...cos they don't have any feelings

Lileks, on buying a fish tank:

Why not a big tank? Why not? Who doesn’t like to look at fish? If I ever designed the house of my dreams, I’d have a big tank two stories call with windows in every room. Not because I love fish; I’m rather indifferent to them, unless I’m snorkeling. A fish tank is the cable-access channel of the natural kingdom. But still, it’s better than nothing, and adds color, life, shifting patterns, and the reminder that one can still imprison and dominate some lesser creatures for your own aesthetic amusement. The Supreme Court hasn’t taken that away! Yet!

We just got a fish tank in our house. How timely. The fish are called Garlic Jr. and Bill. Garlic Jr. is a bully, and bides his time sucking up rocks like Tyrone Biggums, only to disgorge them on the other end of the tank. Bill is an algae eater with a mouth like a catfish. They nearly boiled alive last night when the electricity nodded out. Well, it was really only for a few hours, but it was terrible. Lappy's battery was out, the iPod needed charging, there was no wi-fi... Man, I'm glad I'm not a fish.