Linkety-Linkety and tempted by a new cat
Jul. 23rd, 2010 11:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
moominmuppetSo I totally fail at not reading interesting stuff (she says eight hours later). Lots left to go, but here's a heaping helping.
Also, I'm trying to talk my housemates into agreeing to another cat. I'd link to the adorable posts about why she needs a home, complete with pics of her being adorable playing with large dogs, but they're locked, so just take my word... I so miss having a cat who likes to play with dogs, since we lost Morph last year. We're down to a mere five cats in the household, two of whom are getting very elderly. In my opinion this is starting to fall below my crazy catlady standard. I'm not sure all the housemates entirely agree yet.
Dems Line Up To Back Elizabeth Warren, 'She Predicted What Was Going To Happen'
An Augusta State University graduate student is facing dismissal from the university's counseling program unless she silences her convictions on homosexuality and gender identity, according to court documents filed Wednesday.
CEO shot to death by cop at 'gay' cruising spot
Coming soon, the iTree! Scientists make computer chips out of wood
Life-threatening flash floods in Milwaukee and southern Wisconsin
Infant is returned to blind couple after state places her in protective custody
Examiner article: Science investment keeping manufacturing alive in Michigan
News from the Past: President Truman Imposes Integration of the Armed Forces with Blacks and Jews!
A new UNICEF report says accusations of child witchcraft are on the rise in Africa — leaving kids vulnerable to abuse, abandonment, and horrific "exorcisms"
Stone Age Discovery: Ancient Sex Toy?
Six in Mexico get 25-30 years in jail for abortion
Of the six cases, one was a spontaneous abortion [yes, that's a miscarriage], two others were undertaken because of rape and the rest were for accidental pregnancies, Cruz said. -- When people talk about making abortion illegal, no matter how high-minded their arguments sound this is the result they're headed toward.
Texas bus driver fired over Planned Parenthood dispute; files lawsuit for religious discrimination -- Conscience clauses -- should every job have 'em? No job? Certainly seems like we're seeing a lot of conscience clause creep happening these days as people try to use whatever job they have to influence other people's decisions based on their own personal beliefs.
NHS: efficient and equitable
South African Sea Cadet Found Dead Hours After Rape Allegations Were Filed
Transgender woman wins federal lawsuit against Ga. General Assembly
(AP) BEIJING — China's largest reported oil spill had more than doubled by Wednesday, closing beaches on the Yellow Sea and prompting an environmental official to warn the sticky black crude posed a "severe threat" to sea life and water quality.
Fat? Ugly? Old? Good Luck Getting Hired
News sites reining in nasty user comments
Diagnosing anemia with a salad spinner
A series of articles on an eating, pooping robot.
200,000 year old disposable cutlery found
A uniquely Indian perspective on same-sex marriage
Archaeology and the city
oregon parents choose holy water over medical attention, request to have child returned denied
Scientists ask govt. to hold off on anti-oil spill engineering projects in the Gulf
Raw food raids are on the rise
Glowing algae turn Australian lakes electric blue
Ancient Hindu Wunderkammers: The Art of the Composite Beast
Cyndi Lauper: Evangelism is bullshit, Bush and Cheney criminals
House Dems Pressured To Drop Funding For Schools, Students To Pay For Wars In Iraq And Afghanistan
Clouded Leopard Cubs! (yes, someone turned me on to the![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-syndicated.gif)
zooborns community; expect more cuteness in the future.
Links from ajollypyruvate
The Meteor of 1860 by Frederic Church -- interesting history on this one (I'm a Whitman fan)
The Crown of the Sun -- Very subtle and beautiful.
Lightning Over Athens -- OK, APOD's really on a roll; this one's amazing too.
Baby Guinea Hogs
Things Are Gonna Get Weird - Baby Caecilians! -- Oh, wow! I've been fascinated by them for years, but this is the first time I've read much of anything about their reproductive habits, let alone seen pics. That whole detaching gills deal is tres funky.
Platypus Rescued from Drain (VIDEO) (yes, it's late, and I'm tired of depressing news)
Can you audit the software that goes in your body?
Sealing tape that looks like hinges
Comic-Con: Superheroes vs. Westboro Baptist Church (with pics! Hee!)
Gangs of women in rural India fight abuse with bamboo sticks
Doctor Who themes, 1963-2010
Cheap nanomaterial won't grow bacteria
Sci-tech educational parody show "Look Around You" now on DVD in the USA -- Must remember to check Netflix for this one.
Theoretical time travel: Now Grandfather Paradox-free!
Arrested: Jihadi jerk who threatened "South Park" over Mohammed episode
MC Escher panorama
Also, I'm trying to talk my housemates into agreeing to another cat. I'd link to the adorable posts about why she needs a home, complete with pics of her being adorable playing with large dogs, but they're locked, so just take my word... I so miss having a cat who likes to play with dogs, since we lost Morph last year. We're down to a mere five cats in the household, two of whom are getting very elderly. In my opinion this is starting to fall below my crazy catlady standard. I'm not sure all the housemates entirely agree yet.
Dems Line Up To Back Elizabeth Warren, 'She Predicted What Was Going To Happen'
An Augusta State University graduate student is facing dismissal from the university's counseling program unless she silences her convictions on homosexuality and gender identity, according to court documents filed Wednesday.
CEO shot to death by cop at 'gay' cruising spot
Coming soon, the iTree! Scientists make computer chips out of wood
Life-threatening flash floods in Milwaukee and southern Wisconsin
Infant is returned to blind couple after state places her in protective custody
Examiner article: Science investment keeping manufacturing alive in Michigan
News from the Past: President Truman Imposes Integration of the Armed Forces with Blacks and Jews!
A new UNICEF report says accusations of child witchcraft are on the rise in Africa — leaving kids vulnerable to abuse, abandonment, and horrific "exorcisms"
Stone Age Discovery: Ancient Sex Toy?
Six in Mexico get 25-30 years in jail for abortion
Of the six cases, one was a spontaneous abortion [yes, that's a miscarriage], two others were undertaken because of rape and the rest were for accidental pregnancies, Cruz said. -- When people talk about making abortion illegal, no matter how high-minded their arguments sound this is the result they're headed toward.
Texas bus driver fired over Planned Parenthood dispute; files lawsuit for religious discrimination -- Conscience clauses -- should every job have 'em? No job? Certainly seems like we're seeing a lot of conscience clause creep happening these days as people try to use whatever job they have to influence other people's decisions based on their own personal beliefs.
NHS: efficient and equitable
South African Sea Cadet Found Dead Hours After Rape Allegations Were Filed
Transgender woman wins federal lawsuit against Ga. General Assembly
(AP) BEIJING — China's largest reported oil spill had more than doubled by Wednesday, closing beaches on the Yellow Sea and prompting an environmental official to warn the sticky black crude posed a "severe threat" to sea life and water quality.
Fat? Ugly? Old? Good Luck Getting Hired
News sites reining in nasty user comments
Diagnosing anemia with a salad spinner
A series of articles on an eating, pooping robot.
200,000 year old disposable cutlery found
A uniquely Indian perspective on same-sex marriage
Archaeology and the city
oregon parents choose holy water over medical attention, request to have child returned denied
Scientists ask govt. to hold off on anti-oil spill engineering projects in the Gulf
Raw food raids are on the rise
Glowing algae turn Australian lakes electric blue
Ancient Hindu Wunderkammers: The Art of the Composite Beast
Cyndi Lauper: Evangelism is bullshit, Bush and Cheney criminals
House Dems Pressured To Drop Funding For Schools, Students To Pay For Wars In Iraq And Afghanistan
Clouded Leopard Cubs! (yes, someone turned me on to the
zooborns community; expect more cuteness in the future.Links from ajollypyruvate
The Meteor of 1860 by Frederic Church -- interesting history on this one (I'm a Whitman fan)
The Crown of the Sun -- Very subtle and beautiful.
Lightning Over Athens -- OK, APOD's really on a roll; this one's amazing too.
Baby Guinea Hogs
Things Are Gonna Get Weird - Baby Caecilians! -- Oh, wow! I've been fascinated by them for years, but this is the first time I've read much of anything about their reproductive habits, let alone seen pics. That whole detaching gills deal is tres funky.
Platypus Rescued from Drain (VIDEO) (yes, it's late, and I'm tired of depressing news)
Can you audit the software that goes in your body?
Sealing tape that looks like hinges
Comic-Con: Superheroes vs. Westboro Baptist Church (with pics! Hee!)
Gangs of women in rural India fight abuse with bamboo sticks
Doctor Who themes, 1963-2010
Cheap nanomaterial won't grow bacteria
Sci-tech educational parody show "Look Around You" now on DVD in the USA -- Must remember to check Netflix for this one.
Theoretical time travel: Now Grandfather Paradox-free!
Arrested: Jihadi jerk who threatened "South Park" over Mohammed episode
MC Escher panorama
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-07-24 04:18 am (UTC)(sigh) There was NO reason to take that child. What a waste of state resources, and complete and utter bullshit spewed. Eugenics were outlawed ages ago folks.
The Swedes do like their dildos... you should google hockey games and dildos.
I believe in ethics and conscience, but that only goes so far as to not assist people in breaking the law or violating an code of ethics (professionalism) it does not include the right for me to dictate their personal decisions which are protected.
There are a lot of problems in the hiring practices in the US. I've run into a few of them, but thankfully I carry my wieght better than most guys my size and the suits hide some of it, so I look thinner. That and being male, I can pull of that portly "gentleman" look which helps a lot. Still, it's entirely wrong to consider what a person looks like (my only hang up with people is that they must be clean, and preferably not bathed in scents).
I've stopped reading comments on many news sites, and discourage interaction on the local news website because of the vitrol. It's disgusting, the hate, ignoranice, and general assholishness. Hell, 4Chan is better behaved some days.
Faithhealing is such a fucking crock of shit. We should be prosocuting every damned one of them who uses their religion as a shield to allow abuse. They're in the same boat with the assholes who think their religion grants them license to dictate the choices of others regarding their own bodies. Assholes.
Anna has been cooing over the clouded kittens since I pointed it out to her. She wants one and says I'm taunting her mercilessly by showing her pictures and videos of them. I admit, clouded and snow leopards are my favorite large cats.
I'm very fond of Caecilians, though not many people know about them and few have ever seen them. There are, thankfully, a few zoos and aquariums who have them now days. Nifty critters.
The software concerns are very valid, and I think it's long past time to make them more reviewable. We've spent entirely too much time in this nation protecting the concepts of copyright, propriatary, and trademarks, and not enough evaluating how these affect society.
I love Esher, but one could get motion sick messing with that image.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-24 07:12 pm (UTC)*nod* That case especially made me angry.
The software concerns are very valid, and I think it's long past time to make them more reviewable. We've spent entirely too much time in this nation protecting the concepts of copyright, propriatary, and trademarks, and not enough evaluating how these affect society.
*nod* We definitely need to reevaluate how we handle all these issues, given how much life and society have changed since they were invented.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-24 08:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-24 07:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-24 11:49 pm (UTC)"Sufficiently Many."
no subject
Date: 2010-07-25 12:06 am (UTC)Largely, it's that Caleb tends to think in a 1 person/1 animal ratio, and it bothers him for any individual animal to have less attention than that. I take the perspective that I can't offer the most perfect life -- the most expensive food, the highest-end vet care, the most attention -- but I can offer a good quality life to a substantial number of animals that otherwise wouldn't have homes. There is a limit beyond which that becomes unfair to everyone involved, both animals and housemates, but with the current housing setup I don't think we're at that limit.
I generally try to aim my pet-saving in directions where it will help both an animal and a person. That's why I specialize in taking in animals from people who can't keep them but care deeply about their future welfare. It's sort of a good deed two-fer. This cat, aside from being specifically appealing because of some of her personality traits (her love of dogs), is also in a situation where I'm helping both the cat and the person who cares about her, who's a friend.
And yes, on a personal level I just love being surrounded by animals, and I love getting to know new animals (which I mostly assuage through pet-sitting). Very little makes me happier.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-25 02:00 am (UTC)Roughly speaking:
1:1 Dogs, Parrots, Hamsters, Large Snakes (4'+)
2:1 Cats, Gerbils, Guinea Pigs, Rats, Mice, Small Snakes
4:1 Fish, Frogs, Salamanders, Song Birds
Generally I also only want one from each category at any given time as well, so for me, e.g. 1 Hamster, 2 Cats, and 4 Frogs is about the limit for a single person in my viewpoint.
I also view this as a personal limit, I don't consider unused spaces for other people in the household as fair game to add to my own collection, or vice versa.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-25 02:20 am (UTC)I also view this as a personal limit, I don't consider unused spaces for other people in the household as fair game to add to my own collection, or vice versa.
Generally I live with people who are pet-lovers but prefer not to take on the permanent responsibilities of pet ownership, so I'm
almostalways the one with the most animals in the house, by far. Then again, that's why my entire life is set up this way -- so I can take in people and critters with the greatest possible freedom. Many of those pets bond most closely with one of the housemates or another (Morph was always The Housemate Cat, for example, and Caleb is very closely bonded with Leroy, Riley, and X), but when it comes down to it, I'm the one making the two decade commitment.And although every human and critter on the planet would probably make an argument for more space, I don't think we're uncomfortably crowded as is. Animals pretty perpetually underfoot, yes, but in a mostly good (in my eyes) kind of way. They all have their own spaces and corners, and aside from Riley picking on Fatty, we have relatively little conflict. (The Riley/Fatty issue is that Riley's working on claiming dominance in the household, and Fatty's old -- the squirt bottle comes out a lot to keep bullying to a minimum)
There are certainly plenty of animals who aren't a good fit for our household, just as there are plenty of people who aren't, but for generally social creatures it's a good deal that involves lots of tasty treats and love and company.