Wayne and Colleen Rooney have called their son Kai Wayne Rooney. The Guardian finds the name exotic:

At first glance the Rooney’s choice of the name Kai might seem to be another footballing exoticism. In Japanese it means “big water” and in Hawaiian “the ocean”. In Maori it means “to eat” which could draw some predictable ribbing given his father’s famously sturdy build.

In fact Kai is an increasingly popular name for children of both sexes: it came 68th in the Office for National Statistics top 100 names for 2008.

The Daily Mirror is even more confused.

* It’s possible, although not likely, that Wayne and Colleen named their firstborn after Natasha Kai, a female US footballer who plays for Sky Blue FC as well as the USA national soccer team.
…
* Kai is a kind of throat singing practiced in the Altai Republic, Russia.

Can it have been that common German name? Still, who’s to guess where it came from and how they’ll pronounce it.

Fine Cell Work sells needlework by prisoners.

This is Gustavstraße, the oldest part of Fürth, where the buildings are all different heights. Fortunately this project, to hang up one thousand plastic ‘ravens’ to frighten the pigeons away, is apparently only going to be around for three weeks, I was relieved to hear.

Fürther Nachrichten story Raben gegen Tauben (German)

There have been peregrine falcons in Fürth, but I don’t know if they’re there this year. Another possibility is dummy egg nesting, but that would have to be done by the city.

LATER NOTE: I picked up two of these for a friend. They are very well made, with a sort of post diagonally through them, so they can be suspended from a hook at various heights or stand on their feet. I later discovered the same ravens, including the flying ones, are available cheaper from amazon.de, albeit not painted yellow. I suppose it is a work of art if you make over three euros on each one (less postage) just for putting your signature on it. I know artists’ signatures are worth a lot.