Sunday, December 21, 2008

End of 2008 Deep Ponderments: Homeless dogs, multi-wife violence, and foreign flags



Expect to see a few random thoughts as I clear out the brain and my notebook for 2009. Some I may bundle together, but I think most will deem their own post.

First a question:

Why are dogs the pets of choice for the homeless? Why don't homeless people wander the country with cats, lizards, turtles, or fish? Where do homeless people get these dogs? Does the humane society let homeless people have dogs? Or are there that many stray dogs out there that strays and the homeless make a natural match, like peanut butter and chocolate?

Now another question:

Is the rate of spousal abuse lower in polygamist households? Could that be an advantage to polygamy, that perhaps one wife can talk the husband out of assaulting another wife? I would think that if there was someone to diffuse the situation or even come to the physical defense of the assaulted, there would be less violence. Unless of course there is wife-on-wife violence, or one wife convinces the husband to assault another wife, or perhaps the husband assaults all his wives.

A third question:

What is the proper method of disposing of non-U.S. flags in the United States? There is rules and protocol for the destruction of an American flag, but what about flags of other nations? Does the American Legion or VFW take foreign flags? Do these organizations know flag destruction protocol for all 200+ nations? Are there any countries that require the owner to mail the flag to the U.S. embassy in that respective country? What about countries that don't have a U.S. embassy, such as Iran? This is why I don't own any foreign flags.

(About the image: way back in April, someone in Seattle was shooting darts at pigeons. I thought the picture was interesting in a Steve Martin-wild-and-crazy-guy sort of way.)