On Being on Top of the Food Chain

So Tuesday I mentioned an incident where some enterprising individual thought he would stand his ground with a bison and lost.  I stated the following:

When armed however we are far superior to those other predators.  It’s tools that make the difference and for that reason your position on the top of the food chain is considered negotiable to mother nature.

I have also previously talked about how we are self demoting ourselves and our position on the food chain.  Well the situation isn’t getting any better.  Actually it’s going down hill fast and it appears it is showing no signs of stopping.

Like several other neighborhoods in West Seattle, the Seola Beach area is sandwiched between ravines and greenbelts, so it’s not surprising that coyotes live there. But in the last few weeks the animals have been showing up more and more, and residents say the coyotes are taking an aggressive stand.

The solution to this problem isn’t to kill the varmints.  No that would be bad.  The answer is to live trap them and relocate them.  Which is funny when you see the following shortly there after.

And the neighbors aren’t just worried about their own safety, either. Many believe the coyotes are killing off pets.

"Neighbors have talked about losing cats and dogs," said Kristi Coluccio. "Good dinner for coyotes, too."

The situation actually is bad enough that parents are fearing for their children and keeping them inside.  If you’re that fearful, why don’t you deal with the problem permanently.  Relocating the animals is only temporary.  Even then the animals no longer fear humans.  They have no reason to.

The animals are acting aggressively towards humans because they do not appear to be a threat, and actually appear to be walking 180lbs meat popsicles with much smaller juicier varieties that haven’t aged as much.  When their buddies bob and frank don’t eat dirt after being around humans they don’t associate humans as being dangerous.

For a long time wild animals avoid humans because by god if we saw them, we killed them.  Animals learned, and rightfully so, who the top predator was.  We have shoved our predatory status to the side though, and now many are acting surprised that wild life are learning there is no longer a need to fear humans.

Why should Wiley E. Coyote fear humans when a bunch of hippies have run to the state whining about how animals should be protected.  How humans shouldn’t be allowed to hunt them.  How the animals just want to live in peace and are not a threat to humans.

Yeah listen up there sparky and shut your patchouli eating ass up for a second and listen to me.  Any wild animal if given the chance would kill you, doubly so if it is any type of predator.  It is our tools and our history that causes animals to give us wide berth.  You’re meddling with the system has lowered our status on the totem pole and has opened up innocent people to animal attack.  Not only attack though but disease and pestilence carried by the animals is now left to spread unchecked.

Don’t come crying to me as this gets worse, and it will.  Mice are already problems in DC, and what’s that, you can’t kill the mice?  Mice that can carry bubonic plague and other diseases.

Do I like animals? Yes. 

Do I kill animals for the “thrill of the kill”? No.

I kill them for many reasons ranging from food, to pest control, to effective conservation.  Conservation? I hear you ask.  Yes conservation since over population actually weakens a herd as a whole limiting available resources limiting the overall health of the animals.

Besides, none of you tree hugging hippies can say a damn thing to me.  You know why?  Because while I try to act ethically and put an animal out of it’s pain and suffering, you tree huggers made sure I spent an extra 45 minutes waiting to get the O.K. from the state.  Why?  Because you were delusional about the condition of the deer and what needed to be done.  Yeah, who really cares about the animals again?  Not to mention hunters spend way more on conservation than you tree huggers.

My suggestion to the residents, get some of these and start shooting the damn things.

h/t Ry via email.

Semi + Pedestrian Overpass = Broken Trailer

Buddy of mine got pictures of this incident described by the Moscow Pullman Daily News.

The southbound lanes of Stadium Way in Pullman are closed until 10 p.m. so crews can clean up the wreckage from a tractor-trailer that collided with a Washington State University pedestrian overpass this afternoon.

So how bad could it have been.  Ripped the top of the trailer?  Nope even better actually!

 

In case you don’t see it that well, here’s a better picture.
That’s right folks, the spine of the trailer is no longer straight.  I have a feeling that the truck was probably in the wrong lane for maximum clearance for the trailer as the walkways arch through campus.

Then again for the most part I never see semi trucks drive that section of stadium way, they take the truck route that avoids the overpasses.

Wild Animals are Wild!

Seriously folks, nature is not a Disney movie like some would have you believe.  Wild animals are exactly that, wild, and you need to keep your distance or be prepared to suffer the consequences.

Officials in Yellowstone National Park say a Massachusetts man was gored by a bull bison that threw him 10 feet in the air and then pinned him to the ground.

The man, who is in his mid-50s, suffered a broken collarbone, shoulder blade, several ribs and a groin injury in Saturday’s encounter near the Norris campground. He was airlifted to an Idaho Falls, Idaho hospital and is expected to recover. His name was not released.

So the man didn’t taunt the animal which is a plus, but he let the bull approach and then refused to move away.  Eventually the Bison got tired of said moron being in his territory.  Being a larger animal than this puny human, unsurprisingly the Bison won.

For those who think somehow being on the “top” of the food chain makes you magically superior, let me enlighten you.  We are not on top because of some pure fanciful magic*.  Humans are on top because we figured out how to make tools.  We figured out how to manipulate the environment to our advantage.  It was our intellect that placed us at the top of the food chain.

Given that it was our intellect, not our brute strength, you better bring a tool with you if you decide that you’re going to challenge another creäture within the chain.  Without the tools we are but a walking bipedal warm Popsicle for things that have claws and brute strength.  Most predators could kill us without as much of a batting of the eyes if we are unarmed.  When armed however we are far superior to those other predators.  It’s tools that make the difference and for that reason your position on the top of the food chain is considered negotiable to mother nature.

This man is very lucky, he decided that he was going to try to stare down an animal larger than himself.  Why he chose to do that we may never know.  It was obviously a very poor idea, doubly so since he didn’t bring any tools for the fight.  What the hell did he think was going to happen?  The Bison would just shrug it off, seriously what the hell is up with you city slicker folks?  This is almost as bad as the woman who tried to pet the moose.

*The F in PFM doesn’t actually stand for fanciful, but I’m sure you can figure it out.

SSCC #353 – ATF

Rochester police and federal agents made a mistake in Charlotte this week that has one woman baffled and frightened. She wants to know how they could mistake her house for one they were supposed to raid in a drug bust.

Simple really, they don’t hire the best and brightest.  Tyrannical bureaucrats don’t want enforcers who can think, much less read and tell the difference between the address on the warrant and the house they just arrived at.

How close was this almost a fatal screw up for the ATF as well as the home owner?

“My son had heard me arguing with this man and it was not a voice he’d recognize. My son is a hunter, he put a bullet in the chamber of his gun. They heard that, they yelled down long gun, at that point there he told another ATF agent that was with me, handcuff her and take her out,” Dominicos said.

However the real take away is the following:

“I’m still terrified. It’s almost like a P.T.S.D. experience, you keep hearing things. You think oh my God I hear a door slam, I hear someone pulling into my driveway. I see a light it’s like oh my God are they back?”

That’s the point.  Law enforcement and the government want us to live in fear.  Their actions exercise the very definition of the word terrorism.    The best part of the story though is the discrepancy between the home owners story, which is considerably more believable, and the statement released by police.

“Upon encountering an elderly resident, the team realized that they were at the wrong location at that time and left the premises.”

No you did not, you put her in cuffs and took her outside until someone bothered to read the house number and street name and noticed it didn’t match the warrant.

Considering this can happen to anyone, anytime, and quite easily can have dire consequences, why is this considered acceptable?  Especially since unsurprisingly the bad guys pretend to be cops.  At this point it’s better to just let the bullets file and sort it out afterwards.  Maybe if cops would knock first and be civil about it this wouldn’t be a problem.  If you think the screw ups are rare:


View Original Map and Database

Don’t give me the line about how serving a warrant is dangerous because the majority of warrants served are for non-violent offenses.  When the criminal is actually dangerous, they negotiate him to come out to reduce collateral damage.  There is the argument about the destruction of evidence, well if we weren’t serving warrants over victimless crimes involving nouns that wouldn’t be a problem now would it?

Even better though, with the consistently increasing use of SWAT teams in unnecessary circumstances, the number of people caught in the middle who are innocent continues to increase.  You can not use the service more and expect it to also become more accurate about it’s use, if anything it will become less accurate.

No knocks, like the TSA, need to be done away with.  They have both grown since September 11th and it’s eroding and destroying the last semblances of freedom and liberty.  The police state is here and we need to put an end to it.

State Sponsored Criminals 353: The ATF

Because it’s not the job of the swat team to read the warrant or make sure they’re at the right house.  If there’s collateral damage, the law-abiding citizen should have just behaved, he had no reason to defend himself.

via Uncle.

The Streisand Effect Strikes Again…

If you’re unaware of the Streisand Effect, please educate yourself before reading further.

This isn’t a full blown drama llama, but we’ll call it a baby drama llama*.

Drama Llama Baby

So for those unaware, some idiot lawyer went and demanded money from The Oatmeal because The Oatmeal pointed out in a blog post that his client was stealing copyrighted material.  The Oatmeal replied in classic Oatmeal fashion.  You can also read a legal synopsis and prediction from the opening shots here.

Then FunkyJunk’s lawyer, a supposed whiz with things related the internet acted surprised at the response.  Charles Carreon then continued to flap his wings faster and with such ferocity that a hummingbird would not know how to keep up.  Though as of last Friday I figured the weekend would swallow him whole and that would be the end of his 15 minutes of fame caused by his stupidity.

I was wrong.  It appears that attempting to shutdown a collection for two non-profits wasn’t enough.  He now intents to force them to waste funds in frivolous litigation.  There’s a term to describe individuals who do things such as that, I believe it begins with a D and ends with a K.

Seriously, in what world where you commit numerous public relation disasters at the beginning is it a good idea to file lawsuits against two non-profits?  It is not a non-profits job to filter who and who does not raise funds on their behalf.  If I say I’m raising money for Soldiers’ Angels, that is me telling you where I’m sending the funds, that is not an endorsement by the non-profit.

So Charles Carreon feels it’s a good idea to sue the American Cancer Society and the National Wildlife Federation and then wonders why the internet has reacted the way it has.  Well, he’s wondering because he’s a clueless moron that wouldn’t know how the internet actually worked if all it was is two cups with a string in-between.

If Mr. Carreon feels that people are dehumanizing him, maybe it’s because those people don’t feel he’s actually human.  I think he’s a giant troll who bullies people and organizations with frivolous litigation without thought for the effect it will have on his fellow man.  His only thoughts are focused on how he can get people to stop pointing out how he’s an idiot.

If he hadn’t done anything this whole incident would have faded into obscurity but instead he doubled down on stupid.  Heck even after the response from the The Oatmeal just shutting up would have worked in his favor in allowing it to quickly blow over.

So in closing, Charles Carreon, you sir are a giant STD encrusted dick.  You’re actions and frivolous threats at the beginning were bad enough.  Now though you have proved your dickishness to the world by attacking two charities, one who’s sole goal is to the betterment and health of your fellow man.  Yeah, you’re not human, you’re a big fat dick.  Thank you for playing.

No I will not take this down because legally this is acceptable under the first amendment much to your dismay and displeasure.  I have provided facts and evidence to support my position, you and your legal threats amount to you throwing a tantrum like a 4 year old in a supermarket.  Grow up and act your age you spoiled rotten brat.  Besides the way to make stuff like this not happen to you is actually quite simple.  Don’t be a dick!

*I got pictures of llamas over the weekend and I need to use them so they get into the wild.  Winking smile

Quote Of The Day – Tam (06/18/2012)

I toyed with the idea of setting up a bogus profile as a 22-year-old named Tiffani-with-an-“i” myself, but figured that I’d run afoul of the Department of Natural Resources for hunting over bait.

Tam findavictim.com
June 18th, 2012


[I have mixed feelings about Foursquare and for the most part still haven’t figured out the purpose.  I will say it was nice when Ry and Joe came over for testing since it let me know Ry had arrived in town.  Just the same that’s a bit creepy.

I have disabled geo-tagging on the pictures on my phone and have otherwise disabled the location tracking in any application I do use.  I don’t let Facebook or Twitter tell people where I am when I push a status update.  It is amazing though the amount of information people will push out into public and then act surprised when then figure out bad people can do bad things with it.

Ars Technica wrote up two articles which I highly recommend reading.  The first was hardening your Android smart phone from stalkers.  The second was the same but geared towards you folks with your iPhones.

I have had many conversations with an individual directly tied to the Windows Phone 7 location system.  Bad people doing bad things was of serious concern during development.  However standing out in the open while willingly telling your phone, “Yes, tell everyone on the internet exactly where I am right now” kind of defeats their work.

Be safe out there and remember the following:  Anything that goes on the internet is ultimately public, especially those things tied to social media.

All that said, I have at times thought the same thing as Tam.  Hell when there was a supposed serial rapist on campus I was coming up with ingenious ways to go hunting while not getting caught.  I think that was probably a trait inherited from my father, I distinctly remember hearing about him wanting to drive around Tacoma during a rash of car jackings.  Maybe if law enforcement would actually catch criminals people wouldn’t think about catching the predators on their own.

Then again, with the attitude that everyone is responsible for crime prevention that could be encouraged.  It is merely the job of professional law enforcement to solve crimes after they have happened.  Ultimately I don’t have a problem with hunting two legged varmints over bait and find it perfectly fair and ethical.  They can remain unharmed quite simply by not trying to victimize someone.  -B]

You all Thought I was Kidding Didn’t You?

You probably thought my whole Good and Bad post on the soda ban was an over exaggerated joke right?  Well I wasn’t laughing that much as I did the images and rightfully so it appears.

One member, Bruce Vladeck, thinks limiting the sizes for movie theater popcorn should be considered.

“The popcorn isn’t a whole lot better than the soda,” Vladeck said.

Another board member thinks milk drinks should fall under the size limits.

Seriously?  Milk is bad!?  While I’m not one to wish violence upon anyone.  If you happen to see any of these individuals and you happen to land an egg on them, their vehicle, or other wise audibly and visually display your displeasure of their being tyrants, you will get my standing ovation.

Seriously, what has broken in American society so badly that people think they have a right to tell anyone else what they can and cannot eat.  What the !@#$ is wrong with you asshat’s in New York.  Evidently 46% of you love your tyrant overlords.  If you don’t want it, don’t order it or eat it.  You do not need the force of the state to do this, and you have no right to force your will upon others.  Period!

My suggestion to those in New York, either stop it now or kiss your freedom good bye.  You’re already not really American any more, if they can tell you what you can’t eat, next they will be telling you who you can and cannot date, how many children you can have, they will control your life.  That is their goal.  I understand that our side of this issue does everything to restrain themselves and avoid the cartridge box, but this overbearing control does beg the question, when should we shoot back?

Bloomberg* disarmed all his slaves constituents and has provided such a maze of firearms laws one must be anointed to have one.  Other than voting the tyrant out of office what other actions can be taken?  Even if you vote him out, how do you undo the damage.  Even more than that though, if you do nothing, the tyrants know they can get away with this type of behavior.

*From now on I’m referring as Bloomberg as Fat Fuck George, because him and that asshole of a tyrant that was the King of England in the late 18th century would have gotten along quite well.  And well I feel no need to hide or obscure the truth.

On that Soda Ban…

So Phil over at RNS stumbled across and laid out a bunch of petty tyrants talking about how great the soda ban is.  I sparked the beginning of what became the reclassification of the term “New York Reload”.

Now supposedly this ban doesn’t affect places that sell things like grocery’s and convince stores unless they fall under the purview of the “health department”.  I.E. this mainly affects fountain drinks.  I don’t care, and the whole thing is absurd, especially when in light of the following: Continue reading