Hi and welcome to Bright Minds from Tick Mill. I'm your host Patrick Munnally and in this series we're setting out to answer some of the most commonly asked questions around investment and trading through entertaining and insightful conversations with seasoned insiders. For our final episode in this season of Bright Minds, we thought we'd do something a little bit different. Throughout the recording of the last 11 episodes we've heard from so many fantastic guests from a range of different fields and looking back on all these great conversations we noticed some clear themes that came up again and again. In this season finale special we're going to look back and explore those themes and discuss a selection of interview highlights with a very special guest. The three recurring themes we identified are cultivating your mindset, identifying patterns and using tech as a tool. What's fascinating about these topics is that they came up consistently across different episodes regardless of our guest's area of specialism with technology and pattern recognition frequently coming up in discussions where we weren't expecting to hear about them. The cross-pollination of ideas has been one of our favorite things about this first season of Bright Minds and here today to look back on the season and discuss these important recurring topics is Ingmar Mattis. Ingmar is the co-founder of Tick Mill and the executive director of Tick Mill Group Limited. Before launching Tick Mill he served as the CEO of Foreign Exchange Broker Armada Markets and the head of brokerage of global investment firm Admiral Markets. Ingmar brings almost two decades of experience in managing financial services firms with a focus on operations, financial technology, securities trading and risk management. Ingmar thanks for joining us today so let's kick things off by discussing our first major theme of the season which is cultivating your mindset. Before we jump into a few clips Ingmar I'd love to hear about your experience with developing your own mindset. Hello Patrick first of all thank you very much for inviting me over I've been enjoying your shows a lot and I think you're doing a great deal in terms of educating the the trader community out there so my journey really has been has been quite long so I started trading back in 1997. I've gone through many many many roads during my journey so I've traded all the asset classes at some stage I was focused on technical analysis at some stage I was focused on fundamental analysis and it's it's been really really interesting road and of course I've seen all of the market crashes and and all of the booms the last 20 years or so. One of the guests who really informed us on that was Tony Blauer who appeared in episode two to talk about fear so let's hear from Tony. When I go in the fear loop what immediately starts to happen is and this is universal regardless of gender age experience doubt hesitation procrastination those three steps happen automatically and they can happen like in a nanosecond. Overcoming that fear is a really key development in the ability to consistently trade the markets. How did you manage fear in terms of your own trading Ingmar? It's a good question and I would say maybe when once you have a certain amount of fear in you then you tend to maybe take decisions that you otherwise wouldn't and if I look back 20 years the effect that fear had in me was was oftentimes quite dependent on the actual capital that I had available for myself and the actual position size that I took in each and every instance. When the level of fear becomes too big then you have already made a mistake so you have probably committed too much capital or your position size is pretty pretty big already and you should probably look back. That's an excellent point and something certainly I've experienced over the years as well. I guess a key part of understanding our mindset and how to make better decisions is about recognizing our biases. In episode five Paul Craven spoke to us about the field of behavioural finance and within that episode he outlined for us a couple of biases common in the financial industry. Let's hear from Paul. I think the most pernicious bias though is probably confirmation bias and again just to refresh people what that means. It means the idea being I've come back with my conclusions. I may have made a good case to buy something say a stock and the fact it's gone down five or ten percent it doesn't make me challenge your question myself. That's such a great point from Paul. For me when it's starting out as a trader the biggest problem I had was directional bias. I wanted to enforce my will upon the market either going up or down on the market which as we all know is a fatal flaw. In terms of your experiences of biases, what have they been like? I have been able to understand the strength of my confidence level and it's been the case that I might be confident today but I don't trade. I might be confident again tomorrow but I don't trade and only ten days later I understand that my confidence level is pretty much extreme and this is the time I need to actually place the trader so I'm delaying and delaying the decision making until I'm really really confident but even then I am mindful about the position size and the risk. Yeah and I guess the confidence and when to actually execute a trade position sizing and risk all funnel into one of the central challenges for any trader and that's sticking to a trading plan. As markets shift and circumstances change it can be tempting to abandon a carefully planned strategy to risk chasing bigger gains or trying to avoid those painful losses. Phoebe Chamere while discussing the gender investment gap with us in episode one spoke about research showing women outperforming men in the market over the long term simply due to a natural tendency to be more risk averse and patient. Let's hear from Phoebe. Research shows that women actually do perform better when they invest and I think it's down to a few factors. One of them is kind of patience. I think women set their sights on the long term goal which is what any good investor should do anyway and they kind of will buy a good solid sound investment that perhaps they've done their own fundamental research on or they've relied on a professional to do so and they hold that and through through thick and thin volatile times and that's how you can have a really good investment strategy. Yeah I guess one of my favorite comments from the the discussion we had with Phoebe was the idea I think Christine Lagarde made the point that if we'd had Lehman sisters instead of Lehman brothers the world might have looked quite a bit different through 2008. What are your thoughts on that Ingmar? To be honest I tend to agree and I was just thinking when we when we heard the clip that that how would I differentiate women in comparison to men and I would I would say that women definitely have better intuition and the other quality that women have is that their ability to make decisions in overall they are more humble in their decision making. So a typical man would place a trade being in full confidence and feeling like they would go to war and they would win the war while women probably would be more humble and would rather maybe ride a trend and fighting against the trend. Excellent point and as I mentioned earlier one of the most interesting things about having conversations with all these experts working in different fields has been noticing the points of contact between their areas of interest. Here Dr Andrew Minnaker is discussing the brain and mindsets in episode four that we did on neuroeconomics but also covers another key theme identifying patterns. Let's hear from Andrew. The field of neuroeconomics says that the brain is a prediction machine basically. So in that moment of I call it the heat of the moment just should I get into the trade? Should I stay in? Should I get out? At those moments the brain is trying to predict what's about to happen and as a result there's a whole host of biological functions occurring in the body and in the brain and I'll just finally say that emotion is both a body state and a brain state together at the same time. Yeah I mean that is a is a fantastic comment and I think going back to the idea of the evolution of trading for a long time the idea was that you were to trade without any emotion and to ignore your emotions and just execute your trade almost in a robotic fashion but whereas more progressive research now certainly suggests that better traders are those who accept and understand their emotions as opposed to avoiding them. Any thoughts on that Ingmar? I completely agree with you and when it comes to emotions of course what I found really fascinating at Tickmill and over the years when I've been managing risk myself when it comes to our exposures then whether a person is in Europe, Africa, Asia or somewhere in Latin America they generally have very identical emotions when they see news coming out or when they see specific chart pattern and when it comes to myself then the fact that I've passed through so many crises over the years whether the 2000 the 2008 and the corona crisis and so forth and it has made me personally when it comes to my emotions almost fully emotionless so I might win have a good trade I might lose have a really bad trade but I really don't see any big fluctuations of emotions in in myself. Yeah and that's certainly an important progression in any trader's career and that idea of recognizing subconscious pattern recognition whereby you spend so much time watching watching the markets watching charts or watching news flow that you subconsciously recognize patterns that are developing and so I guess that brings us on to our second big topic of identifying patterns. How could we not hear a clip from the infamous Martin Armstrong in episode three Martin outlined for us his economic confidence model which tracks patterns in global capital flows over long periods in order to get a clearer picture of what the future markets might hold. Let's hear from Martin. We took a list of financial panics that expanded 224 years and that they were international not just domestic and I just took the 26 events and divided into that ended up with 8.6 years and I just thought it was an average so I plotted it out and it picked even the 87 crash right to the day. Yeah I mean Martin is is a rigorous student of history to put it mildly and someone I followed for for many many years and his modeling is is really fantastic and and I guess that idea of using vast data sets to identify potential future patterns is something now that is really coming to the forefront in the markets. I guess you're seeing that more at Tick-Mill as well Ingmar. Indeed yes and and I think patterns more or less big big generator of patterns is really the underlying let's say monetary policy or or politics in general and the fact that human beings tend to react to different circumstances economic situations chart patterns almost the same way across across the globe. I've definitely been a fan of patterns there in my trading career. Also whilst it's important to make our investment and trading strategies more robust by identifying patterns in the market and using them as a basis for future predictions that outward view is only one perspective. Here's Andrew Minnaker again explaining the importance of looking inwards to identify patterns in our own behavior. Let's hear from Andrew again. There's not just you know patterns in the in the chart that we're looking for but it's patterns within ourselves really is what was I think what you were alluding to and that's really important part of performance improvement for a trader. It's not simply understanding and paying attention to patterns on the screen but keeping track of paying attention to and understanding our own personal patterns of thought and emotional experience. That's a great point from Andrew. I mean certainly when I started out one of the patterns I began to recognize in myself was the idea of revenge trading so I'd come up with a trading thesis take put the position on it would go against me I'd lose money and then I think right the market's wrong I'm right and so I you know to say it was trading with the strategies very loosely defined there but that revenge emotion is a pattern I recognize within my own behavior. What about you Ingmar did you any early stories of patterns that you recognize that helped improve your trading? I've definitely realized Patrick at some stage that when you go out with your friends on Friday evenings and then come back and the markets are still open then you definitely definitely shouldn't trade and when your account is incurred a big loss then you definitely need to sit tight and not do anything probably for a few days and in terms of psychology then what I've seen as well and what I alluded to in the past was that I've been drawing these kind of charts confidence charts in my mind when I trade you know so if I feel that today is maybe 10 percent what it was with my best trade for example then definitely that confidence that I seem to have today is not enough actually to place to place a trader. Interesting and it certainly valid point about the Friday night trading set up so we're I guess we're beginning to see a description of trading as a relationship between what's happening out there in the markets and the reaction to that activity in the mind of a trader here's Martin again to speak on that point. What I basically found was that all markets trade the same because the common denominator is human nature basically we panic the same way regardless of its wheat if it's corn if it's gold or it's a currency so when you're really looking at a chart you're looking at humans and how they're interacting with that instrument. So I guess that goes back to the point you were making earlier Ingmar that the nature of human beings is simply to repeat patterns over and over again regardless of I guess the circumstances it's just the natural human reaction that is almost like a default setting. Indeed yes and I would say that if all of the market participants would be just small guys like myself for example then probably you would be able to predict markets with a high level of accuracy but what really changes the dynamics in my mind is that there are these whales out there or let's say bigger players like so if you could analyze the behavior of a small of a crowd of let's say small investors you would be able to predict but at times you know you would have maybe the Bank of Japan or or some government coming in with their policy changes or some other news events and that completely changes the dynamics and because small investors generally are not big enough to affect the market then you always need to be aware of these bigger players who come in at you know two o'clock you know in the early morning or on Friday evening when you have a have a pint with a friend in the local pub. That idea of trying to analyze and process the actions of those bigger players and find patterns like you say I mean the Bank of Japan certainly are notorious for for taking action the unusual hours of the day so I guess that that brings us to our third and final big area for discussion and that's technology as a tool thanks to the massive leaps in technology we've seen over the past decades and the acceleration of mobile tech and most certainly AI in recent years new paths for investors to access markets and new ways to process data become more widely available. Hariton Christo joined us in episode six to give a rundown of the current ways in which AI is transforming the finance industry let's hear from Hariton. There are various types of data for example there are people looking how many people they have visited a particular store today how this could actually impact the price of an asset we have also seen very very recently phase recognition where the quant's trying to find patterns between the phase of someone in the banking sector where they announce the interest rate decision is going to affect the market. Yes I mean that's certainly one way in which AI has been used I mean I've heard of hedge funds using drones to track global shipping patterns and freight patterns and the extent of freight that's occurring globally so I guess more and more we're going to see that use of artificial intelligence to help to predict future outcomes are there any ways that you've seen personally that AI is is starting to impact trading decisions or investment decisions? I have yes and and I really like the the project that Hariton actually runs at Tickamel because I mean they look at really vast set of data you wouldn't even imagine that you know that some data sets are available there and when the tsunami happened in Japan for example when there was this big tsunami that took out the nuclear power plant and everything then it was later said somewhere in the press that the guys from Goldman's traded whether it was 10 or 20 seconds before the news hit the wires and and the story was that they were able to place detection mechanisms in the in the buoys circulating around Japan so they got the signal sooner than the than the rest of the market and and what what really matters is maybe just you know an age of maybe one or two seconds or maybe even smaller age and you are able to make millions so so maybe yes over time human beings become almost useless when it comes to making trading decisions yeah I guess not only does tech give us the opportunity to get ever more accurate predictions like that example there from from Goldman but I guess it also massively helps to lower the costs associated with trading and allows greater access to multiple markets and multiple financial instruments CEO of Tickamel UK Duncan Anderson joined us for episode eight talking depth about how technology has changed our industry let's hear from Duncan what we have now is programmers with the ability not just able to trade one particular market but they can trade multiple markets over different time horizons and this is just as one singular individual I guess from a provider perspective in the early 2000s there were roughly three or four main providers but the barriers to entry were huge I mean the cost of building cost of servicing was enormous so the cost there was significant yeah I mean that's a great point from Duncan I mean personally from my experience of trading now similar to Ewing more than nearly 20 years I've witnessed the the reduction in costs coming down significantly in terms of access to market and I guess you as a as a market provider have also had to adjust to the market conditions to remain competitive indeed and and in our case so we are somewhat special in that sense that majority of our clients are actually trading with various algorithms so the commission rate that we have is extremely sensitive to our client base and of course over time I think there's some sort of stabilization that one could expect because the commissions or the fees really cannot go below zero and and at some stage when maybe the weaker market participants are pushed out and commission structures maybe or the fees in general would would go higher again not only has tech made it easier for experience and back or hardened traders to explore new markets but the development of platforms that run on the tech in our pockets has opened up the possibility of trading to individuals and retail traders who previously wouldn't have thought to be so hands-on with investing their money here's Phoebe again to talk about the benefits of getting started on investment apps there are apps where you can invest your spare change and you kind of to a certain extent get to know how the investment markets work you get a feel for what it's like to lose money and to gain money through investments and you know that is just testing the waters that's dipping your little toe in that's certainly true I mean it's it's surprising to me how often when I'm out in public now you see people on their mobile with either the mt4 mt5 platform open and and executing trades and that has been a big proliferation of of trading into the retail community and I guess tick mill have been part of that process we have yes and and you're spot on in that sense that the developments in the technology space in that sense have been huge I remember back in the days when I started trading then in order to place an options trade you really need to pick up a phone and call a bank and I remember the bank would then send out you know 20 pages of options agreement and you had to sign it send it back and that was when I was in the university and you know at some stage because I use the facts in the university this administration building at some stage people started looking a little bit suspicious that okay why is this guy coming back all the time and you know getting these faxes and sending them back but today yeah the world is different that everybody has their app and you can really trade any instrument out there like whether it's orange juice or you know cryptos or you know palm oil or whatever so it's it's fascinating but at same time we have to be mindful also about the risks because many of these you know younger investors they they are not so concerned about the risk and we have to be mindful of it about this that's a really good point Ingmar because I guess that better access or the proliferation of access to technology that allows more people into the trading world doesn't necessarily mean that all those new traders will do well Duncan again outlined the importance of research and planning before you make investments or trades the fact that you can trade like a pro like a quant like an institutional player it actually then comes down to you so first you really got to understand exactly what you want to get out of this trading opportunity this business yeah and you've got to treat it like a business yeah you can't sort of bullshit yourself excuse my French but you you know you have to know what you are getting yourself into and you want to have to know what you're getting yourself into you've got to create a strategy you've got to then test it yeah I mean that's that's sage advice there from Duncan and especially his French use of it I guess the this is it really and certainly from my my experience that I only became successful at trading once I started to treat it as a business so I was taking trades that I predefined within I guess you call it a trading plan I call it a business plan and I think those are the real pitfalls for retail traders where they don't treat it as a business it's more of a almost a fruit machine that they that's where they they come unstuck and certainly I guess you have have seen that over the years yourself Ingmar I have yes and and with this new technology like I was saying before so the the concern that I have is that trading has almost become like an entertainment so people just place trades out of boredom or simply that they you know they don't have anything else to do the access to markets and the access to all of these instruments on one side is positive but on the other side it's really difficult to make decisions then and pick the right instruments so back in the days when I started you know you you really had access to maybe like 10 20 different shares in the local on the local stock exchange and then you pretty much knew everything about these companies but now so because the the opportunities are so huge you could trade anything and then most mostly people don't even understand what they're trading or why they're placing a trade so so that's that's definitely a risk and people should be you know thinking about this for sure excellent points again Ingmar and I guess with these incredible advances in fintech accelerating at an ever-growing pace it's tempting to imagine a future where humans with all our biases and emotions will be obsolete when it comes to managing capital but from our discussions with industry experts we've heard how the most likely future is one where AI and other tech works in harmony with human traders with humans guiding the technology and using it as a tool for better outcomes and that was something that came across from my discussion with Hariton let's hear from Hariton again on that point we see like the next step to be humans along with AI and machine learning to work together to find patterns and understand we don't have to forget that you know AI is not always like a black box the various way where you can understand a prediction that the model does and you will be able to go in more depth and understand okay why this decision was made was it correct was not correct I've learned over my career that there are certain market environments that I'm particularly good at trading and there are other environments that are not so good at trading and I've actually working with development teams have developed algorithmic models to trade through those periods where where I'd be less profitable is is that idea the symbiosis of humans and AI working together Ingmar something that you you you think is going to be a future development absolutely and if I look back into like my trading career then I started using so algorithms I think already 10 years ago so and it was a huge benefit because I remember I was maybe you know sitting on a beach somewhere and and at the same time my algorithm was trading the the pound dollar so it was a forex related to the EA that I had at the time but it would be interesting to see what would happen you know if the central bank decisions as an example or policy decisions themselves would also be made by AI driven machines because if that is not a case then there's always a level of uncertainty that one has so you might have the best computer you might have the best AI software but as long as there are people at the BOJ or or or the Fed that make decisions then there are always going to be surprises surprises that even the best AI is unable to foresee yeah and I guess for for the final word on the the topic with respect to to AI and humans working together here's Paul again from episode five with his vision for the future of humans and technology working together when I talk to people who play chess at a very very serious senior level they tell me the following things the machine will beat a human being the best machine will be the best human beings however the combination of a human being and a machine will beat the best machine so if that's true and if that carries over that simple argument isn't it may be too simple but I I retain my faith in the ability of of human beings to make good decisions for the benefit of in in this case investment or chess or whatever it may be Ingmar thanks so much for joining us today and to our audience thanks for joining us on this season of Bright Minds from Ticknell we hope you've enjoyed these conversations as much as we have and we hope that you've come away with lots of useful guidance and ideas on how to improve your own trading life Ingmar thanks again for joining us today thank you Patrick it was a pleasure attending the show


I see Newman-Hoff. I see Goofy-ah. Hello, Kubert the Gray. If you guys don't follow Kubert the Gray on TikTok, you're missing out. So cute. All right, let's see. Let's see. We are also live on YouTube here. So I'm working with a lot of different chats here, guys. So bear with me. I decided to go live today because I haven't been able to post content in a while. It's really funny as I make content all the time, but it's a lot of work to get it edited and sometimes actually the uploading that takes me the longest. Not the technicality of it, but. So bear with me. Hey everyone, I'm so excited to see you guys. Let me see if I could show you Merlin. Well, there he is. Come here, Merlin. So what we're doing today is it's Sunday and we are in the office. One day I'll give you guys an office tour. Those of you on YouTube, you've already seen my video with Vinny. That was so much fun. Was it that fun? Yeah, Ty, I didn't think it was as fun. I got a bit in the face, that's not great. But Ty, why don't you clear the record? A lot of people were saying about that video, like how come you let him do that? First of all, one, Ty insisted Vinny come to the office, right, Ty? Okay, second of all, I warned him to not pick up Vinny. And that happened. And if you watch the video back, you see he says, I want him to bite me. And there it is. So anyway, it's all about you guys today. So I'm gonna go through different chats. Until by the way, I find one where I can have all of you at once. Look at this, is this Facebook live over here? We got so many viewers over here. My God, guys, Facebook is popping. Hi, David Hurley. Hi, Martin James. Oh wow, Norway, Madeleine. You guys are so cute. Oh, Felicia, Yonkers, New York. Neon's asked why I don't have pigeons. I've had a pigeon before because we rescued one. To be honest with you guys, I don't really set out. You're gonna see coming up in some videos. I don't set out to get any specific pets. Okay, by the way, Merlin's got my autograph thing or whatever you would call it. I sign when you guys order with me. We send out these cards in the box and I write your name and I try to imagine what kind of birds you have just based off of your order. Cause I could tell when some of you have large birds and small birds, very interesting to me. And then I got right, you guys, a little note. So Merlin was after my pen here. What was I telling you though? I was telling you something that I felt was important. Who remembers? Who can help me out here? Oh, I don't set out to ever get a specific pet. I know I would have had to get a mustache parakeet for sure after I lost Picasso. And I know that I would have, I always want an African gray. But aside from that, every pet that I have is just usually somebody that needs a rescue, usually. That's the way it is. So let's answer some of your questions. So we're going to go to Facebook Live right now on Marlene McCohen. Oh, Madeline says, what is your zodiac sign? Leo, sun, moon, rising, north, node, first five signs in Leo. Isn't that insane? Sam, what's up Sam Goad? Okay, let's get some questions. We have Steve Desi. Do parakeets need to be in pairs? So this is like, this is very interesting. Birds technically should always be in pairs. And in some countries is actually illegal to not have birds in pairs. But in the situation we have here in the United States, and I know you guys are from all around the world, sometimes you can't just assume that a pair is going to get along. Actually, I saw a question today from somebody who was, and I hope they're somewhere here alive that they're hearing this. They were asking me about the ring neck parakeets, and they have two of them, and they were wondering why it's so hard to tame them. And this is why one day, I hope I could do perhaps some consultations. It's not something I really wanted to get into just because it's so busy all the time, maybe I could do something like this one day a month or something like that. Tiger Tail Junior, that's Tiger Tail Junior. So if you need the big one. That's one of the Nancy's orders. Oh, Nancy! Nancy, we are packing your order right now. But back to the question at hand is we kind of like, birds still choose their mate. So like, you could have two birds, like my two African grays, they're not happy together. That doesn't mean keep a bird alone. Birds should be alone. Birds should be with you. They're social animals. They should be with other birds.  Like if one of their mates died, they could literally kill another bird. It's insane. What? OZL, can't do your birthday is July 31st? Stop, that's my birthday. Okay, let's get another question. Whoa! Sandy, right, I have a macaw that's four years old and used to bite my husband and she stopped, but now she is biting me. Whoa! Look, here's the thing. With bird questions that are personal like that, it really does take a whole evaluation. It would take a lot of questions for me personally to ask you back in front, like what has changed is he bonding with the bird more, is he putting a lot more effort? Are you the one doing the hard work sometimes when with Brando, she bites me because I'm the one that's like, it's time for bed. It's time to go back in the cage. These are the things that you need to do. I'm saying to Brando, she's got total FOMO. So sometimes when you're the one doing the work that they don't like, you become the person that they're angrier with or perhaps too that now he's bonded with your husband and then not so happy when you're around. Rocky's like that with me. Let's take a question.  Let's take a question over, ah, Deena Sam, girl, I miss you, you're so sweet. Let's take a question on YouTube here. Calypso moonlight, can parrots drink tea? Absolutely, not only can parrots drink tea, but the first and foremost thing I have to say right away is that only caffeine free tea, but these herbal teas can be amazing for your birds. And in fact, we have our own brand of teas that we have partnered up with posh city pets who makes avian teas for birds. And they have made, we have made together, many of our birds have their own blend. So Jersey has her own blend and Rocky has his own blend and Vinny has his own. And for example, we put a lot of thought into everything that we make. So Vinny's blend is a mint and rose tea. And it's because he's a rose breasted cockatoo and he has got a minty attitude. So you'll see exactly that. Wow, click to see stars comments. Oh my God, guys, I'm sorry. Have I been ignoring important stars comments? I'm kind of new to this. Oh, Sherry Beck sent 50 stars. You're so amazing, Sherry, thank you. I love that. Oh my God, thank you. That's on Facebook. Those things mean a lot to me, guys. By the way, hi, Sal, Danielo. I saw you were on here. Oh my God, I think my mom's on here too. Hello there, everybody. So we just did, Sada said, my parakeet used to jump in my cup and drink the tea. Absolutely. Ooh, I have a good question from the Raptors Lair over on YouTube. How do you manage birds in their adolescent phase? My budgie is in his and he doesn't want to interact as much anymore. So here's the thing. Brando's kind of in that phase, right? And this is the time when they get hormonal. They tend to not want to interact because they've found, like they've, a lot of times found a nest, right? So for Brando, she feels like it's under her couch. And so she's, she doesn't want to interact. Like she wants to go in there and like pretend that it's her nest. And that can also be, so that can happen in phases of their life like the adolescent phase when they get hormonal and that can also happen seasonally, right? I'll be honest with you guys. I, I'm a big advocate for letting birds be birds. I think we take away so much from them. Like we say, oh, we don't want you to fly and we're going to clip your wings. And you know, we don't want to encourage nesting. And you have to know every single component of what you could be doing to your bird. So for example, I don't want to say, you know, let your bird nest and then your bird gets egg bound because your bird's also not flighted, right? So there's a lot to know when going into having a bird, but in general, I will say that I really do try to let them be them in the healthiest way possible. So I don't discourage activities that are activities for them, you know, foraging, playing in their boxes, things like that. But I'm always aware of exactly like what their behavior is causing or what that activity is causing. And then I'll adjust if I have to. I understand it's pretty complicated because birds are not common knowledge the way dogs are. So that's why on YouTube, you'll see people giving very general advice, which is like, say away from all this, all that, all that, but it's just safer, you know? So that's why you'll see things like that. But at the same time, you have to really do the work to get to know your bird and birds as much as possible and how you can be helping them as well. Oh my God, TTDC vibe. I've given them one full room and they're not caged. I absolutely love that. I think we need to normalize like bird rooms. It's not the easiest thing to do in the world, you know, but I think it's very important.  I can't wait to meet you. You gotta come to LA because I've heard so much about you, but also I watch you on Instagram. Let's see. What Sal says, we were going to buy a green sheet conure today, but I wouldn't do it without you here. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Ooh. We will, you know what? I will come to New Jersey guys and we'll look into some rescue. I know a very beautiful rescue over in Rhode Island and we can work together to find a perfect bird for you. I'm packing Stacey's order and she got more spices. Don't pack Stacey's order. No. I'm gonna tell you why, but she did get a Nellie spice. Stacey is part of my Flyders Club. She is a patron and she's at work today and she didn't wanna miss this video.  She didn't wanna miss out. And so when you are part of my Flyders Club, I try to make sure I make all those accommodations but put it together so that I can show her packing it. Love Stacey, by the way. Okay, so let's go over to Instagram. Hey, hey, the one and only Kelly91. Valerie says she wishes she had a bird room. I know guys, we're actually in the process of making a bird room ourselves. So much goes on in that house. It's insane. Let's see, what do you guys have? I don't even see any questions. Budgie52110, is the mystery box worth it? I really wanna get it. So I wanna tell you why I created a mystery box because you guys know I have feathered fun boxes. I wish I had one here to show you. Ty's gonna bring me a feathered fun box. I'm gonna show you the difference between a mystery box and a feathered fun box. I actually don't have all the ingredients and I'm gonna explain just so that you guys understand and we'll get back to bird questions but of course this is about the birds. So the feathered fun box, check out this awesome box. The feathered fun box is a subscription box for your parrot. We consider it a little bit of a luxury box. It is unbelievable. It is themed. We put so much care into, like if you guys remember a minute ago, he showed you tiger tail, it was different colors. This month the feathered fun boxes that went out, they have special Thanksgiving colors. So we really work on the toy individually, the look of it all around and you get a special gift for yourself. So for example, here's a gift for you that's been in feathered fun boxes. I mean, plus she's, this has been in a feathered fun box. So every month you're getting a present for you. But I realized two things. We are putting our all, I mean, into the design, the cartoon is new almost every single month. The bird is new. So it is a very high-end box. There's absolutely nothing like it. We used to get bark boxes when, you know, a while ago and I was like, so cute. Like they did such a good job of theming it. And I was like, I wish there was a part of it for me. So that's where we came up. I mean, these come with stickers sometimes. There's always stickers, magnets, but I realized we have excess inventory obviously because it created a store. And I realized that there is a need for a cheaper alternative box. So the mystery box I'm able to bring to you guys for a lower cost because one, we're taking out that luxury item for you, like you're not gonna get a hat or anything like that, but then you're not paying for it as well. So those of you who are like major, major fans and you love getting the notebooks and all that, that's not in this mystery box for birds, but the mystery box does have a merch box option. So that means if you get the merch box option and you don't have a bird, but you're a fan of our show, then we can put a notebook, a plushie. You don't even know what you're gonna get. So it's really cool. So the mystery box though is my way of providing a low cost option for you guys. And we get it from the inventory that we have. And so it's gonna be a complete surprise and not all of them are uniform. Maggie creations, yes, we do ship to Canada. Sawdust. I ordered the mystery box just for me with Picasso and other merch, Lisa. Hey, I don't wanna ruin the surprise for you, Lisa, but seeing your comment, I know you wrote me an email this morning as well. When you see Lisa's order, this might be a spoiler, but I know you love Picasso.  I know that blows it, but I don't know if I would have put two and two together unless you were on the slide. So Ty's gonna do that. So that's the answer with the merch box and we're able to offer more sizes and keep the cost lower because of that. So that's why I'm excited to present them to you. And the good thing is we have a variety of different toys. So you can try out all different things. Not like we carry one brand. We have so many different things. All right. Even if you don't have a bird, we have stuff that you can wear. Yeah, if you don't have a bird, you get the merch box. Exactly. So let's see. Let's go over here to Instagram. This is Instagram. No, it's TikTok. Oh my God, Kimberly, what's up? It's giving me flowers. Kimberly's giving me all these flowers. I don't even know what that does, but it's so exciting. Kimberly C18, thank you so much for all of those flowers. I love it. Wow. I don't see any questions right now on TikTok, but I just wanna make sure that Kimberly C know she's loved because that's really cool. Let's see what else we got. Oh, Sherry Black says, how do I order? ParrotStation.com. By the way, we got a new website launching soon. I can't wait to show you guys that. I'm working on it. And I'm like doing it myself, guys. You don't even know. Like I'm giving out these like detailed notes. It's so crazy. Okay, what is this? I just wanna make sure. Forgive me if you guys send me anything somewhere or I'm gonna try to make sure I don't miss any super chats or anything like that. I'm gonna scroll back and make sure. Okay, let me see.  Let's go down. Hmm, you guys are so cute. Ah, Corey James, I am excited for your birds as well. I can't wait to see what you ordered. I don't know what name it's under, but if it's under Corey, Ty will find it. K-O-R-I-E. I'm looking for some good questions. This is not scrolled, so let's go down here. All right, SuperE on YouTube says, how often should I bathe a bird that does not like to bathe? So here's the thing. You never wanna force your bird into any bathing situation. Here are the things you can do. And then I'll tell you what I do. So what you can do is you can see if they're comfortable with a spray bottle. Some of my birds love spray bottles, but remember you don't wanna spray them aggressively. You want it to be like a nice mist. A mist is always better and safer. And you wanna make sure as well that it's not when it's like cold or at night. You wanna do these things when it's gonna be a welcome feeling for them. So that's very important. Here's what I do. I go upstairs and take all my birds to the shower with me. And I don't bring them in the shower because you never wanna soak a bird. Their feathers are meant to protect their skin from water. And I have a little video that Ty and I did. It's so cute of like how the water rolls off feathers. But what I do is I put them up on the shower and then they're getting a lot of that steam. And then it really helps to remove a lot of that dust that they have. So a lot of people come in my house and they're like, why aren't your birds dusty? And it's like, I think it's gotta be because like I take them up there in the shower and it's like they're in a spa. Yes, it is. That is Sarasota. Yes. You're packing who's order? Oh my God, look, that's for Yvonne. Yeah, like the one with tea. Oh, you guys were asking about the tea. I wish I could, I got so many cameras on here right now. So it's hard to show you, but Ty can eventually hear some of you'll be able to see. I was like, Ty could roll back. Here, I'll show you on YouTube. He's separating all the orders out. Looks like he's doing like 10 at a time. So I really think that helps, honestly guys. When you take your birds up to the shower, just remember you want it to be breathable if you see them panting. It's good if you have like a spot that has like, you know, circulation. You don't wanna like overheat them. Let's see what else we have. All right, over here on Facebook Live. Oh yeah, Dee Dee, my bird showers with me. Wow, it's so funny. Oh wow, it's not automatically moving. Wow, April Jenkins. Thank you for your videos. You're so welcome, April. I rescued a green cheek September, 2021. She did really bad, bloody bites a year and a bit later and she is a totally different bird. And that's the thing, you notice like, the thing about your comment is that you said a year later, people often expect birds to change within a week, you know, because they've had experience with other animals being so chill right away or they've in general had experience with other animals like dogs and things and they, you know, they're expecting it to be that easy. When you keep working at it and integrating your bird, then it will change. It will change for the better. My biggest thing is, you know, in psychology, there's this thing called habituation and we really get our animals used to each other and used to us and used to our lifestyle by relaxing them into our habits. And before you know it, like when you don't make such a big deal about things, they just easily adjust. And there's something to be said about that. I got to do a whole video on that for you guys. Emma Doe, do you ship to the UK? Yes, I do. Okay. Oh my God, Indigo Wings. Welcome to our live, Amy Jo, Amy J, and the Good Morning from Australia. Guys, I see these videos in Australia, these cocktoos on balconies.  If I could honestly, if I could have just experienced the birds with them living free like that on my balcony, I would have loved that.  Danica is such a great artist, guys. Danica sent me a Picasso painting. Actually, we do have it here. If you will, I hear, hi. Will you bring me one of those two boxes over there? One of them is from Danica. Remember we made that video opening at me and you? Let's show everyone Danica's drawing that she sent me. Is that the Danica one? It says right there on the. I think, yeah, this is it. Yeah, this is it, right, yeah. So Danica sent me this. I haven't hung it up yet. As you can see, all my walls are still plain white. It takes me a long time sometimes to, well, most important thing was to organize this and everything, it was so organized in my other room, it was easy. But the decor here I haven't done yet. So I've been keeping this in the box safe because it means so much to me when you guys send me these things. In fact, I think I have another box I need to open. So this is from Danica, okay. She's in Vancouver. Oh my God, painted near 2018. Wow, I didn't read that part before. This is Picasso and Picasso inspired art.  Tell me, this is not amazing. Like it's just so me guys. So thank you so much Danica for this. I really cherish all of the artwork. Sometimes when you guys send me things, you forget to put your Instagram or something where I could let you know that I got it. Are these on the site too? They're not on the site, but aren't they beautiful? That's your Picasso. This is my Picasso cup. This is something that has come in the feathered fun box. It's Picasso and Picasso inspired early artwork. This is how Picasso did his drawings. So this is absolutely, I love this. And it has a top and a straw, but what you guys don't know about this, it changes colors. So that's the difference between the feathered fun box and the mystery box. Your mystery box could get this in it if you got the merch box. But if you got a bird toy box, it's not coming with any of this stuff. But yeah. Wow, interesting. Rhonda McFarland. I've been working with my IRP for over two years. She has the run of my house, but stays in my bedroom. I've tried all along for her to warm up to me, still trying any advice. All right, so there's a few things here, especially with Ring Next. That's not on the site either. This is so good, but this was also in our feathered fun box. Hey, I work alone now, guys. Not alone, like Ty is not, but Ty actually kind of mostly works for George. So a lot of our amazing stuff I haven't gotten on the site, but this is Cody's Trail Mix. And it's so good. It's all organic nuts. And you can share it with your birds. And you can share it with your birds. But what happens is when I'm in the office and hungry, I'm like, where's that mix? So let me get back to that question. All right, so I think Rhonda, from what I understand what's going on, is that you have an Indian Ring Neck that is kind of like just free in your bedroom, but not exactly interactive with you so much. So this can actually be kind of specific to Indian Ring Necks because they get wild really fast, like wild and wild behavior. So on one hand, one thing that you see, not every bird can you make them your best best friend. First of all, ring necks are totally different from conures and the fact that a conure, you get them kind of used to the head scratches and things like that. And they're gonna eventually kind of melt. Whereas ring necks, their feathers fall a different way. That's not exactly how they like to be touched or interacted with. The main thing here is that if you're giving the bird a good life, sometimes you can't force them to be like the way you would imagine a conure to be. But over time, you can make them come a very, very long way.  Now blue is very much like that. Blue does not really want me to touch him, but actually when he knows that he wants to go to Brando, he'll step up to me, but he's not loving being on me. He'll also like land on my head and my shoulder and things to be next to Brando, but he's not doing it out of his love for me necessarily. He trusts me and that's the first step. The other thing you need to know about birds, like I said earlier, things don't always happen in a day. And sometimes not in six months and sometimes it takes a year and you'd be very surprised by how much birds can grow and keep growing over time. That's Merlin's treasure trove. Merlin, that's your treasure trove. Come here. Yes. Why weren't you on my shoulder this whole time? Where are you going? Yeah. Picasso. Picasso is the toy that is, it's got like, it's big. It's got like, yeah, that's it. I love that toy. Merlin, do you want to talk to everybody? Did I get lipstick all over your face? Oh my God, I got lipstick. It looks like he's bleeding, but he's got lipstick all over him. So the thing is, sometimes you can't expect a bird to become that ideal version of what you imagine or what you see on Instagram or on TikTok or on Reels. But over time, you can make them come a very long way. And the first thing is definitely trust. Now, how do you do that with that bird that has the rod in the house? My guess is your bird is kind of probably flighted. And so a wild, not, I say wild, but what I really mean is like ringnecks flighted just like mustache parakeets, they have an incredible talent for adapting to the wild. So for example, that's why in many countries I've traveled in, you have these flocks of ringnecks. I've been in Greece, in Israel. They're here in California over in the valley. They're in Malibu. And that's because they're just very adaptable. So they also flock in very large flocks. And so they rely on that kind of relationship. If it's an only bird, it might benefit. I think Indian ringnecks and mustache parakeets are the number one birds that like really welcome other bird interaction, even if it isn't the same species. You could tell by, first of all, Picasso and George, my African gray had a great relationship. Then when George passed, Picasso fell in love with Jersey. Then Blue fell in love with Leo. So they're open to other bird relationships because they're extremely social. So specifically, it's hard to, because there's so much to this that it's hard to narrow it down, especially without conducting a full interview. But the main things I want you to get out of this is that even in a year or two years, your bird can come your way. Food is a very, very good thing to work with your bird. Offer them treats, show them how to come to you for those things. If your bird is flighted and kind of acting wild in your room, then that's like a different story because they're very comfortable in that. But definitely like kind of slowly, gradually work with the food that can always really help. Yeah, and then just interaction and being with the bird, you know, those really help. Bella and Snowflake, Marlene never got my order. I need more information on that guys, yeah. So what do you call it? Basically, I definitely need more info because I don't know the name on your order. Because it's probably not Bella and Snowflake. All right, isn't that a great Picasso painting? I love that. What else do we have here? Beth Carney, I'm amazed how you can successfully care for so many birds. I have an umbrella, cockatoo and parrotlet and they kept me so busy. Yeah, I think Beth, like some people say things all the time like that. And I think it's just because I've had birds since I was a kid. So I know how to manage them like together and like work with that. Yeah, he's got lipstick all over him. So that's one thing, hold on, I'm signing one of your things. All right, so let's see. Ty, this one is for Katrina. Check this one out. Catarina. Catarina, yeah. All right, maybe you go on YouTube and play Bird Sounds in the living room that normally, what, I missed that. Maybe go on YouTube, da-da-da. Marlene, do you have an answer to this? My adult cockatiels pluck my baby's cockatiels feathers. No, it's, I mean, I don't wanna say it's normal but you definitely need to keep them separated. Anything like that. Simone says, are you Persian? Yes, my dad is totally Persian. Oh my God, all these stars, guys, that is so sweet. Am I missing something here? Okay, I just wanna make sure there's no stars questions that I'm missing. Guys, if there's any of those that you guys want me to, then let me know. All right, okay, good. So let's take another question over here. Yay, Lori, hello, Lori. Gonna go down. Kenny, caretaker, how is Blue's beak doing? Pretty good. He just acts like it's never even happened. I was so worried, but he's doing a really good job. Thank you for asking. Oh, budgie5210 over on TikTok. Yes, that's Merlin over here. Merlin, do you wanna come say hi? Come here, where are you disappearing to? Okay. Yes, baby. What? Wow. Lucas, I left a question somewhere above. I don't know if I scroll. I won't be able to find it. Yes, and let's see. Do you have any advice? I am now on, I don't know where that is. Do you have any advice on training a conure not to bite? Oh yeah, Merlin's fine, guys. So if you wanna train any bird not to bite, oh man, it just depends. Also you have to pay attention to when are they biting, what is making them bite. A lot of times we have to train ourselves. Sometimes we are the reason that they're biting. We are missing something. Now if, you know, like for example, today Merlin, he was, Ty was holding him and Ty wanted to put him back. And I told him, be very careful, don't try to put him back if he doesn't wanna go because he will bite you. So you start, you have to catalog the reasons that they're biting you every single time you get bit. And whenever you get bit, you have to try to understand what it is that you did that upset them and they're gonna do it less. Sorry, and you're gonna get bit less. And then the, basically then the connection will build up and the trust will be heightened. Okay, please start and give, what? Okay, let's see. Jersey is really good, Eliza. Okay, Molly Murray says, please help, I'm moving to my partner's house and my IRN has never been put in his cage. He's always been able to fly around. He will soon have to go into a cage for most of the day while I'm out. How do I train him into thinking the cage is in a bad place? Should I get him another friend? Do I start cage training and how? No, I think you're gonna have to train your partner to live with the bird. I'm not saying that your bird wouldn't have a cage. I'm just saying like you were providing an amazing environment for your bird and I'm not sure, maybe there's another animal there and you know, there's a danger, there's always things to consider like that. Getting the bird another friend, again, it's like it may or may not, a lot of times if birds are attached to you, they don't take that partner, you know? So then you just have two birds you have to work with.  Maybe you guys could dedicate a room to your bird, things like that, but I wouldn't reduce your bird's lifestyle because of it, if that makes sense. Hey from Scotland, guys, I'm maybe in Scotland this year for a film festival because one of our films is in the Scotland Film Festival.   Yes, I need to do that. Yeah, because Vinnie is the best at opening presents. Hello, Meg, make sure you from Ireland. How many toys are in the mystery box, budgie five to 10, that's going to order right now? It depends on what size box you get. So what we're looking at is there's gonna be at least three toys, probably a foot toy, but it's a mystery. So I mean, what happens here is if we're able to fit one really big, expensive toy, then maybe, or I'm not one, what am I saying? Sorry, what I'm saying is it's more about the value than the amount of toys. So we might have like a really like fancy toy and then maybe there won't be a foot toy. I don't know, there's no guarantee it's a mystery, but there's gonna be at least three toys in every box. I can tell you that at least so that you guys know that. And maybe some stickers. Yeah, let's see, what else have we got there? Yay. Yeah, Jason Ohara, my con year is hand raised and you can hold them, but when I walk past this cage, he would bite at me. And yeah, he's cage territorial. A lot of times like you just open the cage and let them have their time to come out before you like go in and try to get them. They can get really bitey. Some birds are like that, not all birds. But again, it's one of those things where you don't necessarily try to change the more you build up. Oh, okay, I understand that you don't like me to like kind of invade your territory, but you want me to open it up. Then the more they'll trust you. Charlotte, wait, I have a fan page for you on here. Shout out to Charlotte. That's amazingly sweet. Oh my God, on TikTok? Wow, exciting. Thanks, Charlotte. Hello, Charlie and the flock. Hello, everybody. Oh, shoot. Elizabeth Hill, this is a really good question. My daughter and my gray, which is a female, used to be really close. Until one day I was holding her while my daughter clipped her nails. Now she hates my daughter and attacks her head. How can we fix this? It's very common. So a lot of times you don't want to be the person that this is why some people like to take their bird somewhere else to get groomed because of this exact reason. Then the bird starts seeing you as the torturer. So that's solely understandable if you don't want to be that person. But now the damage is done, so how do you fix it? So I'm assuming you might have said this, but okay. I'm assuming the bird has now trusted someone else. Elizabeth, if the bird hasn't started liking someone else instead, it doesn't matter whether they have or haven't, but it was just interesting information that would have helped me because if let's say the bird started trusting you or your husband or somebody else in the family instead of your daughter, then on top of it, your daughter is going to have to make sure that anytime she works with the bird, that specific person's not in the room as well because the bird's gonna feel a loyalty to that person. But first and foremost, your daughter has to work now with the bird as if it is a rescue that she just got and never had before and work in a neutral room away from the cage where as you can see from the last question, they get territorial and away from everybody else. So what she has to do is hang out with that bird in any which way that she can without anything territorial or familiar around and without forcing the bird to be a certain way. So what that means is if I take Merlin and Merlin doesn't wanna step up, like let's say the bird is threatening to her, but she's able to roll the bird stand into a room while she watches TV and sit with the bird, then in the beginning, that's gotta be enough. The bird and her in the same presence out and free until later on, feed him food and get him used to things or she I think it was and just keep going like that. And it's like a situation basically, get her used to them again. Yeah, yeah, bow tie pasta. Is there different toys in the different size boxes? Absolutely, all and not only different toys, but different kinds. We're not gonna put like all of one brand in there, things like that and all of one kind. So like for example, you're not gonna get like three wood toys or three planet pleasures toys or three, like there's all different kinds or even three Picasso toys.  So that there's a variety in there, which is pretty cool. Emily Fortham, oh my God, thank you so much for the super chat. I'm so thankful for that. I love that. Who do you got in that picture? Oh, it's so small, I can't see. But I see you there sniffing a bird. That's what I know. It looks like, I can't tell. Looks like it could be a kind of so, like I can't tell, but thank you so much for the super chat guys that really enables me to keep going means a lot to me. And Merlin too. And Merlin. Oh, I can eat you. Oh, he's got lipstick all over his face. It looks like he's bleeding. Let's see. Oh my God, Shivani Taladi. Why does my budgie throw up sometimes? And what should I do to help? Your bird could be regurgitating just because your bird loves you. I know it's crazy. Or if you're in the car, your bird could be car sick. That's another common thing. But when your bird regurgitates, it's loving you.  But that's what it means. So your, your bird's not in nature. Merlin treasure troves, right? Yeah. But if you think you're- We might be at the most. Oh no. I think we're, that's such a popular toy. If you guys are ordering right now, do not order Merlin's treasure trove. Who's that order for? This is for Autumn. Autumn. Newport, Florida. Newport, Michipo. Autumn in Newport, Florida. Hey, let's get some shout outs to the orders that are over here. Those are all the done ones right there. They're all done? Yeah. Marina Gottfried. Nancy Salas. Let's see who else we got. Oh, this is a cute order. I don't want to mess this up. This is a Vinny Lover. And by the way, we're putting stickers in all of these orders. These are the Vinny Gang Sonny's. I don't know. Where is this? Oh, UK. It's like cute. It's going to the UK. Alana Thompson. Where is that? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. This is a Vinny Lover right here. We're putting some cool Vinny stickers in here. What else? Oh, that's a cute order. This one I'm working on right now. I'm looking for a Leo sticker. Check this out. I can like move like some of this. Oh, you guys can't see. But look, like we're laying them all out on this table. Some of them. All right, we got Elizabeth Harms. Oh, she has a cute order. I love the merch orders. They're so cute to me. Look, and I can tell like, I love getting to know you guys by like, I'm like, oh, this is a Leo Lover, right? So we've got these Vinny's, well, and a Vinny Lover, Vinny Gang Sonny's Leo notebook. Oh. She's looking for a Leo sticker. I'm looking for a Leo sticker. Like this? The panda one. But we have the... That's the panda. That's the magnet though. That's the magnet? Yeah. Oh no, we don't have the stickers we do. We've got two. I'm looking. They might need that notebook signed by Vinny, so we might be doing that. Do we use that for the Funbox box, I remember? Yeah, because of Halloween. Oh, so it's probably in there, in this box. It's just one right here. Let me show you another cute order. Tell me how cute this order is from Shelly Mallet. And it's cool because a lot of these people are getting... All Picasso toys. ... along with that. I know, we still gotta pack all the mystery boxes. It's gonna take us a while. This is our Picasso line. Pastel, like our thing. Merlin's Treasure Trove. Oh, they got two of Merlin. I don't wanna mess up these orders. I probably shouldn't be. Two of Merlin's Treasure Trove. And this toy is called Picasso. It's so beautiful. If you guys wanna see more orders, let me know. I'm trying to keep them. I love showing you the merch orders. There's a lot of tea orders here. And over there, those are still being put... Oh yeah, Merlin's Treasure Trove is really popular today. Whose order is this? This is Tea Kirk, right? Yeah. Oh, Tape Dispenser. Are you looking for that toy? Tape Dispenser is a huge toy with like a whole roll of tape. Yeah, it's the one Vinny loves. You gotta look for it. Oh no, it's there. I'm pretty sure it's there. Well, guys, we gotta get on packing these orders. So, I'm probably gonna go here pretty soon, but let me give you guys some shout-outs. Let me see what else... Remember the code only lasts till... When are you gonna code last day? Oh, our Black Friday, so I totally forgot. Yeah, we have our code for Black Friday. Oh, today's the last day. Today is the last day of Black Friday. So, don't forget to get those in. Let me see. Peanut Ruff Riders sent 100 stars. Let's see what Peanut Ruff Riders says. My daughter has a female love bird and she likes to bully everyone. Yeah, love birds are bullies. But my daughter, when she is out of her cage hanging out, she likes to talk over my daughter when she is talking like saying clear words. Is it better for her to be in a large cage with lots of toys or smaller cage with some toys? The key to... The answer to that is actually, you always wanna get your bird the biggest cage you can, but so it's not about that, it's about the bars. You don't want the bird's head to be able to fit through the bars because they could literally get stuck. So, like a love bird would have smaller bars, but you could have a bigger cage if that makes sense. So that's the main thing. Vinny does that too, by the way. Vinny likes to talk when I talk. So a lot of people are like, why are you talking? I can't hear Vinny, but yeah. Okay, I see people asking about the website and I don't wanna forget to give you guys the code. It's parrotsstation.com and we have a new, brand new, better user experience coming out. Although I do think the website's beautiful, but there's always room for improvement. We're gonna have like something really cool very, very soon, so we'll do a launch on that. To get your sale, it is Friday 20. Just type in Friday 20 so that you can get 20% off. Your whole purchase. Your whole purchase and check this out. If you wanna maximize, okay? I probably like giving away these hacks, but if you order and spend over $100, shipping is free. Shipping for us often costs at least 10 bucks.  Or if you have bird friends, you guys can order all together and get one shipped to one house and then split it up after. That's an even bigger hack, guys. That's an even bigger hack. And I forgot what I was gonna say. And yeah, so Black Friday, hopefully you guys are on my email list. The stars, guys, I'm praying I didn't miss anybody that sent me these stars. Oh my God, Lisa Covey. Thank you for the 99 stars. I have an IRN that was born without a whole wingtip. Can he ever fly like a whole wing or a whole wingtip? So here's the thing. The feathers that come out of your bird's wings, what they do is your bird actually has a light body and they push down the air, which lifts them up. So without those feathers in that area, probably not. But as long as you let your bird's wings grow, like grow out, you'll start to see. I'm guessing that your bird is still very young. So you're gonna find out just its capabilities. With one wing, you'd be surprised how far they can get. But yeah, you might have to practice some safety things with them. Oh my God, Eggs Avenue. Hello, Marlene, you inspired me to get a gala. His name was Winston and he was incredible. Oh no, he died. You know, I'm brokenhearted for you. I really, really am. I'm so sorry to hear that. I really am sorry, guys. And by the way, guys, I wanna thank you guys for all the likes and hearts and super chats you guys are sending me everywhere. Oh, Saadus, thank you for sharing that. No, it's Friday 20, not Black 20. It's Friday 20. What toys do you recommend for my budget that's scared of toys? Actually, let me show you. Did anyone get, oh, because we didn't pack the mystery boxes yet, but planet pleasures. We have some toys from planet pleasures. This is huge. This is not what I mean. And you see they're made out of this natural, almost paper-like material. It's very non-threatening and kind of easy to chew. The small, extra small mystery box will have toys like that in it, among other toys. So a mystery box might be kind of cool to try a variety, especially with the discounted rate right now. Oh, so good. So tiny, you can spoil it all the way. Yeah, Emily Williams. Why does my cockadeal snap at me when I try to get him off my shoulder? Again, that's one of those things that like, you know, it's the same as like, I don't wanna stand on this stand. I don't want you coming in my cage. I'm having a really good time on your shoulder.  Oh my God, Monty's like that. Like he will bite me if he thinks I'm gonna put him away.  Thank you, Sawdust, by the way, for sharing the info that people are asking for and the website and such. That means a lot to me. Maybe you could be one of our moderators. I probably should have had a moderator on here. Megan used to be very adamant about that. I loved her. She was so smart. Ty, not so much. Hey. Just joking. I love Ty. Ty is amazing. Ty takes one for the team all the time. Jason O'Hara, how do I order? Just go to parisation.com and it will link right there too. Just type in Friday 20 and you'll get the Black Friday deals. You guys are so cute. I love you guys. Bob, where am I located? Los Angeles. Oh, LA, LA. What? Hi, Merlin. Did you talk, Merlin? Okay, let's see. Yeah, where is the link? Oh, I'm sorry, guys. I should have had this. Let me type this in for you guys. I wish it would like the station. I wish it would be like across the screen kind of thing where it's up there and it like pins it, you know? This is one of your, this is Vinny's box too, right? This is a good alternative if you don't have the other one, the Merlin's, right? Oh my God. Guys, this toy. First of all, there are a few toys like it. The owl, which is called Freddie Bobby.  But when we don't have it, consider this toy. It's pretty much exactly the same thing. This is full of so much stuff. It takes your bird away. Yeah, this toy. Takes your bird awhile to get through it. This is such a long lasting toy. The thing is though, it depends on your bird. You could have a macaw shred this in one second. But if like, I'm telling you, we have another toy called Kalarney, which is actually, it's the same toy, but without the owl head, okay? This is full of stuff. This had been hanging on my thing for a year. It took them to get through it and then they'd like to hang on it and swing on it. And this is the same. They're both so adorable from the Picasso line. This is called Vinny's box and this is called Freddie Bobby. From when I went to Ireland and Kalarney and I got to go see the owls. And my favorite owl was Bobby and my, no, my mom, like, and my dad's was Freddie. So my mom liked Bobby and my dad liked Freddie. So I named it Freddie Bobby so that we could both get. Another way, by the way, before I go, I feel like it wouldn't be fair if I didn't say this to you guys. It may feel like I'm trying to sell you stuff. I'm honestly not. I just don't want to pack alone. And also I want you guys to benefit. I want your birds to have toys. I know how my birds recognize the boxes and love it. But also, you know, we have our bird food, Marlene's signature blend. I see a lot of you, you're being really smart. You're placing orders for the food with our discount and you're placing quite large orders. Smart way to, you know, maximize on all that. So I'm just giving you guys tips, not encouraging you to shop. I just literally like, I want you guys to benefit and your birds benefit as well.  Like if you are able to give your birds healthier food at a cheaper rate, that's just why I want to let you guys know that. Also, I should answer this question. Nefura, any update on the two stolen parents in the pet shop? This is called Picasso. I don't even know how many we have of these. The cool thing is once they rip all the paper out, you can stick food in here. Yeah. And they can go forage for the food. Ty's really good at that. He loves making foraging things for the birds out of all these. Same with these, same with these toys. Like you can put things in here. So it's really cool.  Like, you know, like don't put a vegetable in there and forget about it, if you know what I mean. What did I want to say? So the stolen parents, this makes me really sad. I made a video about us trying to find the thief because we had some leads. And unfortunately, there are so much politics. I might post this video on my Patreon. I kind of want to post it, but I don't know if it's too late now. Long story short, they do know who stole the birds, but just like, it's like the detectives can't do anything about it and they didn't find it, you know? So there was a moment we tried to take matters into our own hands, yes me, and knocked on some doors that like we thought they lived at. I swear guys, I love this video. I was so excited to post it. It's kind of advised not to. I don't know, there's like some gang related stuff. So I don't know. Last I heard the person that stole the birds coincidentally because they know the name of the person but they can't do anything and they can't like get involved with that kind of stuff and they're heartbroken. Yeah, last I heard bad karma has probably come to him anyway. It breaks my heart about the birds though. These things get moved so fast. Like these things, I don't mean the birds are things, I just mean in these instances. So it's pretty sad. I think the saddest thing for me about the whole thing was obviously those birds because I loved Abby a lot, but my favorite bird in there passed within a week because of the fright that he got from witnessing it.  So Evelyn and Jess just did some orders. Evelyn and Jess? Wow, shout out to Evelyn and Jess. And also saw us again, I just wanna say I appreciate your comment you just put where you said your themes are so much fun and high standards, you've come a long way birdie within cage not cage and all the knowledge. Mom and dad must be so proud. There's a lot to touch on here. First of all, thank you so much for noticing how much work we put into the Feathered Fun Box. It's a lot, it's a box that comes once a month and is a full time job, a full time job guys. I mean, I have to get the artwork. You guys don't understand, every theme has new art that comes out and new products that have never existed. So I have to create a new product every month and some of the toys are created and designed by us as well. So it really does take a lot out of me. And I mean, I'll be honest guys, I had a moment the other day where I was like, I don't think I wanna do the business side. I didn't get into it to do the business. I just wanted to offer cool things for birds because I didn't have it when I was growing up. So I wanted you guys to have that experience, but I'm like, this is a full time job in itself. Like, I mean, look at, like, and it doesn't add up. Like it doesn't make you, you know, successful monetarily by any means. All it makes you is have more and more expenses like offices and stuff. I wouldn't trade it, but it is a lot. As if my mom and dad are proud, they might be, I'm not sure. I think they're more like, oh, why don't you have real kids? I don't understand what happened here. They're kind of more like that. You guys, I think you need farm, no? Yeah, they're more like that. But I do think they love my YouTube and everything. Ah, Tricia, you liked our Halloween picture with me and George. That in itself was drama, getting that picture. Ty took that picture. Guys, you guys love George. I love George, but that boy is drama. But no, in the sweetest way, he just works a lot. And I got all dressed up and I was like, you need to take a picture with me. And like, he waited all day and got dressed last minute, told me he had soccer practice to get to and gave me 30 seconds to take a photo. And I was like all upset and then he was like, no, wait here. And when I come back in three hours, we'll do it again, I promise. I'm like, so you want me to stay in this costume for three hours on makeup? So then I was pretty upset. And then next day, Ty came to the rescue and Ty took a very good version of the picture. But still George was like, yeah, you guys saw an Instagram maybe where I was like, we're signing all these, not him, but me. And he signed a few. I hope some of you got the ones that he signed. All right, Lady Cassia, is there any way to release boxes every couple of months? My rainbow lorikeet is still working through her toys from the feathered fun boxes from last year. So what you can do is you can actually go in the back end and pause, like skip shipment. So if you paid for three months in advance, you know you're gonna get three boxes. You skip shipment. And when you skip the shipment, you won't get the next one. And I think you could skip up to three. But then like, I think once you get a new one, you can skip three again, I think. So that's an option. Another option is what we're gonna be doing with the mystery feathered fun boxes, which is why I didn't really wanna talk about, but right now they're kind of like, we haven't officially launched them. They're gonna be subscriptions that renew but that you guys get to choose how often they recur. That's gonna be on our new website. So I didn't really wanna talk about them here on YouTube cause this is just a Black Friday like pre-launched for you guys to get the first taste of them. But not everyone's on here, so that's good. You guys are just finding out. So yeah, what size is good for feathered fun box for conures and cockadeels? The small box. The feathered fun box, you're only able to have two sizes. Not another thing guys. The box in itself is pretty intricate, you guys can see. And we have to order them in thousands because of how they are. So this is the large box, which is really for African grays, Amazons, birds of that size. It's not really for Macaws. And the small box is for, I guess what you would consider more like medium birds, conures, cockadeels, mustache, parakeets, ringnecks. But some people have like Jersey, she loves a lot of the small bird toys, you know?  Let's see. All right, am I missing anything? I see, I know there's more stars because I see the stars went up. April Jenkins, ah, thank you for the 100 stars. Why does my green sheet conure hiss? Also, should I be worried that my Bell's favorite song is another one bites the dust? Nah, you got a bird with their own personality and that is the music that your bird likes. And actually the main thing about this comment that you wrote here is that you're an amazing, amazing bird mom because you know what kind of songs your bird likes. That just means that like you're playing all different things for your bird and you know, you're so in tune.  Why does your bird hiss? Well, that depends on, I would need it more info. What's your bird hissing at? What is your bird mad at? What's going on over there? I'm sure it's like, you know, for certain situations your bird's hissing. I always think that's cute though. I like when they're feisty, you know guys? I really, really do.  I got a rescue budgie who was locked in a room alone for seven years. He's really scared to step on my hand or even eat from it. So, um. Oh wow, two ballers. Ah, let's shout them all out. Chris and Nola. Chris and Nola. Chris got a big order. What did Chris get? Did Chris get a mystery box? Chris got some items. Got some big orders over here guys. Chris, I want to shout out Chris. What's Chris's last name? Chris. And the other one? Caulfield. Chris Caulfield. And Nola Weaver. And Nola Weaver.  I love you guys. So about glittery slugs of budgie, just take it slow, it's okay. Like if the bird even doesn't want to be on your hand, but you know, you can put food close. I wish I had like demos here for you guys. I wish I could talk to you directly and like guide you guys through it.  If you guys are part of my flighters club, I've been doing this thing where like when someone writes me like I make them a personalized video and send them a link. So that's an option as well. But basically you would definitely, you know, don't force the bird on your finger. You know, if you want to use, you know, treats and food to get your bird more in green. But it's even more detailed than that because it's all about letting them know that you around them as safe first, you know? That's the thing. And it's hard to convey how to do that. But it's all about integration. It's all about like inclusion really. The more you include the bird, the more they're going to relax. What? Oh, oh, Jason Dwight. I have a six month old cockatoo. He's still relying on hand feeding. I'm giving him fruits, vegetables, pellets and seeds. I can see him interacting in it, but unsure if he's eating it. You know what we should sell money? Earplugs. No, because if you're really good with birds they shouldn't be screaming. I have a six, okay. So you're unsure if he's eating it. You have to pay close attention. See if the bird's swallowing. Sometimes they chew things and it falls to the floor, but they are swallowing it. Also, if the bird is still a baby and you can feel the crop, the crop gets full, you can feel around here and you'll know. If Jersey was here, I'd be able to show you, but you'd know like a full crop when a bird's eating. It's a little bit poofy and you can kind of feel it. Yeah, let me see here. What is going on here? Oh, oh, oh. I got a long, long thing. Some of the phones are plugged in. Okay, okay, okay. I missed something. Aw, there was something I saw and I wanted to respond to, but it kind of passed. All right. Hi, I'm 14 years old and starting a pet sitting business. What do you recommend for watching birds? Band-aids. Ties like band-aids. I'd recommend first making sure that you have a bird because birds are, well, actually, I'd almost recommend that you don't have a bird. So here's the thing. I don't have a bird. I'd get into pet sitting dogs. Cause here's why. Like if you already have a bird, you wanna make sure that you're not bringing in a bird that might have something that could affect your bird. Some birds carry things and it can be transferred very easily. So that's important to know. Also different birds may be completely different. So I would, unless you're going to their house and taking care of their birds, in which case every bird is going to be different. But you know what? Here's the main thing I want you to get out of this. You're 14 years old, you're gonna start a business. You go for it. You don't let anybody tell you anything. You are going to succeed. I wish you great success. And the fact that you asked me, and this is what you're on here for, I think it's very inspiring. I think it's amazing that you're going out there and doing something. So in all seriousness, what do I recommend for watching birds? It's, if you have a bird, it's very much like watching your own bird, but definitely, you know, you, I don't know how much you know. So it's very hard to answer that question. Birds can be everything from dangerous to you to you dangerous to them, to if you have another pet at home. Let's just say I recommend you feeding their bird and taking care of their bird in their house. That's what I would say right now. Easiest, but again, I don't know your whole situation.  What else? I haven't looked at the Instagram in a minute. Wow. Oh my God, sniffers forever. Is doing animal care at college next year and there will be budgies and cocktails there. You know what? That is amazing. I love you going for it. I found out recently that there's a high school near us that specializes in zoo. Hello Lisa Marie. Hello Mia and Zoe. Hello Hyper balloon. Hello Salas. Puskas. Yeah. Christy Rebecca fine art. Oh my God. Another artist by the way that I have some. Ugh. Ty would die if he saw what you made of Jersey. So I, again, I am not pulling that out of the packaging until I keep all these things safe as you saw with the earlier artwork because like I value art so much. And especially when you guys send things of my birds. So I really, really like, you know, I'm waiting for the right time. As you can see, these are bare walls to decorate in here. And that is a piece that is unbelievable. I don't even think I have it here at the office yet. It's still at home or I would pull it out to show you guys. It's unbelievable. Oh, Roxanne. How's Vinny? He's doing great. Yeah, if you guys want to send us fan art we can hang that up too. Yeah, actually there's this one section here that's all going to be fan art. But some of you guys, like some of these pieces that are, you guys are just really great artists. I'm going to be giving them their own spot. I kind of wish I had, yeah, Sniffer send me fix. I kind of wish I had more wall space for how great so many of you are. So yeah. Okay, let's see. Remember what you were saying? I'm packing two Stacey's orders, two different Stacey's. Yeah, that happens all the time. So the weirdest thing happens guys. I don't know if this is the universe but let's say orders come in. It'll be like Stacey will order and then another Stacey will order. And I'm like, wow, that's interesting. Or it'll be like a Jessica crane orders and a Jenny crane orders. It's really weird. You know, yeah. Another thing that happens is like Adam Springfield will order and then the next order is Jenny something but lives on Springfield Avenue. It's very weird. And then it'll all be like kind of like similar. It's like if orders come in that day and the people's first name begin with A, it's like a lot of A's or a lot of the same initials. Very weird. It's very weird. Rylan Bluesbeak is doing good. That seems to be a popular question. Bye, April. Okay, I just wanna make sure I didn't miss out on anything. I actually do have to help Tai pack these orders. I hope we were able to give a lot of you there's so many orders here, guys. Like, yeah, Autumn Brown would give you a shout out. I really, once I get this place like more fixed up with I'll be able to have like maybe like cameras built into the walls or something like with a handle where I can kind of like show you guys me packing. Kelly Ulrich, what, by the way, Kelly is such a great supporter of Parrot Station. I wanna make sure I give you a shout out. I always yours. That's the thing, I know who orders a lot because I'm always packing your orders. Hikey Allison, you deserve a shout. You guys all deserve shout outs. I feel so bad like not, oh my God, there's all these papers. Rosa Smith, Andrea Ford. I see that we're getting your orders kind of packed. Oh my God, how could I forget Maria Leon? Oh my God, one of the number one, what, one of the number one shoppers here at Parrot Station.  Yes, like, I don't want you to think I don't notice. I wanna make sure. Oh, Sonia Whitmer, here, let me get some of these. I don't know if you've collected toys for these yet, but just Amy, England, Sonia Whitmer, Pennsylvania. I love that. Sonia is always good too, like just always, like I just want you Jocelyn Lopez. I don't want you guys to think like I don't notice. I really do, Tracy Blatt's time. Let's see what else. Oh my God, Melanie Gilg, mystery box. Oh, these are all the mystery boxes. Wendy Price, I can't wait to see who's gonna get a mystery merch box, let's see. Deanna Julie, Travis James. Maybe we could, I would love to pack one of those. A feather? Oh, Lisa, oh yeah, Lisa's, we were, oh, a feather. A feather maybe for the mystery box. The merch box? Yeah. Oh, that's going to Lisa because that's a merch box I see here. Then Starvula, Star, Stavrula. Bless you. Stacey Jones, amazing. Okay, so these are some of the boxes. All the mystery, just mystery. Just mystery, we have them all separated over here. I didn't even get to these guys. Rosa Smith, I feel so, like I just feel like everyone. Yeah, we're all mystery. Rosa Smith, I hope I, I mean, I obviously can't say all the names, but I'm just trying to get shout outs everywhere. Cole Trigliani. I don't know, man. I'm going to Elizabeth Holmes. Elizabeth Holmes. Did I read that wrong? Harms, Elizabeth Harms. You guys are amazing. So yeah, we're going to be, I probably have to go because I have to help pack these orders. There's no way Rylan's like, how do you enter? Do you have to buy a piece of merch? Enter to what? We're not doing a raffle. We're just packing orders today. You might do a raffle. Ty is going to put, we have a feather here. Sometimes I put feathers in some of your orders as surprises. So I just says, yeah, Ty feather. Aloy Mendez, you got a shout out. I can't show Jersey Jason, she's not here. The only one here is Merlin. So Jennifer just ordered some food. Jennifer, yeah, Jennifer's smart to order some food. Jennifer, what? Jennifer Kramer. Jennifer Kramer. So I don't have all the feathers, I don't have a lot of feathers here, but I will bring them to the office. I doubt we're going to get all of these packed today. We're going to try to. We're going to try to. I love you guys, Rebecca M. I love you guys. Yes, we do, Shantel delivered to the UK. I guess before I go, I'm not trying to make this about the store or anything like that, but our website is parrotsstation.com.  I don't know if it's in all camps or not. Tonight is the last night. Tonight's the last night. Maybe we'll have a cyber Sunday. Cyber Monday. Cyber Monday. What's wrong with me? But yes, so basically what's going on is we're just chilling in the office. We had to come in today and pack. So I love you guys. Thank you all for joining my live. Yes, we're working on a Sunday. It's the only way to get ahead of these orders. It's insane guys, but I want to thank you guys for your support. It helps me with the cost of this office. I wasn't able to keep it in my house anymore. It was just too hard to focus. So yeah, I got knee deep into the business side of things. Obviously it's not what I want to do. I want to do videos, but I also want to make sure that every part of everything I do for you and the birds has me in it. So obviously you guys know if you ordered our merch before, I'm going to be signing all these for you with your names, which is why I have to go, which is kind of what I thought I would be doing live for you today is signing these, but I totally forgot. I don't believe multitasking is a thing. So I love you guys so much. Thank you for staying on this long. I appreciate all of it. I will be looking out to, you know, see what else I can answer later on. I love you guys so much. I'm going to work on ending all these streams. First, we're doing YouTube. Bye, YouTube. Bye, Bowtie Pasta. You guys like this, maybe we could do Sundays. We're doing this on Sundays. Man, babe. Bye, Bowtie Pasta. Derek Babuda. Kara Wagner. Lou. Lovely Ella Bird. Sawdust. Love you, Sawdust. Bella and Snowflake. Danielle Fisher. Aloy Mendez. Ria Safi Gaming. Neforra. I'm making sure I try to get all of you last ones over here, Kara Wagner. Didn't I just see that order? Or no, was that somebody else? Yes, Rebecca M. I love you guys so much. Ending the YouTube stream. Okay, let's do some shout outs.


Translating public will into public policy is a principal function of democracy. In the U.S. House of Representatives, 435 people assume that responsibility every day. In the House, representation is determined by apportionment. This means states with the larger populations control a greater percentage of the 435 House seats. And because people may move from state to state or immigrate to the U.S., House seats remain in flux. State representation can go up or down when official Census Bureau results are posted each decade. This reapportionment ensures that although the number of seats remains constant at 435, representation changes to reflect population shifts. Once the number of state districts is determined, state legislatures determine the district boundaries. They are not, however, allowed to set boundaries that have the sole purpose of bolstering political power. This practice was given the name gerrymandering after Elbridge Gerry in 1812 tried to redistrict Massachusetts into districts that resembled the shape of a salamander. However, exceptions to this have existed in the past. In 1982, amendments to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 required states to draw district lines along concentrations of African American and Hispanic American voters. But when an irregular shaped district in North Carolina was created to secure the election of a minority representative, the Supreme Court ruled in Shaw v. Reno that these amendments violated the voter's equal rights protection of the 14th Amendment. Despite all efforts to ensure proper representation, House members rarely resemble the demographics of the people in their districts. Most are lawyers, business elite, or academics, and are largely composed of wealthy white males. Just imagine for a moment what life in this country might have been if women had been properly represented in Congress. Would a Congress where women and all their diversity were represented tolerate the countless laws now on the books that discriminate against women in all phases of their lives? Bella Abzug, 1972. Though African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and women are all underrepresented, congressional representation is substantive rather than a descriptive representation. This means that although House members may not look like their constituents, they represent the interests of the people of their districts. There are three requirements for being elected to the House. Each representative must be at least 25 years old, a resident of the state they represent, and they must have been a U.S. citizen for at least seven years. Members of the House are elected to two-year terms, and there is no constitutional limit on the number of terms they may serve. Going through the election process every two years helps keep them in close contact with their constituents, ensuring they remain accountable and in touch with the preferences of the people. Several key positions in the House wield a great deal of influence over the members of their parties. The most influential is the Speaker of the House. Elected by the party in power, the Speaker presides over the House when it is in session, controls its daily functions, and is second in line for the presidency. Next on the House ladder are Majority and Minority Leaders. The Majority Leader schedules House bills and works side-by-side with the Speaker. The Minority Leader is simply that, the Floor Leader of the Minority Party. Two other positions, the Majority and Minority Whips, assist their respective Majority and Minority Leaders to encourage members to vote with the party on key issues. Finally, committee chairpersons round out the main power sphere of the House. Some are more powerful than others. The Rules Committee, the Ways and Means Committee, and the Appropriations Committee are power committees with highly coveted chairmenhips. Regardless of individual influence, however, the committee system dominates the House of Representatives. The Speaker of the House may be the most powerful position in the U.S. House of Representatives, but committees facilitate most of the work. They meet to discuss specific areas of policy. They work to control the congressional agenda. They even guide legislation through Congress. Debate is rare in the House of Representatives, since nearly all real business is done in the committees. DW Brogan, 1944. There are four types of House committees, standing, joint, conference, and select. Standing committees, the most important, remain assembled in order to hold hearings, discuss proposed laws, add amendments, and oversee committee issues. Agriculture, budget, rules, ways and means, and appropriations committees are key examples of standing committees. Joint committees are unique in that they draw members from both the House and the Senate, handling policy areas such as the economy and taxation. Conference committees gain consensus on House and Senate bills that are similar in nature. Select committees are appointed for specific purposes, such as investigating a governmental crisis, for example. Over the course of the nation's history, a political phenomenon known as the Iron Triangle has emerged from within the congressional committee system. The three sides of this triangle are made up of a congressional committee, the bureaucratic agency that is tied to the committee, and the special interest group affected by laws being considered by the committee. An example of an Iron Triangle is the one formed by the Armed Services Committee, the Defense Department, and the Boeing Corporation. Tied together in a mutually dependent relationship, members of Iron Triangles can dominate domestic policymaking, for better and for worse. On one hand, the triangle ensures that the laws Congress passes are both practical and effective. It also gives interest groups a direct say in legislation that immediately affects them. On the other hand, Iron Triangles can allow committees who should be watchdogs over the agencies to become too comfortable with their triangle counterparts. Another negative impact can occur when interest groups gain too much influence over legislation and encourage governmental waste or overspending. Though imperfect, the committee system of the House of Representatives is the driving force behind taking public will and turning it into public policy.