Weekly Off-Topic Thread #229

[Computer-Joe]

Well, I didn't see it any where so I guess I'll get the ball rollin'.

Happy Friday all.

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How can you be in two places at once, when your not anywhere at all?
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I really want to become a procrastinator, but I keep putting it off.
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There are three kinds of people, those that can count, and those that can't.
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“Our great democracies still tend to think that a stupid man is more likely to be honest than a clever man, and our politicians take advantage of this prejudice by pretending to be even more stupid than nature has made them." :Bertrand Russell

[hpmsrm]

Thanks C.J.  I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Unfortunately we are about to go nuts having to listen to this blankety-blank male cardinal constantly going after our patio windo and door.  The door is already a mess and so is the patio chair from where he launches his attacks at the intruder.....which, of course, is his own reflection.  WOW he hits that glass hard.  He's gonna be even more punchy or kill himself from hitting that glass so hard.  Alfie is having fits over the hoise.  Not sure which is worse......not having trees.....or having trees with the disadvantages that come with them.  If you look at that picture of the flowering pear tree that I posted in the previous WOTT you'll notice a moderate sized spruce just barely visible to the right.  I think the nest is in there.....because I see the female entering and exiting the foliage of that tree every so often.

Now that my better-half has her new iPad 3......we have the older unit available and she let's me experiment with it.  As y'all know I am NOT a fan of Apple or their products.  But that's just me.  She loves the iPad and I fully expect that any future purchases of newer models will require surgical removal of the previous one from her hand.  But I digress.  Storage on the iPad 1 is extremely limited.  Even if I use the iCloud the free use is limited to only 5gb.  My primary use would be in conjunction with my photography.  Is there ANY way to connect to my photo file storage on my external HDD from an iPad?  I've looked through the owner's manual and cannot find anything on this.  I'm guessing it is not possible. My 1 TB drive is connected to our home net via the USB port on the Netgear router.

THIS is why I'm waiting for some decent Windows based tablets to come to the market before I consider purchasing a tablet PC for myself.  I also cannot tolerate a virtual keyboard.  As a touch-typer I need a "real" keyboard.  Those virtual keyboards on the tablet screen are nearly useless IMHO.  So for me, some light weight combination of touch tablet and laptop will probably be best.  The Acer W500 comes close....but needs improvements AND needs the new Windows 8 rather than 7 which is now shipped with it.

You cannot imagine what I've gone through these past couple of days trying to get my wife's new iPhone to access our E-mail.  Grrrrrrr!   I tried using exactly the same information and password that works just fine on the iPads.....but would not work with this blasted iPhone.   I slept on it last night and first thing this morning I tried changing the name of the E-mail service in the phone's "setup" from "Yahoo!" (which works just fine on the iPads) to "AT&T/Yahoo!".....and halleluja!!!   It worked.   I still cannot comprehend why there should be this difference between the two units.  They are both using iOS 5.1 and both accessing our home Wi-Fi.  Leave it to Apple......

Holy cow!......I can hardly wait for sunset.  That stupid bird just doesn't give up.  I think maybe he is a psycho case. 

[Computer-Joe]

Hey Phil, do you have any photos of a hawk in flight? If you do, take it to your local sign shop and have them print it up, full size, on vinyl and stick it to the inside of the window.

__________________________________________________________
How can you be in two places at once, when your not anywhere at all?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I really want to become a procrastinator, but I keep putting it off.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are three kinds of people, those that can count, and those that can't.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Our great democracies still tend to think that a stupid man is more likely to be honest than a clever man, and our politicians take advantage of this prejudice by pretending to be even more stupid than nature has made them." :Bertrand Russell

[Computer-Joe]

ooops

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17491344

__________________________________________________________
How can you be in two places at once, when your not anywhere at all?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I really want to become a procrastinator, but I keep putting it off.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are three kinds of people, those that can count, and those that can't.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Our great democracies still tend to think that a stupid man is more likely to be honest than a clever man, and our politicians take advantage of this prejudice by pretending to be even more stupid than nature has made them." :Bertrand Russell

[hpmsrm]

Y'know, C.J.  I don't have such a photo......but I'll bet I can dig one up on the Internet.  We're getting desperate.

Sighting the enemy!

Launching the attack!

Bonzai!!!!!

[spd2demun ACE - Master]

Got a windchime you could move by the window during nesting season?

I've read that even hanging ribbons or silvery CDs on fishing line works!

I think the problem with the window decals is from where the bird is, the window looks the same (dark).  You could try soaping the windows (nesting season) or white sheets for a few weeks?

[Uniblurb3 ACE - Guru]

Here's some suggestions Phil and a couple are what Spd already mentioned.

http://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/bwdsite/learn/top10/windowstrikes.php

Or you could put a big one of these in the middle of your outdoor table. LOL.

Supposedly birds will catch onto it's a fake owl after a while but don't know about Cardinals since they aren't too bright. Heck after a while he may end of using it for a launching pad!

[hpmsrm]

You called it, Uni.  This morning the little red devil was going at it against our glass door hot and heavy.  My wife sent me to the store and said "don't come back until you have a solution."    So.....tried Wally World first.  Nope...nothing there.   Went next door to  Home Depot and scored a hit.  Does this look familiar?  The cardinal has disappeared and we haven't heard the noise of beak colliding with glass all afternoon.

Had to fill him with gravel to be heavy enough to stay put in a wind.

[Uniblurb3 ACE - Guru]

Good deal Phil and glad it's working. 

[BeeBeeSA ACE - Wizard]

Keeping with the animal theme here is a video from Alaska showing some animal guests that showed up on a ladies porch. 

[spd2demun ACE - Master]

Now she must be providing food for them to show up like that?  I'd think the eagle or fox would try to eat the cats?

A neighbor here feeds wild ducks.  It started a few years ago with only 4, plus squirrels and neighborhood birds, all in harmony.  Apparently the ducks told their friends, who told their friends, and now must be 30 or so that show up in the AM and PM!  I've never seen ducks on a roof before, but they'll squawk up there if the dude is late from work in putting out the feed.  They're a neighborhood attraction.  Did I tell this story before?   Will grab photos from other machine in a sec...

[BeeBeeSA ACE - Wizard]

When I first moved into my house some 27 years ago, there was an old stock pond that they kept in the neighborhood while developing it.  All the kids and parents would go there for picnics and just to play.  Well left over picnic goodies drew in the ducks and they just kept coming.  It was unofficially named "The Duck Pond" by the neighborhood. 

Once houses started being built in the area close to the pond, the ducks would frequent the homes (sidewalks, front porches, open garages, etc.  Those folks were hateing life due to duck dung everywhere.  The county came and tried to relocate the ducks but that didn't last long.  They were all back in a couple of weeks.

Fast forward to today and it is now a city park and called "Duck Pond City Park".  Still full of ducks and dung so there are no swimming signs.

So be really careful with the neighbor feeding the ducks.  You may end up with more than you bargined for!!

[hpmsrm]

Naturists would have a fit over humans feeding the wild creatures.  They become dependant and don't do well foraging for themselves if the occasion arrises that they have to do so.

We have a problem here in Missouri that we share with other states in the nation's mid-section.   Canadian Geese.  They are protected.  The reproduce like rabbits.  They are filthy nuisances.  We used to live on a small lake in this area.  Luckily our boat dock was covered and these darn geese would not sit on it.  But they loved the open docks and also our sidewalks.  We and our heighbors would have to go out with scrub brushes  and buckets to clean up the you-know-what from all those geese.   We often wished they would all go back to Canada.  But alot of them remain here all winter every year.  Then in the spring....when the little ones showed up the parents would fly right out of the water and attack our dogs and myself when we would be walking in our front yard.  They're very protective of their young and VERY aggressive.  One of our little dogs was a tiny Yorkie and I always worried that she might be seriously hurt by one of those parents.

[spd2demun ACE - Master]

They have a fit over feral and tame cats and will tell you all day they affect the bird population (myth), then turn around and demand birds be poisoned because they are crapping on cars and such!  Nature is nature, and we better learn to live with it.  Humans think they have the right to decide which species are a nusiance, I vote humans are the nusiance.

I worry about the ducks if the guy moves because they've imprinted there and doubt others will be as friendly towards them.

edit to add photos

[Escapee]

The Canada Geese are a problem. They took over the community pond for a few weeks every year but they would move on. Had one with a broken leg and maybe some wing damage that stayed for a year but even he moved on when the the visitors left.