Coffee and Provocation

Pitbull Eats Police Cruiser:
Winston, a "pitbull mix" has left four cars -- two of them Chattanooga police patrol vehicles -- with flat tires and at least one with a missing bumper because of his aggression. Rather that order the euthanization of the dog, the court has ordered the owner to take Winston home and taken him to court-ordered obedience training. Anyone want to guess how this ends up after reading that the owner thinks it's amusing that his dog went nuts, ripped through two fences, destroyed four cars, and was pepper sprayed and tasered by the police?

Dogs as Guinea Pigs and Mutant Messes:
Here's a post on ten ways dogs have helped advance medicine. The bad news is that the dogs have mostly helped advance medicine because so many breeds are mutant messes that they readily present with genetic diseases thanks to Kennel Club inbreeding. Of course, dogs have also helped advance medicine because they are so easily bred and abandoned, meaning that they are cheap guinea pigs. Therapy animals would seem to fall outside of either bin, but I am not sure they actually qualify as an advance in medicine. What does qualify (and is not mentioned) are seeing eye dogs and other assistance animals.

Dogs are Not Pack Animals?
Dogs are not pack animals, we are told, and never mind the fox hound packs and packs of wild dogs seen all over the world. And this? Ceci n'est pas une pack!

Camera Trap Law Enforcement:
Camera traps are now being used as surveillance cameras to catch camp ground vandals, illegal dumpers, trespassers, pot growers, and poachers, and also to monitor deep-sea commercial fishing boats. Not only are camera traps a low-cost force multiplier, but they also provide evidence which is very hard to argue with in court.

David Allen Sibley Paints A Feruginous Hawk:
Check out this slide show to see how David Allen Sibley works. To order any of his books, click here.

My New Computer Desk Top?
Yes, I may switch to this one. The icons go on the shelf, with temporary save files on the bulletin board. Nice!

Napoleon's March into Russia:
Back when rocks were soft, I bought a first edition of Ed Tufte's book, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, which has some great stuff in it. One of those great things is a combined map, timeline and troop count story of Napoleon's march into Russia. It's now available as a stand-alone poster. And yes, I am a geek.

Appropriate T Shirts for Caffeine People Like Me:
I like this one quite a lot, but would never wear it. I would wear this one for sure.

A Tribeca Coyote That is Not Robert DeNiro:
Yes, another coyote has been found in Manhattan -- this one a young female in Tribeca, between Greenwich Village and the Battery (where the World Trade Center used to be). Previous posts on NYC coyotes here and here.