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Learning from Dogs
Man’s best friend, the dog, is an integrous animal. This Blog is about integrity of heart, mind and soul. We authors think there is far too much spin, deceit, half-truths, call it what you will, in the world around us. We want to write honestly and sincerely about a wide range of subjects but always endeavouring to demonstrate to our readers that openness of mind and heart makes sense.
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Organic milk in the USA
The unacceptable face of the big agricultural businesses
Another wonderful link from Naked Capitalism. This one refers to the way that the definition of ‘organic’ as in organic milk is being twisted and distorted to favour the huge indoor milking herds, up to 10,000 cattle, that in any sensible mind could never be regarded as the organic production of milk.
This to me is a picture of organic production of milk:
An English meadow
This to me is NOT! Yet the milk from these cows is defined as organic!
Organic milk?
This last picture is courtesy of The Cornucopia Institute, another web site worth a visit whether or not you take an interest in farming – after all, one presumes that you do eat!
The article is on the Politics of the Plate website, worth your visit whether or not you are an American, and is, to me, so important that I am taking the liberty of publishing the article in full.
Here it is:
Read this very important article
A Guilty Verdict for Bomber is not “Success”!
Wartime issues – assuming we are at war!
The debate about the Christmas Day Bomber continues. The pundits continue to define “success” in this case as finding him guilty in a court of law. They go on and on, repeating over and over again, how the evidence is so strong, how the civilian court system is so reliable, how the shoe bomber was tried in civilian court, and how a guilty verdict is virtually certain. 
This is so wrong. The definition of success is not whether we find the Christmas Day Bomber guilty in a civilian court. This man intended to blow himself up on Christmas Day, and take hundreds of innocent Americans with him. The fact that he is alive today, facing a jury or a judge and possible jail time or, at the worst, the death penalty, is a mere footnote to him.
Has it occurred to anyone that if the military had interrogated the shoe bomber as the failed terrorist that he was, that the odds of the Christmas Day Bomber getting on that plane with those explosives would have been diminished? And interrogating the Christmas Day terrorist instead of shipping him off to the local prosecutor — for reasons Eric Holder, the U.S. Attorney General, has yet to articulate– diminishes the odds of some future terrorist act?
Eric Holder
We are at war!
These people attacked us as part of the ongoing war with terrorists. No one should “rest easy” because some lawyer is going to sleepwalk through a trial that may or may not successfully reach the painfully obvious conclusion that the Christmas Day Bomber is guilty! On the contrary, it makes me very uneasy that he is in the civilian court system at this point in time at all, because every moment spent reading this man his rights is a moment that could have been spent gathering intelligence from a terrorist. His punishment will come in due time. In the meanwhile, we have to extract as much information from his as we can in order to defend ourselves.
We are at war.
By Sherry Jarrell
Growth is BAD for us
Growth is good for us? Sorry, wrong!
An interesting story on the BBC recently. It seems that growth is now “bad” and incompatible with reducing global warming.
I have to say that this always seemed obvious to me (and despite appearances – or indeed pretentions – I am not that clever) since IF industrial production and emissions are creating too much CO2 then it is surely obvious that more of the former will produce more of the latter. Any flaws in this argument will surely be pointed out to me pdq, but I won’t be losing any sleep – or indeed I suspect – the argument!
Well, the theory that growth is bad has now been confirmed by a scientific study ….. of course, we have learned to take some of these studies with a pinch of salt, and it doesn’t help when scientists on the “we are doomed” side sex up their findings to make their case, as was revealed just recently. I found this hilarious!! Once again, a dishonest intention to achieve ONE kind of result (boost the doomsayers’ cause) actually achieved the OPPOSITE!!! When will they ever learn?
An aerial view of the Siachen Glacier, which traverses the Himalayan region dividing India and Pakistan. Photograph: Channi Anand/AP
As for the evils of growth, I am wondering if the British Prime Minister has been informed? His entire strategy (if that is not too noble a word to use in this context) has for well over a decade been based on growth (indeed growth triumphantly trumpeted in advance as likely to be at a level far higher than it actually turns out to be) bringing in enough money to pay for his humungous over-spending.
He must be urgently rearranging his matchsticks in an effort to cook the books once again ….
And there is another side of the “no-growth” movement. YOU may very well decide that in the cause of saving the planet you will keep your consumption where it is, but – logically – that also means people in the developing world who are incredibly poor keeping THEIR consumption where IT is. That is one hard sell. Of course, YOU may then decide to REDUCE your consumption down until it meets theirs coming up ….. No? Oh well …..
The way I see it, growth is inevitable, whether it is good for the planet or not. Which is a bit of a poser if growth is going to doom us. Still, I remain an optimist – some genius will find a way out of this enigma …. but please make it soon before we grow too much!!
By Chris Snuggs
Moscow’s dogs
Another example of the very tight bonds between man and dogs.
A couple of weeks ago Learning from Dogs published a series of videos originally broadcast by the BBC Horizon programme called The Secret Life of the Dog. It revealed a hitherto unknown depth of understanding of dogs by man and man by dogs. Part One of those six parts is linked to here.
Now it turns out that Russian Muscovites are fascinated by stray dogs and it is estimated that there are 35,000 stray dogs in the Russian capital city.
Interestingly, because we tend to associate the newspaper with financial matters, the British Financial Times had a fascinating article a couple of weeks ago, from which is quoted:
Where did these animals come from? It’s a question Andrei Poyarkov, 56, a biologist specialising in wolves, has dedicated himself to answering. His research focuses on how different environments affect dogs’ behaviour and social organisation. About 30 years ago, he began studying Moscow’s stray dogs. Poyarkov contends that their appearance and behaviour have changed over the decades as they have continuously adapted to the changing face of Russia’s capital. Virtually all the city’s strays were born that way: dumping a pet dog on the streets of Moscow amounts to a near-certain death sentence. Poyarkov reckons fewer than 3 per cent survive.
Do read the article as it is a revealing piece about our interest in dogs in all corners of the world. Indeed it mentions a web site devoted to stray dogs on Moscow’s Metro railway.
Russian stray
By Paul Handover
Irish humour
The Irish always see the world a little different to the rest of us!
During a recent PASSWORD AUDIT at the Bank of Ireland it was found that Paddy O’Toole was using the following password:
MickeyMinniePlutoHueyLouieDeweyDonaldGoofyDublin
The Bank’s Customer Relationship Manager contacted Paddy and queried why he was using such a long password.
Paddy replied:
Bejazus! are yez feckin’ stupid? Shore oi was told me password had to be at least eight characters long and include one capital.
Sort of makes sense when you think about it!
By Bob Derham
Greece – sick man of Europe
A looming low point in the long history of the Greek empire
It seems the EU is considering whether to bail out Greece, in danger of defaulting on its loans, so high is its debt.
Athens
A spokesman has been quoted as saying “it is unthinkable” that Greece should default and that “something would have to be done.”
I imagine the rest of the EU countries (their citizens at least, those who actually pay the taxes) are not exactly slavering over the prospect of their money being used to bail out yet another organism living beyond its means.
And this is the point, we ALL have to start living within our means: individuals, countries, the planet. ANY other course leads to doom. And as an EU taxpayer I feel very hesitant about bailing out ANY country. Not though lack of fellow-feeling (it could be us next time) but because IF you bail them out then they WON’T change their habits. We bailed out the banks; have you seen THEM change their habits? I certainly haven’t, except that they won’t lend small businesses (the TOTALLY INNOCENT VICTIMS of all this) any money. The obscene fat-cat “bonuses” are starting up all over again like mushrooms in the meadow. No, let them go bust; only that will concentrate their minds.
And let us not forget that Greece LIED about its finances in order to qualify for the EU in the first place! An end to lies! An end to the easy option. An end to my taxes bailing out an indisciplined over-spender!
By Chris Snuggs
Bankers’ Bonuses
Scoop information – direct from the Board Room
Given the plethora of comments on banking bonuses recently our intrepid reporter has managed to get access to a bankers’ board meeting to establish exactly how targets and bonuses are planned. His transcript is highly revealing of a complex system tightly geared to the bank’s activities and designed to give maximum incentive to those at the highest level.
So here you have it …..
Board Meeting at FatGreedyBankers, Limited (extremely)
Hello chaps. We’re here to set the targets for this year’s bonuses.
Jolly good, Sir Tosser. What did you have in mind?
Well, if the bank doesn’t actually go bankrupt we all get £1,000,000 quid. This is our baseline. Got to have a baseline ….. Then we get an extra £1,000,000 bonus for every £10 profit we make. What do you think?
I must say these are pretty stiff targets, Sir. As you know, the chances of going bankrupt are very high.
Yes, but then we get bailout money so we don’t have to worry about that.
No Sir. Well, I’m sure we all relish a challenge, don’t we chaps? Let’s go for it!
By Chris Snuggs
Track – the puppy
Yet another lovely dog rescue story
Once again, we are indebted to Naked Capitalism for bringing this lovely story to our attention. It was originally published in the Birmingham (Alabama) News.
Track inspector for CSX railroad Gary McLean found this puppy frozen to the tracks in last weekend's cold snap. The puppy, now named Track, has found a home with a dog lover in Bessemer.
One near victim of the cold is now happy and warm and residing in Bessemer.
Last Saturday, Gary McLean, a track inspector for CSX Railroad, found and rescued a tiny shivering puppy who’d become frozen to the train tracks.
It was 7:30 a.m. and the temperature was about 14 degrees. McClean, a resident of the Trussville-Argo area, was riding in a rail mounted truck near Caro lina Avenue looking for any obstacles in advance of a train that would be headed down that track about an hour later. He heard something go bump on the track, stopped and looked back, but saw nothing. He turned forward and, ahead of him, he saw a tiny ball of fur on the tracks.
McLean is accustomed to encountering dead dogs along the tracks, but as he got closer, he saw the little ball of fur moving.”It was big timeshivering,” he said. “I felt so sorry for him.”
Apparently, the 5-inch-tall mutt had gotten wet in a nearby ditch. When he tried to jump the 7-inch-tall rail, he got stuck and his icy fur froze to the track. McLean tried applying warm water and lifting him off. That didn’t work. So he took a knife and carefully cut him off the track.
If the train had come, the dog would never have been able to set himself free, McLean said. McLean took pictures of the puppy and sent them to his wife, Lois.
The McLean’s already have three dogs and couldn’t adopt another. So they turned to the Internet to find the dog a home.She posted the picture on Facebook and the story found its way to the blog of ABC 33/40 meteorologist James Spann. The e-mails started pouring in.
Sorting through the of fers, the McLeans decided to give the dog to Terry Walls of Bessemer.
“He is doing great,” Walls said as the puppy she’s named Track chewed on her slipper.
“Track had a manly ring to it,” she said.
Walls estimated the puppy is 7 or 8 weeks old. It has a full set of sharp teeth and has German Shepherd and possibly some husky in his ancestry.
'Track' the lucky puppy
By Paul Handover
Understatement of the Century
Still a few things lacking…
The Prize for “Understatement of the Century” has just been awarded to the following statement, even though the century has barely begun. The Awarding Committee decided that no other comment could ever possibly be made that could come close to beating this one from the leader of North Korea.
Kim Jong II
That being said, there was one other entry that had the judges briefly interested: “Gordon Brown is the worst Prime Minister in British History”, but in the end the NK leader won out, since the committee felt that Ethelred the Unready was worse, even if he was usually more ready than Gordon Brown.
Last month Mr Kim said: “We have already reached the status of a strong country in the military field, let alone politics and ideology, but there are still quite a number of things lacking in people’s lives.“
By Chris Snuggs
The Old Jacket
The ways we remember those close to us that have died.
I saw our neighbour at school today, and was surprised the she was wearing an old faded jacket which was torn at the back, and the feathers from the lining were coming out.
One of the other Mums was also a little surprised perhaps because the lady is the wife of a Barrister.
Yes she said “It used to belong to my cousin that died. Every time a feather falls out I think of him!“
I thought that was lovely, but we all laughed when the other parent quickly retorted.
“You must think of him a lot” – as another feather fell out.
By Bob Derham
Paul Handover
Chris Snuggs
Jon Lavin
Bob Derham
Sherry Jarrell
John Lewis