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SardonicTyrant posted:That said, skunks only spray if they feel threatened. Otherwise they're pretty friendly animals. Some people even adopt them as pets. I knew someone as a kid with a pet skunk and it was very friendly. They're very cat-like in disposition, and as you noted only spray if they're terrified. The main obstacles to seeing skunks as pets more commonly, really, is that they haven't been studied very thoroughly as pets when it comes to medical and nutrition issues, and vets experienced at removing the scent glands are pretty rare.
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# ? Sep 17, 2020 12:43 |
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# ? Apr 29, 2024 06:43 |
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When discussing skunks, I like to bring up what a Jesuit from 1630 thought of it:quote:The other is a low animal, about the size of a little dog or cat. I mention it here, not on account of its excellence, but to make of it a symbol of sin. I have seen three or four of them. It has black fur, quite beautiful and shining; and has upon its back two perfectly white stripes, which join near the neck and tail, making an oval which adds greatly to their grace. The tail is bushy and well furnished with hair, like the tail of a Fox; it carries it curled back like that of a Squirrel. It is more white than black; and, at the first glance, you would say, especially when it walks, that it ought to be called Jupiter's little dog. But it is so stinking, and casts so foul an odor, that it is unworthy of being called the dog of Pluto. No sewer ever smelled so bad. I would not have believed it if I had not smelled it myself. Your heart almost fails you when you approach the animal; two have been killed in our court, and several days afterward there was such a dreadful odor throughout our house that we could not endure it. I believe the sin smelled by Saint Catherine de Sienne must have had the same vile odor.
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# ? Sep 17, 2020 14:05 |
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Cythereal posted:I knew someone as a kid with a pet skunk and it was very friendly. They're very cat-like in disposition, and as you noted only spray if they're terrified. You know, I know a pet some people have that's cat-like in disposition and doesn't spray a nauseating spray at someone when they're frightened.
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# ? Sep 18, 2020 01:31 |
Epicurius posted:You know, I know a pet some people have that's cat-like in disposition and doesn't spray a nauseating spray at someone when they're frightened. sounds like a dumb pet get a dog
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# ? Sep 18, 2020 01:44 |
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Piell posted:You've got it wrong, Cassie lies to her mom that NIN stands for Nice is Neat so that she can get the CD You guys are both kind of right, IIRC: Cassie lied to her mom that it stood for Nice Is Neat, and she regrets it because her mom is giving a nature talk at the school and she's terrified that her mom will try to sound cool by dropping references to kids' favorite bands, like Nice Is Neat. Literally no idea how that little tiidbit's stuck with me for more than 20 years.
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# ? Sep 18, 2020 01:45 |
It was Marco's idea now I think about it
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# ? Sep 18, 2020 01:48 |
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The Secret-Chapter 23quote:They ran. The human-Controllers, the Hork-Bajir, and Visser Three. They ran from the horror of my skunk smell. A bad boss doesn't value his subordinates' talents and experience. quote:<The smell would go away in about seven Earth days … if you were in the open air,> Ax said calmly. <In a spacecraft? Airtight, closed up, cramped? You’ll never lose the smell. Ever. However … thanks to Andalite chemical technology there is a way to remove the stench. Let the human Farrand go free. He’s unconscious and hasn’t seen what you are. Let him go, we’ll give you the secret of neutralizing the stench, and we all walk away.> So, unfortunately, the tomato juice thing doesn't really do anything against skunk smell. It just basically covers it up. The Secret-Chapter 24 quote:The Yeerks drove Farrand to the hospital. Once we knew he was safe, Ax told Visser Three how a certain kind of juice would help get rid of the skunk smell. So we end (almost) on a philosophical debate quote:I saw a shadow flash overhead. I looked up and saw Tobias. He dropped down into the trees and reappeared on a branch just up the trail. And that's The Secret. Not the best book, but it had its moments.
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# ? Sep 18, 2020 01:52 |
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Bobulus posted:When discussing skunks, I like to bring up what a Jesuit from 1630 thought of it: This is tremendous
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# ? Sep 18, 2020 02:22 |
I may have missed it, but I could have sworn that there was a bit where Cassie falls asleep cuddling her skunks and Jake loses his poo poo at her because she almost got stuck in morph. Maybe that's in a later book. Also, haters be damned, this is a tremendous line. quote:<This has not been a good day for me,> Visser Three said. <Would you really like to feel as bad as I do?>
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# ? Sep 18, 2020 02:31 |
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I also adore Ax's final burn.
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# ? Sep 18, 2020 02:47 |
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I really enjoyed the one, though the ending is a tad pat. I find Cassie’s philosophical moralizing and questioning to be genuinely interesting as someone who spent too much of their high school days arguing about that stuff with my friends. It also seems like something Applegate is authentically passionate about and it lends her authorial voice some credibility when writing from Cassie’s perspective.
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# ? Sep 18, 2020 02:58 |
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quote:<This has not been a good day for me,> Visser Three said.
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# ? Sep 18, 2020 03:05 |
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Cassie is very much an author insert, I think. So is Marco, for Michael Grant.
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# ? Sep 18, 2020 03:05 |
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Spent pretty much my whole day off burning through this thread, it fuckin' rules. Animorphs was probably one of my favorite series when I was a kid, and I have very distinct memories of checking out the first two books that were on display in my school library when I was in 1st or 2nd grade. Loved those books. Also, to go back two pages: freebooter posted:This does raise the amusing point of location. "I can't tell you where I live... except it's the United States, on the coast, with mountains and forest in close proximity..." So in the United States, there are a variety of what we call "Land Management Agencies." These are all government agencies that manage lands owned by the federal government, and include the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, US Forest Service, US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Army Corps of Engineers, and a few others. Each of these agencies have different purposes, and will manage lands in different ways—for instance, the National Park Service manages areas designated as National Parks, Monuments, Battlefields, Historic Sites, Seashores, Recreational Areas... stuff like that. The NPS mission is to preserve these sites for current and future generations, so generally speaking there's not going to be much in the way of logging or resource extraction (Though there are some historic exceptions—there was an active uranium mine on the rim of Grand Canyon until 1968, for instance), and large tracts of land are managed as pure "Wilderness"—a legal definition which effectively means nothing can be built there, and no vehicles are allowed. National Forests, meanwhile, are operated by the US Forest Service, under the Department of Agriculture. Though these areas are under federal protection, these protections are less robust, and development, such as logging, can occur. But any development is going to take years of permitting processes and (likely) legal battles to go through, so realistically the Yeerks would have a hell of a time getting permission to clear-cut any significant portion of the forest before they flat-out took over the earth anyway. (Also, as an extremely pedantic point that stems from when I was going through Book 3 this morning, all the rangers would be Forest Rangers, not Park Rangers. They wish they had our flat hats).
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# ? Sep 18, 2020 07:05 |
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The ending really hurts this book for me. The grape juice thing is a sudden turn into sitcom-y Hijinks-with-the-Visser, "freeze-frame on everyone laughing, roll credits," and it's always annoyed me.Comrade Blyatlov posted:I may have missed it, but I could have sworn that there was a bit where Cassie falls asleep cuddling her skunks and Jake loses his poo poo at her because she almost got stuck in morph. Maybe that's in a later book. No, you're right, it looks like we missed a chapter? Epicurius posted:Cassie is very much an author insert, I think. This is true. (warning: reddit)
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# ? Sep 18, 2020 12:03 |
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disaster pastor posted:No, you're right, it looks like we missed a chapter? You're right. I did leave out a chapter. I'm sorry about that. Here's the extra secret, bonus (forgot it the first time), Chapter 16, before the rest of the agree to help her take care of the skunk kits. quote:I used my osprey morph and flew behind Tobias as he led me directly to the spot I had seen the night before. I carried the frozen grasshopper in my talons. I didn’t ask Tobias any questions, and he didn’t say anything.
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# ? Sep 18, 2020 13:56 |
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Animorphs Book 10: The Android, Chapter 1quote:My name is Marco. You're going to hear a lot about Marco's hair in this book. If you check the cover, you'll see they got a new model for Marco. The old model had long hair, but this kid had short hair. So, Marco got a haircut. And the book won't shut up about it quote:Anyway, where was I? Oh, yes. I was telling you that my name is Marco. I can’t tell you my last name. I forgot it. Yet another synopsis of the series. quote:My way-too-serious best friend Jake. So we're going to the most mid 90s concert there is! Chapter 2 quote:There are a couple of big problems with morphing. First of all, there’s the two-hour time limit. If you stay in morph for more than two hours, you stay forever. I like Dog Marco's overwhelming joy here. quote:I scrabbled away at top speed, my nails clicking on the concrete, my floppy ears flying, my tail held high and wagging. Of course there is. It's impossible for any of the Animorphs to just have a good time without uncovering something.
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# ? Sep 18, 2020 23:59 |
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This is a Good Book.Epicurius posted:You're going to hear a lot about Marco's hair in this book. If you check the cover, you'll see they got a new model for Marco. The old model had long hair, but this kid had short hair. So, Marco got a haircut. And the book won't shut up about it I thought it was the same model, who just got a haircut on his own?
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# ? Sep 19, 2020 01:28 |
Should have gone german shepherd Marco
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# ? Sep 19, 2020 02:20 |
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disaster pastor posted:This is a Good Book. From the wiki "This book features Marco with a new, shorter hair style. This is because editor Tonya Alicia Martin called K.A. Applegate and said, "We have this really cute Marco model, but he has short hair." So Applegate agreed to give Marco a trim and had fun having the other characters tease him about it throughout this book. Marco continued to keep his hair short throughout the rest of the series."
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# ? Sep 19, 2020 02:50 |
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This book is one of my favorites. It's one of the ones I reread most often as a kid.
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# ? Sep 19, 2020 03:09 |
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The long digression on the dog mind and their natural state of happiness is doing some fun foreshadowing.
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# ? Sep 19, 2020 14:26 |
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This book, like all Marco books, is an absolute classic. And I want to post the inside cover except it's spoilers. But I think we're already up to that specific spoiler? Also, re: haircut, what was the general cultural consensus on long/short hair on men in the mid 90s? Because being in COVID lockdown since March means I'm getting real shaggy for the first time in years, but I definitely remember long hair being acceptable or even encouraged when I was graduating high school circa 2005, when I had shoulder length hair and so did all my friends. And I'm rewatching Lost and Desmond can definitely get it. But I don't think long hair on men has been remotely popular in the last decade.
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# ? Sep 19, 2020 14:59 |
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Piell posted:From the wiki Ah, my mistake.
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# ? Sep 19, 2020 15:10 |
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freebooter posted:This book, like all Marco books, is an absolute classic. And I want to post the inside cover except it's spoilers. But I think we're already up to that specific spoiler? I'm the same age as you and I remember it being an uncommon fashion choice, especially among young teens. I grew my hair long in high school because I was inspired by the ponytailed author photo of Terry Goodkind (big oof) and maybe only a handful of other guys had the same cut. But then I grew up in a very conservative rural area. If you had long hair the assumption was you were probably "soft" in some way, or maybe just super confident but kind of self-absorbed. I could picture a middle school Marco pulling off long hair but never Jake. Tobias maybe, but in a different way. For him it would be part of what marks him as an outcast rather than something to flaunt. About this book in particular...I don't have the love for it that others do. I think it was one of the last ones I read as a kid, and the Pemalites didn't entice me to stay. These books already ask the reader to accept some far-out premises but I guess that one was just too far.
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# ? Sep 19, 2020 16:00 |
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freebooter posted:This book, like all Marco books, is an absolute classic. And I want to post the inside cover except it's spoilers. But I think we're already up to that specific spoiler? I've known some dudes with longer hair who can pull it off, but it depends on the style and the dude themselves. I definitely used to keep my hair longer when I was in middle school and high school, though since college it's become... somewhat less viable. (drat genetics)
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# ? Sep 19, 2020 16:18 |
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Ny apologies, but I'm probably got posting chapters tonight. I'm I'll with a fever and don't have the energy.
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# ? Sep 20, 2020 00:55 |
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Epicurius posted:Ny apologies, but I'm probably got posting chapters tonight. I'm I'll with a fever and don't have the energy. Hope you feel better soon! You deserve the day off.
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# ? Sep 20, 2020 01:53 |
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Sounds like the kind of excuse a yeerk would make. Off to get your kandrona fill, are you?
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# ? Sep 20, 2020 02:12 |
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Quick, let's spy on them using a bird morph. Now if only there were some kind of... i don't know... upwelling of warm air we could use to fly high? Oh well.
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# ? Sep 20, 2020 02:23 |
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We'll have to get small to track them, just in case. I bet THIS insect morph won't go horribly wrong!
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# ? Sep 20, 2020 02:29 |
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Bacteria have DNA, right? Let's morph that, we'll be invisible!
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# ? Sep 20, 2020 03:23 |
I'll morph my dog and
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# ? Sep 20, 2020 03:35 |
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HisMajestyBOB posted:Bacteria have DNA, right? Let's morph that, we'll be invisible! Animorphs #387: The Prion
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# ? Sep 20, 2020 06:08 |
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Acebuckeye13 posted:We'll have to get small to track them, just in case. I bet THIS insect morph won't go horribly wrong! Hey, the cockroach morph didn't lead to ego death. One out of four ain't bad.
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# ? Sep 20, 2020 08:59 |
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I went to recommend the series to a friend and found that Richard's Animorphs Forum no longer hosts the ebooks after some extra publicity caught Scholastic's eye. So hold on to your copies, be they digital or physical. (This is not a recommendation to share . In fact it is a recommendation of where not to share .)
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# ? Sep 21, 2020 06:00 |
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GodFish posted:Hey, the cockroach morph didn't lead to ego death. One out of four ain't bad. Neither did the fly.
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# ? Sep 21, 2020 06:47 |
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freebooter posted:This book, like all Marco books, is an absolute classic. And I want to post the inside cover except it's spoilers. But I think we're already up to that specific spoiler? Yeah, it totally was normal then. I even had my hair long for a while. Back in the 90s from what I remember it seemed like more of a weird choice.
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# ? Sep 21, 2020 08:07 |
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Looking forward to the rest of this book given how good people are saying it is. The first Ax book was genuinely really good, largely due to how well Ax is written as a character.freebooter posted:This book, like all Marco books, is an absolute classic. And I want to post the inside cover except it's spoilers. But I think we're already up to that specific spoiler? I graduated high school in 2004 and had pretty long (shoulder-length) hair until ~2002/2003. I don't remember it being a popular style, but it also wasn't looked at negatively. I actually forget the exact style most common among guys in the early 00's; I remember in the 90s there was a thing with gelled up hair, and then sometime after graduating HS long bangs became a thing (with boys/men, that is).
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# ? Sep 21, 2020 08:19 |
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# ? Apr 29, 2024 06:43 |
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So, are we going to find out what's wrong with Erek? Yes, probably, but not for the next few days because I'm in the hospital with a leg infection. Sorry about that
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# ? Sep 21, 2020 14:09 |