what do i think about these dog talking button boards?

some of the dogs seem to be using it in ways that are very curious and convincing.

most of what i'm seeing, however, is something more along the lines of a dog pushing the button and waiting for attention. we think we're doing a study on the dog. but the dog seems to be doing a study on us. what does the human do if i press this button? how about this button? most of the time, the dog will push the button and wait for a reaction, which tells me it's the one doing the experiment on us.

however, i've also seen some videos where the dogs are really acting independently with clarity and decisiveness. the videos where the dog pushes the button and then takes an action are more convincing than the ones where the dog pushes the button and waits for a reaction. for example, i saw a video where a dog pressed "bedtime" and then got up and independently went to bed, without waiting for any reaction from the human. that dog was apparently putting itself to bed, like a little kid, because the human forgot to do it.

i don't have difficulty accepting the idea. dogs understand commands. that's unambiguous. dogs are also constantly struggling to communicate. so, whether specific dogs are able to get it or not is something i want to see the evidence for. i'm willing to believe it, if you can prove it to me.

right now, it's still ambiguous, and i'm skeptical that most dogs are able to really crack the code. based on what i've seen, only a select collection of dogs are going to be smart enough to really get it, some small percent, and the rest are just pushing your buttons to get you to react to them. further, how well a dog is trained (in general) is likely relevant in their ability to understand the buttons.

if i was going to actually get a pet, i'd get a retriever, not a rat.

guess what goldie would bring me?

but i don't want a dog.

i do think they're gone. the one i got this morning was the problematic mother fucker running around all over the place, i think. i'm sure there's at least one, probably two, and maybe more, dead ones under the upstairs sink, which i poisoned via the floor in my bathroom.

but i haven't clarified where they're getting in. i think it's the backyard. i need to get out there and find the hole and patch it.

the rats were only coming down here to drop food off and use it as a burrow, and maybe to cool down a little. they were living in the upstairs kitchen and the upstairs bathroom. the property owner should pay me for doing rodent control in the adjacent property, but i'll be happy if he refunds me for the insulation i bought and fixes the fucking hole in the bathroom.

i believe that the rodents have tracked fleas into the house. there are old carpets in the laundry.

i can wash the carpets again. i already did, but that's fine. let me make sure they're gone first, but this is why coexistence isn't possible. even if i could in theory teach the rat to shit in a box and only eat what i give it, it's still filthy in ways like this. as is well known, rat fleas are particularly damaging to human health as they carry devastatingly dangerous bacteria. on some level, it would be fitting if there was a plague outbreak in southern ontario in the drug-using population, who exist in close proximity, but i obviously don't want to be at the centre of it.

i would have to get the rat flea pills, waste time training it and waste money feeding it.

i don't want any of this.

i'd rather kill it. i mean, i'd rather chase it off than kill it, but i'd rather kill it than domesticate it. i have no interest in the responsibility.

i do have a sun room in this place and i will put some plants in it. let's see if i can handle that without not giving a fuck, first.

canada has been dealing with the catastrophic effects of overpopulation for too long, already.

in order to maintain the canadian social services model, the population should be reduced to under 35 million, with an ideal point around 33 million.

the rat whimpered when i hit it with a broom. it's not like squishing an ant. but it's a filthy shit machine and it had to either leave or it had to die.

we don't have to choose narratives. rats are both intelligent mammals, and filthy vermin. both things are true.

unfortunately.

i truly hope that i don't have to do that again.

i would hope the arab countries realize the need to be more aggressive with iran, and retaliate by launching a ground invasion to hold at least part of the country.

this is good for everybody, except maybe syria. but you have to go through syria on your way from lebanon to iraq.

i'm not exactly trying to minimize the issue. it's a lot of displaced people. but the fact is that these are mostly syrians.

lebanon has sheltered an absurd number of syrian and palestinian refugees, and it looks good on the generosity of the lebanese people, but lebanon cannot absorb them. they cannot stay there.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/119000-syrians-said-to-have-returned-from-lebanon-during-israel-hezbollah-conflict/

i had to kill a rat this morning. unfortunately. 

i did everything i could to chase them out and i think most of them left. that was probably the last one, or at least the last one down here. 

i had glue traps around the water heater that were intended as a barrier, but it got stuck in one. i haven't taken a good look yet (i want to wait for the area to dry), but it looks like it got it's tail stuck in one glue trap, freaked out and then fell right into a second one, trying to escape the first. it was laying right down in the trap. 

i heard something scratching around near the door and thought something was trying to get in, but i opened the door and saw it lying right in the glue trap.

so, i could have let it die a slow death and potentially get eaten alive. instead, i broke it's back with a broom and, when i realized that didn't kill it, smashed it's head in with a hammer.

that killed it. 

so, it was sentenced to death on one count of being a rat.

i didn't want to have to do that and i hope i don't have to do it again but the rat came back. the very next day. the rat came back. see, i thought it was a goner, but the rat came back.

let this be a lesson to all you other rats around here.

but i think the rest of them are dead or gone. there's a few in the wall, i think, i'll have to open it up to get them out soon enough.

there's not much that canada can or should do in iran. canada doesn't have the technology, and to the extent that soldiers are required, the americans should expect the gulf countries themselves to provide them.

but i've been clear that canada should be sending trainers to lebanon to help assist in building an anti-terrorist force that can succeed in wiping out hezbollah. that's something we have expertise in and should be actively doing.

no more canadian soldiers in europe.

we're not your colony, any more.

and we will fight for our independence if our out of touch and clueless political class forces us to.

all that europe has ever given canada is exploitation and war. it's not a good deal for us to sign up as cannon fodder for wars that don't affect us, and most canadians do and will grasp that when reminded of it.

there are a very large number of canadians that, while insisting on maintaining political autonomy, will certainly choose the united states over europe, every time, in every way.

canadians don't want to join the eu. at all.

let europe take note that our current prime minister has personal ties to europe that are uncharacteristic of the vast majority of canadians, and that they should not expect his personal interest in europe as an individual to outlast his tenure in government, which will likely be brief.

the next canadian government will most certainly be more washington-facing, and that shift will be seen as a course correction that should be very long term and very drastic.

canada's involvement in ukraine has been a disaster and a mistake and we should be trying to get out and will be trying to get out sooner than later.

i want to repeat that: the american occupation of germany must not end anytime soon.

but eastern europe should be completely cut off from us military aid.

eastern europe is of no strategic value to the united states whatsoever and not a single penny or a single drop of blood should be expended on it.

let the russians spend the next 50 years reconquering it, if they insist. this is of no interest to the united states, and of no interest to canada.

i certainly hope that the americans, at least, stop sending money to fight an unjust and immoral war in ukraine, after this.

why should the united states continue to position missile defense systems in the baltics, for example?

the us should maintain a large occupation force in germany, and otherwise begin to withdraw from europe.

the president wants to eliminate income taxes and replace them with tariff revenues. it's a tax shift from income to consumption - highly regressive and broadly economically stupid according to most economists, but massively beneficial to the ultra-rich.

for that reason, these kinds of discussions will not be on the table. donald trump does not care about bringing back manufacturing jobs, he cares about reducing income taxes.

it is extremely unlikely that this policy will outlast donald trump. we will need to have this discussion when trump is gone, which will be soon, but which is not now.

it's consequently not clear what the purpose of mr polievre's announcement is, other than to try to confuse union voters with false promises and illusory policies.

these discussions will be necessary...with the next administration. right now, canada has to wait, and should probably avoid renegotiating nafta altogether, until a new administration comes in. this administration is not interested in trade or in jobs, it's interested in replacing income taxes with import taxes.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/windsor/article/unifor-reacts-to-conservative-auto-plan/

you know, it would be really useful if canada had a state owned gas company right now, like it used to.

it's a shame what happened with that.

it was predictable that the ndp would swing hard to the right. 

we'll see hows voters react to that.

i don't expect that this strategy will work in alberta, and may just alienate ndp voters.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/edmonton/alberta-legislature/article/albertas-smith-says-she-took-private-flight-on-behalf-of-saudi-government/