Remembrance of things past

He is gone. Almost a week after his disappearance, we have lost all hope of ever seeing our little friend again.

Despite multiple flyers, frantic e-mail messages and mobilizing neighbors, the Marinwood Fire Department and the Marin Human Society, our baby has not been found.
We went on numerous search parties, scrutinizing treetops and listening to various birdcalls, but all in vain.

Tamara cried for days and I still have a big lump in my throat when thinking of him.

Liosha (short for Alexei) was a conure, a small parrot native of Central or South America.
He was about 15 years old and had been with us for at least 13 years.
Conures are colorful, slightly built, sport a long tail and have a small but very strong beak.
They are, gregarious, opportunistic and omnivorous. They don’t talk, but screech, sometimes very loudly.

Liosha was basically Tamara’s baby but he also spent a lot of time with me.

Liosha on foot2

The average weight of a conure is about 4 ounces but I would never have thought that such a little creature would leave such a big void.

Traces of his presence can still be seen all over the house.
Food crumbs, feathers, a few droppings and chewed up books are still everywhere.
It is difficult to glance at any of those things without thinking of him.

In spite of all the petty annoyances that he generated, we would give almost anything to get him back.

Liosha among other things, liked to watch me while I was taking a shower. He would perch on the curtain rod, and slightly tilting his head, he would check my every move. While not fond of showers himself, he would nevertheless take baths at least once week.

He also took to sitting on my head while I was watching TV.
When I was shaving, he would perch on my shoulder and pick shaving cream off of my face or toothpaste out of my mouth.
When he felt cold, he would sneak under my sweater or under the bed sheets.

As a said, conures are tough little birds. As demonstrated by the Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill (who are really conures), they can become feral and adapt almost anywhere, regardless of the climate.

There are many bird feeders in Marin County and it is my hope that Liosha will take advantage of them and adapt to wild life. He might even find a mate and join a flock similar to the one in San Francisco.

I hope that some day when I would least expect him, he will land on my shoulder (or my head) and say “Good to see you again. Come and meet my family”.

Alain

PS: Thank you to the hundreds of people who read my previous article and expressed sympathy for our misfortune.

 

A family pet

A pet is like a family member.
When you lose one, you grieve, sometimes even more deeply than for a relative.

IMG_5144We have had a pet “conure” (small parrot) for the last 12 years and over time we have become very attached to it.

We always refused to have his wings clipped and we let him fly at will all over our condo.
He was very tame, very friendly and fond of human contact.
He always had to be close to a human being and when he felt cold, he didn’t hesitate to crawl under a sweater to get warm.

Today unfortunately, taking advantage of an open door, the bird flew out.
He initially perched on a tall tree nearby and despite of our desperate calls, Liosha (who usually doesn’t hesitate to land and cling to a stranger), Liosha refused to come down.

After three desperate hours, and feeling very embarrassed, we resolved to call the Marinwood Fire Department.
I was initially very doubtful that they would respond to such a call, but they did.
Within ten minutes there was a big yellow fire truck parked in front of our house.
Captain Joel White, Acting / Engineer Brandon Selvitella and Firefighter Ross Anderson were kind enough to respond to our distress call and attempt to rescue our pet.

They came in a driving rain and deployed a big ladder against a tree to reach the bird.
Unfortunately, Liosha got spooked and flew even higher in the tree.

I am sorry to say that so far, all attempts to coax Liosha back to us have failed.
Tamara is heartbroken and so am I.

This happened once before, and after spending the night outside, the bird probably cold and hungry was convinced to fly down and get captured.

We will try to get him again, but no matter what happens now, we feel very grateful to the Marinwood Fire Department that went beyond the call of duty to help bring back our pet.

Regardless of the outcome of this very painful situation, we feel good having people like Joel White, Brandon Selvitella and Ross Anderson around, and so should all the Marin County people.

A grateful citizen.

Alain

Drastic plastic

“Social security, bank account and credit card numbers are not just data.
In the wrong hands they can wipe out someone’s life savings, wreck their credit and cause financial ruin.”
Melissa Bean, US Representative

Everybody knows by now (or ought to know) that most American credit cards are very vulnerable and susceptible to fraud.
The banks know it, merchants know it and (unless you have been living in the Gobi desert for the last twenty years) most customers know it.

But the American financial establishment is still reluctant to implement the more secure EMV technology. And you guessed it, the main obstacle to this badly needed change is cost.
Banks find it more cost effective to cover fraud-incurred expenses than spend millions to upgrade their networks.

EMV cardEverybody knows that EMV cards (predominantly used in Europe) are a better way to go.
EMV stands for Europay, MasterCard, Visa. Credit cards using EMV technology are equipped with embedded microprocessor chips that store and protect cardholder data.

A traditional “magnetic stripe” card can be easily copied (skimmed) with a simple and inexpensive card reading device.
According to Time Magazine, “Chip and PIN” cards make skimming impossible because the information that gets scanned is encrypted.

I don’t want to sound paranoid, but fraudsters are lurking everywhere waiting for a chance to pounce.
In restaurants for instance, the waiter will take your card and disappear in the bowels of the establishment. In that short “black hole” period anything can happen, and sometimes it does.

If you use a chip-enabled card, you don’t have to lose sight of it. The waiter will bring a handheld scanner to your table, and all you have to do is slide your smartcard in the device and enter a 4-digit number. And voila!

Even though it has not been widely publicized, some American banks are already offering EMV cards.
The new cards are hybrids with both magnetic stripes and chips. In the future, card issuers will offer chip only cards.
If you want one -especially if you are planning to travel through Europe- you need to ask.

I just applied for such a card.
According to my bank, I should receive it in about 10 days. I am looking forward to it because I use a “magstripe” card rather frequently and I often wonder (like many of us) if every of these transactions are safe.
I will definitely feel more comfortable whenever (?) I will have the chance to use the more secure EMV protocol.

Alain

“Incidentally, the chip technology was first used in France in 1992. Today, there are more than 1 billion chip cards used around the world.
The U.S. is one of the few industrialized nations that (shamefully) have not transitioned to this new technology standard.”

Watch this video of gospel flashmob aboard a Budapest streetcar: