Stupid Questions: The Triumphant Return

[Kalbear]

Here, feather and ball bearing being dropped in a vacuum. 

[Astromech]

I wouldn't necessarily call them stupid questions, but Clarence Oveur always had oddly pertinent questions.

[Theda Baratheon]

 

I'm just gonna leave this here...:P

[Theda Baratheon]

4 hours ago, zelticgar said:

Two part question -

I was wondering if I might be considered an awful human being if I bought an anti barking device to use on my neighbors dogs. They bark at me constantly when I am in my backyard and the owners keep them out there all day. The neighbors are batshit crazy so going over there to speak when them nicely is not an option. I must approach this in a stealthy way.

Regardless of the morality of my dog torture plan - does anyone know if these high frequency anti dog bark thingys they sell on Amazon work? Some are in the $70 to $80 range.

 

 

 

WTf is an anti bark device are you going to hurt the dog

[Gears of the Beast]

3 hours ago, Theda ~Spoiler~ said:

WTf is an anti bark device are you going to hurt the dog

I'm guessing it's a machine that detects dog barking and then blasts a horrible noise at a frequency that dogs can hear but humans can't. If they weren't extremely unpleasant for the dog then they wouldn't work because they're just trying to traumatise the dog until it doesn't want to bark anymore - like shock collars. 

[HexMachina]

8 hours ago, zelticgar said:

Two part question -

I was wondering if I might be considered an awful human being if I bought an anti barking device to use on my neighbors dogs. They bark at me constantly when I am in my backyard and the owners keep them out there all day. The neighbors are batshit crazy so going over there to speak when them nicely is not an option. I must approach this in a stealthy way.

Regardless of the morality of my dog torture plan - does anyone know if these high frequency anti dog bark thingys they sell on Amazon work? Some are in the $70 to $80 range.

Yes you are. It's in a dogs nature to bark. Get over it

[Dr. Pepper]

I have to say I sympathize with the dog barking problem.  Yes, dogs bark, but it's also an awful terrible noise when it's constant.  Sometimes it can even be worse than bass (gods I hate bass).  I wish there were an anti bass device, but I'd probably get arrested if I take bats to every sound system that comes near me.  

For the dog barking problem, since you refuse to do the normal, sensible thing and speak with the neighbors, perhaps do some treat work with the dogs before you try to jump into the torture device.  Teach them you're good people.  Teach them through the fence to be quiet when you're around and reward them with yummy treats for it.  There is still a danger to this because you don't know what the dogs can and can't have, but something very natural (pieces of carrots, sweet potato, peanut butter, boiled chicken, or natural treats) would be the best route.  Prepare to have your neighbors be outraged if they find out you've been feeding their dogs without them knowing, but hey, you refuse to speak to them anyway so who cares, right?

[James Arryn]

Speaking of fucking stupid questions:

 

https://streamable.com/7386

[Arkhangel]

10 hours ago, zelticgar said:

Two part question -

I was wondering if I might be considered an awful human being if I bought an anti barking device to use on my neighbors dogs.

YES. The rest of your question is irrelevant because dude, that would be a really shitty thing to do.

My stupid question: my washing machine has spontaneously stopped working properly. The last time I used it, on Thursday, it was fine. It's an Ariston combined washer-dryer, and the dryer part seems to still be working fine (I hand-washed my laundry and put it on to dry, seems to be working) but the actual wash cycle now refuses to run. I don't think it's a problem with the water, I know what that looks/sounds like from times when I've forgotten to turn on the tap and this is completely different. Like, the actual settings knob on the front FEELS different when you turn it, it's not clicking like it usually does, and then when I try to manually set it using the buttons it just beeps at me and refuses to do anything.

Any thoughts?

[Datepalm]

I sympasize with the dog issue as well - I had neighbours who kept uncared for dogs (some kind of nasty breeding scheme, I think) in the yard right under my window when I was a teenager, and they barked all the time, including all night, often enough. They were very aggressive, scary and not particularly approachable by anyone (the yard was closed off.) They neighbours didn't appear to care about the noise they were causing or about the dog's behaviour. They never walked them or interacted with them that I noticed. I felt terrible for the dogs, really, but I also couldn't sleep for months on end. It led, seriously, to anxiety and meltdowns and impacts on school and the like It got to the point where I even tried calling city hall and the police to get some kind of intervention going, but obviously nothing happened. It only ended when we moved. I don't know that  a torture device is the thing, but I understand the need for some kind of intervention.

[HexMachina]

1 hour ago, Datepalm said:

I sympasize with the dog issue as well - I had neighbours who kept uncared for dogs (some kind of nasty breeding scheme, I think) in the yard right under my window when I was a teenager, and they barked all the time, including all night, often enough. They were very aggressive, scary and not particularly approachable by anyone (the yard was closed off.) They neighbours didn't appear to care about the noise they were causing or about the dog's behaviour. They never walked them or interacted with them that I noticed. I felt terrible for the dogs, really, but I also couldn't sleep for months on end. It led, seriously, to anxiety and meltdowns and impacts on school and the like It got to the point where I even tried calling city hall and the police to get some kind of intervention going, but obviously nothing happened. It only ended when we moved. I don't know that  a torture device is the thing, but I understand the need for some kind of intervention.

That's fine, I sympathise with the annoyance. But rather than taking it out on the dogs, zelticgar should either take it up with the neighbours, or report that the dogs are not being cared for properly. Instead of jumping straight to those awful anti-bark collars

[Theda Baratheon]

Yeah you're a terrible person tbh 

Dogs shouldnt have the anger concentrated on them but instead the owners. I dont care if theyre scummy either talk to them or try to befriend the dogs in a way before you go all freakin medieval 

[Rippounet]

1 hour ago, HelenaExMachina said:

That's fine, I sympathise with the annoyance. But rather than taking it out on the dogs, zelticgar should either take it up with the neighbours, or report that the dogs are not being cared for properly. Instead of jumping straight to those awful anti-bark collars

There are always neighbors who'll never listen, especially if they're the type who don't train their dogs in the first place. And while a report to city hall should be attempted, it's reasonable to expect it to not work (I've seldom seen authorities give a s**t about that kind of problem, especially if it's not at night).
Bottom line is, it's quite understandable to think about the next move. And since the anti-barking device is not actually harmful to the dogs, I don't see why thinking about it would make zelticgar an awful human being. It's in a dog's nature to bark, but if you're not the one who got the dog, there's no reason why you should suffer any amount of inconvenience because of it. If I were constantly barked at in my own backyard, I'd want to do something about it too. I think using an anti-barking device is a brilliant idea and I'll keep that in the back of my head in case my current neighbors' dog starts barking too much... Thanks for the hint, zelticgar!

[Theda Baratheon]

just another example of human beings not really having any sort of respect for the lives of other animals. 

[all swedes are racist]

I'd like to recommend some great devices for this sort of thing

[polishgenius]

If I understand it correctly, an anti-bark device is really just a way to train the dog - it barks too much, it gets an unpleasant consequence. That's pretty much how you train a dog to not do anything - bite, shit wherever it wants, dig up the roses. It's a bit impersonal and seems like it should be a tool of last resort if it's your dog, but if your neighbour's dog won't shut up, I can think of worse ways to deal with the problem.


Mind you, I don't know about these thingymajigs, but at least some anti-cat 'ultrasonic' devices give me a headache, so I wouldn't be too confident that these dog ones are inaudible to all humans anyway.

[Iskaral Pust]

Irresponsible pet owners are a blight on humanity, especially as they increasingly use their pets as surrogates for children and indulgence further quashes any notion of social responsibility.  

My stupid question: do people tip uber drivers?

[all swedes are racist]

1 hour ago, Iskaral Pust said:

Irresponsible pet owners are a blight on humanity, especially as they increasingly use their pets as surrogates for children and indulgence further quashes any notion of social responsibility.  

My stupid question: do people tip uber drivers?

Yes, and I think it's rank bullshit that the app doesn't allow for a gratuity

[Ramsay B.]

What about tips for take-out? The places where you order online or by phone and they bring the food out to your car. I usually tip like $3 and I have no idea if anyone else tips more or at all.

[Arkhangel]

21 hours ago, Rippounet said:

There are always neighbors who'll never listen, especially if they're the type who don't train their dogs in the first place. And while a report to city hall should be attempted, it's reasonable to expect it to not work (I've seldom seen authorities give a s**t about that kind of problem, especially if it's not at night).
Bottom line is, it's quite understandable to think about the next move. And since the anti-barking device is not actually harmful to the dogs, I don't see why thinking about it would make zelticgar an awful human being. It's in a dog's nature to bark, but if you're not the one who got the dog, there's no reason why you should suffer any amount of inconvenience because of it. If I were constantly barked at in my own backyard, I'd want to do something about it too. I think using an anti-barking device is a brilliant idea and I'll keep that in the back of my head in case my current neighbors' dog starts barking too much... Thanks for the hint, zelticgar!

I'd submit that a key part of being a not-terrible person is not intentionally distressing animals who are most likely already very stressed (which is why they're barking so much) even if it does cause some minor inconvenience to yourself.

Even if that argument doesn't count for much with you, though, here's another one: if the problem is the neighbours' actions causing (via their dogs) an intrusive level of noise, and that's seen as being unacceptable, what gives zelticgar the right to do the same? What about the other dogs, and cats, and birds, and wild animals, and people with sensitive hearing within earshot? On top of that, these devices are also notorious for going off when dogs are not barking* (they're basically triggered by any loud noise) which means that the dogs and everything and everyone else that can hear it is just punished at random. It's a selfish thing to do, whatever way you cut it.

* and I'd suspect that's especially the case if you buy the cheapest one you can find off Amazon like zelticgar is planning.