The front beds look pretty dumb with a bunch of chopsticks and skewers jammed in there, but it looked even dumber when it was filled with broken plants and moldering mounds of catshit.
So far it's been an effective deterrent and much preferable to the cayenne pepper method. Did you know that if cats get cayenne in their eyes, they are liable to scratch them out? That's what the internet says, anyway.
Even if the eye-scratching-out part is not true, burning hot pepper in the eyes seems like a disproportionately harsh punishment for just wanting to take a dump in peace and comfort. So stupid-looking sticks it is, at least until the plants fill out more or we can afford to get the front yard electrified.