Coffee and Provocation

Gimme a large coffee and... ooooh... one of those!

• Ligers, Zorses, and Wholphins, Oh My!
  I have written about how common hybrid birds and fishes are, and the fact that hybrids are also possible between such things as Grizzlies and Polar Bears and Leopards and Mountain Lions, to say nothing of crosses between Domestic Dogs, Wolves, Coyotes, Golden Jackals and Dingos. Now The New York Times has written on the subject.
  


• Global Hunger Declines 10 Percent in One Year:
  Hmmm. If this keeps up much longer, I may yet win my Long Bet. Of course I lost my last one thanks to those bastards at Enron.
  
  
• Best News Article Title of the Day:
  Missing Boater Likely Found Inside Shark Off Jaws Beach
  
  
• A JRTCA Show from the Outside:
  I only go to one dog show a year, and for the second year running I will be missing that one show due to work (yes, no shows at all in the last two years!), but I can live vicariously through others, such as Rebekah H. (aka the rat terriers of Hurricane Deck Kennels) who has started a new blog and who writes about her impression of a JRTCA show and trial. Check it out.
  
  
• National Sheep Dog Trial Starts This Weekend:
  The 2010 National Sheepdog Finals (held this year in Virginia about an hour from my home) begins this weekend and runs through the 26th when I will be there. Streaming video will be available on the last two days of the trials (25th and 26th).
  
  
• Rats in the Car .. and Next in the Tank?
  Camera Trap Codger has a humorous post on what happened when his zoo work overtook... and rats broke out underneath the floorboards of his car and the feet of his inlaws. Of course, today he could simply explain that his car was powered by a rat-based fuel cell.
  
  
• Obama Praises Christian Rifle Team:
  Barack Obama welcomed the five members of Texas Christian University's national championship rifle team to the South Lawn of the White House. Watching it on TV, bloated drug addict Rush Limbaugh plucked out his own eyes, and hurled them into the ocean.
  
  
• A Wayward Patterdale in France:
  Here's an old boy, far from home, that could use a hand out before he is killed for simply not being new. A U.K. name is known and is attached to the dog. Readers in the U.K. want to see if they can find them? Anyone in France want to adopt?
  
  
• The Hawkers Are Getting Ready:
  Doug is getting his traps ready, and bringing Tess and Gonzo down to flying weight. Isaac has been trapping up a storm and has a new Kestrel to show for it, while his friend has a new Red Tail.
  
  
• Road Kill at the Edge of Science:
  Scientists are looking for someone to make an I-phone application to track road kill, and they're already Google mapping it. The best news, however, is that the Humane Society might have actually finally found a cause no one else is doing much with -- saving people and wildlife by reducing road kill and wrecks.
  .

Coffee and Provocation

• Cleaning Up Guam With Toxic Tylenol:
  About ten years ago, I suggested to the National Auduon Society a cheap way to get rid of invasive Brown Tree Snakes that were wiping out all the birds in Guam: pay folks in the Philippines (where labor is dirt cheap) to lace small cockerel eggs with Tylenol and place them in fake nests (also made in the Philippines) around Guam. Tylenol, I pointed out, was toxic to Brown Tree Snakes, but had no impact on other wildlife (though Tylenol is toxic to domestic cats, which were unlikely to eat eggs placed above ground level). Now, some 10 years later, Guam is being bombarded with Tylenol-laced mice. Right idea (it will work), but domestic cat deaths will be unnecessarily high. On the upside, the Jack Russell terriers used to find snakes at the airports and bases, are not likely to be harmed.



• Mommy, What's a Newspaper?
  That question will be asked soon enough. The New York Times says it's already planning to pull the plug.



• Pedigree Dogs Exposed was Broadcast in France Last Sunday.
  If you have not seen it before, you can watch it here. Still roiling the waters -- and the waters may soon boil a bit more.



• A Happiness Index?
  Over at TED, Nick Marks is pitching a "Happy Planet Index" which seems like a good idea, but of course the King of Bhutan was ahead on this; he began been governing his country with a happiness index more than 30 years ago.



• This is the Best Military Recruitment Video Ever.
  "Join the army and get a skill that pays for life." These guys can work on my truck anytime.



• Beam me down Scottie.
  A fun way to explore some of the world. "Africa," however, turns out to be South Africa, and "Asia" turns out to be mostly Japan, but this will improve in time, and may someday provide another window of understanding for people all over. Yes, it's just Google Earth, I know...



• With Liberty, Hooks, Gunpowder and Broad Arrows For All.
  Ten States have amended their constitutions to create a "constitutional right to hunt and fish," and more are coming. Virginia has has this for years. It's largely symbolism, but symbolism can be important , and in this case it is. The states with a constitutional right to hunt and fish are Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Minnesota, Montana, North , Oklahoma, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin. States with amendments on the ballot this Fall include: Arkansas, Tennessee, Arizona and South Carolina.

Sleep is a medical condition created by a shortage of the vitamin known as caffeine.
.

Coffee and Provocation

Berkeley Discovers the Limits of Tolerance:
Berkeley Police shot a mountain lion earlier this week, just a few blocks from Chez Panisse restaurant.

Liquid Roadkill from Revenge Products:
"Now available for non-governmental sale. Use only with utmost discretion." You know you want some. In fact, you are already thinking of how to use this stuff. You're a sick bastard, which is why you'll want to be be sure to see their entire product line.

Historical Crufts Catalogues Now Online:
The Kennel Club has loaded up every Crufts catalogue from 1886 to 2007 as PDFs. Check it out. An YES, all the early shows were big on terriers. Remember, Crufts started out as the Allied Terrier Show.

Virtual Dog Showing?
Online dog show catalogues are old hat compared to virtual dog showing. What's next, virtual breeding? Of course it is. We already have "cyber sex" (whatever that is). Ugh!

Miracle Weight Loss Cure!
"An appetite-control agent that requires no prescription, has no common side effects, and costs almost nothing? Scientists today reported results of a new clinical trial confirming that just two 8-ounce glasses of the stuff, taken before meals, enables people to shed pounds. The weight-loss elixir, they told the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS), is ordinary water."

The Continuing Crisis:
Bed-bugs seem to be hopping out all over, a product of too much reliance on "roach motel" bait traps, and not enough old-fashioned base-board spraying, which is what kept bed-bugs abated in the past. One fellow in the U.K. has decided that what the world needs is not more crevice spraying in hotels, but a Jack Russell terrier to identify the presence of bed-bugs since apparently bitching staff and customers is not enough. To that end, he has imported a bed-bug sniffing Jack Russell terrier from America.

Prozac for Pups vs. Advice for Consumers:
Some dogs are a "little ringy in the head," and scientists are testing drugs and chasing genes to see if they can understand why. Of course no one is going to simply tell pet owners to go for a cross breed and stay away from highly-amped working dogs with strong prey drives. Where's the pharmaceutical money in that?

Tony Blair Has Regrets:
In case anyone needed more affirmation that Tony Blair is a Donkey Butt, he has decided he wants the world to know he had "no idea" what he was doing when he supported the ban on fox hunting, and it is "one of the domestic legislative measures I most regret." Right. He had no idea what he was doing because he was listening to the RSPCA, where the expertise is not in wildlife management or basic common sense, but in direcy mail.

FrankenFish on the Plate:
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration may soon allow genetically engineered Atlantic salmon to be sold in the U.S . If that happens, this will be the first bio-engineered animal to make it to into our stores... unless we count chickens, cows, sheep and rabbits whose genes we have manipulated for eons.

The Trapped Miner Thought It Could Not Get Worse...
And then this happened.

Ian Dunbar Rediscovers Canine Hierarchies:
It seems Ian Dunbar has rediscovered canine hierarchies just in time for Cesar Millan's new book, in which he is quoted. Read it all here. Of particular amusement was this passage: "Middle-ranking male dogs wasted a lot of time 'posturing' over the bone, showing off and loudly advertising their prize. High-ranking dogs and females, however, just got down to the important business at hand — chewing the bone. Moreover, confident in their rank and possession, most high-ranking male dogs were quite willing to share a bone with others...." Right. Please analogize to the world of dog training.

Poaching Wild Parrots in Brooklyn:
Carolina Parakeets may be gone, but we have more wild species of parrots in America today than ever before. And yes, even in Brooklyn, to say nothing of Chicago, Fairfax, Virginia, San Francisco, and all of Florida.
.

Coffee and Provocation

• I Want One of These:
  I want one of these, and you will too. Want, want, want, want. Now! And link comes with video goodness too.
  
  
• Wrong Kind of Earth Dog:
  Cavers recently rescued a coon hound that slipped into a cave and was trapped there for three days while his owner stood vigil. A nice story that ends well, and not the first "hound underground" story we have featured on this blog. See here and here.
  
  
• Compassion Fatigue for Coyotes:
  Coyotes are starting to get a bit out of hand all over the East Coast. Nova Scotia? Roger that. Florida? Yep. New York? Check. New Jersey? Yep. There too.
  
  
• Small Is Beautiful:
  Four people and a dog live in a 180-square foot house they built themselves. Check it out!
  
  
• Ted Nugent, the Shooter of Pen-raised Farm Animals:
  Ted Nugent, the shooter of pen-raised farm animals, has now been nailed for hunting over bait. A previous post about this numb-nut can be read here.
  
  
• Someday the Ants Will Kick Our Ass:
  By weight, there are as many ants on earth as people. And yes, the ants are plotting world domination. Read all about it here.
  
  
• Hobbits Replaced by Sheep:
  In New Zealand, the film set constructed for the Hobbit village in the Lord of the Rings has been taken over by sheep. Check out the terrific pictures. Nice!
  
  
• Cougars are Moving into Wisconsin:
  Yes, the native American lion continues to expand east and west. We now have more wild lions in America than in all of Africa. South Dakota is increasing its season, while in Red Bluff, California, they have them coming down Main Street.
  
  
• Elk are Coming to Virginia:
  Elk are already in Kentucky, and some have walked over the border into Virginia on their own, but formal stocking and introduction to the Commonwealth will begin in 2012. Nice!
  
  
• A Tepid and Tenuous Voice of Reform:
  Jemima Harrison interviews Professor Sheila Crispin, the new chairman of the Independent Dog Advisory Council which was formed on the recommendation of the Bateson report. Oddly, Ms Crispin seems to be a bit out of her depth when it comes to canine health issues, and she does not seem altogether sure as to what her group's mandate is supposed to be. One would think the Bateson report, and the others (RSPCA, APGAW) commissioned and produced in the previous 18-months would have given her a clear agenda for action and a sound education to boot, but she appears to be starting off a bit flat-footed. Hope springs eternal, but a realist keeps his expectations low. We shall see.

See the first link to get the meaning of this old Tintin panel from Red Rackham's Treasure. Notice Snowy (Milou) the terrier in the front seat. Yes, Tintin was a terrierman!. I grew up reading Tintin.
.

Coffee and Provocation

• A Movie I Have Never Seen Turns 30:
  Caddyshack, a movie about a war between a greens keeper and a gopher, was released on July 25th, 1980. A gopher is not a groundhog.
  
  
• American Bubonic Plague Depends on Flesh-Eating Mice:
  As regular readers of the blog know, the Black Plague originated with fleas on
  Tarvags, and swept through Europe as those fleas (and the microbe Yersinia pestis in their gut) rode the back of Black Rats. The Black Rat was nearly wiped out by the Norwegian Rat, ending the Plague in Europe and most of the world, but an illegal alien from China (a stow-away) brought the Plague to America around 1900, and from San Francisco it rode the train east into Prairie Dog towns where it resides to this day. When Prairie Dog towns are wiped out by Plague, however, the disease should disappear as well. But often it does not. Scientists have just figured out why; the black rat flea is moving over to the Grasshopper Mouse, a desert inhabitant that is notable for eating flesh. It seems when a Prairie Dog dies of Plague, the Grasshopper Mouse will eat the carcass, and the infected fleas will hop aboard the mouse. The mouse then travels to another territory and spreads the plague which otherwise would have been isolated and died out.
  
  
• Eva Mendes Sex Tape:
  The best sex tape ever.
  
  
• The State of American Magazines and Newspapers:
  Newsweek was recently sold for $1 to a 91-year old man who also assumed its debts.
  
  
• Goodbye Hector, the 100 Year-Old Algerian Condor:
  Hector, the world's oldest Andean condor, has passed away in Algeria. He was 100 years old, and was brought to the Algerian Zoo from South America by Joseph D'Angelo, a Frenchman.
  
  
• Mass Produced Giant Pandas?
  China is mass-producing one of the world's most endangered species at the Giant Panda Breeding And Research Centre in Chengdu, Western China. Or so says the title to this news article. Read the story, however, and you find out how many Giant Panda babies have really been born so far this year.... one.
  
  
• North Korea Does What I Predicted:
  The coach for the North Korean soccer team has been banished to a life of hard labor as a construction worker, because the team failed in their "ideological struggle" to succeed at the World Cup in South Africa.
  
  
• American Idol Star to Host Hunting Show:
  American Idol contestant Kristy Lee Cook, age 26, has decided to seek fame and glory by hosting her own hunting show. The show, to be called "Goin' Country," will show her heading across the nation looking for a recording contract while, in between, she hunts up a storm. Her first video (2008) had her singing in bed, in a wet T-shirt, in lingerie, and in front of the Confederate flag. Pretty obvious pandering and unnecessary as she can clearly sing. A more recent song is called "15 Minutes of Shame" and is a little better, but she clearly needs a sensible someone to do her videos. Call me Kristy -- I know people!
  .

Coffee and Provocation

• Baltimore Rat Fishing:
  I have written about "the good old days" at the Yellow Rose in Baltimore, when they used to use hooks. Here's a video of the "reformed" version, with glue traps. For the record, this was a publicity stunt designed to shame the city to cleaning up the rats. Of course, this is Baltimore, a city beyond shame when it comes to rats.
  
  
• This Is How True Love Dies:
  The turtle dove, an age-old symbol of love, is now being driven to extinction in the U.K. by a loss of wildflowers.
  
  
• Euro-leads for More ... and Less:
  Euro leads at every price, from the expensive, to the lower cost, to the even lower cost, to the lowest cost.
  
  
• Hairy Nosed Otter?
  Camera Trap Codger is thrilled that a camera trap has taken a pic of Malaysia's rare Hairy Nosed Riover Otter. Always helpful me suggests adding this tool to the kit.
  
  
• Your Brain Bucket May Need a Paint Job:
  If you ride a motorcycle, you need a brian bucket and there's no reason for it to be boring. I like the bald head helmet, the watermelon helmet, the globe helmet, and the walnut versions best. I'm not sure these actually exist, as my language skills are a bit challenged. Hope so!
  
  
• Global Warming Leads to Bigger Marmots:
  Yellow-bellied marmots in Colorado are gaining weight and producing more offspring, compared to thirty years ago, due to the lengthening summer, which allows them to put on more weight.
  
  
• Great Moments in Journalism:
  Transvestite Had Sex with a Dog at English Heritage Castle. Yes that's the real title of an article in the London Telegraph earlier this week. The world divides cleanly into those that have already gone to that link, and those who never will. Of course that newspaper headline is not quite as shocking as this front-page headline out of Australia (warning, not safe anywhere). For those that like odd newspaper titles, but would perhaps like them a little tamer even if they do not feature a dog, how about this one: Springfield police charge one-armed man with unarmed robbery. Pretty tame, but pretty good all the same.
  
  
• A Nice Invention for Cows:
  This little contraption boosts milk production, lowers disease, and makes cows happier. It seems to me it is should be mandatory. Of course, I am pretty sure if they installed a nice-looking massage therapist at the office, that would boost productivity too!
  
  
• Extra-Virgin Olive Oil?
  Extra-virgin Olive Oil? That's what she told Popeye, but it turns out it's a lie. She's probably not such a virgin after all.
  
  
• Cooking With Hawks:
  Matt Mullenix scores on TV with his hawk, which is what you pray for when the cameras roll. Nice!
  
  
• The Continuing Crisis:
  Goat falling off mountain in Austria flattens hiker. The goat was unharmed.

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.
  .

Coffee and Provocation

• 114 Rabid Raccoons in Central Park:
  The New York Daily News reports that 114 rabid raccoons have been pulled from New York City's Central Park this year.
  
  
• Will Obama Care Pay for My Starbucks?
  Scientists have discovered that coffee can help protect the brain against Alzheimer’s disease. But you have to drink five cups a day (which is no problem here, I assure you!)
  
  
• Terrier Eats Five Cats:
  Not really a headline until you realize it was done at one sitting.
  
  
• The Aetheist App for Your I-Phone:
  The “BibleThumper” iPhone app boasts that it “allows the atheist to keep the most funny and irrational Bible verses right in their pocket” so that you can be “always ready to confront fundamentalist Christians or have a little fun among friends.”
  
  
• Chienblog Nails It:
  You have to read it.
  
  
• The Devil Generally Wears A Suit:
  A friend sent me this C.S. Lewis line from The Screwtape Letters: "The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid 'dens of crime' that Dickens loved to paint. It is not done even in concentration camps and labour camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice."
  
  
• We are Too Connected:
  It seems pigs in Holland were not having piglets. No one knew why, but they eventually tested the feed and found it contained birth control pills. The feed, it seems, was made from wastewater that came from a birth control pill factory in Ireland. Some 50,000 pigs had to be destroyed, and the Dutch Feed Industry trade group said the disaster was ‘one of the worst in memory’ and cost the industry about $145 million.
  
  
• The Secrets of Homeopathy:
  There's a nice new video for all you folks who always wanted to know how homeopathy works. A warning, however: it may ruin StarTrek for you.
  
  
• Real World Dog Training:
  Christie Keith writes about what people really want when it comes to dog training: "Most people do not consider small bits of cheese mixed with lint an acceptable and normal part of the lining of their coat pockets. They do not enjoy the positive vs. traditional training debate, and actually, don’t even know there is a debate. They don’t participate in organized dog sports and aren’t interested in improving their dogs’ times on the agility course by one-tenth of a second. No, they’re like me, and what they want is a dog who doesn’t jump on people, eat the sofa, pull on the leash, pee in the living room, bark incessantly and develop an acute case of deafness when he hears the word 'come.'"
  .

Coffee and Provocation

The Bulldog Coffee Shop in Amsterdam, features coffee, booze and reefer.

• Tintin was a good terrier man: Here he gives a brief visual history of the American oil industry. Hergé, the author and illustrator, got it about right too!
  
  
• On the outer edge of animal training: Playing Mozart makes bacteria break down sewage a lot faster. Who knew?
  
  
• On the outer edge of animal training: Teaching a vulture to hunt for dead humans. The vulture's name, by the way, is "Sherlock." Nice.
  
  
• On the outer edge of veterinary marketing: Chas Clifton notes that after his old vet was bought out by a new fellow, the new marketing genius began sending sympathy cards the week after putting down older dogs. Remember: If you can fake sincerity, you're half way home!
  
  
• This hybrid fruit bat is a mix of three species. As I have noted in the past, Mother Nature runs the genetic train a lot looser than most people imagine, and almost always for positive effect.
  
  
• They may have found another hybrid bear that is part Grizzly and part Polar bear. Tests will, no doubt, reveal more...
  
  
• They don't make gonorrhea posters like they used to. You have to love one called "Booby Trap." Check out the entire collection!
  
  
• Check out this cute girl shaving her beaver. Go ahead and look, I dare you!
  
  
• Check out this Gun Dog magazine cover. Was this supposed to be man's best friend with woman's best friend? (Please keep my seat warm if you get to hell before me.)
  
  
• Ferret Legging is not what it used to be. Properly done, a rat goes down one leg, and a ferret down the other. The kids today are not being taught properly! Of course, this is Richmond, Virginia, so what do you expect? Redneck amateurs!
  
  
• Dennis Leary goes fly fishing. In truth, I am only a wee bit smoother.
  
  
• Chas sets up his camera trap and does it better than me on Day Two. And for the record, on Day One, he got a bear. Maybe I need to go beyond my front yard?
  
  
• Isaac has fox showing up at his job site, as bold as brass. Very cool!
  
  
• Sushi on a stick is "stupid on a stick" if you ask me. Raw fish is bait, people! God invented fire for a reason -- to kill flukes, worms and nematodes!
  
  
• Have you ever heard of the Bechdel Test for women in movies? No? Me either. It turns out, it's a women's studies course in 30 seconds. Worth checking out, especially if you are a man.
  .

Coffee and Provocation

A Rising Tide of American Bastards:
Last year, 41% of births in America were to unmarried women. Does that matter? To the children? To the women? To future U.S. social costs, economic and otherwise? Is there anything to do about it, even if there was a reason to do something about it?

Crazy Cat Man:
Craig Grant of Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida has a 100-acre cat sanctuary where he takes care of over 500 cats. Check out the pictures.

Your Minimum Daily Dose of Irony:
Supplements quack Gary Null, consumed two doses of his very own "Ultimate Power Meal" each day for a month, as directed on the label, and he experienced severe kidney damage and "excruciating fatigue along with bodily pain" as well as bleeding "within his feet." Null claims that the manufacturer, Triarco Industries, put 1,000 times the correct dose of Vitamin D in the product, which is not FDA approved. He is suing the manufacturer.

FREE John Prine Download:
The great John Prine is coming out with a new live album, and he is also giving away a free download too. Keep 'em coming John.

Mother Nature's Beaver:
Biologists have stumbled on the largest beaver dam in North America. The thing is 2,790 feet long, which is 1,546 feet longer than the Hoover dam, and it's located just in southern part of Alberta Canada's Wood Buffalo National Park. Supposedly you can "see if from space." Scientists estimate the dam took least 20 years to build, is comprised of thousands of trees, and is the product of several beaver families working together. The Canadian dam dwarfs a 1,956-foot beaver dam in Montana that was previously thought to be the world's record holder.

Beer for Atheists:
Good news for atheist beer drinkers: Devil's Brew and the Danish Atheist Society have entered into an unholy alliance, and the result is "Gudeløs" or 'Godless'. Gudeløs is described as an imperial stout with burnt and sweetish impressions, together with notes of licorice." Supposedly "to exercise social responsibility," Devil's Brew donates one Danish Crown to the Danish Atheist Society for each bottle sold.

Does Osama Bin Laden Have Second Amendment Rights?
Yes, according to current law and regulation. It seems it's OK to ban guns from American citizens who have committed non-violent felonies many years ago, but it's not OK to ban someone on the terrorist watch list from owning a gun or even buying explosives.

A Beautiful New Woody Teardrop Travel Trailer:
I want one. Made in Virginia too!

The NRA Honors Glenn Beck:
If you have wanted proof that the National Rifle Association is comprised of complete idiots who salute idiocy, consider this: the organization has just announced that Glenn Beck will be the keynote speaker for the NRA's 139th Annual Meetings & Exhibits in Charlotte, North Carolina. Yeah, there's a real man with real principles and integrity! Of course, Glenn Beck is perfect for the NRA where contrived crisis and fomented fear is all they have to sell, and racism is always an approved cultural value. No wonder most hunters and gun owners in America are not NRA members!

Pedigree Dogs Exposed:
Pedigree Dogs Exposed will be on south Florida TV May 18th. Check your local listing.

The 10 Great Contributions of Cesar Millan:
I could write more, but these are pretty good.

Concord to Ban Bottled Water:
A community is finally willing to stand up and ban at least one small slice of stupidity. Hat's off to Concord, Massachusetts for moving to ban the sale of bottled water. As this article notes, "More than 100 towns across the U.S. have prohibited spending city dollars on the product, all in a worldwide effort to reduce plastic in landfills and waterways and reduce green house gases."
.

Coffee and Provocation

A Little More Hexane in Your Veggie Burger?
Mother Jones magazine, notes that "In order to meet the demands of health-conscious consumers, manufacturers of soy-based fake meat like to make their products have as little fat as possible. The cheapest way to do this is by submerging soybeans in a bath of hexane to separate the oil from the protein." Hexane, of course, is an EPA-regulated neurotoxin, but despite that fact, the FDA does not test for it. Read the article.

This Is Why You Defend the Second Amendment:
The U.S. Constitution says nothing about guns. Not a thing. What it talks about is the "right to keep and bear arms." If you remove that right, the state can actually march in and take your pocket knife. Think that's crazy talk? It's not if you live in the U.K., where a disabled man who kept a Swiss Army knife in his car's glove box has just gotten a criminal record for possessing an offensive weapon. The knife was not just in his glove box, by the way -- it was in a pouch in his glovebox, along with a small flashlight, a first aid kit, and waterproof matches.

This Is Why You Defend the First Amendment:
The Associated Press reports that: "Sarah Palin spoke to a crowd of about 16,000 attending an evangelical Christian women's conference in Louisville Friday night....She asserted that America needs to get back to its Christian roots and rejected any notion that 'God should be separated from the state.'" Great. Just what we need to be: a theocracy like Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and the Vatican.

Tasering Sheep on Meth:
In a study of Taser safety, scientists got a bunch of sheep hopped up on meth and then zapped them with tasers to see how they did with that. Read all about it.

Native American Genius:
W.T. Wallington's Forgotten Technology web site shows techniques he has developed to show how the stones for Stonehenge and the Pyramids might have been hauled, rotated, and lifted into place using nothing more than simple physics. Check it out by clicking on the picture on the home page, and clicking through the links at the bottom of each subsequent page. Yes this stuff works! No space ships or Martians needed -- or massive ramps either from what I can gather.

Doug's Expanding Menagerie:
Doug is rehabbing a red-shoulderd hawk and starting an adventure in bees, the animal most likely to kill you. Madness I say!

Dominance in Pigeons:
Who is the alpha pigeon? Researchers are studying it with little GPS backpacks.

The Garden of Cosmic Speculation:
The Garden of Cosmic Speculation was created by Charles Jencks and Maggie Keswick in Dumfries, Scotland in 1989. It contains bizarre and mind-blowing geometric patterns. Check it out! This is a private garden and open to the public only one day a year, so these pics are probably your only opportunity.

Whatever Happened to Sealyhams?
Sealyham's are a breed that was sucked into the kennel club vortex almost upon creation. For a web site documenting that, see this interesting, if obscure, web site on show sealyham terriers in the 1920s, '30s and '40s, complete with a pictures of what the Westminster show looked like at Madison Square Garden back then, and a little note about the first head of the "professional handler's association." Hat tip to Paul H. for the link!

Nice Blog!
If anyone wants to see what a fun life in Western Colorado looks like (complete with great photos), see the Dirt and Dogs blog and check out "the hunter and the hunted" post for a little amusement. Also a few pictures of Arizona in here. Of course, Jamie O'Neal claims there is no Arizona. I think Trina might disagree!

Vitamin C for Canine Snake Bites?
I am quite happy that we do not have to worry, too much about venomous snakes in my area; we are a little too far north for water moccasins, copperheads are way over-rated, and rattlesnakes are rare all over and generally confine themselves to rocky shelves and outcrops in the mountains. That said, not everyone is so fortunate and Jonathan from South African passes on this tip about Vitamin C shots as a treatment for snake bites in dogs. Does it work? There are reports on the internets that it does, but I have to say I am skeptical. Snakes do not always envenomate when they bite, and there's a lot of mis-identification of snake species as well. Still, when nothing else is there to help, break out the Vitamin C. It cannot hurt!


.

Coffee and REAL Provocation

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.

Coffee and Provocation

PeTA's Slaughter House Continues Unabated:
PeTA had a 97.3 percent kill rate at their Norfolk, Virginia "shelter" last year, with just 8 adoptions and 31 transfers out of 2,366 animals taken in. Yes, they killed all the rest.

A Clash of Feathers:
The crisis over finch fighting continues unabated.

The Great Sperm Race:
The Great Sperm Race was on National Geographic Channel yesterday and will be repeated, I have no doubt. Check out the great pictures from this "greatest race"-type show (totally safe for work).

Messing With Mother Nature:
If you like bully whippets with freakish amounts of muscle, and Belgian Blue cattle with more of the same, check out the new recombinant salmon being made. Ugh!

The Most Beautiful Book Store in the World:
Argentina has the most beautiful book store in the world. It's located in an old 1920s-era movie house.

A Few Cracks Appear in the Market for Eggs:
Over 100 million eggs sold in the U.K. as "free-range" or organic were, in fact, the same battery-cage non-organic eggs that could have been bought anywhere for a third of the price. In fact, some of the eggs sold as free-range and organic were actually eggs that had been rejected by other companies, and were destined for industrial use. Consumers, of course, could not tell the difference. Think that bit of chicanery is only happening in the U.K.? Guess again!
.

Coffee and Provocation

• Are Liberals more evolved?
  According to some egg-head study "human evolution may have a big influence on whether you're liberal or conservative—not to mention how smart you are, whether you believe in God, or whether you've got a cheatin' heart." Right. I am a liberal and even I do not believe this nonsense. But of course that may be because I am so damn smart, being a liberal and all. Pardon me if I am skeptical, but here's the link for the gullible.
  
  
• The Royal Bahamian Potcake:
  It started out as a joke, but now it's a breed. This is a very different story from all those dogs that started out as a breed, but ended up as a joke. Read all about the newest "rescue dog" creation of the Bahamas. Hat tip to Sean O'Q for this one!
  
  
• Do Great Whites Love Calamari?
  Great White Sharks may be majors consumers of Giant Squid.
  
  
• Boning Out an Elephant:
  In Zimbabwe, where hunger stalks the countryside thanks to the vicious politics and failed policies of Robert Mugabe, an elephant died after crossing the border from Mozambique. The locals butcher it out in under 2 hours, and 24 hours later, even the bones are gone. A story in pictures, with humans as locusts with knives. At least this dead animal was put to good use. No mention of why it died.
  
  
• It Only Hurts When They Bite:
  Liz Palika discovers vicious dogs on a military base -- and owners that have been shoving the problem under the family rug for years. Training a dog is one thing, but rehabilitating vicious and aggressive dogs is different, and the clock is on.
  
  
• Cesar Millan on the Limits of Altruism:
  In an old article in Salon, Cesar Millan opines: "Most of my clients say, 'Well, my dog is my soul mate, but he wants to kill another dog!' So they achieve emotional energy or spiritual energy, but that doesn't mean the dog listens to them. You see? Dogs don't follow a lovable leader or a spiritual leader. We're the only species that has Gandhi. We're the only species that rescues other species: pandas, zebras, gorillas. The rest of the species won't. If they see somebody that's weak, they exterminate them."
  . . . . For the record, this is not entirely true. Yes predators kill the weak of other species, but generally not their own species. Of course a dog is a predator, and a human is a different species, so .... (see previous story).
  
  
• Chicago Gun Laws, Reloaded:
  The Chicago Tribune says Chicago's restrictive gun law has been a failure. It's always refreshing when people admit the obvious. So often, they don't!
  
  
• Irony Alert:
  A 45-year-old woman, charged with ending a domestic dispute by killing her 26-year-old husband of FIVE DAYS, is a registered lobbyist for a group fighting domestic violence.
  
  
• Sing Along With Me:
  "Woke up and it was a Chelsea morning, and the first things that I knew, it was .... Whoa, is that a coyote out there?!"
  .

Coffee and Provocation

Hybrid Falcons in Natural History Magazine:
The June issue of Natural History magazine has a piece entitled Talon Hunt which details the breeding of falcon hybrids by Tom Cullen and others. The article also gives a nice hat tip to the The Peregrine Fund and the pioneering artificial insemination techniques that have made it all possible.


Another Sign of the Apocalypse:
How about a cup holder for your AK-47 or AR-15?

Need a job?
How about working as a bounty hunter collecting the more than 100,000 feral Burmese Pythons that are now loose in the Florida Everglades?

Domino's Pizza Defaces Neighborhoods:
Domino's Pizza is creating urban ads by defacing sidewalks with stencils and power washers that work to "clean" public sidewalks, bridges and retaining walls. Instead of spraying on paint, the power washing blasts away grime, leaving the Domino's name and message behind as a more-or-less permanent commercial. Domino's supporters are calling it "Green Graffiti." It looks like plain old vandalism to me.

The Problem With the Dog is the Owner:
Check out the "Dog Owner Threat Assessment Guide" at the SmartDogs blog. "The goal of this draft guide is to provide a free, easy-to-use tool for authorities to employ in assessing a given dog owner’s risk to his dog and the public." Perfect!

Depressing Depression Art:
Check out 100abandonedhouses.com, a website devoted to photos of 100 abandoned houses in Detroit, where you can now own a home for less than the cost of a used car.

What are the Odds?
As I have noted in the past, the most dangerous animal in America's forests and fields is the honey bee. So what are are the real odds of dying various ways in America? Here are a few numbers:
4Transportation Accident: 1 in 79
4Intentional self-harm: 1 in 117
4Accidental poisoning : 1 in 161
4In a car: 1 in 261
4Assault by a firearm: 1 in 309
4In a water-related incident: 1 in 7,287
4In a bus: 1 in 64,596
4Bitten or struck by a dog: 1 in 115,489
4In a fireworks accident: 1 in 952,786
.

Coffee and Provocation

• New Ethical Breeding Magazine:
  Ryan O'Meara is cranking out a new publication for ethical dog breeders. When I first heard of it, I thought it was a joke -- a nice cover with blank pages, perhaps? But no, Ryan is dead serious in improving the health of dogs, and he thinks there are enough ethical dog breeders out there to support such a publication. I hope he is right, and I salute his efforts.
  
  
• Roadside Justice:
  North Carolina has put up a roadside marker commemorating the thousands of people sterilized "by choice or coercion" under the state eugenics program which, believe it or not, was in effect until 1973 (1973!). How's that relate to dogs? Sadly, quite directly. Read >> The Eugenics Man and the Kennel Club on this blog.
  
  
• Veterinarians Finally Speak Out About the Obvious:
  For more than 50 years, veterinarians have stood by in silence while the Kennel Club has saluted dogs that are defective by design. And why should veterinarians speak out? After all, nothing improves the bottom line in a veterinarian's office more than a waiting room full of teacup dogs with dental problems, dysplasic shepherds, and pugs with bulging eyes. And so, I note here something quite unusual: a veterinary article that talks about the health problems of bulldogs. Now, it should be noted that this article came out AFTER the Kennel Club itself admitted there were very serious problems with the breed, and so I do not think this piece can yet be count as a true "profile in courage." Let's see if this is a "one and done" kind of thing, or whether we are going to see more articles about defective breeds and breeding . That is surely needed, isn't it?!
  
  
• The Amazing Treat Machine:
  The Amazing Treat Machine is made of cardboard, which means it would last about 15 seconds with my terriers. That said, it's very low cost ($15), an interesting idea, and making one out of solid wood would not be that tough ...
  
  
• Say What?
  I know a dog man from the U.K. who sounds like this fellow. I have to stare at the ground and give it all just to tease out a few intelligible words when he start up, but it does get easier in time.
  


• World's Record Largemouth Bass Caught in Japan:
  The title sums it up: 22 pounds 5 ounces and certified, beating the previous record from Kentucky by one ounce (a record which has stood for 77 years). The race for the world's largest Largemouth Bass may not be over yet, howevr; a 25-pound bass was reportedly netted earlier this year from the same Japanese lake.
  


• Natural Gimps:
  Why do so many frogs have three legs? It's not due to pollution, as previously speculated. It turns out the leg stubs of tadpoles are bitten off by various species of dragonfly nymph. It's a completely natural phenomenon.
  
  
• Sarah Palin Is Over:
  God's gift to the Democratic Party has announced she will be resigning as Governor of Alaska, not even completing one term. Is she pregnant again? Is her 14-year old daughter pregnant? Was she one of Governor Mark Sanford's many lovers? Is she doing this because Levi Johnson has promised to write a "tell all book?" Or is she just a serial quitter (remember, she quit her last job)? Who know! One version of "the scoop" is that she is about to be Federally indicted for stealing money from (... wait for it ... ) an earmark she got for the Wasilla hockey rink sports complex back when she was mayor of that tiny little town. Allegedly, she and Tod worked with the contractor to divert money and materials from the sports complex to build their own little house on the Tundra, ala Ted Stevens. And yes, we have written about Sarah's klepto problems before. See >> Sarah: It's Not About the Shoes. All I can say is this: Please, please run for president Sarah. Now that Michael Jackson is dead, we need the entertainment.
  


• Red State Update
  It turns out that red states lead in divorce, teen pregnancy and online porn. Just a coincidence, I am sure.
  


• The Washington Post as Pimp
  As unbelievable as its sounds, The Washington Post has been trying to pimp out both its reporters and the Obama Administration. After a health care lobbyist got a come-on letter asking for $25,00 to $250,000 to get access to Washington Post parties and events where he or she could rub shoulders with Obama Administration officials and Washington Post health care reporters and editors, the paper has tried to scurry backwards and cancel, cancel, cancel, while denying everything. Too late! The secret is out: The top management at The Washington Post thinks their reporters are street whores high priced call-girls. The White House, apparently, had no idea (and neither, we are told, did the reporters). The Washington Post's excuse: We are losing millions of dollars a month on the newspaper and have to do something. Right. And whores have to pay rent.
  


• A Storm Barrier for Coastal Louisiana
  The Louisiana coast is under constant threat from storms and hurricanes. What to do? The folks at Popular Mechanics suggest making the Gulf Coast America's "bamboo belt." Not only will bamboo create massive amounts of fiber, but it will stop storm surge like a wall of rock while slowing soil erosion and providing a cash crop. Sounds like genius to me!
  
  
• Slowing Population to Help People and the Planet
  It was a bevy of billionaries: Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, George Soros, David Rockefeller, Michael Bloomberg, Ted Turner, and Oprah Winfrey all met recently to discuss what their philanthropy could do to slow world population growth. At least they have properly identified the root of so many of the world's problems! And yes, that includes the biggest threat to hunting in America.
  


• Is Cloning a Moa Next?
  The tallest bird that ever lived was the 12-14 foot tall Moa of New Zealand, which disappeared before 1400 AD. All in all, there were 11 species of Moa, ranging from 40 to 600 pounds. Early settlement sites in New Zealand are littered with Moa bones suggesting they were a favorite food of pre-European settlers. Now Scientists have retrieved DNA from 2,500-year-old Moa feathers. What caused the Moa to go extinct? As I have noted in the past, it was human population growth.
  
  
• Black Widow Spiders Are Evil
  Over at Cabinet of Wonders, Healther McDougal has a nice piece on black widow spiders which are the evil little creature I blame for the death of my great dog Sailor.
  


• Maybe the Label is Organic?
  I have always known that "organic" was more sales hype than sound science. Now, it turns out that the term "organic" may mean a great deal less than most people think.
  


• The Roots of California's Fiscal Mess
  How did California get into its current fiscal mess? Simple: Proposition 13 back in 1978. Prop 13 was a clever Republican bit of chicanery that capped property taxes. The result: a $5 billion dollar state surplus evaporated overnight, with services and education funds quickly slashed to the bone. California has been sliding straight into the toilet ever since.