Cats don’t need to ask questions about the world because they are scientists and will figure it out for themselves if they don’t get shown the answers. They know where the snacks come from, at least in regards to their own world, that’s why they come running when they hear the package.

They knock stuff over to see what happens. They meow for treats to see what happens. They sit on your face to wake you up to see what happens. They get into things just to see what’s in them.

And when the result is something they want, they try it again to see if the result is consistent. Reproducible.

That’s why the best way to get a cat to stop doing something they do to you is to ignore them. They meow to wake you up for food? They do that because it’s been working. Stop responding, and the behavior will also stop.

Wow, I haven’t heard “smooth move, ex-lax” in many years. Haven’t even said it myself in at least an age.

I had a very similar experience except I knew about the fall in question that caused it. Got bucked off into a water trough, back-down, and hit my neck on the side of it.

I have a vertebrae that is split vertically through the dorsal. It healed split open, such that the dorsal now forms a fork. The x-ray folks who found it were like uhmmmmmmmm so when did you break your neck?

Happened when I was like 13, didn’t know it broke, but apparently very lucky I didn’t die. But it’s the only bone I’ve ever broken so that’s fun and interesting!

The best thing you can do for yourself and those around you is take a first aid course. They are usually cheap or free through your local community college or community education programs, you can get a certification, and it will teach you when you need to seek assistance, and when you can handle it yourself. It’ll also teach you what’s worth keeping in a first aid kit, like butterfly sutures, and what isn’t (those pre-made kits are junk).

Everyone should take a first aid course. It should be done every 5 years ideally, if only because you’ll hardly ever use it, and recommendations do change.

So, if you can find somewhere, give everyone you know the gift of lifesaving knowledge! (As in arrange for them all to take the course with you, you all get the info and a nice bonding exercise. Make all the jokes about when it’ll be needed on you because you are a klutz)

Who knows, you or one of your friends/family may save a life someday!

I agree, frankly. I am expert qualified (former military), and inherited firearms when my mom died. I don’t have any firearms currently, as I sold those off (very very old farm weapons; we were on a farmette) nor do I ever intend to get more. All that training, and I’m still not comfortable owning something that is designed specifically to kill something.

That is to say you can hypothetically do nothing, and still end up with firearms, which is a really big problem. Zero background check on inheritance…

There’s a bullet hole in the flashing under my second floor gutters, facing the street. Doesn’t look like it came from nearby, like it’s not slanted down toward the street or anything. No idea how long it’s been there, but I found it a few years ago when cleaning the gutters. Bullet might still be lodged in there.

It’s genuinely wild to me that people just fire this shit off willy-nilly.

Two people texted me merry Christmas. That’s it. Didn’t do anything else.

So I have a question about this.

When I was in high school I worked with a woman from Mexico (many immigrants actually, it was an ag job), like her English wasn’t that great because she recently moved to that area sort of thing.

She was nice, maybe late 20s, and had a couple kids. She brought lunch for me a few times that she made, and I was blown away by how bland it was, since I’d been under the impression that Mexican food was typically spicier (kinda like most Indian food I’ve has is strongly flavored) so I asked about it.

She said that in Mexico they don’t actually make everything super hot, because kids need to eat and don’t like spice, so most spice is added by the eater at the table or whatever.

Is that true, or was she being nice about my possibly offensive confusion?

The Indian place I often go to will only actually give me the spice level I’m asking for (1-10 scale) if I call to order it. If I go in and ask for it spicy, it’s always suuuuper mild. Very very annoying, because damnit that’s not what I ordered, and I know what I’m doing. I’ve even specifically asked for it to be done the way they’d eat it and nope.

My partner makes ghost pepper and reaper sauces. They just made ghost jerky. I like reaper cheese. I can handle it, but no. They won’t give it to me unless they don’t know it’s for me :(

Did you know you can get pint glass koozies, just like for cans?

Eg

We also have those nice paper sleeves for coffee cups that would do the job as well. At least where you touch.

So it’s an already-solved problem for this application.

Right, and you get why this is impossible for most people? That was my original point. Most people, even if they want to do this, can’t. It’s unaffordable.

The point is that your suggestion that someone is free to do this is just very much not the case.

Ok, but if your plan is to live solo forever and not interact with society, you’d basically need to pay for it upfront. That means you need a lot of money all at once, otherwise you’ll still need income, which limits the ability you have to be separate from society.

Yes I know, I’ve looked at them. That’s how I know they are quite expensive.

They’re free to go live in the wilderness, with no roads, no fire department, no water or electricity, no services whatever, and find out how much they’re actually benefiting from our collective.

Where?

This is what I want to do, but I can’t afford to buy land on which to do it (and not just any land is useful for this either, it needs to be capable of supporting people before you can count it). Land enough to support a small homestead isn’t cheap, and zoning/local laws often restricts what you can do on it. So for example you may buy land, but not be allowed to drill a well, even if you have the means and knowledge to do so. Or if you buy land you can afford, you may not be allowed to build a permanent structure on it at all.

You’ll get kicked out (and possibly fined) of both state and national parks in the US if they find you “permanently camping”, which they are likely to do since there are frequently people out there. The only other option is squatting on private property. If you get caught before whatever time passes for squatters laws to take effect, you lose everything you’ve built up.

I mean don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind paying for things I’ll never use because it makes society as a whole better. All I’m saying is opting out of living in a society is nearly impossible for most people even if they are ok with not having all the stuff society funds like roads and fire control.

Heh, whoops. Teletubbies, even.

deleted by creator

If that’s true, which I question very much as the pressures of modern society are significantly more encompassing than in the past, that only means we’ve been doing it wrong the whole time.

I’ve always found Barney to be creepy af. And I somewhat enjoyed tellitibbies (for how silly the premise was, mostly), so it’s not just adults in weird felt costumes that’s creepy. Barney, like clowns, is not really suitable for kids imo.

Holy shit that’s horrible :(

Hmm… cramp rune doesn’t seem particularly well thought out…