A series of unrelated images...

"Using the bones of my adversaries to build a ladder." - Hank Green

My contribution to the little Hank Green Out Of Context project over on tumblr.
Here's the recap post with all the entries.
Super cute!

Happened to see these two mourning doves gettin' it on in the backyard a few weeks ago. Ha! Get a room!

We're gearing up for a garden. Hadn't spent much time out with the birds through the wet winter. A few days ago I noticed one of the Scrub Jays has a bum wing.
Hanging awkwardly. And the poor thing isn't able to fly very well. It was extremely windy the last couple days and I didn't see him. Hopefully get out tomorrow to see if he's around/better.

D:

Took me forever to crack open the Nvidia Shield Tablet replacement after the recall. Just kept putting it off. Then I had all the Windows 10 troubles and didn't want to deal with it. I was planning on rooting it so I could format my SD as internal storage and do all that. It was daunting, so I procrastinated. 

But then there was a huge update around the new year, which integrated everything I would have wanted to do into the Nvidia... no need to root. So that spurred me to get the replacement going.

I've been using it since and it's perfect in every way for my needs. That update freed up an enormous amount of space and made the SD formatting super streamlined and easy. Woo!
I expected the old one to shut off much sooner than it did. It continued to work for like three months until it bricked itself. Thus ended the life of my first tablet. I gave it a ceremonial burial in the 'ship this tablet carefully so it doesn't blow up in transport'  box that Nvidia provided.
Bye, tablet! I barely knew ye!

ONE BERNIE, PLEASE!

The election was already ridiculous, but things have really escalated into madness over the last month. The DNC is totally effed. The fraud, the rigging, the voting problems... it's all gross.

I imagine it will only get worse closer to the convention. I'm appalled by how Clinton is representing herself through all this.

It's going to be Hillary vs. Trump and that's...

... ugh...

... uuuugggghhhhh...

We need election reform, news media reform, all the reform. Good god. It's bad.
I'd like to think Hillary can get a landslide over Trump.
I'm genuinely paranoid this could go very differently.

UUUUGGGGGHHHHHHHH.

In happier and vastly more entertaining news, the end of the Premier League season was an absolute delight.
Leicester won by 10 points. No one was touching them.
But the runner-up positions were still in tight contention up to the end. Tottenham, having their best season... ever, could have pulled off 2nd and finished above Arsenal for the first time in 20 years. The rivalry runs so deep that this had Arsenal fans shitting themselves. But then Tottenham choked in their last few games allowing us to gain on them.
It came down to the last game of the season.

Arsenal played Aston Villa (relegated)
Tottenham played Newcastle (relegated)

These games were played simultaneously. Tottenham only needed a draw to hold 2nd.
We had to win.

And beautiful beautiful Newcastle, playing purely for the yucks, absolutely destroyed Tottenham. They even went down to 10 men... and still destroyed Tottenham. 5 - 1.
Each time they scored, Arsenal fans went absolutely nuts, getting the results through social media.
And Arsenal won. 4 - 0.

Thereby, Arsenal popped above Tottenham into 2nd and the 21st St. Totteringham's Day in a row was celebrated like we'd won the damn league ourselves.



IT'S HAPPENED AGAIN! IT'S HAPPENED AGAAAAAIIIIINNNN!
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR, IT'S HAPPENED AGGAAAAAAIIIIIIIINNNNNN!

Being an American who really doesn't care all that much about clubs and their local rivalries...
This was just far too comical to not enjoy in every way.

The narrative. THE NARRATIVE.

This season was so damn strange anyway. Very amusing.
It'll be interesting to see if it gets crazier next season, or if things get back to something more normal.
Euros over the summer though! That'll be fun.
I'm determined to stay relaxed and detached this time so I don't have a total anxiety meltdown like I had during Germany's run for the World Cup.

Gotta be chill.

Finales and comebacks...

Orphan Black is the shit.

So many epic finales in TV shows.
It's a shame how much the Game of Thrones show-writers have put GRRM's complex characters through the trope-factory treatment, especially when it comes to the women whose stories were altered to lift up male characters... to then turn the women into evil traitors to make the male characters seem like noble victims at their hands. Happens so much in media generally, but it's a special kind of frustration when the source material very skillfully doesn't play into any of that shit. Still an epic show.

Orphan Black though. Orphan Black. HO-LEE SHIT. Orphan Black. What a great fuckin' show.
All day errday I'm here for the Clone Club.
Orphan Black.

My scanner decided to check out a few weeks ago for seemingly no reason. And yesterday suddenly decided to work perfectly with no intervention from myself. M'kay.
Thusly, got to complete the tribute to THIS finale...

Which was such an insane game. A terrifying affair. A heart-attack inducing comeback. So pleased for Mesut that he got some kind of trophy in his first season at Arsenal. Real Madrid finished up their season by winning the Champion's League, which  similarly made me happy that those guys got their shit together with Mourinho being gone.

I may or may not continue the Mesut sketches through next season. Probably not for every game at least. This project has successfully gotten me back to art-ing with confidence in my fingers and taping methods. Maybe I'll do highlights? That would be fun. I've loved doing it regardless.

On the topic of football--the World Cup has been an explosively compelling tournament thus far. Only one game has been a crap game really. Everything else has been wildly entertaining. And sooo many goals! It must be the heat and humidity putting the balance of play in favor of offense. Beautiful goals! And so many that certainly the total amount of goals in the 2010 cup will be well exceeded. I couldn't watch the last 30 minutes of the Germany vs. Ghana game. Brutal nerves. There's no way I'll get through the US vs. Germany game on Thursday. No way. I won't watch until I've seen the results. Lol. Too invested in the success of both sides. Brilliant tournament though. Absolutely brilliant.

More comebacks...

I'm re-investing a ton of time into webdesign code stuff. Working on getting HTML5 on lock. I'll be re-forming kpoppy for the third time to be much more compliant to the best coding practices. It's all valid as it is now, but a lot of it is archaic in nature.

JYJ's comeback next month will be followed by an Asia tour. Surely will be their last before military enlistment. I'm sooo curious what the sound of their album will be. Jae posted a clip of a piano piece he has been working on to Instagram. Beautiful new ballad. Gosh... I just can't wait!

And finally, a comeback that made me weep in the midst of gardening. Sora is back! SOOORRRAAAA! Came right back to her favorite branch of the wisteria and chatted at me. I went to get some peanuts and burst into tears when she hopped down right next to me to grab one. The only difference is that she is now followed around by TWO SCREECHING CHILDREN! Hahahahaaa. So clearly she has been nesting. Her little fledglings are all puffy and grey with the typically incessant screaming of new scrub jays. They're hilarious. And momma is very patient.

Also have seen less of GeroGero since she returned, which makes me think he's one of those nesting assistants like Chibi was last year. In fact, after hanging out with Gero a bunch and him getting very comfortable I realized that he might be Chibi. Chibi's distinguishing characteristics were that he was immediately at ease around me and liked to break open peanuts in my presence. Even if I was standing or walking right by him. And he stood very tall compared to the others. That's why I called him Chibi... sarcastically. This jay I was calling Gero ended up displaying exactly these traits. Got some great video footage, too. It would be cool if it really was Chibi, back to the neighborhood to help Sora nest again. Their social system is really fascinating.

So fucking happy to see Sora again--happy and healthy with her new babies.

Of pigeons, plants, and plotholes...

We have a garden this year! My pops rearranged one of the beds and got rid of another that wasn't getting enough sun. A little more strategic now. Looks great. He also put a ton of work into putting up some cages and netting. Cats are a problem around here. Or should I say that cat shit is a problem around here. One of them will even shit in the gravel next to a garden bed--out of spite? I don't know. Lol. Little bastards.

I finished up watering today and thought I'd take a picture while the plants are all still small. This bed has tomatoes, green beans, and basil. The bed to the left, not in the shot, has strawberries, green beans (from seed), and marigolds. Zucchini and squash are in mounds to the right.
So, I was checking the pictures to see if the sunlight wasn't blowing them out...

And then a visitor showed up...

With his buddy...

And all their friends.

O.O

Band-tailed pigeons. I think I might have mentioned them before? Maybe not. They're new. First saw one... a couple months ago? I was chillin' outside with the jays when this same little flock descended. They're huge. It was like being invaded by turkeys or vultures. All dark and ominous. Also skittish. Not at all like city pigeons. Even walking past inside our house, they'll see the movement and flee in a feather tornado. It's slightly hilarious. This was the first opportunity I've had to take proper pictures. I was shocked they didn't take off as soon as they saw me outside.

Smallest to largest, we now get: Goldfinches, House Finches, Oak Titmice, Dark-eyed Juncos, American Robins, California Towhees, Mourning Doves, Western Scrub Jays, Eurasian Collared Doves, and Band-tailed Pigeons. Mockingbirds and crows use the tallest trees in the area, but don't come into the yard.

So many doves! Although, they've replaced each other a bit. The mournings got bumped out by the eurasians, and the eurasians are getting bumped out by the band-tails. They're all still around though. There's this truly massive oak tree a block over that is its own freaking ecosystem. I wonder what it's like to live under it. Lol. Bird paradise.

***

Currently a gunman on the loose in Canada. Killing people. Has it even been a week since that misogynist/racist/batshit insane guy went on his little rampage? Geez louise.

***

Finished 'The Mote in God's Eye'. I'm working on reading a bunch of sci-fi classics that I have failed to get to. Asimov's 'Foundation' will be next. I feel shame that I've never read Asimov anything. So much shame. Must remedy this.

The Mote ended up being a disappointment, which surprised me. My main problem was that I kept having to ponder whether the authors were purposefully making the characters stupid... or if the authors themselves were ignorant about the topics they were writing on. I'm still unsure. I am sure that it's partly because it was written in '74. It's supposedly "hard sci-fi", but the lack of legitimate science got to be grating. Like... the scientific method itself hasn't made any great leaps since the 70s. The method has existed for much longer than that. And yet the scientists in the story don't use it when it would make the most sense to... with the first intelligent alien species humanity as ever encountered. I love first-contact stories, but yeesh, this one is lethargic and frustrating. The Moties, the aliens, are actually quite cool and well-developed. But the humans are painfully dumb and one-dimensional throughout. I was rooting for the Moties to obliterate humanity by the end. LOL I'm not sure if that was the intended effect.

Here's an example from the perspective of the science expedition's linguist... and chaplain:

"Chaplain David Hardy watched the miniatures only through the intercom because that way he wasn't involved in the endless speculations on what Moties were. It was a question of scientific interest to Horvath and his people; but to Chaplain Hardy there was more than intellectual curiosity at stake. It was his job to determine if Moties were human. Horvath's scientists only wondered if they were intelligent."

Wut. Firstly, this passage comes long after it is abundantly clear that the Moties are far more technologically advanced than humans. Secondly, it's the Chaplain's job to determine if the alien species ARE HUMAN? WHAT?! Like, wouldn't the very first fucking tests be to compare the Motie genetic code to humans and other Earth species? Like, duh? And that would be done BY SCIENTISTS. The Chaplain goes on to ponder if they have souls or if they are perhaps angels... really ugly angels... wut. It just... it doesn't compute. And this kind of thing happens throughout the book many many times.

Coffee. I wish I kept a tally of how often coffee was talked about. The making of it. The drinking of it. Coffee. Coffee coffee coffee. Everyone is always drinking coffee. Or brandy. All these on-duty scientists and military officers drinking alcohol... and coffee. Oh, except for the ridiculously stereotyped Russian captain of the military escort ship. He drinks tea. But coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee. I was hoping the Moties would poison the coffee and kill off the whole expedition. No such luck. All that coffee? Useless filler.

The single woman on the expedition is also the only anthropologist. The authors clearly want the reader to see her as competent, smart, and compassionate, which is cool. But she's a terrible anthropologist. She brings all of her own personal baggage to the table when discussing Motie culture with the Moties. That's like rule #1 in the anthropologist handbook of things to never do. This is a case where I have to assume the authors don't know what anthropologists actually do. Very little critical objectivity is practiced by ANY of the scientists on-board. It gets tiring.
And, of course, whenever the lone woman in the story talks to any man, he's scrutinizing her looks in his head and flirting with her. In the end, she rather suddenly falls completely in love with the lead protagonist and 'hero'.
Cue eyeroll.

TOO LONG. Must stop writing. Must get to drawing!

Sky...

Sora. Loves peanuts. Never squawks. Sits next to me out back and warbles like we're in conversation. Just the sweetest. Scrub Jays are the sh*t.

It's mid-January, the days are over 70 degrees, not a drop of rain in sight, and the skies are blue.
While the rest of the country is apparently under a frozen blanket, we're in a warm drought. Climate change, dude. Climate change.

KPOPPY 2.0 has been up for a couple weeks. The old site is gone. Seems to be working smoothly.

Arsenal are STILL top of the league and won the FA Cup match against Coventry yesterday 4-0. Mes got an assist. ^^

Helped out a Gunner on reddit and designed a logo for his Swedish Arsenal fanclub. Fun.
Working on like 4 pieces that will be prints.

My eyes are burning from need of sleep.
Peace.

TIL...

Technically, YIL. Yesterday I learned that those mysterious mutant Mourning Doves are Eurasian Collared Doves. As a bird-person, this is thrilling. Apparently, they're an invasive species that was introduced to the Bahamas in the 70s and spread to Florida in the 80s... and has clearly conquered the USA as it has arrived in my Northern Californian backyard.
This is so cool to me.
SO.
COOL.

Finally, snapped some shots of them. The photo on the left is through my bedroom window. On the right, through the living room window just before it took off. They don't tolerate my presence outside. Compare it to the Mourning Dove down here. Really different, but clearly still a dove. All I had were fleeting glimpses of confusion. WTF IS THAT?!! Now I know. Thrilled.

Even cooler is that I had heard a strange call at night. It sounded like an owl or a Mourning Dove having an identity crisis. Played a clip of a Eurasian Collared Dove and BINGO! That's it! YAASSSSSSS! Such a rad sound. Did I mention that I'm thrilled?

Sora has been especially friendly over the last week. It's nice to pop outside, make a little clicking call and she shows up in one of her usual spots. The fence. The gutter overhead. Or the jutting wisteria branch. She's comfortable enough with me that she'll trot around while I water plants, digging for bugs or grabbing peanuts when I put them out. The little hopping gallop is endlessly amusing to me. Birds are cool.

That Collared Dove, man.
Felt victorious when I figured that out.
They look downright regal.


In WTF news... Real Madrid bought Gareth Bale. Not sure if I want. The midfield is already cramped. Could be great, but if our bug-eyed, crinkly-eared hero doesn't get the minutes he deserves, we're gonna have a problem. Gif courtesy of his new adidas campaign.

Oh lawd.

*wibbles*