Well, I can no longer have to cry and worry in terror anymore, though for now, that I got a job offer for Call Center. Though it will be sad to leave old friends behind. Hopefully, I could visit though. I don't know if I could visit.

Also in related news, my characters Stringy and Mopy were seen in Albino Ginger's illustrations in the Drunk Duck Awards, why didn't I enter and participate for this year…I don't know lol.

Next year I will! :)

I'm both excited and scared at the same time.

I'm kinda embarassed to ask this, but I'm too shy to ask on Facebook where most people know me in real life. I'm trying to get friends for a quest on Pokemon Go. If anyone plays,can you add me or my husband?

My friend code: 685090751056
My husbands: 092489770543

Publicise it on Facebook :)
You'll get more takers, DD is a ghost town… haha!

I was thinking about cats.
There's this moronic meme that cats are “selfish assholes”. I think it's based on a weird misunderstanding that mainly comes from dog owners…

Cats are independently minded creatures. They're not selfish. They're loyal and can be great friends, showing you a lot of love. But their attitude towards you is pretty much the same as the attitude of most of your normal human friends: they like hanging around you but they're not going to get weird about it.

Dogs on the other had will treat you like you're the star in a movie, like you're their everything and they're your BIGGEST fan.

It's ironic that the people who think cats are selfish and self centred are actually selfish and self centred themselves. They want cats to show dog-like adoration, to be admired by them, to be the centre of their world… No, Would you expect that of a human friend? eww.

My cats ARE selfish bastiches. For them, my sole purpose is to feed them 24/7 I wake up to four sets of feline eyes staring murder because I had the audacity to sleep for a few hours. I make a coffee and get a chorus of “Feed me” screeched out at various pit he's and tempos. I'm followed every single moment, well except those brief few moments they take to devour the tasty morsels I put down for them. Then the harrasment begins anew.

Like any other relationship the one between a pet owner and his pet can get damaged so it becomes or is only perceived as “gimme, gimme” selfishness.

There are plenty of dogs that want nothing to do with their owners except for walks and food. And even then they still mess up the house when they think their needs aren't being met. There are plenty of cat who worship their owner. Some are obsessive to the point where everyone else is threatened and scratched and hissed at; except for the owner.

People just like to stuff things into simplistic categories when it's more complicated than that. All kinds of personalities on both sides of any relationship. An animal is not a person, but they do have their own quirks of behavior and natural as well as learned reactions to their surroundings including their owner/caregiver/human.

It's complicated and sometimes we do it to ourselves without realizing. Some animals act according to how they have become accustomed to acting because of how their caregiver treats them. So both expect the other to act in a certain way and are rarely disappointed.

All that being said, pets still remain animals with their own systems of behavior, not little humans or worse yet human children. At the end of the day it's still a cat or dog or whatever, not a human.

An animal doesn't need to be a human to be a person. Nor the behavior, judgment calls, desires/impulse control and general countenance needs to be simulating human types to be a personality. No two animals I ever had the honour of keeping were alike, and all of them have had very strong personalities- none of them were human like or like human children, though sometimes they did have instances where that could have been entertained. Still persons though. :) Since they can't be cookie cutter, they're persons.

You're right Tantz. Since pets have personality they are persons in their own right. I have never been blessed enough to own a pet of my own, but I have shared the residence of others who owned the animal. So I usually walked into a pre-existing relationship and had to establish myself in that environment. Somehow I've never felt right approaching an animal on my feet and usually lower myself to their eye level. That's just me. I've learned never to look the animal in the eye because that's often reacted to as a threat. Some animals you don't smile at upon meeting because that's showing your teeth; another threatening behavior. Allow the animal to sniff you and let it accept you.

Even works on barking dogs depending on their training.

Needless to say I don't have very many problems with animals. Other people freak out upon seeing a barking dog and I do my approach as above and they stop barking. Some say animals can sense my mild non-threatening disposition and natural gentleness. To which I usually reply, “Yes, I'm only mean to humans.”

Wildlife and domestic animals are also very different. Through natural and artificial selection, domestic animals have developed behavior to better relate to and communicate with humans. So, no, not human – but not wildlife either. Cats' have an entire language of vocalizations solely for communicating with humans. Dogs use eye contact to request assistance from humans (they point with their eyes), and studies found that domestic dogs prefer human company to that of other canines.

My work requires me educating people about wildlife, and so many people just don't understand the difference. Wildlife is not hard to exist with. Mostly, wild animals want space and to be left alone.

(Feral domestic animals, hybrids, and “tamed” or captive-raised wildlife are unpredictable and can be dangerous. Same for “habituated” wildlife that has been fed be humans.)

ozoneocean wrote:
Publicise it on Facebook :)
You'll get more takers, DD is a ghost town… haha!

I actually got enough to complete the quest. :P I'm a closet nerd and prefer to cling to eccentric anonymity of my hobbies.

I prefer cats to dogs because they show me more affection. And I consider them to be lower maintenance. However my cat is a complete dick to the baby. He hisses every time the baby moves toward him. The dog is only upset if the baby goes into her crate.

My cat is my best buddy. My dog is more like staff. Lol. A touch needier, a whole slap more expensive, but has proven to be an asset, especially since I live alone.

(He alerts me to strangers. He found a leak in my RV. He reminds me if I left the stove on. He gets me if the other animals are acting strangely or if anything is amiss.)

I love cats. I always lived with them and could never be happy without one. But I am glad to have my (first) dog.

I have two good ones. Both are extremely affectionate and well-behaved. (The dog took work. The cat is naturally “good.”) I have certainly met many that weren't.

To be clear all my cats are lovely, but they do have their moments. One of my cats is on a diet as she's gotten huge, of course if she's dieting, they all are. Naturally they don't like the restricted diet and constantly ask for food.

Through some quirk, maybe a 'bot that likes alliteration, Belle's Best is in the top ten. I'm going to enjoy the moment and shake my head in disbelief and have a hearty laugh.

There's no way a comic that barely gets 100 views an update is suddenly going to increase that by a factor of fifteen. 🤣🤣

This week I witnessed a singular event: TWO cats to occupying the same point in space and time simultaneously, almost.
Little Esk was taking too long to jump to her bowl, meanwhile Mouse was getting impatient for his dinner and decided to leap over to her bowl instead.
Both cats landed in the same spot at the same instant. It was so fast they visually combined so that I wasn't sure which cat I was looking at.
The most bizarre cat phenomena I have ever witnessed…
A Schroedinger event!

bravo1102 wrote:
Through some quirk, maybe a 'bot that likes alliteration, Belle's Best is in the top ten.

Congratulations! Don't question it. You deserve it :)


——–
We seem to have lost Drunkduck.com, it's redirecting to Platinum Studios. I've emailed Brian Altounian and Scott Rosenberg. Anybody else think of something?

We're suppose to ignore the fact that you call your cat Mouse? If that's the case, physics should lag at your place :D

Cat-vergence? Birds do it in midair often enough.

There was a murder of crows cawing away with a falcon sitting in their midst. They were trying to provoke it but it didn't move until one crow flew by nearly touching it. The falcon's one wing went up and a claw twitched and the crows flew away.

Lots of crows where I work. Always amazed how one or two fly off when I salute Odin. Almost as if they're off to report to the All-father.

Great part about watching birds in flight is you never know when you'll see a maneuver where the combination of wing and wind let a bird do seemingly impossible things.

A_H_Amin wrote:
We're suppose to ignore the fact that you call your cat Mouse? If that's the case, physics should lag at your place :D

Yup, he's called Mouse :)
He's a huge cat too… all muscle.

The reason for his name is silly and convoluted… suffice to say that now I like the irony. It suits him in an opposite sort of way :D

So mighty mouse is really a cat.

That he is ;)

ozone: By attempting to observe your cats jumping onto the same spot at the same time, you altered the results of the experiment. A classic quantum mechanics conundrum! It's when the wave nature of the cats, collapses to the particle nature or vice versa. Both can't be observed at the same time!! ;-)

Dragonaur wrote:
ozone: By attempting to observe your cats jumping onto the same spot at the same time, you altered the results of the experiment. A classic quantum mechanics conundrum! It's when the wave nature of the cats, collapses to the particle nature or vice versa. Both can't be observed at the same time!! ;-)

You are correct!
I'm just lucky I wasn't fried by the release of high energy catta waves in the aftermath of the event.

Last night, I was sitting around fake chatting with the hockey puck shaped listening device in my kitchen when I said, “Hey Alexa, play the Quackcast Podcast” and would you believe it? In about ten seconds, I was listening to Oz, Banes, Tantz, and Pit right at my dining room table. Technology is pretty cool these days.

kawaiidaigakusei wrote:
Last night, I was sitting around fake chatting with the hockey puck shaped listening device in my kitchen when I said, “Hey Alexa, play the Quackcast Podcast” and would you believe it? In about ten seconds, I was listening to Oz, Banes, Tantz, and Pit right at my dining room table. Technology is pretty cool these days.

that's pretty cool 😁😁😁😁😁

——–
I've just emerged from an intolerable migraine, one of the more extreme ones I had in a while. I beleive it was caused by the fresh oil based paint in my house. That has always caused issue for me.

—;;;;;

I was thinking that communication is a huge issue between people. We have simple modes of communication between is and animals: dogs, cats, horses etc. We don't have high expectations that they'll understand anything complicated so we only communicate in basic terms and it works out fine 🙂
With other humans though we DO expect them to be able to understand a lot more- intent, feelings, symbolism, humour, history, importance, context etc. But that's rarely the case and it can be so frustrating.

Migraines are living hell. -_- I so sympathize.


My new part-time job started this weekend. It's basically keeping trails and campsites safe and clean. I applied for a visitor center position too, but I feel like I hit the jackpot with this one (well, metaphorically. It's part-time, so pay is meh). Aside from a chore list and helping with events and things, I basically get paid to walk around in the forest (and drive UTV on wider trails). And it will be a lot of working alone in the evenings without much human interaction (aside from checking on campers when we have them).

I am trying to secure a second job. I've had no luck with retail places or the private sector before, but I'll keep trying. I'm actually in a very populated area this year, so I have all kinds of places I can get rejected from. Lol. (I also check county jobs and the half dozen local museums at least weekly. I'll pounce on an opening if they get one.)

Good luck UB!

———-

I'm sick at the moment and in somewhat of a dilemma…
Various medications take away the worst of the symptoms (fever, shivering etc), but those symptoms are the body's way of fighting off the infection.
Won't my illness last much longer if I suppress my immune system's reactions?
i.e. heating up the body to kill the infection, flooding mucal membranes to clear them out etc.

So that's my quandary: suffer and possibly get over it faster, or feel ok for now but be weak and crappy for days more.

You're mistaking the symptoms for the actual illness. The antibodies still do their job whether you have chills and runny nose or not. You'll still have enough mucus build up to feel the need to blow your nose which is enough to get out whatever your body is expelling.

Your immune system still works whether you've relieved the symptoms or not. The amount of time gained by feeling miserable is inconsequential to the time lost because you can't function. They've done blind studies about this and it's really not an issue.

I'm on a anti allergy med as well as one to clear my sinuses so I can breathe at night. I don't get the excess mucus symptoms but the cold does not last any longer. But that's my immune system. I usually get a 24 fever instead and ibuprofen and rest is all I really need.

From everything I have read that is a common misconception :(
The reason why so many infections and diseases have the exact same symptoms is because those are the crude ways in which the immune system tries to deal with them.

That doesn't mean you will get all the same symptoms every time or that those methods are even all that effective. If they go on long enough they can harm or kill you.

Honestly it's really up to you and how the cycle of illness works for you.

If symptoms persist after 72 hours I go to the doctor to see if the symptoms indicate a more serious ailment. I've been through this a lot and am well aware of how these things work for me ( and the wife) Ive had serious recurring flus where I didn't rest long enough and one infection built on another. Because I didn't rest long enough. I tried to function despite the symptoms. They weren't really relieved just enough to go back to work and not use up my sick time. MISTAKE.

The most important thing to do is rest. What you do with the symptoms is immaterial. It's bed rest and fluids and let your immune system do its job. The wife has a sinus infection right now because the best place to pick up an illness is in the hospital. Hand sanitizer exists for a reason. She needs rest. She has the time but getting her to slow down?

The last time I ran a fever longer than 24 hours I went to the doctor just in time to be told it had broken and it was just another virus. Having a good primary care doctor is great. Bed rest, ibuprofen and fluids. I know I'm sick from body aches, not sniffling. Sniffing is my normal condition because of allergies. I know how my body works. As for yours, do what you think is necessary.

Bedrest, fluids and your fever reducer of choice. If your other symptoms are too much get some over the counter relief. If not, rest!

I finished researching all potential secret Santa requests and garnering references for their characters. Granted that I'll have more to go on once the names are announced and handed to each respective assignment, but it usually benefits to take advantage beforehand in case of any unprecedented pitfalls ahead.

Apparently this rash that appeared last week, which looked to me like flea/chigger bites, is shingles. Since I spent a week on a different assumption (and sought to depest my home despite no other signs of infestation), it's far too late for an antiviral.

So now I just have to live with this painful little patch for however many weeks it decides to hang around. :P

(It never even occurred to me as a possibility. It's still talked about only as a disease of the over 60 year old set. But apparently more younger people get it these days.)

usedbooks wrote:
(It never even occurred to me as a possibility. It's still talked about only as a disease of the over 60 year old set. But apparently more younger people get it these days.)

Shingles is not uncommon. You usually get it when you're older if you had chickenpox as a kid. I think…
It's such a weird ailment from what I can remember. It's hart of the herpes family of virus but not related to the nasty STD sort.
Apparently the thing that causes chickenpox migrates along your nerves and permanently establishes itself in your system then it waits many years till it can flare up into a monster- that nasty kin ailment.

I had chickenpox when I was 19 and it almost killed me. Sickest I had ever been in my life till I got a severe case of the flu about 10 years ago. But I think the chickenpox was worse.

Nasty, horrible disease. Not so bad for most kids but potentially fatal for anyone a bit older. And of course you can have shingles in later life from it. I SO wish I had been vaccinated against it.