Octopus Overlords

i'm catsitting this large Siamese right now who is declawed (the current owner didn't do it, he was adopted this way) and it just strikes me as inexcusable animal cruelty to have these amputations done to this very sweet feline. it makes me angry.

hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Sun Dec 20, 2020 4:21 am i'm catsitting this large Siamese right now who is declawed (the current owner didn't do it, he was adopted this way) and it just strikes me as inexcusable animal cruelty to have these amputations done to this very sweet feline. it makes me angry.

Depends on how many times you want to have to replace your $1200 sofa over the life of the beast. My old adopted girl is not declawed, and she destroyed my brand new couch when I was at work.

You adopt the animal, you find a humane way to address its bad or undesired habits. Or re-home it responsibly. Cats need to scratch shit. It's a natural and beneficial urge. If your dog is chewing up your ottoman you don't have its teeth pulled out.

I've heard of people who have their dogs surgically muted to stop barking.

That's monstrous.

Well these sure are hard to find and very expensive.

https://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/ato ... 238Lab.htm

Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab 1950 / 1951

Can go for over $5000

The set came with four types of uranium ore, a beta-alpha source (Pb-210), a pure beta source (Ru-106?), a gamma source (Zn-65), a spinthariscope, a cloud chamber with its own short-lived alpha source (Po-210), an electroscope, a Geiger counter, a manual, a comic book (Dagwood Splits the Atom) and a government manual "Prospecting for Uranium.

Sudy wrote: ↑Sun Dec 20, 2020 9:21 am You adopt the animal, you find a humane way to address its bad or undesired habits. Or re-home it responsibly. Cats need to scratch shit. It's a natural and beneficial urge. If your dog is chewing up your ottoman you don't have its teeth pulled out.

+1 - this really is the case. a scratching post is as essential as a litterbox. declawing is the equivalent of surgically removing a human's fingers.

I had my first cat declawed because I was 18 and my parents made it a condition of bringing a cat into the house, and because I didn't fully understand what it meant. I would never do such a cruel thing again. However, I must point out that Toke was an outdoor cat who, despite his disadvantage, still climbed trees and brought down prey with the best of them. Cats climb by hugging the tree and they defend themselves with their back claws (which aren't removed).

I'm against the practice and support banning it, but it does not cripple the cat.

Education and awareness of declawing has increased over the years... I wouldn't judge anyone for having done it back then. The same for anyone who's ignorant of the issue in a region where it's still permitted, and a vet wouldn't try to dissuade you. Family friends had a declawed indoor cat in the 90s, and we didn't think anything of it. In fact, I liked the idea of it as a kid since I was afraid of getting scratched.

I also suspect that a declawed rescue cat would lead a better life than a stray or euthanized one. But, just because my life might be easier if I plucked my wife's eyeballs out doesn't mean I'd do it. It's cruel.

"I trust them with my car and you can too."

I can trust them with your car?

The place Ive reached in the bush and brush yard cleaning is full of briars. Stuff as big around as my fingers and as tall as 15 feet into the bushes. Thats not fun.

Its such a nice two days I couldn't resist doing a little in the yard. I want to tomorrow but Im going to wait until after New Years. It would suck to not be able to stand up straight and cook me and the doggies dinner come Thursday and Friday in pain. But its also going to turn cold Christmas. Icy cold. I hate trying to work in the cold. My lungs dont handle cold. So after a couple things done Im gasping cold air trying to breath.

But I also cant just let it go because its the same in hot weather. Sigh. Old sucks.

My weenie dog is doing really bad. Enough so I decided to dig her grave. Had to go to the hardware store to get a pick. The clerk says "going to dig for gold?" in a jovial manner. And I of course say "No. I'm going to bury my dog". For some reason that gave me a chuckle.
Went and dug her grave so I'm ready and now she's getting better. Oh well, the hole can wait.

When our little 19 year old Chihuahua died before Thanksgiving 2008 I had to rush to the store to buy a pick for the ground. I wanted a full mattock but they only had a pick and I was having to rush. Now every time I see or use that pick I think of that sad day.

I hope your little buddy gets a lot better and has a long time left.

xwraith wrote: ↑Mon Dec 21, 2020 12:23 am

Love it. It reminds me of this

Sigh.

I managed to knock over the stand with my Lenovo Flex 5, cracking the screen. This was caused mostly by trying to get around in my too-crowded house. It still works as a laptop, but the touchscreen element of it no longer functions. The laptop function is still fine (as far as I can tell), but the tablet functionality is gone. And that sucks, because the whole reason I picked that model was to be able to flip the screen around use it like a giant tablet to read game manuals (RPG and board game) in .pdf format and to read comics on. I can't see to read either on a regular tablet (and I have no idea how anyone else does, either.)

As I said, "sigh."

Nothing to be done for it. It's just one of those things that happens when everything's cramped, and right now it's doubly cramped with the Christmas stuff in the house.

That reminds me of the time my laptop fell off my luggage at the airport and it cracked the screen. It still fired up and about 1/4 of the screen in the corner still worked. Amazingly I was able to reduce my desktop to that area and use it for the remainder of my trip. It was pretty tiny, but still larger than a cell phone screen, and the mouse and keyboard worked fine.

We're expecting winds and rain for Christmas up in my neck of the woods. 2020 may just give us the best holiday gift to wrap up the year - a prolonged power outage while I'm on vacation.

Paingod wrote:We're expecting winds and rain for Christmas up in my neck of the woods. 2020 may just give us the best holiday gift to wrap up the year - a prolonged power outage while I'm on vacation.

We still have 8 inches of snow at my house in CT, but the next two days are supposed to be in the 50s...with heavy rain and 50mph winds. We're looking at a Beeh windy Christmas with 1-3” of rain, on top of melting snow...then 25 degrees Christmas night, turning our entire world into a sheet of ice for the weekend.

We also found out yesterday that one of the adults at my son's after-school program tested positive for COVID last Friday, so we're all at risk now and won't be seeing any family for the holiday. Thanks 2020!

Yesterday and today its about 61. Tomorrow it will rain and storm and late at night a strong cold front comes through and turns some of it to ice and snow. 22 tomorrow night then Christmas will be a high of 32. Then that night 19 or so. Good thing I got milk while I was out Monday.

Daehawk wrote: ↑Tue Dec 22, 2020 5:22 pm The place Ive reached in the bush and brush yard cleaning is full of briars. Stuff as big around as my fingers and as tall as 15 feet into the bushes. Thats not fun.

Its such a nice two days I couldn't resist doing a little in the yard. I want to tomorrow but Im going to wait until after New Years. It would suck to not be able to stand up straight and cook me and the doggies dinner come Thursday and Friday in pain. But its also going to turn cold Christmas. Icy cold. I hate trying to work in the cold. My lungs dont handle cold. So after a couple things done Im gasping cold air trying to breath.

But I also cant just let it go because its the same in hot weather. Sigh. Old sucks.

You need to rent some goats.

I had to make a run to the pharmacy today to pick up my prescription refill, and noticed that there is now a cannabis store in the strip mall where the pharmacy is located. I looked them up online, and apparently it is brand new. Their grand opening event is scheduled for 26 December, which happens to be the first day of our upcoming month-long lock-down.

Timing is everything. IIRC, they will be allowed to operate with curbside pickup, so given that they are less than a block away, I may be checking out their website in the near future. Lord knows, a local pot shop might have got a lot of business from me over the last year if it had been an option.

.61 yesterday and today....snow and 40 tomorrow. Then tomorrow night 22...Christmas will be 30 with sub zero wind chill and 18 that night. Fun

Had to put down my weenie dog today.
One less dog to clean up after.
One less dog to feed.

I'm so sorry for your loss.

Im sorry. I was really hoping it would improve. We always seemed to lose more little guys near holidays then not. Especially Thanksgiving.

Lost people around Christmas it seems. Or on Christmas Day.

Condolences, Dave. 2020 just won't quit.

No, no it won't. Not even with a week left. It's still swinging hard.

I'm sorry for the loss, dbt.

Last night, I finally convinced Mrs Skinypupy to let the kids watch The Mandalorian (the “T” rating had scared her off for the Wonder Twins 7.6). The plan was to surprise them with it this morning and binge Season 1 all day while she was at work.

6 minutes into the first episode...the power goes out. It’s now been out for going on 3 hours. Power company said they’re expecting it’ll be at least a couple more hours until it’s restored.

Both Twins are just sitting on the couch pouting because they can’t watch and don’t want to do anything else but that.

Sigh.

I hope you have a fireplace or something.

Time for a re-enactment.

So sorry dbt.

Expectation:



Reality:

On a separate note, Jeremy Irons and Mother Theresa... anyone else see a resemblance?

And have you ever seen them together?

I just saw the Weird Al story on Facebook a little bit ago...very cool

The original is posted on his Instagram account, for those who prefer primary sources.

When I was a small boy, I dreamed of being able to afford spaghetti with meatballs and meat sauce. That day has come.

Sudy wrote: ↑Thu Dec 24, 2020 10:39 pm When I was a small boy, I dreamed of being able to afford spaghetti with meatballs and meat sauce. That day has come.

We used to live paycheck to paycheck but after years of hard work and dedication we are now living direct deposit to direct deposit.