Reunions

A friend who is now a radiologist and CT Scan-MRI subspecialist reminded me the other night (via text message) of our medical school reunion on 28 December 2016 (that’s yesterday).

I informed her I would not be able to go.  She expressed sadness and added that we rarely got together.

I replied, “We’ll surely get together again, especially in wakes and burials.”

“Hahaha… baliw (crazy),” was all she said.

Stars

We all have been enamored of someone at some point in our lives.  For some of us, that someone is a movie star.  Or, a writer.  Or, an artist.

Josh is an artist.  He died as one and lived somewhere in-between.

He was born in Canada, but his family moved to the United States where he met another young man who also loved “scientifiction.”

He devoured, with his friend, science fiction and fantasy from magazines like Amazing Stories and Weird Tales.

He co-created the most famous popular culture icon in the world.

I have been collecting his creation, on and off, for decades.

I never knew how he "really" looked.  Until the advent of the Internet; that wonderful technology that enables us to connect from any part of the world within seconds.  I had seen photos before then but he looked sad and burned out in those.

The Net churned out better photos.  His body looked good (sexy actually), even while dressed, in his youth with eyes widely open and a shy smile.  “Surprisingly handsome” is what a noted writer and blogger called him when a book about him and other artists came out.

I like looking at his photos now and then, imagining talking to a handsome guy, alone somewhere in the fields, looking at the blue skies and faraway stars, with my head resting on his chest.  This scene goes well with the Irving Berlin song "What'll I Do" (I especially like the rendition of Beatrice Arthur in an episode of the TV series The Golden Girls): "What'll I do with just a photograph to tell my troubles to...."

That’s as far as my fantasy goes.  He has been an icon all my life.  There seems to be a sanctuary within my moral system that protects my affection from my libido.

We moved places a number of times in my youth, in my life.  I made sure that not one of my collected books and magazines got lost in transit.  Some still got lost, stolen.  Theft, however, can not take away my affection for writers, artists, and Josh.

I learned that in the 1950s and the 1960s, he lived a difficult life.  When his creation was shown on Broadway, he went to the theater on nearly each performance.  He never saw the musical.  He just watched the people come and go.  He could not afford a ticket.

At one point, he had to prove his identity because he was mistaken for a vagrant.

He got married once.

He took care of his mother while his brother worked.

Years ago, a collection of his works called “fetish art” was published.  He drew these art works when he was at a low point in his life.  But then again, as an artist who does what he loves doing, he could be having the time of his life (having his "revenge" against his former employers).

In the 1970s, with the help of good people, credit for his famous creation was returned to him and his co-creator.

Josh looked different in old age.  His “old” photos remind me of Peter Pettigrew, ably played by Timothy Spall.  Peter Pettigrew is also known as Wormtail in the book and the film series Harry Potter.

In comparison with his co-creator, not much is said about Josh.  Everyone around him would say he was a quiet and gentle guy.

His photos enchant me, not only because of his great looks in his youth, but because I am reminded of his lifelong struggle for recognition and his quiet acceptance of his fate.  Light is something he always found in the darkness.  Through all his pain, nothing in the extant reveals that he ever maligned anyone.

I can say with confidence that he did not endorse the thrill-seeking crimes that a twisted psychiatrist pinned on his art.

He gave birth to the form, the first appearance, of Superman.  Sometimes, when I look up in the sky, I imagine the stars, Krypton, and Josh.

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To Joe Shuster, co-creator of Superman, with affection

Buying Digital Books

Here is a non-exhaustive list of digital booksellers.  For more sellers, kindly consult Google.

www.textbooks.com

www.ebooks.com

www.kobo.com

www.lulu.com

www.smashwords.com

www.amazon.com

play.google.com

It is wise to window shop before committing to a purchase.

Of these, Google Play offers the best prices (most of the time).  It also depends on the format you prefer.  Most books for sale at Google Play are in ePub (electronic publication) format; a number in PDF (portable document format) – comic books usually are downloadable as PDFs.  ePubs are usually cheaper than PDFs.

Life with Kevin #3 will be released on 28 December 2016 at Google Play and will be downloadable as ePub and PDF.  Life with Kevin is a comic book mini-series that appears only in digital format, i.e., no print copies as of yet.  It is about Kevin Keller, the first openly gay man in the Archie Comics universe.

A number of techies point out that PDF is not a digital book.  Regardless, PDF is my favorite format because it looks exactly like the print copy.

Lulu does not look like a secure Web site.  I do not see the “s” in “http” consistently in the address bar.  It is probably secure the moment one makes her/his purchase.  The same goes for eBooks.  I have not purchased anything from Lulu and eBooks, so far, because of this.

I like window shopping at eBooks because it sells PDFs of books I like.  However, eBooks tenders astronomic prices.  In fairness to eBooks, their selling prices are the actual selling retail prices of publishers.  Many publishers sell books with a standard price for both digital and print copies.

The Superhero Reader (in PDF) is sold for only ₱928.41 at Google Play, while it is sold for $30 at eBooks.  The price at Google Play may or may not have a transaction charge and/or foreign currency conversion fee, depending on the bank that issued your credit/debit card regardless of the credit card brand or type, e.g., American Express, Visa, etc.

Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) More Fun prepaid Visa charges ₱60 initially for each book bought from Google Play but will return the ₱60 within a few minutes from purchase; hence, BPI essentially charges nothing above Google Play’s tag price.  The price at eBooks is in US dollars, so this will certainly incur a foreign currency conversion charge if your credit card is issued by a Philippine bank.  Also, foreign exchange rates change daily, so $30 is not fixed in Philippine pesos.  Prices at Google Play are fixed and not affected by foreign exchange rates.

eBooks has “This edition is not for sale in your country” books.  If you check Google Play, you will find the same book available for sale for a much lower price.

Kobo also sells books in Philippine pesos.  Google Play, Kobo and many other Web sites – not just ebook sellers – automatically detect the country a Net surfer comes from, so they convert prices to the country’s currency.  Most books in Kobo are ePub, so Kobo is not for me generally.  I do buy ePubs, especially ones with thousands of pages but cost less than a hundred pesos (around $2; some sold for less than $1).  Google Play has lots of cheap ePubs.  Romance novels, from any ebook seller, tend to be cheap ePubs and have very enticing covers.

If you want to collect the photos from these titillating covers, get the ones from Smashwords.  Google Play photos are small.  Smashwords photos are quite large that they more than fill a computer screen.

Smashwords and Lulu sell not-so-popular and self-published books.  Do not be surprised if you stumble across someone you know selling or promoting a book in these sites.

Some digital books are available only at Amazon which has its own format (Kindle).  The print copy of The Superhero Reader is sold for $30 at Amazon (plus shipping and handling), while the Kindle Edition is sold for $17.49.

Textbooks.com is a marketplace – sells its own books and has other sellers on site – like Amazon and, like Amazon, has its own app for reading ebooks.  Textbooks.com does not show the padlock icon on the address bar while browsing, so I am not certain of the site’s security.  I expect it becomes secure the moment one finalizes the purchase.

Some of the books from Google Play and other digital booksellers are DRM-protected.  Digital Rights Management (DRM) prevents transfer of ebooks from one device to another and/or reading of ebooks from one software to another in the same device (an Adobe Digital Editions ebook can only be read with Adobe Digital Editions and will not open in Adobe Acrobat Reader, Sumatra, etc.), supposedly to curtail copyright infringement.

I am of the belief that I own the book that I paid for; hence, I remove the DRM (with the help of a software) of books that I purchased.  If I feel I (or if I fear my friendly software) can not remove the DRM of an ebook for sale, then there is no reason for me to buy that ebook.

Free, legitimate DRM removal apps are available in cyberspace.  Consult our friendly neighbor Google.

I am not a techie so I rely on a software to remove DRMs.  A number of sites teach how to remove DRMs manually (still with the help of a free software).

Paid DRM removal apps are not very expensive.  Do check for license expiry.  A lifetime license that comes with free updates may be worth it in the long run.

Taming Birds

After bringing your new pet home, let it settle for around 3 days before handling (unless the bird you acquired is a tame one to begin with).  If you’re too excited, let it settle for a few hours before handling.  At the very least, introduce the bird to its room first before starting any session.

Place the bird in a room where it will be alone without any bird companion.  This also serves another purpose: quarantine.  If there is another bird, the other bird preferably should be of a different breed and placed far apart from the bird to be tamed.  You and you alone should feed and handle the bird.  You want the bird to bond with you, not with another bird or person.

Choose a small room where the bird can not hide and fly around too much.  I use the comfort room (CR) for the initial taming sessions.  Keep the toilet lid closed because the bird may land on and waddle in the microbe-enriched water.  It’s not fun to disinfect and live through the foul smell.  Close all doors and windows.

Retrieve the bird from the cage and let it fly.  I do not let the bird come out voluntarily. The bird may never come out.

When the bird gets tired of flying, try to pick it up with your finger by sliding a finger from its chest down to the legs.  This will encourage the bird to perch on the finger.

The bird should be facing you, so it will learn to recognize you.  Talk to it in a soothing voice.  Sing to it.  Facial and voice recognition helps in the long run.

The session preferably should not last for more than 30 minutes.  I usually start with 10-minute sessions for the first week.

Once the bird begins to perch on its own upon presentation of your finger, begin having sessions outside the CR.  The bird should now have sessions where you’re staying whatever you’re doing, e.g., watching TV, eating, reading, etc.  I occasionally let them fly around the CR while I’m taking a bath.

Daily sessions are preferred, but non-daily sessions with regular intervals of a day or two are acceptable.

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The first bird I ever tamed is a very wild diamond dove.

Clipping a bird’s wings also helps because it will be easier to let the bird perch on a finger, but I prefer to tame first before clipping.  Check the Net for clipping instructions.

Food treats also help, although I prefer to use treats in clicker training, not in taming.

Taming usually takes weeks and months (usually 7 weeks in my experience).  I had the privilege of acquiring two birds that became tame in just one session.

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Notable things which are true in my experience but may not be true consistently:

The wilder the bird, the easier to tame.

A bird without any sign of feather plucking, especially head plucking, is easier to tame.  Birds with plucked head feathers are more psychologically traumatized, and this ordeal renders the birds more resistant to taming.

If possible (while at the pet shop), place a hand inside the cage to choose a pet bird.  The easier-to-tame ones will not readily bite if held.  A bird that sits still on the wood perch without minding your hand may bite viciously if held, while a bird that flies frantically at the sight of your hand may not attack at all once firmly held (but may still try its best to get away).  I’d go for the frantic flyer anytime.

Again, these may not be true all the time.

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Please note

With small parrots like lovebirds and cockatiels, taming means getting bitten such that each session is likely to end in injury, i.e., bearable cuts and abrasions on your hands.  A sun conure is a medium-sized parrot and its bite can cause gashes that may require suturing by a physician.  Even a finch that is bitey can cause significant injury.  Stick to pigeons or doves if you wish to be injury-free (most of the time).  Doves are worthy of the title “birds of peace.”

June 2010