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Bird Torture by Volkswagen

Date and Time  - Nov. 16th, 2007, 03:26 pm

Current Mood  - pissed off pissed off
Current Music  - budgies in conference

What do European robins, garden warblers, and zebra finches have in common?

They're all beautiful birds who love the freedom of flight and their natural surroundings. They all have glorious voices and instincts to match. And many of these beautiful birds have been decapitated in cruel experiments sponsored by Volkswagen.

IDA was sickened to learn that the Volkswagen Foundation is paying experimenters at German and U.S. universities to capture and use these beautiful songbirds in worthless experiments that terrify the birds before they are ruthlessly killed for curiosity's sake. Although the use of any animal for experimentation is objectionable, the thought of birds-who are universal symbols of joy and freedom-captured, caged, terrorized, and vivisected, is particularly heinous. Birds are indeed so fragile that they often die of fright from the capture or transportation process.

These atrocious acts are taking place at the University of Oldenburg in Germany and Duke University in North Carolina. Songbirds captured from the wild and captive canaries and finches are exposed to different light cycles or are fitted with eye caps glued tightly to their heads to block out all light. Researchers then cut the birds' heads off to slice their retinas out of their eyes, and dissect and study their brains for clues to the secret of migration.

full story


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Another Sheep

Date and Time  - Dec. 16th, 2006, 07:42 pm

Current Mood  - blank blank
Current Music  - budgies in conference in next room

ganked from many:

On the twelfth day of Christmas, neitherday sent to me...
Twelve squirrels suffering
Eleven strings writing
Ten crows a-kissing
Nine cats birdwatching
Eight trees a-scrying
Seven cigars a-walking
Six politics a-nothing
Five ci-i-i-ivil liberties
Four zebra finches
Three haunted houses
Two psych wards
...and a luna in an astronomy.
Get your own Twelve Days:


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Flying Off

Date and Time  - Nov. 16th, 2006, 12:16 pm

Current Mood  - sad sad
Current Music  - budgies in conference

[info]purpleglitter and I buried Squeaky and Piglet this morning. We placed them with Isobel so they can fly off together.

I haven't been well today or yesterday. I'm still in shock that they are both dead. Hearing [info]purplelgitter gasp upon finding them. Seeing them there. I don't believe it. I am still waiting to wake up.

Feeling like my life is a dream isn't an state in my life, but what is less constant is the forceful will to wake up. Wake up to what, to where. I don't know. But somewhere my birdies are and everyone else is and everything is the "way it should be". But the way it should be never was, there is only the way it is.

Squeaky and Piglet and Isobel too are all okay. Though their bodies may have been fragile, they are not their bodies and they will never cease to be. I will miss them, they have flown off with a part of my heart with them.

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Piglet and Squeaky

Date and Time  - Nov. 15th, 2006, 09:45 am

Current Mood  - sad sad
Current Music  - budgies in conference

I realized I never posted a picture of Piglet. Here is one of her next to her Squeaky-bird.

piglet and squeaky


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Good Journey

Date and Time  - Nov. 14th, 2006, 11:17 pm

Current Mood  - indescribable indescribable
Current Music  - budgies not sleeping

Squeaky and Piglet are dead.

They were eating out of my hand this morning.

Happy as could be.

Now they're dead.

Good journey, my birdies.

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Project Schedule - Attempt 3, Week 4, Poll

Date and Time  - Sep. 23rd, 2006, 02:12 pm

Current Mood  - blank blank
Current Music  - budgies in conference

Poll #828329
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

What change should I make to Project Schedule next week?

View Answers

add art
1 (7.1%)

add bird watching
1 (7.1%)

add crafting
2 (14.3%)

add dancing
2 (14.3%)

add lavish attention on birds
1 (7.1%)

add lj projects
0 (0.0%)

add meditation and reflection
3 (21.4%)

add music practice
1 (7.1%)

add non-lj online projects
0 (0.0%)

add photography
0 (0.0%)

add reading
0 (0.0%)

add walking
4 (28.6%)

add writing
1 (7.1%)

expand building geek skills
1 (7.1%)

expand lavish attention on [info]mazzycat
0 (0.0%)

expand non-cooking domestic activity
1 (7.1%)

make no changes
0 (0.0%)

remove building geek skills
1 (7.1%)

remove lavish attention on [info]mazzycat
0 (0.0%)

remove non-cooking domestic activity
0 (0.0%)

end project schedule
1 (7.1%)



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Project Schedule - Attempt 3, Week 3, Plan

Date and Time  - Sep. 18th, 2006, 09:00 am

Current Mood  - groggy groggy
Current Music  - dishwasher

MondayTuesday - WednesdayThursdayFriday
7:30 am - 8:30 am geek skills
9:00 am - 10:00 am non-cooking domestic activity non-cooking domestic activity
10:00 am - 10:30 am lavish attention on [info]mazzycat lavish attention on [info]mazzycat
11:00 am - 11:15 am feed birds
11:30 am - 12:00 pm lavish attention on [info]mazzycat lavish attention on [info]mazzycat
12:30 pm - 1:00 pm non-cooking domestic activity non-cooking domestic activity
1:00 pm - 1:30 pm geek skills therapy
1:30 pm - 2:00 pm
4:00 pm - 5:00 pm geek skills geek skills


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Project Schedule - Attempt 3, Week 3, Poll

Date and Time  - Sep. 16th, 2006, 11:56 am

Current Mood  - blah blah
Current Music  - budgies gurgling

Poll #822528
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

What change should I make to Project Schedule next week?

View Answers

add art
4 (19.0%)

add bird watching
1 (4.8%)

add building geek skills
6 (28.6%)

add crafting
4 (19.0%)

add dancing
2 (9.5%)

add lavish attention on birds
3 (14.3%)

add lj projects
1 (4.8%)

add meditation and reflection
4 (19.0%)

add music practice
3 (14.3%)

add non-lj online projects
0 (0.0%)

add photography
1 (4.8%)

add reading
3 (14.3%)

add walking
5 (23.8%)

add writing
2 (9.5%)

expand lavish attention on [info]mazzycat
2 (9.5%)

expand non-cooking domestic activity
2 (9.5%)

make no changes
0 (0.0%)

remove lavish attention on [info]mazzycat
0 (0.0%)

remove non-cooking domestic activity
0 (0.0%)

end project schedule
0 (0.0%)



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Project Schedule - Attempt 3, Week 2, Day 4

Date and Time  - Sep. 14th, 2006, 01:56 pm

Current Mood  - crazy crazy
Current Music  - Men Without Hats - Pop Goes the World

Cloude and Galileo were fighting over Dandelion, so moved Cloude and Skye into the small flight cage. No problem with the finches. Food was well devoured by all.

No problem with [info]mazzycat. Her food dispenser is filled again. While this means she won't be getting so much wet food, she'll have round the clock access to her dry stuff.

My room cleaning looks as if it went backwards. My room is far messier after this afternoon's cleaning session than it was before. This is principally because I've begun my journey into the Left Closet of Doom and much of the contents yielded by my expedition are scattered about. Some I might try to sell or give away, some I will use, some I'll keep in storage, and much is going to the curb Sunday evening.

I only went in about 7 feet today, tomorrow I'll attempt to reach the back. The Left Closet of Doom will be a large project, and I anticipate the Right Closet of Doom will be more work than the Left even though the Left is slightly deeper.

I'm going to pay some bills, then head over to [info]purpleglitter's to do some laundry.

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Project Three Meals - Attempt 3, Week 2, Day 3

Date and Time  - Sep. 13th, 2006, 01:51 pm

Current Mood  - accomplished accomplished
Current Music  - Krishna Das - Namah Shivaya

Still going strong.

I made the birds a new mix this morning: beak appétit, mashed organic peas, organic spring salad mix, crumbed Ezekiel 4:9 bread, seed mix, and fruit and veggie mix. Not as fancy as some of my other bird mixes, but they still love it.

[info]mazzycat is always a joy to spend time with, and she seems to prefer the regular scheduled playtimes over the more haphazard playtimes of the past.

I did much cleaning. I did a load of dishes downstairs, took out my air conditioner which hasn't been used for over a month, worked my altar, organized my desk, did some other decorating, and did quite a bit of cleaning and organizing. The octagonal table is now the only one non-floor surface in my room containing anything that shouldn't go there. It has been years since it has been in this state. In fact, my room is rapidly and finally approaching that magic word: CLEAN. If I continue this for the rest of the week, it may just reach that point.

I also hung a sign above the door to my room which reads: "If you find yourself in a hole... STOP DIGGING!". Perhaps some might think it cheesy, but I think it a good message for me to keep mindful of.

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Project Schedule - Attempt 3, Week 2, Plan

Date and Time  - Sep. 11th, 2006, 05:12 am

Current Mood  - groggy groggy
Current Music  - silence

Since I am feeding the birds at a set time everyday, I have decided to include that in the schedule table from this point on. I am also going to start adding appointments and other obligations items to the schedule table. This may make the schedule table look more complicated, but the motivation in doing so is to more accurately reflect my actual schedule.

MondayTuesday - Friday
10:00 am - 11:00 amprivate obligations
11:00 am - 11:15 amfeed birdsfeed birds
11:30 am - 12:00 pmlavish attention on [info]mazzycat
12:30 pm - 1:00 pmnon-cooking domestic activity
1:00 pm - 1:30 pmlavish attention on [info]mazzycat
1:30 pm - 2:30 pmnon-cooking domestic activity
4:00 pm - 5:00 pmtherapy


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Project Schedule - Attempt 3, Week 2, Poll

Date and Time  - Sep. 9th, 2006, 10:50 am

Current Mood  - gloomy gloomy
Current Music  - budgies in conference

Poll #817263
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

What change should I make to Project Schedule next week?

View Answers

add art
3 (10.7%)

add bird watching
0 (0.0%)

add building geek skills
2 (7.1%)

add crafting
2 (7.1%)

add lavish attention on birds
2 (7.1%)

add lj projects
0 (0.0%)

add music practice
2 (7.1%)

add non-cooking domestic activity
5 (17.9%)

add non-lj online projects
0 (0.0%)

add photography
1 (3.6%)

add prayer and meditation
2 (7.1%)

add reading
1 (3.6%)

add writing
2 (7.1%)

add walking
3 (10.7%)

expand lavish attention on [info]mazzycat
2 (7.1%)

make no changes
1 (3.6%)

end project schedule
0 (0.0%)



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Project Schedule - Attempt 3, Week 1, Poll

Date and Time  - Sep. 2nd, 2006, 12:11 pm

Current Mood  - rushed rushed
Current Music  - silence

Poll #812577
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Which scheduled activity should I add for the coming week? (note that the point of this is to have a schedule and an activity's appearance on this poll does not imply that I do not already do that activity)

View Answers

art
5 (15.2%)

bird watching
1 (3.0%)

building geek skills
3 (9.1%)

crafting
2 (6.1%)

lj projects
0 (0.0%)

music practice
1 (3.0%)

non-cooking domestic activity
4 (12.1%)

non-lj online projects
1 (3.0%)

play with birds
0 (0.0%)

play with [info]mazzy
9 (27.3%)

prayer and meditation
2 (6.1%)

reading
1 (3.0%)

writing
1 (3.0%)

walking
3 (9.1%)



[[EDIT: [info]mazzy should be [info]mazzycat]]

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Who Says Finches Don't?

Date and Time  - Aug. 20th, 2006, 06:01 pm

Current Mood  - jubilant jubilant
Current Music  - budgies gurgling