And in other Guardian news: I bought a 2-bed flat in London (with the help of my rich parents) for ONLY £1.5million. The housing market in the UK isn't so bad after all!
To be fair, the Guardian would be very unlikely to downplay the cost of housing. I think a more likely story would be “The only way I could afford a flat without a mortgage in my early 20s was to move out of London. This is what I have learnt from this traumatic experience:”
This must be a generational thing. For me, Peak Guardian occurred in 1994 when Richard Gott was outed as a Russian agent of influence. At the time he was their Literary Editor, previously he had been their Features Editor. He had been taking money from the KGB for 30 years by that point.
I think we're the same generation, but I'd consider that incident Peak Grauniad™ - it was a very different newspaper back in those days. The first half of the Rusbridger era, which followed soon after, was probably the last time it had any worth as a source of news. The last ten years or so though it's just painfully middle-class angst in newspaper form.
Ha! In my initial draft I too spelled it Grauniad. And I agree, it's a totally different newspaper, but as far as I can tell, that's true for all the broadsheets (although in different ways)
Edit: What particularly annoys me is how techies are so intolerant of different life experiences. Fine, you wouldn't do what she did. Good for you. How is it then okay to denigrate that person's experience and how is that acceptable on HN? How is that kind of intolerance and closed-mindedness acceptable?
When your whole world is mapped to the 9s, every thing named and every definition known. And you are the master of it. The unfamiliar can seriously upset your crystal handtruck.
I thought the same. I've seen and read so many stupid things - especially recently, starting from before the election of Trump, with the peak during the pandemic, and now Putin's apologetics[0] - that this bird story seems the epitome of reasonableness.
I discovered that people who haven't had proper education in hard science are particularly susceptible to manipulation involving the invisible: radiation, nanotechnology, genetic engineering. Younger people, who studied these subjects recently, even superficially, don't fall flat for obvious stupidities like 5G vaccines if only because they understand the current limitations of the technologies involved.
[0] Reuter's note about Faebook temporarily suspending hate-speech rules against "Russian soldiers and Russians" is another example of stupidity - and a harmful one.
I kinda agree with you, but I had conflicting feelings, one part of me was thinking oh this look so sweet but meanwhile another part was thinking wtf am I really reading about someone letting a bird live in her hair, not sure yet what to think about my time management capabilities sometimes
From the misleading headline, I'd agree. Imagining a bird roosting for 3 months in your hair is insane.
The article tells another story, though. She just raised a bird. She fed it, and it slept in a box. When it was old enough to do so, it would sit on her shoulder and tug her hair around itself.
Doesn't seem like such a big deal if you read the article.
For those unfamiliar, that phrase is fighting talk that might be uttered by a very insecure male, out with his girlfriend.
Incidentally, the cartoonstock image has a Copyright watermark on it. I believe that image is copyright Punch magazine, around 1968. If cartoonstock purchased the copyright, then I assert that it's fair use to post a link here.
Beautiful read. It’s interesting how helping others can be so fulfilling, almost like the default human condition is as caretakers.
I can’t say I would have done the same in her shoes, but it must have been very life affirming to essentially save a life and have its life married to yours.
Having just looked up Jainism this time on Wikipedia I see that Jains claim that some of their greatest teachers were active far earlier than the time frames we've mentioned, even beyond any conventional count of years, but I'm not qualified to comment on their cosmology. I admire the duty of Ahimsa, so I mentioned it in the context of the parent post.
See "King Solomon's Ring", by Konrad Lorentz. He describes shuffling around his garden in a squatting posture, followed by a column of imprinted greylag goslings. They only recognised him as their mum when he was under a meter tall, hence the squatting.
I'm not sure that an 84-day-old bird still counts as a "baby bird"; don't most hatchlings fledge within 30 days or so?
When she took him in, it had closed eyes, so that still qualifies as "baby bird", and it "fledged" relatively soon thereafter, though it kept a social bond with the woman, even past adulthood, which would have been at least a few weeks later.
> When I returned, in January, I’d watch out for him when the finches flew past. Every now and then, one would hang back, on a branch, and stare at me. I still cry when I think of him.
Now who's cutting onions here... having freshly raised two kittens to adulthood, I can say it's a highly rewarding experience to assist new life in growth.
Please don't do this. Habituating wildlife to humans is not doing them any favors, it usually leads to their early demise. First make sure they are truly abandoned, most of the time mom is nearby. Second, if mom is truly not around, take the animal to a credentialed wildlife rehabber as soon as you can.
I’m often curious about situations like this, as I had similar thoughts while reading. Assuming the bird was truly abandoned, is it better to imperfectly raise them yourself or to leave them to die? Not everyone is going to want or be able to track down a wildlife rehab expert.
Tracking down a rehabber is far less effort than raising a wild animal. Most of the time there is not much difference in outcome between leaving it to die vs taking it in and raising it yourself, except the suffering is prolonged. Find a wildlife rehabber or find someone who will. I know that is not nearly as fun as raising a wild animal, I always dreamed of having a pet raccoon as a child, but it's the responsible thing to do.
As a child, my cat found a baby flying squirrel in the grass. The vet speculated that, due to its very small size, it had been kicked from the nest. The cat was very upset about the whole thing and alerted us to the situation (part Siamese, she had a particular cry which meant "There is a Problem and you must come handle the Problem!"), which ended with us raising him. I was definitely the preferred spot for the flying squirrel: hiding in my hair, my shirt or shirt pocket, and so on. If the cage was open and I was home, he was on me.
I had to get used to him just landing on me out of nowhere because, well, flying squirrel.
My back yard had a colony? Community? Flock? Large group of Magpies. They would collectively complain when I was in the back yard. One day my dog had a slow wag which means they found something interesting. I found a baby bird, unharmed. I found a nest nearby and it had been windy recently. So I took a small cardboard box, duct taped it into the tree, and put the baby bird in it. I checked later and found the mom feeding the baby.
Ever since then, there was no complaints when I entered the back yard, and in fact they would often land on my hammock and would balance impressively (keeping the head still while the body swung) and peer in at us.
Clearly I had moved from the alarm list to the friend list, community wide. I'd often see a magpie on my fence or in a tree watching me quietly.
The whole corvid family is incredibly social and intelligent. They can remember and recognize human faces, and quickly deduce what's important to you (your laundry, for example), so you really don't want to end up on their "enemy" list.
"Mischief", supposedly, among other terms. But such "terms of venery" are usually Victorian parlor games, not actually used in practice. Any of the words you used is fine.
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[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 150 ms ] threadEdit: What particularly annoys me is how techies are so intolerant of different life experiences. Fine, you wouldn't do what she did. Good for you. How is it then okay to denigrate that person's experience and how is that acceptable on HN? How is that kind of intolerance and closed-mindedness acceptable?
It's not. It's explicitly against the guidelines. Which is why GP is getting downvotes
I discovered that people who haven't had proper education in hard science are particularly susceptible to manipulation involving the invisible: radiation, nanotechnology, genetic engineering. Younger people, who studied these subjects recently, even superficially, don't fall flat for obvious stupidities like 5G vaccines if only because they understand the current limitations of the technologies involved.
[0] Reuter's note about Faebook temporarily suspending hate-speech rules against "Russian soldiers and Russians" is another example of stupidity - and a harmful one.
The article tells another story, though. She just raised a bird. She fed it, and it slept in a box. When it was old enough to do so, it would sit on her shoulder and tug her hair around itself.
Doesn't seem like such a big deal if you read the article.
Here's a video of the author, as provided in the article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgiMlnbDN6I
Here is one: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/fgiMlnbDN6I/hqdefault.jpg
The bird's size matters a lot: It would be much more difficult to let this happen with these https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_black-backed_gull
https://s3.amazonaws.com/lowres.cartoonstock.com/animals-bir...
For those unfamiliar, that phrase is fighting talk that might be uttered by a very insecure male, out with his girlfriend.
Incidentally, the cartoonstock image has a Copyright watermark on it. I believe that image is copyright Punch magazine, around 1968. If cartoonstock purchased the copyright, then I assert that it's fair use to post a link here.
I can’t say I would have done the same in her shoes, but it must have been very life affirming to essentially save a life and have its life married to yours.
https://wikiless.org/wiki/Ahimsa_in_Jainism
I am not a Jain, but I hold a deep respect for their duty of Ahimsa as being at the core of sensible living.
It's a cute story about something that is out of the ordinary and left a emotional mark in someone, enough that they wanted to write about it.
No need to be so judgemental.
Maybe I wouldn't have been so cynical if the author would've respected the title and shown some Radagast hair nest.
I had a young pet finch Lonchura that, sometimes, not all the time, landed on my shoulders and head to rest for a while.
I'm not sure that an 84-day-old bird still counts as a "baby bird"; don't most hatchlings fledge within 30 days or so?
As an adult, the bird did not recognize his own species, but did recognize the glove and was willing to mate with it.
Since the species in question was severely endangered, this was seen as useful as a way to try to keep the species alive.
Now who's cutting onions here... having freshly raised two kittens to adulthood, I can say it's a highly rewarding experience to assist new life in growth.
https://slate.com/technology/2014/01/where-do-birds-sleep-ro...
I had to get used to him just landing on me out of nowhere because, well, flying squirrel.
Ever since then, there was no complaints when I entered the back yard, and in fact they would often land on my hammock and would balance impressively (keeping the head still while the body swung) and peer in at us.
Clearly I had moved from the alarm list to the friend list, community wide. I'd often see a magpie on my fence or in a tree watching me quietly.
charm/mischief of magpies
"Mischief", supposedly, among other terms. But such "terms of venery" are usually Victorian parlor games, not actually used in practice. Any of the words you used is fine.