While a wiggly worm toy will do it for small children what is the functional equivalent for adults? What do you think? Contemplate, discuss.
Alcohol for some. Beverage of choice in hand seems to often soothe the potentially savage, or at least restless, beast.
Enough attractive, interesting, and at-least-pretending-to-be-interested, members of the opposite sex often works. Hence the care used to avoid the odd-person-out situation at meals, etcetera.
Something valuable, beautiful, rare - or at least shiny - to contemplate can occupy the consciousness of an otherwise potentially or historically known unruly hominid. Jewelry, a rare wine, raw precious metals, mirrors for endlessly fascinating self-examination, art to experience and critique, a souvenir trinket or two, pictures of the exotic, tickets to a desireable event [just let them look], a fine cigar for later, new small weapon, etcetera.
Information valuable, entertaining, or provocative to the recipient. Jokes, tips, gossip, etcetera.
A challenge, puzzle, or problem calculated to catch the known interests or proclivities of problematic individuals, and so occupy braincells otherwise at liberty to be the source of something annoying.
A well-calibrated and credible promise of appropriate physical or other negative stimulus in the event of undesireable conduct.
A different set of friends, relatives, and hangers-on.
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