Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

QUICK TAKES

-- Wesley J. Smth - "Mainstreaming Animal Personhood"

 We should be alarmed at the vigor with which animal personhood is being promoted in professional journals in the august fields of law, politics, science, and bioethics. So what, you say? Let radicals bloviate. Animal personhood will never be adopted through democratic means.

That’s almost surely true, and animal rights activists know it. That is why they are seeking to attain their goal by court fiat.  [more...]

--  Gallup's 2015 poll: The most and the least religious States in the U.S.

                  Most religious (in order):  Mississippi,  Alabama, Utah, Louisiana, Tennessee,  Alabama, Georgia, So. Carolina, N. Carolina . . . 

                  Least religious (in order):  New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, Rhode Island, New York . . .  [See full list and discussion]

  --  David French - "In Defense of Football" vs. George Will, "Superbowl's 60 Minutes of Damage"

HOW TO BUILD A WORM

I found this video fascinating.

 

EVER SEEN A PEACOCK IN FLIGHT?

Thanks to JS for the email:

Wow!  

HOSPICE AND PALIATIVE-CARE MOVEMENT FOR ANIMALS

In Dr. Jessica Pierce's article in the Wall Street Journal, "It's Just a Dog.  Get Over it," she writes:

Once euthanasia was the default response to an animal's mortal illness. Not any more. The rapid growth of the hospice and palliative-care movement for animals reflects the new attitude.

According to one animal-hospice expert whom I interviewed for my book on how we deal with the decline and death of our pets, there are somewhere on the order of 75 veterinary hospice/palliative care services in the country. (No hard numbers are available.) Another expert estimated that around 10,000 animals are treated annually by practitioners specializing in some form of end-of-life care, approximately a tenfold increase from a decade ago. Ancillary sales of such things as doggy wheelchairs, therapeutic beds and incontinence pads are rising.  [more...]

Among other things I found eye-raising in the article were these alleged facts:

"Surveys conducted by the pet industry have found that 70% of pet owners in the U.S. share a bed with their animal..  

This year Americans will fork out an estimated $53 billion in caring for their pets."

Wow. 

HERO DOGS OF 9/11

From an email:

Nearly 100 dogs worked at the trade center ten years ago; only 13 are left.

These are the surviving dogs that worked the trade center that are still alive but retired, they are heroes too.
Their eyes say everything you need to know about them. Just amazing creatures. True heroes of 9/11 still with us today

Moxie, 13, from Winthrop, Massachusetts, arrived with her handler, Mark Aliberti, at the World Trade Center on the evening of September 11 and searched the site for eight days.

Tara, 16, from Ipswich, Massachusetts, arrived at the World Trade Center on the night of the 11th.  The dog and her handler Lee Prentiss were there for eight days.  

Kaiser, 12, pictured at home in Indianapolis, Indiana, was deployed to the World Trade Center on September 11 and searched tirelessly for people in the rubble.



Bretagne and his owner Denise Corliss from Cypress, Texas, arrived at the site in New York  on September 17, remaining there for ten days.

Guinness, 15, from Highland, California, started work at the site with Sheila McKee on the morning of September 13 and was deployed at the site for 11 days.
 
Merlyn and his handler Matt Claussen were deployed to Ground Zero on September 24, working the night shift for five days.


Red, 11, from Annapolis, Maryland, went with Heather Roche to the Pentagon from September 16 until the 27 as part of the Bay Area Recovery Canines.



Abigail, above, was deployed on the evening of September 17, searching for 10 days while Tuff arrived in New York at 11:00 pm on the day of attack to start working early the next day.


Handler Julie Noyes and Hoke were deployed to the World Trade Center from their home in Denver on September 24 and searched for five days.


Scout and another unknown dog lie among the rubble at Ground Zero, just two of nearly 100 search and rescue animals who helped to search for survivors.

During the chaos of the 9/11 attacks, where almost 3,000 people died, nearly 100 loyal search and rescue dogs and their brave owners scoured Ground Zero for survivors. The dogs worked tirelessly to search for anyone trapped alive in the rubble, along with countless emergency service workers and members of the public.

Traveling across nine states in the U.S. from Texas to Maryland, Dutch photographer Charlotte Dumas, 34, captured the remaining dogs in their twilight years in their homes where they still live with their handlers, a full decade on from 9/11.

Their stories have now been compiled in a book, called Retrieved, which was published on the tenth anniversary of the attacks.

Noted for her touching portraits of animals, especially dogs, Charlotte wanted Retrieved to mark not only the anniversary of the September 2001 attacks, but also as recognition for some of the first responders and their dogs.

"I felt this was a turning point, especially for the dogs, who although are not forgotten, are not as prominent as the human stories involved," explained Charlotte, who splits her time between New York and Amsterdam . "They speak to us as a different species, and animals are greatly important for our sense of empathy and to put things into perspective."

ctive."

CARING

 

A GUIDE TO BIRDING GUIDES

I continue going through old clippings and want to have access to this Wall Street Journal article, "Knowing a Hawk from a Handsaw."    A quote: 

"Roger Tory Peterson's 'A Field Guide to the Birds' has set the standard since 1934.  But has a new generation of birding guides finally knocked him off his perch?" 

If you have access to the WSJ, this is a useful article.  Click here.

DR. MARTY BECKER - BREAKING DOWN CAT MYTHS

- Update - CBN put on the internet their interview with Dr. Becker after I put up my original post (below).  Dr. Becker gives terrific advice on caring for cats and also reducing allergy problems.

 

- (Original post) - I don't have a cat, and don't plan to get one.  But I'm still interested in cat lore and found this CBN focus piece interesting.  The "man who knows" is Dr. Marty Becker, author of Your Cat: The Owner's Manual: Hundreds of Secrets, Surprises, and Solutions for Raising a Happy, Healthy Cat.

BREAKING DOWN THE MYTHS
Dr. Becker says if you’ve never had a cat, you may have some misconceptions about the feline species. Here are eight myths you may have heard about cats, along with the real scoop on what they’re like. 

1. Cats Are Standoffish:  Nothing could be further from the truth. It’s true that cats in general are less “needy” than dogs, but most cats love spending time with their people, whether they’re playing with toys or just sitting in a lap motor-purring.  Know that being a lap cat is genetically influenced. Feline behaviorists used to think you could turn any cat into a lap cat, but it’s not so. When cat lovers understand that sitting within eighteen inches is being friendly enough for some cats, they’ll feel better about not having a full‑on lap cat and accept their pets as they are.

2. Cats Are Not Affectionate and Don’t Need Attention:  Cats are great companions for people who are away from home during the day, but on the whole, they like it better when you’re around. It’s not unusual for cats to follow their people around like little shadows and to hop into a lap just as soon as one is available. Cats can even develop separation anxiety if they are left alone too frequently or for long periods. But don’t expect all cats to enjoy prolonged stroking and petting—sometimes it overstimulates them. Massaging often works better than endlessly stroking the fur.

 

SAVING A HUMPBACK WHALE

A friend who knows one of the families involved in the rescue, sent me this video.  Keep watching to the end to see the freed whale's acrobatics!

 

DOG IMITATES ITS MASTER -- HILARIOUS!

I can't watch this video without laughing.  Hilarious!  Here's the introduction from the YouTube post:

Imagine, you are a singer and you accompany yourself on the piano.
You have a small dog who is your constant companion and watches as you rehearse. Got the picture? Now, imagine that you must be away for a few hours and leave the dog alone at home. Here is what happened while you were away.

 

FROZEN PLANET SCANDAL: SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH DEFENDS FAKE POLAR BEAR COVERAGE

This is very sad.  A lot of footage has been exposed as a sham.  (HT: Drudge)  So now we learn that documentaries, too, are manipulated and manufactured, while all the while we naively thought we were looking at the "real thing" in the wild.  No. 

The culture's "trust level" takes another dive. 

RENTING GOATS TO CLEAR PROPERTY OF WEEDS AND BRIARS

Interesting article. 

Cheryl and Ron Searcy of Mills River run Wells Farm which rents herds of goats to clear overgrown areas of dry grass, kudzu, briars and hard to reach places.

ANOTHER PROBLEM OF DEFORESTATION

From an e-mail:

WHY E-MAIL WAS INVENTED

From an e-mail:

WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE . . . (HUMOROUS PHOTOS)

From an e-mail:

THIS IS WHAT SORRY LOOKS LIKE:

THIS IS WHAT TIRED LOOKS LIKE:

DOGS WELCOMING SOLDIERS HOME

The following video illustrates dog psychology and affection better than anything else I have seen.  Click here for more videos.  (HT: Jonah Goldberg at the Corner).

VIDEO: COUGAR VS. BEAR CUB

A friend sent me the link to a four minute Wildlife Adventure that's really an adventure!  How it was filmed, I have no idea.  It's from the Oscar-nominated nature film, "The Bear."

Obedience Equals Freedom - Taught by the Dog "Monk" aka "Isa. 40:31"

A friend sent me this 4:45 minute YouTube clip about a champion dog.

On the Lighter Side: A Fun Video of a Well-Trained Dog

I found myself smiling and laughing as I watched this 3 minute video.   (Hat tip: Jonah Goldberg at the Corner)

DO DOGS LIKE TO PLAY IN SNOW?

At least one dog does, big time!  Video here.  (HT:  Jonah Goldberg who says, "Dog + Snow = Pure Doggie Happiness." 

SCORES OF NEW SPECIES FOUND IN GREATER MEKONG

This report is pretty fascinating.  (HT: Drudge)

A spider as big as a dinner plate has been found living in one of the world's last scientifically  unexplored regions.

The Greater Mekong, which is made up of 600,000 square kilometres of wetlands and rainforest along the Mekong River in Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam and China, is also home to striped rabbits, bright pink millipedes laced with cyanide and a rat that was believed to have become extinct 11 million years ago.

A host of new species has been found in the area, which is so full of life that previously unknown animals and plants have been turning up at a rate of two a week for a decade.  (Read more . . .)