NatureTeam! Go go go.

Today I saved a bird.

It all started when my baby brother had a play date. Suddenly both boys came running, telling how they had found a baby bird that had fallen out of its nest. And I, being the nature geek in the family, was sent to investigate. At first we couldn't find it again, and the boys started getting rather worried, fearing that our cat would eat the little thing. But after a few moments of frantic search, I spotted the poor thing. Turned out to be a Mistle Thrust, and a rather large one too. I don't think it will be long until it can fly.

Now, the boys where pretty confident about what tree it had come from, but given that I could not see the nest, returning it there was out of the picture. However, I had no doubt that the parents would be near, and even if we left the hatchling alone, they would tend to it. The problem here would be the cat, a brutal huntress, who have brought home everything from regular dead mice, to frogs, that where very much alive. (We had to move a lot of furniture to save the poor thing).

So leaving it on the ground was a no-go. Instead I planned to move the bird up onto a nice branch on its home tree.

Easier said then done.

Me up on a ladder, bird in hand. It was a bit wonky, but I was sure I could handle it, I found a nice spot between three branches and proceeded to place the hatchling. At the moment, of cause, said hatchling became frantic, creating a chain reaction. Because at this moment the mother (or father) showed as well, making it rather clear that This-Was-Not-Tolerated. The hatchling jumped from my hand, and hid in a small hole in the ground, me following. In the meantime the cat had showed up, making the parent even more loud, as well as making the boys panic.

I got the bird out of the hole, and made another attempt, with the same result. This time, I stayed on the ladder and got one of the boys to capture the hatchling, while the other brought the cat inside.

Removing the cat seemed to work, because the adult calmed down, and when I got the hatcling, it didn't jump. I did, however. Telling the boys to removed themselves fast as well. I hoped that both birds would be calmed down then, so the hatchling would stay in the tree.

And now, half an hour later, it is still there, so I got my hopes up.

Now, before I end this, I know the myth about not touching wild animals.

It only applies to mammals, because young animals have no scent, so that predators cannot find them, and if a human touches it, the poor thing will smell like human, and scare the mother away.

Birds do not use smell that way, living in a nest and all that. So touching baby birds are not dangerous in any way. It is good to leave them alone as it is, because the parents will often care for them anyway. But if you can see, and reach, the nest, it is perfectly alright to move it back. Your smell won't contaminate the bird.

Though, sometimes, especially with very small hatchlings, it is a larger sibling that pushes a weaker rival out. So placing it back might result in another tumble down. Larger hatchlings have a tendency to fall out when the become braver and more mobile, before their wings are full grown. And I believe that is was the case here.

My virtual worlds

As mentioned last time, I move around on a good handful of pages, and now I would like to make a small list of them, just for fun:

Fanfiction.net - One of the first pages I joined. Fanfiction.net is basically an online libary, where members upload their fanfiction and others can comment, or review it. (fanfiction is, as the name implies, fiction written by fans of a specific "canon", that means, a universe from a book, game, cartoon, comic, tv-show or movie.) The page also offers individual forums, created by users, as well as communties, where writers can upload stories of a certian kind.
Among fanfiction writers, Fanfiction.net is know as The Pit, due to the amount of stories of low quality. This is again a result of the open acces to the page, and the free acess, making it easy for all ages to use it.
But if you know where to look, the page can offer great entertainment from great writers.

Deviantart - An art based page, where people opload all sorts of crafting, from drawings, to oilpaintings, digital art, sculptures, pixel pictures, photo and stories. As well as recive concrit and comments.
Here you can choose a free membership, or a paid subsciption. The subscription gives you more tools overall on the pages, removes the advetising banners, and gives you the opportunity to sell prints of your art. A nice feature of the page is that at each upload, it gives you the choice of putting up a copyright statement, making you able to protect your art.
Many professional artist will use the place as a way of gaining popularity and selling art, but the page also offers great oppotunity of social interaction. There are chat pages, and constantly contests, either made by administraters, but more often by the users themselves.

Bleeping Computer - A forum that offers help and guides to computers in all.
I have to admit that I am almost never present, but this page has saved my computer from breaking down countless times, so I do feel that they need the praise.
The admins are nice and helpful, and the forums are almost always up to date with the newest information, both on virus and antivirus programs.

World of Warcraft - Now, most people would possible not think that this belongs here, being a game and all. But Online games, especially mmorpgs, has a uniqe social interaction. The players have to work together in order to get the fullest out of the game, they trade items, almost as in the real world, and most players are connected in Guilds. A guild is a group of people who often play together, they have a private chat, special clothing, and many other perks that can only be achived in a guild. Most guilds will have a forum on the internet, where rules and activeties, the playstyle and the goal of the guild is discussed.
Many guilds are based on a specific country, and players will often meet in real life.

Facebook -I don't really think this place needs and introduction, honestly you would have to have lived beneath a rock, without any internet acess not to know this place.
Personally? I severly dislike it, and deeply regret opening a profile. I can see the appeal of the place, it it so easy to find old friends, and that feature I like. My dislike stems from the fact that all the features on the page, is paid with my personal information, not that is really will harm me, but I dislike the very consept. I would have prefered a paid subsribtion, and them be free of all the spybots, as all the applications truly are.

Youtube - The place where all is seen. I am still fairly new there, and mostly using it to keep an eye on my favorite users, such as Oxhorn, who you can find on the bottom of this blog.
youtube is a grey arena to me, there have been so much talking about copyrigts here, and I do se the point from both sides. Most fan made videos are harmless, and can often work as a free advetising to the musicans and cartoons, but I do believe that you should always be respectful to the source.
An interesting trend I have noticed, is that lesser known bands have begun to use youtube to broadcoast their music. Somewhere I think they are to ones to make the fullest out of the page.

Global PokédeX Plus - Now this is a newer addition to the net, an adopties page. Basically these pages gives the user a string of code. On the users page, this code will look like a pixel picture, always beginning with an egg. As other users look at the "egg" or better yet, interacts with is, the egg will get points, once it reaches a specific number, the egg will hatch, often into a dragon, a bird, or in this case, a Pokémon. The "creature" will still grow as long as other people interacts with it.
As such, it is the goal to get as many people to look at your Pokémon as possible, this can be done in many ways, depending on the specifick page, but the most common way it to place a link to the base page, on varius forums, or as here---->


Libarything - Still new to the place, as I have said ealier, but I am getting there. And so far I like it, though there is a few confusing moments (Just how is it I add my favorite writers? The page keeps sending me back and forth)

And of cause, I am here, obviously

I do have a one or two more places where I am member, but these have been badly neglegted, and I have no interest in using them, as most internet users will mostly have

Spreading to thin

This blog is actually a part of my education.
I find this very facinating, and I more than happy to see, that even the higher academic world has opened their eyes to the many possibilities that the web offers.

There is just one tiny thing that leaves me hestitant, and that is the fear of spreading my attention to wide. Now, we do have the option to just delete our pages after the assignment is done, but as most veteranes of the net knows, it is not as simply as that. Many social pages, such as Facebook, does not allow a user to remove them selves completly, many of the personal tidbits you have given, will leave a bright trail of your past. As they say, nothing on the internet is forgotten. As the case of Thelma Arnold shows: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/09/technology/09aol.html?ei=5090&en=f6f61949c6da4d38&ex=1312776000&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all
The only real way to stay in control, is to control what you reveal, as it is impossible in these day to keep a complete secure private life, if you want to use the internet, or just to move around in the world.
Now, you don't need to do as Hasan M. Elahi, and reveal every move you make: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasan_M._Elahi
But you can to some extent control what you show the world,
And in the end, that is why I am hestitant with joining certain pages. Since I am already a user of several social internet societies, I prefer not to spread to thin, so that I to some extent, always will have some idea of the fingerprints I leave.

For those interested, the author David Brin has written a book, "The Transparent Society: Will Technology Force Us to Choose Between Privacy and Freedom?"http://www.davidbrin.com/transparent.htm#ts about the problem.

LibaryThing

Libarything is a nifty little site.
Here you can make yourself a bookself, and show the world what you read. I still haven't gotten around the entire page, but it looks like a nice place íf you like to discuss books, also I belive it would be a good spot to find a fanclub of varius books and writers.

RSS Feeds

I never really knew what they where for, and halfway dissmissed them as something I wouldn't use.
I do like the concept though, and if you are a busy person, I guess it is nice to be able to keep up with everything this way. I still just prefer to get my news on paper, or on the tv.

Now, I did add the World of Warcraft news, 'cause I am a Wow player, and with all the changes coming up next year, I like to follow the updates.

Also, I picked a pair of online comics feeds. Now for those who do not know what a web comic is, it is simply a comic read on the net. Though it will mostly still be in the making, the artist(s) putting up a new page every week or month, depending on how much time they got.
With a RSS feed here, you will not get news, instead you can see when the comic has been updated.
A fine example of using new programs in a creative way.

Blogging

Hmmm, blogging.
Blogging is everywhere, and it comes in many different shapes and sizes. Some blogs about their private life, and can write pages about how their dog loves shoes. Others will document social and political events, and will only write small comments here and there.

Blogging, as a whole, has changed the world, and is one of the most prominet features of Web 2.0. People from all the world can read about, ponder, and comment events happening across the oceans. Communication has evolved in ways, that in ages past would be consideret impossible. The boundaries has been broken, and the old world can only try to hang on.

Events happening in otherwise closed countries, Nepal, China, Iran, are now spread to the public at lightening speed, through the words of fearless bloggers. Beacuse as fast as the tech develops, just as fast the regimes will attempt to block it.
But the battle is fierce, for each page blocked, bloggers will find new portals and reveal the secrets to the world.

But after all, blogging is not only about political themes. Many blogs can be about mundane things, such as chocolate, pets, or fish. Many are also using their blogs as a small diary.
With these, the secret to popularity, is the entertainment level. Funny blogs are always well read. As well as blogs by fans, about a specific fandom: Star Wars, Marvel, Terminator, ect.

Blogging is the new medium of communication, and the varius ways of connecting with people around the globe are still growing.