Nefara

Subbed to Enchanterium 👍 thanks for the rec!

Yes! It was such a pleasant surprise on my feed. Unfortunately they said they won't be continuing because of Youtube's enforcement policies around copyrighted material so those videos were meant to be a limited series.

Along with Technology Connections, Philosophy Tube, and Primitive Technology, here are my "must watch" subs

Climate Town - Excellent videos about climate change and environmental impact that are insightful and funny

Contrapoints - Well written and meticulous deconstructions of philosophical concepts in media, pop culture and society with a dry wit

Every Frame a Painting - Amazing content on film-making. No longer active, but if you haven't seen it yet, lucky you, enjoy.

Pop Culture Detective - Interesting meta analyses of popular tropes in pop culture

Because I'm into historical clothing and fashion, Bernadette Banner and Abby Cox both do great videos on costuming, history and creating cool stuff

Really loved her video on new Star Trek too, she has very similar vibes to Jenny Nicholson but has a lot of great science material too

Whenever I've needed a big chunk of cash, I make a legendary and sell it. That won't work for everyone but at least at the rate I go through money it sets me up for a long time and makes the effort worth it. Another option for slow and steady progress is flax farming. Park a bunch of alt characters at the circle in Mount Maelstrom with reaper's sickles and then sell vials of linseed oil. For the effort and time it's a good return.

I showed her your post, so here's what she responded with (paraphrased in places)

It sounds like they have some advantages over the average parrot owner, but I would be extremely hesitant to have a parrot (certainly not two) in a house with a little kid and other pets. Parrot bites can be really severe. My buddy's macaw bit through his lip, and my own cockatoo bit through my ex's ear. I absolutely would not want a large parrot around my child... Even though I do love parrots and know what to look for when it comes to hostile body language. I've seen bored macaws try to essentially trick people into getting close enough to bite them. You cannot expect a 4 year old to be able to handle an animal that can easily break their finger. All you are going to do is traumatize your child, then saddle them with an angry parrot who is still around for decades after you die.

Also, having two parrots is not likely to be a good idea. If they hate each other, that's a problem. This isn't like a smaller cage bird where they recommend getting more than one. Then, if they decide they like each other, they have no reason to be tame to the humans.

Typically you end up with a parrot bonding to one human and hating everyone and everything else in the house. That can mean potentially violent jealousy of your child, your spouse, etc. especially after the parrot hits puberty. The reason why the macaw bit through my friend's lip after never having bitten anyone before? He had just kissed his wife and the parrot disapproved.

They need a ton of training so when they hit puberty and lose their baby personality to (sometimes) become violently jealous, they need to know who is in charge. A large parrot should never, ever be allowed to sit on anyone's shoulder. Always keep it below eye level and away from your face. Not only for safety, but because it establishes the human in the socially dominant position.

I mean, sure, there is a chance it will work out... but there are also countless, countless parrots sitting at rescues who go through this exact cycle while breeders convince people to buy babies.

Lemmy may be lacking parrot content, but the other site isn't. You should probably read this thread:

https://www.reddit.com/r/parrots/comments/1ir8843/i_will_never_encourage_people_to_get_a_parrot_and/

If you insist on caring for a parrot, try fostering a single bird from a rescue and see how that goes first.

For mac and cheese: medium shells, ditalini
For red sauce pasta: medium shells, rotini
For pasta alfredo: medium shells, fettuccine

So I guess you could say my favorite pasta is potato gnocchi

I'm a lifetime Windows user. I used to have to type run win3.exe on my first computer. I installed Linux mint on my new pc build a couple weeks ago and have been moving in and getting everything set up. Some people absolutely will make the change.

I've been making the switch on my own new PC, some programs I was concerned about can be run ok through Lutris. It's been an adjustment but no regrets

Posted most of this in another thread but I'm glad to spread the word. I usually find things by searching what I want to buy and then adding "-amazon", "-etsy", or "-wayfair".

Some general recs:

B&H Photo or Microcenter for anything electronic or computer related

Sweetwater for music stuff, there's a lot of great small music stores, or marketplaces like Reverb

For clothes, if you have any clothes you already enjoy, go directly to their brand website. If you don't, go to local secondhand shops and touch, handle and try on some clothes to see them in person. I've discovered some brands I like by finding something in a thrift store that was well made but not my size or preferred color.

For house DIY stuff, we order from a local building supply store, but there's also hardwareandtools.com, 1stoplighting, Waysource, Lightbulbs.com, Timothy's Toolbox etc.

For food items, local grocery stores often offer online shopping and delivery. If it's a specialty item or imported the import companies sometimes have their own websites.

For super fast, need it now shipping, Target has a lot of the same things Amazon does and even does same day delivery for an extra fee for certain items.

For something hard to find you can't find another site for, try Ebay.

I do business with all sorts of independent retailers and have only had good experiences with them. These are sites that I've personally bought from but there are a lot of smaller sites just trying to make a place for themselves on the internet

Ren faire folks LOVE stuff like that, you should absolutely see if you have one nearby. If you're in the states, each state usually has one.

My friend had birds for a good portion of her life, she worked in a pet store and took care of their birds, and had a cockatoo for something like 15 years. Paraphrasing, but here's what she told me:

Owning birds, especially intelligent birds, is one hell of a commitment. Are you ready to have a flying toddler who will never grow up? Who will live as long as you? Longer even? How about an eternal toddler who has bolt cutters attached to its face? How do you feel about loud, sudden screeches at any time of the day or night? Do you have valuable items out that you don't want damaged? Do you have the type of home that can accommodate the amount of three dimensional space they need? If you were thinking you could keep one in a cage as their main habitat you're sorely mistaken.

Having a super smart pet sounds cool until you realize that they need entertainment, and stimulation, and not allowing that is a form of cruelty. If you don't provide it they will find it for themselves, very often in ways you do not approve of. Like any exotic pet, its needs can take over your life entirely, and unlike a dog there's no way you can just hire a pet sitter to take care of it. You will likely never be able to just "take a weekend away". Parrots are known to take sudden and intense dislike to people on a whim, how will you handle that if it's someone you want to have over more than once in a blue moon?

I'm not going to say there's no hope or don't do it, but it is NOT a decision to be taken lightly. A bird like an African Grey is an "expert" bird owner level bird. If you can take care of a friend's cockatiel or maybe a conure for a week and you fall in love, then maybe you can get one too. But there's many good reasons my friend owns a pigeon now instead.