In other news... (with an update)

The past 24+ hours I've been struggling to take care of a very sick 9-year-old cat (Butterscotch), and I'm too tired and emotionally drained to write anything, much less anything smart, for automatic posting tomorrow morning. 

She's had a relapse of a problem she had a little over 3 years ago when we nearly lost her. She has a vet appointment for first thing in the morning. I'm trying to prepare my daughter for what may come.

UPDATE: Butters has a chronic kidney issue (which was the problem before). The vet put her on a few medications to get her over the crisis, and she already seems to feel a bit better. I caught the problem earlier this time so she wasn't as sick. Hard to believe, as sick as she was. I just have to stay vigilant and make sure she doesn't stop eating or drinking for even a day.
As an aside-- the vet looks like Molly Quinn from Castle.

For your favorite miscreants

 I'm offering Time's Up flags again for a while. In time for holiday gifts if you order early enough.

NPCs in action

The small local park is often the target of destructive people. Largely people from a specific demographic.

I don't want government taking people's money and using it for parks or park equipment, but I also think vandalism is one of the most stupid things supposed humans can do.

If you destroy something that "belongs" to government (but isn't otherwise violating anyone the way a police car, for example, does), you gained nothing. More money will be stolen to repair or replace it. Even if you imagine the taxes will be paid by someone else, you still end up paying through higher prices on everything you buy because someone is paying those taxes.

This table has been a recent focus of vandalism. The concrete pad under the table is inscribed with someone's initials and the year "1951", but for the past year, there has been a concerted effort by certain "people" to destroy the table. It has been repeatedly attacked.

Why? I don't get it.

Do these people imagine their life would somehow be better if they just tear down everything until nothing is left? Or are they counting on others to keep replacing what is destroyed with new stuff for them to destroy? What are they thinking?

Therein lies the answer and the problem.

The people who do things like this aren't actually thinking. They don't think of consequences or of the future beyond what they feel at this moment. They act on impulse. They are programmed-- by their empty culture-- to carry out certain actions and are powerless to resist. Thinking would get in the way, so it is avoided. If they are even capable of thinking. And perhaps they aren't. Maybe the capacity for independent thought was never part of their program. It sure looks as though that's the case.

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