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How to Keep Your Pooch Happy
Answer: roll the car window down sometimes. (We do have a little nervousness about doing this, with reason; The Pooch gets so excited that she seems to lose her basic sense of or concern about where she is in 3D space. Which isn’t a prescription for keeping the windows rolled up — it’s a prescription for [...]
Catless
Yeah. That, alas — for the first time in twenty years. We’d known the day was coming, known it for months now. A sad realization, to be sure. But not the same sort of sadness as to find it suddenly so… Katie lived longer than the other two indoor cats we had — somewhere around [...]
PBS: Dogs Decoded
Every dog owner thinks he knows how his or her canine companion thinks. I doubt that many dog owners already know everything covered in this single one-hour program on PBS’s Nova series, (re-)broadcast last night. Here’s a brief intro: Watch Dogs Decoded on PBS. See more from NOVA. Sample tidbit: genetically, via mitochondrial DNA (passed down, [...]
Perfect Moments: “I Shot ‘im, Paw.”
The house in which The Missus and I live now is over twenty years old, as is our immediate neighborhood. But the area in general has only recently started to get built up. Real honest-to-gods wildlife, not yet squeezed out by housing and new roads, can still be spotted here and there — foxes, a [...]
Something in the Air
[Image: at left, all the Earth's water collected into a single ball, about 865 miles in diameter; at right, all the Earth's atmosphere in a single ball, about 1240 miles in diameter, assuming sea-level pressure. (source)] From whiskey river: One final paragraph of advice: Do not burn yourself out. Be as I am — a [...]
Long, Languorous Tomorrows
[Image: "August Morning," by Tracy, from "August in Ohio" at the Seasons Flow blog] [Below, click Play button to begin Summertime (Charlie Parker). While audio is playing, volume control appears at left -- a row of little vertical bars. This clip is 2:46 long.] [Audio clip: view full post to listen] From whiskey river: Late August [...]
When Cats and Boxes Converge…
…the boxes lose. [hat tip: Eschaton] _____________________ P.S. A follow-up video is called “The box which Maru can’t enter.” Oh, yes, Maru can.
Knowing What You’re Looking At
[Image: graffiti artist Bansky visited a subway archway in central London, adding a caption to a wall which just happens to fall within the view of a surveillance camera.] From whiskey river: All men, at one time or another, have fallen in love with the veiled Isis whom they call Truth. With most, this has [...]
The Writers’ Word-Time Equivalency Scale
Let’s suppose you are a writer, and value your time spent writing, and measure your success in a given writing session in terms of words written. So far so good. This describes about ninety percent of the writers I know. Let’s take it to another level. Suppose you are behind — or perceive yourself to [...]
How to Stupefy a Small Dog
[Image: not The Pooch. Depicts the desired outcome, however.] In the Harry Potter wizarding universe, most spells are cast using incantations of a vaguely Latin(ish) form: Cruciato! Expecto patronum! Wingardium leviosa! and so on. The sole exception which I can think of off the top of my head: Stupefy! When cast in magical combat, you [...]
