Letters to the Editor
Serai1
Published Letters: 534 Editor's Choice: 33
-
Two things
[Read the article: How photos support your own "reality"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]First of all, Farhad, it would be easier to accept your voice as a "sober voice of reason" if you didn't throw around words like "million" and "billion" so much. Sloppy, sloppy. Less hyperbole would suit your case better.
Second, if there are people who doubt the official explanation of the vents of September 11, 2001, it's because of the fact that over the last couple of decades, both the government of the U.S and the broadcast media have lost the trust of so many people in this country. They lie, spin and twist the truth constantly to fit their ends, so why should anybody believe them anymore? Hardly surprising that in the wake of Bush's dive to use the events of that awful day to further his own ends (to the extent of brushing aside any idea of actually punishing the guy who was responsible), a lot of people simply don't believe that it happened the way the government says it did.
Me, I wasn't there. I've no particular reason to disbelieve the events as described by most people. But then again, knowing how rapacious and ugly are the people running the country at the moment, I wouldn't be at all surprised if it ever did come out that they had a hand in it. And that's got nothing to do with my ability to parse reality - it's got to do with Bush and Cheney being such self-serving, evil scum. If the White House crew want people to believe them, maybe they should think about telling the truth now and then. It might help.
-
@raymundohpl
[Read the article: This Modern World]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You do realize no-one's going to read that, don't you?
-
All different
[Read the article: The cat whisperer]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]My cat, who I got as a six-month-old, used to bite. I never put up with it, not for a second. Whenever she did it, I would yell NO, grab her by the scruff of the neck and give her a few light, open-handed slaps on top of the head. She learned not to do it, alright. Now on the rare occasions when she's annoyed enough, she'll grab my hand very lightly with her teeth, and then run away. Oddly enough, this has not made her neurotic or anything else of the kind. She's the same curious, energetic, affectionate cat. She just doesn't bite anymore.
A couple of other techniques I've used: She used to meow VERY LOUDLY whenever she expected her meals. So I started reacting to her VERY LOUD meows by petting and rubbing her whenever she meowed. Feeding took about 15 minutes for a couple of days, as I would stop every movement at each meow in order to pet her. But it worked, because of course petting is not what she was after. Took about three days, but she finally realized that in order to get fed as quickly as possible, she had to ask politely. Now she meows in a reasonable tone of voice, and stands quietly by her dish while I'm getting her food.
Also, for minor misbehaviors, i.e. things that aren't nasty but that I don't want her to do, I blow air in her face. She hates that. Gets what I can only call an incredibly insulted look on her face, and stops what she was doing. For things like grabbing, jumping up on furniture, etc., never underestimate the value of simple annoyance. Find something that just irks your cat (as opposed to hurts), and it'll work wonders. Cats really hate to lose their dignity; it's a personality flaw you can exploit with great success.