Sound Off: Comedian Sahar Ali on messages being left ‘on read’

The year is 1800. You’re on holiday with the girls and you’ve made sure to bring a few homing pigeons with you. After a ladies brunch of larded rabbits and pigeon pie, with your ink and pen ready, you write a letter to your beau back home.

“Hello, how are you? I had such a great…” you begin to write before changing your mind, scrapping the parchment and starting again. “Hi, it’s me! Miss you…” You change your mind again; you don’t want to come off too strong.

You settle for “hey”, small case letters because you’re as cool as ice. You tie the parchment to the pigeon and send it on its way home. Ten hours later, you do the math, it’s bound to have arrived by now. You check your messages… nothing. You send another message: “U busy?” Before the ten hour delivery-time is up you send another “It’s me, lol”, and another “ok fine nvm”. You decide to enjoy your holiday.

The next day, no new pigeons arrive with messages from home. “You’re with her, aren’t you? I knew you would do this.” You send another “I hate you.” You decide to enjoy your holiday again, and this time you do.

It’s time to return home. You’re ready for the fight of your life. You’ve had time to practice exactly what you’re going to say. Your jaw drops as your wagon pulls into your home. Or rather, what used to be your home.

What’s left now is ash, slain body parts and empty animal enclosures. While you were away, your home was pillaged by historically-inaccurate pirates. Circling the remains is a flock of pigeons.

The year is 2018. You’ve lived many lives since. You’ve gone from pigeon to telegram, to telephone, to iMessage and yet you still haven’t learned that when someone leaves you ‘on read’, they are busy, not obliged to reply, or even maybe dead.

 

About Pigeon Patrol:

Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.

Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.

Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)

Father Mbaka is back but without his pigeons

In November  2014, he hosted Mrs Patience Jonathan.  Politicians like prayers and charms.  So they hang around clerics and sorcerers. At that event, Father Mbaka poured prayers on Mrs Joanthan and  showered praises on  President Jonathan. He said President Jonathan was not inept. He said his opponents maliciously  underestimated his good works.  He wondered why anyone would blame Jonathan, rather than Boko haram, for the insurgency that had taken control of over 20 local government areas. He said  it was unfair to make  the ‘Bring Back Our Girls’ demand  on an innocent Jonathan rather than on Boko haram. Fr. Mbaka A month later, in December 2014, Father Mbaka  did a somersault and  dropped a bombshell.  God, he said, had rejected Jonathan.  God spoke to him and confirmed it with pigeons. He had released a set of pigeons to fly and fight for Jonathan. One or two  of the pigeons refused to fly.  He went to God with his curiosity. God told him the pigeon didn’t fly because the kingdom had departed from  Jonathan. He could have stopped there. He is a messenger and  no one would ask him for explanations. But  Mbaka is not gifted with circumspection. He revisited his assessment of Jonathan’s stewardship.  And  recanted. He said  Jonathan was actually as clueless as his opponents had pronounced. Many blinked in embarrassment at his named volte-face.  He said everything Jonathan touched, had become infested with bad luck. He said he was compelled by God, so he was unabashed. He was vilified. Bishops accused him of gross insubordination. They said he had  undermined the neutrality of the church in party politics. Some  Jonathan’s supporters branded him a counterfeit prophet.  They said the internal inconsistencies  of his positions,  exposed him as a charlatan. They pointed to a history of what they termed— other ill motivated  and false political prophesies—and said he could be a victim of  auditory hallucinations. Father Mbaka dismissed  the  insinuations that he had spoken out of bitterness  as childish.  Buhari, won in 2015. Mbaka has stood patiently with Buhari since. Father Mbaka is back in the news. This time he has not pigeonholed himself. He has left a lot of room for maneuver. He says  Buhari was chosen but  President Buhari has wandered. He thinks that Buhari has been hijacked and put in a bag by  some evil men that surround him. He says the president must change or be changed. That  could suggest that Buhari might yet  get another chance. Perhaps if he showed firm leadership. That is one way of reading his prophecy. But Mbaka has another warning. He says the president must not contest the forthcoming elections.  He is certain he would be put to shame if he did. This  warning seems to foreclose the possibility of a second term under any circumstance.  He says the man is not only sick but old. And because he is frail, everything in the country, he says, has gone frail. He concedes that Buhari has good intentions. But that he is physically too weak to see them through. He has allowed  opportunists who pay lip service to corruption seize the reins of government. And rather than sweep away corruption and poverty with the brooms they came with, they have preoccupied themselves  with sweeping public funds into their big bags.  Mbaka, definitely,  has not lost his theatricals. It would seem  though that Mbaka always comes with  grains of  truth,  delivered  melodramatically in a bag of chaff. But since he always claims  God, we must then believe that the incoherencies are spiritual permutations and combinations mortals like us would forever find difficult to understand. If President Buhari contests and wins, Mbaka yet wins.  It would be said  that Buhari listened and changed his ways.  And God  gave him another chance. If Buhari hearkens and chooses not to  contest, then the prophet will  also  be true. He yielded to a divine revelation. Head or tail Mbaka wins this one. Some of Buhari’s supporters have denounced the priest. They think  he is being used to create negative sensation. Some say he is  badly ego driven.  I know that Mbaka  could rightly be considered  a political man of God. It’s possible that he delivers what God tells him together with his own feelings. But  it would serve Buhari and his team  well to accept the prophecy as constructive criticism. What Mbaka has told  with fanfare as prophecy is actually trite. There is nothing in that  prophecy that is a revelation. There was nothing he told Jonathan in 2014 that was a revelation too.  But Mbaka’s  admonition is yet significant. Not  because  he has a sizable following in parts of the Southeast. No. He supported this president. When those who  stuck out their necks and supported this president air their frustrations  in hisses, in  letters, or in prophecies,  the president ought to listen. There is nothing in Mbaka’s prophecy that Aisha Buhari, the wife of the president, didn’t tell the BBC  a year ago. Father  Mbaka referred to  the president’s wife as a frustrated and rejected  god-given mentor to the president. The First Lady had declared she would not support her husband if he failed recover  the  reins of government from usurpers. She was frustrated.  She is not alone. She came back a few  months ago from her sick husband in London and announced that  significant changes  were imminent. She triumphantly proclaimed that the Jackals and Hyenas would be banished. Whatever her husband promised her in ‘the other room’ in London has become a failed promise.  Mbaka likens the president to Jonah  swallowed by a whale. The problem is that the Abuja whale appears not in any hurry to release its victim. Those around the president could boast that the president would win the national elections in 2019, easily. That could be correct. But they must be concerned that the president has failed to live up to  the expectations of his many supporters around the country. That is neither  good for the president and nor for  the country. And performance must be  more important than winning for winning sake. Fortunately for Father Mbaka, no Bishop would invite him for questioning. The council of Bishops could even possibly praise him for valor and forthrightness. The complex nature of Nigeria’s politics allows for such fundamental changes in attitude. Nothing is hinged on any moral principles. Father Mbaka thinks the governor of Gombe could be a good fit. Since he has  unfettered access to God, why can’t he simply submit the man’s name for promotion and submit the names of the members of the cabal for punishment. If the men of God were firm themselves perhaps the politicians would sit up.

 

About Pigeon Patrol:

Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.

Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.

Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)

Midland County Commissioners set to take action against pesky pigeons

The Midland County Commissioners Court is scheduled to meet on Monday and item #20 on their agenda is a proposal to purchase two more Bird Buffers for the Midland County Horseshoe Arena.

Commissioner Scott Ramsey tells us it’s a proposal that is all but a done deal.

“Everybody’s for it, the ones we have already have worked so well here and over at the amphitheater that we need to expand our space a little bit more,” said Ramsey.

The Bird Buffer machines work by spraying an invisible and biodegradable bird repellent in the form of vapor and without harming the bird. That convinces the animals to fly elsewhere.

“It takes them once maybe twice to realize they really don’t want to fly through this again,” said Ramsey.

The Commissioner of Precinct 1 in Midland County also believes that the Horseshoe Arena should be a top priority of the county considering how valuable of an asset the facility has become, as it hosts hundreds of events a year.

“This is a great facility we want to make it look nice, we don’t want people to have to walk through what the birds left,” said Ramsey.

Ramsey says without Bird Buffers, maintenance staff would be overloaded with bird dropping duty, and that the machines will actually save the county money on maintenance costs in the long run.

 

About Pigeon Patrol:

Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.

Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.

Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)

Mormon church President Thomas Monson dies aged 90 Newburgh Gazette

Presidents of the Utah-based faith are considered prophets who lead the church through revelations from God in collaboration with two top counselors and members of the Quorum of the Twelve. Nelson is likely to be formally named to the post in the coming days under longstanding church protocol created to ensure a smooth handover by giving the post to the longest-tenured member of the governing Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Nelson would become the second-oldest person to be named president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Those who knew him remembered him as a humble man. William Walker, a former general authority for the church who worked closely with Monson for many years, was quoted in a news report from National Public Radio. He also served in the Korean War as a U.S. Army medic and was stationed in Korea, Japan and the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., the LDS states on its website. The next president was not immediately named, but the job is expected to go to the next longest-tenured member of the church’s governing Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Russell M. Nelson, per church protocol. He related a story about Monson, whom he often traveled with. Monson is survived by three children, eight grandchildren, and many great-grandchildren. Throughout his life, Monson was an avid fisherman who also raised homing pigeons, specifically, roller pigeons who twirled as they flew. Despite softening his rhetoric against LGBTQ people, Monson was also responsible for banning baptisms for children living with gay parents, and instituting a requirement that those children had to officially disavow homosexual relationships before being allowed to serve a mission with the LDS church – an important right of passage within the religion. He led the faith’s involvement against the passage of gay marriage in California in 2008 while simultaneously encouraging it members to be more open and compassionate toward gays and lesbians. Thomas Monson, leader of the Mormon church, has died at the age of 90 at his home in Salt Lake City, Utah, the church said on Wednesday. Dantzel passed away in February 2005, and in April 2006, Nelson married Wendy Watson. Monson served most of his adult life in leadership positions of the church.

 

About Pigeon Patrol:

Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.

Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.

Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)

Dumbarton’s pesky pigeons ‘a tourist turn-off’

The mess left by pesky pigeons at Dumbarton East station is putting off visitors heading to the town’s castle, according to Dumbarton East Community Council.

Members want netting to be put up under the station bridge to stop the pigeons perching on the girders.

The council is considering applying to the Common Good Fund for the £30,000 needed for the netting which would prevent the birds creating a mess on the pavements.

A recent meeting heard that getting rid of the mess was an important issue for the station as it is the dropping off point, both for visitors to the castle and residents who have to put up with the problem on a permanent basis.

 

About Pigeon Patrol:

Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.

Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.

Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)