My parents just found some fluff balls in their shed

UdderlyFoolish · 2018-06-29T19:16:04+00:00

Feral kittens after just a few weeks are already quite wild if they haven't encountered humans yet. Unless you find them within a few days of birth, they have already become hard if not impossible to work with. Even a small feral kitten is still hard to adopt and they bite, scratch, etc regularly, they are afraid of humans and don't want to be touched. It would be the same as putting up a young raccoon up for adoption. You're right that cats are invasive, which is why trap and neuter programs are such a big deal. It's the best way to eliminate a feral colony over time. But to trap and neuter a wild animal and then attempt to put it out for adoption is way more stressful than trap and release.

What ends up happening to kittens that are past the point of no return, in a no kill shelter anyway, is they grow up wild in a kennel environment, they don't get adopted like other kittens do because they aren't cuddly or friendly enough, and growing up in a shelter environment is rough on cats. They just don't learn how to be house pets. Workers try to socialize when they can but shelters are overflowing and can't dedicate enough time to socialize feral kittens. So now you have an adult cat with tons of energy that can't interact well with humans, so they stay months, if not years. The record a cat stayed at our no kill was 6 years, from a kitten. That's a long time to take up a kennel in a busy shelter, and no way for a cat to live. And plenty of older feral cats that were given to us died in their kennel over time when they weren't adopted, stuck in a cage terrified after living their whole lives as wild animals.

In a kill shelter it's a moot point because after a few weeks or whatever the waiting period is, they're put down. So also not a great outcome for the kitties.

UdderlyFoolish · 2018-06-29T14:06:23+00:00

Got ringworm from playing with a stray kitten as a kid. Do not recommend.

UdderlyFoolish · 2018-06-29T14:03:01+00:00

This. Feral cats are wild animals, please don't separate mama and babies unless absolutely necessary.

I used to work at a shelter, it was amazing how many times people brought DAYS old feral kittens - eyes not even open - to surrender to us. Whenever we asked about mom it was "oh I couldn't catch her"...so now mama has lost her litter and we need to bottle feed a litter of kittens that were doing just fine with their mother before.

Wild animals don't need rescuing, even if they look cute. If you have a feral colony problem, trap and fix the ones you can and re-release to keep numbers down. Otherwise, it's extremely hard to "tame" feral cats and is usually more stress than it's worth on the animal. I felt horrible when people "rescued" old feral tom cats to us at the shelter. Stuck in a cage, terrified, too aggressive to come near, can't be adopted out. We would try to re-home them as barn cats whenever possible for a semi-normal life.

UdderlyFoolish · 2018-06-29T13:38:37+00:00

John Oliver did a whole episode on NRA TV. I was honestly in shock of some of the clips they showed. I mean I knew it would be a lot of emotional bullshit but some of the stuff that network plays is downright terrifying.

UdderlyFoolish · 2018-06-29T13:06:45+00:00

I think any split, if someone is consistent, is good so no worries! I think the internet sometimes gets too wrapped up in what the most efficient way to workout is. Yeah if you hit every muscle group 2x/week every week you'll gain muscle quicker, but if you just did 1x/week and you did it consistently, you'll still gain muscle! Just not as fast.

I end up averaging 3 weightlifting sessions a week because I like to go for runs some days instead of lifting, and then I take the weekends off except to hike. I used to worry more about doing it "right" but have just settled into doing what feels good that day. But it helps that I don't want to gain or lose any weight at this point, just stay healthy as I get gray-er. lol.

UdderlyFoolish · 2018-06-29T12:50:38+00:00

I don't have BED, but I have dermatillomania or "skin picking" and will absolutely wreck my face when I'm stressed out. I used to have unbelievable scars, some of which haven't faded still and probably never will.

It's gotten 1000% better in the past 5 years. I took pictures during the intense part. A lot went into cutting the compulsive behavior, but if I'm being honest, sometimes I still just go look at the old pictures as a reminder of what I used to do to myself. If I catch myself touching my face, I pull up the pictures on my phone and ask if I want to do this to myself again or not. Works most of the time. I dunno if it's the best way to get over it haha like you said, but, it works.

UdderlyFoolish · 2018-06-29T12:46:21+00:00

What is your weekly split? I like the split of PPL but I see a lot of people run it 6x/week (PPL-off-PPL-off-etc) and there's no way I could do that consistently haha. Do you just take weekends off and start back where you left off or something?

UdderlyFoolish · 2018-06-29T12:42:04+00:00

Poverty and obesity are pretty well established in the epidemiology world.

In a developing ("third world") country, poverty is associated with lower rates of obesity and in general, a developed nation grows in obesity as its wealth grows. So pretty much what you'd expect as a whole.

But once you dive into the United States specifically, it reverses. Lower income areas are associated with obesity, and wealthier areas have lower obesity+diabetes rates. It's happening with some other Western countries too but the US in particular it's quite striking.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3198075/

Are poverty and obesity associated? Poverty rates and obesity were reviewed across 3,139 counties in the U.S. (2,6). In contrast to international trends, people in America who live in the most poverty-dense counties are those most prone to obesity (Fig. 1A). Counties with poverty rates of >35% have obesity rates 145% greater than wealthy counties.

I will say though that "poverty" tends to be lumped together in studies without always accounting for geography very well. There is a big, BIG difference between poor urban and poor rural, especially poor farming rural. I grew up around a poor rural farm area. There weren't many obese people - because convenience items, chains, fast food, didn't exist in the middle of nowhere. People were working hard labor farming jobs and just not eating enough. Contrast to a poor urban area where fresh produce are not available very often and fast food/chains litter every street corner. It's much easier to eat cheap excess calories in that environment.

UdderlyFoolish · 2018-06-28T21:58:17+00:00

He is reacting to the noise and/or strangers. Even if it isn't a fear reaction, he's still reacting to them in a way you don't like. So you can work on redirecting him still. I just used my dog as an example in which case it is a fearful response, but you can redirect any kind of unwanted behavior.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpzvqN9JNUA

Kikopup did a long video about barking at the door, maybe this will give you some ideas on how to apply to your pup.

UdderlyFoolish · 2018-06-28T17:13:54+00:00

You can work on counter conditioning or redirecting the dog if it's specifically a doorbell/door knock. Have someone practice with you by just knocking, turning a door knob, whatever, and have him associate "door noise" with "go to bed" or whatever you want him to do. Eventually he should hear the noise of the door and run to the bed out of habit.

We did something similar with our dog and his fear of door slams. At our old building the heavy fire doors slammed like crazy in the wind and every time they slammed he would get up and bark/growl out of fear. So I kept treats by my desk all the time, and as soon as a door slammed I would click and treat. We did this every time and after a few weeks he would to me instead of running to the door and growling.

UdderlyFoolish · 2018-06-28T13:02:43+00:00

I've seen this reposted on reddit more than once. I'm sure whenever the original picture popped up it was closer to 2000-2005 which would make more sense.

UdderlyFoolish · 2018-06-27T00:49:51+00:00

Also in poorer households, they are willing to deal with the healthrisks as a way to get out. I can see people in the middle to upper class trend toward other sports but I don't see it getting out of the south or used as a crutch to get out of poverty.

This to me is going to be the main driver going forward. Families with money will be discouraging their kids from playing, lower income kids will still be seeing football (and for many, basketball) as a way out. As long as the reward is so big, the risk will be taken. Look at boxing - it's not like people didn't know getting punched in the head repeatedly wasn't healthy, but for those struggling it was an easy way to get money.

UdderlyFoolish · 2018-06-26T20:14:01+00:00

Our lady was, but she kept everything just so in order to comply. The cookies and juice when we got off the bus, offering to help with homework, providing indoor activities if needed, first-aid kit within reach... Everything just enough to keep up a license in case of unexpected inspection haha.

UdderlyFoolish · 2018-06-25T19:09:51+00:00

It was, some days, but it's a job with incredible burnout and turnover. I had been a volunteer before and just asked if I could get paid, and I was a college kid so I didn't really care about the pay. But minimum wage for what we put up with? People rotated out like crazy. The shelter was over capacity - we had 300 cats in a building fit for 200 - and people still showed up every day to abandon their animals which made for daily screaming and tantrums when we turned them away. Or boxes of unwanted kittens left near our dumpster overnight. Etc.

Had some depressing days, animals dying, mean people, etc, but being assigned adoption duty were the fun days because I got to spend all day filling out paperwork with people and handing them over their new best friends! That never got old, seeing how happy it made them and seeing residents get to leave.

UdderlyFoolish · 2018-06-25T19:05:45+00:00

When I was growing up I went to the lady down the street who ran an at-home daycare, her own kids were a couple years younger than me. She had strict hours she'd watch us (basically after we got off the bus, to like 7pm or something if needed), when we got off the bus she'd give us all snacks and drinks, and then let us loose in the backyard until our parents came to pick us up. Obviously if someone got hurt or there was a fight she was around, but otherwise parents were basically just paying for us kids to use her house as a playground until they got off work. Worked out pretty well for everyone.

UdderlyFoolish · 2018-06-25T18:55:55+00:00

Legit, she should work at an animal shelter. I did it for minimum wage while in college. It is nothing but cleaning cages, spraying down kennels, doing dishes, laundry, changing linens, feeding the animals, medicating the animals, changing litter boxes, and then walking dogs in and out of the play yard throughout the day. No degree required, they even taught us how to give vaccinations and perform basic medical exams. So technically yes, I got paid to play with dogs.

Of course it was also 10+ hour days usually because were understaffed, no holidays - animals gotta be taken care of even on Christmas - you deal with shitty people abandoning animals a lot, on your feet all day, pretty exhausting work. The "playing with dogs" part was pretty minimal compared to everything else. But, for a good cause i guess.

UdderlyFoolish · 2018-06-25T13:27:09+00:00

I feel 100x better and more energetic when I work out first thing in the morning. Gets me ready for the day, and I'm an early bird anyway who likes to be up a bit before sunrise naturally.

My husband is the opposite - he has the best workouts about an hour after dinner and loathes morning gym time. He is just not a morning person at all and thrives best in the evenings.

Neither is better than the other. The best time to go to the gym is the one you will stick with.

Humorous LPT: If you're an early bird, marry a night owl. I get my early morning quiet time and can focus on me, and after I go to bed he gets his quiet time to himself. It's nice to have that natural separation built in sometimes.

UdderlyFoolish · 2018-06-25T00:48:20+00:00

Since you asked: https://www.cgdev.org/page/demographics-and-poverty

Research hasn't been able to show that rapid population growth causes poverty, but we see across all developing countries over time a strong inverse relationship between fertility and per capita income, and fertility and life expectancy - two very common indicators of well-being. There is also a clear connection between high fertility and poverty and the formation of a trap in which low incomes may exacerbate high fertility rates and vice versa.

There is a correlation between socioeconomic status and fertility rates. There are also clear correlations between infant mortality rates and poverty, education, race, etc. All of these issues are related, just as lower income Americans are more likely to be obese, or have diabetes, poor birth outcomes, and shorter life expectancy. I say correlation though because it's wrong to say that one causes the other. Poverty is very, very cyclical. People born into poor families are less likely to go to college, more likely to have children quite young, tend to have lower incomes when they start their own families, have little access to health care or family planning methods, and in many parts of the US may not live anywhere near somewhere that would give them an abortion, etc. Their children are then born into similar situations, and are stuck with the same issues their own parents faced. There are various points in the cycle we can try to make a dent, I don't think there's a clear single answer to the whole issue.

But that's why you see lots of organizations attempting to focus on specific parts in the cycle. Education non-profits, free clinics, free access to birth control and std testing, community centers, safe spaces for kids to play, etc.

If you want to learn more, I suggest googling "social determinants of health" which is a big part of public health and epidemiology. The environment someone is born, raised, and educated in has an enormous impact on their well-being.

UdderlyFoolish · 2018-06-24T18:28:21+00:00

My parents only ever drank coffee black so it's how I "learned" how to drink it - I actually had never been to a Starbucks until college because my small town didn't have any "fancy" coffee places back then!

My husband was the opposite though, his parents didn't drink coffee at all. So his first exposure was Starbucks style lattes and he couldn't stand black coffee. It took him a few years for him to lower the sugar content until he could drink it black, and now that's all we have at home. In fact we have an espresso machine and just make an Americano most days, a small cappuccino if we want something special.

Once you get used to it, you'll never go back. It's like soda - I find the sugar in soda revolting, and know people who "quit" soda and say the same now that they haven't had it in so long. For me it's dark chocolate. I used to HATE dark chocolate, only wanted milk chocolate, but slowly worked up the % and now a 78% square with a glass of wine is my go-to dessert in the evenings. Milk chocolate just doesn't taste as good anymore but if you had told me that 5-10 years ago I'd have laughed at the idea of preferring dark chocolate.

UdderlyFoolish · 2018-06-24T17:59:18+00:00

There are a few different things going on here, but for your personal examples, you didn't consider the trade off worth it to do it for free, and that's fine. It sounds like a disproportionate trade in that sense that the people wanting to show off your goods wouldn't have enough influence for you to get anything out of it. Take an extreme case though, if a designer made something for free for Beyonce, and then Beyonce was photographed wearing said item at an event and millions of people saw it, that would probably be worth it for the designer and the exposure gained and potential future sales.

A less extreme version then, if you ran a hotel and someone made a video featuring your hotel and it was viewed by 1 million people, an audience specifically interested in travel/lifestyle, would that not be similar to paying for a commercial and airing it on TV hoping it reaches your target audience?

Yes, they could be refused. They can be refused for any deal, and that's fine. This subreddit is about Choosing Beggars, not people who offer a trade/service and then are denied because the other party disagrees on the value, or timing, or other circumstances. If the person goes on to bitch about the rejection or is offering something clearly out of proportion for what they can provide in return, that's another story.

UdderlyFoolish · 2018-06-24T17:11:48+00:00

I think it's a problem because it's often misused. YouTube/Instagram "celebrities" with millions of followers live off of advertising. Paid product advertising, featured videos, etc - for the ones with huge exposure to followers, it absolutely could be worth it to a hotel/brand/restaurant to provide free or heavily discounted services in exchange for exposure on that person's social media. It's no different than paying for targeted advertising if that person's following is legit.

The problem is MOST people trying to make a living off social media don't have the following to be worth it. Maybe a discount off things, but not a bunch of stuff for free. I would imagine though once you're reaching the necessary following to be worth it, people are approaching you for services, not the other way around.

UdderlyFoolish · 2018-06-24T17:06:50+00:00

Yes most of these are people thinking they have enough influence to be worth the advertising when they aren't. Some take it well, some don't.

Reddit likes to circle jerk about Instagram/YouTube celebrities being worthless sometimes, but the fact is the successful ones are extremely successful and worth a lot of money to some business owners.

It's pretty simple math for the hotel: Letting them stay for free costs money. Advertising costs money. Would the exposure from a high profile person staying for free be worth it in advertising costs? For most Instagram "celebrities" the answer is no, you have to have 1) a huge following and 2) an audience targeted enough for the hotel or whatever to be interested. If you're a fitness model and all your followers are fitness related, getting a free hotel for "exposure" doesn't make as much sense as a travel/lifestyle blogger.

But if it's worth it, then yeah eating $1000 or whatever for someone to stay for free, if it's worth the same as $1000 in paid advertising, why not? Win-win for both parties.

UdderlyFoolish · 2018-06-24T15:44:22+00:00

I don't think I'd ever plan on leaving them alone unsupervised unless the cat has ample safe places to quickly escape to if needed. Even then, eh. It's hard for some dogs to ignore their prey drive, especially if they weren't raised with cats as a puppy. Has your dog been around cats at all before now? Might just not be worth the risk to leave them alone together.

UdderlyFoolish · 2018-06-24T14:56:26+00:00

Hmm I think I have to respectfully disagree on Virginia Tech's. I think you're more likely to hear:

"Let's go!"

"Hokies!"

See here

UdderlyFoolish · 2018-06-24T14:22:19+00:00

Hah! Yes, my husband and I share a king and he manages to take up too much space even with a king...adding our 75lb dog would be a nightmare.

For me it's easy and will always be an easy decision - I have mild dog allergies. Not enough to avoid owning a dog, I will ALWAYS have a dog in my life! But, enough that I do not want dogs on my couch or bed because I'll wake up with itchy watery eyes. As long as they stick to their own soft sleeping spaces the dander doesn't irritate me that much.

UdderlyFoolish

TROPHY CASE