Coffee and Provocation

• Never let a Border Collie do your taxes:
  Oh sure, they can fill out all the forms, but they always overpay. And the reason for that is that even the smartest and best trained of Border Collies knows only 1,022 words.
  
  
• Pressure to shape:
  Heather Houlihan has a very nice post up on the use of pressure to shape dogs old and new.  This is how dogs teach each other in the real world, since dogs don't have clickers and treats.  And you know why they don't have clicker and treats?  No pockets!  And you know why no pockets?  No hands!  I kid.  Read the whole post.
  
  
• Tasmanian Tigers were incapable of killing adult sheep:
  Great.  So they were killed off for nothing.  For the record, sheep mortality, absent all predators, is between 3 and 15 percent for lambs, depending on location.  The reason for this is that sheep are a naturally weak species that are prone to high neonatal morality due to cold weather and complications at birth.  Natural sheep mortality is often blamed on fox, badger and (once upon a time) Tasmanian Tigers, which are (or were) simply scavenging corpses most of the time.  To be clear, while fox are not much of a threat to sheep, coyotes and wolves are another matter entirely.
  
  
• The KKK at the dog track:
  Is it wrong to note that all 100 meter foot race winners are black?  The BBC is brave enough to ask the question, and smart enough to get it right.  It's not that they're all black; it's that they're all Jamaican. What about long-distance runners?  Here too, it's not that they're all black, or even all Kenyan.  It's that so many come from a tiny region in Kenya called Nandi, in the Rift Valley.  Read the whole article and then try to translate the point to dog breeds, where false causality about color and hair are also ascribed to working abilities.
  
  
• More data that racists and republicans won't like:
  This is from Scientific America, so you know it's verboten for any Tea Party Republican to read.  But it's about human intelligence so you know they want to.  It turn out all that race stuff obscures a more interesting truth, which is that intelligence is local and temporal and related to... well read the whole thing if you dare.
  
  
• Pissing off the neighbors:
  It turns out that one of the things that suburban owners are most pissed off about is barking dogs owned by their neighbors. To which I can only reply, is if that's the sum of your problems, your life is pretty damn good!
  
  
• Laser pointers and lions:
  Cats and many dogs will chase laser pointers. How about big cats?
  
  
• AWTA has a new web site:
  The American Working Terrier Association has a semi-new web site, but there's still not a single mention of what to look for in a real working dog, how to get a locator collar, how to find quarry, how to dig a hole, what tools are needed, mistakes to avoid, or how to vet a dog that gets small field injuries. Of course, I suppose you don't really need to know that stuff if you don't hunt, do you?
  
  
• What we should have been taught in high school:
  An awesome series of cartoons that ring the bell of truth.
  
  
• Hold your breath while you watch this hunting video:
  Old school hunting without dogs.
  
  
• Coffee science:
  Scientists have finally cracked the mystery of coffee rings. (NPR)
  
  
• Coffee bigots:
  Nutty religions that ban coffee include the Mormons (good luck explaining that to the American people Mitt Romney!), Seventh Day Adventists, and Rastafarians. More here.
  
  
• How about $4 bicycle panniers?
  Simple do-it-yourself instructions and pictures. 
  
  
• Messing with real life space aliens:
  If you don't believe space aliens are already here on earth, then you are not paying attention. Here's one.  It's called idolomantis diabolica or the Devil’s Flower Mantis.  In reality it's a mean bad ass killer from another planet.
  
  
• Is Rick Perry toast due to Social Security?
  When Karl Rove and Rolling Stone agree on something, that's something, and they both agree that Rick Perry pooped his pants when it comes to Social Security.  I think they're right.
  
  
• Tattoo nation:
  Granny has the most hardcore tattoo of them all.
  
  
• Losing the Civil War again:
  Virginia's right wing lunatic Attorney General tried to make political hay by trying to overturn Congress when it came to national health care.  The courts just crushed that nonsense.  In other Civil War news, it turns out the South lost because their coffee sucked.
  
  
• Fat as hell:
  The lowest obesity rate in the nation is in Colorado, where 20.1% are fat. That's our MOST fit state folks.  Pathetic.  Across the nation, 26.3% are obese, which is scary.  The top ten lard states, according to Gallup:  West Virginia (#1 with 34.3 percent of the population obese) followed by DE, MS, LA, SC, IN, ND, OK, KY, and OH.
  
  
• Best magic trick ever!
  I would pay to see that again, but thanks to YouTube, it's free to see it twice!
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