Which is mildly odd. I think the closest I've ever had a live dragonfly come to actually touching me was when I nailed one mid-flight with a walking stick. The swing was intentional but the hit was utterly accidental.
They're usually pretty avoidant around these parts.
I've actually had a couple land on my finger before! But yeah, generally pretty skittish.
Today's WTF: Apparently people are getting
EXTREMELY FUCKING ANGRY at the horrible, senseless animal abuse of... Letting kids draw things on horses. Some folks in the UK have apparently started a business where they bring a white horse along and the kids get to draw on them for a bit before they go home and get washed down. They've released statements saying that the paints used are harmless to the horses and that they're taken good care of.
On the other hand, PETA has also released a few statements, and they're exactly what you'd expect. And since it's rabble-rousing, it gets media attention and popular traction. "Would you subject yourself to this kind of treatment?"
Err... Yeah? I have before and I would again; it's fun and the kids have a blast. I mean, so long as they're not using sharpies or something... But that might just be me.
I mean, sure, I think some people can go a bit overboard with giving the family dog the crayon treatment, but if they're using animal-friendly washable colors and the "canvas" gets respected and treated nicely... I don't see what the big whoop is. There's always a risk associated with involving animals with children's parties, because children are noisy and stressful by nature, especially in groups... But I hardly think painting them is that much worse than anything else; you're going to need responsible handlers (of both the animals and the children) anyways. And I'm
reasonably certain that horses don't give a shit about how terrible their temporary tattoos end up being.
I've seen some otherwise quite reasonable people get incredibly incensed by this development, and I'm honestly not sure that I follow.