Feathered Apes (II)

The other day I got a pleasant surprise from a neighborhood crow.

On that beautiful sunny day, I decided to visit a friend across town. My friend lives in one of the more pleasant neighborhoods in the City. With lush mountains as its backdrop, it sits not far from an inlet by the blue sea. And there are always wild birds including crows swooping up and down around the many tall trees in the area. When I was about a couple of blocks from my destination, I could smell the fresh and crisp spring air from the sea.

Armed with good direction, I found the right street with no fanfares. But the lamp post on the corner of that street, not like the others, bears no road sign. Based on details on hand, I made a right turn on that unmarked block any way. While searching for my friend’s home, a flock of blackbirds flying noisily above me. Finally they settled down on a tree a few houses away. I also saw one lone crow perching quietly on the top of a low metal gate down the road. It was the only gate on the block had a live bird on it. And to my greatest surprise that gate opens to the house I was looking for.

After I told this nebulous incident to my friend, I learned their home is a bird-friendly one. The mistress of the house always has goodies for wild birds visiting their bountiful back yard. Therefore, there are always birds, particular crows, hanging around the house. This somewhat explained why sometimes there would be crows sitting on their gate welcome visitors! - Ayee

Mental Fatigue

Over the last few weeks there were many close-calls in the sky.

It started with a Boeing airplane losing a portion of its ceiling in midair. Then, our attention was directed to the pilots who had to land their good planes on their own while the exhausted air traffic controllers dozed off in the towers. And recently, millions of us saw an oversized aircraft side swiped a smaller commuter jet on the runway.

Luckily none of these mishaps had caused any fatalities. But these worrisome incidents, particularly the weary air traffic controllers, can bring fatal consequences. They are also wake-up calls, no pun intended, to the sleepy sky cops who had to work many shifts straight. I have since learned there were six or seven similar incidents reported so far this year. One of the offenders was on his fourth consecutive shift. Clearly this scheduling practice defies common sense. No average healthy individuals have enough stamina to work productively say a couple of eight-hour shifts continuously. In addition, we all know sleep deprivation can cause devastating harms to us both physically and mentally.

To the sleepers on the job, they, whatever their jobs are, have my personal sympathy for having to work long hours in one sitting. This practice of extending working hours can certainly undermine public safety. It also borders on slavery. So the governments are making new laws that do not allow air traffic controllers work consecutive shifts. Except I think, the law makers should also look into the scheduling practices of other service-based industries. I do not think air traffic controller is the only profession that requires working unreasonably long and uninterrupted shifts. - Ayee

Contracting Out Is A Bad Idea.

It is unbelievable that some esteemed banks had used forged documents to foreclose mortgages. Bankers are supposed to be the prudent men who are learned and trustworthy. But in this case they made themselves a costly mess that will take years of undoing. Their sloppy works also cost many unfortunate people undue hardships that can never be righted timely.

According to a story on "60 Minutes" last Sunday, millions of houses were foreclosed with invalid documents. Thanks to an observant home owner. She noticed the signatures on the legal documents were not genuine and were penned by different persons. Now many former home owners, whose homes were foreclosed wrongfully, are suing the banks on losing their homes. Hopefully, they can return to their homes soon.

This story brings to mind the perils in contracting out: One of them is losing control.

By buying out their competitors, the modern banks are getting bigger and bigger. They are getting so big to a point they farmed out the loan servicing part of the business to a third party. This explains why on occasions when we could never get hold of the original banker who financed our home. We, the borrowers, are simply becoming faceless numbers on a loan servicing company’s books. I grant this division of labor has its merits. But when the scheme is getting too large, inefficiency and malfeasance creep in. - Ayee