Coffee and Provocation

 

Happy Hunters Do Not Pop Pills 

As I have noted in the past, parrots and puppies on Prozac are the latest thing, but as this New York Times piece suggests, most of the mental illness suffered by our pets is caused by humans who do not recognize the psychological and physical needs of their animals. Read the whole thing, but the "money" paragraph is at the end:

Dodman’s theory, essentially, is that the causes of mood disorders and obsessions in humans and our pets aren’t so different — faulty genetics, dreary environments. Whether cubicle- or cage-bound, we get too little exercise; we don’t hunt, run or play enough to produce naturally mood-elevating neurochemicals. Strangely enough, I had already heard this theory — from a pharmaceutical company executive who, for obvious business reasons, didn’t want to be named. "All of the behavioral issues that we have created in ourselves, we are now creating in our pets because they live in the same unhealthy environments that we do,” he said. “That’s why there is a market for these drugs.”

My Presidential Campaign is Taking Off! I am flattered, of course, by the very nice publicity that has come my way thanks to folks pushing my Presidential candidacy, but I am still encouraging folks to make as generous a contribution as possible to the person I think is the best candidate with a real shot at winning: Barack Obama. 

Three Books Off the Nightstand: I just finished a good book on hawking entitled Equinox written by Dan O'Brien -- much thanks to Doug P. who gave it to me. I also just finished reading Trawler by Redmond O'Hanlon; a book about Scotsmen fishing the North Atlantic. Thanks to the Old Man for passing that one on. Unbeknown to him, I had read an earlier O'Hanlon book about Borneo (pretty good). I am about 1/3 of the way through a book on the history of potatoes. A Rhino Head for the Living Room? My living room has 12' foot ceilings and a massive stone wall with a fireplace on one end. The space above the fireplace is blank and I have always thought it would be a perfect spot for a moose head. Now, however, I am thinking of putting a Rhino there. Too much? Dubious Medical Advances: Pfizer, whose stock is at a 12-year low, has just announced that the FDA has approved a new injectable version of a cephalosporin antibiotic for cats and dogs called Convenia. The drug is a one-time injection which provides up to 14 days of antibiotic treatment for common skin infections. The injection must be administered by a veterinarian, which will cost you about $80 for the visit. What neither a vet nor Pfizer will tell you: You can get cephalexin to treat skin infections at a fraction of the cost and without a visit to the vet or a prescription. Shhhh! Tell no one! The Best Congress Detroit Can Buy: Washington Post car guy Warren Brown noted in a March 2007 article, that U.S. car makers make and market cars overseas that get much better mileage than those they are selling here in the U.S. How come these American car companies aren't trying to sell these higher mile-per-gallon cars over here? "Europe and the United States are two different worlds," said Robert Lutz, GM's vice chairman for global product development, noting that gasoline was selling for $2.48 a gallon in the U.S. as compared to $5 a gallon in Geneva. Of course, that was then, and this is now. It now appears U.S. gasoline prices will top $5 by Christmas; a sea-change that caught GM by surprise and is pushing it towards bankruptcy. Meanwhile, cars in the U.S. still get an average of just 25 miles per gallon, while automakers in the European Union produce cars that get an average of 44.2 miles per gallon, and cars in China get 36.7 mpg. Gas Buddy: Want to know what other folks in the country are paying for gasoline? Just go to Gas Buddy and click on the interactive map to zoom in on your region, state, or neighborhood. Three for the Road on the Lot Right Now: Three relatively high mile-per-gallon, non-hybrid, low-cost cars that can be found on the lot right now, and which might fit the needs of the average dog owner are: the Honda Fit (MSRP $13,950, Invoice $13,452, EPA combined MPG 31); the Toyota Yaris liftback (MSRP $12,225, Invoice $11,491, EPA combined MPG MPG 32), and the Nissan Versa (MSRP $13,500, Invoice $12,900, EPA combined MPG 32). All three are reported to have surprisingly roomy fold-down seats. Alfred Hitchcock Barbie: Finally Meat Water: Finally A Republic Candidate We Can All Support: Finally The First Picture of Water on Mars: Finally How to Fold a Shirt: I had to watch this over and over again. John McCain Does Not Work Weekends: And who can blame him at his age? Married, But Not to Each Other: Senators David Vitter and Larry Craig have signed on to sponsor the Marriage Protection Amendment in the Senate. Vitter is the Senator from Louisiana who visited hookers in order to satisfy his diaper fetish. Craig is the Idaho Senator caught cruising public restrooms seeking anonymous gay sex. Free Music for your Ipod: Anyone looking for free tunes for their mp3 player can get more than they need at www.beemp3.com. Worried that this is stealing? Do what I did: Download tunes you used to own (back in the days of vinyl, reel-to-reel, and cassette) from artists that made their millions years ago, and who are now retired. Reformat Video Files From Your El-Cheapo Camera: You can reformat and edit QuickTime movie files (.mov) made from your el-cheapo point-and-shoot camera by downloading (for free) RadVideo Tools. If you are outputting your edited .avi files to Youtube, however, you will also have to compress your files with this same software. A Custom Error Page? I made a custom 404-error page for the www.terrierman.com web site. Apparently, 404 pages are "the most commonly viewed pages on any web site." Hmmm. Who knew? Is it true? I have no idea, but in case it is, I took the time to suggest that lost souls on the web site might want to consider ordering the book. .