Random Stuff

[Kestrel]

That's no fair. I'm shoving some violently American at you.

And yes, those are hamburgers with doughnuts for buns. And bacon.

Edited July 5, 2015 by LarkoftheRiver

[Kestrel]

So I'm doing an essay/speech for school and its about why PETA sucks and doesn't actually represent animal rights and I'm doing more research on the matter and I'm shaking so badly I want to cry and throw up at the same time these people not only kill 90% of animals brought to them but they also support using humans for product testing and making carnivorous pets like cats and dogs vegan and also taking pets away in general and I'm sick why does this place still exist.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles]

So I'm doing an essay/speech for school and its about why PETA sucks and doesn't actually represent animal rights and I'm doing more research on the matter and I'm shaking so badly I want to cry and throw up at the same time these people not only kill 90% of animals brought to them but they also support using humans for product testing and making carnivorous pets like cats and dogs vegan and also taking pets away in general and I'm sick why does this place still exist.

I once wrote an article about PETA along those same lines. Sarcasm was my friend. It's a good coping mechanism.

[Kestrel]

I'm so sick.

This is a great persuasive paper I was just looking to write a little thread on WolfQuest about the subject and now I have an entire speech good gravy.

[ThirdGen]

We can't even work out how to stop being cruel to our own species.

[Kestrel]

Painfully accurate

[Kobold King]

So I'm doing an essay/speech for school and its about why PETA sucks and doesn't actually represent animal rights and I'm doing more research on the matter and I'm shaking so badly I want to cry and throw up at the same time these people not only kill 90% of animals brought to them but they also support using humans for product testing and making carnivorous pets like cats and dogs vegan and also taking pets away in general and I'm sick why does this place still exist.

 

 

The way I see it, PETA recognizes a legitimate problem but goes way too far in their attempt to fix it.

 

They make excellent points on their website. Animals worldwide are suffering. Factory farms are places of filth, pain, and suffering, and there's not a living thing on this planet I would consign to their care. Pet and livestock abuse runs rampant across the world. We may be looking at the extinction of the world's most charismatic megafauna within only a couple of generations, and only a fraction of Earth's once lush and green ecosystems are still standing.

 

However, none of PETA's proposed reforms would actually solve these problems. They demand that humanity as a whole stop eating meat, ignoring that humans were eating meat for tens of thousands of years without causing the problems we see today. They demand that farmers release their livestock into the wild, even the livestock that are raised on wide open pastures and given abundant food and space to roam. Even pets that are cherished by their owners and live happy and loving lives are seen by PETA as slaves that should be taken from their owners regardless of what the pets themselves would prefer.

 

I don't pretend to know how to fix the world. I think that as long as there's civilization, problems are only going to get worse and any attempt at reform will at best be only a short-term solution. But I do know that the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals fail to recognize the complexity of the issue, and the solutions they advocate would lead to more animal suffering, not less.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles]

I think one of PETA's crucial failings is in failing to consider humans as anything but villains when they choose to tell a story. Yes, humans are responsible for some of the worst treatment of animals in factory farms and elsewhere--but they have also come up with some of the best solutions. Temple Grandin has been instrumental in changing things, and other humans have made changes in small but significant ways. Animal rescue sites take abused pets and give them to owners who will find ways to work with their various wounds and disabilities. One woman has even begun a retirement home for unwanted older dogs (though who could possibly not want a sweet-as-maple-syrup senior dog is beyond me). But no, according to PETA, those people may as well not exist.

[Kobold King]

I think one of PETA's crucial failings is in failing to consider humans as anything but villains when they choose to tell a story. Yes, humans are responsible for some of the worst treatment of animals in factory farms and elsewhere--but they have also come up with some of the best solutions. Temple Grandin has been instrumental in changing things, and other humans have made changes in small but significant ways. Animal rescue sites take abused pets and give them to owners who will find ways to work with their various wounds and disabilities. One woman has even begun a retirement home for unwanted older dogs (though who could possibly not want a sweet-as-maple-syrup senior dog is beyond me). But no, according to PETA, those people may as well not exist.

 

 

The thing about humans is that we're animals too. We shouldn't be separating ourselves from the animal kingdom altogether; we should embrace our role in the food chain. We should eat meat responsibly, not over-hunting or over-fishing. We should use our intelligence not to destroy natural habitats, but build our society around or even within natural habitats, like the "primitive" tribesmen who still live in remote parts of the world. And finally, we shouldn't go on genocidal witch hunts whenever an animal species inconveniences us, like when wolves preyed on our sheep and we retaliated by wiping out most of their species.

 

We are part of the animal kingdom, in the enviable position of top predator. We should approach that role not seeing ourselves the lords of all creation, but as the humble linchpin that holds the ecosystem together.

[Kestrel]

Basically all that's been posted.

I am also fairly sick of anti-hunter people as well. To be honest, trophy hunting isn't bad, unless its to kill an endangered animal (which is hello is POACHING not hunting). I love wolves, but they aren't endangered, and can be invasive. So if someone wants to go hunt a few, whatever. It isn't any of my business and can actually help the species. Most hunters that I've met are fairly responsible people too, and the respect wildlife they hunt instead of killing it all. However, anyone who hunts a tiger can go rot in the grave for all I care.

Part of the issue now is that we got ourselves into this issue, and we need to get ourselves out or else the planet will start to die. The bees? Yeah, those go and we're screwed.

[Kobold King]

Eh... honestly, I'm a bit biased against trophy hunting because of where I live. Around this part of Texas you can find the dumbest and cruelest kind of hunter; the kind who treats the killing of animals as a fun hobby.

 

I have nothing against hunting. Heck, even though I've got a phobia of taxidermy I don't really have a moral problem with people mounting their heads or antlers on their walls. But I believe that no animal that should kill another for sport alone. If you take another creature's life, you'd better need to do it. You'd better be doing it for food, for clothing, or for some other pragmatic purpose. Like the Native American tribes who made a point to use every part of the buffalo they killed, and then uttered a prayer thanking the animal for feeding and clothing them after death.

 

Maybe this is spiteful of me, but I really can't stand the men around here that boast about some exotic creature they killed, and then left to rot on the African savannah or some jungle in Asia.

[Kestrel]

The first paragraph is seriously accurate. I hate Texas. So much. Just.

I wouldn't kill an animal unless I needed it, or if I was going to use it. If you kill a deer, eat it, and keep the antler/head/hide as a trophy, good for you. I'm not stopping you. But if you're trophy hunting legally, I can't do anything about it and you know what, I'm not going to. It might not be morally right to me, but that isn't my call to make. It can help the environment too, because there's only so many large predators (which mainly people trophy hunt) that can live in one area. But if you're going to do it, you need to do it right and respect the laws and what you can and can't do, and above all respect the animal you just killed.

I actually really like taxidermy and wouldn't mind having a wolf or fox pelt, but only if knew that it was killed rightfully and not at a fur farm (which they do for foxes, which is completely sick.)

What's even worse than the people going to exotic places and hunting the animals is people going to those caged in hunting places and putting a tiger in there with them and just killing it that way, calling it "hunting." You're in a hundred by hundred square foot fence with a scared, probably starved, cat and you call it hunting. Good god almighty.

[Kestrel]

On a side note, you guys get a sneak peak at a drawing I'm doing

 

 

what am I doing? this

what should I be doing? not that

[DanTheSeamonster]

I need a new laptop. But I also need a car to drive me places. And I also need to pay for my college classes. *sigh*. Being an adult is hard, guys. 

 

.....sorry if this was kinda complain-y

Edited July 6, 2015 by The Crooked Warden

[Kestrel]

I feel you. I feel. I need all of those. And a license. Here's a hug.

I'm thinking about doing a livestream tomorrow for art things and was wondering if anyone would be interested? I'll be working on either pixels or the painting and you guys can watch me do it. I'm going to try out join.me. idk how to work it. But.

[+Slowswift]

I am loving Rashek lately. I mean, he screwed up bad, but HOORAY FOR THREE DIMENSIONS AND A TYRANT MUSICIAN

[Kestrel]

Honestly, I feel like Rashek had some good intentions but he just ended up making things twice as worse and then got greedy.

[Kobold King]

I wrote a thing for the Star Trek RP LarkoftheRiver is running. I'll post it here too, in case anyone's interested.

 

Once upon a time, spinning 'round the center of our galaxy, was a tiny red star with an even smaller black planet following it in tow.

 

The star was an ancient star, small and red and cold. The planet was likewise ancient and small, but it was far from cold. From the sea came life, and that life flourished under the scarlet light. The plants grew black leaves to absorb the sunlight, and the creatures warmed themselves with thick fur coats. For hundreds of millions of years, the planet and the star spun around the galaxy in a stately cosmic waltz, with life on the little black planet growing smarter and smarter with each passing eon.

 

Eventually there came a day when a species from the black planet built fire, and then the wheel, and then finely crafted metals. The planet was ancient but the species was young and inquisitive. Their eyes turned to the star-filled sky with delight, and diligently they worked the earth and wrought from its soil an infant civilization.

 

Centuries passed, but still the species was a young one. They knew little of the universe and its marvels beyond their little black planet, but that did little to dampen their enthusiasm. Peaceful creatures, they built invention after invention for the sake of bettering each other's lives, building magnificent jewel-like cities and towers that reached all the way to the sky and beyond. They built telescopes and sub-space transmitters, and filled with child-like curiosity, they beamed messages into the universe in hopes of meeting compassionate creatures like themselves.

 

It is our shame to say that the galaxy was not kind in return. Hearing of the black planet's riches and technology, warships from across the stars flocked to the center of the galaxy bent on plunder. Cities were razed and continents were set aflame. Towers were toppled and ancient forests were burned to ash. The lucky denizens of the black planet died in their burning houses or in swift missile strikes. The unlucky were carted away in chains, their tears and sobs going unheard as the alien warships carted them further across the galaxy.

 

With their planet despoiled and their people violated, can we blame the species of the black planet for what they did next?

 

For the species of the black planet was craftier than any of the other races of the galaxy. In peace they were great artisans and the sculptors of great cities. But heartbroken and enraged, they set their minds on vengeance. All the sorrow they'd felt they channeled into an epic creation. All the heartbreak and all the pain their species had undergone at the hands of the universe found its way into the digital mind of a metal machine. All the anger and grief of an entire civilization was condensed into a single computer the likes of which the galaxy had ever known and has never known since. And that computer they installed in the most powerful vessel the galaxy had ever known and has never known since.

 

They named their creation Anguish.

 

The daughter of the black planet ascended into the heaven, and became aware of herself. She gazed upon her homeworld and felt a wrenching pain, her memory banks full of the sorrow her people felt. She looked at them and felt pity for them all.

 

Perhaps she saw her next action as an act of mercy, or acted out of some peculiar sense of gratitude. Perhaps it was what her creators had in mind for her. Whatever went on in her mind prompted her to activate her frontal kaon cannon. Turning to the world that gave her birth, she rained down a beam of charged particles that caused the entire planet to dissolve in a flash of fire. The black planet, home of the billion artisans, was washed away in a tide of red-hot dust, and blew away into the cosmos. With what we can only presume was a sob of sorrow broadcasted on every sub-space frequency, the machine called Anguish warped away from her system to the other end of the galaxy.

 

Thus began the Anguish War. The only war in galactic history fought not against a civilization, but against a single ship. Armadas were raised and deployed, only to be destroyed the instant they came against her. In her mechanical heart was a burning rage against creation, a fury that drove her to track down and exterminate each of the civilizations that did the black planet harm. She'd appear in the sky, transmit a list of those slain by her enemies, and would extinguish their planet in a glowing ray. Such was justice in the mind of the machine, but eventually her rage drove her to target any species that had ever waged war.

 

...Which was, sadly enough, nearly all of them.

 

Dozens of planets fell to Anguish, and then hundreds. Soon thousands of worlds had met their end. All the races of the galaxy, assembled from every quadrant, gathered and faced her at the Battle of Derja's Cloud. The battle cost millions of lives, but at the end, Anguish was adrift in space with barely any systems still intact. She tried to fire with kaon rays that had been torn off of her. She attempted to hack the surrounding ships' computers with transmitters long since destroyed in the battle.

 

Anguish was left powerless in the void, screaming in silent fury.

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

The storyteller finished the tale, watching the larvae with twinkling compound eyes. The larvae squirmed in irritation, until one finally worked up the nerve to ask the question they all wanted answered.

 

"What did they do to Anguish?" it belched loudly, its fellow maggots screeching in agreement. Each of them were practically bouncing in their cocoons out of a desire to hear the end of the story.

 

The storyteller fluttered his wings in amusement, before strumming his nyra-lyre in a soft melody.

 

"The Battle of Derja's Cloud was fought nearly eleven thousand years ago," he trilled soothingly. "The ballad I condensed for you now has survived mostly intact through the millennia, but the history itself is long lost. Some claim that Anguish was destroyed then and there. Others claim that her internal reactor was too dangerous to dispose of, and she was imprisoned in the heart of a dark star. And still others name her a myth, and that the worlds she destroyed perished of natural causes."

 

"This story is brain-dead," another larva piped up, contempt easily apparent in the way its frontal hair twitched. "If the black planet people could build something so terrible, why didn't they beat their invaders the first time?"

 

The storyteller responded with a buzzing chuckle. "You look at this as a Morelthian, young master worm. The species of the black planet were peaceable creatures. Before conquerors raped their world, war never even occurred to them. Or so the legends claim."

 

Bemused by the thought, several larvae squirted. "That's brain-dead. Everyone has war."

 

As if on cue, the Morelthian hive shook, the rumbles of explosions echoing from further down the halls. The Querlings were even more zealous than usual with their missile strikes.

 

Trilling softly to himself, the storyteller packed up the nyra-lyre and began hovering out of the room.

 

"I hope you enjoyed your story," he told the unruly white larvae. "Truly, I do. Your elders did well by bringing me here. But how, it is time for me to leave this hive."

 

"You can't leave," one of the worms squelched in horror. "It's warring out there."

 

"I've survived my share of warrings," the storyteller replied, giving a conspiratorial nod with his antenna. "I'll be fine."

 

With a hooked appendage he flipped a switch and turned off the light, prompting each larva to pass off to sleep instantaneously.

 

"Sleep well," he clicked in a whisper. "And dream of the peace yet to come."

 

His wings buzzed and the door closed, and the storyteller was gone.

 

Like this? Come join the RP and participate in the ongoing story! We're planning on keeping this a fairly lax game, so no worries if you won't be able to post often.

 

Dislike this? By all means, send me a PM and enumerate everything you hated about it. I'm game for some criticism.

[Kestrel]

Hey nerds I'm streaming

https://join.me/839-392-736

not sure how this is gonna work but

[Edit]going offline for about ten minutes the url should be the same when i get back up

[Edit] we back

Edited July 6, 2015 by LarkoftheRiver

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles]

Why are people so rude to me when all I'm doing is calling to confirm an appointment? I'm just doing my job, not inviting them to tell me everything they think is wrong with my company.

[Kestrel]

Tell me who they are I'll fight them.

[Kobold King]

Why are people so rude to me when all I'm doing is calling to confirm an appointment? I'm just doing my job, not inviting them to tell me everything they think is wrong with my company.

Tell me who they are I'll fight them.

 

 

Tell me where they live and I'll sneak into their house in the middle of the night and yell at them for their sloppy housekeeping.

[Kestrel]

Okay kobald we live close enough right (i mean same stATe it can't be tHAT BIG RIGHT) so I'll come pick you up in my stolen car and we'll go do this together

I'm not even legal to drive let's do this

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles]

Thanks guys. Pretty sure that'd get me fired, though.

Ugh. I know it's a small thing, but after one said "You're kidding. I just made that appointment and you're already calling me back? That's pretty broken" (AND ALSO NOT MY FAULT, GUY) and the guy right after said "Well, that will depend on how things go with the car that's already there today. Okay?" I don't want to make the rest of the calls.

Edited July 6, 2015 by TwiLyghtSansSparkles

[Delightful]

*hugs*.

Go for a really quick walk,/get some air, take some deep breaths and calm down, know we all think you're awesome and just go for it.

*more hugs*

Edited July 6, 2015 by Delightful