I disagree Bravo. You define your own terms, not let someone choose it all for you.

@Scarf- sounds like a shelighlia … I can't spell it. Irish club for bashing! My grandmother had one of those…
Gumtree wood tends to be tough and hard, and prone to splitting.

Ironscarf wrote:

Why don't people keep labradors anymore? Labradors never used to knock down old ladies or eat children. >:O
The British isles are too small for Labradors. They're everywhere here in the states. The most common dog breed owned among my fiends is the Lab. They need room to run around and get in touch with the perfection of what it is to be a dog. If one breed has achieved enlightenmentit is the Lab. They are truly satisifed and at peace with their dogness and just are.

Now where did I leave that bag of prop swords? I need one for the next scene. Putting twelve figures into one tight scene spells trouble. One falls over and I'll be swearing a blue streak for at least a quarter hour. And I have a pile of scenes I can shoot together with the way I designed the set, but the next scene in the script is in the one place that would require the redoing the floor and that is a major pain for just one short sequence. So I have to delay and hope I can get to that in one week before the buffer runs out. Right.

My grandparents had one. Only dog I've ever been afraid off. When no one was around he'd attack me. I learned a lot about dealing with shit-head personality dogs from him, never had a problem since no matter how big, agressive and dickish the dog.

I's a personality thing, some individuals are natural bullies, they get off on intimidation, but if it things don't go as they expect they panic.
This is why some smart cats have been known to chase down dogs- I've seen it.

actually makes me kinda glad to know that our family dog (Lab/bord/icelandic) is so stupid that he can't really hurt a fly. Well, except the fact that he's actually a good watchdog, might be because of all the sheep-dog genes, he's an idiot. I mean he panicks when he farts!

I remember Donald Sutherland's character inEye of the Needlewho could go to any dog and completely disarm it with a whistle. It's not that easy, but it can be done. I'm able to approach any dog and establish rapport. My nephew calls me “the dog whisperer” and some of the residents in the building where I work say it's because their dog can recognize a truly gentle and good person. I get a good chuckle out of that.


Samuel Clemens understood dogs. He thought they should go to heaven and people shouldn't. He also said that you can take a starving, homeless dog; give it shelter and food and raise it to prosperity and it will not turn on you and bite. That is the difference between a man and a dog. Unlike people, I don't think that dogs have the awareness of self to be that selfish. Don't anthorpomorphize our species' loyal helpmate. Some dogs don't have the self-awareness to know that a loud noise came from them, the same as they are not aware that their tail is not another dog. The whole recognizing oneself in a mirror as opposed to thinking it is someone else.

The problem as always is with the owners - people who deliberately train their dogs to be aggresive or simply fail to train them at all, so you have thugs of both sexes with their status symbol ‘protection’ dogs and owners who's dogs are clearly taking them for a walk, fighting with other dogs and forming angry packs. If two professional dog walkers arrive at the same time you might have 6-10 dogs running loose and nobody with any idea of how to control them. It's hard to be objective about this when you're escorting two terrified children.

Add to that the revelation that every cherished TV presenter you grew up with is now turning out to be a serial child molester and the country is quite literally going to the dogs!

Ironscarf wrote:
The problem as always is with the owners

This is what someone told me shortly after I had been (quite badly) bitten by a dog when I was ten or so. I was very frightened of dogs for a while afterwards, and knowing that even an aggressive dog could be changed (as this person said) helped.

On the other hand, my own dog has always been sweet and polite regardless of how well we trained him. Which is not all that well, I think…he can't even shake a paw, but he seems to instincively read and react to people. And he spent the first year of his life homeless and then in a pretty dumpy shelter, so I can't attribute it to the way he was raised.

And he once chased away a bear when it got too close to my little sister.
Okay, now I'm just bragging about my awesome dog.

Anyway, my point was that the owner makes a huge difference but dogs are born with personalities just like any other animal.

Some dogs do have definite issues beyond just their owner being an ass. I have two dogs in my immediate family, one of whom is an old hunting dog named Juniper and she's about the smartess, kindest, “wouldn't touch a fly if it meant her dying” kind of dog despite the fact that she'll happily retrieve dead birds all day. The other is Rex, who is also one of the smartest, kindest animals I've ever met; right up until he hears anything that remotely sounds like gunfire or some foreign language he invented in his little doggy brain, because Rex has one of the worst cases of doggy PTSD on the face of the planet from his two tours of Afghanistan before we adopted him from the military pets program. He hears anything he doesn't like and at that point he gets real twitchy at minimum, and outright hostile at worst. He's calmed down since we got him, but some dogs are just messed up, the same as any people you might meet in the world.

Thanks for reminding me of that one dog I had to deal with when I was forced to walk/bike to work. He was pretty aggressive and in the end that was what killed him. Found him a dead mess on the road… the victim of being run over by a car, complete with his chain and part of the wooden post at the end of the chain which had been broken off. The dog was apparently going after someone walking across the street. It must have had huge problems if it was so aggressive that it would charge across 5 lanes of traffic to get to his victim…

That's the thing despite obknoxious owners and trainining I can go up to a vicious brute and establish trust. And then my neighbor's dogs just like to bark and run around because they want attention.

It is disappointing when I don't see the dog for awhile and they've forgotten me especailly my old boss' dog who was an abandoned “junkyard” dog. Nasty as all get out if he didn't know you as he was a trained guard dog and then abandoned. But greatest dog ever once he trusted you.

People with aggressive pets should rein them in around children. Do they really want the lawsuit or worse police intervention? There's a couple of shootings a year in the county where I live. A dog bites and then is aggresive to the cops? BLAM! Sorry buddy you should have controlled your animal better. Working in an apartment building if a dog is too loud and aggressive all the time, the neighbors will call the Cops and Animal Control. Some places just don't countenance that kind of behavior and I have seen animals taken away.

http://www.drunkduck.com/Bottomless_Waitress/
is now up, check it out. It's the first page of the story, updating on Saturdays!

I am currently holidaying in the City of Darwin in the Northern Territory with my travelling companion. And tonight Skoolmunkee and Banes will make a lovely sweet Quackcast together! And you will all laugh along with their hilarious japes and tomfoolery! They're going to have a spiffing time!
Darwin is a pretty warm city. I talked to an old, very dark little lady from India in the lift earlier who said “ohhh, it's just so HOT here…”. It's on a peninsula surrounded by beaches where no one at all ever swims because the wildlife makes it too dangerous- mainly gigantic saltwater crocodiles.
Darwin locals talk in a very slangy way and seem to be pretty “country” and conservative.

What else? I'd like to be back home again though, even with going back to work and all. there isn't too much to do here and my companion is and my personalities are a poor match (being diplomatic). Might take a trip to one of the national parks tomorrow.

ozoneocean wrote:
http://www.drunkduck.com/Bottomless_Waitress/
is now up, check it out. It's the first page of the story, updating on Saturdays!

'bout time too.

Free comic book day today!! Yeahhhhh~~



Is the whole world celebrating with free comics?

My local comic shop let me take home six different comics! I have been reading through some this afternoon, but usually the story gets to a very interesting place and it ends with a “to be continued” buy the full length issue next month. -_-' bummer

Too bad comics aren't very popular here right now. Only way for me to get comics now is to order online. And not a lot of companies will ship here unless I buy thousands of dollars of stuff.. :(
Okay.. maybe not that much… O_O

kawaiidaigakusei wrote:



Free comic book day today!! Yeahhhhh~~















Is the whole world celebrating with free comics?

Totally! I haven't had the chance to read mine yet, but I'm very excited.
I also ended up buying two new graphic novels, of course. Free comic book day is a great idea for everyone.

Currently playing Perfect World Entertainment and Cryptic Studio's newest MMO, Neverwinter (not to be confused with Neverwinter Nights). This game apparently uses the latest rules for the Dungeons and Dragons game (4th edition I think).

Anyone wanting to play this will need to check their system if it meets the requirements for the game.
http://www.game-debate.com/games/index.php?g_id=1199Don't know how it's done in other windows systems…
Anyways…

Keina Galford as she appears in the game.


She's only level 14 at the moment so she doesn't have access to the usual flowing robes that all wizards like to wear.

My guess is that bulky/chunky/massive characters (male AND female) are the norm in fantasy MMOs. We can thank WoW for that. Now I hope that I don't hear that story I read about in WoW… where a girl offered herself as a real life “mount” to any guy who would give her enough gold to buy one of the new mounts that came out at the time (I have a hard time believing it as I don't think any self respecting woman would do that to herself for a video game).

That bulky look to rpg characters was all taken from warhammer and warhammer 40k, with they way they made their miniatures. Not an rpg or table gamer myself, but I did used to like reading white dwarf magazines for the pics back in the day and saw that style slowly evolve in their miniatures, as opposed to the ones from other rpg systems.

Everything in WOW is completely derivative, from the anime style elves and trolls to the D
Hahaha, I only really care about the art styles. :)

@Scarf- sounds like a shelighlia … I can't spell it. Irish club for bashing! My grandmother had one of those…

I've located the perfect piece of blackthorn to make one of these - very hard to find a straight branch of the right type.

Only problem is it's growing in a preservation area right next to a grade 1 listed building. I may have to do some moonlight pruning, but that'll be tricky with the thorns - I've heard of people losing arms and even a buttock after getting spiked by one of those thorns.

e:why can't I get usernames to come up in quote damnit!

Quotes take too many tricks to keep straight…
To do names I just edit it in html and remove all the lame html formatting. …then faff aroind with all sorts of guff till it works.

Don't lose a buttock!

——-

The hot city of Darwin here there are Irish people everywhere! Drunk as buggery…
And I swear, There's a road called Dick Ward Drive and it goes straight to Fanny Bay. Hehehehehehe :)

kawaiidaigakusei wrote:



Free comic book day today!! Yeahhhhh~~















Is the whole world celebrating with free comics?

I was too busy to go to my local gaming/comic/hobby store on sat. Eh, hopefully there will be scraps tomorrow…

I believe I may be going through an existential crisis.

I just crossed through a relatively bad case of depression, few years ago, largely due to me being at a bad place in my life. That changed when I managed to formulate a plan where I consolidated my debts and entered university with the goal to reeducate myself.

Problem is that now with graduation on the horizon, I'm due to enter the end of my planed period. I'll find myself back at crossroads and I have no idea where the paths lead.

When I first joined Drunk Duck, it was with the purpose to practice my penmanship, which I had left neglected since my youth. Back then, I was written plays and short stories, even occasional poems. When I became unemployed during the financial crisis, I was well on my way to start writing full time. Now I feel like the education has forced me to neglect my penmanship yet again and I'm left to wonder if I'm doing the right thing.

Financially, I'm most certainly doing the right thing. What I'm studding is in high demand and entry level salaries in that field ranges around the $40-50k figure. With salaries like that, and living frugally, I'd stand to be completely debt free in less than a year.

Yet, I can't seem to shake away feelings of dread and worrying. This affects my motivation and I've genuinely had moments where it was hard to get out of bed in the mornings (not because I was still tired).

Product Placement wrote:
I believe I may be going through an existential crisis.


Kinda like this guy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrQEMBN8DNU

*starts at 3:00 unless you want to go through the other stuff first

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrQEMBN8DNU
…

Well, fine. Since you wanna make a cheap joke out of my post then no, I'm not dealing with suicidal thoughts. And frankly, if I were, then your joke would be in even poorer taste.

And quick tip: If you want to have people jump to a specific point in a video, include “&t=XmYs” at the end of the url, where you replace X and Y with number of minutes and seconds, like I've done in the url above.

Product Placement wrote:
I believe I may be going through an existential crisis.

I'm pretty sure you're describing Classic Senioritis. It can definitely be a mindbender.

Try to avoid using your penmanship on any dotted lines for awhile and keep your mind and eyes open. Drinking heavily is optional.

Product Placement wrote:
Well, fine. Since you wanna make a cheap joke out of my post then no, I'm not dealing with suicidal thoughts. And frankly, if I were, then your joke would be in even poorer taste.

Whoa… I meant no offense. I guess I should choose such jokes more carefully. I thought a laugh might lift you out of your pit, or at least make you see that some beings (even if they're fictional) have it worse.
I apologize if you were offended. That was never my intention and I feel pretty bad for it. :(

Product Placement wrote:
I believe I may be going through an existential crisis.

Finding it hard to get up (or to get to bed) because of “blahs” or “racing thoughts” may mean you're concerned about the future. The future is always uncertain until it becomes the present. But you will survive. This will not kill you. You may not be as comfortable as you'd like and you may not have all the cool stuff you want. but you won't get torn to pieces by wolves. The level of anxiety is based on an outmoded fear reaction left over from when things were really nasty. You have a plan and you'll be fine. Accept the anxiety, pat it on the head as the natural reaction of being a human animal and do what needs to be done. Make your future plans your present achievements.


Another technique is to focus on one day or one step at a time to the exclusion of all other concerns. Don't worry about tomorrow until tomorrow is today. Taks one step at a time and concentrate on that one step. And walk around humming that song from Santa Claus is Coming to Town

“Just put one foot in front of the other…”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OORsz2d1H7s
And then there's tantric sex. Sex in the morning is one of great way to get out of bed and sex three times a week is good for the prostate.

And here's my “futile” attempt at deflecting all this depression and sadness with something cute…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl_BhJL_sdE

Lonnehart wrote:
Sorry :(

At least you learned a nifty way to manipulate youtube urls. They're working on ways to set it so that you can manipulate endpoints on videos as well, but it's a bit finicky at the moment.

ayesinback wrote:
Senioritis.

Of course there's a medical term for “Getting sick of studdying”. Sure, there are elements of me being tired of endless classes and project assignments but it feels a little bit more then that.

bravo1102 wrote:
tantric sex.

Seeing as I'm currently in a long distance relationship, I'm sure that a certain someone would not approve of me following that advice.

…and seeing as that there's a certain someone's mother monitoring this thread, that's all I'm going to say.

Product Placement wrote:
Seeing as I'm currently in a long distance relationship, I'm sure that a certain someone would not approve of me following that advice.

…and seeing as that there's a certain someone's mother monitoring this thread, that's all I'm going to say.

Precisely why I suggested it. Just trying to lessen the disance between you and that special someone. When it ocmes to personal interaction bewteen people physical distance doesn't matter. One can be stand right next to somone and yet be miles away and conversely a continent away but within each other's very soul.

Product Placement wrote:

Seeing as I'm currently in a long distance relationship, I'm sure that a certain someone would not approve of me following that advice.

…and seeing as that there's a certain someone's mother monitoring this thread, that's all I'm going to say.

Monitoring, ey? Geez.
Well, might as well look the part – but I couldn't decide between this




and this:



You pick, sweetheart.


btw– “senioritis” encompasses far more than being sick of studying (otherwise it could as well be called junioritis, sophomoritis, etc.) A significant component of senioritis is realizing that your current circumstances will no longer hold in a few months time, whether you have a plan or not. It's exciting, intimidating – all that fun stuff, and of course it's worse when there's no plan laid out.

In other news, I get to spend a couple of days in NOLA.
OZONE!! What should I make a priority of seeing?