What made you smile today?

[Taffeta]

There was a baby sparrow in the choisya bush today, clearly learning (and mostly failing) to fly.

I was out checking something else and there was all this cheeping and counter-cheeping, so I turned to look, and there's this little confused ball of fluff in among the choisya leaves, while parent bird is sitting on the fence scolding it (it sounded scoldy xD). It flapped about there for a bit, then bravely decided to try and fly again...before falling back into the bush. I guess it was probably it's first flight. They're nesting on the corner of the house where my room is, so I often see them and hear them in the grape vine that runs across the back of the house, especially under my window. Baby birds are so cute it's so nice seeing the next generation grow up.

It reminds me of the year one accidentally ended up in my room. Also a sparrow. It's a long time ago now so probably that sparrow is no longer with us, but I hope it grew up and told its children the legend of the time it ended up in the pony cupboard...

[SpacePinto]

I ordered a vintage Nokia 6267 phone online and it finally arrived complete with all the accessories, and it's awesome!

[Pokeyonekenobie]

I picked up ponies from Gabumon today.  

[glitterball]

Land line rang - which meant either school emergency or a scam call; 99 percent of our communication is via our mobile (cell) phones so alarm bells were already ringing.

This lady with an Indian accent was firing her script spiel at me - first she said that suspicious activity had been detected from our IP address (classic) and needed to know what devices we had at home.

I smiled. Let's have some fun.
Oh, by the way, I used to be an IP (network) engineer

I am aware that the majority of scams are executed with users who have Microsoft Windows systems, as the scammers use certain well-known scripts with instructions how to gain access to the victim's devices, so I thought I'd spice things up and say that I had a certain (non-Microsoft) device, acting as a server with two clients. This instantly confused her.

She then kept asking if I used an i-pad and wanted to know about my mobile phone. I further confused her by saying that my mobile was used for work purposes and was not a smart phone, just old-fashioned SMS texts and voice calls.

She seemed to be slowly freaking out at this ??? and demanded to know how I go about my online banking an wanted to know about my Facebook account and do I watch Youtube? I told her no and that I mainly used my home devices for offline work, but access online content when I am away at my employer's company work office.

She hung up!

I laughed. 

I didn't even get to do anything juicy & techy, I just stayed polite and answered all her questions with answers that were most likely to be too off-script for her to be able to get any use from!! 

Seriously, folks, be careful. Scammers are finding new ways to appear genuine - e.g. if you have caller-display it may show what looks like a legitimate number and name of a bank or internet provider. If they start asking about personal info "just to pass a security question" then be assertive and do not disclose it.

End the call - with the intention of visiting the genuine website to get the correct number from your provider/bank.

Extra precaution: if possible, change phones and make a call from a different room. Why? Because it has been reported that SOMETIMES when the call ends, the scammer doesn't fully hang up and can listen in and spy on what number you are calling next, then press a few buttons and transfer your call to another scammer to continue with the scam - I need to get more info about this, it was mentioned on TV recently.

By using a different phone and calling from another room, it makes a physical break from them listening in.

Eeesh, it's all getting so paranoid and secret-agenty, eh?

[Taffeta]

Phone scams are so much more common.

They call my Mum and tell her that there's a problem with her computer. She tells them that the problem is probably the fact she doesn't have a computer, then hangs up...

My smile thing today was more of the feathered variety. The young ducks we saw as tiny fluffballs are now almost adult and getting their colouring. We took some bread down to feed them and they were basically starting a riot competing for the crumbs (please note wholemeal bread xD). There were some moorhens as well and we saw a new brood of small black fluffies with their parents. An older moorhen chick told us off when we ran out of bread before proceeding to hunt for crumbs.

We also saw a lot of fish in the pools. At least nature seems to be thriving, even if humanity isn't.

[glitterball]

Not having a computer is the best answer, Taffeta!!! 

...little fluffy ducklings are the cutest though 

[ridi]

Honestly... the MLP arena makes me smile a lot these days  I've been having kind of a hard time on social media lately, and am not a big fan of the direction web 2.0 has taken in general, so it is very relieving to know there's still an active web 1.0-based community I can retreat to.

[Taffeta]

Honestly... the MLP arena makes me smile a lot these days  I've been having kind of a hard time on social media lately, and am not a big fan of the direction web 2.0 has taken in general, so it is very relieving to know there's still an active web 1.0-based community I can retreat to.

Agreed.  I'm sorry you're dealing with that, Ridi :/

While I admit that social media is a bit quantity over quantity for me, I also feel like it's become a really polarised space in the last several years. Not just with bigger political issues but smaller ones as well. The things people can hate on each other over are seemingly endless...

I have a handful of forumish places I can still post and I value that. Sadly no anime ones any more.

But yeah, while sometimes we have strong debates and differences of opinions, the arena is a nice space in the world of echo chambers. And I value that.

[ridi]

Thank you Taffeta 

Social media has just been extremely stressful for me because I get the feeling like I'm being iced out from some of my old friend groups, but I can't be sure if they're ignoring me or if it's just the algorithm blocking them from seeing what I post... so I'm just extremely grateful for old-style forums that aren't run entirely by robots working on generating traffic and promoting a competitive platform. I've never actually been much of an active forum goer, but recently I have really grown to appreciate them. I really wish there were more forums for my other hobbies.

[Beth3346]

This forum is definitely proof that the internet doesn't have to be terrible. it definitely gives me some hope on my bad days

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Today I was happy that the moccasins I ordered for my husband only this morning, had a tracking number and were shipped from their First Nation already this afternoon! 
Talk about fast - moving moose LOL

[BlackCurtains]

While I admit that social media is a bit quantity over quantity for me, I also feel like it's become a really polarised space in the last several years. Not just with bigger political issues but smaller ones as well. The things people can hate on each other over are seemingly endless...

Dude, I joined a coffee lovers group on Facebook recently and today the admin had to put up a warning about making fun of other members for like Keurig coffee or just different ways to make coffee in general (liking creamer over milk, etc. ). Myself, missed the "drama" but c'mon. I jokingly call myself a coffee snob but I don't actually think I'm better than someone because they make theirs a different way. Sooooo petty and childish.



What made me happy today is related! I opened a fresh bag of dark roast. Nothing like the first whiff of just opened coffee grounds! (the first cup was delicious too!)

[ridi]

My package that I ranted about in the trivial complaints thread finally made it!  I've been waiting for it for what feels like an eternity. The box was sooo beat up when I got it, but the contents were well padded so nothing was broken.

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My Pokemon bookends! I'm a huge Pokemon collector, and Timburr, the little grey dude with the beam, is one of my top favorites. He doesn't get a ton of merchandise so I'm always certain to pick up everything he's featured on.

[Ponybookworm]

A sweet email from a good friend xxx

[BlackCurtains]

Huh. The small aloe plant I thought was totally dead is bright green and fresh. The bigger one... not so much. We've been having a lot of thunderstorms and rain. I guess it just needed a ton of water. Maybe I should water the big one? Give it a boost.