• 14 Posts
  • 38 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 10th, 2023

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  • Okay, so your arguments are:

    1. I haven’t heard it’s a problem, so it must not be
    2. The breed is common and people aren’t going to stop getting them so I may as well get another

    (1) Is, hopefully, very obviously subjective. Just because you haven’t seen a news article about it does not mean it’s a problem. And unfortunately, being a couple thousand years old does not come close to the massive amount of time it took the ecosystems to get this way. By Earth’s history standards, these cats have been there for a blink of an eye.

    (2) Is never a good excuse to do anything. It’s group think and it’s a massive problem in society. I may as well justify owning slaves because “other people aren’t going to stop”. You surely see how nothing will change if everyone thinks that way.

    I’m very glad to gear you neuter the cat at least. It’s at least helping combat the issue a bit.

    I just want to make the world a better place, that’s all. I’m not trying to attack or shame you, I just want to save the birds (and cats) :(


  • If they’re meant to be outdoors then don’t feed and shelter them. That’s giving them an unfair competitive advantage against both their prey and other predators. Every rodent a house cat kills is a rodent that another predator doesn’t get. It leads to overpopulation and the eradication of their natural prey. In nature, if a predator’s prey is over-hunted without human intervention, then predators die off and the populations correct themselves (predators die off or move until the equilibrium is reached again). This cannot happen if you feed the animals when food becomes scarce and heal them (veterinarian) when they are injured. You are interceding in natural processes.

    If it’s animal abuse then it’s very simple: don’t get the animal. No one is forcing you to get a cat (or Husky). If you can’t care for an animal responsibly then don’t get one at all. If you find one in the wild don’t interact with it, and let it be wild - don’t further damage the environment (more than we already have) so you can pet a cat once in a while.

    I realize you aren’t going to change your mind, you seem pretty dug in. So I implore you to at least ensure the animal is spayed or neutered, and to consider not getting a new cat once the current one has passed on. Please, it’s just better for everyone involved.




  • The US has a lot of bullshit in their labeling requirements. My wife studied food science in university and some of her biggest complaints are:

    • Serving sizes aren’t always the entire package*
    • “Natural” has almost no meaning on a package, it is just a hand-waving word
    • They can hide a lot of things in the ingredients under umbrella terms like “spices” and “flavorings”
    • “Made with real juice” does not mean it was made with the juice on the label. For example, a pineapple fruit juice may be more apple juice than actually pineapple juice
    • They can round down to 0 calories if the actual amount is below 5

    The most egregious example I’ve seen lately was a jar of pickles I bought where the serving size is 1/3 of a pickle (now the website says 1/2). That’s just so that the sodium doesn’t get out of control and, in all likelihood, because an entire pickle may be more than the 5 Calories allowed to say it’s “0 Calories”.

    *This is changing, slowly. Manufacturers now have to put servings for the entire container if it’s small enough


  • Kind of torn my niece is starting to like video games.

    On the one hand, they’re amazing and I still play them all the time. They’re integral to my life and are a medium above others in quality, accessibility, and affordability.

    On the other hand, they’re a double-edged sword. It’s hard to be healthy while playing video games without good discipline. And I think back to times I chose video games over homework and I regret it. I don’t necessarily want her to follow an unhealthy hobby, even if I love it