Here’s an interesting little thing that caught my attention. Apparently Hawaiian legislature has just introduced a bill that would ban all pit bulls from the state of Hawaii. If passed, anyone owning or in possession of a pit bull would be guilty of a misdemeanor.
Now personally, I don’t like pit bulls at all. It has nothing to do with their supposed disposition, I just think they’re ugly. But all that aside, I have some real problems with this kind of law. “Breed-specific” laws are completely unfounded in my opinion. You can’t single out one breed for it’s temperament (I can understand “wild” breeds, but not domesticated). But this bill isn’t necessarily breed-specific. Apparently the great representatives of the people of Hawaii have failed to realize there are more than 20 breeds of dog that are classified as “Pit Bull”. Not only that, but what about pit mixes? At what percentage of “Pit Bull” is a dog considered to be illegal to own? It’s a very broad and poorly-written bill.
My other issue is this: what makes a pit bull more dangerous than any other breed of dog? People have this misconception that Pit Bulls are mean, aggressive dogs. The truth is that these breeds are more reliable and friendly than most breeds out there today. In fact, in temperament tests conducted by the ATTS, pit bulls pass at a rate of about 86%. For comparison, a standard collie tests in at just over 79% out of over 800 dogs tested and only 81% of all dogs ever tested pass the temperament test. A pit bull that is well socialized and taken proper care of is just as safe and reliable as a golden retriever, and this is based on statistical data.
Anyway, I just wanted to cast my opinion that this kind of legislature is stupid. What do you think? For some more information:
Update: You can track the progress of the Bill by clicking here.
, I’ve been working on this whole “fish business” thing. That fish business started out in the planning phases as an aquarium service-only business but has now shifted focus into aquarium sales and service with an emphasis on fish sales. You see, I’ve gotten into breeding clownfish just recently, and not only is it fascinating to me, but very profitable if done correctly. These little guys fetch around $10 each from the local fish stores, and I have about 120 full-size clowns in my possession right now. 
So why the shift in focus? Well mainly because I want to still be flexible enough to move around if need be. Fish breeding has a unique advantage over a service company in that I can still sell fish to anyone in the country no matter where I live, although the shipping costs can be a bit outrageous. To my knowledge, no one in this area is actively breeding fish for stores. We’ll see how it goes, and I’ll keep everyone updated.
The other day I finally gave into the nagging of my WP Automatic Upgrade plugin and upgraded to version 2.7. I thought this would be just another minor fix, but to my dismay…the whole thing is different! After loggin in again I really didn’t know where anything was. No worries though, I have it all figured out now and the new dashboard is actually pretty smooth. I’ll reserve final judgement though, because I still miss my old dashboard 
. Oh well, here’s to embracing progress!
Entries (RSS)