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Mailable Live Animals

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Re: Mailable Live Animals

#81

Post by FooBarBizBazz »

hnbad wrote: post #27
shapefrog wrote: post #4

> Other small, harmless, cold–blooded animals Sounds like a bit like my ex wife.

I for one am glad that cultural acceptance for these jokes is fading, mostly because young people generally no longer find the sentiment relatable because they're no longer expected to marry the first person they want to sleep with.

I assume it was a mail-order bride joke? Shrug.

I can imagine what would drive someone to enter one of those relationships (from either side), but I can't imagine that you'd feel good about it (on either side).

It's bad enough dealing with Westerners who seem to be in it for the money.

As for our current cultural expectations, I think the idea is supposed to be that you play musical chairs until you hit your mid-to-late thirties, at which point you give up and marry whoever you happen to be with at the time, silently regretting the one that got away.

Better? I dunno. It does result in fewer children.

People would probably be happier if they married at 18 after their high school prom, and before anyone's fortunes were known.

Re: Mailable Live Animals

#84

Post by sneak »

np- wrote: post #77
Turing_Machine wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was an incident maybe 30 years ago where a medical school employee went into New York (I think it was) to pick up a batch of human heads to be used for teaching purposes. He left the box in his car while taking care of another errand, and it was stolen. The box was found sitting on the sidewalk a few blocks away, with the heads still in it. One can only imagine what went through the thief's mind when he opened…

Regardless of the thief, it does seem a little concerning that the chain of custody for actual human heads involves being left unattended in a random employee's car.

The world is not nearly as tightly controlled as one might think. Lots of stuff is just some normal person's job to not lose track of.

Body parts are only super custody tracked when they are still viable lifesaving tools (ie organ transplant). Besides that they aren't a huge deal.

Re: Mailable Live Animals

#85

Post by JulianMorrison »

vishbar wrote: post #74
btilly wrote: post #72

One important restriction on mailing is that you CANNOT mail fertile ants through USPS. Which means that all of those ant farms you see being sold to kids? You pay money, and get some sterile workers who are guaranteed to die pretty fast, leaving an unhappy kid. If you want a real ant farm, you need to either collect ants locally, or buy ants in person from someone who did themselves. And you'd better known the rules…

That is really interesting! I never had an ant farm, and I'm glad I didn't given what you've said. Are ants similar to bees in that there's one egg-laying "queen" that you have to gather, or can you just gather a collection of individuals from a colony? Your kid probably already knows about this, but have him check out the YouTuber AntsCanada. I'm not particularly into ants but I find his videos fascinating.

Ants have queens. Ants are a kind of flightless wasp, they have a lot of commonalities with the wasp/bee family.

Re: Mailable Live Animals

#86

Post by scrps »

pwner39 wrote: post #45
andai wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> On February 10, 2017, the Manitoba Criminal Code Review Board ordered Li be discharged. Li was granted an absolute discharge. There will be no legal obligations or restrictions pertaining to Li's independent living.

I understand that mens rea should generally be present in crimes in order for convictions but eight years for doing what he did is itself insane. Reading up on his background, I wonder if he just snapped and killed the guy out of anger for whatever reason and then started cannibalizing the corpse so that he could play the mental illness card at court.

If someone has an epileptic seizure or a diabetic goes into hypoglycemic shock whilst driving and gets into a head on collision and kills someone should they go to prison? They call it mental illness for a reason.

Re: Mailable Live Animals

#87

Post by btilly »

vishbar wrote: post #74
btilly wrote: post #72

One important restriction on mailing is that you CANNOT mail fertile ants through USPS. Which means that all of those ant farms you see being sold to kids? You pay money, and get some sterile workers who are guaranteed to die pretty fast, leaving an unhappy kid. If you want a real ant farm, you need to either collect ants locally, or buy ants in person from someone who did themselves. And you'd better known the rules…

That is really interesting! I never had an ant farm, and I'm glad I didn't given what you've said. Are ants similar to bees in that there's one egg-laying "queen" that you have to gather, or can you just gather a collection of individuals from a colony? Your kid probably already knows about this, but have him check out the YouTuber AntsCanada. I'm not particularly into ants but I find his videos fascinating.

My kid has been aware of AntsCanada for a long time, and has purchased lots of supplies from them.

Yes, most ants are similar to bees in that way. In fact ants and bees are very closely related. But a few kinds of ants (for example the invasive Argentine ants), can have multiple queens in a colony that cooperate with each other.

The reason for this rule is the ease with which ants become invasive species, and how much damage they can do.

Re: Mailable Live Animals

#88

Post by learc83 »

My stepdad does maintenance for the Post Office. He has some stories.

Someone shipped a small alligator once. It peed in the cardboard box it was in and it got wet enough for it to escape inside a sorting machine. Imagine his surprise when he opened up the machine to see what was causing the errors.

Re: Mailable Live Animals

#89

Post by TheAdamist »

reaperducer wrote: post #25

If you expand your definition of "mailing" things, all sorts of creatures can be sent. I once mailed a cat via Delta Airlines. Brought the kitty in a carrier to a special desk at the airport with the forms and certificates and a fist full of cash and a few hours later, he was in New York. I know that sharks and elephants and such can be shipped via FedEx, but I don't consider that "mailing" because the handlers stay…

There's an interesting British tv show "animal airport" that covers the 24/7 operation at Heathrow airport that deals with the animals coming through.

Lots of paperwork issues, but occasionally random zoo animals turn up on planes due to misdirected air cargo/shenanigans. As well as the scheduled exotics and tons of domestic animals to be quarantined.

Far less handlers than you'd expect for the exotics. Mostly just really sturdy crates.

Used to be available streaming.

Re: Mailable Live Animals

#90

Post by shapefrog »

javert wrote: post #68
reaperducer wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comment reveals your own cultural biases. Look inward before looking outward.

That seems more applicable to your comment than the one you're replying to. But maybe that's just my cultural biases speaking.

I think its your cultural biases as work, or is it mine? So hard to tell these days.
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