Dolphins are cool.
Mar. 25th, 2003 04:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mollyringleYou know, I just have one simple request, and that is to have frickin' dolphins with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads.
Heh.
I know the dolphins and sea lions don't quite realize the possible danger they're in, but even so, I think it's way cool that they can do this. For this honor, they are now on my top four list of Best Non-Human Mammals. (Sharing space with dogs and elephants.)
("Best" here means "most useful to humans.")
(No, I will not add cats to this list.)
Edit, 3/26/03, roughly 12:40 p.m.:
OK, look, people:
This is MY list of best mammals; you guys can like cats better than dogs for whatever crazy reasons you want. You just won't convince me. Because I'd like you to show me cats who sniff out drugs/bombs/criminals/missing persons, guide the blind down the street, herd sheep/cattle, bring medical supplies to people on battlefields or in avalanches and lie down beside them to keep them warm, or jump into icy water and haul a drowning person to shore.
You might find a few individual cats who can be trained to do some of these things. But you will find, for every one of those cats, whole armies of dogs who can do the same thing, and do it willingly.
Yes, there are stupid useless dogs out there. Lots of them. Yes, cats can be pretty and soft and warm, and when they're not being schizophrenic they can actually be friendly. But on average, dogs blow cats out of the water in terms of actual applied usefulness to and cooperation with humans. I just do not find this disputable. We've spent a lot more time breeding dogs for specifically these uses. Maybe equal breeding with cats (start with a larger variety, I'd suggest, like tigers) would someday return the same results; who knows.
By the way, Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein would probably agree with all you cat-lovers and dog-despisers. Islamic fundamentalists usually revere cats but hate dogs. Quite frequent to have dogs banned and killed in some of the more brutal Islamic countries. I think this tells us a lot. ;)
Heh.
I know the dolphins and sea lions don't quite realize the possible danger they're in, but even so, I think it's way cool that they can do this. For this honor, they are now on my top four list of Best Non-Human Mammals. (Sharing space with dogs and elephants.)
("Best" here means "most useful to humans.")
(No, I will not add cats to this list.)
Edit, 3/26/03, roughly 12:40 p.m.:
OK, look, people:
This is MY list of best mammals; you guys can like cats better than dogs for whatever crazy reasons you want. You just won't convince me. Because I'd like you to show me cats who sniff out drugs/bombs/criminals/missing persons, guide the blind down the street, herd sheep/cattle, bring medical supplies to people on battlefields or in avalanches and lie down beside them to keep them warm, or jump into icy water and haul a drowning person to shore.
You might find a few individual cats who can be trained to do some of these things. But you will find, for every one of those cats, whole armies of dogs who can do the same thing, and do it willingly.
Yes, there are stupid useless dogs out there. Lots of them. Yes, cats can be pretty and soft and warm, and when they're not being schizophrenic they can actually be friendly. But on average, dogs blow cats out of the water in terms of actual applied usefulness to and cooperation with humans. I just do not find this disputable. We've spent a lot more time breeding dogs for specifically these uses. Maybe equal breeding with cats (start with a larger variety, I'd suggest, like tigers) would someday return the same results; who knows.
By the way, Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein would probably agree with all you cat-lovers and dog-despisers. Islamic fundamentalists usually revere cats but hate dogs. Quite frequent to have dogs banned and killed in some of the more brutal Islamic countries. I think this tells us a lot. ;)
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no subject
Date: 2003-03-26 03:58 pm (UTC)As for the rest, well, if I wasn't so well adjusted...I might take it personally, girlie. ;)
no subject
Date: 2003-03-26 04:27 pm (UTC)It wasn't aimed at you, but I did wonder if you'd rise to the bait. ;) Anyway, I never said anything about their relative merits as pets, which is all that's relevant to most people. I still guarantee (and you well know) that you could not find near as many life-saving cats as life-saving dogs. But, as pets, cats tend to take care of themselves more, and require less attention, so in some ways they're easier to live with.
Elephants may be extremely cool (and not just for their symbolism in a certain party), but unless I had a whole lot of acreage and money, I think I'd rather have a cat as a pet than an elephant.
(But I'd still rather have a dog than a cat.)
no subject
Date: 2003-03-27 04:13 pm (UTC)*blink* Yep. It's official. I've lost my mind.