Should people have animals as pets?

 Archaeology suggests that people might first have animals, such as dogs and cats, as pets since at least 12,000 years ago.  After a very long period of time, animals that have been consistently kept in captivity and selectively bred became friendly to human, unlike their wild relatives.  However, how can we be certain that pets are really happy when being cared for by people?
    Pets provide their owners with emotional benefits.  They help people cope with anxiety and stress.  Elderly adults who often have less interaction with other people can find companionship with their pets. There are many examples of people who found their purpose in life after being introduced to pets.
    On the other hand, notwithstanding the benefits for human, pets may not really want to be kept in captivity.  As a living creature, shouldn't they be allowed to decide on what they actually want? Shouldn't we allow them to live freely outside and come to our houses whenever they feel like, such as stray cats?
    In conclusion, we will continue to have pets because the ten thousand years of pet culture will not be able to changed easily. Therefore, we should take a good care of our pets and provide them with whatever they need to increase the chance that they will live happily in our house in return for their helps on our emotional health.  "In ancient time, cats were worshipped as gods, they have not forgotten this." - Terry Pratchett.

The camel and the cat

Once upon a time, a camel, who always obeyed the rules, was traveling through an arid desert.  It was really hot and dry.  The camel walked pass a few wells every day. However, every time the camel found a new well, there was always a sign warning it not to drink the water.  The camel was exhausted.  Day after day, it still couldn't find a well without the warning sign.  The camel thought it would die from dehydration soon.  One day, the camel saw another well, as always, with a warning sign.  But, this time, the camel also saw a cat, who always didn't care about any rules, coming out from a nearby tunnel.  The cat was also thirsty.  The cat also saw the warning sign.  But, the cat ignored it, went straight to the well, and drank the water.  The camel was completely stunned.  The camel decided to follow the cat and drank the water from the well too.  After the camel had finished drinking, the camel asked the cat why the cat ignored the warning sign. The cat said the weather was really hot, the water was there to be drunk, the cat only saw what were necessary to be seen.

How to convert plain text file (.txt) into PDF via LibreOffice command-line?

Nowadays, major Linux distributions come with LibreOffice pre-installed.  Isn't it better for text-based users to use LibreOffice's command-line tool to convert their plain text files into PDF without having to install other programs?

% libreoffice --convert-to "pdf" file.txt