pileofcrapola

You're being pulled over by a police officer. Do you know the steps you can take to minimize the odds of getting a ticket?

Read more...

A billboard campaign in Washington state aims to reignite a debate that splits the Pacific Northwest: Do wolves belong?

Rescue workers in Eastern Oregon say they have received an outpouring of donations for 68 cats found nearly three weeks ago hoarded in a van, some in desperate shape.

If you're new to owning a parakeet, you might not know what signs there are when the bird is not feeling well. Since birds can deteriorate rapidly if not tended to when sick, it's important to know the indications of a sick bird, so that you can respond quickly.

Steps

Damaging its feathers

1. Be aware that a parakeet can damage its feathers for a number of reasons. The damage can occur over time or within just a few hours, depending on the cause. Some possible reasons for feather damaging include:^[1][2]
   
   
   
   • Boredom. If the bird does need feel mentally stimulated enough, it will grow bored. Picking at its feathers is a form of distracting itself, much as when a human bites at their fingernails out of boredom or frustration.
   • Diet. If the bird isn't getting a nutrient-balanced diet, it may resort to feather plucking.
   • Stress. A person, pet or habitat could be provoking the bird to feel stressed. Lack of exercise, overly large or small perches, noisy or busy cage location, lack of chewing toys, lack of exercise, etc., can lead to the bird being stressed.
   • Illness. A medical condition or disease can cause feather plucking.
2. Seek advice from your veterinarian. It is important to rule out an illness before assuming the feather-plucking behavior is caused by boredom, diet or stress. Moreover, unless you are an expert, it can be difficult to diagnose a bird's illness.
   
   
   

Behavioral changes

1. Be alert to any changes in the bird's eating or drinking habits. A failure to eat food or drink water is a very concerning sign, and the bird should be seen by a veterinarian immediately.^[1]
   
   
   
2. If your parakeet is lethargic, and won't respond to you calling or offering food, this is a sign of sickness. This may be accompanied by huddling low on its perch, puffing up the feathers or breathing heavily. In addition, the bird may show some of these signs:^[2][3][4]
   
   
   
   • Weakness
   • Sitting in a corner of the cage or low in the cage
   • Falling off its perch
   • Continuous feather ruffling
   • Failure to preen itself
   • A lack of activity or a strange new posture
   • Walking in circles
   • Having seizures or trembling
   • Sleeping a lot
   • Changes to its singing, or a lack of singing
   • Hanging from the cage by its beak rather than perching.
3. Watch for aggression. A normally placid and happy parakeet may suddenly start to snap at you or behave aggressively if it feels pain or is ill.^[4]
   
   
   

Too hot or too cold

1. If the weather or room environment is hot, there is a possibility that the parakeet is too hot. Birds cannot sweat and must use other ways to dissipate heat from their bodies.^[2] Signs that your parakeet may be too warm include:^[2]
   
   
   
   • Panting (rapid breathing or more breaths per minute than usual)––this is a very serious sign of overheating that needs immediate veterinary attention, first by phone, then by a visit
   • Spreading its wings out
   • Hot feet
   • Flared and red nares (nasal opening)
   • Hot beak
   • Note that these symptoms can also be found if the bird has a fever or respiratory distress, so it's important to seek help from the vet immediately.
     
     
     
2. If the weather or room environment is cold, there is a possibility that the parakeet is too cold. Signs that your parakeet may be too cold include:^[2]
   
   
   
   • Fluffing out its feathers
   • Huddling or scrunching over its feet (to keep them warm)
   • Sitting in a corner or finding a hiding spot (possibly to get away from a draft).

Other signs

1. Check the bird's urine. If there is a change in the color, consistency or quantity of the urine, then the bird may be ill. This also applies to its droppings.^[2]
   
   
   
   • If there is a bad odor in the cage, either from urine, droppings or another source, assume that the bird is not well.^[3]
2. Look for discharge. If you see discharge from the nostrils, or crusted areas, the bird is ill.^[2]
3. If you notice or feel lumps or swollen parts of the bird's body, this is a problem in need of immediate veterinary attention.^[2]
   
   
   
4. Be alert to any vomiting or regurgitation. This usually signals illness.^[2]
   
   
   
5. Check the parakeet's eyes. If they look sunken, droopy or have changed color, these are signs of poor health or an illness.^[2]
   
   
   

Home care for a sick parakeet

1. See the veterinarian first. Use your usual bird-experienced vet to diagnose and treat the bird's illness.
   
   
   
2. Follow the vet's home-care instructions with great care. Be prepared to call if you're not sure about anything or if changes occur that worry you.
   
   
   
3. Keep the recovering bird in a warm place that is not too hot. Avoid situating the bird anywhere with drafts, noise or bright light. Keep human and pet traffic to an absolute minimum.
   • Remove distractions from the cage, such as toys, mirrors or bells.
   • Ensure that the bird gets at least 10 to 12 hours of sleep. This may include making the bird's resting area off-bounds to all household members.
   • In some cases, it may help to increase the humidity in your home. Talk to your vet about this; it can assist with improved breathing if the bird is congested, but the vet must okay it first.
4. Keep the fluids up. This can be helped by feeding the bird foods with a high moisture content, such as leafy greens and fruit, provided the vet has said this is okay first.^[2]
   • If it is okay to give fruit, float a piece of grape or apple in the bird's water. This can encourage the bird to drink, as well as take the piece of fruit.
5. Ask your vet to suggest a feeding regime. Recovering birds often do well on a diet high in simple carbohydrates because these are easy for the bird to digest.^[2] Your bird's vet should give you appropriate suggestions.
   
   
   

Tips

1. • Do not hesitate to take the bird to the vet if you suspect it is not well. Birds deteriorate rapidly if they do not receive needed assistance.
   • Weight loss is another sign of illness in a bird.

Sources and Citations

• Mattie Sue Athan, Parrots, (2002), ISBN 978-0-7641-2096-1 – research source
• The Merck/Merial Manual for Pet Health, Home Edition, 2007, ISBN 978-0-911910-22-3 – research source

Cite error: <ref> tags exist, but no <references/> tag was found

It has been almost 65 years since Clara Bisker reread a Christmas card she received in December 1948. It had been tucked away in her desk since it was sent to her and her husband, Gordon, by two French girls.

Dear Lifehacker,
I've seen a lot of Kickstarter campaigns lately that promise great rewards and have awesome ideas. Some of them are already fully funded, others need a little help. Is it safe to give them my money if they're already funded? How can I tell if the end result is going to be as awesome as they promised?

Read more...

Target's low prices will save you money, especially if you know markdown schedules . Consumer Reports tested several items at the retail giant and came up with a list of what to purchase or avoid.

Read more...

All cars have trouble, but some are definitely worse than others. The Center for Auto Safety calculated the cars people complain about the most, so you might want to steer clear of them, so to speak.

Read more...

Prince William County crime report Washington Post These were among incidents reported by Prince William County police. For information, call 703-792-7245. GAINESVILLE AREA. THEFTS/BREAK-INS. Catbird Dr., 14100 block, 8 a.m. Nov. 13 to 10 p.m. Nov. 14. A handgun was stolen from a residence ... and more »

A 2-year-old Belgian Malinois was supposed to be the ninth member of the police force in the Oregon coastal town of Cannon Beach, but "Cash" just didn't have what it takes.

For those of us who still own dead tree books, storing them properly is more challenging than it sounds. Sure, you could buy cheap bookshelves, but long-term storage and preservation requires the right type of materials

Read more...

Your options are to blow or to snort 'n swallow. Unless you prefer to let the snot just sort of dribble out and pool in your philtrum, giving your upper lip a damp, sickly glisten. Which, no – what are you, seven? It's time you learned to get rid of mucus like a well-informed adult.

Read more...

We've all heard it before: "You're lucky to have any job." But just because you have one doesn't mean you have to just slog through a crappy one, or deal with the career you don't want. You may just be looking at your position as "just a job" and you have no idea what kind of career you want. It doesn't have to be this way.

Read more...

You can probably remember the feeling of discontent that came when you were assigned literature to read in school. It's hard to find the desire to read old books about old things when there are things happening right now, but here are four very big reasons why you should anyway.

Read more...

What it is, why it's there, and why q-tips are a bad idea.

Read more...

Most people assume that learning is about research, but for many of us, it's about poking things with a stick to see what happens. If you want to learn to make better use of your tech, it's about digging in and moving stuff around until it works. Anybody can do this, geek and luddite alike.

Read more...

When 31-year-old Danny Catullo took over the butcher shop started by his grandfather, he had the same thought that many digitally savvy young adults do when taking charge of a family business: how can I take this online and really rake in sales?

Bloomberg Businessweek explains that the company found its niche in selling things that you can’t find in every local supermarket: regional specialties like the turducken. Yes, the turducken, the holiday dish of meat-stuffed meat that everyone jokes about but that you probably haven’t tried. At this butcher, it consists of a deboned chicken and duck stuffed inside a turkey, which has its breastbone removed in order to make space for the other animals.

Once you’ve managed to sell a turducken to someone across the country, how do you get it to them? A 15-pound stuffed turducken sells for about $80, and ships packed in about 8 pounds of dry ice. Sales took off a few years later, after Pepto-Bismol aired a turducken-related commercial.

The butcher shop used a $5,000 prize from a contest held by FedEx to work on shipping solutions for sending meat all over the country, including to Alaska and Hawaii.

Here’s a suggestion for anyone running a business: When naming a product, you might want to think about not cracking a date-rape joke, as — amazingly — not everyone is amused by references to non-consensual forced intercourse.

This is a lesson that is begrudgingly being learned by a gastropub in Staten Island, which recently came under fire for a drink called a “Roofie Colada.”

While the cocktail obviously does not include the powerful sedative Rohypnol (or its generic form, flunitrazepam) that has long been associated with predators who use it to spike victims’ drinks for illicit, illegal purposes, not everyone thought the name was amusing and let the restaurant know about it.

And when someone did complain about it on Facebook, the restaurant’s response wasn’t exactly one of empathy or apology. Instead, the eatery told the customer that the name was a reference to a bit from an episode of Family Guy, and then chastised the person for daring to register their complaint in a public forum.

“You could have said something to management or even sent us a private message about how you felt, wrote the restaurant, according to DNAinfo.com, “which we would have respectfully considered and maybe even changed.”

The restaurant eventually did pull the cocktail — some ridiculously sweet concoction involving coffee ice cream, doughnuts, Kahlua, vanilla vodka, caramel, chocolate syrup and whipped cream — and wrote an apology on Facebook.

“We treat our guests with the utmost respect and we are always open to feedback to make our restaurant a welcoming and comfortable place with a touch of humor and quirkiness,” reads the note. “We certainly did not intend to create an impression of reckless or negligent behavior by presenting the desert [sic] at question to our guests nor did we mean to make anyone feel uncomfortable or insulted. This desert [sic] name was simply a homage to an adult cartoon and there was no malice. We obviously do not support date rape or any sort of violence for that matter. We humbly apologize if we have offended anyone and we appreciate the community around us and its awareness toward the cause. Please be advised that the dessert is currently off the menu until it is appropriately renamed.”

The Staten Island eatery is just the latest to think it could crack a joke about sexual assault. Earlier this year, there was the Montreal restaurant with an outdoor sign that read (originally in French) “Pick-up line of the day: does this tissue smell like chloroform?”

In that case, the owners also pointed to Family Guy as their inspiration.

Just a few weeks earlier, a bar in Washington state used Urban Dictionary as its defense of a drink dubbed “Date Grape Kool-Aid,” which not only drew criticism from people who don’t find date rape all that hilarious and from Kraft, the maker of Kool-Aid, which was “appalled” at the drink and its unauthorized association with the family friendly beverage brand.

Prince William County community calendar, Nov. 27-Dec. 3, 2014 Washington Post “War and Peace” tintypes An exhibit of portraits by Melissa Cacciola depicting men and women from various backgrounds in the armed forces. Through Monday, National Museum of the Marine Corps, 18900 Jefferson Davis Hwy., Triangle. 877-635-1775. and more »

Manassas moves power lines underground Washington Post Driving a golden spike marked the completion of the transcontinental railroad. Placing the last beam is a big event in building construction. Last week the city of Manassas, Va., held a celebration along those lines. On Nov. 19, a utility pole was ...

The Humane Society of the United States is offering a reward for information about the death of a dog in Alaska that was found hanging from a tree with its throat slashed, the organization said Wednesday.

In other countries, you may be asked to give a push to a car stuck in the mud. In Russia, passengers in the Arctic came out of an airliner to the bitter cold to help it move to the runway.

Plump turkeys in butcher shop windows. Harvest displays of pumpkin and corn. Sandwich boards describing groaning feasts.

Two Sundays before Thanksgiving, my farming partner and I brought a live turkey in a burlap sack to our urban farm on the outskirts of Portland. The lanky brown-feathered bird quietly took her place in our chicken coop.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has long boasted about his mashed potatoes, which he'll be whipping up Thursday for his family's Thanksgiving feast.

What would you do for the promise of a couple pieces of free clothing? Just think of all the college freshmen who signed away their financial futures by applying for credit cards at orientation (before such marketing was outlawed). A line of 100 or so shoppers in San Francisco may not have to worry about ruining their credit score, but photos of them shivering in their skivvies will probably follow them forever.

SFGate.com reports on a pre-Black Friday promotion run earlier today at the San Francisco store of Barcelona-based retailer Desigual, which offered free shirts and tops to the first 100 people who lined up sporting only their undies.

People began showing up around 9 a.m. this morning, when the temperature was around 50 degrees.

“They don’t allow jackets, but they allow accessories,” said one lingerie-clad woman. “So I brought a hot-water bottle.”

Still don’t know what to get the people on your shopping list? Or maybe you haven’t decided what you should ask your loved ones to get you to demonstrate that they don’t hate you. Our colleagues at Consumer Reports have put together a fully interactive guide to this year’s most sought-after electronics, cars, exercise equipment, and more.

It’s pretty easy to use, just play the video above, and then click on the glowing tabs and boxes you want to check out. Follow the CR testers from lab to lab and get info on everything from TV and headphones to grills and generators to blenders and treadmills.

Neither Consumer Reports nor Consumerist accepts any outside advertising and all products tested by CR are purchased at retail instead of using test samples provided by the manufacturers.

Fairfax County Animal Watch Washington Post No incidents were reported by the Animal Control Division of the Fairfax County Police Department. For information, call 703-246-2253. FAIRFAX CITY. The following incidents were reported by the animal control section of the Fairfax City Police Department. and more »

Tesco is a supermarket/superstore based in the United Kingdom. They sell just about everything, including toys. However, one member of the toy-buying public was not thrilled with their holiday marketing. A 7-year-old girl noticed a “Fun gifts for boys” sign on a photo of an alarm clock featuring Marvel superheroes. Wait a minute: she likes superheroes. Why is that only a gift for boys?

They came across this sign at a store in Dorset, England. The girl, Maggie, spotted it first. Her mother recounts to Buzzfeed News that she said something along the lines of, “Well that’s wrong! Anybody can like superheroes, they’re being stupid aren’t they?” The girl’s mother took a photo of her making a grouchy face next to the sign, and posted it to Twitter.

We all know what happens next: global outrage, then an apology from Tesco, the disappearance of the signs, and continuing global outrage as the original photo gets re-tweeted, but not the update. You know, the normal way that the Internet Outrage Machine works.

Meanwhile, Tesco responded, saying that they would take down the sign, telling Buzzfeed that it would be taken down in all stores.

They could just revise it to say “Fun gifts for humans,” because I don’t know anyone of any age who doesn’t like superheroes.

This Little Girl Just Schooled Tesco Over A Sexist Sign Because “Anybody Can Like Superheroes” [Buzzfeed]

RELATED:
Mash Up Gender-Targeted Toy Advertisements For Your Amusement
Customers Revolt, Make U.K. Pharmacy Chain Stop Sorting Toys By Gender
Eighth Grader To Hasbro: Your Purple Easy-Bake Oven Is Too Girly For My Little Brother

The thing about the world’s archaeological treasures is that they’re awe-inspiring enough without any kind of extra embellishments. And just in case you are tempted to deface ancient history, perhaps the $24,865 fine one tourist will be paying for carving his initial into the wall of Rome’s Colosseum will change your mind.

A Russian visitor to the ancient amphitheater has been hit with a €20,000 fine for carving the letter “K” into a wall outside the building, reports The Guardian.

His act of vandalism might’ve been chalked up to some anonymous visitor, except for the fact that he was allegedly caught in the act by a guard and subsequently arrested by Roman police.

The director of the Colosseum said the high fine should serve as a lesson for others who might want to do damage to “a magnificent and symbolic monument.”

“You cannot write on a historic wall, it’s absolutely forbidden,” she said.

Of the six million annual visitors to the Colosseum, she says only five have been stopped by cops for vandalism this year.

Tourist fined €20,000 for carving initial on Rome’s Colosseum [The Guardian]