Weird? Pretty much.

[Dina]

Oh, I saw him first as a young man in Star Trek Deep Space Nine (Well, I think he appeared in The Next Generation too) as Julian Bashir, the chief medical officer of the space station. I have seen him later in many things, including Game of Thrones. According to Wikipedia, he was born in Sudan, by a Sudanese father and a British mother.

Sorry, I thought it would be a well known example. And yes, of course, I imagined he would not be named all that every time someone wanted to talk to him or refer to him, but still, we simply do not have that many names. But 4 names in your ID sounds, as you mentioned, sounds more or less like here. Some peopel have just a given name and a family name, but there are people with 2 or 3 given names and one or two family names. My hubby has just a given name and family name. As I said, I have First Name, Second Name and two family names. There are many combinations.
I would say the most common combination is First Name, Middle Name and one Family Name.

My first name is quite common. and so is my first family name, so in normal communications were I do not care for being identified, I use just those two. Whenever I want people to really know is me, I add my second family name, which is unusual.

[Fcrate]

Okay, so 3 days ago, a very weird thing happened to me. I thought I'd share it, getting a few laughs or some insight from you.  Either would be fine
It was laundry day, which I hate. It's also when I decided to wash the winter's blankets as well, so that I can store them till next year. It's 01:00 PM, sun is bright and it's quite windy. I put my washing machine outside, because it's hose has a leak that I'm too lazy to fix, and I put the first load in and started the machine. I bent down to start getting the next load ready, and was straightening up when I got hit in the back of the head by a freaking owl... and owch it hurts (I shave my head completely every week or so). This particular owl has a nest in the farm somewhere nearby, I don't know where exactly, and it's been living there for a few years, standing on top of the overhead light (6m high) and hunting. In the beginning it would startle and fly away everytime I walked under the overhead light, but eventually it got used to me.

Anyway, the owl hit me and landed on the wall nearby, about 10m away, and I was staring at it, scratching my head (literally and metaphorically) and checking for blood when I got another hit to the back of the head, and the owl's mate flew by and landed next to it.

I walked a couple of steps nearer, and they glowered at me, raising their heads up and down and making threatening noises. These owls are tiny, they weigh about 250-400gm in my estimate. It looked cute eventually I ignored them, and got back to the laundry. Bending down again, picking up a pair of jeans and looking through the pockets, I noticed that one of the owls had already started another bombing run at me, and when it saw me stand up, it aborted the mission and flew away. Weird. Then another pair of pants, and another aborted attack. They both landed on the opposite wall, about 25m away, I got suspicious and faked turning away and bending down, then looked suddenly up, and yes, indeed one of them was starting another attack run, which it aborted immediately. So I took a Jalabiya and held it in my hands, bent down and started counting to 4, turned up suddenly and cast the Jalabiya straight up at the incoming owl, I timed it incorrectly, and missed, the owl screeching and flying away. Next attempt I counted to 5 and threw the Jalabiya up, this time was a partial success, I hit the owl in the midsection and it stumbled a bit, then flew away. I was quite angry (and laughing my ass off at the same time) but I continued with the laundry and was unbothered for another half an hour, but then one of them attacked me again, at which point I gathered some stones in my hand and ran the little chicken off. Didn't see them again untill about 30 minutes to sundown, in their regular spot above the overhead light. No attacks since then. I have no idea why they attacked me in the first place. Clever little bastards though

[Dina]

I need to ask, what is a jalabiya? I want to know if you were trying to kill the owl.
I suspect the owls were disturbed by the sound of the laundry machine. They were probably scared.

Your story reminded me a mockingbird that had her nest in a tree near my university and she usually attacked the people going nearby it. Here is an old video with an example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc2KyzyQxVM 

[Fcrate]

It's the traditional garb for Bedouins and country folk here. I'm sure you've seen it in a thousand movies. Like a full body shirt. I wasn't trying to kill it. (You do know I have an air rifle, right? )
And yes, exactly like the video, although much more organized. Lol

[Dina]

I suspected you were not trying to kill them 
And yes, of course I've seen those clothes, I just did not know how they were called.

Yes, I insist they saw the machine as a threat, and you as the one operating it, was the target.

[Regenbogen]

Fascinating. Probably they were irritated by the noise of the washing machine.
Or they might want to protect their young ones. Both a threat and the noise.

[Fcrate]

Maybe, but this isn't the first time I did this. It's been a few months, but I almost always do laundry outside in the summer.
I just thought of something else, I'll test my theory when I'm doing laundry tomorrow.

[Dina]

Let us know. Intriguing minds want to know.

[Fcrate]

So I did two more days of laundry. I covered my head in the first one and nothing happened (I thought that my shiny head might have reflected the light in their eyes), on the second day I left it uncovered, with the same results. Then I remembered that a couple of weeks ago, I saw them mating. Which is my current theory. A lot of animals respond with violence if you startle them during mating, I don't know about birds, but at this point it seems the only explanation.
Cheers

[Dina]

Well, I mean...no one likes to be interrumpted when mating 

I am super glad they did not attack you anymore, but I still have some fun imagining you, a grown up bald man, being attacked for angry brds (small owls). It is something from a cartoon 

[Regenbogen]

Well, I mean...no one likes to be interrumpted when mating 

LOL, I admit I was thinking the same.

I like birds. I got hit on the head by an eagle's wing once. Wow. That power. He didn't do it on purpose, he was still young. It was during a flight show in a park.
And sometimes by blackbirds at home. But they used their talons. Don't underestimate blackbirds. Their talons can still make you bleed if they mean it.

My late tom cat was attacked by blackbirds once. OK, he also made the mistake and tried to hunt their young and he tried to hit the flying bird with his paw. They made him take cover in a bush.

[Fcrate]

Lol Dina. So true. Well, cows and sheep don't mind.
I just remembered a picture I saw once, with a zebra watching two lions have sex, with the legend : The lion chose sex over food... The zebra chose porn over life.
@Regen: Early this morning one of the owls tried to attack my youngest cat. Screaming after the failed dive. But I think it's a regular occurrence.
And yes, I'm completely aware that it sounds like a cartoon. My girlfriend thought I was making it up to pull a joke on her. My brother told me that I watched too many Looney Tunes before my siesta. xD

[Dina]

I loved the description of that picture, Fcrate. 

I'll be back later, I have an RPG session today 

[Regenbogen]

thought I was making it up to pull a joke on her. My brother told me that I watched too many Looney Tunes before my siesta. xD

LOL
I do believe all those cartoons must have their ideas from real life. They just exaggerate a little bit. But not much. I mean just watch dogs and cats. Especially cats, because they often act so cool and majestic. And then the cat falls off the chair while streching lazy or
the cat wants to look elegant while jumping onto the windowsill, but either uses too much or too few energy, resulting in the cat either falling off the sill while frantically trying to stay up or jumping out the window involuntarily with their legs stretched to every side and claws out. And after the mishap they tend to sit calmly and clean themselves, because hey, I planned to do that anyway. LOL

[Fcrate]

@Dina: hope you had fun. Unless it was a super mega epic marathon RPG session, in which case,... I hope you're having fun.
@Regen: LOL, reminds me of Secret Life Of Pets. Minion is too old to be jumping up an down. Efficient movements for hunting, and that's it. But my young cat, Aurora just discovered windowsills 3 months ago. Still very clumsy, and has no dignity at all. Fake or otherwise. sometimes rubbing against my leg, or a feed sack that I'm about to pick up, I move and she drops on the ground