Hong Kong

To my great surprise, it looks as though the d̶e̶m̶o̶c̶r̶a̶t̶i̶c̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶e̶l̶e̶c̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶g̶o̶v̶e̶r̶n̶m̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶H̶o̶n̶g̶ ̶K̶o̶n̶g̶ Chinese government has backed down on that extradition treaty. That seems an unusually secure act for them, the type of thing that a government who are certain of their control of the situation would do. I had expected them to insist on letting it expire with the end of the current legislative session without ever actually withdrawing it, then end up angry and frustrated and intensely paranoid because the opposition (angry, frustrated, and paranoid themselves, with much better reason) wouldn't accept that as a magnanimous gesture of goodwill.

I tend to wonder if Trump had something to do with that. He and Xi seem to be able to talk pretty freely.

In general, I admire the Chinese, but honest to God they can behave like self-destructive jackasses when there's even a hint that their sovereignty or judgement might be questioned.

Sparrow Babies

D box babies today. They've grown a lot. Eyes are open, and their feathers just beginning to emerge from the quills. Young, alert little birds now, and before much longer they'll be starting to exercise their wings, and begin to be interested in what's outside that entrance hole. Three is all there were, plus the egg that ddn't hatch.




I removed the egg from the nest, but needn't have worried about it. It had a very small crack in the shell, and was dried out and hollow. It's stuck to nesting material here. Not sure what happened to it, but the shell seems of a reasonable thickness. I may sprinkle some limestone powder in the seed tube, just in case.

I think there's a hen sitting eggs in the A box now. I didn't check for fear of scaring her off the nest.