Coffee and Provocation

• Cornell Prof. Says Chest Size is Important... in Waitresses:
  A Cornell University professor has discovered that quality of service has less than a 2-percent effect on the tip given to waitresses. So what does effect tips? Breast size, blonde hair, and slender bodies. Cornell professor Michael Lynn helpfully explains that his study could be useful to a potential waitress, as it can help gauge her “prospects in the industry.” In addition he note that “It also informs management decisions about who to hire,” since servers who earn higher tips are more desirable employees because they are likely to stay at their job longer.
  
  
• Awkward Pet Family Photos:
  You have to see them to believe them. Check them out. Page after page, and all priceless!
  
  
• E-Books: The Tipping Point Is Almost Reached:
  As I predicted, electronic book sales are quickly reaching the tipping point as the price of E-book readers falls. Amazon says sales of the Kindle have tripled since the unit price dropped from $259 to $189. And with the rise in Kindle sales, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos says "Amazon.com customers now purchase more Kindle books than hardcover books..."
  
  
• Camera Trap Codger Shoots a Badger:
  ... With a camera trap, of course. Check it out.
  
  
• A Go-to-Ground Tunnel Is the On-Ramp to Work:
  Doug, over at Harris' Hawk Blog is building a short go-to-ground tunnel to get his dog Gordon ready for real quarry. This is the way you do it -- if you enter a dog this way, it gets quick accomplishments in a friendly and low-pressure setting. I am knocking up another go-to-ground tunnel myself in expectation of the arrival of a new dog (more on that later).
  
  
• A Shrinking Ice Field Reveals a 10,000 Year Old Atlatl Dart:
  University of Colorado research associate Craig Lee has found a 10,000-year-old wooden Atlatl dart on a retreating icefield near Yellowstone National Park. Very cool. The 3-foot dart was made from a birch sapling and is the first Atlatl dart ever found.
  
  
• I Hate Flexi-Leads:
  The stupidest thing every made was the Flexi-lead. You cannot control or train a dog with one, and they are a public health hazard as they can trip people (to say nothing of killing a dog who darts out into traffic). Over at the SmartDogs web site, Janeen notes that the product safety warnings that come with a Flexi are longer than those that come with a Glock pistol. And for a reason: you are about 50% more likely to be seriously injured by a Flexi lead than an accident involving a Glock!
  
  
• Alligator Gars are Coming Back to Kentucky:
  This might seem like a small thing, but returning what was lost by the hand of man is important. Very important.
  
  
• Pig Worrying as Sport:
  Over on The Atlantic magazine blog, they note that putting "hunting dogs" in pens with boar pigs is a form of competition officially enshrined in Mississippi law. Whatever this is, it is not hunting, and I hope that is clear. If you want to call it "pig rodeo" or "pig herding" or "bay dog trialing," I am OK with those monickers. But this is not hunting.
  
  
• We Get an Award:
  By some calculation, this blog has been deemed to be a top 50 dog blog. As always, my mother is proud, and my father is amazed.
  
  
• Bulldogs, Frenchies and Pugs Die at the Airport:
  Gina, at Pet Connection, has the story. Seems to have something to do with defective standards that require smashed up faces and a seriously compromised airways. Hmmmmm....
  
  
• Recombinant Mosquitoes are Malaria Free:
  Scientists at the University of Arizona have created mosquitoes that die sooner than normal and so they croak before they can propagate, within themselves, the parasite that causes malaria. Apparently the scientists doing this work do not see the obvious -- malaria will simply learn to develop faster in a few hundred thousand generations. Mother Nature always bats last, and Charles Darwin is always pitching.
  
  
• Can We Super-size Your Bill?
  Over at Pet Connection, Kim Campbell Thornton discovers that her vet has changed all its support staff and suddenly they want to supersize her bill. Is this an accident? Not at all. When she called them on it, they simply "fixed it" by putting a note in her file saying she was not to be herded and milked like all the other gullible customers that come into this practice. As I noted in an old post on this blog, this is how the veterinary trade really works now: "[T]hese front office people know next to nothing and generally have been hired to give the real veterinarian cover in case the client calls ‘bullshit’ to the veterinary equivalent of ‘Can I supersize your meal?’”
  
  
• Don't Worry, Be Happy You are Fired:
  A very nice video cartoon of Barbara Ehrenreich talking about the delusion of mandatory positive thinking within corporate culture. "There are no safe delusions," she notes quite correctly. Check it out!
  
  
• Every Terrierman Has a New Dream:
  An amateur treasure hunter has found over 52,000 Roman coins worth $1 million buried in a field. I am hoping for Civil War loot.
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