Apparently, birds are not considered wild animals by law. Reference here, where apparently feeding them in parks in permitted except if they are red masked parakeets:
SEC. 486. FEEDING BIRDS AND WILD ANIMALS PROHIBITED. It shall be unlawful for any person to feed or offer food to any bird or wild animal in or on any sidewalk, street or highway of the City and County of San Francisco. It shall be unlawful to feed or offer food to any Red Masked Parakeet in any park of the City and County of San Francisco. (Added by Ord. 268-64, App. 10/2/64; Ord. 133-07, File No. 070467, App. 6/15/2007)
The sign and the ordinance title have "birds and wild animals", while the body of the ordinance has "any bird or wild animal". And the ordinance specifies three (or four?) disjunctions within the scope of "unlawful": what you can't do ("feed or offer food"), who you can't do it to ("any bird or wild animal"), and where you can't do it "in or on any sidewalk, street or highway". Multiplying it all out, this gives 2x2x3 = 12 (or if we include "in or on", 2x2x2x3 = 24) prohibitions.
The uncertainty arises because the interaction of "in or on" with "any sidewalk, street or highway" is kind of fuzzy. It's fine to say that you can't feed any bird on any sidewalk, but it's unidiomatic at best to tell you not to do it in any sidewalk. And both "in any street" and "on any street" are plausible phrases, but they seem to mean almost the same thing. (Though maybe it matters whether it's the feeder or the food that's in or on the street…)
Anyhow, given that birds are biologically animals, and therefore non-pet birds are "wild animals", Charles relies on the Gricean Maxim of Quantity to infer that the San Francisco Police department adheres to a non-standard taxonomy of species. But it seems more likely that they're trying to avoid the misunderstandings that might arise if they left out the explicit prohibition again feeding birds.
I'll leave it to readers to tell us about the Red Masked Parakeets.
July 22nd, 2025 05:55 am - From seraph skies and now to chaos bound
It's Tuesday, and I'm finally feeling like I've almost caught up on my energy deficit from the concert. My back is no longer hurting, but the blister on my heel is still a bit cranky, but it was pretty impressive, so that's going to take a few days to go away.
Something I forgot to mention in relation to the concerts, I think is that if you have something of high decibels coming up soon, I highly recommend the Loop Experience ear plug. They did a really good job, without muffling things too much. Very pleased with the purchase, 10/10, would get again. Won't have to, since they're reusable, but still. Also, pretty comfortable. They've got three ear tips, so you can get the fit you need.
I'm definitely having a bit of post concert depression. I looked forward to these two shows since April, and now they're done. They were awesome, and I have great memories, and people on Facebook and TikTok and Reddit that I talk to about it, but it's done, and there's not another one to look forward to. There's always a chance that they'll do a second leg, or the ReSkeletour, and I'm willing to go anywhere within 3 hours to see them again, but that probably won't be announced for a while.
It's really funny, for a band whose whole schtick is that they're Satanic Metal, an inordinate amount of their songs are about coming together and hope. They're your typical Swedish Socialists, I suppose. Also about community. Sure, it's community under Satan, but it's a warm and welcoming community. Apparently, the lead singers version of Satan is about acceptance and love. They did the Metallica benefit album and chose a Trans summer camp for kids as their charity. (Which I love them for)
Eventually, I will stop being Ghost 24/7, but right now I'm reveling in having a fandom. It's not a ficcish fandom, but it's more than I've had in a long time. It's a nice feeling.
Work was bugfuck yesterday, and I had not one, but three cardiac MRIs to fill. Ugh. I got them done, but it was a pain in the ass, trying to get that done, and keep up with the phones. Plus some other people's mistakes to fix, which is always fun. (They were out of the office.).
Today will probably be busy again, but we'll see if there's anything that needs to be filled in. I do have a few days to clean up. My coworkers are idiots, and can't figure out how to schedule properly. I know I've talked about it, but they have a habit of scheduling on the half hour for specialized appts, which tanks the entire time that those are scheduled for. (ie, Cardiac MRIs are scheduled for 60 min, between 11am-1pm. Scheduling at 11:30 means that the whole two hours is obliterated.) It makes me crazy. I've been going in and trying to shift people so that we have a more appointments. So far, I've opened a Cardiac and a Breast MRI, with plans to get a couple more today. The breast MRIs, we're booking in Sept, and the Cardiacs are in October. It's just bad.
I know it's not technically my job, but someone's gotta do it, and I'm in the position where I can do it, so I shall.
Tomorrow, we shall be a bit quieter, which is always nice.
Okay, time for me to go forth and get myself together. Everyone have an outstanding Tuesday!
July 22nd, 2025 06:12 am - 2025 Cap-IM Rec Week: STONY DEFINITION!
Welcome to the 15th anniversary of Cap-IM Rec Week!
Today is STONY DEFINITION: Show us the seminal fanworks that took your breath away and defined Steve/Tony characterization for you. What fanworks really capture Steve and Tony for you? What fanworks show what Steve and Tony are all about? Share your favorites that capture the essential magic of their relationship.
To rec, simply REPLY to this or any other daily Themed post on any platform, or make your own reclist or post:
DISCORD - use the #look-what-I-found channel
TUMBLR - tag @cap-ironman in you rec post and use #capimrecweek
BLUESKY - tag @cap-ironman in your post and use #capimrecweek
DREAMWIDTH - the perfect option if you want to rec anonymously!
Don’t forget to let us know why you’re reccing a work and please mark any major warnings. If you’d like to participate in our Special Bonus Bingo Round, join the Discord. HAVE FUN curating.
July 22nd, 2025 05:47 pm - I Lied to You by bubblegumarts (SFW)
Fandom: Sinners Characters/Pairing/Other Subject: Sammie (Preacherboy) Content Notes/Warnings: none Medium: traditional art, pencils on toned paper Artist on DW/LJ: n/a Artist Website/Gallery:bubblegumarts on tumblr Why this piece is awesome: This is a very simple drawing of Sammie playing "I Lied to You", and I really like it. His face and expression is just right. Link:I Lied to You
July 22nd, 2025 12:33 am - Actually Renee O'Connor and Lucy Lawless would have been great casting
I have started rereading the Amelia Peabody mysteries. It makes me sad that they've definitely had at least a light visit from the suck fairy [note], because I've never realised before how much Amelia is in love with Evelyn in The Crocodile On The Sandbank.
She's obviously got it bad for Emerson as well, but my goodness her jealous desire to spend her life with her beautiful Evelyn is overwhelming.
Note: Amelia was never supposed to be a reliable narrator, and her Victorian Orientalism was always to be read as historical. It's just that in modern conventions we -- correctly -- no longer feel it's okay to portray the likable heroines of (wholly unrealistic) historical romances with historically accurate racism. [back]
1. I had a lot of stuff to get caught up on at work after the weekend, but I got caught up.
2. I kept seeing ads for one of these blanket hoodie things and although it's not the season for it, it did look very comfy, so I ended up ordering it and it arrived today. It is indeed very comfy and I can see myself getting a lot of use out of this during colder weather.
Jin and fellow researchers used two key materials: Cyanobacteria, which turns air and sunlight into food, and filamentous fungi, which produce minerals that seal the cracks.
The microbes survive on just air, light, and water, and when paired together, are able to grow and produce crack-filling minerals in concrete. At least, that’s what Jin’s latest research, published in Materials Today Communications, concluded.
Today was a first. Carla drove down to Disneyland from home, and I met her there after work. (Usually if we go after work, either she rides with me and then takes the car to do whatever while I'm doing work stuff, or I go back home after work and pick her up then head back down.)
(1) BELFAST EASTERCON 2025 – ATTENDANCE NUMBERS. Tommy Ferguson and James Bacon, Co-Chairs of Reconnect, the 2025 Eastercon held in Belfast, N.I., have sent along the attendance numbers and some other comments: We think our strategies worked – having an … Continue reading →
July 21st, 2025 09:18 pm - When your kid is a bookworm...
One of my friends on FB was talking about the experience of having a daughter who's a bookworm (at her birthday, as soon as she opened a present and saw she got books, she wanted to go read). It reminded me of this story from my past:
One of my mom's favorite stories to tell about me was that the Christmas I turned 7, one of my gifts was a stack of books (Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, Tom Sawyer, Treasure Island, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea). As soon as I got those, Christmas was over as far as I was concerned - I opened Alice in Wonderland (because it was at the top of the stack) and started reading. In the back yard was a new swingset that my dad, my uncle, and my grandfather had spent all day Christmas Eve putting together. They had to drag me away from my books to go see it. I played for about 10 minutes or so, then went back in and went back to reading.
Some File 770 commenters have been asking whether a newly-ratified amendment to the WSFS Constitution will affect Worldcons’ authority to remove or replace the members they appoint to the WSFS Mark Protection Committee. Donald E. Eastlake 3rd, Chair of the … Continue reading →
This is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Monday, June July 21, to midnight on Tuesday, July 22. (8pm Eastern Time).
I interrupt my travel series to share some photos from the last months of birds. This barn swallow was caught almost by accident as it headed off, coming towards us in the parking lot.
None of these! Something else I will explain in comments. 0 (0.0%)
In terms of sustainable effort:
MUD: medium-high bar if using existing codebase.
Ink serialized web-based text adventure: medium-low bar. Probably chapter by chapter releases.
ETA #1: Wait a second! You can compile Inform 7 to release for playing on the web! Either this didn't exist ca. 2007 or I suck at reading documentation. That's my choice, then. I enjoy writing parser IF (interactive fiction / text adventures) more than choice-based formats. Yay!
VN: high bar.
comic: I'm doing this for myself so it really doesn't matter what anyone thinks, but maybe people prefer this.
2D animated short (we're talking 5-10 minutes): SLOWEST. VERY SLOW. 2D hand-drawn animation is just slow. But I've proposed this for my final major project starting in 2028, so I'm doing this no matter what anyone else thinks.
[1] serialized reboot/AU novel (prose): This would require negotiating with my publisher, which has an option on further prose works. I control the relevant rights for other formats.
Discussion with Solaris suggested they would be happy to talk about a different Machineries trilogy with a new plot and a new set of characters but the two ideas I have aren't trilogy-length and I don't have a sense that any reader wants this! It's theoretically possible Solaris might let me play with a newsletter (etc) serialization if it's something they wouldn't have an interest in offering for and they are assuming zero risk since I doubt anything I do here would tank sales of the existing books. However, there are negotiation complications here that may make this Not Possible rights-wise so I'm hoping no one wants this and I can stop thinking about it with a clear conscience.
I'm sitting on something like 100,000+ words of disorganized prose bits (not a coherent single narrative, it's a bunch of different POVs) and I want to write about that crashhawk unit and Gödel's incompleteness theorems in hexarchate numerology. I have an outline.
But also. For health and family reasons, I'm not signing a book contract in the near future; any prose-format writing is going to be on spec or similar if at all, and if the answer is that it's just noodling that stays on my hard drive, it is what it is. Meanwhile, I have orchestration homework to do, ta!
I wonder whether any Language Log readers have heard of the International Linguistics Olympiad or may even have participated in one of the Olympiads that have been held in at least 23 different countries since its founding in 2003. Because it has an interesting history and purpose, before telling about what is happening in Taiwan right now (July 21-26, 2025), I'll give a brief sketch of the origins and aims of the Olympiad:
The International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL) is one of the International Science Olympiadsfor secondary school students. Its abbreviation IOL is deliberately chosen not to correspond to the name of the organization in any particular language, and member organizations are free to choose for themselves how to designate the competition in their own language. This olympiad furthers the fields of mathematical, theoretical, and descriptive linguistics.
Format
The setup differs from most of the other Science Olympiads, in that the olympiad contains both individual and team contests. The individual contest consists of 5 problems, covering the main fields of theoretical, mathematical and applied linguistics – phonetics, morphology, semantics, syntax, sociolinguistics, etc. – which must be solved in six hours.
The team contest has consisted of one extremely difficult and time-consuming problem since the 2nd IOL. Teams, which generally consist of four students, are given three to four hours to solve this problem.
Like nearly all International Science Olympiads, its problems are translated and completed in several languages and as such must be written free of any native language constraints. However, unlike other olympiads, the translations are provided by the multilingual Problem Committee, a body of experts independent of the delegates' team leaders. Because competitors could gain some advantage if they are familiar with one or more of the language groups which are the subject of some of the assignments, problems are increasingly based on some of the world's lesser known languages. Fortunately, with more than 6,000 languages spoken world-wide (not including so-called dead languages) there are plenty to choose from. The committee has a policy of not using artificial[contradictory] or fictional languages for its problems. The presence of an independent Problem Committee and Jury means that team leaders do not have to be experts in the field (though most are): they can (and often do) work closely with their teams, providing last-minute coaching throughout the week of the competition.
In any case, the most helpful ability is analytic and deductive thinking, as all solutions must include clear reasoning and justification
History
The concept of self-sufficient linguistics problems was formulated in the 1960s, in the intellectual environment of the recently founded Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics (OTiPL) of the Moscow State University. Moscow linguists in this environment were specially interested in understanding and modelling the formal and mathematical aspects of the natural languages; they were hatching things like the meaning-text theory, the Moscow School of Comparative Linguistics and the beginnings of what later became computational linguistics.
In 1963, Andrey Zaliznyak published a book called Linguistics problems (Лингвистические задачи), explaining in the introduction:
Specially crafted problems can serve as an important tool for teaching the fundamental principles and methods of linguistics. In existing collections, the material used for problems is often drawn from the facts of students' native language or the most well-known European languages. While such tasks are undoubtedly beneficial, they often suffer from the disadvantage that it is challenging to separate the linguistic task itself (which requires nothing but understanding the basic linguistic principles) from testing specific knowledge of the language under consideration. The best (though not the only) way to get rid of that second element, which doesn't directly relate to general linguistics, is to create tasks based on material from languages unfamiliar to the students. Of course, it is more challenging to craft such problems, since all the essential specific facts necessary for solving the task must somehow be presented in the problem data. However, in this case, students only need an understanding of the properties of language in general.
Following the publication, the then student Alfred Zhurinsky [ru] proposed to the mathematics professor Vladimir Uspensky the creation of a high-school olympiad using such problems.
Poster of the First Traditional Olympiad on Linguistics, Moscow 1965
Thus, in 1965, the first edition of the Moscow's Traditional Olympiad on Linguistics and Mathematics was held, with an Organizing Committee composed by Uspensky (president), Igor Miloslavsky, Alexander Kibrik and Anna Polivanova [ru]. The Problem Committee consisted of Zhurinsky (the author of most of the problems) and Zaliznyak, plus Boris Gorodetsky (president), Alexandra Raskina and Victor Raskin. The Moscow Olympiad was held regularly until 1982 and resumed again in 1988, being still held nowadays.
The 22nd International Linguistics Olympiad got underway at National Taiwan University on Monday.
During the opening ceremony, Deputy Education Minister Chu Chun-chang (朱俊彰) pointed out that Taiwan is a place rich in linguistic diversity, with languages including Mandarin, Taiwanese Hokkien, Hakka, and 16 Indigenous languages, CNA reported. Multilingual education is promoted in schools, and the cultural values behind each language are respected, Chiu said.
He encouraged IOL participants to use their analytical and problem-solving skills to help create a better future for the world.
This is the first time Taiwan is hosting the IOL since its establishment in 2003. Contestants use logical reasoning and observations to analyze unfamiliar languages, uncover their structures, and understand their rules and cultural contexts. Nearly 400 people from 43 countries and regions are competing this year.
IOL Taiwan Organizing Chair Chiu Chen-hao (邱振豪) said IOL is a gathering of the world’s top linguistic talents. Chiu hoped that through this event, the world could witness Taiwan’s linguistic diversity and vitality, and that it would inspire young Taiwanese to see all the possibilities in linguistics.
Taiwan first participated in the IOL in 2016 and won gold in the team event in 2017.
Inasmuch as the IOL has had such an intriguing conceptual background, I would be interested in knowing what impact it has had on linguistics in the years following its foundation. How many participants have gone on to become professional and academic linguists? No matter what, it must have been an exciting experience for those who participated in it throughout the decades.
From the very first year (2003), when the IOL was held in Borovets, Bulgaria, the problem sets have been challenging: .
Oh the blessings of dental insurance. My heart sank when she ordered four x-rays but in the end it was less than half of what I'd feared. Of course I have to have a crown replaced next month which will be several hundred dollars more, but sufficient unto the day etc etc.
Ordering cabs the day before ensures that they come, but for some reason ensures they come early. Last year was fifteen minutes; this year was half an hour. Which, in spite of slow traffic due to construction and roadwork (Davenport for condo construction, Bay for roadwork) got me there an hour before my appointment. This in turn led to sugary overindulgence at Tim Horton's because I brought my toothbrush and floss with me in case of exactly this eventuality. But I transitted home, walking over to University and locating the TTC entrance in the MARS building even though it was as well-hidden as ever. Had to take the University leg up to Dupont because of elevator outages at critical stations, and then walked from Spadina home to get more steps in. Pleasant dry afternoon, the only contretemps being a screaming guy with some kind of beef against the machine rental place, whose bundle buggy blocked the sidewalk. When I went to walk around it he started screaming at me in whatever language it was-- not one I could identify-- spittle flying in my face. I hope he has nothing catching.
Reading through The Way Spring Arrives, came across a story which references the Chongzhen Emperor and, partly from me thinking it was about the Chongzhen Emperor, off I trotted to wikipedia to find out who and when and how: which was, in short, last emperor of Ming and ended badly, as did Ming. But the protagonist reaches the age of 87 which the Chongzhen Emperor very much did not, so I realized I should have been looking him up instead. Zhang Dai, which meant nothing to me, but faint bells rang when I got to 'essayist' and 'Dream Memories.' Maybe I read them years ago? No, I read Jonathan Spence's recounting of them, and shall read it again because there doesn't seem to be an English translation that's easily come-attable.
Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 24 secrets from Secret Submission Post #969. Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ]. Current Secret Submissions Post:here. Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.
July 21st, 2025 04:28 pm - Revenge: Original Work: low effort animation: me when i artfight
Rating: G Content notes: the animation is low effort haha Artist notes: 'revenge' is what it's called in artfight when you draw art of someone's characters as a response to them drawing art of yours!!! and that's also what i've been doing haha.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Charles B. writes:
![[mood icon]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/mood/pastelsmilies/busy.gif){kind=small}
busy![[mood icon]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/mood/skcuteskulls/sad.gif){kind=small}
sad
