the cat and mouse | past present future

"Avatar" versus "Gone with the Wind"

2010-12-03T11:09:00.001-05:00

Movie history was made in 2010, when James Cameron’s Avatar surpassed his previous blockbuster, Titanic, as “the most successful movie ever”, based on worldwide box-office. The problem is, this is all Hollywood hype. A look at Box Office Mojo, and their list of the all time top movies adjusted for inflation, shows that it's a mere 14th place, well behind the likes of Doctor Zhivago and 101 Dalmatians! Even Titanic makes it to #6. For all the hype, "adjusted" is the only fair way to measure box-office success. In US box-office, Avatar's adjusted gross is $773,179,000. The champion is still Gone with the Wind (1939), whose adjusted gross is a huge $1,606,254,800. In 1939 dollars, that was only $198,676,459 - but it means that it was seen by considerably more people than Avatar, and those dollars could buy you a heck of a lot more 71 years ago than Avatar's comparatively meager returns could buy you right now. While it’s impossible to work out the worldwide gross, let’s just say that, even in the UK, the story of Scarlett O’Hara was the biggest film ever.

The Great Recession?

2010-12-03T11:07:00.000-05:00

Interesting: Two years into the Great Depression, a quarter of Americans were unemployed and the US steel industry was at 10 percent capacity. The Ford Motor Company slashed its workforce from 130,000 to 37,000 (no GM-style bailout there!), wheat halved in value in the Midwest, and even if you somehow had a job, your monthly salary fell from $50 to $16.

Super Bowl

2010-06-03T18:09:00.002-05:00

Who won the Super Bowl this year?

Yeah, that's who...the New Orleans Saints!

I'm still thrilled!

Ken Griffey, Jr. retirement

2010-06-03T15:54:00.005-05:00

I'm sorry that Ken Griffey, Jr. suffered so many injuries over his 22-year career; otherwise, I think he easily would've become baseball's home-run king. Even so, I believe he ended up with, what?, 630 home runs, 5th overall in baseball.

classic "Golden Girls" moment

2010-06-03T14:41:00.002-05:00

In honor of Rue McClanahan's death today:

Rose Nylund: This is exactly what happened during the Great Herring War.

Blanche Devereaux: The Great Herring War?

Rose Nylund: Yes, between the Lindstroms and the Johanssons.

Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak: Oh, THAT Great Herring War.

Rose Nylund: The two families controlled the most fertile herring waters off the coast of Norway, so naturally, it seemed like it would be in their best interest to band together. Oh, boy, was that a mistake. You see, they couldn't agree on what to do with the herring.

Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak: Oh, well that's understandable. I mean, the possibilities are overwhelming.

Rose Nylund: Exactly. The Johanssons wanted to pickle the herring, and the Lindstroms wanted to train them for the circus.

Blanche Devereaux: Weren't they kind of hard to see riding on the elephants?

Rose Nylund: Oh, not that kind of circus. A herring circus. Sort of like Sea World, only smaller. Much, much smaller. But bigger than a flea circus.

Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak: Uh, tell me, Rose, um... Ah-ha ha ha!... Did they ever shoot a herring out of a cannon?

Rose Nylund: Only once. But they shot him into a tree. After that no other herring would do it.

parade

2010-05-30T19:43:00.004-05:00

Parades and I don't get along! I made it a mile in the Melrose Memorial Day parade today before my back gave out. I've got to get in better shape, sooner rather than later. Got the Bonnie Brae games next Saturday in Liberty Corner, NJ, and then the Bunker Hill Day Parade the following weekend. Wish me luck!

new job

2010-01-23T23:04:00.002-05:00

I begin my new systems administrator (PC and Mac support) at Harvard Business Publishing on February 1. I'll miss my friends at Putnam Investments, but I need to move on from a contractor job to a permanent job. Looking forward to being back in the Harvard system.

Go New Orleans Saints!

2010-01-23T23:01:00.005-05:00

Go, Saints, tomorrow. I'm nervous about the game: they're so close to the Super Bowl and a Super Bowl title, but yet they're also so FAR away. Here's hoping. If the Saints weren't in the run, I'd be for Brett Favre and the Vikings.

almost a year

2010-01-23T23:01:00.002-05:00

Wow! It's been almost a year since I've posted to this blog. I need to get going with something!

Vatican morons

2009-02-26T16:48:00.001-05:00

The Vatican announced that men who go to hell--likely for sins of lust--will have their souls pelted with fire and brimstone, while women's souls will be punished--probably for sins of pride--by being "broken on a wheel."

University of Southern Mississippi Wind Ensemble concert: April 11, 1987

2008-12-18T20:44:00.001-05:00

home on Google Maps

2008-12-11T15:25:00.000-05:00

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Hollywood studio logos

2008-12-04T12:52:00.002-05:00

You see these opening logos every time you go to the movies, but have you ever wondered who is the boy on the moon in the DreamWorks logo? Or which mountain inspired the Paramount logo? Or who was the Columbia Torch Lady? Let's find out:

1. DreamWorks SKG: Boy on the Moon

In 1994, director Steven Spielberg, Disney studio chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg, and record producer David Geffen (yes, they make the initial SKG on the bottom of the logo) got together to found a new studio called DreamWorks.

Spielberg wanted the logo for DreamWorks to be reminiscent of Hollywood's golden age. The logo was to be a computer generated image of a man on the moon, fishing, but Visual Effects Supervisor Dennis Muren of Industrial Light and Magic, who has worked on many of Spielberg's films, suggested that a hand-painted logo might look better. Muren asked his friend, artist Robert Hunt to paint it.

Hunt also sent along an alternative version of the logo, which included a young boy on a crescent moon, fishing. Spielberg liked this version better, and the rest is history. Oh, and that boy? It was Hunt's son, William.

The DreamWorks logo that you see in the movies was made at ILM from paintings by Robert Hunt, in collaboration with Kaleidoscope Films (designers of the original storyboards), Dave Carson (director), and Clint Goldman (producer) at ILM.

Photo courtesy of Robert Hunt - Thanks for the neat story, Robert!

2. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM): Leo The Lion

In 1924, studio publicist Howard Dietz designed the "Leo The Lion" logo for Samuel Goldwyn's Goldwyn Picture Corporation. He based it on the athletic team of his alma mater Columbia University, the Lions. When Goldwyn Pictures merged with Metro Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer Pictures, the newly formed MGM retained the logo.

Since then, there have been five lions playing the role of "Leo The Lion". The first was Slats, who graced the openings of MGM's silent films from 1924 to 1928. The next lion, Jackie, was the first MGM lion whose roar was heard by the audience. Though the movies were silent, Jackie's famous growl-roar-growl sequence was played over the phonograph as the logo appeared on screen. He was also the first lion to appear in Technicolor in 1932.

The third lion and probably most famous was Tanner (though at the time Jackie was still used concurrently for MGM's black and white films). After a brief use of an unnamed (and very mane-y) fourth lion, MGM settled on Leo, which the studio has used since 1957.

The company motto "Ars Gratia Artis" means "Art for Art's Sake."

Sources: MGM Media Center | Wikipedia entry on "Leo The Lion"

3. 20th Century Fox: The Searchlight Logo

In 1935, Twentieth Century Pictures and Fox Film Company (back then mainly a theater-chain company) merged to create Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (they later dropped the hyphen).

The original Twentieth Century Pictures logo was created in 1933 by famed landscape artist Emil Kosa, Jr. After the merger, Kosa simply replaced "Pictures, Inc." with "Fox" to make the current logo. Besides this logo, Kosa was also famous for his matte painting of the Statue of Liberty ruin at the end of the Planet of the Apes (1968) movie, and others.

Perhaps just as famous as the logo is the "20th Century Fanfare", composed by Alfred Newman, then musical director for United Artists.

4. Paramount: The Majestic Mountain

Paramount Pictures Corporation was founded in 1912 as Famous Players Film Company by Adolph Zukor, and the theater moguls the Frohman brothers, Daniel and Charles.

The Paramount "Majestic Mountain" logo was first drawn as a doodle by W.W. Hodkinson during a meeting with Zukor, based on the Ben Lomond Mountain from his childhood in Utah (the live action logo made later is probably Peru's Artesonraju). It is the oldest surviving Hollywood film logo.

The original logo has 24 stars, which symbolized Paramount's then 24 contracted movie stars (it's now 22 stars, though no one could tell me why they reduced the number of stars). The original matte painting has also been replaced with a computer generated mountain and stars.

Paramount logo history, for more details, see: CLG Wiki

5. Warner Bros.: The WB Shield

Warner Bros. (yes, that's legally "Bros." not "Brothers") was founded by four Jewish brothers who emigrated from Poland: Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner. Actually, those aren't the names that they were born with. Harry was born "Hirsz," Albert was "Aaron," Sam was "Szmul," and Jack was "Itzhak." Their original surname is also unknown - some people said that it is "Wonsal," "Wonskolaser" or even Eichelbaum, before it was changed to "Warner." (Sources: Doug Sinclair | Tody Nudo's Hollywood Legends)

In the beginning, Warner Bros. had trouble attracting top talents. In 1925, at the urging of Sam, Warner Bros. made the first feature-length "talking pictures" (When he heard of Sam's idea, Harry famously said "Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?"). That got the ball rolling for the studio and made Warner Bros. famous.

The Warner Bros. logo, the WB Shield, has actually gone many revisions. Jason Jones and Matt Williams of CLG Wiki have the details:

Warner Bros. Logo History - see the full details at CLG Wiki

If you're interested in WB cartoons, you can't go wrong with Dave Mackey's Field guide: Link

6. Columbia Pictures: The Torch Lady

Columbia Pictures was founded in 1919 by the brothers Harry and Jack Cohn, and Joe Brandt as Cohn-Brandt-Cohn Film Sales. Many of the studio's early productions were low-budget affairs, so it got nicknamed "Corned Beef and Cabbage." In 1924, the brothers Cohn bought out Brandt and renamed their studio Columbia Pictures Corporation in effort to improve its image.

Vintage Columbia Pictures Logo (Source: Reel Classics)

The studio's logo is Columbia, the female personification of America. It was designed in 1924 and the identity of the "Torch Lady" model was never conclusively determined (though more than a dozen women had claimed to be "it.")

In her 1962 autobiography, Bette Davis claimed that Claudia Dell was the model, whereas in 1987 People Magazine named model and Columbia bit-actress Amelia Batchler as the girl. In 2001, the Chicago Sun-Times named a local woman who worked as an extra at Columbia named Jane Bartholomew as the model. Given how the logo has changed over the years, it may just be that all three were right! (Source)

The current Torch Lady logo was designed in 1993 by Michael J. Deas, who was commissioned by Sony Pictures Entertainment to return the lady to her "classic" look.

Though people thought that actress Annette Bening was the model, it was actually a Louisiana homemaker and muralist named Jenny Joseph that modeled the Torch Lady for Deas. Rather than use her face, however, Deas drew a composite face made from several computer-generated features (Source: Roger Ebert, Photo: Kathy Anderson)

"Top Gear Ground Force": part 4

2008-12-03T13:21:00.002-05:00

"Top Gear Ground Force": part 3

2008-12-03T13:14:00.005-05:00

"Top Gear Ground Force": part 2

2008-12-03T13:14:00.004-05:00

"Top Gear Ground Force": part 1

2008-12-03T12:52:00.002-05:00

"Sweet Georgia Brown" tractor

2008-11-22T16:37:00.001-05:00

pistol shrimp

2008-11-22T10:29:00.000-05:00

rollerblading bottle musician

2008-11-21T11:39:00.001-05:00

a cat and his fun boxes

2008-11-18T14:07:00.000-05:00

cat n box

sheep from Hell

2008-11-18T09:56:00.005-05:00

Sheep From Hell

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a real ninja turtle

2008-11-18T09:56:00.004-05:00

Real Ninja Turtle

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spiders on drugs and alcohol

2008-11-18T09:55:00.005-05:00

Effects of Drugs and Alcohol on Spider Webs

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walking table

2008-11-18T09:55:00.004-05:00

Did you see this walking table before????

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a turtle in boots

2008-11-17T15:54:00.002-05:00

The Turtle Who Wear Boots

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invisible octopus

2008-11-17T15:53:00.005-05:00

Invisible Amazing Octopus

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one musician, two pianos

2008-11-17T15:53:00.004-05:00

1 Musician 2 Pianos

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odd video clip

2008-11-17T15:40:00.002-05:00

Weirdest Clip of All Time

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snoring duck

2008-11-13T11:47:00.001-05:00

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: Qawwali

2008-11-07T16:10:00.002-05:00

My favorite Pakistani singer...I wish he were still alive!

"Contact" intro

2008-11-06T13:57:00.001-05:00

So neat!

more Jocelyne Wildenstein

2008-11-06T12:12:00.002-05:00

Brittany Murphy and Jocelyne Wildenstein

2008-11-06T12:10:00.001-05:00

long-arm squid

2008-10-31T18:35:00.001-05:00

tipping Echidna: Sydney Australia

2008-10-15T11:53:00.001-05:00

Three Stooges

2008-10-10T08:47:00.000-05:00

The Origin of The Three Stooges

The following is reprinted from The Best of Uncle John's Bathroom Reader.

HOW THEY STARTED

There are so many different stories about the Stooges' origin that it's hard to know which is correct. Probably none of them. Anyway, here's one that sounds good:

There was a vaudevillian named Ted Healy, a boyhood friend of Moe and Shemp Horwitz. One night in 1922, some acrobats working for him walked out just before a show. Desperate, he asked Moe to fill in temporarily, as a favor.

Moe, in turn, got his brother Shemp out of the audience, and the three of them did an impromptu routine that had the audience in stitches. Moe and Shemp loved the stage, so they changed their name from Horwitz to Howard and hit the road with their friend as "Ted Healy and the Gang" (or "Ted Healy and His Stooges," depending on who tells the story.)

In 1925, the trio was on the lookout for another member and spotted Larry Fine (real name: Louis Feinberg) playing violin with an act called the "Haney Sisters and Fine." Why they thought he'd be a good Stooge isn't clear, since he's never done comedy before. But he joined as the third Stooge, anyway.

They traveled the vaudeville circuit for years under a variety of names, including Ted Healy and His Racketeers ... His Southern Gentlemen ... His Stooges, etc. Then they wound up in a Broadway revue in 1929, which led to a movie contract.

In 1931, Shemp quit and was replaced by his younger brother, Jerry. Jerry had a full head of hair and a handsome mustache - but Healy insisted he shave them both off ... hence the name "Curly."

Three years later, after a bitter dispute, the boys broke up with Healy. They quickly got a Columbia film contract on their own, and the Three Stooges were born.

Here's the very first Three Stooges short film, "Woman Haters" (1934)
[YouTube Link Part I | Part II], about 10 min. each.

Over the next 23 years, they made 190 short films - but no features. For some reason, Harry Cohn, head of Columbia Pictures, wouldn't allow it (despite the Stooges' popularity and the fact that they were once nominated for an Oscar.)

From the '30s to the '50s, the Stooges had four personnel changes: In 1946, Curly suffered a stroke and retired; Shemp then returned to the Stooges until his death in 1955; he, in turn, was replaced by Joe Besser (Joe) and Joe DeRita (Curly Joe).

INSIDE FACTS

Two-Fingered Poker
One day backstage in the '30s, Larry, Shemp, and Moe were playing cards. Shemp accused Larry of cheating. After a heated argument, Shemp reached over and stuck his fingers in Larry's eyes. Moe, watching, thought it was hilarious ... and that's how the famous poke-in-the-eyes routine was born.

Profitable Experience
By the mid-'50s, the average budget for a Three Stooges' episode - including the stars' salaries - was about $16,000. Depending on the time slot, Columbia Pictures can now earn more than that with one showing of the same film ... in one city.

So What If He's Dead?
By the mid-'50s the demand for short films had petered out. So, in 1957, Columbia unceremoniously announced they weren't renewing the Stooges' contracts. Moe and Larry were devastated. After 23 years, what else would they do? Moe was rich from real estate investments, but Larry was broke - which made it even harder. They decided to get a third Stooge (Curly and Shemp were dead) and go back on tour. Joe DeRita, "Curly Joe," was selected. They started making appearances in third-rate clubs, just to have work.

Meanwhile, Columbia, hoping to get a few bucks out of its old Stooge films, released them to TV at bargain prices. They had no expectations, so everyone (particularly Moe and Larry) was shocked when, in 1959, the Stooges emerged as the hottest kids' program in America. Suddenly the Stooges had offers to make big-time personal appearances and new films. And they've been American cult heroes ever since.

The article above is reprinted with permission from The Best of Uncle John's Bathroom Reader.

Since 1988, the Bathroom Reader Institute had published a series of popular books containing irresistible bits of trivia and obscure yet fascinating facts.

If you like Neatorama, you'll love the Bathroom Reader Institute's books - go ahead and check 'em out!

Indonesian Mimic Octopus

2008-10-08T09:13:00.002-05:00

10 American financial meltdowns of the past century

2008-10-08T09:06:00.002-05:00

10 American Financial Meltdowns in the Past Century

Banks failed, stock prices collapsed, and panic descended on Wall Street. Americans were holding their collective breath as a rescue plan was hastily drafted. The 2008 financial crisis? Nope - it was the Panic of 1907, and again in 1929, 1987, and so on.

Since its independence more than 230 years ago, the United States has grown to have the largest economy in the world (GDP of $13.8 trillion as of 2007, by the way. That's $13,800,000,000,000). But we didn't get there without quite a few bumps on the road.

To put today's economic trouble into perspective, let's take a look at the 10 financial disasters in the United States in the past century:

1. The Panic of 1907

Floor of the New York Stock Exchange in 1907. Photo: Helen D. Van Eaton

Background: At the time, the young US stock market was in a decline - it was off 25% since the beginning of the year and Wall Street was jittery over the tight money supply.

Trigger: Then along came Otto Heinze with his get-(even)-rich(er)-quick scheme. In October of 1907, Otto, along with his brother, a copper magnate named Augustus Heinze, and the ice king (yup, he sold ice - remember, this was before the age of household refrigerators) Charles W. Morse, aggressively bought shares of United Copper, thinking that they could corner the market on the stock. Their plan failed spectacularly, and immediately bankrupted the trust companies and banks that provided the financing.

Runs on banks immediately ensued as depositors pulled their money from banks that had dealings (or rumored to have dealings) with the trio. In a little less than two weeks in the Panic of 1907, a chain reaction had left 9 trust companies and banks bankrupt.

The Solution: At the time, the United States had no central bank (President Andrew Jackson had abolished the Second Bank of the United States some 6 decades earlier), but we had J.P. Morgan.

The 70-year-old financier stepped in to bail out, er ... save trust companies worth saving and let those who were too far gone to fail. The infusion of cash helped stop the domino effect of failing trust companies, but more money was needed.

So here's what he did:

Morgan gathered 50 trust company presidents at his library, told them to come up with $25 million on their own and left them in a large room. He withdrew to his librarian's office. At 3 a.m., he called in one of his sleep-deprived lieutenants, Ben Strong, for a review of a trust company's books. Strong gave his report, then headed to the library's front doors and found them locked. Morgan had the key in his pocket. No one would leave until the trusts ponied up. The presidents continued to talk. At 4:15, Morgan walked in with a statement requiring each trust company to share in a new $25 million loan. One of his lawyers read it aloud, then set it on a table. "There you are, gentlemen," said Morgan.

No one moved.

Morgan drew Edward King, head of the Union Trust, to the table. "There's the place, King," he said, "and here's the pen." King signed. The other presidents signed. They set up a committee to handle the loan and supervise the final-stage bailouts of endangered trusts. At 4:45, the library's heavy brass doors swung open and let the bankers out. (Source)

Aftermath: The government realized that only having people like J.P. Morgan in charge of saving the entire country's economy was kind of a bad idea, so it created the Federal Reserve System.

2. Wall Street Crash of 1929

The trading floor of the NYSE right after the crash.

Background: In the Roaring Twenties, optimism was everywhere: the Great War, as World War I was called back then, was over and advances in technology seemed limitless. Along with that optimism was an incredibly speculative bull market: stocks went up four fold in value in that decade.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans borrowed money to play the stock market. They bought stocks with just a fraction of the value in cash and financed the rest by borrowing from the broker ("buying on margin," if you've never heard it before). Needless to say, stocks became overvalued fast.

The Crash: What goes up, must come down - but it doesn't have to come down all in one day. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 came in forms of three "black" days.

In the morning of October 24, 1929 - later nicknamed "Black Thursday"- a massive sell-off happened. More than 3 times the normal amount of shares were traded and stock prices tumbled. Richard Whitney of J.P. Morgan and Company came to the trading floor ... and instead of halting trading like everyone expected, he started buying confidently and the market recovered. The market actually went up the subsequent Friday and a little down on Saturday (back then, they traded on Saturdays). And then ... the bottom fell off.

On Monday, October 28, 1929, nicknamed Black Monday, the market fell 13% and the next day, nicknamed Black Tuesday, the market fell another 12%. Financiers like General Motor's William C. Durant and the Rockefeller family stepped in and bought stocks to show confidence, but their efforts failed to stop the slide. (Source)

That week (with heaviest losses over the first two days) the market lost $30 billion, ten times more than the annual budget of the government and more than what the US had spent in all of World War I.

Over the next few weeks, the stock market suffered sharp declines though the true bottom wasn't reached until July 1932. Over three years, the stock market dropped a staggering 89%. It would take about 25 years for the stock market to recover and re-attain the 1929 level. (Source)

Aftermath: The Wall Street Crash of 1929 led directly to ...

3. The Great Depression

"Migrant Mother," a photo by Dorothea Lange depicting Florence Owens Thompson,
a destitute pea picker in California, mother of seven children, age 32. (Source)

Background: Stung by heavy losses on Wall Street, consumers began cutting expenditures. With lowered demand, businesses started laying off people (US unemployment rate rose to 25% by 1933) - which fed an ever-worsening cycle and plunged the US economy into a depression.

As debtors defaulted on their loans, banks began to fail, which led to bank runs as depositors attempted to withdraw their money en masse, triggering even more bank failures. Today, your deposit is insured in the event of a bank failure, but in 1930s, there was no such thing: when a bank failed, its depositors lost all of their money. In the first 10 months of 1930, 744 US banks failed and their depositors lost more than $140 billion. Before the decade was over, about 9,000 banks failed. (Source)

Hooverville in Levittown, New York (Source)

Hooverville: Many people thought that President Herbert Hoover did nothing to save them from the Great Depression. That's just not true: Hoover did a few things, including deporting about 500,000 Mexicans to Mexico (half of which were actually born in the US and thus were legal citizens) and increasing tariffs on imports - which caused other countries to retaliate and US exports to plunge by more than half, but nothing worked.

Hard Times Are Still "Hoover"ing Over Us, photo of two children in a Hooverville (Source)

Many of the people made homeless by the Great Depression lived in makeshift shantytowns called Hoovervilles. They used "Hoover blanket" (old newspaper) to keep warm, wave "Hoover flag" (an empty pocket turned inside out) and drink "Hoover soup" at restaurants (poor people would pour ketchup, salt and pepper into their drinking water at restaurants, then tell the waitress that they didn't see anything they wanted on the menu). Those who were relatively better off drove "Hoover wagon" (a car pulled by a horse because the owner couldn't afford gas). (Source)

Solution: In 1933, the newly elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated the New Deal, which included work relief program for the jobless, financial aid to farmers and business reform, including setting minimum wages and maximum weekly hours. Roosevelt encouraged trade unions and forced businesses to work with the government to set prices (later found to be unconstitutional).

In Roosevelt's first term, unemployment fell by two third and the economy stabilized; full recovery, however, didn't occur until the start of World War II.

Aftermath: The Great Depression had a far reaching effect, even until today. Social Security, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Federal Housing Authorities are direct products of the New Deal that are still active today.

4. 1973 Oil Crisis

Cars waiting in line at a gas station (1979).
Photo: Warren K. Leffler, Library of Congress

Background: In October 1973, Syria and Egypt launched a surprise attack on Israel on the Jewish day of atonement or Yom Kippur. This set off a twenty day war known as the Yom Kippur War (or Ramadan War), in which the Arab forces were defeated.

The embargo: Angry over Western nations' support of Israel, members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) as well as Egypt and Syria shut off oil export to the United States, Western Europe, and Japan.

The crude oil price immediately quadrupled to $12 per barrel (I know. Twelve bucks. How quaint when compared to today's prices!) which led gasoline price at the pump to jump 40% from 38.5 cent to 55 cent per gallon in 1974 (again, I know). The oil shock led to a huge drop in the stock market. The New York Stock Exchange lost $97 billion in value in just six weeks.

US Government responded by rationing gasoline. Long gas lines formed at the pump. In many places, motorists with even-numbered license plates were allowed to buy gas only on even-numbered dates and those with odd-numbered plates could buy only on odd-numbered dates. (Source)

Aftermath: To help reduce consumption, the federal government imposed a national maximum speed limit of 55 mph and mandated fuel efficiency standards for car manufacturers. The government also created the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and the Department of Energy.

5. Black Monday (1987)

The Crash: On Monday, October 19, 1987, the US stock market crashed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 508 points or 22.6%, the largest one-day percentage decline in the stock market history. At one point during the day, so many shares were being sold that "the New York State Stock Exchange ticker fell behind and TV newscasters couldn't tell how much the market had fallen." (Source)

The Culprits: The most popular culprits for the 1987 Black Monday were program trading and a new financial hedging method called portfolio insurance. These two things caused massive stock sell offs and drove down the stock price (note that other factors such as the weak dollar, large US trade deficit, and overvaluations of stock values might have played a role as well) (Source)

Program trading is easy to explain: in the early 1980s, the use of computers became increasingly popular in Wall Street. Traders began to use computers to execute rapid trades based on a pre-determined condition (say, sell when a stock price dropped to a certain point). Dropping stock prices trigger these automated trades, which flood the market with stock shares and caused an even steeper decline in stock prices.

Portfolio insurance is a little bit (okay, a lot) more complex. In 1976, two young Berkeley finance professors named Hayne Leland Mark Rubinstein thought of a way to "insure" a portfolio investments of stocks similar to the way insurance protects an asset. For a price (a kin to an insurance premium), their trading system can guarantee that an investment never loses more than a pre-set (and relatively small) amount.

To do this, portfolio insurance uses financial instruments called derivatives. Most people understand buying and selling stocks - if you buy a share of stock for $1 and sell it for $3, then you've made a profit of $2. Derivatives, on the other hand, let you speculate on the future price of a stock (or a commodity, or really anything at all) without ever owning a single share. For example, you can buy a futures contract, essentially an agreement to purchase a stock say a week from now for $1. If the price of the stock is greater than $1, then you've made money. If the price of the stock is less than $1, then you've lost money. At no point in time do you actually buy the stock!

In the case of portfolio insurance, say you have $1000 in stocks that you want to safeguard from falling in value by next week. Then you sell a futures contract for the stocks. If the value of your stocks dropped, you've lost value in your stocks but gained money from the the futures contract. (Yes this is simplistic, but that's the basic idea).

Without getting into mind boggling technical details, suffice it to say that the portfolio insurance method linked stock prices to the futures index. The whole thing would work but for one teensy flaw: during a panic sell off, there is little market liquidity - you can try to sell stocks, but without any buyer, you effectively can't sell it at any price.

Aftermath: In response to Black Monday, the New York Stock Exchange instituted trading rules (the so-called "circuit breakers") to pause trading if the market fell precipitously. The Federal Reserve also get to play a really big role in ensuring liquidity by pumping billions of dollars into the banking system.

Remember the term derivatives. We'll see that again, soon enough!

6. Savings & Loan Crisis (1989)

Lincoln Savings and Loan, back in its heyday of 1965 (Source)

Background: A Savings and Loan institution is kind of like a bank: people deposit their money in it in the forms of savings, and the S&L gives out mortgages (or loans) to the local community. S&Ls have existed since the 1800s and they were tightly regulated until the late 1970s.

In the late '70s, the newly available money market funds offered much higher interest rates than the S&L, so people started pulling their money out of S&Ls. As a response, S&Ls asked for government deregulation (which they got*) - effectively, S&Ls could then raise interest rates on deposits and make way more loans than before with little oversight. There was a regulatory body, the Federal Home Loan Bank Board (FHLBB), but it was understaffed and its officers were accused of being chummy with the industry.

The S&L Crisis: In the real estate boom of the early '80s, many S&L grew extremely large, extremely fast. Between 1982 and 1985, S&L assets (many of which were speculative real estate holdings and commercial loans) grew 56%. In Texas, 40 S&Ls tripled in size, with some doubling each year. (Source) Needless to say, many were overextended (some were technically bankrupt, but according to the new deregulation rules, they could remain open and thus continued to make bad loans).

By 1987, 505 S&L institutions failed. Some, like those in Texas, failed spectacularly - losses in just that one state comprised more than half of all S&L losses nationwide. The deposits were guaranteed by the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation (FSLIC, just like the FDIC guaranteed bank deposits) - but because of the amount, it turned out that the FSLIC itself was bankrupt!

All in all, by 1995, 747 S&Ls or half of all the S&L institutions in the United States went bankrupt.

The Keating Five: You may have heard of the term "Keating Five," here's the story in a nutshell. In 1984, construction magnate Charles Keating bought Lincoln Savings and Loan of Irvine, California. Before then, Lincoln S&L was a profitable yet conservatively run Savings and Loan institution. Keating fired the existing management and loaded up Lincoln's investment portfolio from $1.1 billion to $5.5 billion by buying land and junk bonds.

In 1986, the FHLBB initiated an investigation on how Lincoln was doing business. Keating, who was politically connected, asked 5 US senators, for whom he had made large contributions, to intervene (which they did). In 1989, Lincoln went bankrupt and more than 21,000 mostly elderly investors lost their life savings (Lincoln had misled them to switch their FDIC-insured holdings to bonds that weren't guaranteed).

The five senators, namely Alan Cranston, Dennis DeConcini, Donald Riegle, John Glenn, and John McCain, were investigated by the the Senate Ethics Committee. Cranston was reprimanded, Riegle and DeConcini were criticized for acting improperly, whereas Glenn and McCain were cleared of impropriety but criticized for poor judgment.

The Solution: In 1989, newly elected President George H.W. Bush announced that he would rescue the troubled Savings and Loan industry. The bailout was priced at a shocking $60 billion, which actually turned out to be overly optimistic. The total cost of the S&L mess was closer to $153 billion, of which $124 was footed by the taxpayers. (Source)

Aftermath: A whole bunch of reform, including the dissolution of the FHLBB and the FSLIC, to be replaced by other regulatory bodies. Freddie Mac, which had been under control of FHLBB, was put under the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, which gave it one additional goal: to buy subprime mortgages to enable low-income families to afford buying houses (we'll see this again).

*Note: The deregulation of the Savings and Loan industry happened with the Garn-St. Germain Depository Institutions Act of 1982. The bill was very popular - one of its provisions was allowing adjustable rate mortgages or ARMs. (Yup, you've guessed it - we'll see ARMs again)

7. Long Term Capital Bailout (1998)

Background: In 1994, legendary bond trader John Meriwether left Salomon Brothers and founded his own hedge fund. He attracted the top financial minds at the time, including two Nobel Prize economists, Myron Scholes and Robert Merton. The hedge fund was named Long Term Capital Management. Meriwether raised $1.25 billion in capital from investors to start. It was the largest funding raised for a hedge fund in history.

LTCM, as the hedge fund was commonly known, wanted to make money the scientific way: in leveraged arbitrage.

At this point, it's probably necessary to define the terms for some people. Hedge fund is a private investment fund that aims to make money using a variety of (often exotic) financial instruments. These funds typically don't buy stocks or bonds, instead they trade derivatives (see "Black Monday" above). The "hedge" in hedge fund comes from their habit of "hedging" their portfolio - meaning that if they hold an asset, they will also place a bet that the value of the asset would go down. If their asset did go down in value, that "hedge" bet would pay off to offset the loss. In theory, this allows the fund's investments to be risk-free. In practice, as we shall see, that's obviously not the case.

Arbitrage is a fancy name for a simple concept: the way to make money by exploiting price differences in two different markets. For example, say that you spot a vase selling for $10 in one swap-meet and for $15 in another. If you buy that vase for $10, then go to the other swap-meet and sell it for $15, you've just made a profit of $5 (less cost of gas, of course).

Leverage is another fancy name for a simple concept, namely borrowing. For example, instead of paying $100 to buy $100 worth of stock or derivatives, you can pay $10 (i.e. 10%) and borrow the rest. So, if you have $100 in your pocket, you can "buy" $1,000 worth of stock or derivatives. Say that a week after you bought that stock, it rose to $130. If you bought 1 share at $100, then you've made $30. But if you leveraged your purchase, you would've "bought" $1,000 worth of stock and you would've made $200 (that's $300 - $100 capital, and of course less borrowing cost). So leveraging lets you amplify your profits but if you lost, it also amplifies your losses.

The arbitrage that LTCM dealt with was in government bonds. Their strategy was complex, but suffice it to say that Myron Scholes famously summarized that LTCM would make money by being "a giant vacuum cleaner sucking up nickels that everyone else had overlooked." (Source)

From 1994 to 1997, LTCM could do no wrong: it returned 40% in profit per year. In early 1998, LTCM's managed portfolio grew to well over $100 billion, with net asset of $4 billion, and it was hard-pressed to find enough profitable deals in bond arbitrage. So, with over $1 trillion-worth of arbitrage, LTCM started to look at emerging markets, specifically in Russian bonds.

The Collapse of LTCM: In August of 1998, faced with their own financial crisis, the Russian government did something that no one thought they would: they defaulted on 281 billion rubles (US$13.5 billion) of its Treasury bonds. This resulted in a fiscal panic and a massive loss for LTCM. In two weeks, it lost $1.9 billion in equity. (Source) That's a rate of about $95,000 a minute!

Then things started to go really bad for LTCM. It had thousands of derivative positions that it couldn't sell without incurring massive losses. But LTCM wasn't alone in this: for every deal it made, there was a counterparty that held the opposite position (for every buyer, there is a seller, and vice versa). If LTCM failed, then it would drag down everybody.

In September 1998, just weeks after the whole thing started to unravel, a consortium of banks and investment firms bailed out LTCM. Under guidance from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Salomon Smith Barney, UBS, Deutsche Bank, Lehman Brothers ... virtually all who's who in banking contributed to the $3.6 billion bailout (no government money was used).

Aftermath: LTCM wasn't supposed to fail. It was managed by the rocket scientists of the financial world, and theoretically, in a rational market, it would always turn a profit. Indeed, after the bailout, the market calmed down and the positions formerly held by LTCM were eventually liquidated at a small profit. But, as economist John Maynard Keynes famously said, "the market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent."

8. Dot-com Bubble (2000)

Background: In 1995, the Internet burst into the public's consciousness. The Internet brought with it a new frontier to do business and everyone and their uncle wanted in on the new gold rush. Venture capitalists poured money into start up firms with poorly thought out business plan (other than "get big fast"), then took them public in an Initial Public Offering.

For a while, it worked: stocks in dot-coms went only one way from 1995 to 2000 and that is up. NASDAQ, the trading market that lists a lot of technology companies, went from 750 in January, 1995 to a peak of 5132 on March 10, 2000.

Despite the warning by the Fed chairman Alan Greenspan in 1996 about the market's "irrational exuberance" and the then-dowdy-but-now-prophetic refusal of legendary investor Warren Buffet to invest in dot-com stocks, companies with no profit and even those without any viable plan to profitability were valued in the millions.

The Bubble Popped: Then, the party was over. Fueled with easy money from venture capitalists and IPOs, dot-com companies spent their way to bankruptcy: Boo.com spent $188 million in just 6 months in attempt to create a global fashion store. Pets.com raised $82.5 million in an IPO only to go bankrupt nine months later. Computer.com spent $3.5 million, or more than half of its budget, in 90 seconds ads during the Super Bowl. That's a staggering $38,889 a second!

The biggest dot-com company that crashed and burned was, hands down, WebVan. The company aimed to deliver groceries to homes and businesses. It raised $375 million in an IPO, expanded to 8 cities (with plan to expand to 26 cities), built $1 billion-worth of infrastructure in forms of high-tech warehouses, and spent lavishly on pretty much everything (they bought 115 Herman Miller Aeron chairs at over $800 a piece!), all before turning a dime in profit. (Source)

WebVan forgot that it was actually in the grocery business, which has razor thin margins to begin with. In a mere 18 months the company had spent itself to bankruptcy.

From March 2000 to October 2002, the dot-com bubble crash wiped out $5 trillion in market value of tech companies and more than half of all dot-com companies went out of business.

9. California Electricity Crisis (2001)

Background: In 1996, state lawmakers decided to deregulate California’s energy market. In the old system, prices were set so consumers faced stable prices but because of the price cap, energy companies didn’t find it profitable to invest in new power plants.

The deregulation was supposed to lower electricity price in the long term by attracting new competitions. Indeed, companies proposed new power plants that would’ve increased California’s capacity by almost 50%. But because of the cumbersome approval process, no new plants were actually built.

The deregulation plan, however, was flawed from the beginning: utilities were forced to sell power plants to the private sector (to companies like Enron and Reliant Energy) and then buy back electricity from them to distribute to homes and businesses. Worse, the utilities weren’t allowed to negotiate long-term contracts - rather, they had to buy on the "spot market" where the prices were very high. Furthermore, the utilities couldn’t pass on the cost to the consumers as retail prices of electricity were still regulated.

The Manufacturing of the Crisis: In June 2000, the market condition was ripe for manipulations. A draught reduced the amount of electricity supplied to California by dams in the Pacific Northwest. At the same time, the demand for electricity rose during the hot summer months.

Enter Enron. Traders at the Texas-based energy company manipulated the electricity market by persuading power plants to shut down for unnecessary "maintenance," laundering electricity (basically, shipping electricity out of California and then charging a higher price by selling it back from out of state), and creating artificial congestions over power transmission lines. The traders called their manipulation strategies by colorful names like "Fat Boy," "Richocet," "Get Shorty," and even "Death Star." (Source) By these means, traders increased the wholesale price of electricity from $45 per megawatt to over $1,400!

The Crisis: Utilities like Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison were hit hard. On one hand, they had to pay Enron upwards of 50 cents per kilowatt hours wholesale but could only charge 6.7 cent to their retail customers (Source). PG&E and SoCal Edison racked up $20 billion in debt (PG&E later filed Chapter 11 protection under bankruptcy laws). As a result, rolling blackouts affected millions of households.

Political Fallout: The California Electricity Crisis ended Governor Gray Davis’ political career. Though he inherited the deregulation mess, people blamed him for being too slow to act during the energy crisis. In 2003, he was recalled and Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected Governor to replace him.

The Bankruptcy of Enron: In late 2001, a scandal involving Enron was brewing. Investigations into the company on its role in the crisis revealed that the company had created offshore entities to hide its debt and made it look much more profitable than it actually was. (Again, like the trading manipulations, Enron gave its offshore entities really colorful names like "Jedi" and "Chewco.") (Source)

Enron’s stock imploded and the company brought down the accounting firm Arthur Andersen, who was found guilty for its role in auditing the company.

10. Subprime Mortgage and Credit Crisis (2007 - )

Photo: respres [Flickr]

Background: To understand the ongoing subprime mortgage and credit crisis, let’s go back a few years. The end of the Dot-Com Bubble was the start of another, even larger bubble: the housing bubble.

From 2000 to 2005, the median sales price of existing homes increased year over year and speculative investment in properties skyrocketed. "Flipping" or buying a house, doing some quick renovation or repair, then selling it for a handsome profit, became sort of a national pastime, with cable TV shows dedicated to it. In 2005 we saw the launch of not one but two shows, one called Flip This House and another - completely unrelated - called Flip That House.

When property values kept on increasing, home loans became very easy to get (after all, if the borrower defaulted on the mortgage, then the bank got the house - which value kept on increasing anyway!). New mortgage products became popular: subprime loans for borrowers who otherwise wouldn’t qualify for loans because of their lack of creditworthiness (hence the term "subprime") and adjustable-rate mortgage, which, as its name implies, have a variable interest rate. In addition to ARMs, there were also interest only loan - which let the borrower pay only the interest and not the principal on the loan for a period of time, and negative amortization loan (or NegAm) which let the borrower pay a portion of the monthly payment (the rest got added to the total amount borrowed - in this type of mortgage, the amount you owe gets larger year after year!).

How easy was it to get a mortgage? One mortgage provider, HCL Finance (motto: "Home of the ‘no doc’ loan" - no doc refers to no documentation of income required) had a product called the NINJA loan. It stood for No Income, No Job (and) no Assets! (Source)

In 2006, home prices started to go down and a year or so later, borrowers of subprime mortgages started to default on their loans. In 2007, almost 1.3 million properties were being foreclosed - a jump of 75% over the year before. (Source) As late as March 2008, it was estimated that 8.8 million homeowners (about 10.8% of total homeowners) have zero or negative equity in their homes, meaning they owe more than their houses are worth. (Source)

Had that been it, the crisis probably would’ve been isolated. Sure some banks would undoubtedly fail because they made bad loans, but the subprime crisis had since spread to the credit markets and created a massive credit crunch that is larger and far more dangerous than the subprime crisis.

Securitization: To understand the current credit crisis, it’s important to understand something called "securitization." Securitization is an old process by which an asset that generates a cash flow can be converted into a security (like a bond), that can then be bought and sold in the market just like any other security.

A great example is the Bowie Bond. In 1997, musician David Bowie issued a bond (basically a loan note) secured by the current and future royalty revenues of his first 25 albums (a total of 287 songs … here it was the "asset"). The 10-year Bowie Bonds were bought for $55 million by Prudential Insurance Company, who then would collect on the royalties for ten years. So David Bowie got $55 million up front, and Prudential could either keep the bond (and get the song royalties) or sell the bond for profit. (Source)

Back to the topic at hand. Traditionally, banks hold mortgages until maturity, with profits being interest of the loan. But Wall Street had an idea: why not do to mortgages what David Bowie did to songs? So they (and by they, I mean Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and 12 Federal Home Loan Banks) pooled together mortgages and bundled them up into asset-backed securities (ABSs) and sold the package to get up front money (the investor would get the monthly mortgage payments from all of the homeowners whose mortgages got bundled).

But wait - these mortgages all had different risks. Some were safe, stodgy 30-year mortgages whereas others were subprime loans that though were more risky, also had higher interest rates and thus were more profitable. Not to worry: Wall Street split the ABSs into "tranches" (just a fancy word meaning sections or classes): the safest were rated AAA (by rating agencies whose sole job was to gauge how risky something was … and got paid by those whom it rated - talk about a conflict of interest!), the rest were medium and low-rated tranches.

The logic was this: one borrower might default on his loan, but if you bundled them together, there’s safety in number: it’s unlikely that ALL borrowers would default all at once.

But wait - there’s more. The medium and low-rated tranches were riskier investments, but it’s unlikely that all of them would default at the same time. So let’s take all those medium-to-low rated ABSs and pool them together to create something called collateralized debt obligations (CDOs). And through the magic of rating, we once again could turn some of these risky securities into - tada! - A-rated securities fit for pension funds. Repackage these CDOs a few more times and pretty soon you wouldn’t know how much subprime loans were actually in them. (Source)

The Credit Crisis: So how did the housing downturn infect the credit markets? Well, when the housing price dropped, a large number of borrowers began to default on their mortgages. Suddenly, ABSs and CDOs looked very suspicious as no one knew how much exposure to the subprime mortgage mess these securities actually had. The market for ABSs and CDOs dried up and holders of these securities couldn’t sell them. In many cases, these companies leveraged their purchase of these securities, which really amplified their losses.

Just as the market worsened and investment firms and companies found that their holdings of ABSs and CDOs were worth far less than they had paid for them (and thus had to write off that loss in their books - causing a number of hedge funds to collapse), another domino fell: Credit-default Swaps (which took down AIG).

Credit-default Swap: Credit-default Swap (or CDS) is basically insurance on debt. Say that a bank buys a large amount of bonds from a company. As with any debt, there is a risk of the debtor fail to pay the money back. To protect against the company defaulting on its bond payments, the bank would buy CDS. In case of a default, the bank go to the insurer and cash in its CDS.

American International Group or AIG was the creator and the largest seller of CDS. It thought that CDS was an insurance product just like a homeowner’s policy, but obviously it was wrong. "Any one house burning down doesn’t increase the likelihood that lots of other houses will burn down," explained Adam Davidson of NPR, "That doesn’t apply to bond insurance." (Source)

In case of bonds, a default can create a domino effect: as investors lose confidence and sell, the price of bonds go down and the interest rates go up. Borrowers who can’t find capital to meet their obligations would start to default on their bonds and the cycle deepens. (Photo: Gone-Walkabout [Flickr])

To make sure that AIG would actually pony up and pay the CDS in case of a bond default, it had to post a collateral. This collateral depended on their credit ranking - as their credit was downgraded, it had to post more collateral. Because of its worthless mortgage-backed securities assets, AIG’s creditworthiness would be downgraded - which meant that it would need to post as much as $250 billion, which of course it didn’t have laying around, in collateral in a matter of weeks!

Why Bail Out AIG? Over the years, the CDS market has grown into a $70 trillion a year business. And since no one knew who has CDS from AIG, the failure of AIG would mean that a lot of companies are holding bonds that are significantly riskier than they first thought. Companies that had "hedged" their bets by buying CDS would find their books suddenly unbalanced, which means they have to sell off assets to cover their risks or they would become insolvent. This failure would propagate throughout the entire economy and create a "systemic failure." That, by the way, was what the government was trying to avoid by bailing out AIG. (Source)

The Credit Crunch: The basic essence of the credit crunch is this: banks won’t lend because they can’t be sure that they’ll be paid back. Companies with excellent credit ratings found themselves unable to get a loan (after all, all those ABSs and CDOs had excellent ratings, so who’s to say that the ratings are worth anything?). Even some banks find themselves unable to borrow money from other banks!

The Solution? As you well know by now, the White House requested, and the Congress passed a $700 billion bailout program. The idea is to for the government to buy distressed asset, especially mortgage-backed securities, from the nation’s banks, which would inspire banks to lend again. The bailout remains unpopular with the general public, who perceive it as bailing out Wall Street, who caused this mess in the first place.

Whether the bailout will work or not remains to be seen.

________________

I’ll be the first to acknowledge that this article greatly oversimplifies many things that are very, very complex (like derivatives). We’ve also skipped many subjects (like the collapse of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, the bailout of Freddie Mac, and so on). We didn’t talk at all about the international aspects of some of these crises.

In all fairness, it is not meant to be a treatise on these economic failures. Even the experts can’t come to an agreement on some of these stuff. Despite having over 50 years to analyze the Great Depression, economists still can’t agree on what caused it!

Scott Armit drum salute: Loon Mountain 2008

2008-10-04T17:43:00.001-05:00

baby lynx makes bread

2008-09-30T17:22:00.001-05:00

Those paws are HUGE!!!

Rhymes with Orange: dog/cat comic strip

2008-09-29T14:35:00.003-05:00

Stuart Highland Pipe Band Gr II Loon Mountain 2008

2008-09-25T09:55:00.002-05:00

We placed third as a band and won the drumming.

1973 Alex Duthart/Shotts and Dykehead Caledonia drum salute

2008-09-24T14:54:00.002-05:00

at the 1973 World Pipe Band Championships

Steven Whirter plays Alex Duthart drum salute

2008-09-24T14:52:00.002-05:00

Alex Duthart: backsticking and stick clicking

2008-09-24T14:51:00.002-05:00

World Pipe Band Championships 2008: Simon Fraser University medley

2008-09-24T14:43:00.002-05:00

World Pipe Band Championships 2008: Simon Fraser University MSR

2008-09-24T14:42:00.002-05:00

playing their march, strathspey, and reel set

Alex Duthart/British Caledonian Airways Pipe Band: Drum Salute

2008-09-16T10:09:00.002-05:00

surviving velociraptor attach

2008-09-16T09:55:00.000-05:00

54 seconds

Created by Bunk Beds Pedia

escaping a hurricane by car

2008-09-12T20:24:00.001-05:00

How To Escape A Hurricane By Car

Evacuating from a hurricane involves more than just getting into your car and driving away from the coast. Of the estimated 120 deaths associated with Hurricane Rita, 107 of them were related to the mass vehicular evacuation rather than the storm itself. With hurricane watches being issued for the Mid-Atlantic and a major hurricane approaching the Bahamas, we thought it was a good time to review the proper steps an individual should take when evacuating from a storm in a motor vehicle.

Assess...

...Your Risk
Hurricanes rarely appear out of nowhere and modern forecasting technology typically gives citizens days to prepare. If you live in an area on or near the Atlantic Coast or the Gulf of Mexico, it's possible that you are at risk. If you live hundreds of miles inland, like in Oklahoma, you don't need to worry. Michigan? Yeah, probably not an issue for you either. Check with your local Office of Emergency Management or state government for information about whether your house is within an evacuation zone. Below are examples of hurricane evacuation maps:

...Your Threat
If it appears that a hurricane could head your way in a few days resist the urge to immediately panic. A storm deep in the Atlantic could take as long as a week to reach the United States coast after being named. Check with the National Hurricane Center, your local weather forecasters, newspapers and television to see how likely the threat really is and the timing of the storm.

Prepare......

Your Vehicle

The stress of an evacuation isn't just felt by your family. It is also felt by your car. Make sure that your vehicle is in good operating condition, fueled up and able to drive at least a few hundred miles. Things you'll need:

A full tank of gas
Insurance information and maps
Properly inflated tires with a spare tire
Phone charger
Functioning A/C (very important, especially when traveling with elderly or children. Also, if you have to turn off your car to save gas you'll want to cool down when you get moving again)
Flashlight
Money, specifically cash, to fill up your car multiple times

...Your Family & Pets
During the Rita and Katrina evacuations there were families that spent nearly a day in their cars, with an average time on the road of over 10 hours for Rita. Think about what your family and pets need to survive for at least one day in a car and possibly for multiple days on the road. This list below is just a start and may vary based on the age and special needs of the people traveling.

Water
Ice in a cooler if possible (it gets hot)
Non-perishable food, snacks
Toiletries
Clothing
Blankets and pillows
Music, games, cards and anything else to distract yourself and others
Toilet Paper — you may have to go on the road
Sanitary gel like Purell, see above
Medications
Pet items such as a leash

...Your Documents
As opposed to merely driving off for a regular road trip, leaving your home during an evacuation means, God forbid, you may not have anything to return to and you may have to register with the government for help or seek medical care. These are the basic documents you will need, though you should also consider other important information.

Drivers license and Social Security card for all those traveling
Health insurance information
A copy of your homeowner's/renter's policy, just in case
Certificate of vaccination for pets, in case you have to board your pet or enter a shelter
Photos of your house if you have time

...Your House
Assuming that you aren't suddenly caught off guard by the storm, it is important to protect your house from damage and secure items like patio furniture that could turn into missiles during a storm. The National Hurricane Center has a great guide outlining how to secure doors and windows.

Plan...

...Your Routes
Every coastal state has their own evacuation route that shows, for the area, the best way to evacuate. These are large highways built to handle large traffic loads and, typically, designed to be adjusted for hurricanes. Unfortunately, during a mass evacuation these roads can become crowded and it may be better to take a different route. Assuming you have the option you should plan multiple ways of escape.

Try to avoid smaller roads you don't know well, since construction, flooding and other hazards can slow you down. Always prioritize official hurricane routes first because these are the areas where emergency personal will set up relief stations with fuel and water. In some situations, local officials will set up contraflow lanes in order to alleviate traffic, something that won't happen on other roads. During storms, most local authorities will waive tolls on toll roads and open up all of those lanes.

Examples of state evacuation routes:

...Your Final Destination
With a hurricane on your doorstep your first instinct is to get away, often with little concern as to where you are actually going. If you have family nearby — but further inland in a place that is safe from storms — then that is often the best place to stay. There's no need to spend a day on the road if there is a safe location just hours away.

If you have no friends or family to stay with, consider, as early as possible, booking an affordable hotel safely inland from where you are. You may have to try for a while as hotels along the route are quickly booked. If you can't find a place to stay or can't afford a hotel, the Red Cross and other organizations will set up shelters during a major storm. Check the radio for shelter locations.

...Your Departure Criteria
One of the biggest challenges for emergency planners is the presence of "shadow evacuation" situations, when a large mass of people who do not need to evacuate suddenly do, clogging up the roads for those who really need to get out. If you live far inland in a well-built structure in an area that rarely floods, then you may not need to evacuate from the path of a weak storm.

Consider the threshold for when you stay and when you go so that you avoid panic when a storm gets closer. Meteorologists use the Saffir-Simpson scale to determine the strength of the storm. Is it safe for you to stay during a Category 1 storm? What about a Category 3 storm? Check with local authorities to see what, if any, threshold your area may already have in place.

If local authorities order a voluntary or mandatory evacuation then you need to go as quickly and as safely as possible.

React...

...Quickly To The Threat
If an evacuation is ordered or it seems likely that your threshold for evacuation is going to be reached soon, quickly gather your friends, family and safety material. Something important to look for is a hurricane watch or a hurricane warning.

A hurricane watch means hurricane-type conditions are likely within the next 24 to 36 hours. A hurricane warning means conditions are likely within 24 hours. If you are within a hurricane watch and the storm is stronger than you think you can safely handle, then that's a good indicator that you should leave.

...Carefully To Sudden Changes
Forecasters have gotten much better at predicting landfall for hurricanes and traffic planners have gotten much better at preparing roads for mass evacuations, but that doesn't mean either are perfect. Listen closely to the weather radio and news because the path of the storm might change and you could find yourself driving somewhere that's in the path of the storm.

Before Hurricane Alicia, our family fled from the south Texas coast to Houston to avoid the storm. When we arrived we found out that the storm had changed directions and was now heading towards Houston. Thankfully, the place we were staying was far enough inland to be safe.

During the Hurricane Rita evacuation we were following our planned route north when the radio announced that all toll lanes had been opened for the remainder of the evacuation. We were able to change our route and likely saved at least an hour in travel.

...Calmly When Confronted With Traffic And Communication Failures
Traffic is going to happen. There's just no getting around it unless you leave exceptionally early or the storm is minor. If you have a properly prepared car, you've considered all the routes and everyone in the vehicle can stand the trip then the best option might be to just continue forward as opposed to turning back or wildly deviating from your safe routes. Listen to the radio for guidance on how to avoid traffic or to get time estimates.

With everyone on the roads and jumping on their cell phones at once it is possible that it may be difficult to get through when the service is overwhelmed. We learned during Rita that, typically, text messages will get through when phone calls will not. If it isn't an emergency message try talking with people via messaging.

Return...

...Only When Cleared By Authorities
Once the storm has passed your instinct is going to be to race back home to see how your property fared. If your area took a direct hit it may not be safe to do so. There may be no power, no water, destroyed bridges and standing flood water waiting for you. Your authorities will tell you when it is safe to return.

...With An Eye For Debris & Water
Once you've been cleared to return home there may still be debris on the road. Be a vigilant driver and watch out for downed trees, debris and especially be wary of fallen power lines. One of the more frequent indirect storm deaths involves individuals driving over power lines and electrocuting themselves. If you see high water also be careful and turn around, don't drown.

Other Resources

This is a brief guide meant to get you thinking about what to do when hurricanes threaten your area. Your local news media and authorities will know better about your local situation and you know best as to what you can and cannot do before a storm. Rash decisions are often bad decisions. The more preparation you make the less likely you are to be in a situation where you'll make a rash decision.

Links

[Photo Credit: STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images, Evacuation From Hurricane Rita]

things you wanted to know about the hadron collider

2008-09-12T20:22:00.000-05:00

10 Things About the Large Hadron Collider You Wanted to Know But Were Afraid to Ask

Photo: Maximilien Brice, CERN

1. Why is it called the Large Hadron Collider?

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The first one is easy: Large because it is really big. The LHC is a large circular tunnel with a circumference of 27 kilometers (17 miles), buried in the ground under an average of 100 m (328 ft) of dirt and rock.

In particle physics, hadron is a family of subatomic particles made of quarks and held together by the strong force*. Examples of hadrons are protons and neutrons. As you can guess from the name, the LHC uses mostly protons (with some ions) for its experiments.

Lastly, collider because the LHC accelerates protons into two beams travelling in opposite directions and then collides them to see what particles come out.

*There are four fundamental interactions: the strong force, the weak force, the electromagnetic force and gravity. Despite initial observations of the elusive metachlorian by Jinn, QG, et al (1999) Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, the existence of "The Force" remains a controversial hypothesis unaccepted by most modern scientists.

2. Why is it underground?

Well, that's because finding 27 kilometers worth of real estate above ground is really, really expensive. Actually, the LHC uses a tunnel originally dug for a previous collider (the LEP or the Large Electron Positron collider), which was decomissioned in 2000.

All that dirt and rock also provide great shielding to reduce the amount of natural radiation that reaches the LHC's detectors.

3. Why is the LHC like a Werewolf?

Both are affected by the Moon! Like tides in the ocean, the ground is also subject to lunar attraction. When the Moon is full, the Earth's crust actually rises about 25 cm (9.8 in). This movement causes the circumference of the LHC to vary by (a whopping) 1 mm (out of 27 km, a factor of 0.000004%) ) but that's enough so that physicists need to take it into account. (Source: CERN FAQ: LHC, the Guide [PDF])

4. Why is the LHC like a Refrigerator?

The Large Hadron Collider is not only a cool particle physics gizmo, it's also a very, very cold one. Indeed, it is the largest cryogenic system in the world and is one of the coldest places on Earth.

To keep them at superconducting temperature, scientists have to cool the LHC's magnets down to 1.9 K (-271.3°C), which is lower than the temperature of outer space (-270.5°C). First, the magnets are cooled to -193.2°C using 10,000 tons of liquid nitrogen. Then 90 tons of liquid helium is used to lower the temperature down to -271.3°C. The whole cooling process takes a few weeks.

5. Who the heck is CERN anyway?

In 1952, eleven European countries came together to form the European Council for Nuclear Research (Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire in French, which gave it the acronym CERN).

Two years later in 1954 it was renamed the European Organization for Nuclear Research, which would've given it the French name of Organisation Européenne pour la Recherche Nucléaire or the acronym OERN). Nobody liked "OERN", so the acronym CERN stuck.

If CERN sounds familiar to you even before this whole LHC business got started, that's because the World Wide Web was started by CERN employees Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau (See: 10 Things You Should Know About the Internet)

6. How much does it cost, and who's paying for it?

The Large Hadron Collider is nearly 30 years in the making - and costs the member countries of CERN and other participating countries an estimated €4.6 billion (about US$ 6.4 billion). Like those late night infomercials, however, we can say "but that's not all!" Extra things like detectors, computing capacity, and extra warranty (just kidding!) cost an extra €1.43 billion.

The United Kingdom, for example, contributes £34 million per year, less than the cost of a pint of beer per adult in the country per year (Source).

The United States contributed approximately $531 million to the development and construction of components for the LHC (with the US Department of Energy shelling out $450 million and the National Science Foundation kicking in the remaining $81 million).

7. How much electricity is used to run the LHC?

It takes 120 MW to run the LCH - approximately the power consumption of all the Canton State of Geneva. Need a better comparison? 120 megawatt is equivalent to the energy used by 1,2 million 100 watt incadescent light bulb or 120,000 average California home.

It's estimated that the yearly energy cost of running the LHC is €19 million.

8. How much data is expected from the LHC?

The LHC experiments represents about 150 million sensors delivering data 40 million times a second. The data flow is about 700 MB/s, or about 15,000,000 GB (15 petabyte) per year. If you put all that in CDs, it'll stack 20 km tall each year! Perhaps it's better to put them in DVDs. That'll just be 100,000 DVDs every year ...

To prepare for the deluge of data, CERN built the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid - sort of a super-fast, private Internet connecting some 80,000 computers to analyze the data (Source).

9. Okay, will the LHC spawn a black hole that'll eat my planet?

Every time physicists come up with particle accelerators, party poopers come up with doomsday scenarios on how they will destroy Earth: black holes, killer strangelets, magnetic monopoles, and vacuum bubbles.

Let's talk about them one by one:

Micro black hole: Basically it's a region in space where gravity is so powerful that nothing, not even light, can escape. Planet-eating black holes are created when massive stars collapse on itself (and by massive, we mean massive - even our Sun isn't big enough to create a black hole if it collapsed. You'd need 10 times the mass of the Sun.)

There is a remote possibility that micro black holes can be created in the collisions at the LHC. These black holes are small: about 10^-35 m across (the so-called Planck Length) and puny in mass (less than a speck of dust). These black holes would evaporate in 10^-42 seconds in a blast of Hawking radiation. Even black holes with the mass of Mt. Everest would have a radius of about 10^-15 m across. It would have trouble "eating" a proton, much less the entire planet. (Source: Pickover, C. (1997) Black Holes: A Traveler's Guide)

Strangelets: These are strange matters that, like the Ice-nine in Vonnegut's novel Cat's Cradle, would turn all matters it touched into strange matters and eventually all of the planet will be transmuted into strangelets.

The problem with strangelet doomsday scenario, besides being very bizarre, is that no one has ever seen a strangelet. It remains a hypothetical particle. Previous particle accelerators that operated at lower energy than the LHC were actually better candidates to producing strangelets, and so far, we're still here.

Magnetic monopoles: These are hypothetical particles with a single magnetic charge (hence the name) - either a north pole or a south pole, but not both. Magnetic monopoles "eat proton."

Actually, physicists have been looking for magnetic monopoles for a long time - and so far they've never found it. By calculations, magnetic monopoles are actually too heavy to be produced at the LHC.

Vacuum bubble: It is actually a very interesting idea in quantum field theory. It states that life, the universe and everything aren't the most stable configuration possible. Perturbations caused by the LHC could tip it into the more stable state (called the vacuum bubble) and all of us "pop" out of existence.

In all of these cases - if micro black hole, strangelets, magnetic monopoles, and vacuum bubbles were a problem to begin with, they would've been created by cosmic rays already. The continued existence of Earth and the rest of the universe tend to discount the validity of these doomsday scenarios.

cat versus printer

2008-09-12T08:29:00.002-05:00

Alex Duthart: on pipe-band drumming drags

2008-09-10T10:46:00.002-05:00

Dang, he's good!

another one

2008-09-09T14:04:00.001-05:00

astronomical brainabetizer

2008-09-09T14:03:00.000-05:00

I've been ninja'ed!

2008-09-09T13:51:00.000-05:00

my ambigram: Cadden

2008-09-09T13:34:00.001-05:00

my ambigram: Hardin

2008-09-09T13:33:00.003-05:00

my ambigram: Atlee

2008-09-09T13:33:00.001-05:00

my ambigram: Carroll

2008-09-09T13:32:00.001-05:00

evolution of national flags

2008-09-09T08:27:00.001-05:00

The Evolution of National Flags

Did you know that the current US flag was designed by a high school student for a class project? (He got a B, though his teacher changed it to an A after Congress accepted it as the national flag!). Did you know that the Libyan flag is green (and nothing but green) or that the precursor to the Philippines flag had a Jolly Roger? Read on ...

1. Flag of the United States: The Stars and Stripes

Supposedly, it was George Washington himself who proclaimed "We take the stars from Heaven, the red from our mother country, separating it by white stripes, thus showing that we have separated from her, and the white stripes shall go down to posterity representing Liberty."

Lower Left: Colonial Flag, used chiefly by Colonies of New England before the Revolutionary War. Lower Right: Bunker Hill Flag, used by New England troops at the battle of Bunker Hill. Upper Left: Pine Tree Flag of the Navy, used by the American ships early in the Revolutionary War. Upper Right: Rattlesnake flag, used early in Revolutionary War. Center Left: First National Flag, used in 1776, before the Declaration of Independence. Center Right: The Present "Star Spangled Banner" (Image: History of the US, a high school text book in 1885 [wikipedia])

At the time of the signing of the Declaration Independence, the United States of America had no official national flag. The Grand Union Flag is considered to be the first national flag of the United States, though it didn't have any official status.

In 1777, the Second Continental Congress passed the Flag Resolution stating that the national flag of the United States has 13 red and white stripes, and 13 white stars in a blue field. But it didn't specify the arrangement of the stars. One popular story is that George Washington asked Betsy Ross to design and sew the flag (Betsy decided to use a 5-pointed star instead of 6 to save time). Though this story is accepted as historical fact by most Americans, historians doubted it as the only evidence was the words of her only surviving grandson.

Since then, a new star is added to the flag when a new state joined the Union (in 1795, 2 stars and 2 stripes were added when Kentucky and Vermont became states, but the number of stripes subsequently reverted back to 13).

When Alaska and Hawaii were being considered for statehood, people sent in more than 1,500 new flag designs to President Eisenhower. One of the designs was submitted by a 17-year-old high school student named Bob Heft, who first created it as a school project. He got a B- for it (for "lack of originality"), though his teacher agreed to change his grade if his design was accepted. When Bob's flag design was chosen, his teacher changed the grade to an A! (Source)

2. The Flag of Afghanistan

Afghanistan is a landlocked country in south-central Asia. It is not particularly rich in natural resources, but its geographical location made it a crossroad between the East and the West. Throughout history, Afghanistan has probably seen more wars and conquests than any other piece of land in the world.

A true reflection of its history, the Afghan national flag has had more changes during the 20th century than flags of any other countries in the world.

Phew. Image credit: Wikipedia

3. Flag of the United Kingdom: the Union Jack

Image credit: Guilherme Paula [wikipedia]

The national flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the royal banner known as the Union Flag or more popularly the Union Jack. Its current design is the combination of the red Cross of St. George (patron saint of England), the ~~white~~ red Saltire (or X-shaped cross) of St. Patrick of Ireland and the white Saltire of Saint Andrew of Scotland.

Why is it called the Union Jack? Some people say because it was named after King James I of Great Britain (after Jacobus, Latin for James) who introduced the flag; others say that the "jack" refers to the jackstaff, a small pole in the bow of the ship used to fly flags - and since Britain's navy was formidable, the name Union Jack stuck.

If you look closely at the Union Jack, you'll notice that the diagonal red and white stripes aren't symmetrical. Here's the story behind it:

In 1801, an Act of Union which made Ireland a co-equal member of the United Kingdom made it necessary to add a symbol for Ireland to the flag, but without obliterating any of the existing symbols. If the St. Patrick's cross had been centered on the diagonal stripes, then St. Andrew's cross would have been relegated to an inferior position, basically serving only as a border for St. Patrick's. But Scotland was the senior of the two kingdoms, so this was unsatisfactory. The solution was to divide the diagonal stripes diagonally, so that the red St. Patrick's cross would take up only half of each stripe, and so that half devoted to St. Andrew would take the place of honor. Thus, in the two hoist quarters, the white St. Andrew's cross occupies the upper position, and in the two fly quarters, the red St. Patrick's cross occupies the upper position. (Source)

But what happened to Wales? The Flag of Wales, The Red Dragon or Y Ddraig Goch, isn't represented in the Union Jack because Wales was annexed by England in 1282. With the Laws in Wales Act 1535 - 1542, it is legally part of the Kingdom of England and thus represented under the St. George's Cross flag.

4. Flag of Albania

Albania has one of the most kick ass flags around: the two-headed eagle design was derived from a 15th century Albanian warrior named Gjergj Skanderbeg, the Dragon of Albania (who, ironically, had a two-headed eagle as a seal, not a dragon). Skanderbeg, in turn, got the design from an ancient Byzantine heraldry.

The evolution of the flag of Albania is as follows:

5. Flag of Libya

The flag of Libya is ... green. Green, and nothing but green - in fact, it's the only national flag in the world with only one color and no design or insignia. Green is the traditional color of Islam, the state religion of Libya, and also symbolizes Gaddafi's "Green Revolution," where he overthrew the Libyan monarchy in 1969.

6. Flag of the Seychelles

Seychelles is an archipelago nation of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean east of Africa. The country has 3 flags since its independence in 1976 from the British Commonwealth.

In the current flag, the blue band represents the sky and the sea that surrounds the island nation, the yellow band is the sun, the red symbolizes the people, the white band represents social justice and harmony, and the green band depicts the country's land and nature.

7. Flag of the Philippines

The present-day national flag of the Philippines has elements of the flags flown by the Katipunan secret society during the Philippine Revolution. The Pambansang bandila ("National Flag") was first conceptualized by General Emilio Aguinaldo during his exile in Hong Kong in 1897 and hand sewn by Marcela Agoncillo, her daughter Lorenzo and a friend named Josefina Herbosa de Natividad.

Though the Katipunan flags aren't considered national flags (and thus not a direct precursor of the current flag), their varieties and designs deserve a mention (plus what other national flag has a Jolly Roger?)

Some of the Katipunan generals have their own personal flags:

Anyway, here is the evolution of the Philippine national flag:

Actually, the blue color has been changed at least 5 times in the Philippines flag (read more about the blue shade debate here)

10 most fascinating savants in the world

2008-09-05T09:25:00.000-05:00

10 Most Fascinating Savants in the World

Sometimes the most amazing abilities of the human brain are revealed exactly when things go wrong with it. Take, for example, savants - people who have mental abilities that could only be characterized as superhuman (like having photographic memory, playing music perfectly after hearing it just once, or doing complex mathematical calculations in one's head) but otherwise severely disabled in every day cognitive functions and social interaction.

Does the human brain have latent savant-like abilities? Does our higher cognitive functions somehow block these abilities, and why? And can we have savant-like abilities without the accompanying autism and/or developmental disabilities? One intriguing study by Dr. Allan Snyder of the Centre for the Mind suggested that temporarily impairing the left fronto-temporal lobe in healthy subjects by low-frequency magnetic pulses could result in savant-like mental abilities (see, for example: article in New York Times "Savant for a Day")

Most savants are born with their abilities (and unfortunately, their developmental disorders), but not all: severe brain injuries can, in very rare instances, cause savant-like abilities to surface (see, for example: The Case of the "Sudden" Savant). One noted savant (Daniel Tammet, see below) is a highly functioning autistic savant who can perform amazing mental feats but does not have significant developmental disabilities.

There are a few savants in the world (called "prodigious savants") whose abilities are so exceptional that they would've been classified as phenomenal with or without cognitive disabilities. Let's take a look at 10 savants with superhuman mental skills:

1. Kim Peek, the Real Rain Man

Even though you've never heard of Kim Peek, chances are you've heard the movie Rain Man. Kim was the inspiration for the character played by Dustin Hoffman in the movie.

Kim Peek was born with severe brain damage. His childhood doctor told Kim's father to put him in an institution and forget about the boy. Kim's severe developmental disabilities, according to the doctor, would not let him walk let alone learn. Kim's father disregarded the doctor's advice.

Till this day, Kim struggles with ordinary motor skills and has difficulty walking. He is severely disabled, cannot button his shirt and tests well below average on a general IQ test.

But what Kim can do is astounding: he has read some 12,000 books and remembers everything about them. "Kimputer," as he is lovingly known to many, reads two pages at once - his left eye reads the left page, and his right eye reads the right page. It takes him about 3 seconds to read through two pages - and he remember everything on 'em. Kim can recall facts and trivia from 15 subject areas from history to geography to sports. Tell him a date, and Kim can tell you what day of the week it is. He also remembers every music he has ever heard.

Since the movie Rain Man came out, Kim and his father have been traveling across the country for appearances. The interaction turns out to be beneficial for him, as he becomes less shy and more confident.

2. Leslie Lemke

[YouTube clip]

Leslie Lemke didn't have a great start in life. He was born with severe birth defects that required doctors to remove his eyes. His own mother gave him up for adoption, and a nurse named May Lemke (who at the time was 52 and was raising 5 children of her own) adopted him when he was six months old.

As a young child, Leslie had to be force-fed to teach him how to swallow. He could not stand until he was 12. At 15, Leslie finally learned how to walk (May had to strap his fragile body to hers to teach him, step by step, how to walk).

At 16 years of age, Leslie Lemke bloomed. In the middle of one night, May woke up to find Leslie playing Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1. Leslie, who has no classical music training, was playing the piece flawlessly after hearing it just once earlier on the television.

From then on, Leslie began playing all styles of music from ragtime to classical. Like the Tchaikovsky piece, he only has to hear the music once in order to play it again perfectly. He became famous after being portrayed in national television shows. Before his health started to deteriorate, Leslie gave many concerts around the world.

More info about Leslie Lemke:

Leslie Lemke - An Inspirational Performance
Leslie Lemke in concert (April 29, 1986) [YouTube]
A DVD of Leslie Lemke performing live at the Performing Art Center in Pittsville, Wisconsin can be ordered from:

Miracle of Love Ministries
8099 Grant Road
Arpin, WI 54410
Cost: $20.00

3. Alonzo Clemons

As a toddler, Alonzo suffered a head injury in an accident that changed his life. He can't feed himself or tie his shoelaces, but he can sculpt.

And boy, can he sculpt: after seeing only a fleeting image of an animal on a TV screen, Alonzo could sculpt a perfect 3D figure of it, correct in each and every detail right down to the muscle fibers.

Check out Alonzo's official website, where you can purchase his sculptures: Link

4. Gottfried Mind: Cat's Raphael

Gottfried Mind's cats (For more, check out Art Prints on Demand)

Gottfried Mind was one of the earliest savants in history. In 1776, the eight-year-old Gottfried was placed in an art academy, where his teachers noted that he was "very weak, incapable of hard work, full of talent for drawing, a strange creature, full of artist-caprices, along with a certain roguishness."

One day, Gottfried's mentor, a painter named Sigmund Hendenberger, was drawing a cat when Gottfried exclaimed "That is no cat!" The teacher asked whether he could do better and sent the child to a corner to draw. The cat that Gottfried drew was so lifelike that since then he became known as the Cat's Raphael:

In the course of his narrow, indoors life, he had worked himself into an almost paternal relation with domestic animals, especially with cats. While he sat painting, a cat might generally be seen sitting on his back or on his shoulder; many times he kept, for hours, the most awkward postures, that he might not disturb it. Frequently there was a second cat sitting by him on the table, watching how the work went on; sometimes a kitten or two lay in his lap under the table. Frogs (in bottle) floated beside his easel; and with all these creatures he kept up a most playful, loving style of conversation; though, often enough, any human beings about him, or such even as came to see him, were growled or grunted at in no social fashion. (Source)

5. Gilles Tréhin

[YouTube Link: Art Savant: The City Inside My Head]

Gilles Tréhin lives part-time in the city of Urville, in an island off the Côte d'Azur, between Cannes and St. Tropez. Never heard of it? That's because Urville exists only in his mind.

Since he was 5, Gilles taught himself to draw three dimensional objects. By 12, he started building a city he called "Urville" (after Dumont d'Urville, a French scientific base in the Antarctic). At first he used LEGO, but shortly thereafter, he realized that he could expand his imaginary city much easier with drawings.

Abbaye Sainte Marguerite des Tégartines, in Urville

Urville isn't just an idle idea - Gilles has 250 detailed drawings, complete "history" of the founding the the city, and has even published a book detailing it (Sneak peak at Google Books)

Visit Urville at Gilles' official website here: Link

6. Jedediah Buxton

Jedediah Buxton, born in Derbyshire, England, in 1707, couldn't write. By all accounts, he has no knowledge of science or history or anything else for that matter except for numbers. Jedediah, as it turned out, was one of the world's earliest mental calculators and savants.

Everything was numbers to Jedediah - in fact, he associated everything he saw or experienced with numbers. He measured the area of the village he was born in simply by walking around it. When he saw a dance, his whole attention was to count the number of steps of the dancers. At a play, Jedediah was consumed with counting the number of words uttered by the actors.

The mental feat of Jedediah Buxton was tested by the Royal Society in 1754 - his mathematical brain was able to calculate numbers up to 39 figures.

7. Orlando Serrell

Orlando Serrell wasn't born autistic - indeed, his savant skills only came about after a brain injury. In 1979, then ten-year-old Orlando was playing baseball when the ball struck him hard on the left side of his head. He fell to the ground but eventually got up to continue playing.

For a while, Orlando had headaches. When they went away, he realized he had new abilities: he could perform complex calendar calculations and remember the weather every day from the day of the accident.

From Orlando's official website:

What makes Orlando Serrell so unique is that he may indeed hold the key that unlocks the genius in us all. Orlando Serrell did not possess any special skills until he was struck in the head by a baseball when he was 10. And his extraordinary gifts seem to be his only side effect. Could this mean once a key hemisphere in the brain is stimulated, we can all attain the level of genius Orlando posses and beyond? Only time and research will tell. Until then we will do well to keep our eyes on Orlando and learn what we can from his experience.

8. Stephen Wiltshire, the Human Camera

As a young child, Stephen Wiltshire was a mute - he was diagnosed as autistic and was sent to a school for special needs children. There, he discovered a passion for drawing - first of animals, then London buses, then buildings and the city's landmarks. Throughout his childhood, Stephen communicated through his drawings. Slowly, aided by his teachers, he learned to speak by the age of nine (his first word was "paper.")

Stephen has a particularly striking talent: he can draw an accurate and detailed landscape of a city after seeing it just once! He drew a 10 meter (~33 ft) long panorama of Tokyo following a short helicopter ride.

[YouTube Link: Stephen Wiltshire Draws Tokyo from Memory, fun starts at 3:20]

More info about Stephen Wiltshire:

9. Ellen Boudreaux

Like Leslie Lemke, Ellen Boudreaux is a blind autistic savant with exceptional musical abilities. She can play music perfectly after hearing it just once, and has a such a huge repertoire of songs in her head that a newspaper reporter once tried to "stump Ellen" by requesting that she played some obscure songs - and failed. Ellen knew them all.

Ellen has two other savant skills that are unusual. First, despite her blindness, she is able to walk around without ever running into things. As she walks, Ellen makes little chirping sounds that seems to act like a human sonar (See also our post on Ben Underwood, a blind teen who uses echolocation to "see").

Second, Ellen has an extremely precise digital clock ticking in her mind. To help overcome her fear of the telephone, Ellen's mom coaxed her to listen to the automatic time recording (the "time lady") when she was 8. From then on, Ellen knows the exact hour and minute, any time of the day without ever having seen a clock nor have the concept of the passing of time explained to her.

For more info on Ellen, see:

Ellen - "With a Song in Her Heart"

10. Daniel Tammet: Brainman

YouTube Clip: Daniel Tammet - The Boy With the Incredible Brain [1/5]

At first glance, you won't be able to tell that Daniel Tammet is anything but normal. Daniel, 29, is a highly functioning autistic savant with exceptional mathematical and language abilities.

Daniel first became famous when he recited from memory Pi to 22,514 decimal places (on 3/14, the International Pi Day, of course) to raise funds for the National Society for Epilepsy.

Numbers, according to Daniel, are special to him. He has a rare form of synesthesia and sees each integers up to 10,000 as having their own unique shapes, color, texture and feel. He can "see" the result of a math calculation, and he can "sense" whether a number is prime. Daniel has since drawn what pi looks like: a rolling landscape full of different shapes and colors.

Daniel speaks 11 languages, one of which is Icelandic. In 2007, Channel Five documentary challenged him to learn the language in a week. Seven days later, Daniel was successfully interviewed on Icelandic television (in Icelandic, of course!).

When he was four years old, Daniel had bouts of epilepsy that, along with his autism, seemed to have brought about his savant abilities. Though he appears normal, Daniel contends that he actually had to will himself to learn how to talk to and behave around people:

As he describes in his newly published memoir, “Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant” (Free Press), he has willed himself to learn what to do. Offer a visitor a drink; look her in the eye; don’t stand in someone else’s space. These are all conscious decisions.

Recently, some friends warned him that in his eagerness to make eye contact, he tended to stare too intently. “It’s like being on a tightrope,” he said. “If you try too hard, you’ll come off. But you have to try.” (Source)

There is a big difference between Daniel Tammet and all the other prodigious savants in the world: Daniel can tell you how he does it and that makes him invaluable to scientists trying to understand the savant syndrome:

Professor Allan Snyder, from the Centre for the Mind at the Australian National University in Canberra, explains why Tammet is of particular, and international, scientific interest. "Savants can't usually tell us how they do what they do," says Snyder. "It just comes to them. Daniel can. He describes what he sees in his head. That's why he's exciting. He could be the Rosetta Stone." (Source)

More info about Daniel Tammet:

Official website and blog
60 Minutes Interview
Born on a Blue Day, Daniel's autobiography (Daniel was born on a Wednesday, a day he perceived as blue).
Daniel Tammet - The Boy with the Incredible Brain (5 clips)

I'll be the first to admit that we have only scratched the surface of the fascinating topic of savant syndrome. If you are interested, here are some suggested websites by Darold A. Treffert, the world's foremost expert on savant syndrome, for further reading:

Savant Syndrome, Darold Treffert's website at the Wisconsin Medical Society
Islands of Genius [PDF], a Scientific American article by Darold Treffert and Gregory Wallace

Capital District medley, August 31, 2008

2008-09-04T21:27:00.000-05:00

Stuart Highland Gr.3 Medley 2008 Capital District Games @ Yahoo! Video

Capital District MSR, August 30, 2008

2008-09-04T21:26:00.000-05:00

Stuart Highland Gr.3 MSR 2008 Capital District Games @ Yahoo! Video

Capital District MSR warmup, August 30, 2008

2008-09-04T21:25:00.001-05:00

Stuart Highland Capital District Warmup MSR @ Yahoo! Video

women ARE teachable!

2008-09-03T15:33:00.001-05:00

afros of the world

2008-09-03T15:32:00.001-05:00

Toothpaste for Dinner: Vivantoril!

2008-09-01T19:17:00.004-05:00

toothpastefordinner.com

how a dog drinks

2008-09-01T18:54:00.001-05:00

via videosift.com

Fred Flintstone's voice

2008-08-29T09:59:00.002-05:00

Toothpaste for Dinner: Material Balance (Dog)

2008-08-28T20:01:00.002-05:00

toothpastefordinner.com

"Oh, crap" indeed!

2008-08-26T12:55:00.002-05:00

Name that hairdo!

2008-08-22T15:38:00.001-05:00

Name That Hairdo

Score: 83% (10 out of 12)

5 weird water facts

2008-08-22T13:42:00.002-05:00

5 Really Weird Things About Water

Water, good ol' H₂O, seems like a pretty simple substance to you and me. But in reality, water - the foundation of life and most common of liquid - is really weird and scientists actually don't completely understand how water works.

Here are 5 really weird things about water:

1. Hot Water Freezes Faster Than Cold Water

Take two pails of water; fill one with hot water and the other one with cold water, and put them in the freezer. The hot one would be frozen before the cold one. But wait, you say, that's counterintuitive: wouldn't the hot water have to cool down to the temperature of the cold water before proceeding to freezing temperature, whereas the cold one has "less to go" before freezing?

In 1963, a Tanzanian high-school student named Erasto B. Mpemba was freezing hot ice cream mix in a cooking class when he noticed that a hot mix actually froze faster than a cold mix. When he asked his teacher about this phenomenon, his teacher ridiculed him by saying "All I can say is that is Mpemba's physics and not universal physics."

Thankfully, Mpemba didn't back down - he convinced a physics professor to conduct an experiment which eventually confirmed his observations: in certain conditions, hot water indeed freezes before cold water*.

Actually, Mpemba was in good company. The phenomenon of hot water freezing first, now called the "Mpemba effect" was noted by none other than Aristotle, Francis Bacon and René Descartes.

But how do scientists explain this strange phenomenon? It turns out that no one really knows but there are several possible explanations, including differences in supercooling (see below), evaporation, frost formation, convection, and effects of dissolved gasses between the hot and cold water.

*In reality - of course - it's much more complex than that: hot water freezes first (it forms ice at a higher temperature than cold water), whereas cold water freezes faster (it takes less time to reach the supercooled state from which it forms ice) - see discussion on our previous blog post about this topic.

2. Supercooling and "Instant" Ice

Everybody knows that when you cool water to 0 °C (32 °F) it forms ice ... except that in some cases it doesn't! You can actually chill very pure water past its freezing point (at standard pressure, no cheating!) without it ever becoming solid.

Scientist know a lot about supercooling: it turns out that ice crystals need nucleation points to start forming. These nucleation points could be anything from gas bubbles to impurities to the rough surface of the container. Without these things, water would continue to be a "supercooled" liquid well below its freezing point.

When nucleation is triggered, then a supercooled water would "instantly" turn into ice, as this very cool video clip by Phil Medina of MrSciGuy shows:

Note: Similarly, superheated water remains liquid even when heated past its boiling point.

3. Glassy Water

Quick: how many phases of water are there? If you answer three (liquid, gas, and solid) you'd be wrong. There are at least 5 different phases of liquid water and 14 different phases (that scientists have found so far) of ice.

Remember the supercooling we talked about before? Well, it turns out that no matter what you do, at -38 °C even the purest supercooled water spontaneously turns into ice (with a little audible "bang" no less). But what happens if you continue to lower the temperature? Well, at -120 °C something strange starts to happen: the water becomes ultraviscous, or thick like molasses. And below -135 °C, it becomes "glassy water," a solid with no crystal structure. (Source)

4. Quantum Properties of Water

At a molecular level, water is even weirder. In 1995, a neutron scattering experiment got a weird result: physicists found that when neutrons were aimed at water molecules, they "saw" 25% fewer hydrogen protons than expected.

Long story short, at the level of attoseconds (10^-18 seconds) there is a weird quantum effect going on and the chemical formula for water isn't H₂O. It's actually H_1.5O! (Source)

5. Does Water Have Memory?

In the alternative medicine of homeopathy, a dilute solution of a compound ~~can~~ is purported to have healing effects, even if the dilution factor is so large that statistically there isn't a single molecule of anything in it except for water. Homeopathy proponents explain this paradox with a concept called "water memory" where water molecules "remember" what particles were once dissolved in it.

This made no sense to Madeleine Ennis, a pharmacologist and professor at Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Ennis, who also happened to be a vocal critic of homeopathy, devised an experiment to disprove "water memory" once and for all - but discovered that her result was the exact opposite!

In her most recent paper, Ennis describes how her team looked at the effects of ultra-dilute solutions of histamine on human white blood cells involved in inflammation. These "basophils" release histamine when the cells are under attack. Once released, the histamine stops them releasing any more. The study, replicated in four different labs, found that homeopathic solutions - so dilute that they probably didn’t contain a single histamine molecule - worked just like histamine. Ennis might not be happy with the homeopaths’ claims, but she admits that an effect cannot be ruled out.

So how could it happen? Homeopaths prepare their remedies by dissolving things like charcoal, deadly nightshade or spider venom in ethanol, and then diluting this "mother tincture" in water again and again. No matter what the level of dilution, homeopaths claim, the original remedy leaves some kind of imprint on the water molecules. Thus, however dilute the solution becomes, it is still imbued with the properties of the remedy.

You can understand why Ennis remains skeptical. And it remains true that no homeopathic remedy has ever been shown to work in a large randomised placebo-controlled clinical trial. But the Belfast study (Inflammation Research, vol 53, p 181) suggests that something is going on. "We are," Ennis says in her paper, "unable to explain our findings and are reporting them to encourage others to investigate this phenomenon." If the results turn out to be real, she says, the implications are profound: we may have to rewrite physics and chemistry. (Source)

So far, other scientists failed to reproduce Ennis' experimental findings (throughout, Ennis herself was skeptical of the result's interpretation that water has a "memory" but maintained that the phenomenon she saw was real).

More recently, a team of scientists at the University of Toronto, Canada, and Max Born Institute in Germany, studying water dynamics using fancy multi-dimensional nonlinear infrared spectroscopy did find that water have a memory of sorts - in form of hydrogen bond network amongst water molecules. Problem for homeopathy was, this effect lasted only 50 femtoseconds (5 x 10^-14 seconds)!

Bonus: Ice Spikes

photo: SnowCrystals

Ice spikes are, well, spikes that grow out of ice cube trays. They look like stalagmites found in caves, and you can make 'em yourself using distilled water. Kenneth G. Libbrecht of SnowCrystals explains:

How do Ice Spikes Form?

Ice spikes grow as the water in an ice cube tray turns to ice. The water first freezes on the top surface, around the edges of what will become the ice cube. The ice slowly freezes in from the edges, until just a small hole is left unfrozen in the surface. At the same time, while the surface is freezing, more ice starts to form around the sides of the cube.

Since ice expands as it freezes, the ice freezing below the surface starts to push water up through the hole in the surface ice (see diagram). If the conditions are just right, then water will be forced out of the hole in the ice and it will freeze into an ice spike, a bit like lava pouring out of a hole in the ground to makes a volcano. But water does not flow down the sides of a thin spike, so in that way it is different from a volcano. Rather, the water freezes around the rim of the tube, and thus adds to its length. The spike can continue growing taller until all the water freezes, cutting off the supply, or until the tube freezes shut. The tallest spike we've seen growing in an ordinary ice cube tray was 56mm (2.2in) long. (Source)

Bonus 2: Make Instant Snow with Boiling Water

What do you get when you throw boiling water to the air in subzero weather? Instant snow. Interestingly, it only works with boiling hot water:

[YouTube clip]

These aren't the only things weird about water. We didn't talk about how water density changes with temperature (ice, for instance, is less dense than water so it floats - a key property of water that made life possible in the oceans and lakes). Nor did we talk about the weirdly strong surface tension of water, ordered clustering of liquid water, and so on. If you are interested, check out the Anomalous Properties of Water article by Martin Chaplin.

bunny ear massage!

2008-08-22T13:40:00.000-05:00

rabbit massage

spaghetti cat!

2008-08-19T09:08:00.000-05:00

2008 Olympics opening ceremony

2008-08-14T10:06:00.002-05:00

no pet rental in Massachusetts!

2008-08-13T08:57:00.006-05:00

Yay! Great news:

Dear Friends,

It was exactly a year ago that I first heard of Flexpetz, which was renting companion dogs by the hour in California, with plans for NYC, DC, the UK and Boston. My instant reaction was “no way, this has to stop.” Not everyone shared the sentiment. So I did my research--and became even more concerned.

In desperation, I blogged and sent e-Alerts far and wide, urging people to contact legislators. Mass. Animal Coalition was the first to post an alert to its membership. Over time, others followed, and so did the filing of legislation at the state and municipal levels.

The rest is history--history that all of you made. On July 16, Boston became the first city in the nation to prohibit the cruel “disposable pet” trade. And now Massachusetts is the first state.

You stopped the pet rental trade here before it had a chance dumb down attitudes and numb compassion. Just as important, the legislation you passed will serve as a warning to future business models built on animal exploitation. Now they know: You won’t let that happen, not in your backyard.

Legislators call your accomplishment “amazing.” That a bill filed the end of February moved through the pipeline to passage in five months is unprecedented. You did that. You are animal rescue volunteers and behavior professionals...ACOs and dog walking groups...and simply caring individuals, with and without pets of your own. Some of you know one another, others may never meet.

Coalition to Prohibit the Renting of Pets was a virtual organization, linking most of us only by email and all by dint of our commitment to protecting animals. We worked without funds, meetings (thankfully!), slick publications, a lobbyist or even a formal structure. This was grassroots activism at its purest--and most effective.

Celebrate but stay vigilant: Flexpetz has announced plans for 120 U.S. locations. And it's just the door opener; spin-offs already have surfaced. We’re fortunate that Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, who has embraced this issue, will provide leadership to his counterparts nationwide. As among the most respected of the big-city mayors, his support is invaluable.

Hopefully, the legislation you passed also will inspire other states as it has the UK, where motions have been raised in Parliament to ban pet renting. You even sparked a great strip by Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau.

Keep the dialogue going by blogging and writing letters to the editor; keep challenging pet renting myths. (Yes, some still think it's "rescue.") Reach out to advocates across the country too. Please don’t let this new form of animal abuse proliferate, because once it does, there’s no turning back.

It has been said that evil triumphs when good people do nothing. In Massachusetts, cruelty was defeated because good people did something. Everyone has the power to make a difference. Continue to use yours.

Bravo to all of you!

Beth

Special thanks to our Consulting Experts:

• Patricia McConnell, PhD Zoologist, Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist; Public Radio Host; Author
• Raymond J. McSoley, Founder, Behavior Department, Angell Memorial Animal Hospital; Owner/Behavior Therapist, Animal Behavior Associates (Westwood); Author
• Paul Waldau, PhD, JD, Director, Center for Animals and Public Policy, Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine; Author

All three, preeminent in the world of animal behavior and ethics, joined our campaign without knowing me—and without a minute’s hesitation. Despite the enormous demands on their time, they gave their all, providing testimony, writing op-eds and letters to the editor, and contacting legislators.

Want to thank them? Make a tax-deductible donation in their names to an all-volunteer shelter or rescue group. Every penny will provide direct services to animals. Every penny counts. Here’s a small group that made a huge impact on our campaign:

• Friends of the Plymouth Pound, PO Box 578, Manomet, MA 02345 (www.gis.net/~fpp )

Under the leadership of Gayle Fitzpatrick, many dozens of volunteers crossposted every one of our e-Alerts, blogged, leafleted, wrote letters to the editor and made endless calls to legislators. Gayle’s been known to reach into her own pocket to buy the freedom of abused animals from their tormenters, and to fund spay/neutering in the South. On top of working round the clock—without pay—to keep FPP afloat and care for her own fosters, she’s in the trenches on a daily basis, rescuing the dogs and cats others throw away.

Donations to FPP or the all-volunteer rescue/shelter of your choice will support these heroics. (And they make thoughtful Christmas/Chanukah gifts for clients, friends and other special people in your life!)

Thank you to those who went above and beyond:

• Laura Allen, Esq., Animal Law Coalition
• Deni Michele Goldman, Animal Control Officers Assn. of Mass.
• Candace Hertzel and Daphna Nachminovitch, PETA
• Donna Fournier Cuomo, The Joey Fournier Services
• Jonathan Stone Rankin, Esq.
• Stacy Wolf, Esq., American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
and especially
• Sheryl Rapee-Adams, Best Friends Network

We’re also grateful to:

• Kara Holmquist and Bryn Conklin, MSPCA, and Gary Patronek and Alan Borgal, Animal Rescue League of Boston, for their testimony
• Susana Abbott
• Jeffrey Birnbaum
• Pat Canning
• Ken Casanova
• Barbara Favermann
• Jamie Kordack
• Bettiann McKay
• Pat Miller, CPDT, CDBC
• Lauren Nealley
• Georg Schmieder and Sam Wallace
• Julie Rembrandt Seeley
• Sinead Scott-Lennon, Dogs Trust, London
and
• Rachelle Cohen and Laurel Sweet, Boston Herald
• David Ertischek and Steve Ryan, Community Newspapers
• Art Goody, NECN
• Michael Graham, WTKK-FM
• Bob Katzen, Beacon Hill Roll Call
• Garry Trudeau, Universal Press Syndicate
• Victoria Warren, WHDH-TV

And most of all, thank you to our legislative champions:

• Rep. Vincent Pedone and Sen. Anthony Petruccelli, without whom the state bill would not have passed. It could have died in committee as so many others did. They refused to let that happen. The senator has a dog, the rep doesn’t. Both acted on principle, the conviction that renting pets is bad for animals, bad for people, bad for society.

• Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner, who filed our ordinance and worked very hard, very effectively to pass it, guided only by his moral compass; none of our core group is a constituent. Councilor Turner was in daily contact, advising us every step of the way. It was his advocacy that caused a rare occurrence in Boston politics—a unanimous vote.

• Rep. Paul Frost, who filed the state bill, and aide Matthew Carleo, who fielded more calls and emails in five months (mostly from me!) than anyone should have to in a lifetime.

• Sen. Edward Augustus, Jr., lead Senate sponsor.

• Rep. Will Brownsberger, who gave generously of his time and counsel to keep us on track.

• Gary Anderson, Legislative Director for Sen. Petruccelli, and Liana Pedi, aide to Rep. Pedone, who researched, informed, advised and advocated for us. Patience is among their many virtues.

• The state bill’s cosponsors: Representatives Will Brownsberger, Jennifer Callahan, Stephen Canessa, Cheryl Coakley-Rivera, Jamie Eldridge, John Fresolo, Denis Guyer, Lida Harkins, Brad Hill, Thomas Kennedy, Kay Khan, Karyn Polito, Denise Provost, Mike Rush; and Senators Robert Antonioni, Edward Augustus, Jr. and Cynthia Stone Creem.

• House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi and Senate President Therese Murray, whose leadership was instrumental in expediting the bill.

• Gov. Deval Patrick and Mayor Thomas Menino for signing the state bill and City of Boston ordinance into law, and Mayor Menino for advancing our effort nationally.

Let’s not forget the aides who took our many, many calls—especially the following, who went out of their way to help:

• Neel Chaudhury, aide to Rep. Eldridge
• Marissa Hunnewell, aide to Rep. Canessa
• Josh Krintzman, aide to Sen. Augustus
• Jake Lambert, aide to Rep. Balser
• Amanda MacDonald, aide to Rep. Guyer
• Adam Marx, aide to Rep. Harkins
• Barbara Miranda, aide to Rep. Brownsberger
• Lisa Sears, aide to Sen. Creem
• Darrell Villaruz, aide to Rep. Khan

Very big thanks to April Botta, Regional Marketing Coordinator, and Petco, which opened its doors for us to leaflet, and whose managers and staff couldn’t have been more supportive. This is a chain that genuinely cares about animals; it deserves your patronage.

Finally, my own heartfelt appreciation to our core group for their outreach, advice, leafleting, testimony at the Boston and state hearings…and moral support.

• Leslie Burg, Former Alderman, City of Newton
• Sandra Finder, Social Worker; Volunteer, Northeast Pyr Rescue
• Gayle Fitzpatrick, Founder, Friends of the Plymouth Pound (www.gis.net/~fpp)
• Jinny Fuller, Board Member, Buddy Dog Humane Society
• Jordan Gallagher, Animal Advocate
• Jo Jacques, Certified Dog Behavior Consultant (www.wigglebums.com)
• Cheryl Major, Volunteer, Buddy Dog Humane Society; NECN Animal Adoption
Guest; Realtor, ReMax Landmark (www.cherylmajor.com)
• Kathleen Sabina, Animal Control Officer
• Jordan Star, Student, Pollard Middle School—who, among other things, delivered awesome testimony!
• Lisa Westwell, Web Designer (www.westwellswebworks.com)

And as you know by now, Coalition to Prohibit the Renting of Pets is a grassroots effort of animal rescue volunteers, animal behavior and welfare professionals, and caring individuals with the support of:

• American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
• Animal Control Officers Association of Mass.
• Animal Law Coalition
• Animal Rescue League
• Boston Dog Rescue, Inc.
• Buddy Dog Humane Society
• Friends of the Plymouth Pound, Inc.
• Humane Society of the United States
• MARC
• MassPAWS
• Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
• Milford Humane Society
• Northeast Pyrenees Rescue
• PETA
• Salem Vegan Society
• Stray Pets in Need of Massachusetts, Inc.

Thanks to one and all.

**********************************************************************************************************
Books by our consulting experts:

Patricia McConnell, PhD
• The Other End of the Leash
• For the Love of a Dog: Understanding Emotion in You and Your Best Friend
• Feeling Outnumbered? How to Manage and Enjoy Your Multi-Dog Household
• Family Friendly Dog Training
• Puppy Primer

Raymond J. McSoley
• Dog Tales: How to Solve the Most Troublesome Behavior Problems of Man’s Best Friend

Paul Waldau, PhD, JD
• A Communion of Subjects: Animals in Religion, Science, and Ethics
• The Specter of Speciesism

against animal testing

2008-07-30T11:15:00.003-05:00

Animal testing...Is it just? Is it necessary? NO!

1. Animals suffer horribly in labs and lab experiments.
2. Alternative testing methods exist while animal experiments waste billions of tax dollars a year.
3. The overwhelming majority of experiments don't even address the nation's worst diseases.
4. Regulation is poor and record keeping is misleading.

family Wordle

2008-07-25T13:56:00.003-05:00

Stuart Highland Pipe Band Medley: Glasgowlands, July 19, 2008

2008-07-22T12:59:00.002-05:00

Stuart Highland Pipe Band MSR: Glasgowlands, July 19, 2008

2008-07-20T07:16:00.002-05:00

We got first place...yay!

What have we done to our breed?

2008-07-15T13:31:00.004-05:00

From bulldogsworld.com:

How many times have we heard this? Anywhere from breeders of other breeds who don't quite understand some of the issues we go through, to the media who question our "true motives" for perpetuating the suffering inflicted by our stubborn adherence to the Standard, to a few enterprising breeders here and abroad who have strived to "make this breed better" or to bring it "back to its former glory" by crossing existing bulldogs with breeds such as Mastiffs, bullmastiff, American Bulldogs, Olde English, you name it.

Scariest of all is the Weiss Kennel Club's backing of a scheme of a former Bulldog breeder to make the breed "as it was meant to be" by cross breeding pure Bulldogs with Old English and/or American Bulldogs (not sure which one, either way, it is appalling to me and should be to everyone who loves this breed as it is now). Strangely enough, these people are not at all recreating the Rose and Crib style dog of old, but have merely created nothing more than a generic bull-breed mix. (If they read their history, they would know that in order to get back to the Bulldogs of the pre-1860's they would have to downsize quite a bit, but that probably wouldn't appeal to those interested as much as the dogs advertised as weighing well over 100 pounds.)

In these days of "cock-apoos, peke-a-poos, "Labradoodles" and even Miniature Bulldogs, what's another man made breed? That's really all these new bull-breeds are. It's another way to profit off a public hungry for something "new," or to benefit from our breed's wild popularity. Many of these breeders advertise their dogs as "healthier versions of the broken down modern English Bulldog."

So, back to the above question. The answer is quite simple. "What have we done to our breed?" Not much. Oh, we have improved it quite a bit, but we certainly have done nothing to this breed maintenance of a breed that has remained virtually unchanged since the type we see today was "stamped" in the late 1800's.

Certainly, we can look at things such as modern nutrition and techniques for better conditioning and 100 more years of breeding selection to make up for the subtle difference in style and substance between then and now, but when we look back over the last century, we see dogs that were first visualized and then realized by a very dedicated group of fanciers.

The bottom line: The dogs we all love today are pretty much what the early club members had in mind. (I'm sure those fanciers would have something to say about the over all lack of some absolute necessitates for type such as true top line, front ends, tail set and the troubling lack of any massive jaw size, length and sweep which is rampant these days in America and the general over all lack of truly grand head type, but they dealt with these issue back then, too, and I am referencing show dogs. Pet quality has and always will run the gambit between truly poor to very good.)

The biggest complaint of the "anti-bulldog" movement is that we (modern breeders) have created a breed of dog which is on the edge of extinction, either by the breeding/whelping difficulties, the exaggerated conformation, the breathing difficulties, the aggravating immune-related disorders, and so on and so on....

A brief history of our breed is that it was once a fierce little fighting dog that almost went extinct after the 1835 "Act" which banned the dog-baiting sports until a group of men gathered together to save it. The Bulldog Club was formed in good part to preserve the type as they knew it, to maintain purity from that point forward. The Pug crosses of a decade or so prior had been quietly swept under the rug and some early ardent fanciers denied it all together. While some strains remained pure, the strains with the cross ultimately influenced the final product, the "Missing Link" as it were between the Crib/Rosa types and the modern type. Likely the most important goal was to prevent the importation and cross-breeding of Spanish-breed bulldogs that weighed well over 100 pounds. This was a breed that was totally English and they were bound and determined to keep the breed pure.

From Farman's "Monograph" of 1899: "It was in the fitness of things, therefore, that The Bulldog Club should have come into existence in a public house, the Blue Post, Newman Street, Oxford Street, London. At this place, it was that one night in 1874 a few very hardened admirers of the breed met together, earnest in their intention to save the "pot-house dog" from gradual extinction, as well as the threatened invasion of the Spanish Bulldog under the generalship of Mr. Frank Adcock. It is interesting to note that the very fact of the dog's association saved the breed from becoming a basatard race and preserved it from the impending introduction into its veins of blood of the Spanish Milk-cart dogs.

"The present club was started on the 13th of April, 1975, at a time when a determined attempt was being made by the gentleman already named (Adcock) and Mr. Dawes to "enlarge" the Bulldog from its average size to one of a weight of 100-120 lbs. Although the dog was mainly in the hands of certain class, still its patrons were true fanciers and as jealous of the preservation of the purity of its blood as the patrons of any more fashionable breed. As to the suggested crossbreeding, they would have none of it, it was a case of English for England, and sheer self-defiance the few ardent fanciers banded themselves together and reconstituted the old Bulldog Club, which existed some years earlier, but for a very short time only.

And from an earlier book, the Cynographia Britannia of 1800: "The Bulldog is in height about 18 inches and weighs about thirty-six pounds...."

The old Bulldog of England was not a large dog an it is important to remember that in discussing the purity of "our" Bulldogs compared to the newer created bull breeds, or even the older American Bulldog whose breeders claim it to be purely descended from the old English Bulldogs.

The Standards were written, with Philo Kuon's coming in 1865, Jacob Lamphier's "Properties and Points" coming out in Vero show's Book of the Dog in 1879 and The Bulldog Club's (England) official version in 1875.

That is a condensed history, but it is important to know it as a Bulldog lover of any type.

So, back to the old questions at the beginning of this article. Well, what is interesting to me and is the point of this article in the first place, is that the health woes we experience today were just as common 100+ years ago.

It really flies in the face of those who claim we are going to destroy the breed if we don't crossbreed them and fast!

I found the following passages in some of my favorite old books and thought them to be of interest.

"....Recently (for the last 2 or 3 years) in the Manchester District, fanciers have collectively found that a practical and skillful Veterinary Surgeon has amazingly reduced the mortality in whelping by the Caesarian operation. the percentage of loss, both of puppies and their dams, is exceedingly small, and I feel, that in the interests of the breed, I should put it on record."

Sam book has another passage under "Blister on Feet":

"Those red bulging between the toes of many Bulldogs are extremely painful to the dog and very often the cause of bitter disappointment to the owner."

From Bulldogs and ALL About Them by Henry St. John Cooper (around 1910):

"For follicular mange I can offer no suggestions for treatment, except the foregoing, which may or may not be effective, but at any rate is well worth the trial" (he had previously described treatment for sarcoptic mange). "Eczema if often mistaken by the novice for mange."

"I remember at a certain show, a lady gave a special prize to the Bulldog with clean ears. The prize was not awarded, for out of the twelve dogs exhibited not one had clean ears. Canker is very often caused in the first place by neglect. The wax and dirt are apt to stop the hearing and make the dog appear deaf."

There are many more excepts in the old dog books to the Bulldog health concerns. Even the tail issue was a hot topic at the turn of the century. Funny how the breed had the same conditions it has now and is surprisingly still around and thriving in numbers (which in reality is not at all a good thing).

For the anti-Bulldog movement, this should be food for thought. The breed is still around after all this time. And we didn't have to crossbreed them to do it. Our breed (like so many others) has its own particular health issues. Some are quite unique to them alone, some are common among similar bracecephalic breeds and some are just going to happen, regardless of the type of dog it is. And, most important, not every Bulldog suffers these issues. That should always be remembered.

We should be on guard, however. There already seems to be one Kennel Club in the world out to change the breed. And the sponsor claims to be making the breed healthier by crossbreeding it. We need to be aware of the health problems in our breed and we really need to correct them. It's very possible.

And thanks to the efforts of the BCA and others involved in the breed, ignorance is no longer an excuse (not that is ever should have been). There are many Bulldogs that enjoy healthy, normal and lengthy lives, by any breed's standards, and many of them are the finest show dogs.
It must be the goal of every breeder to add health to their overall breeding goals. After all, the mix bull-breed breeders are catering to those who want a Bulldog, but don't want the health problems. It has been going on for too long that people accept the preventable problems as "normal for the breed." There is nothing NORMAL about a dog that struggles to breath through tight nostrils and narrow trachea.

In this day of anti-dog legislation and anti-dog breeder in general, it would behoove us all, not to mention the dogs themselves, to make a very aggressive stand against the Bulldog heal issues that seem shadow our breed at every turn.

Elizabeth Hugo

my personality type

2008-07-04T11:04:00.002-05:00

ISFP

The Peacemaker

Introverted Sensing Feeling Perceiving

ISFPs are gentle and compassionate, open and flexible. They are considerate of others and do not force their views and opinions on them. They often focus on meeting others' needs, especially those who are less fortunate. Having a quiet, modest, self-effacing style, ISFPs avoid disagreements and seek harmony with people as well as with nature. They enjoy life's precious moments and often add a touch of beauty to the environments where they spend their time. They are at their best ensuing others' well-being.

The ISFP is your

Identity

These are your MyType friends who have the same personality type as you. The ISFP is your identity.

ISFP Friends

Self Perception 4% of MyType	Image 5% of MyType	Your Impression
None	None	No

Living

ISFP children are pleasant, quiet, and kind. Their talents may be easy to overlook because they shun the spotlight and do not have a strong need to demonstrate their strengths to others. They may be particularly drawn to people, animals, and plants who need the gentle care that ISFPs provide.

ISFP children generally relate well toothers and tend to have friends because they are easy to like. They are interested in others' feelings and notice particularly when disharmony exists. It is quite difficult for ISFPs to see their friends in conflict with one another. When this occurs, they will try to help ease the disagreements by playing the role of peacemaker.

ISFP children notice and attend to the delights of the senses. Often they will make special gifts for people whom they particularly like. These gifts are usually unique and original, with much attention paid to color, line, texture, and form. They are often very conscious of the internal sensations in their bodies. They tend to be aware of what their body will and will not do.

As teenagers, ISFPs may blend into the woodwork because they are quiet and unassuming. They are oriented toward deeply felt personal values, and they may find themselves on the outside of social groups if the groups do not share the same values.

In adult life, ISFPs work quietly, often behind the scenes, helping individuals meet their goals and dreams. They like a life of action and interaction, and often choose careers that allow them to exercise their ability to see the needs of the moment and respond quickly. They have little desire to impress others or to impose their will. However, they can be gently and persistently persuasive if they believe some action is in another's best interest.

ISFPs enjoy their friends and their families, and spend time nurturing their relationships. They bring an air of spontaneity and easy acceptance to all they meet and are rarely quickly judgmental. Only when people do something grossly out of line will the anger of ISFPs surface. They will then stand firmly against the infraction to support the victim.

Learning and Working

ISFPs learn best through hands-on experience. They may not be as interested in traditional academic subjects as some other types. They prefer application and practicality rather than studying the theoretical and only potentially useful. Making drawings, constructing miniature models, or using other direct representations to master the subject matter are appealing activities for them. They dislike structure and institutional settings that take away their spontaneity and freedom. They want their learning to be relevant to what is going on in their world. They have less patience with conceptual and abstract learning.

ISFPs enjoy learning subjects that relate to helping and knowing about people. They may be easily overlooked in the classroom unless the teacher has recognized their special ways of learning and their unique contributions. Encouragement helps draw out ISFPs.

At work, ISFPs contribute by attending to the practical facts relating to the needs of people and all living things in their environments. Because they pay attention to the humanistic aspects of the organization, they act in ways that ensure others' well-being. People enjoy ISFPs because they bring understanding yet adaptability to the realities of their work.

ISFPs enjoy occupations that allow them to be flexible and adaptable and to meet the here-and-now needs of others. They enjoy responding to the moment and choose work where they can offer practical, specific help in times of difficulty.

Some occupations are more appealing to ISFPs: Bookkeeper, carpenter, personal service worker, clerical supervisor and secretary, dental and medical staffers, food service worker, nurse, mechanic, physical therapist, X-ray technician, and other occupations that allow them to provide gentle help to all living things.

Loving

For the ISFP, love means devotion, loyalty, care, humor, and consideration for the needs and wants of the loved one. When ISFPs first fall in love, they may feel consumed by it. They may become naive and focus entirely on the romance of it - 'falling in love with love.' Future worries are cast aside in favor of the present realities. ISFPs may ignore all else in order to experience their love life most fully. Doing this can leave them vulnerable to the whims of others.

Because being loved and cared for is important to ISFPs, they make sure that relationships are nourished so that they can continue to grow. When They are in love, they find a multitude of ways to show their affection and their appreciation for the other person. Often ISFPs will go so far as to rearrange their careers, start or stop working, move geographically, or make other changes to maintain their relationships.

The friends, family members, and even pets of the ISFPs' partners become important to them as well. ISFPs take it upon themselves to make their environments places where there is the potential to have a harmonious existence for all.

In their desire to please others, some ISFPs may not be confident enough to speak up for themselves about what they need. If the relationship turns sour, the ISFP may believe that it was caused by something that they personally did. They may assume more of the blame than is necessary. When they are scorned, they may retreat and repeatedly analyze the situation internally. When they do face reality and finally let go, they can become more assertive and self-directed in the resumption of their lives.

Famous ISFPs: Marie Antoinette Auguste Rodin Paul McCartney Marilyn Monroe Michael Jackson Britney Spears Ulysses S. Grant Yogi Berra William Shatner Warren G. Harding

my personality

2008-06-27T22:14:00.002-05:00

Acquiescent

You aren't interested in making others bend to your will or in always dishing out criticism. You're not a pushy person, and you like it that way.

Cooperative

You enjoy teamwork, play well with others, and prefer getting along to winning.

You're not compelled to win every contest nor to be right all the time.

Reserved

You are somewhat shy, or at least unwilling to spend all your time socializing. With you it's true that "still waters run deep," which is why many of your acquaintances never get to know you well.

You are not always ready to talk at the drop of a hat. Whether you're in the office or at a party, you're not likely to be found gabbing away in the middle of a group of people.

Discreet

You tend to hold onto your thoughts until you have something important to say, and even then you're's not comfortable imposing your ideas on others unless you know they're truly interested.

You don't enjoy talking for the sake of talking, and you have no desire to be the center of attention.

Conscientious

You feel it's important to work according to a plan and finish every task, to do things correctly and thoroughly.

You are not the kind of person who abandons a project before finishing it, or slacks off when you've lost interest.

Reckless

You tend to give in to your impulses and indulge your cravings. Rather than fight your emotions, you often do what comes naturally, which means occasionally overdoing it, sometimes even embarrassing yourself.

You are not good at resisting temptation and avoiding overindulgence; you are not the kind of person who doesn't regret anything you said or did.

Accessible

You're comfortable expressing yourself in words and actions, with no self-censorship. You believe that if someone doesn't like what they see it's not your problem, but theirs.

You don't see the need to keep your thoughts to yourself, or to have a zone of privacy that encompasses only yourself and a small circle of friends and relatives.

A high score on the "accessible" trait suggests that you have a lot of friends, socialize often, and enjoy rap/hip-hop music.

Organized

You like to think a task through before you embark on it. If it's the slightest bit complicated, you make a list (even if it's only in your mind) and methodically work your way through it. When you have a goal in mind, you're not satisfied until you reach it.

You are not one of those people who ignore the details, and you don't understand how anyone can get anything accomplished without thoughtful planning ahead of time.

Sympathetic

You have a knack for knowing what's going on in the hearts and minds of those around you, without their having to tell you explicitly. People tend to turn to you with their problems because they know you care, and that you will likely offer good advice and a helping hand.

You do not feel that people with sad stories are just looking for attention, or have brought their problems upon themselves.

Warm

You have a genuine interest in other people. You're a natural host, and are always thinking about how you can increase the happiness of those around you. When friends have problems or are in trouble, you're usually the first person they turn to for aid and comfort.

You don't always say exactly what you're thinking; you don't like the idea of causing anyone pain because of your criticism.

Scoring high on the "warm" trait suggests that you are among those who enjoy domestic activities — doing things around the house — and are enthusiastic about charitable work, helping others, and making the world a better place.

It's what's IN the bag that counts!

2008-06-26T15:08:00.002-05:00

Paper, plastic, beef or veg

It’s not the bag. It’s what’s in the bag.

by Adam Stein – April 8, 2008

Someone once asked why we don’t write more about food issues. This post is for you.

Prompted by Seattle’s proposed twenty-cent charge on grocery bags, Sightline has once again highlighted their study of the environmental impact of paper vs. plastic. Check out the handy graph on the right.

The vertical axis is “embedded energy,” meaning the amount of energy required to produce and transport the associated goods. Embedded energy equates roughly to climate change impact.

As you can plainly see, the stuff in the bag matters a lot more than the bag itself. In fact, it matters about 186 times as much. The analysis compared “four servings of two different diets: the first, a meat-based diet that included beef, potatoes, tropical fruit, and drinks such as soda; the second a vegetable-based diet composed of produce grown within the country where is was consumed and a soy-based protein source.”

The moral, obviously, is not that we should waste bags. But if you’re looking to lower your environmental impact, paper vs. plastic is maybe not the only question to be pondering.

swimming hedgehog

2008-06-20T11:21:00.002-05:00

I don't know what's funnier, the hedgehog or the women's commentary!

cute Pekingese dog!

2008-06-20T08:57:00.003-05:00

If I weren't such an English bulldog fan, I'd have a Pekingese: they crack me up!

Obey the Bulldog!

2008-06-13T10:47:00.002-05:00

From the obeythepurebreed.com site:

Biloxi post-Katrina-rebuilding survey

2008-06-11T17:41:00.002-05:00

Survey: 80 percent of Biloxians satisfied with city direction, progress

More than 80 percent of Biloxians think the city is on the right track, and just as many people say they are satisfied with ongoing progress of the city’s recovery from Hurricane Katrina.
The results are from a poll of 500 Biloxi residents made by Market Research Insight, a company that has conducted more than 5,000 public opinion surveys over 30 years.

Dr. Verne Kennedy, who conducted the survey, says it has a 4.5 percent error factor, meaning it has a more than 95 percent accuracy rate compared to a survey of every single resident of the city.

“Biloxi citizens were very responsive,” Kennedy said, “and only 54 people who listened long enough to learn what the survey was about declined to participate.”

Mayor A. J. Holloway said he was pleased that Biloxians felt the city was headed in the right direction, but he noted the survey also pointed out areas of continuing concern.

For instance, the ongoing debate over new residential development was reflected in the survey:

50 percent of the respondents felt satisfied with the quality of new residential developments in Biloxi, while 32 percent were dissatisfied and nearly 19 percent were uncertain.

62 percent favored rebuilding using “scattered site” low-income homes, with 30 percent in opposition and 8 percent uncertain.

Top issues with Biloxians: more affordable housing (15 percent), improving traffic flow (12 percent), and more business development and jobs (8 percent). Notably, 12 percent were uncertain about the most important issue.

The survey represents the completion of the first phase of the city’s update of its comprehensive plan, a policy statement that guides future growth and development in the city, and considers such quality-of-life issues as transportation, housing, land use, recreation and historic preservation.

The year-long comprehensive plan process is being guided by Wallace Roberts and Todd, a planning firm that has done extensive work in Baltimore; Charleston County and Hilton Head, South Carolina; Coral Springs, Fla., East Hampton, NY, and other cities.

This process will include numerous public hearings and outreach, and it will be followed up with an update of the city’s Land Development Ordinance, which will help facilitate goals identified in the comprehensive plan.

The entire process is expected to cost about $650,000 and will be funded by grants.

Among the other results of the poll:

60 percent of respondents were satisfied with the quality of commercial developments in Biloxi; 33 percent were dissatisfied and 7 percent were uncertain.

Of the 33 percent dissatisfied: 17 percent said there was too much commercial development, 16 percent said too many condominiums were being built, and 15 percent felt there were too many casinos and “didn’t like gambling.”

20 percent of the respondents said the friendly people and Southern hospitality were the things they liked best about Biloxi, while 13 percent said they like the proximity to the water and another 13 percent said they were “born in Biloxi or it feels like home.”

Among the biggest concerns about Biloxi’s rebuilding: affordable housing (10 percent), the slow pace of recovery and lack of rebuilding along the beach front (8 percent), affordable homeowner’s insurance (8 percent).and three issues at 7 percent each: too many casinos, too many condos, and poor roads and traffic congestion. Of note, 9 percent were uncertain of their biggest concern about Biloxi’s rebuilding.

73 percent of the respondents favored mixed residential and commercial development for east Biloxi, while 19 percent thought resorts should dominate east Biloxi.

65 percent of those surveyed favored relocating the CSX railway.
Three-quarters of those surveyed felt Back Bay Boulevard should be extended to U.S. 90 on Point Cadet.

bulldog overheating

2008-06-10T14:04:00.004-05:00

I need to remember this, because I think Matilda began overheating on a walk across campus yesterday:

Overheating:

Hot weather can be fatal to a Bulldog: they don’t even need to be moving about in it. It is essential that we prevent problems from too much sun or heat. Do not leave your dog in an enclosed car in the summertime. Provide shade at all times. The best idea is to keep them inside the house for the most part during the hot summer months. Exercise should be kept at the dog's pace, not necessarily your own. There are several ways of keeping down heat with Bulldogs: wet towel under your dog's toes, ice cubes in the drinking water, sponging off your dog, lemon juice. All short-nosed breeds should be constantly watched to see that they are breathing easily and that they are taking in enough water to prevent dehydration. Far too many dogs are lost from dehydration, heat or sun stroke, and suffocation, when a few precautions could have been taken to prevent death.

Bulldogs overheat quickly because of the shape of their throats--their soft palates are almost always too long and when they get very hot they cannot pant sufficiently to keep their body temperature down. Their attempts to pant quickly cause the production of foam which in turn blocks the throat and causes labored breathing; eventually they will begin to roar as they try to breathe through the blockage. Lemon juice squeezed directly into the back of the mouth is helpful in cutting it, or use your fingers to scoop it out. Always keep the throat clear. Brain damage or death may result if a Bulldog is stricken, so watch your Bulldog.

Stages of overheating:

Your bulldog will begin to "heave" as he pants.
Your bulldog will begin to "roar" - best described as sounding like severe asthma.
He will begin to look tired and distressed.
His tongue will be very floppy and very red in color.
His body temperature will rise (normal temp approx 102 F).
His airway will swell and his throat become full of white foam (because of the panting).
He will quickly become exhausted and will fighting for breath.
He could die.

How to prevent overheating:

Do not allow your bulldog to lay out in the day time sunshine.
Do not walk your bulldog in hot weather.
During hot weather keep your bulldog inside during the hottest part of the day.

How to deal with overheating:

Lower his body temperature: Always ensure that you have ice to hand during the summer months. Pour cold water over your dog, especially around his head, rub ice around his head and under his tail (around his rectum). If possible stand him in a cold bath and keep going with the ice until the breathing is less labored.
Clear the airway: Squirt some lemon juice (from one of those plastic lemon shaped bottles that you squirt on your pancakes) into the back of his throat, he will hate you for it, but the lemon juice will quickly break up the excess foam and clear the throat. Do not allow him to drink a lot of water as this can cause him to vomit.
Keep him calm: Once you have reduced his panic keep him in a quiet place and keep a close eye on him. Talk to him with a soft voice.
If this doesn’t work then you need to get to a vet as quickly as possible. Put a cold damp towel under him for the journey.

Confederacy of Tchoutacabouffa

2008-06-10T10:41:00.002-05:00

From NationStates:

The Confederacy of Tchoutacabouffa

"Go Biloxi!"

Category: Democratic Socialists
Civil Rights: Very Good	Economy: Developing	Political Freedoms: Excellent

Location: Absolution

Regional Influence: Minnow

The Confederacy of Tchoutacabouffa is a large, socially progressive nation, renowned for its devotion to social welfare. Its compassionate, intelligent population of 29 million are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The large government devotes most of its attentions to Social Welfare, with areas such as Commerce and Defence receiving almost no funds by comparison. The average income tax rate is 25%, but much higher for the wealthy. A substantial private sector is led by the Retail industry, followed by Trout Farming and Soda Sales.

A National Academy regulates grammar and usage, the government pours millions of Biloxians into rehabilitation programs annually, roads are often attended by round-the-clock construction crews, and every product goes through extensive safety-testing by the government. Crime is totally unknown. Tchoutacabouffa's national animal is the English bulldog, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its currency is the Biloxian.

Tchoutacabouffa is ranked 46,351st in the world for Largest Information Technology Sector.

National Happenings

23 minutes ago: Tchoutacabouffa relocated from Mississippi to Absolution.
8 hours ago: Tchoutacabouffa was reclassified from "Inoffensive Centrist Democracy" to "Democratic Socialists".
8 hours ago: Following new legislation in Tchoutacabouffa, every product goes through extensive safety-testing by the government.
21 hours ago: Following new legislation in Tchoutacabouffa, roads are often attended by round-the-clock construction crews.
1 day ago: Following new legislation in Tchoutacabouffa, the government pours millions of Biloxians into rehabilitation programs annually.
1 day ago: Following new legislation in Tchoutacabouffa, a National Academy regulates grammar and usage.
2 days ago: Tchoutacabouffa was reclassified from "Left-Leaning College State" to "Inoffensive Centrist Democracy".
2 days ago: Following new legislation in Tchoutacabouffa, trespassers often find themselves impaled by crossbow bolts.
2 days ago: Following new legislation in Tchoutacabouffa, armed police units patrol the roads late at night.
3 days ago: Tchoutacabouffa was reclassified from "Capitalizt" to "Left-Leaning College State".

Confederation of Tchoutacabouffa

2008-06-10T10:26:00.004-05:00

My current Facebook "Nations" status:

The Confederation of Tchoutacabouffa is governed by President Carroll Atlee Hardin Cadden. In Tchoutacabouffa, each citizen has one vote, but only the votes of wealthy land owners are actually counted. Personal computers are given to each citizen and children are taught to type at the age of 12 months. Health care is available to any citizen whose personal insurance is accepted by the medical community.

Norfolk Islands flag, which I chose because of the pine tree, common in Tchoutacabouffa

Public safety is a growing concern and many citizens have taken to only traveling in packs and try to tread softly. Military techniques have finally been upgraded in Tchoutacabouffa and soldiers are taught to fight with sticks and stones. Any citizen may practice any religion, but no public policy may be passed solely on the moral obligations of any one religion. Education in Tchoutacabouffa is of great importance and vouchers are given to any student who cannot afford schooling.

Conservation issues drive this nation's production of vehicles that run completely on human waste. Privatization of corporations and free market are new concepts developing in this country, and many feminist movements have butted heads with masculine movements, spurring this nation's first 'Peoplist Movement'.

Recent News in Tchoutacabouffa

The government has replaced traffic lights with police officers, which has greatly improved the commute for those who have enough to bribe themselves through intersections.

Terrorists in Tchoutacabouffa have been thwarted, and Carroll Atlee Hardin Cadden has handed them over to the judicial system so that a fair trial can be arranged.

This government has enacted minimum wage laws, forcing corporations to pay more to their employees and thus preventing the unionization of the nation's work force.

New Yorker cartoon

2008-06-10T10:22:00.004-05:00

I played a game of "Trivial Pursuit" once and got the question, "Which season extends from X month to Y month?" I thought long and hard, and seriously, before giving the answer, "hockey." The correct answer was one of the world's seasons, like fall, not a sports season!

60 Minutes, Australia: Interview with Dame Edna Everage, Part 2

2008-06-09T18:15:00.002-05:00

60 Minutes, Australia: Interview with Dame Edna Everage, Part 1

2008-06-09T18:14:00.002-05:00

I love Dame Edna!

400-pound 7-year-old girl

2008-06-09T12:22:00.002-05:00

I wonder how she managed to gain 200 pounds in just 2 years? It's sad.

So You Think You Can Dance? Evan Kasprzak

2008-06-05T20:08:00.003-05:00

nice!

Quicksilver/Quicktail skateboards

2008-06-04T20:40:00.004-05:00

Ones I wanted so badly in the late 1970s!