Ozoneocean wrote:

usedbooks wrote:
I decided to retire from breeding rats, a hobby older than all my other hobbies.

WHOA! That's the end of an era!!!! Probably best though, yes. You've been involved with them for so long O_O

I plan to continue staying involved with them, as pets. Just not the stresses of breeding. I feel way too guilty when things go wrong, and too anxious about finding good homes. – Plus, when I started, all I had were the rats. I was in college, no cats or dogs allowed in the apartment. I own a house now. I have more than rats. ;)

On that note, I am preparing to adopt a second dog. So, that will be something.

usedbooks wrote:

I love genetics and breeding. My plan is to eventually get a couple acres and raise chickens. I have three pet hens now (middle of the city, small city yard). Chickens are fun and easy, and (most importantly) I don't feel any emotional bond to them.

I went on a walk earlier this week and saw a neighbor who had a chicken coop with at leats 5-6 chickens. Not gonna lie, the thought of fresh eggs is tempting. I have the backyard for it, plus it's fenced in so they can roam around. I'd worry about the extreme heat and cold we get.

I'd like to get a sheep or a goat as a pet :)

Live in Hawaii like my niece does and you'll have free range chickens walking around your yard.

My sister-in-law raises chickens. Pheasants didn't work out well because the eggs though tasty are tiny. Though Amazon has reasonable deal on a plucking tool.

My great uncles raised carrier pigeons for racing. Used to be a thing that people did.

Chickens are the easiest animals I ever kept. Very self-sufficient. I live in a place that has 90+ degree summer days and at least a couple good winter snows. They manage heat with no problem (just need water and shade). For cold, they just need a pile of straw in the coop and huddle together. Pick hardy breeds and you're set.

The coop I made them is a dog pen wrapped in hardware cloth and covered in a tarp. Feed is cheap, and they can eat pretty much any food scraps.

Out in the country, people lose chickens to predators a lot. The only thing I know is lurking in my urban neighborhood is a skunk. Several of my neighbors have hens, and two have roosters. One has lost a few chickens, but she doesn't have a secure coop. They just roam her yard.

Chickens are supremely stupid animals, though. Bird intelligence runs a spectrum and chickens are definitely at the low end. It makes them pretty reptilian (and predictable, since they follow instinct and routine). Tbh, it's refreshing to have animals around that I don't feel so sentimentally attached to.

Where my sister in law lives has foxes and it's suburban. With all the building up every patch of woods in Woodbridge township has a full menagerie of wildlife and feral cats. A few years ago found a new born kitten outside a nearby building while working security in a refinery.

bravo1102 wrote:
Where my sister in law lives has foxes and it's suburban. With all the building up every patch of woods in Woodbridge township has a full menagerie of wildlife and feral cats. A few years ago found a new born kitten outside a nearby building while working security in a refinery.

I've seen opossum tracks on my porch basically in the middle of a city. I've seen raccoon roadkill on the street too. There's more urban wildlife than we realize. (Haven't had a bear in my neighborhood yet, but they've been within five miles.)

There are foxes, rabits and feral cats here to and I'm on the coastal side of a highly urbanised area that's been urbanised for over 150 years. One has to wonder HOW feral foxes even GOT here! Bunnies and cats are understandable, they could escape or be released any time. But Foxes were never kept as pets… They are not native here and just don't even EXIST here normally.

They were probably introduced over 150 years ago for hunting in certain areas and have somehow manged to eek it out in the narrow stretches of vacent land and small patches of bush between the suburban sprawl of city and the beach.
These creatures ar so WELL adapted to living along side humans.

I really feel that this sort of thing is a sorely neglegcted aspect of the study of nature and animals- animal populations that increase because they adapt so well to human populations.
- people are SO completely focused on “native animals” that suffer, but never about those (as well as ferrals) that do the oposite AND how those impact native animals.
They only focus on ferral cats.

But in the city here there are many native species that exploded in populations because of humans and have massively impacted other native species.

—–

Even things like bumble bees and honey bees. All over the world these creatures are responsible for the death and decline of native polinators. People still buy into the crap about the decline of bees but the reality is that the honey industry is soley reposnible for that issue. They instodued and non-native species, killed off the native ones, and then created unsustaibaley giant populations with genetic simalarities with intestive farming practices that are prone to disease and other weaknesses… Of course there will be die offs. It's the fault of the honey industry.

/rant

Sorry, this stuff is a huge and complex subject and I always dive into it

With our panic driven mass media, the facts about animal populations gets lost in hype. Population will fluctuate. There will be die-offs but species are pretty good at adaptation. The symbiotic nature of various non or semi domesticated species with humans has been studied, especially when it comes to rats. You always read about a species being displaced but the studies on survival, even thriving among humans is there but it doesn't fit into the sensationalist media reporting model. Panic persists. But good news pops up and is forgotten.

Take deer in NJ. Humans got rid of their natural predators so they're everywhere. Constant hazard on many roads. If wolves cougars and bears were still around wouldn't have these problems, but instead we have humans. Deer populations are regulated by predators. That's how the ecosystem works. But it's hunters killing Bambi! It's the same thing as a lion on the plains of Africa, just this predator is wearing bark skin camouflage and an orange hat.

Tell me about it… I have a Romanian friend that keeps on posting about the record numbers of bear attacks in Romania now that bears are protected and the population is exploding. Wolves too.
I take that with a pinch of salt because he's pro-hunting, but there's no denying there have been some horrible attacks.

———————–

Great interview with Bluecuts, Damehelsing and Pitface on the Quackcast tomorrow, talking about the DD Horror anthology!

I'm ridiculously over excited to have 13 subs on Ghastley Heights - original working title, No 13! I don't know why that makes me so happy, but it does.

And it's now friday the 13th… creepy.

ew. Webtoons… blow it up :P

Congrats on your achievement Scarf!

————–

I wish we had more feedback on the new comic page organisation feature https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2021/aug/05/we-need-you-to-test-a-new-website-feature/

Oh god… listening to a show on radio 4 and this person is going on about being a witch, wicca, paganism, the occult, poltergeist etc.
…and yet she has a degree in anthropology. UGH!

That's like becoming a vaccine denier even though you're a doctor… although that also happens so it's a bad example :(

I don't mind people having fun with the imagery and mythology of magic and stuff, it's fun. It can look cool.
But don't think any of it's real. You're not 5 years old.

Wouldn't be the first anthropologist who became entranced with magical thinking. Just look at some of the work on shamans or the witch craze. They get so into it they forget their bullshit detection kit and end up believing all kinds of woo-woo.

Don't knock it. One guy who was on my university course has a nice little side gig as a shamanic healer.

Ozoneocean wrote:
Oh god… listening to a show on radio 4 and this person is going on about being a witch, wicca, paganism, the occult, poltergeist etc.
…and yet she has a degree in anthropology. UGH!

That's like becoming a vaccine denier even though you're a doctor… although that also happens so it's a bad example :(

I don't mind people having fun with the imagery and mythology of magic and stuff, it's fun. It can look cool.
But don't think any of it's real. You're not 5 years old.

It's no different than any other religion really.

Genejoke wrote:
It's no different than any other religion really.

Ozoneocean wrote:
…and yet she has a degree in anthropology. UGH!

Anthropology is a science, I tell you!

Important edit: the above was intended as a joke, the posts read as if anthropology was being regarded as a religion and– Never mind, I'll close the door on my way out.

dpat57 wrote:

Genejoke wrote:
It's no different than any other religion really.

Ozoneocean wrote:
…and yet she has a degree in anthropology. UGH!

Anthropology is a science, I tell you!

It most definitely is as the recent reevaluation of a lot of classic work is showing. Margaret Mead was a bunch of hooey? Natives tell investigators what they think the investigators want to hear and even play them for fools?

But magic and magical thinking are best approached with one's bullshit detector handy. Or if need be call in a skeptic and stage magician to root out the flim-flam and woo.

dpat57 wrote:

Genejoke wrote:
It's no different than any other religion really.

Ozoneocean wrote:
…and yet she has a degree in anthropology. UGH!

Anthropology is a science, I tell you!

HAH! although I was referring to wicca and paganism etc. All religions seem to have some supernatural or scientifically iffy element. Ozones “what are you 5” comment made me laugh because the same logic he uses applies to major religions and I wondered if he would say the same about those.

Anthropology is a science, but given what it's the study of I can imagine belief could come into it a little more than some other scientific fields.
what do I know, I'll never claim to be an expert…

On a different note, there's been a mass shooting in the UK. granted it's not the first but they are uncommon, anyway the thing that got me was the shooter has been said to be involved in Incel culture. It made me wonder, would something like that have happened without the internet making it easier for such subcultures to evolve?

Genejoke wrote:

Anthropology is a science, but given what it's the study of I can imagine belief could come into it a little more than some other scientific fields.
what do I know, I'll never claim to be an expert…

On a different note, there's been a mass shooting in the UK. granted it's not the first but they are uncommon, anyway the thing that got me was the shooter has been said to be involved in Incel culture. It made me wonder, would something like that have happened without the internet making it easier for such subcultures to evolve?

Anthropology is supposed to study the belief systems on their own merits not as orthodox Canon or revealed truth which is what the Wiccan Anthropology degree holder was doing. Her insights are interesting as a believer but not necessarily factual like I mentioned about previous recently re-evaluated research like Margaret Mead and the lies told by researchers about the Dogon tribes supposed advanced knowledge about the universe.

Incel is another subculture belief system just begging for major study.

Genejoke wrote:

On a different note, there's been a mass shooting in the UK. granted it's not the first but they are uncommon, anyway the thing that got me was the shooter has been said to be involved in Incel culture. It made me wonder, would something like that have happened without the internet making it easier for such subcultures to evolve?

I don't think it's just a case of the internet making it easier. I think a side effect of social media algorithms is that they actively promote the growth of these rabbit holes and funnel people into them. There's a lot worse to come if this isn't addressed.

usedbooks wrote:
I decided to retire from breeding rats, a hobby older than all my other hobbies. I started in 2001. Man, life can change a lot in 20 years. I had the rats through it all. (I was a teenager when I started. o_o I am now an old.)

I nearly lost a favorite pet in labor in February. But I wanted to end on a high note, so I have some new baby rats, my last baby rats. Tbh, it feels pretty good. I loved breeding but it was stressful, and hobbies should bring joy, not heartache. I'm keeping nine of my 15 new babies. I plan to continue keeping rats in the future but not breeding them.



I love genetics and breeding. My plan is to eventually get a couple acres and raise chickens. I have three pet hens now (middle of the city, small city yard). Chickens are fun and easy, and (most importantly) I don't feel any emotional bond to them.

I don't usually get involved that much in discussions, since I'm new and it doesn't matter. But I kinda wish I'd seen this before. Found a little hairless creature on the road I thought was dead. It looked a bit like a hiarless kitten, but with longer hind legs. Had no idea what it was, but then I saw it was breathing. It was alive. For some reason I couldn't just leave it, so took it with me. Found it was a baby rat from checking the net. It's eyes still closed. Probably the crows around here got at the mother and she abandoned it in a panic or got taken/both.

And tried to nurse it back to health, but I didn't really have anything I needed to try and nurse it back to health and it would take me next Monday to get to anywhere (it was sunday). It also had blood on its nose I noticed later which I suspect meant internal injuries. Didn't really have a clue what to do, so I kept it warm.
It was dead by Monday morning.

At least it spent its last moments in warmth.

Ironscarf wrote:

Genejoke wrote:

On a different note, there's been a mass shooting in the UK. granted it's not the first but they are uncommon, anyway the thing that got me was the shooter has been said to be involved in Incel culture. It made me wonder, would something like that have happened without the internet making it easier for such subcultures to evolve?

I don't think it's just a case of the internet making it easier. I think a side effect of social media algorithms is that they actively promote the growth of these rabbit holes and funnel people into them. There's a lot worse to come if this isn't addressed.

That's an interesting and scary thought. It's quite sad really, I reckon many would go a whole different route with the right support.

man…life. i found my old account on here and was reading through posts way back from like 2008 when i was in high school, it's…erm, interesting to see how much i've changed even from a small bit of text. i do wish i wouldn't have deleted everything, as seeing my old pages and stuff would've been cool, but i've still got those saved away.

i've been reworking my comic, figuring out what i want to do with it, where i want to go with it. what i'm trying now, while i liked the result from the first page, i find myself second guessing a lot. i'd really like to get back to work on something quite soon, as it always tended to make me happy.

also dealing with a cervical sprain, it's been a rough time and between that and work, at some point i must've pinched a nerve in my neck or…something?? but have been dealing with this since monday, and tried working like 3 shifts in a manner that quite probably made the situation worse, but i didn't want to lose my job as i just got back working there. to say that everything is a bit of a mess right now is an understatement, but that's what taking it one day at a time is for.

i just read through one of my old favorites on here, from start to finish. probably the first comic i've read in months. it was really really nice. and it's also really nice seeing a lot of old familiar names and avatars. hope you're all doing well :) (Ryuthehedgewolf was my old name)

also surprised this is my very first post on my newer account, v cool

Ryuthehedgewolf? I remember you, which is no mean feat for me these days, hope you're feeling somewhat better soon. Comics are definitely the best medicine, aside from laughter. And actual medicine.

welcome back, nicolaimcfist! I don't think i ever knew ya, but welcome back nonetheless!

Sorry if I had been absent on this site for a bit. Been through a lot though. I am working on the fourth issue of my webcomic while at the same time I have been working on the printing addition. I should be finished soon before the big announcement. Anyway, here is a test cover for you all before the official one comes out (note the UPC CODE is a test code before I buy my own). :).

nikolaimcfist wrote:
Ryuthehedgewolf was my old name

Didn't you used to post about getting stronger and exercise a lot? :D
And you were also super positive all the time?

MegaRdaniels wrote:
Anyway, here is a test cover

Nice cover!

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Hey!
Yesterday while I was working on my computer I was getting bored so I had to take some time off and look at facebook for a while. As I was perusing I came across that Sponge Bob horror comic of Patrick turning into a real starfish and eating Sponge Bob.
I'd seen that many times before but THIS TIME it had a whole lot more pages!
I started reading and couldn't stop.
That was one of the best can comics I've ever read. First class piece of work.

That praise doesn't come lightly, I'm not really a fan of fan comics, horror comics, or reading comics on Facebook. Plus, I've been reading entire webcomics every second week for maybe 14 years now (at times it was every single week), to feature for the site.

It was GOOD. Epic work. Wish it was hosted here. But sadly it couldn't be featured because it has copyrighted characters XD