Official Off Topic Discussion Thread #1

[Cal Amari]

I have been a lifelong fan of Sir David, and his shows still account for probably half of my tv viewing. I am very familiar with his non interference principle, however the underlying reason I have always attributed to them being documentaries, and it's not truly documenting if you're interfering or manipulating the situation. I never thought it was part of his naturalist code. I could be wrong, just has always been my perception.

Maxims and ultimatums are really only good for speeches, not real life, and as in most other things I believe in moderation, compassion, and sympathy. I also believe every man should spend more time considering his own actions than others, and every man has to justify them to himself. For my part I have helped injured birds, removed baby rabbits from inside the fenced backyard where the dog runs free, remove slow moving or non biting insects from the house to the garden without squashing them etc, but have never risked more than a few scratches or small bites to help an animal. And I will still trap, kill, poison, or otherwise dispatch mice, spiders, centipedes, and other such invaders in my home with no particular malice or heartbreak.

 

[skjl47]

After that the birds started nesting in the newly exposed roof joists outside of where the cat can get at them.

Hello; I made a mistake in the above comment. Should be where the cat cannot get at the birds. Since i removed the soffit covers and blocked the gap between the roof joists the Robins can nest in safety.

 

[skjl47]

Auditors submitted 24 fake applications for subsidized health insurance. Only 1 was denied.

Government auditors tried to enroll 24 fictional people in health insurance plans offered via the Affordable Care Act exchanges. All but one was successful.

reason.com

Hello; Not a good read if you want things to stay as they have been. An extremely disturbing read if rampant fraud bothers you at all. Seems the GAO put in fake applications and all but one were approved. This in only one state. We are $38,000,000,000,000 in debt. Rating agencies have lowered the USA bonds in the last few years.

The border is closed for now. DOGE put a small dent in some areas of waste. May be that my SS will no longer be taxed but that remains to be seen. I could live with the tax on my SS since i have been doing such for 12 years if the monies went to pay down the debt. I get there are some things to question of late, tariffs being one, but there are so many positive things to be pleased about.
Saw yesterday that the onerous EPA MPG standards on ICE are to be rolled back to something doable. Gotta hope the no ICE sales mandates due in 2030 come to an end. I do hope stupid things such as cylinder deactivation can be removed from ICE engines.

 

[skjl47]

MSN

Hello; Afraid another fatal dog mauling. This time in TN but not close to my area. A grandfather and an infant killed, apparently by family dogs.

I do not have any conjecture as to what triggered the family dogs. I begin to have a theory connecting having too many dogs to the point they become a pack. I have never had more than two dogs at any one time. Usually only one.
My newest neighbor college student has three dogs. From time to time her mom visits bringing two more. Four of the five are large dogs. Golden retrievers & a lab. I have noted a change when all five are together. One retriever (moms dog) tends to growl at me sometimes when I am around the fence. The others tend to join in a bit.
I like to think the three who are around all the time would not join in an attack, but do not know for sure. When mom's dogs are gone the others show no sign of aggression.
Likely nothing will happen as the dogs do not try to get out of the fenced in yard and usually one of the owners is around. I take extra precautions anyway.

 

[esoxlucius]

I do not have any conjecture as to what triggered the family dogs.

The report doesn't seem to come up with any ideas either. Dogs have, and will continue to attack people, that is for sure. The variables involved as to why these attacks happen are many and probably very complex. Irresponsible owners have been blamed, the actual breed of dogs have also come under scrutiny. The debates will go on.

When humans turn bad and do monstrous things there are usually links to some form of childhood trauma, whatever that may be. Are dogs the same?

Our black lab is very placid. We got it when it was about 4 or 5. Her previous owner had the dog for one purpose only, that was to train her as a gun dog, fetching birds that had been shot. Ducks, pheasants, grouse etc.

The reason we got her was that she didn't take too well to the sound of gun shot, unlike the guys other dogs he was training. So he had to let her go.

That trauma from her previous life has very much remained with her. The first hint of thunder and she will cower for hours. And fireworks on guy fawkes night or new year's cause her real problems too. Her first port of call used to be to try and crawl under my fish tank in my plywood stand. We literally couldn't get her out so in the end I had to panel it off.

Maybe a dog that was severely treated as a young pup, despicably so, can go on in later life to "snap". Who knows? You seem to point to some kind of peer pressure amongst groups of dogs where a usually placid dog may follow the pack? Again, who knows?

Whatever, this case, as with countless others are always tragic.

 

[jjohnwm]

I am one of those folks who tend to think that most "bad" dogs were made that way by "bad" people. But there are definitely individual differences, distinct "personalities" that vary from dog to dog that must be considered as well.

My dog Duke reacts to thunder with apparent nervousness and fear...if I am not home, and he knows that he will be showered with cuddles and kisses and baby talk from my wife. If it's just me and him, he doesn't even bat an eye at thunder, since he has learned that I won't reward the drama show he puts on with her. If I am shooting off the back porch, I have to put him inside out of concern for his ears from loud gunfire; he'd happily sit right next to me otherwise. He then sits inside the door and watches me the whole time, completely ignoring the gunfire. My wife is convinced of the "childhood trauma" thing, but IMHO it's not a reasonable explanation.

I once owned two wonderful dogs who grew up together with us. They were completely unrelated, but both came to use as rescues at less than 8 weeks of age, i.e. not even weaned, coincidentally within only a month or two of one another. One, Sheba, was truly terrified of thunder and gunfire; the other, Lotus, couldn't care less. Those dogs were certainly never exposed to gunfire before I received them. So why the difference?

Certainly, dogs are social animals whose natural desire is to be part of a pack. A good owner knows that it is his/her responsibility to be the pack leader, and if he/she fails to fulfill that role the dog is forced to assume that position. Will some dogs automatically defer to a new pack leader in the form of a new dog, as opposed to remaining"loyal" to their owner? Good question. The two "sisters" I mentioned above once killed an interloper on our property, a poorly-kept local Doberman who ran loose constantly and confronted my wife in a threatening manner on our property. Sheba and Lotus...absolute pussycats who never displayed any aggressive tendencies...worked in tandem to quickly (and messily) eliminate that threat. They both unhesitatingly charged out of their radio fenced area, and just as quickly retreated back into it after the threat had passed.

Were they "good" dogs? I sure think so! Was the Dobe a "bad" dog? Absolutely. Would the same thing have played out the same way with different animals involved? I can't believe that.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again: if somehow our distant ancestors and the distance forebears of dogs had not "domesticated each other"...i.e. if we had no dogs today...and then some entrepreneur decided to suggest that we should invite into our homes a species of intelligent, aggressive, social predatory animal to live and play with our children...they'd lock him up.