Back from Grasspop

There was internet in the festival area, a booth set up for advertising an ADSL subscription, slow as a slug, and not a bullet at that. My connection to blogspot crapped out on me, so I'm finishing this post here.

Judas priest was AWESOME! Rob Halford rose up from underneath the stage to break out in "I am Nostradamus", followed up immediately by "metal gods" for good measure. They played a great deal of their classics (the hell patrol, painkiller, the ripper, the green manalishi, ... I loved the entire thing.

Sabaton was great too, I managed to get a spot directly up against the fence, next to a bunch of fanatic Swedish (?) fans. One of those guys asked me if I was ready for some hardcore Swedish power metal. I said yes, but soon I found out I was wrong: nothing could have prepared me for what would follow. The lead singer sure is a piece of work ... "Let's talk about ... sex! Lets talk about (grabs groin) my penis! This is: the rise of evil!"
As you can see, the song is really about the origins of the nazi party. Don't worry, with lyrics going: "A former prisoner, with a vision or delusion" and "who will stop the madmans reign" it should be clear that the band does NOT look back kindly on these people.

He gave a nice speech about the battle of the Westerplatte, before kicking off the song: fourty to one. This touched me, because I'd visited the site when I was in Poland. It's a strange thing, but not unheard of in military history ... the Spartans who were describe in the film 300, the Russian invasion of Finland ... people fighting from a defensible position are the absolute worst opponent to ever attack.

I could go on for hours about KISS, Iron Maiden, and all the other great bands I saw from up close, but now I'll just get back to my normal blogging.

If you're interested in seeing what went down:
Youtube!

please protect the chill pill

During my absense to graspop, and the highly likely ensuing hospital stay for my whiplash, I may not be able to tend to my tribute to calmness, my drawball rendering of "the chill pill" which can be found here.

And this is what it is supposed to look like (minus the text) (well, the current version is slightly rotated, and has much thicker lines, a wider smile/pill break line and bigger dilated pupils eyes ...



You won't have any ink at first, just visit it once every day, you'll get more ink and the ability to restore some of its former glory.

If you need any help using drawball, please visit:
This site

School on lockdown after ninja sighting

I - kid - you -not!

Some NJ public schools were placed on lockdown when a person claimed to have spotted a ninja carrying a sword... This of course led to certain points of discussion:

• Should this have been taken seriously to begin with? One does not just spot ninjas!
• Would they have done the same thing if a pirate had been sighted?
• If not, isn't that discrimination?
• Don't ninjas have better things to do than terrorize elementary schoolers?

Turned out it was a camp counseler of sorts, a themed day at the camp prompted him to don a martial arts outfit with plastic sword.

Making ready to leave ...

I'm leaving for graspop tomorrow, a metal meating headlining bands like KISS, Iron maiden, Judas priest, Saxon ... I'll be gone untill monday.
I'm very happy that the scotus managed to push through the Heller case today, I was afraid I'd miss the results.

So ... unless one of my neighbours dragged along a laptop and an internet sattelite dish (or the camping has Wifi), you won't be hearing from me untill monday afternoon GMT+1

YES!

The supreme court has confirmed that the second amendement does indeed mean what it sais.

I'm not very fond of the second amendement per se, in the sense that'd support the right to keep and bear arms with or without it, same goes for the right to freedom of religion and free speech. But this does constitute a legal victory for my side that will benefit at least the citizens of DC.

Uncle's a very busy bee in writing up posts on the matter.

Me? I'm off to read the news with this playing in the background.

Mexican military drug dealers ...

Now there's a phrase to blasted off my WTF missile ... Mexican military drug dealers ... got a sound to it, double alliteration right there ... no seriously, what?!

Just because they hump around in tac-black body armor (along with a thousands of internet commando's and tacticool airsofters alike), that doesn't make them "military" ... a squad of properly trained soldiers doesn't fire off a hundred round, killing only one, and then make a run for it.

So now police are complaining that they are "outgunned" by these villains. Thank god nobody told that to said criminals, I doubt they would have made such an effort to avoid capture, if they'd realized they could have just "hosed down" the cops with their superior firepower.

Aforementioned police officers now want better equipment, new uniforms and -I can only guess- a shrubbery

I passed!

It's two AM, the fear is gone.(*)

The fear is gone entirely, I passed every single subect, not just all courses and clusters, but every single subject!
I got a 10 out of 20 for one subject, and two elevens; but I'm out there, out with the select few who will be at leisure throughout the summer before entering their senior year as students of process operations.

I even managed to score good enough for industrial fractioning to raise my grade from 10/20 to 14/20, my teacher personally commended me on the feat.

By Belgian standards, I'm slightly inebriated at moment, so by Yank standards, I probably shouldn't even be alive, but I'm going strong! I deserved a vacation and I'm enjoying it.
All potentially dangerous objects out of reach, I'm enjoying meself like there's no tomorrow, knowing perfectlyy well there won't just be a tomorrow, there'll be a day after that, a day after that day, and a busstrip to my festival of choice for this year after that ...

My blogging might not be consistent untill tuesday next week. Should said case present itself, cheer for me!

(*)

Home invasion: 100 shots fired.

A story like we've seen all to often before, but still impressive:

A drug house got knocked over by a gang of criminals dressed as police officers (helmets, body armor, the works) who ended up killing one man by fireing over 100 rounds of ammonution.

I'd be very interested in finding out what kind of guns were used here. This article mentions handguns, in this video, we can see a handgun holster recovered at the scene being bagged. I somehow doubt we're talking long guns that look like assault weapons, but a lot of articles mention "several weapons" without going into detail.

Still, even at 10 round per magazine, the six men would all just have to reload once to get these results.

An old aquaintance returns!

I'd given up all hope, but the left rudder blog is active again! Going strong with it's proclamation that doing drugs is to be considered law-abiding behavior and the like!

Pniewska's killer sentenced to life (20 years)

Takes me back a while: one of the earliest posts I wrote on this blog was about a woman being killed as (three?) criminals were shooting at eachother in what is now being called a "wild west shootout".

While one (or more) of these animals still walks around a free man most likely (to be honest, chances are he got stabbed to death somewhere along the way), one of them has been apprehended and brought to justice:
Armel Gnango, now 18, well have to serve no less than 20 years in prison. There were other sentences as well, 12 and five years, but those will run concurrently.

Even though Gango did not fire the bullet that killed this woman (as confirmed by ballistics) he is being held responsible, as he was involved in the gunfight that eventually would leed to the death of this innocent person.

It's only a third of a full serving of justice, as by the courts reasoning, there are still two other people out there who are (at least) as responsible. At least one of them is off the streets now ...

Good show, a show that must and (unfortunately, in another respect) probably will go on.

Another child victim of gun violence.

Once again, another poor, teenage child has fallen victim to the horrible scourge of gun violence that plaeges the nation.
One Alfredo Cruz was gunned down by his drug dealer when he came up short in paying his tab ... wait, what?

Said dealer was a 16 year old, who can not legally purchase or even possess a gun out in the state of Florida.
So, illegal posession of a firearm, trafficking narcotics, posession with intent to sell ... manslaughter or murder?

The laws we have on the book right now are not preventing these matters, both the gun related crimes ans well as the drug-related ones. Coming down harder and harder as previous efforts fail miserably has not solved the drug problems ... might I suggest taking a different approach when it comes to guns?

Current events in the UK: anti-stab workshops

Welcome once again to the gun debate critic on sunday, where I get you up to speed on recent devellopments in the United kingdom.


Starting off once again with a hint of mystery: a dead body was found wrapped in garbage bags, while it's still unclear how the 50 y/o man died, police are considering it a suspicious death.
In a stellar display of police work, officers arrested the man who stabbed a woman to death, as he walked into a police precinct. Another stabbing took place in an antique shop, leaving a middle-aged woman injured.

In a rather gruesome crime, a woman was raped in a city center, the police are trying to locate the two people who helped her after the attack
A few firearms incidents as well. Two were injured by shotgun fire and a car was shot at by masked gunmen. A senior citizen was murdered, and a man tried to kill another person by setting him on fire!

There's been a considerable toll on young lives this week, a child was seriously injured in the face following an assault, two kids aged 10 and 12 were stabbed by a 15 year old during a botched robbery. A 14 y/o schoolgirl was attacked by another girl (17/18? age unknown) after she had been followed home.

Capitalizing on this trend of children getting stabbed and sometimes killed, some are offering "anti stab workshops", self defence classes honed to teach children to prevent being stabbed. Their curriculum is said to include time tested strategies such as: "Give them what they want" and "run away", as well as "wet yourself, curl up into a ball and plea for mercy as an attacker twice you age and size catches up with you"

Child lies to get INTO prison.

• "He wanted to go to jail or go to prison to show everyone how bad he was"

So ... thug culture anyone?
Now now, don't give me that look! He's just a poor, misunderstood teenager trying t fit in under peer pressure. Don't worry, I'm sure he'll turn out just fine, I'm as sure of that as I'm sure you notice the intended sarcasm.

Vegetarians Vs. Omnivors, and the press can't get a clue

So, one celeberty chose to don some gay apparel:


Some PETA blogger throws his/her little fit, people make weak jokes at the expense of blondes around the country, and I ... all I can think of is the time that Lucas' vegan girlfriend got stung by a scorpion called scorpion ... he was named after a mortal combat character.

5 children, 40 felonies and counting.

Those five poor, underprivileged inner city children, who have beaten an old man to death, have been sentenced to a combined 40 felonies, one of them still has a later court date.

What was all of that, of how it is guns that allow young kids to do horrible things?

The older ones are looking at life in prison ... at 15, that's going to be some serious hard time. The younger ones, two "children" aged 13, are facing 12 years at most. I find age to be a very artificial border, it just seems strange to me that being born 600 days earlier would be the difference between juvie and life in prison.

Cops raid civil rights activists without warrant

Not everybody takes kindly to the introduction of CCTV cameras in their neighbourhood. Some people excercised their civil rights and started a petition to get rid of them.

Philadelphia police officers took offence to this, and raided their residence without a warrant.

What crimes did they commit?

• We're trying to drum up charges against them, but unfortunately we'll probably have to let them go."

No warrant, no clear evidence of any criminal activity ... sounds like herassment to me! What exactly has been accomplished?

• "This leaves me homeless, without access to things I need. My whole life is disrupted," Moffat said yesterday.

So much for keepingcriminals off the streets huh?

Gun control puts gun in hands of 15 year old

Came across this over at marilyns ...

Once upon a time, criminals would buy a gun, use it for their evil deeds, and get rid of it ... junkers were cheap and plentiful, and easy to get, probably why they accounted for roughly 46% of the guns traced by the ATF in 1994.

• "In the 1980s and early 1990s, they were throwing those guns in the river. But they aren't doing that anymore,"

Indeed, 14 years later , guns are treated differently:

• "...gangs across the country stash and share weapons, often in abandoned buildings, in an attempt to circumvent gun control laws..."

So, gun control laws are causing gangs to stash guns rather than get rid of them? What exactly has that resulted in then? Recently, a 10 year old girl was shot to death by a 15 y/o wielding a "neighbourhood gun".
'course it's a neighbourhood, not a gang territory or turf, and the 15 year old who shot the little girl was an "average, normal kid", not a juvenile gang member ... though he did know in which garbage bag to pick up a gun.

Think of the children much?
Gun control -as is- is not working!

Man stomping toddler shot.

Several people tried to stop a man from beating, kicking and stomping on a toddler. The unarmed people failed, then somebody with a gun interveened and put and end to the onslaught. Maybe if the first responders had also had effective weapons, or just one, the child would have survived it.

Some people like to tell tales of the child victims of guns ... do they ever stop to think of the victims of unarled attackers who could have easely been stopped by an armed citizen?
The police officer who stopped the attack did his job to the best of his abilities, but policemen aren't always around, and it doesn't take long to lose your life if you're only 2 years old ...

They should not be the only ones ...

Finals passed, so did I.

Got back from my organic chemistry final.
After my previous organic chem exam, I still needed 7.5 out of 20 to pass, figure I got around 14. I'm slowly sinking in a euphoric intoxication as the feeling of success seeps into my consciousness.

The one course I doubt I did well on (industrial fractioning techniques) is clustered toghether with other courses that I've already passed, so I'm looking at two months of uninterrupted R&R, and yes, that does mean rock and roll as well, I'm making preparations to go to the greatest metal festival this year, currently banging out to KISS' "Lick it up" in anticipation of their preformance the 28th.

"It ain't a crime to be good to yourself" never made more sense than it does right now!

Current events in the UK

Once again, it has not been a peaceful week across the pond.

Headlining is the shooting of a 16 year old girl ... well, it would be headlining if them peekers hadn't lost a stack of classified documents on the train ... again.

Either way, a 16 year old girl was shot by a 19 year old assailant in the city that is being dubbed "Gunchester", despite the 13 million dollar effort to enforce the anti-gun laws (this is in addition to the normal police costs)

Another person was shot, this one died. Police are visibly patrolling the area and canvasing the neighbourhood in search of information, and to show the people that they really do investigate these matters. No suspect has been named or arrested, police are appealing to the publuic to do their work for them ... to pass on any useful information.

A suspicious object was found after a big bang was heard, no clues what happened just yet.

There's been an assault with a knife, (aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for those south of Canada), a kid was seriously injured when he was attacked with a brick. A violent criminal, serving time for assault was allowed some leave from his sentence, but did not return. Police are currently carrying out a manhunt.

Not quite peacefull, but there was less violnce in this weeks sunday paper.
Maybe the hitheads were all somewhere else? (listen to the titles explaination here)

I prefer the Megadeth version(s) actually:



Motley crew does it too!

Admit it ...

see more politics and fun!

Just give them what they want and they'll only kill the witnesses.

Two little kids, brothers aged 15 and 13 walked in on an armed robbery in progress. Can you blame them that when the criminals, wielding guns, yelled at them to get down, they got scared and ran away?
They were shot at, the older brother was killed ... a real, innocent child victim of violent gun crime

If you want you can read the story for yourself here.

I don't know what those kids should have done, I really don't. It wouldn't surprise me if some of those robbers were in fact prohibited from woning guns, or even if they were out on parole, and if they get caught, they should be trown in a labor camp untill they expire in my opinion ...

I do know what to tell the next person that tells me to "run away" when confronted by an armed attacker.

Organic chemistry final, t minus three days.

Blogging rate may drop significantly as I prepare to pass the second part of my Organic chemistry II final.



Whish me luck!

Molotov everything

Once again, an angry person resorts to violence, using the first weapon available to him: An incendiary device.
A man tried to firebomb a radio station. Multiple people were injured, but fortunatle no fatalities. With any luck, they won't even have to go through life disfugured by burns.

If guns are too readely available, why didn't this guy just go out to get one? There's no waiting period in Georgia according to stategunlaws.com ... why didn't he just go pick up a gun if those are the tools preferred by killers?

Private bodyguards on the rise.

Okay, I'm trying not to post too much about the UK, but this is a most interesting devellopment:

While everybody has been disarmed, stripped of effective weapons for self defence (and this includes tazers and chemical sprays), there are still haves and have nots: the rich and the poor.

Rich people are paying upwards a $100 000 a year for personal protection that the police can't or will not provide. Security firms are already organising neighbourhood patrols so they can see to it that their clients can get from their car to their houses and back unmolested.

How long untill a system of private police/protection services arises to fend for those rich enough to pay their fee?

No less than lethal ... policeman dies

A 32 year old police officer was killed during a training drill simulating the capture of a criminal fleeing by car. He died after being shot with an undisclosed munition, most likely a CS (tear gas) canister deployed from a shotgun.

"less than lethal" weapons kill! The life lost today will be missed, as the officer is survived by his wife and children. It is vital that those of you calling for the use of such weapons rather than actual firearms that you realize that these are in no way substitutes for guns, and in no way to be considered safe.

Less lethal ... than a load of double ought perhaps, but not safe enough even for training purposes.

Brady poster child state: 12 dead

Califonia ranks number one in the Brady campaigns list of states with good gun legislation, but those laws didn't stop twelve people from being killed in LA county.

Much like we saw with DC earlier, banning guns does NOT deliver safety, we must find something that does.

Current events in the UK: start snitchin'!

And what a week it has been!
Welcome once again to the gun debate critic on sunday, casting a glance at the other side of the ocean. This weeks editions contains a high amount of recent devellopments, as well as a rather humorous story of how the police "surrounded" and stormed a house ... read on.

There's been a lot of activity on the "knife control" front, for god reason! A huge rally of knife control proponents was supposed to be adressed by gun-control activist Pat Regan, unfortunately she had been stabbed to death earlier this week. I suppose this -in a way- makes as strong a point as she could have made by being there in person.

After the "succesful" implementation of knife detectots on the streets, calls are being made to install knife arches at schools as well, to which the teachers replied (and I imagine): "but we don't want to disarms these kids, we'll get stabbed! If you see how those same kids have no reservations when it comes to beating a policeman can you blame them? One such kid has been charged with 11 assaults!

Another manner by which people are trying to curb violence, is by countering the underground "stop snitching" campaign by a "start snitching" project of their own, offering up to £1000 (that's two grand for y'all yanks) to kids who succesfully rat out a violent criminal.
I can only imagine the memories evoked in the lucky few who managed to escape the USSR or the DDR, societies halfly built around giving up information on percieved political undersirables.

Staying in line with StatSi doctrine: a compulsory national ID scheme is being called a threat to privacy by citizens rights groups, the usual rhetoric by both parties continues as the general population doesn't even look up from their game of footy and their desigated patch of pasture.

And on a -this isn't funny, but still I'm laughing- note: the police laid siege on a building said to contain men with weapons, according to an informant. However, when police finally stormed the place after a prolongued long standoff, they found it unoccupied. Claiming they have no reson to doubt their witness, the police assume the criminals must have fled out the back ... of a house which police claim they had surrounded ... (excuse me, I'm having diffculties controlling my laughter)

On to this weeks body count then:
There's been one fatal stabbing in a London nightclub. Someoen else was also stabbed to death. A young man has attacked a LEO with a knife, injuring him severely. A teenager was stabbed to death, a woman asphyxiated. And if you think it's all serious, there's been a drive-by bludgeoning with a brick! ... wait, that's serious too, the victim washurt pretty badly ...

70 people were arrested on (or in relation to) drug charges.

Tokyo stabbing spree.

Over in that other gun control paradise, a man drove his truck into a crowd of (presumaly) shoppers before going on a stabbing spree that left five dead and over a dozen wounded.

UPDATE:

Belgium news on "één" reports seven fatalities

Excerpt from the "cryptonomicon"

One of them has a hunting rifle, and each of the others is slinging a rudimentary-looking gun with a banana clip sticking out of the side. Randy thinks, but is not sure, that these are HEAP guns.
This scene, not surprisingly, has caught the attention of the police, who have surrounded these four with squad cars, and who are standing at the ready with rifles and shotguns. It is an oddity of the law in many jurisdictions that, while carrying (say) a concealed one-shot .22 derringer requires a license, openly carrying (e.g.) a big game rifle is perfectly legal.
Concealed weapons are outlawed or at least heavily regulated, and unconcealed ones are not. So a lot of Secret Admirers—who tend to be gun nuts—have taken to going around conspicuously armed as a way of pointing out the absurdity of those rules. Their point is this: who gives a shit about concealed weapons anyway, since they are only useful for defending oneself against assaults by petty criminals, which almost never happens?

The real reason the Constitution provides for the right to bear arms is defending oneself against oppressive governments, and when it comes to that, your handgun is close to useless. So (according to these guys) if you are going to assert your right to keep and bear arms you should do it openly, by packing something really big.

-Neil Stephenson

Crossbow assault ...

So, a 39 year old man living with his mother gets so angry with her because she charges him rent that he decides to kill her. He shot her with a crossbow, she still managed to call for help but died in the hospital.

It's people that kill people, not crossbows, not guns, not motorvehicles ... people.
And there's some sacry people out there ... his own mother?! You don't think people like that will gladly continue to kill eachother long after guns (and crossbows) have been banned?

ClintonsForMcCain.com

As it turns out, not only certain gun owners are bitter:

• The Republicans appear to be capitalizing on the bitter disappointment, anger and disillusionment that Clinton supporters are feeling right now.

Found in this article by wired.

I suppose it's the logical consequence of a multi-month streak of mudslinging and hatemongering; you've called the people to oppose your foe, and now they do:

• Many voters responding to Clinton's last e-mail blast, which was also posted on her blog this morning, said that they couldn't possibly vote for Barack Obama. Some of them said they would instead support his Republican rival.

The site doesn't even exist yet, and it's already widely discussed across teh interwebs ... this is going to get interesing.

My new motto:

Procastinators unite!

... tomorrow.

Officer killed by three-times-prohibited person

The guy had a drug conviction and failed drug tests, a felony conviction, he was out on probation ... you can't hardly get any more prohibited than that, now can you?

He still managed to get his hands on a gun and injure multiple police officers, killing one of them.

You can look at this in a multitude of ways:

-It's too easy for criminals to get guns
-Some people get released from prison when they shouldn't be.
-The law prohibiting him from owning a gun was not enforced
...

Either way, we need to mend our ways.

DC to introduce "neighbourhood safety zones"

And a rose by any other name means to say: cordoned off areas accessible only to those able to prove with ID that they belong there at checkpoints.
I guess we should be expecting metal detectors, drug dogs and the like to be present as well soon enough ...

Articles:
DCist.com
MSNBC

Don't like where this is going ...

We interrupt this program with a special bulletin:
The district of Columbia is now under martiall law.
All constitutional rights have been suspended.
Stay in your homes.
Do not attempt to contact love ones, insurance agent or attorneys.
Shut up.
Do not attempt to think or depression may occur.
Stay in your homes.
Curfew is at 7 PM sharp after work.
Anyone caught outside of gates of their suveillance sectors after curfew will be shot.
Remain calm, do not panic.
Your neighborhood watch officer will be by to collect urine examples in the morning.
Anyone caught interfering with the collection of urine examples will be shot.
Stay in your homes, remain calm.
The number one enemy of progress is question.
National security is more important than individual will.
All sport broadcasts will proceed as normal.
No more than two people may gather anywhere without permission.
Use only the drugs described by your boss or supervisor.
Shut up, be happy.
Obey all orders without question.
The comformental mandor is now mandatory.
Be happy.
At last everything is done for you.

Seven injured, burned in chemical attack.

A group of people was attacked when somebody sprayed them with a caustic chemical of some sort, seven were injured and at least one person recieved second degree burns.
It's not the first time I warn of chemical weapons, my post concerning "works bombs" are toppers in terms of visits for some reason.

The average household is often overflowing with dangerous chemicals ... chemicals that are hardly controlled, and can be used rather well as weapons. A person bent on harming multiple people might very well do so by building a proper chemical weapon.

You cannot disarm psychopats, you can help them, or defend yourself against their attacks.

Hillaryous

Eight killed in DC

A spate of shootings has left eight dead and many more wounded in the gun control capital.

Clearly, strong gun control doe not mean criminals will not have and use guns.

Current events in the UK

Welcome once again to the gun debate critic on sunday, when I like to continue the tale of a country that essentially banned guns, the united kingdom. It's a tale of violence and bloodshed, a tale that goes on, today ...

Despite the ban on actual guns, restrictions on guns that don't work, replica guns and toy guns, there has been an incident where a man threatened the residents of a house with a rifle, he has been charged with "possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence". There's been actual firearm homicides, here's the second one.

The biggest problem however is knife crime, and not just knifes but sharp objects of all kinds are being used to gut, stab and kill children and adults alike.
"A spate" (=3) of people have been injured in a sword attack, Two children were stabbed to death, One taxi driver got stabbed by a robber, two women were killed after possibly being raped, new confirms one was stabbed to death, a stabbing victim was found on a beach ... the list goes on and one.

Didn't some group of people, often referred to as "gun nuts" predict this increase in knife crime as guns got banned?

Police are continuing their streak of succesfull drug raids, arresting dozens of people and confiscating drugs. This article suggests they should consider raiding a couple of prisons as well, as more and more drugs turn up on the inside of the prison system.

At least nobody got firebombed this week ...

Love is hate, peace is war and people bleeding out on the beaches after being stabbed by a mugger is security.

A pet crow for two days.

My across the street neigbour found a baby crow the other day ... baby is a bad word for the thing, even when young those buggers are huge.
He figured it had probably fallen from a nest, it didn't fly at any rate. Seeing as the neighbourhood is full of cats, he decided to take it in untill it could get airborne, animal protection doesn't take in crows, they're hardly an endangered species, nature must take its -often brutal- course after all.

So said neighbour took it in, and the crow instantly develloped a bond with him. The moment he let it out of it's "cage" (a cat carrier, which works as well to keep cats in as it does keeping them out), the bird would scramble towards him and try to scale his schoulder, where it would sit and look about.

Crows are very social creatures, with family ties and hierarchy ... they know eachother, become partial to eachother and look after their friends and family.
Crows are also some of the most intellignet birds on the planet, especially the species that have managed to adapt to urban life. Develloping the ability to understand traffic lights to safely use cars to crush nuts, bending twigs and using them as tools to get worms out of holes ...

It should not have come a surprise that yesterday, two adult crows appeared in my neighbours back yard. Sitting in a tree, or circeling overhead and diving towards his head, never really attacking, likely due to the presence of a non-corporate fatcat in the yard. If my neighbours account is correct, their wings spanned two feet wide, mayestic creatures.
The neighbour went back inside, and came out with the little crow on his shoulder. Not long after, the little one flapped his wings, and flew off with his (presumably) parents.

All is now back the way it should be, nature is a beautiful thing.