Malarky
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Post by Malarky on Mar 25, 2015 13:26:32 GMT -5
Just so you know, it's 50 degrees in New England, the snow is melting and the door is open. The remaining kitty is outside, sitting on the neighbor's front step. But my point is that man domesticated dogs, cats domesticated themselves. They're really only here for the food. www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2007/06/29/DI2007062900911.htmlAnd if they really like you, they'll share their food when they hunt.
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movingforward
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Post by movingforward on Mar 25, 2015 13:46:48 GMT -5
My indoor cat has a stuffed mouse he drops at my feet almost daily. I consider it the best gift he can find to give me under the circumstances
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Virgil Showlion
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Post by Virgil Showlion on Mar 25, 2015 15:51:09 GMT -5
Based on what you've said, notwithstanding any destructive tendencies you're not telling us about for diplomacy's sake, your cat sounds like a half decent pet. He amounts to a smaller, dumber version of a dog. Don't start with "He's just as smart as a dog." because if you claim he can perform tricks and useful work on command, you'll have pushed the limits of what I can reasonably believe. My conclusion will revert from "Maybe there are some decent cats." to "She really does think I'll buy the Brooklyn Bridge." and all of your cat advocacy in this thread will be for naught. Suffice it to say that your cat sounds like a chocolate cream-filled air puff delight compared to your fellow YMAMers' hellbeasts. You know who iS smarter than dogs, can do tricks and perform useful work? Rats! Everyone should have pet rats. I'd just have to build a little shack 100 meters away from my condo. I'd live there with my rat, and my wife and I could communicate by text message.
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Jaguar
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Post by Jaguar on Mar 25, 2015 15:53:05 GMT -5
You know who iS smarter than dogs, can do tricks and perform useful work? Rats! Everyone should have pet rats. I'd just have to build a little shack 100 meters away from my condo. I'd live there with my rat, and my wife and I could communicate by text message. Oh geez Virgil come outta the dark ages, use Skype.
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Virgil Showlion
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Post by Virgil Showlion on Mar 25, 2015 15:56:34 GMT -5
I'd just have to build a little shack 100 meters away from my condo. I'd live there with my rat, and my wife and I could communicate by text message. Oh geez Virgil come outta the dark ages, use Skype. You try Skyping somebody with a rat in the background and let me know how that works out for you.
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Jaguar
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Post by Jaguar on Mar 25, 2015 15:59:56 GMT -5
Oh geez Virgil come outta the dark ages, use Skype. You try Skyping somebody with a rat in the background and let me know how that works out for you. I'm typing to you with a rat in my background right now. You do get used to it.
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Virgil Showlion
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Post by Virgil Showlion on Mar 25, 2015 16:02:21 GMT -5
What? Or... you know what? Never mind.
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Jaguar
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Post by Jaguar on Mar 25, 2015 16:03:22 GMT -5
What? Or... you know what? Never mind. Yeah, don't go there.
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Virgil Showlion
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Post by Virgil Showlion on Mar 25, 2015 16:16:10 GMT -5
I guess your mother's side of the family must be visiting. *snicker*
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weltschmerz
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Post by weltschmerz on Mar 25, 2015 16:21:10 GMT -5
You know who iS smarter than dogs, can do tricks and perform useful work? Rats! Everyone should have pet rats. I'd just have to build a little shack 100 meters away from my condo. I'd live there with my rat, and my wife and I could communicate by text message. You have one of those wives who stands on a chair and freaks out when she sees a little mouse? Ugh.
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Jaguar
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Post by Jaguar on Mar 25, 2015 16:30:00 GMT -5
I guess your mother's side of the family must be visiting. *snicker* My tech brother said it was the country music brother trying to move in. lol
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Virgil Showlion
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Post by Virgil Showlion on Mar 25, 2015 16:48:34 GMT -5
I'd just have to build a little shack 100 meters away from my condo. I'd live there with my rat, and my wife and I could communicate by text message. You have one of those wives who stands on a chair and freaks out when she sees a little mouse? Ugh. That would be pretty much every woman I know. Even living in the land of the hearty Quebecois, you may have noticed that not everybody shares your affinity for rats.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2015 16:54:39 GMT -5
You have one of those wives who stands on a chair and freaks out when she sees a little mouse? Ugh. That would be pretty much every woman I know.
Even living in the land of the hearty Quebecois, you may have noticed that not everybody shares your affinity for rats. Don't know me!! Nothing wrong with mice when they're whole and cute. It's when a cat turns them into dinner and leaves them on your bed that it gets icky. A friend of mine used to have pet rats and she absolutely adored them. I've only had hamsters and guinea pigs. Too many cats right now to get any rodents as the bitch twins would probably eat them.
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weltschmerz
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Post by weltschmerz on Mar 25, 2015 17:04:56 GMT -5
You have one of those wives who stands on a chair and freaks out when she sees a little mouse? Ugh. That would be pretty much every woman I know. Even living in the land of the hearty Quebecois, you may have noticed that not everybody shares your affinity for rats. Every woman you know is a special snowflake, freaked out by bugs and critters? How about the dark, being alone and deep water?
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Virgil Showlion
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Post by Virgil Showlion on Mar 25, 2015 17:22:44 GMT -5
That would be pretty much every woman I know. Even living in the land of the hearty Quebecois, you may have noticed that not everybody shares your affinity for rats. Every woman you know is a special snowflake, freaked out by bugs and critters? How about the dark, being alone and deep water? No, no, and no. Vermin, snakes, spiders. And you should be careful who you call a "special snowflake" because we've had many a "what creeps you out?" thread, and there are a lot of special snowflakes out there in the audience. Maybe they're not so much special snowflakes as you are a hair-chested cavewoman. I mean... you performed a do-it-yourself euthanization of your pet with a car. That's hardcore.
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weltschmerz
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Post by weltschmerz on Mar 25, 2015 17:31:41 GMT -5
I like spiders and snakes. Asia the Siamese used to bring home sewer rats bigger than her and I'd catch them and release them. Yes, I'm hardcore. Living things don't freak me out, especially if they're not likely to hurt me. Like cute little mousies. My mom used to catch snakes for me when I was little. I'd keep them in an aquarium. Baiting my dad's hook for him when he took me fishing was an honour. My sister and I would fight about it.
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Jaguar
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Post by Jaguar on Mar 25, 2015 17:39:21 GMT -5
I've been a tough cookie since I was 15 and had to deal with all of my health stuff on my own. You just deal with it and the ick factor doesn't even come into play.
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Virgil Showlion
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Post by Virgil Showlion on Mar 25, 2015 17:44:48 GMT -5
I like spiders and snakes. Asia the Siamese used to bring home sewer rats bigger than her and I'd catch them and release them. Yes, I'm hardcore. Living things don't freak me out, especially if they're not likely to hurt me. Like cute little mousies. My mom used to catch snakes for me when I was little. I'd keep them in an aquarium. Baiting my dad's hook for him when he took me fishing was an honour. My sister and I would fight about it. Well... good for you. You remind me a lot of Sarah Palin. I hear she's the nature-lovin', beer-guzzlin', arm-wrestlin' sort who can shoot the nuts off a timber wolf at 500 yards. You betcha.
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weltschmerz
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Post by weltschmerz on Mar 25, 2015 17:57:02 GMT -5
I like spiders and snakes. Asia the Siamese used to bring home sewer rats bigger than her and I'd catch them and release them. Yes, I'm hardcore. Living things don't freak me out, especially if they're not likely to hurt me. Like cute little mousies. My mom used to catch snakes for me when I was little. I'd keep them in an aquarium. Baiting my dad's hook for him when he took me fishing was an honour. My sister and I would fight about it. Well... good for you. You remind me a lot of Sarah Palin. I hear she's the nature-lovin', beer-guzzlin', arm-wrestlin' sort who can shoot the nuts off a timber wolf at 500 yards. You betcha. Nah, I don't like beer, have an inquisitive mind, don't engage in drunken street brawls, don't shoot and have an IQ bigger than my son's shoe size.
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Virgil Showlion
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Post by Virgil Showlion on Mar 25, 2015 18:04:54 GMT -5
Well... good for you. You remind me a lot of Sarah Palin. I hear she's the nature-lovin', beer-guzzlin', arm-wrestlin' sort who can shoot the nuts off a timber wolf at 500 yards. You betcha. Nah, I don't like beer, have an inquisitive mind, don't shoot and have an IQ bigger than my son's shoe size. You realize that in all statistical likelihood your IQ is within +/- 10 points of Ms. Palin's. In fact, there's a very good probability that your IQ is within 5 points of hers. If rats don't scare you, let that sobering fact keep you up at night.
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quince
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Post by quince on Mar 25, 2015 18:26:38 GMT -5
I have had male friends hustle and lock themselves in a room while I caught a bat and tossed it out the window.
I also yelp and have a heart rate spike when I see a worm, slug, or larva. I then skitter away from it as though it was some venomous hell-creature. If I don't run fast enough the little buggers will totally catch me. My husband tried desensitizing me by handing me an especially fat earthworm. I gently informed him it was not appreciated, and my best solution was to weed with my glasses off and doing my best not to focus my eyes on what I was doing.
My father is afraid of spiders and my mother is afraid of roaches. People have all kinds of things that make their skin crawl.
My cat does indeed poop on the carpet when she is irritated with me, but she also plays fetch....and by plays fetch I mean brings me a ball, watches me throw it, batting at it in the air, then stares at me and waits for me to get up and fetch the ball to throw again.
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weltschmerz
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Post by weltschmerz on Mar 25, 2015 18:42:18 GMT -5
Nah, I don't like beer, have an inquisitive mind, don't shoot and have an IQ bigger than my son's shoe size. You realize that in all statistical likelihood your IQ is within +/- 10 points of Ms. Palin's. In fact, there's a very good probability that your IQ is within 5 points of hers. If rats don't scare you, let that sobering fact keep you up at night. I doubt that very much. I can form a complete sentence.
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Virgil Showlion
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Post by Virgil Showlion on Mar 25, 2015 19:03:38 GMT -5
You realize that in all statistical likelihood your IQ is within +/- 10 points of Ms. Palin's. In fact, there's a very good probability that your IQ is within 5 points of hers. If rats don't scare you, let that sobering fact keep you up at night. I doubt that very much. I can form a complete sentence. Joking doesn't change cold, hard reality. Reality is: based on our income/education demographics, roughly 85% of YMAM members will have an IQ between 110-120. Ms. Palin is a businesswoman, upper-middle class, holds a college degree. Her IQ likely falls into the range of 105-115. You're confusing intelligence with erudition. Although the two correlate, neither strongly implies the other. From what I can tell, you are more learned and more articulate than Ms. Palin. Of course, in a grand bit of irony, neither intellect nor erudition correlate strongly with an individual's ability to govern well. All we can say for certain is that the more intelligent, more learned, and more world-wise an individual is, the less likely (s)he is to own a cat.
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weltschmerz
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Post by weltschmerz on Mar 25, 2015 21:02:58 GMT -5
I doubt that very much. I can form a complete sentence. Joking doesn't change cold, hard reality. Reality is: based on our income/education demographics, roughly 85% of YMAM members will have an IQ between 110-120. Ms. Palin is a businesswoman, upper-middle class, holds a college degree. Her IQ likely falls into the range of 105-115. You're confusing intelligence with erudition. Although the two correlate, neither strongly implies the other. From what I can tell, you are more learned and more articulate than Ms. Palin. Of course, in a grand bit of irony, neither intellect nor erudition correlate strongly with an individual's ability to govern well. All we can say for certain is that the more intelligent, more learned, and more world-wise an individual is, the less likely (s)he is to own a cat. I'm afraid that mine isn't in that range. My mom had me tested.
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moon/Laura
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Post by moon/Laura on Mar 26, 2015 5:32:35 GMT -5
I am afraid of none of those, and, in fact, have had all 3 for pets. However, I guess I also don't consider domesticated rats/mice to be vermin.
I *do* have a healthy respect for poisonous snakes or spiders, but generally speaking, they're more afraid of you, so why get all freaked out about them?
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swamp
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THEY’RE EATING THE DOGS!!!!!!!
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Post by swamp on Mar 26, 2015 8:18:26 GMT -5
I doubt that very much. I can form a complete sentence. Joking doesn't change cold, hard reality. Reality is: based on our income/education demographics, roughly 85% of YMAM members will have an IQ between 110-120. Ms. Palin is a businesswoman, upper-middle class, holds a college degree. Her IQ likely falls into the range of 105-115. You're confusing intelligence with erudition. Although the two correlate, neither strongly implies the other. From what I can tell, you are more learned and more articulate than Ms. Palin. Of course, in a grand bit of irony, neither intellect nor erudition correlate strongly with an individual's ability to govern well. All we can say for certain is that the more intelligent, more learned, and more world-wise an individual is, the less likely (s)he is to own a cat. Weltz is a nurse, Palin has a bachelor's degree in journalism. They are probably equally educated, but in different fields.
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swamp
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THEY’RE EATING THE DOGS!!!!!!!
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Post by swamp on Mar 26, 2015 8:19:19 GMT -5
I am afraid of none of those, and, in fact, have had all 3 for pets. However, I guess I also don't consider domesticated rats/mice to be vermin.
I *do* have a healthy respect for poisonous snakes or spiders, but generally speaking, they're more afraid of you, so why get all freaked out about them? .
I think snakes are pretty cool. Spiders are yucky, but I'm not afraid of them.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2015 8:37:10 GMT -5
We have all levels of the food chain as pets in our house.
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Virgil Showlion
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Post by Virgil Showlion on Mar 26, 2015 9:13:15 GMT -5
I am afraid of none of those, and, in fact, have had all 3 for pets. However, I guess I also don't consider domesticated rats/mice to be vermin.
I *do* have a healthy respect for poisonous snakes or spiders, but generally speaking, they're more afraid of you, so why get all freaked out about them? .
I think snakes are pretty cool. Spiders are yucky, but I'm not afraid of them.
I've never understood the fear of snakes. I've always wanted to try one of those snake massages. My wife doesn't care for them, but it's just a mild aversion. My mother and MIL, on the other hand, probably wouldn't come into the house if we got one as a pet. Fear of spiders I can understand better because: i) they bite, and spider bites are nasty, ii) they sneak up on you. If I was certain a spider wouldn't bite me, I'd have no problem handling it. Even as it stands, I try not to kill them.
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moon/Laura
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Post by moon/Laura on Mar 26, 2015 10:02:35 GMT -5
Some spiders bite, yes. But I'd guess the majority aren't venomous, and when they do bite, it's defensive rather than simply because they can.
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