Has Madagascar closed their borders? It's not a pandemic until then.

And it's not just dogs. There is ample evidence that dogs, cats, and several other animals have us humans well trained in their care. Some could even argue that it is the dogs who domesticated us as much as we have them.

Now if you will excuse me, the Master and Mistress of the house have determined that it it time for a lap and attention.

It's interesting that the "C grade means lazy" argument is trotted out so often in these types of discussions without any consideration for what inputs went into getting that grade. As an example, here are a few factors that might have played into that result for a bright student:

* Boredom with the presentation of the materials
* Having to work for the family (or otherwise) after school so that they cannot keep up with the (usually high) level of homework per class
* Realizing that getting straight "A" grades makes them a target for bullying and ostracism
* Difficulty with the presentation of the material (for one example, see the common complaints of Common Core)
* Over or under treated ADHD or similar conditions
* Parents who do not support and encourage scholastic achievement (for example the athletics are everything parents mentioned elsewhere)

These are just a few of the factors that go into the grade the student receives as their overall GPA. Curves, weighting of classes, non-grade (pass/fail) classes, and many other things can lead to a "C" GPA without indicating anything about the student's personal ability to focus and learn.

There are, from my observation, two kinds of people who call themselves lawyers; there are those who believe in rule of law and understand that laws are meant to benefit the people and there are those who view the law as a tool for profit. From your postings, I am under the impression that you are one of the former. If so, then I congratulate you for maintaining ethics in a field where they are frequently counterproductive.

The social problem is the same as many industries. A few high profile practitioners draw the majority of the public attention and thus are viewed as the exemplars of the industry as a whole. The average person builds their understanding of what you do based on those exemplars and the wildly inaccurate portrayals of the media. By doing so, they never get to see the real workings of what you do. In many cases, they do not have any desire to learn the truth, and would prefer to just stand comfortably in their beliefs.

From that perspective, lawyers spend all of their time in front of a judge and/or jury, arguing whatever will best benefit their client, in as dramatic a manner possible, with little regard for truth and law. Programmers sit in front of computers eating chips and drinking sodas and miraculously code up a complete application in hours (or minutes if it is a crime drama). Juries are all composed or rational, well dressed middle class Americans. The reality is that your profession, like many others, consists of up to eighty percent knowledge and routine work with only a few or no media friendly, exciting moments. Most judges would throw a lawyer who acted like those on television and in movies out of the court and move for them to be disbarred.

So having said all of that, I for one would like to thank you and the other hard working, honest lawyers for the good things you do on a daily basis. Thanks to you, mortgages are completed properly, disputes between neighbors can be settled without a court (or violence), contracts are detailed and accurate, and day to day business continues.

Any two distinct positions on a circle are mirror opposites along an axis passing perpendicularly to the chord defined by those points.

Wonderful, your world can keep going. Please contact my alternate (as indicated by my OOO reply) and they will make sure your world maintains its vital impetus. If it's not worth contacting them, then it's not that important at all, and you can reach out to me when I get back.

Of course, that selection bias could also be read as those who are willing to pay to avoid something unpleasant have less patience than those who are not. Or that those who have a lower tolerance for pain are also less likely to value quiet and solitude - e.g. they are more likely to be extroverted - than those who have a higher tolerance. The data is clear: based on the chosen subset of the male population, there is a correlation between the subset and the dislike of and/or inability to endure solitude. That is pretty much all it does clearly indicate. It is not generalizable to the population as a whole, nor even to the subset of the population as a whole.

True, she could be a shaman - although we call them priest or scientist now depending on whether they are studying theology or *ics.

Your social security number is known by every billing, credit, and banking company you deal with. There is no secrecy over it, every call center employee and up has access to it.

Your purchase history is known by every company you regularly purchase from (unless you always use unmarked cash). It is also known by your bank, and others those companies share it with.

Marriages are public record. Arrests are public record unless sealed by a judge.

You have to ask yourself "did he fire five shots, or six?" The real question is, do you feel lucky, punk? Well, do ya?

It's Russian roulette with patents.

So just a counterpoint of logic:

Hypothesis: A increasing leads to B increasing.
Measured: A increases, B does not.
Revised hypothesis: A therefore does not lead to B increasing, since there is a negative correlation.
Reality: A increasing leads to B increasing, C increasing leads to B decreasing. During the measured period, A increases and C increases. If the effect of C increasing exceeds the effect of A increasing, then B decreases.
Result: By not measuring or accounting for C, the measured results appear to be a negative correlation between A and B.

The difficulty in a scenario like gun control is in the elimination of outside influences in the study. Unless all of the influences are accounted for, then negative correlation can mean that there is no causal relationship, or it can mean that the causal relationship is being overwhelmed by some other factor. The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

UPS drivers have assigned routes that they drive, so barring vacation and sick time any given address is serviced by the same driver every day. Knowing which truck is similarly easy, since all that would be needed is to track the first few stops to get the truck number - and if required, the driver of the day's name. Knowing the day is a function of UPS' own tracking systems, it will tell you when a package is out for delivery.

So here is a theoretical setup:

1) Identify the route of the target - the company who ordered the part
2) Order a delivery scheduled for the same day to a company earlier in the route
3) Watch the second company, identify the truck number and driver
4) Run a background on the driver to find out family, friends, brand of toilet paper
5) Meet driver en route and perform the stop as above

Hey Tom! I haven't seen you in... oh, sorry, I thought you were someone else.

What about a non technological approach? I know that dogs can read even the smallest human gesture - we have coevolved them to do so for millenia - and that there are assist dogs available for a wide range of debilitating conditions that prevent normal communication. http://pawsitivesolutions.org/what-is-a-service-dog/

It's possible that having an animal that is completely focused on doing it's best to understand her may be a positive thing - at the very least helping her feel less trapped. And unlike dealing with humans, the animal doesn't get upset when it misinterprets her, it just tries harder.

If possible, you can also reach out to any of the organizations that bring comfort animals into hospitals. While she may not be able to respond, these animals (usually dogs) don't ask anything and just give attention and comfort. Since everything is input right now, the more positive the input the more likely it is to provide some help.