For some reason...

Every time I hear the birds squawking incessantly outside the living room window during the weekends, I start singing Walking On A Wire by Richard & Linda Thompson. It's a song off their 1982 album called Shoot Out The Lights. I might have stumbled on a live video on Youtube decades ago, because I don't remember how else I found the song. Certainly no local (Mass or FL) station has played it. It's not a top 20 single, let alone a top 10. But another song off the same album is Don't Renege On Our Love. It's upbeat of a first track, but Walking... is what always gets in my head when the birds arrive on a Saturday and Sunday morning and start a party line.

The pictures posted are from Sunday. Sorry they're a bit on the blurry side, as I didn't have my tripod set up and I'm using the Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III Telephoto Zoom Lens on my T7i.

I also didn't edit too much into the pictures. Just sharpened in some places. The black bird alone, is the one that makes enough noise that you wonder who he's yelling at. The birds on the street light hang out and wait for others to join. It must be a prayer circle or an AA meeting because there are always a few lumping about. 

I keep trying to watch them to see when the party starts and end, but sometimes they disperse before I can get my camera set up, so this was a quick fluke in a way. Hence they aren't the best shots.

I started listening to Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society this week and buyer beware: It's raunchy. 

The synopsis is as follows:

Why did kings and queens have spectators on their wedding night? Who had the very first boob job? And did our ancestors have their unmentionables pierced? Join historian, Kate Lister, Betwixt the Sheets as she unashamedly roots around the topics which seem to have been skipped in history class. Everything from landmark LGBTQ+ court cases, to political scandal, to downright bizarre medieval cures for impotence. The etymology of swear words, gender bias in medicine, and satanic panic and cults - there’s nothing off limits. She'll be bed-hopping around different time periods; from ancient civilisations, to the middle ages, to renaissance and early modern...right up to now. You’ll laugh, you’ll wince, and you’ll ask yourself how much has actually changed. So join Kate Betwixt the Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society - a podcast from History Hit

It is interestingly good. So far there are 60 episodes and I'm 22 episodes in (currently listening to the Beer conversation). The shows are about 35-45 minutes in length so it goes quickly while I'm working. Some of the sex talk has made me laugh while others made me think. I've also had to pass the show on to some of my friends because the history of things we might take for granted (like shoes), have a totally different meaning for those with fetishes. Even corsets were advertised differently (men wore them!). The difference between the Americanized Voodoo verses the Haitian Vodou was enlightening because we (generally speaking) use "voodoo" as an umbrella term for something gone spookily awry, but it's really just a bastardized version of Vodou. "Bedlam" is also a term that we've kinda fobbed up as well. Who knew? 

I need to remind myself to look into the Neil McKenna book Fanny and Stella: The Young Men Who Shocked Victorian England book because that interview raised a lot of questions (no spoilers). Also, the aforementioned Bedlam episode... comes with another "gotta get the book" interview. 

Some of these episodes remind me of my English Lit and Sociology classes from college, so it'll be a long list of books to find once I get through the dozens I've yet to start currently. 

My problem with all these books, especially ones that I want to add to the "must get" list, is the simple fact I took a page out of the 1994 movie, I.Q.. 

 

Kinda. 

I mean, there are some topics I do a lot of research in and there are some topics I stay away from. Much like I try to stay out of the major political sphere on this blog, I try to read up on certain instances that I have had many an interest in. Which is also why I've been listening to an array of podcasts at work. Keeps me entertained, educated and informed. 

My last job, people would ask me all the time what music I'm listening to as I work. Only because they'd see me with headphones in all the time (even though I would take the headphones out to talk to other humans). I'd say "I am not listening to music, I'm listening to podcasts. I'm furthering my knowledge base" and we'd get to talking about what I was currently learning. People dug it... no complaints, actually they felt that was a good thing. It kept me busy as I stayed busy. I actually repeated some stories to people for their "huh.. didn't know that" moment. 

Sharing is caring, which is what I learned from a bunch of bears in the 1980s....  

Take care of yourselves... another storm is going to dive into Florida the end of this week, but this time it'll touch the east coast of the Wang since they failed to participate in last month's sporting event. 

Cheers;