If the kitten-eating alligator keeper is "adopting" kittens from private individuals and then using them as cheap feed, he's at least guilty of deception -- the same way that some free puppies from ads in newspapers get turned over to animal experimenters.

Last year I had a really cool conversation with a professional zookeeper who owns a 20' python. He is a vegetarian, and when he can, he feeds his companion animal ( used for demonstrations, not just a pet) rejects from a rabbit fur&meat farm, so a) they aren't pets, b) bought with the understanding as to what they're going to be used for. He will feed live when he can, as he says the python kills more humanely than he can -- one quick hammer-blow with its head. (He says the squeezing maneuver is usually post-mortem even for small constrictors.)

He also says that he asks the rabbit keeper for the mean bunnies. :-)

Why the voices in your head are usually male

Auditory verbal hallucinations, the "voices in your head" that schizophrenics often hear, are usually male. The reason is that female voices are harder for the brain to spontaneously produce...

Still sleeping.

Does that mean you are sleep-typing?

the same way that some free puppies from ads in newspapers get turned over to animal experimenters.

Or rendering plants. A lot of papers won't accept free to good home ads because of this. I read somewhere recently that animal rights groups are pressuring Craiglist to stop the free pets listings too.

I think you should go back to bed.

Man, me too! Sadly, I am now at work. And need to figure out what to do about the OMG CRISIS!!! emails of yesterday.

A collection of end-of-the-world scenarios

And need to figure out what to do about the OMG CRISIS!!! emails of yesterday.

Laugh at them?

Overslept. Didn't wake up right. Want to go back to sleep.

Laugh at them?

That was yesterday's reaction. Now, my boss isn't here, so there's nothing to be done immediately, I guess. Nothing like an URGENT piece of paperwork that's dated 5/10.

I watched a pet boa constrictor have dinner once. Dinner was a chicken, live. The snake constricted the chicken to death, and then some, in order to even make a start at getting it compact enough to eat.

Somehow keeping a pet that has to have live food bugs me. I don't know too many people that are well-adjusted that feed live animals to their pets, ya know?

Wild animals eating live food, well, duh. Not a problem. Not even kittens, which were the preferred meal of the monitor lizards that lived around our place in Malaysia. (And they say no one eats cat.)

Bored in Natter, xposty from Bitches:

Since I had to take some before snaps before moving. This is my office in all its glory. The rest of my house is actually quite pretty, but let's just say the move to new roomier office space is long overdue. This is a public service. After viewing the photos you will no longer feel like slobs.

This is a wide view facing my desk. Photo of Brendon with Kristin and Hil on the monitor. Trudy, Debet, and ND are also in there. [link]

Brendon's side of the office isn't near as bad. In the new space we won't be sharing an office for the first time in 17 years. [link]

This is what hides behing my desk. The George Washington on the wall was a gift from my dad since I was born on George's day. [link]

It only gets worse when you look toward the printers, but you can see my dipolma and honor cords there too. Woo! [link]

The closet, also not real useful at the moment. I am looking forward to moving this weekend so very much! [link]

How I love the linky function! Almost as much as love getting a new office.

I don't know too many people that are well-adjusted that feed live animals to their pets, ya know?

Obviously I'm speaking from a bit of a bias, because it's mainly the smell that keeps me from being a snake owner who might do just this but ... really? Do you think that sample extends into the general public any more practically than well-adjusted pit bull owners, for instance? I mean, does keeping one of those pets bug you because you don't know enough well-adjusted people who do it, or is there another reason?