Well surely it’s a spectrum that people are advocating an arbitrary line be placed on. Once this breed is gone, what about the next most aggressive breed? They then become the most aggressive breed and there’ll be calls to weed them out too. Dogs kill more humans than any other non-human vertebrate in the world by a very long shot - getting rid of one breed isn’t going to reduce that number to zero.

To clarify, I’m not against the move of banning the breed at all, I’m just acutely aware that it’s making an arbitrary distinction.

Really? Humans have been eating pig/boar, fish (including shark), crustaceans and cephalopods for a very long time. My understanding was that humans tended to eat more herbivores than carnivores or omnivores more because they’re prey that usually don’t fight back, making them easier to hunt or farm, whereas omnivores and carnivores are hunters themselves and therefore have offensive tools they can use defensively.

I guess that depends on what you term a “real” consequence. If legal justice is the only “real” consequence then yeah, there’s been no “real” consequence. But we could sit and debate for hours about what constitutes a “real” consequence as it’s an arbitrary term.

And crocs! I went to a buffet at the old Centrepoint Tower revolving restaurant that had emu, kangaroo and crocodile all to eat. I love me some kanga mince, but the steaks are a bit too tough for me. You’ve gotta slow-cook croc too because it’s pretty tough, but it has a really nice chicken-mixed-with-irony/bloody taste.

Not Portuguese myself but my understanding is that since 2001 most drugs are decriminalised for possession (the rule is like 10 days’ worth or something) but they can still confiscate your drugs and levy fines in rare cases. These offences carry no criminal record and can never carry a sentence of incarceration. Basically kinda illegal but not really.

I recently started playing NMS again right before Echoes, although I didn’t know Echoes was coming up. While I never made a conscious link between seeing all of the news about Starfield and me choosing that game when I was last looking through the plethora for something to inspire me, I think it may have had a subconscious effect on my choice.

TIL! Thanks for that!

That’s a hard one because I’ve never experienced it before myself. I guess it depends on what you mean by ‘going nuts’. My assumption is that the longer you keep them inside, the more they adapt to the lifestyle and the easier it will become. You could also build a cat run / outdoor enclosure for them, or leash and harness train them to go on walks. I’ve had good experiences with using feliway to help calm cats too - that may help. If the issue is that the kitten is territorial, then it might help to set up a private area for them and ensure that they have their own separate litter box that other cats can’t use.

Psychologists can only really diagnose mood disorders, not psychiatric conditions. Because ADHD is a psychiatric disorder, psychologists absolutely should NOT be diagnosing it. If they suspect ADHD in a client, their job is to refer the client to a psychiatrist who is able to make such a diagnosis and prescribe medicine to manage it.

Source: bachelor’s degree in psychology

That’s basically true of all roguelites, right? The whole genre is built around the idea of playing through, dying, and coming back stronger so you can go farther. I’m thinking Rogue Legacy, Dead Cells, Slay the Spire, The Binding of Isaac etc. etc.

I don’t think that’s entirely true. Sure, conspiracies usually involve more than one person, but aren’t there crimes along the lines of “conspiracy to commit x” whereby a person acting alone can be charged for planning to commit a specific crime? I’m thinking if a person is found with tonnes of fertiliser, the blueprints to a building, a makeshift detonator and a manifesto they could be charged with conspiracy to commit mass murder, even though no one else was involved in the planning.

Cat owner and avid environmentalist here: totally agree. I’ve always kept my cats inside for the obvious environmental reasons, but ask any vet and they’ll tell you that indoor cats lead much longer, healthier lives.

We need to start treating dogs and cats the same way - if there’s a cat around without it’s owner and it’s not leashed, it goes to the pound. $250 fee to retrieve your cat to pay for boarding and also donate to the pound that receives them. If people had to pay $250 and drive all the way to the pound to pick up their cat every time they let them out, I can tell you that outdoor cat owners will go one of two ways: they’ll either stop owning cats (big win) or they’ll keep them inside (also big win).

Ditto for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK; aka North Korea). People often intentionally misuse words to obfuscate their true intentions, particularly those with an authoritarian or fascist slant.

Who is Justice Beaver?

Oh God, please don’t remind of the old Beetroot claiming that somehow the Greens, who have never held power outside of ACT, were responsible for this shit. What a disaster of a human being.

I’ve found that you definitely can outside of the US. Growing up in Australia I was always taught the ‘both sides’ argument regarding Israel/Palestine, and I’ve literally never met a person who didn’t support a two-state solution. A Jewish family I grew up with were notoriously anti-Israel, specifically because Israel has given them bad names by committing atrocities in response to other atrocities. You might find a few right wing nutjobs that refuse to allow criticism of Israel, but generally they’re the ones that are ostracised by the majority.

What the fuck did you call me you S’wit?! I ain’t no fetcher!

Child protection caseworker and previous child of abuse here: this is absolutely correct. Punishment should NEVER involve removal of a basic necessity. It should always amount to removal of a want, not a need. Taking away dessert, access to video games etc. are the only acceptable forms of punishment. This follows research that shows that taking a child’s basic necessities from them doesn’t improve behaviour, it merely adapts their attachment style to dysfunctional.

Why didn’t he just let her drive off, taking her plate details to log a warrant? I feel that would be the correct thing to do. If he didn’t stand in front of her car aiming a gun at her then he has nothing to worry about. Not saying stealing is appropriate behaviour, just feel the whole thing could have been avoided.

If you want a deeper look into just how child protection systems can fail so egregiously, have a watch of The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez. I work in child protection myself and it was eye-opening.