[Vision2020] Practicality in the Midst of Moral Philosophy...

[Don Kaag]

Visionaries:

O.K., now all of the droning on relativist morality, the philosophy of 
deities and digital whatsyoumacallits is making my head hurt.

For a change of pace, does anyone else have a bird feeder?  I have a 
bird feeder on my deck, which I can see while sitting at my dining room 
table.  I think I may have solved the pernicious squirrel problem.

My wife, normally a sweet and gentle woman, has been driven to 
distraction by the local tribe of squirrels, who continually climb up 
to the feeder and either eat the sunflower seeds or scatter them 
heedlessly hither and yon, and the birds go hungry.  She tried oiling 
the pole... the squirrels climbed it easily, and seemed to enjoy the 
taste of the olive oil, and when my wife added cayenne pepper, 
developed a taste for Mexican food.  She bought a Super-Soaker and 
waited in ambush for the critters... they came to view it as their 
daily shower, and continued their depredations.  She got a bowl of 
gravel from the driveway and kept it next to the deck door, to throw at 
them.  They simply dodged the rocks.  Yelling at them elicited only 
alert, and possibly amused, looks from the little thieves.

Finally, a long-time friend who now lives in San Diego suggested the 
only thing that has actually worked.  The pole from which the feeder 
hangs is black wrought iron with a hook at the top.  I went out and 
bought a cheap Slinky toy at a toy store and slipped it over the hook, 
and down the pole.  The squirrels can't climb it!  Huzza!  It actually 
works!

As for the rest of the debate, I have a paperback copy of Bertrand 
Russell's "Theory of the External Universe" around here somewhere...

Regards,

Don Kaag