Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy (Post 533060)

Ah, yes, that Mass Genocide everyone survived.

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski (Post 533061)

Umm, you described your life now in the country. Icky posted a Twitter feed of a man in Shanghai. There are differences. I can’t imagine living under the Shanghai restrictions- can you?

Originally Posted by Icky Thump (Post 533064)

See, here's the problem: Complete and total lockdown works . . . for a bit. Then things reopen, then people get infected again and it starts all over. So the only way to keep cases at zero is to keep people locked down forever. And clubbing all the pets to death.

And fucking cooper took a swipe at a few squirrels today right in front of me and the crows. Startled him and then the crows took off after him. Gonna cost me another trip to Whole Foods for grapes.

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy (Post 533066)

Fuck the squirrels. Team Cooper here.

Originally Posted by Icky Thump (Post 533067)

Strong picking on the weak ain’t a good look. I’m here to help the little guy.

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski (Post 533068)

We put our xmas wreath on our back porch after the holidays. For a few years a pair of mourning doves built their nest in the wreath. One day I saw a squirrel jump into the nest and eat a little baby bird. Fuck squirrels.

Originally Posted by Icky Thump (Post 533067)

Strong picking on the weak ain’t a good look. I’m here to help the little guy.

Originally Posted by Icky Thump (Post 533069)

I feel bad for them, slow, not bright.

Originally Posted by Icky Thump (Post 533069)

Why I do everything possible to keep the peace. I did see cooper grab one of those doves literally a foot from me once. I feel bad for them, slow, not bright.

Originally Posted by Did you just call me Coltrane? (Post 533072)

Wait, are the hawks I'm seeing actually Cooper's and not Red Tails?

Originally Posted by Did you just call me Coltrane? (Post 533070)

I remember watching Planet Earth when the wolves were chasing the caribou. There were thousands of caribou and three wolves...and people were rooting for the caribou. Don't root for the species that is flourishing -- root for the underdog. Same with hawks. There are a billion squirrels (dropping stuff all over my patio). Let the few hawks eat one or two.

Also, squirrels are assholes. Possums are the animal you want.

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy (Post 533073)

Coopers and Red Tails are both around here and easy to mistake. The Red Tails are significantly bigger.

We see almost no squirrels where we are, and just a few chipmunks. Between our Coopers, our Bobcats and Fisher Cats, and our Owls, the squirrel population is way less than when we were in the burbs. But what we have are mice and voles. Those suckers hide better. So we make a habit of finding and overturning or opening up their nests so the predators can do their thing.

Originally Posted by Icky Thump (Post 533064)

See, here's the problem: Complete and total lockdown works . . . for a bit. Then things reopen, then people get infected again and it starts all over. So the only way to keep cases at zero is to keep people locked down forever. And clubbing all the pets to death.

And fucking cooper took a swipe at a few squirrels today right in front of me and the crows. Startled him and then the crows took off after him. Gonna cost me another trip to Whole Foods for grapes.

Originally Posted by Replaced_Texan (Post 533076)

Keep those crows on payroll. They're totally worth the grape cost. And you definitely don't want them to turn on you. Those guys can be pretty vicious to their enemies.

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop (Post 533055)

When we weigh costs and benefits, let's remember two things. The first is, having to wear a mask just isn't that much of a cost, no matter how much some people bitch about it, and no matter how much some people become emotionally committed to the idea that it's intolerable. Certainly not compared to the costs of dying of COVID, or getting long COVID, or having a friend or relative die of COVID, or having to work in a hospital caring for COVID, etc. The second is, when you don't wear a mask, you not only expose yourself to some additional risk, you also expose other people. Many people seem incapable of acknowledging or weighing that risk, in some cases because they're ignorant but in many cases because they are assholes. Not wearing a mask is a little like dumping garbage on your own lawn and saying, "it's my property so I'll decide whether it looks good," but it's also like dumping garbage on your neighbors' lawns and saying, "fuck all of you."