Was all said tongue in cheek. I was taking the piss because they were being hyperbolic. Appreciate you.

Right, so you’ve seen that, have you? Watched some gullible sap throw cans of food at the cat until one sticks? Perhaps if it’s a newly adopted pet, then yes, you have to put in some work to find the kind of food that the cat prefers. Research has proven that kittens actually build a preference for the food that their mother ate during gestation and nursing, and it takes deliberate care on the owner’s part to move them over to a different kind of food.

I once had a golden retriever inhale half a pound of salami, vomit it across the linoleum ten minutes later, and then like some greasy ouroboros of shame, it ate the same spewed-salami again. Twice. It’s like comparing apples and oranges, except I bet my dog would have eaten those, too.

And then there’s the cat, not having any of it. Doesn’t fetch, doesn’t beg, doesn’t need humans’ approval; which I bet drives certain people mad that it’s primary motivation in life isn’t to be their own personal dopamine dispenser.

Sarcasm aside, I do get where you’re coming from. Cats and dogs aren’t variations of the same theme; dogs are social, cats are solitary. Some people understand that and don’t expect their pets to be anything more than what they are. Me? I like both cats and dogs. I don’t expect them to be little humans or to stroke my ego. I’m their caretaker, not their cult leader. If they’re happy, safe, and healthy, that’s the win. Anything beyond that is a bonus.

I’ll take “Hyperbolic & Catastrophic Exaggerations” for $400, Alex.
I’m pretty sure you’re reply is tongue-in-cheek, but that did get me thinking how long it would take to actually destroy the Moon by mining.

Let’s say we used mass drivers to launch 1000kg of material from the Moon to the Earth every second, non stop, until the Moon was completely dismantled. The moon has a mass somewhere around 7.35×10²² kilograms. Dividing the Moon’s mass by the rate of removal, we get Time=7.35×10¹⁹seconds. Divide that by 35,536,000 seconds in a year, and it would take us about 2.33 trillion years to dismantle the moon.

Considering how the Earth only has, maybe, a billion years until the Sun’s natural life cycle makes life on Earth impossible, I’d wager that we’re good. Drill baby, drill.

Copper cables are easier to reuse or sell as scrap due to the intrinsic value of the metal value and simple structure. Fiber optic cables are harder to reuse because they require precise handling, expensive connectors, and special training and equipment to splice together properly. Unless thieves steal pre-terminated fiber and handle it with extreme care or take entire spools with a buyer ready, fiber is essentially worthless to them since it can’t be melted down and reused like copper.

The purpose of prison ought to be reconciliation and rehabilitation, not revenge or forced contrition. Many prisoners do feel remorse for their crimes, but unfortunately recidivism is so high (in America) because our socioeconomic and judicial systems are tooled to undermine a parolee’s attempts to reintegrate into society, setting them up for failure.

Only in extreme circumstances, i.e. truly sociopathic criminals, should sentences that remove all hope of reintegration or release be issued. True sociopaths are incapable of feeling remorse, no matter how long or under whatever conditions they are kept. They do understand the weight and impact their crimes had on their victims, but they do not care. No amount of coercion will change that. In these fringe cases, I’d argue that giving them the choice between lifelong sequestration or self-inflicted suicide is ostensibly the best solution for everyone.