The backyard neighbors

[conuly]

(the ones who used to have Finn, I mean) have lost their replacement dog. That, or their children simply enjoy walking around calling out dog names.

I was sitting on the porch with the dogs when they came out. I went in. That had the potential to be very awkward. Should I find their dog, you can rest assured I'll take it right down to the shelter, and if they don't trouble themselves to go down to Arthur Kill and pick it up then that's not my fault.

***********

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Comments

[wpadmirer]

I like the pigeons. I hate the "Frugal Millennials." These people are like Libertarians. They have money, so it's easy for them to save.

I had a Libertarian who was 1) from a wealthy family, 2) put through college by his parents so he owed nothing, and 3) then worked as an airline pilot try to tell me how "anyone on any income could save."

People who have never lived on minimum wage, never been in debt for school, etc. - have no fucking idea what it like.

I despise the self-righteous assholes.

[conuly]

I love all pigeons.

But yeah, people who claim they're frugal (or sensible, or clever, or hard-working) when really they were born wealthy, the guaranteed trick to success, can go screw themselves.

Just guessing...

[marahmarie]

The Complex Code In A Potato Chip: Why We Love The Flavors We Do (Interesting usage of British "moreish" in an American article.)

The Secret Language of Ships

I feel like maybe you googled "secrets of ships", then "secrets of chips" and bam! here we are.

Re: Just guessing...

[conuly]

That'd be awesome! But no, they both showed up via RSS.

Re: Just guessing...

[marahmarie]

That's amazing. Theory blown, I guess.

[randomdreams]

I have taken loose dogs to shelters halfway across the state, on occasion.

[conuly]

In lieu of closer ones, you mean?

[randomdreams]

Yes. Knowing that if they couldn't be arsed to go fetch their clearly underfed, cringing, no-collar-no-ID dog from down the street, they're not going to drive 100km to get it.

[conuly]

Hear, hear. That's how I felt about Finn - no way these people were going to the other end of the Island to fetch him back. (Just as well they didn't - apparently, when he was dropped off by my friend, they were so pissed at his condition that they were actually talking about pressing charges.)

[cellio]

Grr. I hope they did press charges, but I'm guessing from the way you phrased this that they didn't.

There is a special place in hell reserved for people who mistreat trusting animals.

[conuly]

I'm not certain, in the end, that they had quite enough to do that... even if I'd had their name and address to hand.

But it's true that I had to adopt him on a waiver because he was too underweight for surgery, and it's true that the groomer actually gasped when she saw how bad his coat was - and this was after I cut most of the mats off the top. I know I can be judgmental, but these things happened.

[adrian_turtle]

Part of the political motivation to require drug tests is that politicians have financial investments in drug-testing companies. The governor of Florida founded a company that does drug testing, along with other medical tests. When he left that business to become governor, he had a controlling interest in the company...but he transferred it to his wife to avoid a conflict of interest. (Technically.) Other politicians are "just" in the pockets of lobbyists.

Drug testing huge numbers of people isn't only about invading privacy, though of course a big part of it is about that. There's money involved: $25-200, depending on how many drugs they test for and how accurate the test is. When they required food-stamp recipients to have drug tests, people had to pay $40 for their own drug test. I think the state paid them back eventually in the (overwhelming majority of) cases where people tested negative and ended up getting food stamps. But if somebody didn't have $40 to spare, they couldn't apply.

[conuly]

Yes, I do know. But I still want to see them have to get their own tests, randomly.

[stardreamer]

Every article about how to save money starts by assuming I have more money than I actually do. And most of the time, the things they recommend giving up are things I don't do already, and the things they recommend doing are things I've been doing for decades. They never address the problem of just not having enough money.

The article about domestic abusers being deadly for cops likewise fails to address the significant percentage of cops who are also domestic abusers. If we manage to get a federal law denying convicted domestic abusers the right to own or carry guns, one of two things is going to happen: (1) the one that should happen -- it will have a heavy impact on police departments, who will then have to re-hire people who don't have anger management issues; or (2) the one that probably will happen -- cops will just never be charged with domestic violence at all.

[conuly]

Let's hope for number one. I have a suspicion that domestic abuser cops are the ones most likely to manhandle the general populace.