If this persons genes prevented him from knowing what he was doing, or in some way diminished his capacity to stop himself from committing the violent act..
Then by the same token, nobody should get punished for drunk driving, because they were too drunk to be in control of what they were doing.
I don't buy it, in either case, solely on the basis of utility. Neither argument results in a more useful situation. Jail the drunk, and prolong, not shorten, the offender with the tendency for violence. The tendency indicates 2 things: (1) that he is at greater risk to re-offend, and as such, we must prolong the sentence to provide the same level of deterrence that others would get from a shorter sentence, and (2) again, that he is at greater risk to re-offend, we have more of a duty to prevent him from re-offending, both to protect society, and to protect him from himself.
In other words, if you want to say "my genes made me do it", no problem - just don't expect to get off easier, Sunshine, 'cuz we ain't buyin' what y'uz sellin'.
If you read the article, $1,995.00 is a lot of money to spend for a bit of peace of mind. Especially since there's the ongoing problem, as mentioned in the article, of battery life being pretty short (days, not weeks).
Better to have your dog socialized properly, have everyone in the neighborhood be friends with it, and if it does accidentally get loose, it'll be returned to you quickly. As for cats, most of the GPS systems are too large for cats. Also, the range of most of the the systems in the article is pitifully small - 700 meters or less - because they don't transmit to the cell-phone network, but only to your receiver. A dog can cover that distance in well under 10 minutes, after which you're SOL anyway. In an urban environment, the range would be MUCH smaller - a block or two.
There's a difference between "animals get loose" and allowing them to habitually roam free. We're not China and our dogs and cats are not like free-range chickens.
I guess you must just be perfect and never make mistakes, but sometimes I leave or door open while I'm doing something and the baby out when he's not supposed to. . At least for kids, I don't think anybody sees this as a replacement for proper supervision, it's a way to find your kid if they wander off.
I'm not perfect, but I wouldn't put either a kid or a dog into that sort of situation, My ex, on the other hand, did with my dog while I wasn't there. Let it get out the front and it got hit by a car. It survived. A while later, let our kid wander out the same way. Fortunately, our kid didn't get run over. A while after THAT, my sister was visiting, entrusted her young son to my ex, and sure enough it happened AGAIN. Do you see a pattern?
There was absolutely no excuse, and the whole mess just disgusted me. You can't fix stupid.
I know one family that got so fed up with the neighbours cats constantly digging up their plants, dragging dead animals into THEIR house (it didn't help that one of the kids had asthma and was allergic to cats), destroying the garbage, and just being a constant nuisance.
They tried mouse traps among the flowers. 2 in the morning - snapMEOWsnapMEOWsnapMEOWsnapMEOW - the cat came back.
They tried catching the cat next time it came in the house, coating it in mustard, ketchup, and honey and putting it back outside so it would run home - the owners still refused to keep it inside, though they did end up with a nice mess to clean off the furniture.
They tried putting it in a box along with a letter taped to the outside describing the ongoing problems and dropping it off at city hall - the people got their cat back and still let it roam all over the place.
It went into one of their cars, so they turned the audio (it was one of THOSE cars) full blast, closed the doors, and let the cat go nuts for a while. It still wouldn't stay away.
Paint-balling it didn't work either.
Finally, they "converted the cat into a speed bump" by running over it at about 30mph.
None of this was fair to the cat - but it could have been avoided if the owners had acted responsibly. The cat was into everyones' garbage, etc. It was a nuisance, and the owners didn't do anything about it. When people complained to him, he would say "it's a cat", like that excused it.
A few weeks later, the police were there arresting the cat owner - turns out he also liked to beat his wife. And that was pretty much the last anyone saw of him.
My mother adopted a pit bull. The dogs' parents were MEAN. One chewed its' way through a metal cage, then jumped out a 3rd-story window, to go after someone. And that was the *nicer* of the two parents. But the way she raised the dog, it was the best-behaved, and one of the least aggressive, dogs I've ever seen. Even her two cats would bully it a bit.
I remember when I was helping out at the dog pound, one of the absolute funniest, happiest dogs was a BIG rotweiler that just didn't seem to know it wasn't supposed to act like Dino on the Flintstones. Happy to see everyone, always bouncing up and down, just wanted a bit of attention. If I had had the space at the time, I would have taken it home, because it was a *happy* dog.
Some dogs are miserable shits because that's the way they are. They need a lot of work. Some dogs are miserable shits because of the way they've been treated. They too need a lot of work. And then there are the dogs who, despite everything, are just happy to be around you, "just because". It's rewarding to take a dog that needs a lot of work and gradually see it turn into a happy dog.
They're called domesticated so that we can feel better about how we treat them. So yes, it is for a reason. But cats are still wild beasties. The only reason they don't eat your face when they're mad at you is that they are too small.
I guess you have pretty stupid cats. We had one when we wer a kid that knew how to turn on the water when it wanted a drink, could use the toilet same as a human (which was really funny one night when our mother went into the bathroom w/o turning on the light, and sat down - and the cat ended up in the bowl:-), and would even try to flush it (wasn't able to, though).
We're not the only ones who had cats that were literally toilet-trained. They can learn. Heck, there was one feral cat a few years ago that took a liking to me, to the point that when I was petting it and a neighbor's dog (a little thing) came running over, the cat immediately got up and ran between me and the dog, and wouldn't let it come near. That doesn't sound like a cat that would eat my face. It wasn't being territorial - when I wasn't around, the dog was free to wander over. It probably just sensed, same as most animals do, that I like animals.
The article you quoted actually backs me up by what it leaves out.
Notice they said "We remain strongly committed to our current open OS software strategy for cellular devices, which is based on the world-leading Symbian OS," Nokia said in a statement."
NOT "We remain strongly committed to our current open OS software strategy for SMART PHONES, which is based on the world-leading Symbian OS," Nokia said in a statement.
... or they could have said... "We remain strongly committed to our current open OS software strategy for cellular devices, INCLUDING SMART PHONES, which is based on the world-leading Symbian OS," Nokia said in a statement."
Symbian OS has been relegated to the bottom-drawer, low-cost cell phones. In other words, the least profitable, least interesting, market. You really need to look at both what they say, and what they don't say.
Try snowboarding with the Wii Fit. But first, get a big-ass upscaling plasma TV - it really is immersive - and funny to watch other people really get into it.
Sure, the Wii Resort is Fisher Price colours, but everyone gets hooked on Frisbee Golf - the motion plus makes a real difference to what sounds like a really stupid idea.
Games like Pinball Hall of Fame are exactly what you would expect - noisy, flashy, and you can even tilt the table if you shake the remote too much (and you have to bump the table on occasion or the ball goes right down the center).
Someone else on slashdot suggested Boom Blox. It didn't sound all that great, but once you hit the Plumber puzzle, it makes you think. AND you get a real work-out. I was playing against a friend who was throwing all wrong (sure, you can throw hard, but not at the expense of accuracy) and after an hour he was complaining about his shoulder getting sore from the workout:-)
I picked up Pop Star Guitar on a whim, not expecting anything great for an air guitar game (figured it would be something that friends' kids could play when they came over). Boy,was I wrong. That was $20 well spent - so much so that I went out and bought copies for a couple of other people. The women love it, the teenagers love it, it's just the husbands who aren't impressed, and I suspect it's because they just plain suck at it and get embarrassed too easily.
Yes some games suck. Some are too simplistic. Part of the problem, though, is that people buy 3, 4 titles, don't spend much money because they don't want to risk it on unknown games, then complain that it sucks because it's not all they hoped it would be.
I took a different approach. When I bought the Wii in February (they finally had it in stock), I also picked up 4 remotes, 4 nunchucks, 4 steering wheels, the balance board (again, as soon as they had one in stock), rechargers for everything... and over 30 games so far this year. I knew that I would have to go through a lot of games to find the good among the ugly - especially since people's tastes differ. When the 50" plasma TV I wanted (1080p, 600hz, built-in upscaler) and the associated surround-sound system went on sale a few months ago, I grabbed them. Sure, some of the games suck, but those that don't - the setup makes a HUGE difference. I consider the 5 grand investment as money well spent, especially since I'm all set for the Wii2 that's coming out next fall.
In other words, if you're disappointed with the Wii, find someone who has a nice setup and a nice selection of games, and find what works for YOU. Balance-board games will totally suck on a small screen. Noisy games suck on a crappy sound system. Multi-player split-screen games get old fast when everyone has to crowd into a small space and squint at their small corner of the screen. Games that require lots of room (like the sword-fight in Wii Resort) aren't the same if you don't allot enough floor space for people to MOVE! LOTS of space.
Sure, if you're playing by yourself, you can get away with a smaller screen, but for 2 or more people, 42" is the absolute smallest I'd go for many games, and even then, it's not that great for 4 players.
They both can be trained to come, sit, stay, beg, walk on a leash.
They both can bond to their owners.
They both love chasing mice and other small vermin.
They both love playing with stuff (especially hamster balls and laser pointers).
They both eat pretty much the same things.
They both like rooting around in the garbage.
They both mark their territories.
When in heat, they'll both screw anything that doesn't move fast enough.
They both respond to attention and praise.
My last cat ate the same food as the dog (big dry dog food chunks - crunch, crunch, crunch - what a racket), did its business outside in the back yard same as the dog, came inside when called same as the dog, etc.
There's not that much difference between a large cat and a small dog, except that people tend to believe that cats should act differently, so they treat cats differently, and the cats respond accordingly. Treat it like a dog, it'll behave pretty much the same way a dog does, right down to drinking out of the toilet bowl.
It's culturally acceptable to have cats roaming the vicinity of its home,
It's NOT culturally acceptable for cats to go ripping up garbage bags and strewing the contents all over the place, which attracts the skunks, which spray the dogs and cats, which stinks up the whole neighborhood.
Cats running around in an urban environment just doesn't work. We've had to raise the fine for putting out garbage early to $1,000.00 per incident, to help lessen the problem. The skunks are so used to people now that when you shout at them, they look down their nose at you. And they're BIG. Every once in a while, some cat will have a close encounter of the smelly kind, and then you can smell the stench all over the neighborhood for several days.
We also don't need the bug and other vermin problems caused by the loose garbage.
The garbage problem is almost entirely due to cats. Not dogs, not squirrels or crows, or even the skunks. Cats.
There is no such a things as animal pound being different from the city or private. There is only the regional animal pound, and they never come to you if you complain about an animal. You have to talk to the police which might decide to directly call the pound, and THEN you get fined. But privately owned animal shelters or orgs cannot take an animal even if there is a complaint. That has to go to formal ways to the local PD.
Nope - here each municipality has a contract with one of several pounds, as well as their own small holding location - usually a couple of enclosures in the public works garage. If you call the city, they call the pound they contracted with, who then picks up the animal. The police are never involved - it's not their job - unless the animal has attacked someone. The police don't even issue the fine - you get it mailed to you by the city clerk, same as a tax bill. Again, the police aren't involved, same as they aren't involved for many other municipal infractions, like putting your garbage out too early (recently raised to $1000 fine to help counteract skunks and stray cats ripping garbage bags up). And you're wrong about private shelters not being able to take an animal. Most of the shelters that contract with the municipalities are private, and they have to take any animal that's dropped off with them by residents. It's part of their contract. When you call the city, they'll tell you which shelter has the contract this year, and you can either drop it off in person, dump it with the city, or keep it at home until the contractor can pick it up. The contractor will pick it up in one to three days. It's then up to the owner to claim it, pay the fees, fines, etc.
I know this is how it works because I had to go through it. I was walking my dogs one cold winter day when we came across a stray. He was friendly but shy. And obviously very cold (it was around -20). I didn't have a spare leash on me, but he did follow us home. I hooked my 3 dogs' leashes to the fence, quickly went inside, found an extension cord, and used it as a leash to bring him inside as well. (the logistics were a bit complicated. Leashed him, tied him to the fence, brought my dogs in, unleashed them, put them in a room, went back outside, brought him in, put him in a separate room, let the other dogs out, slowly introduced the new dog to the others).
I then called the local police, who gave me the number for the right department with the city (it was public works in this case). I brought the dog there, and they told me that they'd keep it until the pound picked it up. Since I know that the "failure rate" for dogs that go to the pound is around 50%, I made sure the guy agreed that if the dog wasn't claimed before the pound came to pick it up, to CALL ME and I'd take it back instead and find a home for it.
They never called, so the dog must have been claimed.
My point is that your belief that the police have to handle it, and that private shelters can't take dogs, certainly isn't true everywhere.
You're thinking too high-tech. Yo don't need the data. You don't need to decode the signal. A field strength meter and a directional antenna will suffice. Find out which direction the signal is coming from, and start walking towards it.
"My" cat is an adult that can make her own decisions. I doubt that if I were in her place I would still be alive.
If your cat is so much better than you at making decisions, why not have her post to slashdot instead of you? By your own admission, her decisions are of a higher quality than yours, so her posts should be more interesting.
BTW - your cat has fewer neurons than a toddler. Far fewer. She's certainly not able to make decisions at the same level as the average adult human, though I'll grant your premise that she can make better decisions than you, if that will help:-p
Kill off all the squirrels and birds, and you end up with more mice and grubs and other pests. There's a natural balance. Feral cats upset it.
Neighbours' cat used t spray my motorcycle all the time. It eventually ended up dead (not my doing) when a car ran over it. It would have lived longer and been less of a nuisance if the owners had kept it indoors or on a leash.
Putting an animal on a leash is not wrong. A leash is more than just a physical restraint - it's also a line of communication between the pet and its' master. My dogs get very excited when I go for the leash. It also helps keep them under control when someone else's dog acts stupid and tries to attack. They instinctively understand, when I pull them back, that they are not to fight - and if the other person doesn't quickly get their dog under control by PUTTING IT ON A FUCKING LEASH, I then give them some slack and let them fight back for a few seconds, before pulling them back a second time. The other dog always gets the message, and so does the owner.
This happens once or twice a decade. Last month, stupid guy thought it was funny to show off how scary his Doberman was to his friends by letting it off its' leash to go after my dogs while I was walking them. Stupid retard.
When he was too slow to put the leash back on, I let the dogs have some slack again. He got the message - keep your Doberman under control and properly leashed, or next time I'll let mine defend themselves, and you'll have a dead dog, a nice bill from my vet, probably a big chunk of your own ass missing, AND some explaining to do to the police (all dogs are required to be leashed here, an the owners of unleashed dogs that attack are prosecuted). He's a bully, and like all bullies, when you stand up to them, they turn out to be cowards. He said he was going to put a bullet in my head, but he's made sure he and his dog are now really scarce, so everyone else can walk their dogs in peace again.
The first time I had to do this sort of thing was almost 20 years ago, when the owners of a Great Dane were literally terrorizing all the other dog owners in the neighborhood. Their dog would lunge after everyone's dogs and try to bite them. First time it went after mine, I pulled him back and told them to keep their dog under control. Second time, a week later, I let him have his slack. Great Danes might be big, but they're not much of a match for a Newfie. After about 15 seconds, I pulled him back again, and told them that if it EVER happened again, I would slip his chain completely off. After that, they took to walking their dog elsewhere, and everyone else was happy.
The point is, I shouldn't HAVE to do stupid shit like that. I want my dogs as PETS. I want them to be good around other animals, and around people. I shouldn't have to let them defend themselves against other people's out-of-control animals. People should keep their animals under control, for everyone's benefit. If you can't control it, you shouldn't have it. If it's not socialized to be safe around people, then don't bring it where people go. If you don't want it pick up after it (dog or cat), then give it to someone who will, and stop creating a nuisance. If your ego is so weak that you have to have a "tough fighting dog", go get a prescription for Viagra.
Obviously I don't hate animals. I *do* hate that people can't control theirs, or act irresponsibly with respect to them, creating either a nuisance or a danger for others.
You are a reprehensible excuse for a human being. All you have to know about this is that many prisoners, once locked up, never feel truly at home on the outside.
So, since you've admitted in other posts that humans are animals (and I have no problem with that), and keeping animals inside instead of letting them stay outside in "natural conditions" is wrong, you live and sleep outside, right? After all, houses are "unnatural", and we wouldn't want you to feel abused by sleeping indoors.
Somehow, I doubt my dogs feel they're being abused when they climb into bed and take up most of the space and I'm the one left having to fight for the blanket. I also doubt they feel abused while enjoying a good brushing. Or eating food they didn't have to hunt for themselves. Or interrupting what I'm doing so I will pet them. Or being taken for walks when they ask. Or getting dried off after a walk in the rain. Or having a warm place to come in from out in the cold. Or having a cool place to come in from out in the heat. Or fresh water. Or not having to worry about others attacking them. Or any one of many other interactions.
Most of humanity should be so lucky.
Search the net - you'll see that domesticated cats adapt quite readily to leashes. They're called DOMISTICATED for a reason, you know?
Haha, you should try that, the cat will lie down and not move. After two days it will try to crawl underneath the couch. Cats don't like leashes, they act like they are trapped. Hell, even sticking a post-it to a cat will render it immobile.
Me: Your cat is dead.
AC: No 'e's not... 'e's uh,...he's resting.
Me: Look, matey, I know a dead cat when I see one, and I'm looking at one right now.
AC: No no he's not dead, he's, he's restin'! Remarkable feline, the Blue Siamese, idn'it, ay? Beautiful pointings!
Me: The fur don't enter into it. It's stone dead.
AC: Nononono, no, no! 'E's resting!
Me: All right then, if he's restin', I'll wake him up! (shouting at the cat) 'Ello, Mister Puus-n-Boots! I've got a lovely fresh fish for you if you
show...
AC: (yanks the cat's tail)
AC: There, he moved!
Me: No, he didn't, that was you pulling the cat's tail!
AC: I never!!
... stunned...
... pining for desert veldt...
... fur glued in place...
On a side note, if you REALLY want to see a cat run, either run the electric can-opener, or tie a balloon to their tail. for sure, they'll be either coming or going.
BTW, if you have your cat or dog chiped (sic) you can be contacted when a pound picks them up. No problem there.
You'll still get fined $300 from the city, plus $20/day, for letting your animal wander around loose. A leash is just so much better - there's no "OMG where IS it?"
Cats do fine on leashes - do a search, and you'll see that cats come to expect their daily walk just as much as a dog does.
All the municipalities here have contracts with vrious animal shelters. It doesn't matter whether the dog or cat is chipped, tattooed, or has a tag - they're picked up when someone complains, and the owner is fined $300 plus costs.
If you decide to take the animal to the city instead of having the pound pick it up, the owner can pick it up from the city holding area if it's not more than a few hours, but they still have to pay a fine.
Responsible pet ownership includes not letting pets run free in an urban environment.
Most people which have cat I know of, try to get their cat to come back home in the evening
... and how do they accomplish this magic trick? Did they give the cat a cell phone so they can consult their GPS?:-) It's hard enough getting kids to come home on time.
What you have at the pound are most probably either stray cat, or abandoned animals, and that happen all too often with cats and dogs (neat and nice while small, and once they reach 1 year old or the next summer holiday, left over the side of the road, I wish I could have a few word with people doing that type of shit).
Animals end up at the pound for all sorts of reasons. My St. Bernard and my original Newfie were both pound dogs. My current Newfie is a rescue dog. My wolf's also "sort of rescued dog". Only the last of those was dumped on me as a "pup." A lot of adult dogs get abandoned because people's lives get f*ed up. Divorce, financial setbacks, having to move to a new location that doesn't allow pets, allergies, kids,...
Then, as you say, there are the assholes, like the people who chained 2 St. Bernards in a rising river and left them to drown. It was only luck that someone saw them. Or the asshats who breed dogs for a quick buck, and the ones that they can't sell off, they leave outside in unheated barns in 30 below weather with minimal food - if they survive... but many don't.
Kennel Clubs are a big part of the problem, creating artificial demand for "pure-breds" of dubious quality that then end up getting dumped. And people who buy these dogs as "status animals."
The average lifespan of a domestic dog, all things considered, is only 3 years. A *lot* of them never see their second birthday because they've become "inconvenient" before then. Most people could learn a lesson or two about loyalty from their pets.
You're misinformed. Domestic cats are fine on a leash. You can either look at the links I've posted elsewhere, or just search for "cat on leash". Many cats, once leash-trained, look forward to it.
Slashdot Mirror
Then by the same token, nobody should get punished for drunk driving, because they were too drunk to be in control of what they were doing.
I don't buy it, in either case, solely on the basis of utility. Neither argument results in a more useful situation. Jail the drunk, and prolong, not shorten, the offender with the tendency for violence. The tendency indicates 2 things: (1) that he is at greater risk to re-offend, and as such, we must prolong the sentence to provide the same level of deterrence that others would get from a shorter sentence, and (2) again, that he is at greater risk to re-offend, we have more of a duty to prevent him from re-offending, both to protect society, and to protect him from himself.
In other words, if you want to say "my genes made me do it", no problem - just don't expect to get off easier, Sunshine, 'cuz we ain't buyin' what y'uz sellin'.
Hey everybody - Roman Polanski has a slashdot account! :-p
Goldman-Sachs and Timothy Geithner both called - they want you to know you had it right the first time.
If you read the article, $1,995.00 is a lot of money to spend for a bit of peace of mind. Especially since there's the ongoing problem, as mentioned in the article, of battery life being pretty short (days, not weeks).
Better to have your dog socialized properly, have everyone in the neighborhood be friends with it, and if it does accidentally get loose, it'll be returned to you quickly. As for cats, most of the GPS systems are too large for cats. Also, the range of most of the the systems in the article is pitifully small - 700 meters or less - because they don't transmit to the cell-phone network, but only to your receiver. A dog can cover that distance in well under 10 minutes, after which you're SOL anyway. In an urban environment, the range would be MUCH smaller - a block or two.
Not really practical yet, I should think.
There's a difference between "animals get loose" and allowing them to habitually roam free. We're not China and our dogs and cats are not like free-range chickens.
Let's try a little word substitution here ..
I'm not perfect, but I wouldn't put either a kid or a dog into that sort of situation, My ex, on the other hand, did with my dog while I wasn't there. Let it get out the front and it got hit by a car. It survived. A while later, let our kid wander out the same way. Fortunately, our kid didn't get run over. A while after THAT, my sister was visiting, entrusted her young son to my ex, and sure enough it happened AGAIN. Do you see a pattern?
There was absolutely no excuse, and the whole mess just disgusted me. You can't fix stupid.
Shit happens.
I know one family that got so fed up with the neighbours cats constantly digging up their plants, dragging dead animals into THEIR house (it didn't help that one of the kids had asthma and was allergic to cats), destroying the garbage, and just being a constant nuisance.
They tried mouse traps among the flowers. 2 in the morning - snapMEOWsnapMEOWsnapMEOWsnapMEOW - the cat came back.
They tried catching the cat next time it came in the house, coating it in mustard, ketchup, and honey and putting it back outside so it would run home - the owners still refused to keep it inside, though they did end up with a nice mess to clean off the furniture.
They tried putting it in a box along with a letter taped to the outside describing the ongoing problems and dropping it off at city hall - the people got their cat back and still let it roam all over the place.
It went into one of their cars, so they turned the audio (it was one of THOSE cars) full blast, closed the doors, and let the cat go nuts for a while. It still wouldn't stay away.
Paint-balling it didn't work either.
Finally, they "converted the cat into a speed bump" by running over it at about 30mph.
None of this was fair to the cat - but it could have been avoided if the owners had acted responsibly. The cat was into everyones' garbage, etc. It was a nuisance, and the owners didn't do anything about it. When people complained to him, he would say "it's a cat", like that excused it.
A few weeks later, the police were there arresting the cat owner - turns out he also liked to beat his wife. And that was pretty much the last anyone saw of him.
I always blame the owners.
My mother adopted a pit bull. The dogs' parents were MEAN. One chewed its' way through a metal cage, then jumped out a 3rd-story window, to go after someone. And that was the *nicer* of the two parents. But the way she raised the dog, it was the best-behaved, and one of the least aggressive, dogs I've ever seen. Even her two cats would bully it a bit.
I remember when I was helping out at the dog pound, one of the absolute funniest, happiest dogs was a BIG rotweiler that just didn't seem to know it wasn't supposed to act like Dino on the Flintstones. Happy to see everyone, always bouncing up and down, just wanted a bit of attention. If I had had the space at the time, I would have taken it home, because it was a *happy* dog.
Some dogs are miserable shits because that's the way they are. They need a lot of work. Some dogs are miserable shits because of the way they've been treated. They too need a lot of work. And then there are the dogs who, despite everything, are just happy to be around you, "just because". It's rewarding to take a dog that needs a lot of work and gradually see it turn into a happy dog.
I guess you have pretty stupid cats. We had one when we wer a kid that knew how to turn on the water when it wanted a drink, could use the toilet same as a human (which was really funny one night when our mother went into the bathroom w/o turning on the light, and sat down - and the cat ended up in the bowl :-), and would even try to flush it (wasn't able to, though).
We're not the only ones who had cats that were literally toilet-trained. They can learn. Heck, there was one feral cat a few years ago that took a liking to me, to the point that when I was petting it and a neighbor's dog (a little thing) came running over, the cat immediately got up and ran between me and the dog, and wouldn't let it come near. That doesn't sound like a cat that would eat my face. It wasn't being territorial - when I wasn't around, the dog was free to wander over. It probably just sensed, same as most animals do, that I like animals.
The article you quoted actually backs me up by what it leaves out.
Notice they said "We remain strongly committed to our current open OS software strategy for cellular devices, which is based on the world-leading Symbian OS," Nokia said in a statement."
NOT "We remain strongly committed to our current open OS software strategy for SMART PHONES, which is based on the world-leading Symbian OS," Nokia said in a statement.
Symbian OS has been relegated to the bottom-drawer, low-cost cell phones. In other words, the least profitable, least interesting, market. You really need to look at both what they say, and what they don't say.
Try snowboarding with the Wii Fit. But first, get a big-ass upscaling plasma TV - it really is immersive - and funny to watch other people really get into it.
Sure, the Wii Resort is Fisher Price colours, but everyone gets hooked on Frisbee Golf - the motion plus makes a real difference to what sounds like a really stupid idea.
Games like Pinball Hall of Fame are exactly what you would expect - noisy, flashy, and you can even tilt the table if you shake the remote too much (and you have to bump the table on occasion or the ball goes right down the center).
Someone else on slashdot suggested Boom Blox. It didn't sound all that great, but once you hit the Plumber puzzle, it makes you think. AND you get a real work-out. I was playing against a friend who was throwing all wrong (sure, you can throw hard, but not at the expense of accuracy) and after an hour he was complaining about his shoulder getting sore from the workout :-)
I picked up Pop Star Guitar on a whim, not expecting anything great for an air guitar game (figured it would be something that friends' kids could play when they came over). Boy,was I wrong. That was $20 well spent - so much so that I went out and bought copies for a couple of other people. The women love it, the teenagers love it, it's just the husbands who aren't impressed, and I suspect it's because they just plain suck at it and get embarrassed too easily.
Yes some games suck. Some are too simplistic. Part of the problem, though, is that people buy 3, 4 titles, don't spend much money because they don't want to risk it on unknown games, then complain that it sucks because it's not all they hoped it would be.
I took a different approach. When I bought the Wii in February (they finally had it in stock), I also picked up 4 remotes, 4 nunchucks, 4 steering wheels, the balance board (again, as soon as they had one in stock), rechargers for everything ... and over 30 games so far this year. I knew that I would have to go through a lot of games to find the good among the ugly - especially since people's tastes differ. When the 50" plasma TV I wanted (1080p, 600hz, built-in upscaler) and the associated surround-sound system went on sale a few months ago, I grabbed them. Sure, some of the games suck, but those that don't - the setup makes a HUGE difference. I consider the 5 grand investment as money well spent, especially since I'm all set for the Wii2 that's coming out next fall.
In other words, if you're disappointed with the Wii, find someone who has a nice setup and a nice selection of games, and find what works for YOU. Balance-board games will totally suck on a small screen. Noisy games suck on a crappy sound system. Multi-player split-screen games get old fast when everyone has to crowd into a small space and squint at their small corner of the screen. Games that require lots of room (like the sword-fight in Wii Resort) aren't the same if you don't allot enough floor space for people to MOVE! LOTS of space.
Sure, if you're playing by yourself, you can get away with a smaller screen, but for 2 or more people, 42" is the absolute smallest I'd go for many games, and even then, it's not that great for 4 players.
Cats and dogs aren't that different.
They're both 4-pawed, tailed, furry pets.
They both can be trained to come, sit, stay, beg, walk on a leash.
They both can bond to their owners.
They both love chasing mice and other small vermin.
They both love playing with stuff (especially hamster balls and laser pointers).
They both eat pretty much the same things.
They both like rooting around in the garbage.
They both mark their territories.
When in heat, they'll both screw anything that doesn't move fast enough.
They both respond to attention and praise.
My last cat ate the same food as the dog (big dry dog food chunks - crunch, crunch, crunch - what a racket), did its business outside in the back yard same as the dog, came inside when called same as the dog, etc.
There's not that much difference between a large cat and a small dog, except that people tend to believe that cats should act differently, so they treat cats differently, and the cats respond accordingly. Treat it like a dog, it'll behave pretty much the same way a dog does, right down to drinking out of the toilet bowl.
It's NOT culturally acceptable for cats to go ripping up garbage bags and strewing the contents all over the place, which attracts the skunks, which spray the dogs and cats, which stinks up the whole neighborhood.
Cats running around in an urban environment just doesn't work. We've had to raise the fine for putting out garbage early to $1,000.00 per incident, to help lessen the problem. The skunks are so used to people now that when you shout at them, they look down their nose at you. And they're BIG. Every once in a while, some cat will have a close encounter of the smelly kind, and then you can smell the stench all over the neighborhood for several days.
We also don't need the bug and other vermin problems caused by the loose garbage.
The garbage problem is almost entirely due to cats. Not dogs, not squirrels or crows, or even the skunks. Cats.
Nope - here each municipality has a contract with one of several pounds, as well as their own small holding location - usually a couple of enclosures in the public works garage. If you call the city, they call the pound they contracted with, who then picks up the animal. The police are never involved - it's not their job - unless the animal has attacked someone. The police don't even issue the fine - you get it mailed to you by the city clerk, same as a tax bill. Again, the police aren't involved, same as they aren't involved for many other municipal infractions, like putting your garbage out too early (recently raised to $1000 fine to help counteract skunks and stray cats ripping garbage bags up). And you're wrong about private shelters not being able to take an animal. Most of the shelters that contract with the municipalities are private, and they have to take any animal that's dropped off with them by residents. It's part of their contract. When you call the city, they'll tell you which shelter has the contract this year, and you can either drop it off in person, dump it with the city, or keep it at home until the contractor can pick it up. The contractor will pick it up in one to three days. It's then up to the owner to claim it, pay the fees, fines, etc.
I know this is how it works because I had to go through it. I was walking my dogs one cold winter day when we came across a stray. He was friendly but shy. And obviously very cold (it was around -20). I didn't have a spare leash on me, but he did follow us home. I hooked my 3 dogs' leashes to the fence, quickly went inside, found an extension cord, and used it as a leash to bring him inside as well. (the logistics were a bit complicated. Leashed him, tied him to the fence, brought my dogs in, unleashed them, put them in a room, went back outside, brought him in, put him in a separate room, let the other dogs out, slowly introduced the new dog to the others).
I then called the local police, who gave me the number for the right department with the city (it was public works in this case). I brought the dog there, and they told me that they'd keep it until the pound picked it up. Since I know that the "failure rate" for dogs that go to the pound is around 50%, I made sure the guy agreed that if the dog wasn't claimed before the pound came to pick it up, to CALL ME and I'd take it back instead and find a home for it.
They never called, so the dog must have been claimed.
My point is that your belief that the police have to handle it, and that private shelters can't take dogs, certainly isn't true everywhere.
You're thinking too high-tech. Yo don't need the data. You don't need to decode the signal. A field strength meter and a directional antenna will suffice. Find out which direction the signal is coming from, and start walking towards it.
If your cat is so much better than you at making decisions, why not have her post to slashdot instead of you? By your own admission, her decisions are of a higher quality than yours, so her posts should be more interesting.
BTW - your cat has fewer neurons than a toddler. Far fewer. She's certainly not able to make decisions at the same level as the average adult human, though I'll grant your premise that she can make better decisions than you, if that will help :-p
Kill off all the squirrels and birds, and you end up with more mice and grubs and other pests. There's a natural balance. Feral cats upset it.
Neighbours' cat used t spray my motorcycle all the time. It eventually ended up dead (not my doing) when a car ran over it. It would have lived longer and been less of a nuisance if the owners had kept it indoors or on a leash.
Putting an animal on a leash is not wrong. A leash is more than just a physical restraint - it's also a line of communication between the pet and its' master. My dogs get very excited when I go for the leash. It also helps keep them under control when someone else's dog acts stupid and tries to attack. They instinctively understand, when I pull them back, that they are not to fight - and if the other person doesn't quickly get their dog under control by PUTTING IT ON A FUCKING LEASH, I then give them some slack and let them fight back for a few seconds, before pulling them back a second time. The other dog always gets the message, and so does the owner.
This happens once or twice a decade. Last month, stupid guy thought it was funny to show off how scary his Doberman was to his friends by letting it off its' leash to go after my dogs while I was walking them. Stupid retard. When he was too slow to put the leash back on, I let the dogs have some slack again. He got the message - keep your Doberman under control and properly leashed, or next time I'll let mine defend themselves, and you'll have a dead dog, a nice bill from my vet, probably a big chunk of your own ass missing, AND some explaining to do to the police (all dogs are required to be leashed here, an the owners of unleashed dogs that attack are prosecuted). He's a bully, and like all bullies, when you stand up to them, they turn out to be cowards. He said he was going to put a bullet in my head, but he's made sure he and his dog are now really scarce, so everyone else can walk their dogs in peace again.
The first time I had to do this sort of thing was almost 20 years ago, when the owners of a Great Dane were literally terrorizing all the other dog owners in the neighborhood. Their dog would lunge after everyone's dogs and try to bite them. First time it went after mine, I pulled him back and told them to keep their dog under control. Second time, a week later, I let him have his slack. Great Danes might be big, but they're not much of a match for a Newfie. After about 15 seconds, I pulled him back again, and told them that if it EVER happened again, I would slip his chain completely off. After that, they took to walking their dog elsewhere, and everyone else was happy.
The point is, I shouldn't HAVE to do stupid shit like that. I want my dogs as PETS. I want them to be good around other animals, and around people. I shouldn't have to let them defend themselves against other people's out-of-control animals. People should keep their animals under control, for everyone's benefit. If you can't control it, you shouldn't have it. If it's not socialized to be safe around people, then don't bring it where people go. If you don't want it pick up after it (dog or cat), then give it to someone who will, and stop creating a nuisance. If your ego is so weak that you have to have a "tough fighting dog", go get a prescription for Viagra.
Obviously I don't hate animals. I *do* hate that people can't control theirs, or act irresponsibly with respect to them, creating either a nuisance or a danger for others.
So, since you've admitted in other posts that humans are animals (and I have no problem with that), and keeping animals inside instead of letting them stay outside in "natural conditions" is wrong, you live and sleep outside, right? After all, houses are "unnatural", and we wouldn't want you to feel abused by sleeping indoors.
Somehow, I doubt my dogs feel they're being abused when they climb into bed and take up most of the space and I'm the one left having to fight for the blanket. I also doubt they feel abused while enjoying a good brushing. Or eating food they didn't have to hunt for themselves. Or interrupting what I'm doing so I will pet them. Or being taken for walks when they ask. Or getting dried off after a walk in the rain. Or having a warm place to come in from out in the cold. Or having a cool place to come in from out in the heat. Or fresh water. Or not having to worry about others attacking them. Or any one of many other interactions.
Most of humanity should be so lucky.
Search the net - you'll see that domesticated cats adapt quite readily to leashes. They're called DOMISTICATED for a reason, you know?
Me: Your cat is dead. ... 'e's uh,...he's resting.
... stunned ...
... pining for desert veldt ...
... fur glued in place ...
AC: No 'e's not
Me: Look, matey, I know a dead cat when I see one, and I'm looking at one right now.
AC: No no he's not dead, he's, he's restin'! Remarkable feline, the Blue Siamese, idn'it, ay? Beautiful pointings!
Me: The fur don't enter into it. It's stone dead.
AC: Nononono, no, no! 'E's resting!
Me: All right then, if he's restin', I'll wake him up! (shouting at the cat) 'Ello, Mister Puus-n-Boots! I've got a lovely fresh fish for you if you show...
AC: (yanks the cat's tail)
AC: There, he moved!
Me: No, he didn't, that was you pulling the cat's tail!
AC: I never!!
On a side note, if you REALLY want to see a cat run, either run the electric can-opener, or tie a balloon to their tail. for sure, they'll be either coming or going.
that's what makes it so much more fun ... no need :-)
After all, my dear Watson, what better way to hide than in plain view?
The GPS emitter on the cow ...
What, you thought that the article meant giving cats and dogs their own Garmin or Tomtom to follow, so they could find their own way home?
You'll still get fined $300 from the city, plus $20/day, for letting your animal wander around loose. A leash is just so much better - there's no "OMG where IS it?"
Cats do fine on leashes - do a search, and you'll see that cats come to expect their daily walk just as much as a dog does.
All the municipalities here have contracts with vrious animal shelters. It doesn't matter whether the dog or cat is chipped, tattooed, or has a tag - they're picked up when someone complains, and the owner is fined $300 plus costs.
If you decide to take the animal to the city instead of having the pound pick it up, the owner can pick it up from the city holding area if it's not more than a few hours, but they still have to pay a fine.
Responsible pet ownership includes not letting pets run free in an urban environment.
Animals end up at the pound for all sorts of reasons. My St. Bernard and my original Newfie were both pound dogs. My current Newfie is a rescue dog. My wolf's also "sort of rescued dog". Only the last of those was dumped on me as a "pup." A lot of adult dogs get abandoned because people's lives get f*ed up. Divorce, financial setbacks, having to move to a new location that doesn't allow pets, allergies, kids, ...
Then, as you say, there are the assholes, like the people who chained 2 St. Bernards in a rising river and left them to drown. It was only luck that someone saw them. Or the asshats who breed dogs for a quick buck, and the ones that they can't sell off, they leave outside in unheated barns in 30 below weather with minimal food - if they survive ... but many don't.
Kennel Clubs are a big part of the problem, creating artificial demand for "pure-breds" of dubious quality that then end up getting dumped. And people who buy these dogs as "status animals."
The average lifespan of a domestic dog, all things considered, is only 3 years. A *lot* of them never see their second birthday because they've become "inconvenient" before then. Most people could learn a lesson or two about loyalty from their pets.
You're misinformed. Domestic cats are fine on a leash. You can either look at the links I've posted elsewhere, or just search for "cat on leash". Many cats, once leash-trained, look forward to it.