Post a controversial opinion

my cat would be horrible at bird hunting, which is why he lives indoors

― mh

This is, ofcourse, exactly the other way around. He's horrible at it because he doesn't have to.

I've a cat and live in the country side, he takes care of most of his dinners himself (field mice etc).

shhh you're fucking with my controversial opinion

oic ;)

incidentally i define "the press" as a method of redistribution of ideas, by which standard any given newspaper or magazine is dwarfed by, is a mere appendage to, sites like youtube, facebook, and twitter

Maybe not in the US but freedom of the press can be regulated reasonably easily, at least on paper, in a lot of countries. The UK issues broadcast licenses that can be revoked. It has a weak system of press complaints that can potentially censure newspapers for bad behaviour. The threat of libel actions is an additional check, of sorts.

Reframing "the press" as any platform in which randos can share ideas makes that regulation much more difficult. "Twitter should have a legal obligation to delete anything that isn't true" would be a legit controversial opinion, though.

whoa missed it upthread but calzino's anti-cat argument is almost exactly what Jonathan Franzen sounds like, and if you've read Freedom, the behavior of a certain character at the end. I understand though, cats are cool but I'm super allergic to them & have a tough time hanging with friends at certain apartments bc my throat closes up. ouch!

re: the bird thing

which, you know, i'm obviously sympathetic to

I think the problem is that cats kill small birds, which are actually OK birds and not dickholes like pigeons

We need to train cats to only kill starlings and pigeons

+ seagulls

'sup with starlings? (xp)

and whatever the hell that thing is that makes that insane YAKKing sound outside my window. sounds like its screaming.

that is actually the most brilliant song title i've ever seen. some singer. someone posted it on facebook once. "What if Birds Don't Sing, They're Screaming".

really wish i had thought of that.

starlings aren't native to North America and were introduced by some dipshit who thought NYC's Central Park should have every bird mentioned in Shakespeare's works. They demolished local bird populations and screwed up the North American ecosystem

I'm sure they're fine in place where they're not dickhead infiltrators

American cats can be trained to go after them then, UK moggies can leave well alone.

fair enough

Maybe we can train British cats to fight grey squirrels instead.

i love the metallic sheen on starlings

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/PHOTO/LARGE/european_starling_12.jpg

they're of course monsters obviously.

contrast between the visuals and the words is something:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFWw9NQH89c

The only animal I'd fight is a goose. Mostly because I feel it would be fairly evenly matched and because you know that asshole goose probably has it coming.

+ seagulls

In order to kill seagulls we would need to breed a super-sized cat, more like a bobcat. I do not consider this controversial.

'sup with starlings?

starlings were imported into North America, where they have become an invasive species crowding out native species. they are considered to be a noisy nuisance at best. they don't belong here.

(I love that the 'controversial opinions' thread has devolved into 'which birds are the biggest assholes' thread, btw.)

Verging on the Trumpian there. (xp)

https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/25634_381783228609_3366304_n.jpg?oh=c46d44579e33420a707f7c7867ae1916&oe=5A814B73

murmuration of starlings is quite something to see.

gonna have to start flagging me some post in a minute

is it controversial to hate the canada goose and its prominence in suburban waterways? not at all

I bet ravens could be trained to kill seagulls.

that's how you get the movie The Birds, imo

The Birds should have featured owls, egrets, and herons. or it should have been called Some Basic Ass Birds

I'll never understand why Hitchcock abandoned that title.

i've been watching the animalapocalypse show Zoo about the chemically-induced mutation of the world's animals, and starring the indefatigable Billy Burke, and all i know is the body count better start getting higher or i'm not moving on to season 2.

actually, i guess the star is a guy who looks like coach taylor from friday night lights but i don't remember his name.

it's Bob Benson from Mad Men!

is it controversial to hate the canada goose and its prominence in suburban waterways? not at all

― mh, Tuesday, October 24, 2017 10:35 AM (twelve minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

our pride and joy! honk honk

ah, okay, i don't think i made it that far into mad men.

x-post

'egrets and herons' is rank tautology u oaf

it is important to single out egrets. i've no egrets.

ok i'm heron you

there is a prominent ilxor whose name i won't mention who has a pet starling.

Is it named Clarice?

a prominent ilxor has a pet egret named Ned Egret

Anyone with a heron named Mike?

At this point, anyone posting to this thread must have sundry egrets.

egrets, i've had a few, but then again

no raggretts

I'm just remembering a really weird starling factoid related to my native glasgow:

Glasgow, by the way, once had its starling display, an estimated two and a half million of them swooping through the gloaming above the City Chambers and the Central Station. But the council, in its wisdom, saw them off during the 1960s and 1970s, frightening them with loudspeakers, flashing lights and, memorably, a piper playing on Jamaica Bridge. Edwin Morgan, in 1968, wrote a poem about these efforts, in which he described the birds’ “sweet frenzied whistling” and asked: “I wonder if we really deserve starlings?”

A Glaswegian Guide to Startling Starlings.

U starling, pal?

starlings were imported into North America, where they have become an invasive species crowding out native species. they are considered to be a noisy nuisance at best. they don't belong here

In NYC the top three birds are the pigeon, the starling, and the house sparrow, all of which are imports. I wonder what would be our top bird if we had just left it up to nature.

Oi m8s

oi seaux as they say in france