h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

*And now that he has recovered a little from his fall, he speaks...*

And on the other hand, I have an older sister that seemed okay when she was younger, but is turning out to be a bit of a jerk as she gets older.

On the Saturnine and aka thing - do you guys support what they did, or just support them? I haven't followed that situation for a while, but if they are STILL being harangued over it, then that is too much, and they deserve support. I stopped watching, because what kept coming to mind were the words "tempest" and "teapot".

However, I don't agree with what they did. It's a fine line between legitimate whistle-blowing and self-righteous tattling, but what they did falls firmly in the tattling category. Yes, what the digiboxers were doing was wrong, but it was relatively harmless. So it didn't warrant the tattling. Think of this parallel situation: you discover that your neighbour is receiving cable TV for free, since the cable company forgot to turn it off when the last people moved away. You know it is wrong, but do you go and phone the cable company and tell them? I wouldn't - it's up to the neighbour to decide themselves whether they want to be scrupulously honest or not. It's none of my business.

And, I suppose, what the digiboxers were doing wasn't necessarily wrong anyway. They were simply exploiting something that telewest inadvertently provided, but provided nevertheless. It's like discovering that the new GPS computer you had installed in your car, also, through some design flaw, allows your car to fly. Of course, you're going to now fly everywhere instead of drive. Would that be wrong?

Anyway, since you were already discussing it, I just wanted to see whether you guys actually agree with their actions.

Hi BBW, nasty graze you have there

I suppose I'm pretty neutral about the whole Digiboxer thing and I can see both sides of the argument. I am somewhat passionate about what I see to be the vilification and demonisation of aka and Saturnine following the "event" and as a consequence feel a need to support them. Are you familiar with Voltaire's view on free speech ?

I'm also concerned for our pal sea which also motivated me to enter the fray as well.

Welcome to the thread!

I agree with you. I have no opinion on the 'rightness' of their actions, but I support *Them* as my friends, as well as their right to continue to have harassment-free livelihoods here on h2g2. I think they did what they thought they should, and who can blame them for that? I am against the flaming and proposed "Ignore Saturnine and aka" action, and that is why I am in support of them. It's like that old adage, "I may not agree with what you say, but I'll fight to the death for your right to say it..."

I ought to have added about your Neighbour analogy that you might feel inclined to behave differently if your neighbour played loud music into the small hours, kept a dog who barked all the time, whose yard was a mess, whose kids ran riot, etc, etc. I mention it because actions always have to have context and it is that context which is important. I was very swayed by Gnomon's change of position on the matter and he has gone into their motivations in great detail with them.

"I may not agree ......" that's Voltaire that is

Good point about the neighbours, Red Dog. It still rubs me the wrong way, though.

And I couldn't agree more about their right to peace. The did what they did, people have had their say, now leave it be.

Precisely.

And RD, very good point about the neighbors! I'd bust them in a heartbeat, but that's mostly because of my career aspirations. It wouldn't look good for me if it came out that I knew my neighbors had illegal cable and did nothing about it. Alas... all of my actions have career consequences...

.....We won't mention the fact that I own illegal animals. I'm still trying to justify that one to myself... *sigh*

What, are warthogs illegal?

They very well might be without a proper license. Not to mention that resdential areas probably aren't zoned for warthogs.

Good thing they're in disguise, then.

(Are ferrets really illegal? Why is that?)

They are indeed. The CA Dept of Fish & Game classifies them as "wild animals" because of the threat of ferrets escaping from their homes and building feral colonies, which would then threaten our booming poultry industry.

Never mind the fact that they could elect to allow only ferrets who are farm-raised/home-bred and fixed prior to entry into CA, thereby eliminating both arguments by 1) fixing the colony problem and 2) only allowing ferrets who have never had to kill another animal in their lives. My friend natalie tried to give her ferret a mouse to eat (she read a book that said a "natural" diet was best... malarkey in my humble opinion) and the ferret was AFRAID OF THE MOUSE. Yes, this is a fierce animal that will prey on chickens. Chickens are b*****ds! They don't go down easy, and ferrets aren't really all that big. They stay smaller if you fix them prior to sexual maturity. Ours certainly couldn't take down a full-grown chicken with a beak and huge claws. Chickens are vicious! Not to mention that CALIFORNIA IS A BLOODY DESERT!

Feral colonies my tush!

There is a bill going through our Senate as I type, trying to get amnesty for the 1 million ferrets that live in CA illegaly. Incidentally, this is supposedly the highest ferret population in any US state. They sell everything for them in pet stores, and we've brought ours to the store many times.

The only other state in which they are illegal is Hawaii, and that's because it's an island with a fragile ecosystem. It's more understandable.

Sorry. Bit of a rant, there.

Wow! Vicious chickens with beaks and huge claws! *trembles*

We need a campaign to "Ban Chickens, Not Ferrets"

Sounds like the ban was ill conceived. Surely places where ferrets are indiginous have poultry farms too. Is predation by ferrets a big problem there? The way chickens are raised these days, I doubt it.

Perhaps the ban came about in order to reduce the possibility of feral warthog colonies springing up.

I think not!

There hasn't been evidence of any feral ferret colonies in California ever. The only feral ferret in existence in Arizona is on the endangered species list. I'm not sure of the numbers in other areas, but I doubt the poor critters stand a chance on their own...

The ban sounds ridiculous to me as well, but the poultry industry has a lot of $$$$$$ to give to the politicians to scratch their backs. Why they're against ferrets, I really can't imagine. Old biases die hard. *shrug*

And you *SHOULD* tremble! Chickens are evil. My fiance was attacked by a rooster once; they have spurs on their legs for fighting. He still has scars... but so did the rooster. The fiance and his stepfather caught the rooster and sawed off his spurs.

Don't they strap on spurs for cockfights? I hadn't realized that they already have their own spurs. That would explain how they know how to use the strapped-on ones.

Good thing it's not the roosters that sit on the eggs.

~enigmatically~

Heh heh heh

I've been baaaaad

~nervously~

You have?

*nervous too, hides behind BBW*

What did you do now?!

I think you found out ...... did you like the "Imelda" line

For the UMPTEENTH TIME, I am NOT A LUMBERJACK FROM MONTANA!