6/3     Are you a dog/cat/no-pet person and why?
        \_ Cat person. Dogs smell. Pets make my life better.
           \_ People smell too.  That's why they need to be bathed.
              \_ Dogs smell like dog. You can't wash that away.
                 \_ People smell like people.  If your dogs smell you're not
                    taking care of them.
                    \_ My dog smells like Tide and Fabreze _at_all_times_.
                       \_ Don't feed your dog Tide.
                    \_ I don't mind the smell of people. I do mind the
                       smell of dog. Therefore, I don't have a dog. I have
                       never met a dog that didn't smell like dog, even
                       dogs that appear to be well cared for.
                       \_ You don't mind the smell of people?  You went to
                          Berkeley?  Walked along Berkeley streets?  Wow.  All
                          I can say is "Wow" and "so don't get a dog".
                          \_ I don't mind the smell of people who wash
                             themselves. I don't intend to bathe my dog
                             every day. I'm sure most dog owners don't,
                             even though they bathe themselves every day.
        \_ No Pets, allergic to them. Wish I could have a dog, but just can't.
        \_ If I pick up its poop, it should support me in my old age.
           \_ I'm with you.  You clean up after a pet for 15 years, then it
              dies.  At least a child has the possiblity of becoming something
              useful.
              \_ Or a huge drain as it becomes a crack addict and pregnant
                 for the third time at 17 and you become the active parent
                 for another generation while she's in prison for a few years.
                 \_ If they're over 18, you never HAVE to take care of them.
                    \_ You don't have to take care of your crack addict kid
                       once they're 18 and in prison but what about your
                       crack baby grand kids?
           \_ Get it a manager and put it in the movies and it'll support you
              now.
        \_ I've had cats but prefer dogs because as pack animals they're
           naturally inclined to adopt you as their pack mate and be your
           buddy than cats.  Some cats will hang out and like people, but
           plenty of cats are just living mobile objects.
        \_ My personal feeling about dogs vs. cats vs. lizards:
           Reward dog(HumanWork w) {return (Reward) w / CONSTANT}
           Reward cat(HumanWork w) {return (Reward) w / (CONSTANT*CONSTANT)}
           Reward lizards(HumanWork w) {return 0}
           Reward cockroach(HumanWork w) {return -w}
           \_ Hopefully your constant is > 1.  And has no units.
           \_ Well what is this reward? Display of affection, interaction?
              Even a fish can display some "reward"... for example fish
              can learn that you are the bringer of food and they kind of
              get excited and swim around when you go to feed them.
              So arguably that is a nonzero reward. And some of these
              creatures just plain look cool and are fun to watch or
              impress guests with, and may have a lower minimum HumanWork
              value than more complex animals to be healthy. Thus the
              Reward:HumanWork ratio could still be favorable. I find
              cats require much less work than dogs.
              \_ It is a personal thing.  Cats do require less work but most
                 cats return less than most dogs.  YMMV.
                 \_ Value is a partial order. -- ilyas
           \_ Thanks, that was funny.