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20050803
 
cats and dogs
As Sadie rightfully points out, the argument of cats vs dogs as pets has become somewhat overinflated. Pets are not People, people.

Having said that, I am going to bloviate on the subject anyway.

I think I'm more of a "cat person". We had one cat and a whole slew of big dogs growing up. A dog is the perfect sycophantic, prop up whatever loser happens to feed me type. I get tired by undying loyalty. Cats, as everyone knows, take a much more "Fuck you" attitude toward life, they consider themselves the royalty of their domain. Of course, they're just as likely to starve if their owner dosen't feed them as a dog, but at least they maintain some dignity about it.

Having said that, there is something to be said for an dog that will love you, literally no matter what. A cat will condone to let you near it, if you're lucky, but a dog will be by your side always.

I think I'm a bird person, actually. I like both cats and dogs, but neither are my sort of pets. The thing about that is, if you know birds, there is a wide variety of kitty vs. puppy types just in the avian species.

For example: we were at my local pet store lately, which had a pile of new baby birds. My girlfriend fell instantly in love with a bright white baby Umbrella Cockatoo, and it loved her. Cockatoos are the teddy bears of the bird families. They're ridiculously friendly; it not only sat on her finger for quite some time, it wouldn't let her put it down when we wanted to leave. Very friendly, maybe needy, pretty bird.

I, on the other had, was most interested in the single remaining African Grey. I think a Grey with a red tail is a very pretty bird, but they have a heck of a reputation. They are as smart or even smarter than many primates, learning not only to mimic words but apparently tell the differance in shapes, colors and other physical characteristics. They can also be very mean. They tend to bond with one person, and they choose who that person is. They can be notorious as either fantastic or miserable pets.

But if I were to buy a pet, that's what I would get: A baby grey. I'm currently in negotiations with my girlfriend to buy a Cockatoo for her and a grey for me, as soon as we have the space to keep them. Of course, we already have a cockatiel, who spends exactly zero time in his cage and can be very territorial, so we'll see how that works out. He didn't get the name Sid "Vicious" for nothing, even if he is a tiny thing.

Really, if we had our way, we'd have a whole menagerie: a dog, probably a shepard; a cat or three; the cockatiel, chinchilla and fishes we already have, and two parrots. And who knows what else. We can only hope that that indoor food chain can learn to get along.
 
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howdy, thanks for stopping by. what you're looking at is the intermittent ramblings of an iraqi vet, college student, goth-poseur, comic book reading, cheesy horror loving, punk listening, right-leaning, tech-obsessed, poorly typing, proudly self-proclaimed geek. occasionally, probably due to these odd combinations, i like to think i have some interesting things to say; this is where they wind up.



"I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us...We need the books that affect us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside of us.
-Kafka



geeks-in-arms:
ace o spades hq
bargain-basement allahpundit
a small victory
army of mom
babalu blog
beautiful atrocities
being american in t o
belmont club
blame bush!
castle argghhh!
citizen smash
the command post
common sense runs wild
curmudgeonly & skeptical, r
curmudgeonly & skeptical, pg-13
dean's world
drill sergeant rob
edshots
exit zero
enjoy every sandwich
feisty repartee
fistful of fortnights
free will
four right wing wacos
ghost of a flea
half the sins of mankind
the hatemonger's quarterly
hog on ice
house of plum
hubris
id's cage
ilyka damen
imao
incoherant ramblings
in dc journal
instapunk
iowahawk
the jawa report
knowledge is power
lileks bleat
the llama butchers
memento moron
moxie
the mudville gazette
naked villainy
nerf-coated world
those damned pajama people
professor chaos
professor shade
the protocols of the yuppies of zion
protein wisdom
the queen of all evil
seven inches of sense
shinobi, who is a f'n numbers ninja, yo
tall dark and mathteriouth
talkleft
the nose on your face
the thearapist
this is class warfare
texas best grok
tim worstall
vodkapundit
way off bass
wizbang

other must reads: