Am I a Birdbrain?

Birdnapping, and the oft overlooked sport of pigeon racing, are likely not on your radar screen, at least not until now. A brief bit in the headlines this week announced: Taiwan police bust pigeon-kidnapping ring. Pigeon racing is apparently big business in Taiwan, and around the world, but Taiwan claims to have more racing events than any other country in the world. Owners domesticate and train pigeons that are then released to return home over a set distance. Race analysts time the event, calculate the rate of travel and designate the winner as the bird with the highest speed. Who knew?

Further investigation reveals that 3,000 birds may start a race, while only 20-30 may finish that race. What befalls the other 90% of the birds? Accidents. Predators. Birdnappers. Navigation problems (what does a pigeon have to do around here to get a GPS?). Oh wait, there is a pigeon GPS. Unfortunately for the pigeons, the GPS won't keep them from getting lost, but will help their owners keep track of them.

Consider the mettle and logistics associated with capturing in-flight pigeons and holding them for ransom. 1. String up a gigantic net along racecourse. 2. Wait. 3. Capture pigeon. 4. Untangle pigeon from gigantic net and store in cage. 5. Use pigeon GPS or band to determine rightful owner.
6. Contact owner and offer safe return of pigeon in exchange for cash. There must be easier ways to make money.

A cursory search does not turn up any pigeonnapping incidents in the United States, but the American Racing Pigeon Union boasts approximately 700 clubs across the country, the first established in 1872. So, while pigeon racing may fly below the radar, so to speak, it appears to have a long history around the world, and right here at home. Case in point, pigeonracer.com.

Ernest Hemingway's A Moveable Feast details his pigeonnapping experiences in Luxembourg Gardens where he caught a bird, snapped its neck, and took it home for dinner. I certainly do not aspire to feast on freshly-caught pigeon, and don't foresee myself domesticating a pet pigeon anytime soon. Coo you to sleep? No thank you.

I don't recall anything remarkable about the pigeons I encountered overseas, except that some places had more than others. My most memorable experiences with living beings capable of sustained flight came in the form of bats. There was the evening jaunt over a bridge in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, where I ducked in fear beneath hordes of swooping bats overhead. Then there were the infamous flying foxes, looking almost majestic in their flight, as I viewed them far overhead (thank goodness) from a small wooden boat bobbing in the Indian Ocean. 

Finally, there were the bats for sale in the market for lunch or dinner.  One could choose the small variety, ready to eat,

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 or the large, live variety, for supreme freshness on your dinner table. 

 Irresistible?

 

I'm certain that I've never intentionally ingested any pigeons or bats, although I'm also certain that I have been served meals that likely included mystery meat. Whatever the case, I am certain that I lived to tell the tale.

Space planning on steriods

My home is just about the right size for a family of four. While I love my cohabitants dearly, they are all of the male persuasion, and they band together to create a home that is dirty, cluttered, and urine-soaked on the best of days. Inspired, I cleaned out the front hall closet this week, and collected items to give away, including a pair of too-small toddler cleats that Boy #2 is finished with, a couple of pairs of old running shoes, and a tunnel. Boy #1, the oldest, is in the process of sowing the seeds of becoming a world class hoarder. Unfortunately for me, he caught sight of the giveaway basket, and lay on the floor howling over the fate of aforementioned cleats and tunnel.

Mind you, he is nearly 10. Can he even fit through the tunnel anymore? He could nary venture to squeeze a big toe into those cleats, but he is intrinsically attached to anything and everything that has been a part of his life. While the boys are out, I constantly troll the house for things to give or throw away, lest our somewhat spacious home become overrun with piles, stacks and junk. Which begs the question...what do you do when your living space is barely big enough for your family? What do you do with your stuff?

I think about cities like Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Bangkok, where space is at a premium, and whole families live in one or two rooms. Residents in those cities are likely more practiced at taking care of their space because there just isn't room for clutter in a small apartment or house. I spent a year in the countryside of Japan living in a two room house with another person. Every night, we rolled out the futons in the "bedroom", and every morning, we rolled them back up and stored them in the closet. The washing machine was outside the sliding glass back doors, and the kitchen had a small, two burner stove. Pillows became multi-purpose -- chairs during the day, headrests during the night. And the sink was built right into the toilet.

It was, in fact, the Japanese that invented the capsule hotel. Hop on into the pod and have good night's sleep. Claustrophobia, anyone? This is space planning on steroids.

I think you learn to fill up the space that you occupy, and if you run out of room, just send your stuff on out to the pachinko graveyard.

East Meets West

I am short.  Five feet, one-and-a-half inches to be exact, and yes, the extra half-inch counts for a lot.  You can imagine that as a height-challenged youth, basketball wasn’t a particularly appealing choice.  I played a little H-O-R-S-E in my day, but that was about the extent of my basketball career.  Never was a great shot. I certainly can’t remember ever watching an entire NBA game from start to finish, or much in between either.  But even I can get behind an unlikely hero.  This week, Knicks star Jeremy Lin became an overnight star that some are calling “Linderella”.  Knicks fans in NYC and across the country have embraced American-born, Harvard-educated Lin as their hometown hero.  Equally as excited? Basketball fans all over China who claim Lin as one of their own. During an era that exposed Mark McGwire’s fall from grace, and that stripped Tyler Hamilton and Alberto Contador of their Tour de France victories, we can all use a hero. And if that hero builds a bridge from China to the USA, then perhaps it helps to open our eyes to the reality that we really are more alike than different.