Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Problems and solutions
I have figured out a solution to a problem that I encouter everytime I walk Milo. Such a solution has secondary effects, which are positive and negative. Whether I provide the solution to the problem, or I let the solution be a random occurance, there is a negative and a positive secondary effect. The positive effect of the random occurance solution is the abscence of the negative effect when I provide the solution.
It is common knowledge that NYC is not the cleanest city in the world, by any means. When it's "trash day", people, I'm assuming mostly homeless, go through the trash and collect whatever can be exchanged for money at recycling centers. They leave a bigger mess after they go through the trash and the streets become "food heaven" for Milo.
If Milo has a tennis ball in his mouth, he walks very proudly and does not care about the trash. So if I don't want him to eat all that trash... gross!, all I have to do is give him a tennis ball and both of us will be very happy.
The positive secondary effect of this solution is that because his mouth is full, he won't bark and disturb the building where we live, therefore nobody will complain about the noise and we can ensure a roof over our heads. The negative effect, if I give him the balls, is that he might lose some of those balls on the street and we will run out of them eventually.
Another way for Milo to get a ball for his walks is to find them on the street. It's not uncommon to see them, but it's still a random occurance. The positive effect will be, besides the no barking effect, that he will not lose his own tennis balls. The negative effect is that I will have to make him leave the tennis balls outside before we enter our apartment or deal with a very nasty ugly dirty ball in my apartment.
It is common knowledge that NYC is not the cleanest city in the world, by any means. When it's "trash day", people, I'm assuming mostly homeless, go through the trash and collect whatever can be exchanged for money at recycling centers. They leave a bigger mess after they go through the trash and the streets become "food heaven" for Milo.
If Milo has a tennis ball in his mouth, he walks very proudly and does not care about the trash. So if I don't want him to eat all that trash... gross!, all I have to do is give him a tennis ball and both of us will be very happy.
The positive secondary effect of this solution is that because his mouth is full, he won't bark and disturb the building where we live, therefore nobody will complain about the noise and we can ensure a roof over our heads. The negative effect, if I give him the balls, is that he might lose some of those balls on the street and we will run out of them eventually.
Another way for Milo to get a ball for his walks is to find them on the street. It's not uncommon to see them, but it's still a random occurance. The positive effect will be, besides the no barking effect, that he will not lose his own tennis balls. The negative effect is that I will have to make him leave the tennis balls outside before we enter our apartment or deal with a very nasty ugly dirty ball in my apartment.
