea again, but that didn't do much, so I tried a stronger Chinese herbal medicinal tea. Also got some Echinacea capsules and Vitamin C capsules (Ester-C) to help out my immune system, and while I think the Echinacea helped a bit, I don't think the Ester-C did much. But, I'm still not feeling great. So just now, I went for some Prednisolone, and I'm hoping that will work on my sore throat and coughing. I also have some Dextromethorphan handy to suppress my cough if I need it, but apparently, it may cause drowsiness and happens to be classified as a "dissociative hallucinogenic drug" at higher doses, so I think I'll try to avoid that one. Sounds like fun -- clearly not my style.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Feathered Glue

Since my schedule's been so busy lately, I haven't had much time to spend with the birds. Yesterday I finally had some time, and the weather was good, so we went outside to hang out while I tried to get some work done.

B must have missed me a lot from the week, because he was all over me like a feathered glue. He'd clamber up my front to sit on my shoulder, but not in the demanding self-interested way he usually does, just to get a choice perch from where he can look down on the rest of us. Instead, he was so well-behaved and eager for my approval that he would step off my shoulder onto my hand as soon as I presented my hand to him. He spent a long time enthusiastically preening my face and hair, and generally showering me with his birdy care and affection.

You're nobody 'til somebody loves you.
- Dean Martin, amongst others.


Addendum: Some reports have come in to indicate that the "Ethan Hawke" mentioned in my Cornucopia post should be more correctly spelled "Viggo Mortensen". The mystery star really didn't look like Viggo to me, but then what do I know? I probably couldn't recognize him without an entourage of hobbits. At any rate, I think both men were at the TIFF last week, so it's also possible I spotted both of them, wearing the same suit and pulling a switcheroo in the middle.

Friday, September 14, 2007

Clipping Time Coupons

I'm starting to see time a bit differently.

Last week I stocked up on 54 rolls of toilet paper from the store. I was careful to buy only the "double rolls". Double rolls apparently have 330-352 sheets per roll (varies with brand) instead of the standard 176 sheets per roll. Assuming it takes me 60 seconds to get a new roll out of the bag, remove the empty roll, put the new roll on, and fold and recycle the empty cardboard roll, this will halve the time I spend changing toilet paper rolls!

NEW AND IMPROVED! ADDED BONUS! That's an extra 25 minutes of time in my life per batch! Even more if I average more processing time per roll change!

I'd post a picture of my 54 rolls of toilet paper, but that'd cut into my time profit margin, so I'll have to invoke the imagination for this one.

Sunday, September 09, 2007

Cornucopia

Last day of an era. My Occupation Title changes tomorrow so I've been trying to wrap up and do as much as possible before that. Shopping and stocking up on supplies. Even cracked out the ironing board for a rare (probably less frequent than annual) ironing session last night.

Best of all: I found an unmolested red tomato in my garden! I would have wanted it to mature a bit more, but even more than that, I wanted to avoid further pillaging from the evil squirrels, so I decided to harvest my little fruit and let her ripen in the relative safety of the great indoors. Isn't she gorgeous? My beaut's currently occupying an elevated position on my southern windowsill where she can bask in the sunlight. Should be perfect within a couple days.

You may notice the bed of Swiss chard that my Tomato is resting on in the photo. This is my first year growing this and I love it already: no bitterness in my homegrown chard, and even the thick strong salty stalks are juicy, not overly fibrous or tough at all. In my garden, there are two Swiss chard plants: one who's a little itty bitty guy, and another one who's quite large, to put it mildly. As I write, I'm cooking up three of the leaves in some chicken stock, which will probably feed me for a week, since the leaves are from Big Daddy. Why have I named this plant Big Daddy? Observe.Yep, that's a metre stick, and this leaf measures in at over 90 cm. For the Imperialists out there, that's about 3 feet. At these sizes, how can I blame Bitty Baby for cowering in Big Daddy's shadow? Though slight, he's still a cutie, and I'm sure he'll grow up to make me proud.

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Saw Ex Drummer today at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film, situated in Ostend, Belgium, is about a famous writer who's approached by three handicapped musicians to fill out their rock band as the drummer. With the soundtrack alternating between fairly sweet melodies and hard noise rock, Ex Drummer is a barrage on the senses: harsh scenes illustrating the lowest depths of humanity, surreal glimpses of violence and chaos, with some parts so extreme that they're absurd, funny, hyperreal and disturbing all at once. Well done, and I'd probably give it 3 chards, but for all the shock, I'd prefer something a bit more humanist or edifying, and there was no redemption in this film. No strong morality tale. Unnerving editing choices -- if you see it, you'll know what I mean. I'm still jarred by its effects; it's violent, graphic, loud and generally unsettling to see. The director, Koen Mortier, was there for some Q&A after the film, and he was so charming and funny, reeling off anecdotes with a soft-spoken accent, that the whole thing was rather incongruous for a Sunday afternoon. Makes me think of pointillism. Odd effect.

Also probably spotted Ethan Hawke outside some TIFF party after, but without cinematic lighting and makeup, it's hard to say for sure whether it was him or one of the other Hollywood types who look like him. Nice suit, though.

I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.
- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

Friday, September 07, 2007

Behold the Carnage

I just went out to visit my garden and this is what I found.Some may grok how heartbreaking this is for me. For the past three years, I have been killing myself trying to achieve a homegrown ripe tomato in my own garden... my Holy Grail. I've survived sunless summers, hailstorms, bad soil, weed overpopulation and angst-ridden bouts of self-doubt. Now the bastard squirrels are running rampage over my garden and pillaging the choicest chunks of my fruit.

I was even resigned to letting them have the tomatoes that were growing on the ground, but was that enough for them? Oh no. These selfish rodents had to climb up and kill the one ripe one blushing against the trellis.

Send in your recipes for squirrel stew.