spitz

Ah crap. I'll have to resort to the actual site and update the link. Cheers.

The long branch is the long arm of altruism, the short branch is the short arm of altruism.

Well, I wouldn't put up a terribly strong fight if you were to pay me...

It's amazing how much Connect has improved. I found it virtually unusable at the beginning. Now I can't imagine using Lemmy without it*. No ads, no selling of data, and a highly customisable app that does what it says it does.

*I have not been paid to say this. Just a happy user.

That sounds absolutely mental in the most wholesome way haha.

I trained most of them to aim their tail feathers away before they do, but yes, sometimes it just gushes out when it gushes out. They're wild birds, it's part of the package. But I do put a towel on my lap, so that makes things easier. Also no scratches on the legs if the birds decide to fight each other on my lap. They do that especially in spring, when the hormones are fluctuating.

I call all of them goobers, so "Mr Goober" is called Derfred. It is the goofiest bird I have ever seen. I suspect it might've hit a window or car or something at some stage and stayed a bit silly. Derfred even bites and climbs on other birds, just playing. But the other birds aren't always prepared to put up with it haha. Poor thing. But Derfred is healthy and happy.

Here are names I've given to some of the other birds:

• Signore Salieri (has an unusually large beak and high "hair line")

• Mr Faith No More (actually a girl, but looks a lot like Mike Patton. Sounds dumb but I swear it's true).

• Mr Roy (has a rainbow-ish pattern on the head. Full name is Roy G. Biv).

• Cleopatra (a lady bird who gets a lot of attention from the boys, and takes no prisoners. She's always very nice to me, though)

• Mr Blackbottom (he has a large black patch on his lower beak - completely harmless. Beaks are black as juveniles, then the black gradually fades as they get older).

• The Scream (a girl bird who enjoys landing on my arm, staring me square in the eye, flapping her wings and screeching at me. No other reason than to chat/play. Weirdo).

• John Deere (when I sing or talk, this goober stares at me like a deer in the headlights. As if I am threatening it. It knows full well I'm not threatening it, just a bit of a drama queen).

There are more but I can't remember them right now.

I leave food and water out for the local birds, and sit outside under a beautiful big tree, and birds come up, eat the food, have a drink and a bath/splash around, then some of them land on me and we have a chat. I actually get a lot more sense out of those interactions than I do with any human where I am, so it really helps. One little goober gets a crazy look in the eye, then (most of the time) gently bites my finger and half rolls over. So I roll him/her over and tickle the belly. It's hard to stay grumpy when you start your day like that!

The thing that helped me was "let go or be dragged".

Death will happen whether I stress out about it or not. Stressing about it just contaminates the time you have. So I gradually learned to focus more on the "isn't existence weird?!" than "death is coming". And when you really get into the swing of it, your limited time becomes timeless.

Aha. When tech geeks meet theology. I like it!