I’ve listened to some pretty heavy audio books lately, so I decided to try something a little less demanding. I just completed the unabridged audio of Tony Hillerman’s The Dark Wind. Katie and Hannah have read a bunch of Hillerman novels, but this was my first.
For its genre, I thought the novel was pretty good. The Native American context is fascinating, and it was a pretty well written mystery.
Today, my lovely wife (of 20+ years) celebrates her fortieth birthday.
For your cute dog addiction, check out Flickr dogs
On Saturday, while I was mowing the yard, I noticed a big box turtle out on the greenbelt behind the yard. When I went to look at it, I realized it had its butt stuck in a damp hole in the ground. Apparently, it was laying eggs. It stayed in the same position for at least an hour. Later I noticed it was gone; the hole was completely filled in and the only way I could even find it was that the dirt was a little damp in that spot.
The weather reports are on auto-pilot from now until the end of August (click on image for larger version):
Xeni Jardin posted an entry on Boing Boing about a bakery in Brooklyn that stopped making cakes with images from customers due to litigation fears for copyright infringement. The entry also includees some feedback from BoingBoing readers about the legal situation.
I am not a lawyer, so I cannot comment on the legal issues. What I find sad is the scorched earth aspect: that the legal fears led to the bakery’s ceasing this service altogether.
Couldn’t the bakery apply some common sense: if a customer brings in an image that they know is copyrighted, decline to do it and explain why to the customer. And if a customer brings in an unfamiliar image, ask the customer what it is. If the cusotmer replies, “Oh, this is my daughter’s favorite TV character”, then decline and explain. But if the customer says it’s an original image and the bakery thinks the customer’s explanation is reasonable, go ahead and make the damn cake.
It’s a shame that a by-product of the current legal situation is the abandonment of good faith and informed judgment.
This smacks of ‘zero tolerance’ policies we often hear about.
Today, I ran across The Teenager’s Guide to the Real World, which has many chapters online. I scanned chapter 1, Money Really Matters, which outlines how much money it would take to start a (really poor) life on one’s own as a young American, and then shows what a typical family’s budget might be.
Katie and I periodically do a budget by category, like the ones in this chapter. The book reminds me that when the kids get older, we need to show the budget to them and help them understand it.
This looks like a great book. I’ll have to keep it in mind for when my kids get older.
Today, I saw a car in the parking lot at my office. In the window was one of those yellow diamond shaped plastic signs that used to all say ‘Baby on Board’. This one said:
No lavo mi carro porque amo a mi tierra
English: I don’t wash my car because I love my country/earth
I understand the words, but I don’t understand the message.
Anyone? Leave a comment.
OK, let’s see if I really do have any readers here. I need some advice.
It’s about our dog Tippie. She’s half Husky, half German Shepherd, and she’s 11 or 12 years old now. Under normal circumstances–when we’re home with her–Tippie is a great dog: loving, gentle with the kids. She’s in excellent physical health for her age.
But she has always been high strung: very energetic and prone to occasional bouts of anxiety. In particular, she is afraid of loud, unfamiliar noises. That makes fireworks and thunderstorms a problem. If something scares her, she tends to dig and chew at doors and windows. We’ve replaced many a door casing and window screen over the years.
Her anxiety level has increased over the years. Many years ago, thunderstorms didn’t really bother her. Now, she paces around the house and digs at corners until we tranqualize her.
Due to the damage that Tippie occasionally inflicts on the house, about a year ago or so, we started crating her when we’re not home. She goes willingly to the crate, but she cries and digs at it.
A few months ago, she started peeing in her crate occasionally. Now, she pees every time we put her in it. She holds her bladder all night in the house, and we had her checked out by the vet, so we don’t think it’s anything physiological. The vet thinks it’s mental. So, we put her on Prozac a couple of months ago: 20 mg every other day. That seems to make her slightly mellower, but it hasn’t had any visible effect on her worst symptoms: the peeing and anxiety attacks.
The vet is currently investigating other pysch meds for her. I thought I’d see what advice my readers (assuming I have any) can offer. Please leave a comment on this post or send me an email.
I just finished the abridged audio edition of City of Light by Lauren Belfer. I enjoyed it a lot. I particularly enjoyed the interplay of scheming and naïveté and the narrator’s dawning understanding of the powerful forces shaping her life.
