Random Topics

[Red Cat Jenny]

Heh gotta love Roadside America. It's our local wierdness that is proof Communism or any extreme sect will never take over this country.

[Patrick Hand]

OK... now I'm just listening to Shift Happens...OK it is kinda fun to read also.....

It's the music of when the boys are charging up the side of the mountain in The Last of the Mahicans...(maybe I should see if I can find a copy of the soundtrack.... dang it's good music...)

[Patrick Hand]

OK... i Knew better.... but when I got home the CAT was yeoling for some food....

Hey... according to PETA keeping any animal as a pet is Slavery.... and I don't wanna do that, so I emancipated my cat.....

Now he is a lazy bum just scrounging for food.... Hey cat... go get a job......

PETA won't answer any of my inquires bout what I can do to better my (now free ) cats life, they offer no classes or anything my cat can go to to learn how to become a responsible citizen..... and buy his own cat food....

My Cat isn't the least bit happy about being emancipated.... and what he has to say about those sh*t heads in PETA messing with his good easy going lifestyle can't be posted here.... (something about rat kidney sucking... somethings.... My Cat to English isn't very good...)

<OH yeah... goggle comes here every so often... I'm hoping one of their web spiders finds this and post it......PETA SUX.....>

[Christine]

That's just ridiculous on the PETA thing! Pets would die out in the wild because they're domestic and I don't see where they're slaves. Some pets are treated like royalty, sometimes even better than some humans. I keep thinking this had to be a joke, but I looked it up. PETA is nuts, they're thinking is a bit too extreme!

[Red Cat Jenny]

OMG....

No matter how many times I see the sunrise from up here in the tower...it just stunns me,

You can actually see it move. Its a huge ball of molten orange right now.

Sigh I'll be here for a few days straight. 12 hour days apiece.

Got my bag packed and my laptop.

We''re expeting 7" of the white stuff. Ah... the joy of an airport job.

[Cpt Sophia M Eisley]

That's just ridiculous on the PETA thing! Pets would die out in the wild because they're domestic and I don't see where they're slaves. Some pets are treated like royalty, sometimes even better than some humans. I keep thinking this had to be a joke, but I looked it up. PETA is nuts, they're thinking is a bit too extreme!

While I don't agree with alot of what PETA says or does (imho, they often take to the extreme), I've seen quite a few shows on cable (and read books here 'n there) that have proven once domestics can be reintroduced into the wild and survive. Surprisingly, cats can do that quite well, going from domestic to feral and even back to domestic again. I know, as a pet owner (or person who's pets own me?) it's a tad weird to wrap my head around, but knowing where some of my critters have come from, I have the feeling they could survive without me (in the wild).

[Patrick Hand]

Cats and dogs can revert back and survive in the Wild.... But if every single one of them was released, a lot of them would die...or get eaten by other animals.... There isn't some kinda Pet Utopia where all animals would live peacefully together.....

My cat doesn't have to work for his food... So even if I emancipate him, PETA isn't going to feed him.... (and he gets very vocal when he wants fed.... )

[Red Cat Jenny]

Patrick, your cat must know my dog...who can bark SUP-PER! quite well

Why did I teach him that?

[Mission]

Speaking of cats, we have

from YouTube. (It's obviously a cheesy 'good news' segment on some faux news show, but I am still fascinated by the cat...and the device.)

[Cpt Sophia M Eisley]

Interesting, I'd seen segments on scuba dogs before, but not cats. On that same note, check this surfing cat out here.

[Red-Handed Jill]

A friend of mine just posted this pic on his blog - he's trying to find out who took it:

I want a puppy! Jack's going to have to talk me down tonight. (Our kitty Captain Morgan has made it quite clear that no other kitties - or dogs - will be permitted in our household.)

Edited January 15, 2009 by Red-Handed Jill

[Cpt Sophia M Eisley]

What a cute puppy! If I didn't have two cats, I'd definitely be eyeing a puppy dog.

Speaking of pups, have you seen this Jill?

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/shiba-inu-puppy-cam

Some friends of mine are doing streaming video of the pups they're raising for adoption. Their site's been all over the news (online and otherwise, I've heard). These little guys look like teddy bears, even when full grown.

Edited January 15, 2009 by Cpt Sophia M Eisley

[Mission]

Should this be in the Random Rabbits thread? (Maybe not. Maybe this is just an excuse to plug the Random Rabbits thread.)

Random Rabbits, Random Rabbits.

[Silkie McDonough]

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

My computer crashed! I can't get on line! Heck, I can't get onto the desktop. If I am patient I can log on in safe mode but ...non-computer savy woman that I am ...I don't have some of the files backed up! Soooooooooooo, I have a friend with an external hard drive that, with any luck, will be over tomorrow so I can copy the files then I can rebuild the stupid computer. I hope to have my machine restored by tomorrow night. If I do not I don't know how I will survive. As it is I am having a tough time not clutching the machine while rocking in the corner in the fetal position. Unfortunately most of my friends live ouside the state that I live in and the computer is how I stay in touch with friends old and new.

Needless to say I am thinking I need to look into investing into an an external hard drive or start burning some CD's.

Edited January 16, 2009 by Silkie McDonough

[LadyBarbossa]

Just entertained by this and figured this would be an interesting mental image for all.

Late at night here checking email innocently and outside the cops are doing what they can to pull out one of their squad cars from a snow covered ditch! LOL ... poor things. Will be interesting to see how long it will take them to pull it out. Nothing much I can do at the moment though. Ye kinda feel helpless in a situation like this. The road out here has had SO many stuck cars cause it drifts shut swiftly.

~Lady B

[Red-Handed Jill]

Our soon-to-be president Obama has asked that we make today a day of volunteer service. However, a lot of us pirates don't get the Martin Luther King holiday off from work to do volunteer projects. But there are lots of ways we can help our communities even if we're at our desks or out at lunch, such as:

*Make an on-line donation to your favorite charity

*Give the homeless guy on the corner a doubloon or two

*Drop off canned food at your local food bank

*Donate pet food to your local animal shelter

Even the smallest efforts add up, so anything you can do will make a difference!

[Mission]

*Make an on-line donation to your favorite charity

Or better yet, why bother with just one day? I find tithing is returned at least 10 fold in one way or another.

Here's a group for ya':

Friends of Fort Taylor -- The Community Service Organization (CSO) of Ft. Taylor. The non-profit group sponsors the Civil War Days event, the Pirates in Paradise Festival and other historical reenactments. Their role is to help preserve Ft. Taylor, a national landmark, as well as assist the state park in its overall mission. Contact them at P.O. Box 58, Key West, FL 33040.

[Christine]

My one friend, who I've known since high school, has a little girl. It's her first child, she was born last February. She said she always wanted to have a child, but lately when her and I talk it's usually her venting how bored she is during the day. She complains that her boyfriend gets to go out more while at work while she's stuck at home with the baby. The one statement I keep hearing from friends and even some family that have small children is: "I love my child (children), but....." It just seems none of them are really happy since having a child. They vent to me a lot, I guess I'm a great sounding board, I dunno. I'd also hear, "Oh, I love my child (children), but Christine, don't ever have any kids!" LOL! I have never wanted kids. I think a lot of that is because I've always had kids around me to begin with. I used to work as a Teacher's Aide at a pre-school/day care. I was the only adult there that didn't have kids. They all joked that I was the only one who got the best night's sleep when I got home. I don't know how they all did it. Work with kids all day and then go home to their own kids, no break from it. There's also small children in my family that I see a lot. I get along great with kids , I just never had the desire to have any. The more I hear my friends vent about it, the less I want one.

I guess I don't completely understand why they complain. They wanted kids, but they also knew what would happen once they had them. They knew their life would never be the same again. I know it's not easy, another reason why I just avoided the whole thing.

I know there's parents on this board and this is not meant to offend anyone. Just trying to figure out why my friends complain about parenthood when this is something they wanted.

[Mission]

Yep. I don't want any; never did. I think even when I was young (I decided this when I was about 13 or 14) I recognized it was a choice that had to be made and stuck with. (Although, in all honesty, it was mostly a choice to be selfish.)

Besides, when you already think like a kid, why would you want any home-based competition?

[Graydog]

No matter how many times I see the sunrise from up here in the tower...

Red Cat Jenny, Red Cat Jenny, let down your hair, so that I may climb that silky stair.

[Red-Handed Jill]

My one friend, who I've known since high school, has a little girl. It's her first child, she was born last February. She said she always wanted to have a child, but lately when her and I talk it's usually her venting how bored she is during the day. She complains that her boyfriend gets to go out more while at work while she's stuck at home with the baby. The one statement I keep hearing from friends and even some family that have small children is: "I love my child (children), but....." It just seems none of them are really happy since having a child. They vent to me a lot, I guess I'm a great sounding board, I dunno. I'd also hear, "Oh, I love my child (children), but Christine, don't ever have any kids!" LOL! I have never wanted kids. I think a lot of that is because I've always had kids around me to begin with. I used to work as a Teacher's Aide at a pre-school/day care. I was the only adult there that didn't have kids. They all joked that I was the only one who got the best night's sleep when I got home. I don't know how they all did it. Work with kids all day and then go home to their own kids, no break from it. There's also small children in my family that I see a lot. I get along great with kids , I just never had the desire to have any. The more I hear my friends vent about it, the less I want one.

I guess I don't completely understand why they complain. They wanted kids, but they also knew what would happen once they had them. They knew their life would never be the same again. I know it's not easy, another reason why I just avoided the whole thing.

I know there's parents on this board and this is not meant to offend anyone. Just trying to figure out why my friends complain about parenthood when this is something they wanted.

There has been a number of national studies done on why people become parents. Contrary to Mission's motivations, most of the assorted reasons from the parents were selfish. (Conversely, in studies of folks who decided not to procreate, almost all of their answers were selfless rather than selfish.) But the most given answer - by a WIDE margin - was "I don't know." Apparently, more than 50% of the parents out there gave no thought to whether or not they should have kids - they just had 'em. And, when asked if they'd do it again if they had a choice, 72% of them said "No".

And from what I've observed, many people don't consider the fact that they actually DO have a choice in the matter. It's just expected that they will have kids and if they don't, well gosh - they must be defective or something. Or they'll change their mind (as if it were just a phase...) Or they get a lot of pressure from their family and not all of them are willing to stand their ground about their own lives and their right to choose how they live them.

So in a lot of cases, it's not a matter of them actually choosing to have kids.

[Christine]

Oh, yeah, I've heard that. Some people think they have no choice, they also feel forced to become a parent by their family. The majority of my friends tho chose to have kids of their own free will. Like my old high school friend, she always wanted a kid once she found the right guy. She's been with this guy almost 3 years and he's great. She just is realizing being a parent is harder than she thought. She's used to just going out with friends, do stuff and so on and she's trying to adjust to this new life.

[Mission]

There has been a number of national studies done on why people become parents. Contrary to Mission's motivations, most of the assorted reasons from the parents were selfish. (Conversely, in studies of folks who decided not to procreate, almost all of their answers were selfless rather than selfish.)

I would argue everyone's motives are always selfish. Even if doing something (or in this case, not doing it) just gives you a feeling of personal satisfaction or a feeling that you're serving God who will reward you in the afterlife or the greater good or whatever other rationalizing poison you choose - you're still basically doing it for yourself. A very wise man taught me that. (And my Social Psych book sort of backed it up. The officious explanation given by "science" is quivering and tentative, however. No sense in upsetting the cultural norm.)

The only two apparently altruistic reasons I can think of for not having children off the top of my head is impact on the environment and over-population. Each is intrinsically selfish vis-a-vis the human race. Restraining one's self from contributing to the local pop. is an effort to insure that the human race will survive. (One which is intrinsically flawed because of its over-focus on a few factors to the exclusion of many, many others. Particularly technology - defined here as new ways of doing things. Predictions of the impending doom caused by over-population actually began in the mid 18th century. None of them have come anything close to being right.) Not "wrecking" the environment by saving it from too many folks tromping around and polluting is an effort to save the environment for humans. What constitutes "saving the environment" depends very much on your perspective. The earth has spent a lot more time being inhospitable to human life (by an estimated factor of more than a 1000 times) than hospitable to it. If we change it, making it inhospitable once again, the earth will survive just fine without us. In fact, if we do it right, I think the cockroaches will be most pleased. (Presuming, of course, that cockroaches can feel pleasure.) I would also argue that each are examples of doing things to feel good about yourself for saving the human race - the one that you apparently want to selfishly (from a societal perspective) remove your genes from. (Ironic, isn't it? )

But I digress; I never implied that having children was not selfish nor did I imply that other people deciding not to have them was or wasn't selfish. (Although I just took care of that one now, didn't I?) I said my motivations are selfish. I don't want children because they require time and money to properly nurture - two things which I would rather spend elsewhere. Plus you throw all your privacy out the window in one 9 month step and I do so love my privacy. So this makes my reasons for not wanting children selfish, just as I said. (And I'm good with that.)

But the most given answer - by a WIDE margin - was "I don't know." Apparently, more than 50% of the parents out there gave no thought to whether or not they should have kids - they just had 'em. And, when asked if they'd do it again if they had a choice, 72% of them said "No".

And from what I've observed, many people don't consider the fact that they actually DO have a choice in the matter. It's just expected that they will have kids and if they don't, well gosh - they must be defective or something. Or they'll change their mind (as if it were just a phase...) Or they get a lot of pressure from their family and not all of them are willing to stand their ground about their own lives and their right to choose how they live them.

So in a lot of cases, it's not a matter of them actually choosing to have kids.

Lifespan and Social Psych would argue that most people have children because we are driven to maintain our species. (That's downright Darwinian at its core.) As for reasons given in surveys...I don't think most people really do know why they do most things. We have reasons we give ourselves when we ask for them, but that doesn't mean they're right. I suggest we have other, subconscious reasons that never see the light of day for the most part. (While I'm name-dropping, let me stick Freud in there for good measure.) However, just as most people who ask don't really get the "real" reason, I would suggest most people just don't ask. If you buy into Myers-Briggs typing, roughly half the population is introverted and half is extraverted. Most extraverts don't spend a lot of time questioning themselves on issues like this one from my experience. (And "more than 50% of the parents out there gave no thought to whether or not they should have kids..." How about that?)

As for choice, everything is a choice including the decision (and it is a decision) not to choose. This "choice" means you have decided to go along with whatever is going on around you. Now where does that come from? Having children is a powerful social need and so it is reassured socially. Richard Dawkins (The Selfish Gene) would argue that there are memes (basically powerful cultural dictates and ideas) that would encourage procreative behavior, even when it doesn't appear to make sense. From this perspective, society assumes a sort of personality of its own; one which needs the human race to continue. Thus the cultural signs and beliefs are structured to support the having of more children at any cost. So we get proof that having children is useful through cultural advertisements - being currently movies, TV and other media that deal with the subject of children, our parent's "advice", artwork dealing with children and child-bearing, religious, political, social and cultural institutions, and so forth. Some of the elements of the things listed suggests the opposite, but these are vastly outweighed by that which suggests that children are a boon to you and humanity. Which brings us right back to selfishness. Funny about that.

[silas thatcher]

personally, i have zero problems with people who don't want kids... it's their choice.... better to be wanted than unwanted...

i do have a problem with people who have children and then spend most of their time trying to get away from them.... we know a couple that atually does this.... " go away, i'm trying to relax " was often overheard...

"i go to work because i just can't stand to be at home with them all the time " is another quote from them...

sad...

[Christine]

personally, i have zero problems with people who don't want kids... it's their choice.... better to be wanted than unwanted...

i do have a problem with people who have children and then spend most of their time trying to get away from them.... we know a couple that atually does this.... " go away, i'm trying to relax " was often overheard...

"i go to work because i just can't stand to be at home with them all the time " is another quote from them...

sad...

See, why did that couple even bother to have kids if they're almost always trying to avoid them? It's ridiculous! And yes, sad indeed.