Coffee and Provocation

• Still one of the funniest dog videos on the Internet. Even if you've seen it before, you have to see it again.
  
  
• People With Waaay Too Much Money can have their dead pets cremated and turned into a diamond ring. Yes, this is very real. As the web site says "LifeGem® is a certified, high-quality diamond created from the carbon of your loved one as a memorial to their unique life. . . . At LifeGem, we understand that pets are cherished companions and unconditionally loving family members. . . The answer is YES, we absolutely can and will create a LifeGem memorial of your precious pet."
  
  
• Camera Trap Codger's blog is not just for jaw-dropping pictures, useful camera-trap instruction and wonderful vignettes. There's also funny! Talking about hibernating bears (and see these pictures!) Chris Wemmer writes: "According to bear specialist Lynn Rogers, 'black bears in the North hibernate so deeply that they may be jostled and prodded for several minutes in mid-winter before they awaken.' This fact emboldened biologists to crawl into dens with sleeping bears in order to record their rectal temperatures. This is one of those punctuated achievements in field biology that begs the question, who tried it first, and was he sober?"
  
  
• The DoLittler Blog has an excellent post on Ten ways to save BIG on your pet’s Rx bill. Check it out!
  
  
• Sherlock Holmes buffs might like this site which details things in the books and of the era, including pages on the many types of tobacco that exist (Holmes was an expert on the subject) to the explosion of horse breeds occuring at the time, and the proliferation of types of horse-drawn cabs (What does a "dog cart" actully look like and why is it called that?) Check it out!
  
  
• Lyme disease is not transmitted by lizards which is why it is rarer in some western states where ticks are more likely to use lizards as an intermediate host. My theory is that the blood of cold-blooded lizards drops too low in temperature to keep the infection alive. A hat tip to Daniel Gauss at Shot On Site for this one. Thanks!
  
  
• Henry Chapell has loaded more of his very good dog articles up on his web site. Check it out!
  
  
• Best 1919 transportation for the year 2009 is this foldable motorized scooter. Tell me this thing doesn't look like it walked right out of the Sharper Image catalogue this month. And doesn't Amelia Earhart look terrific riding one? Whatever happened to that girl?
  
  
• Miracle of Birth Video Tape. Are you thinking of mating your dogs so "the kids can experience the miracle of birth?" Good idea (cough, cough). But before you do, you might order this video tape instead!
  
  
• HSUS "Discovers" that Petland Sells Dogs from Commercial Breeders. Uh right. How long has HSUS been asleep at the wheel on this one? A long time! What's next? Will HSUS "discover" that the AKC depends on commercial breeders to keep its doors open, and positively promotes breeds for disease, defect and deformity? No doubt they will -- as soon as they think the issue smells like direct mail money.
  
  
• Now we gotta rethink all those trilobite tracks. It turns out that a single-celled creature as big as a grape prowls the ocean floor and leaves tracks identical to those that scientists have long thought belonged to the first multi-cellular life on earth. Woops!
  


• This is a fish story I might not believe were it not for the pictures. A good ending for the fish too!
  


• Michael Vick pleads guilty to charges in Virginia, which sets him up for parole in another year or so. Let's hope the NFL is not waiting.
  
  
• Mutt Puppies on Trial is a blog that purports to "review" the new "designer" breeds of dogs to see if they might "make it" as a real breed some day. A Border Collie x Jack Russell? Maybe not. This is a very young blog, but it shows promise.
  
  
• This guy should be in a circus. Instead, he's a human hod in some God-forsaken part of the world. And on a boat too! Video!
  
  
• Stand by Me never sounded so good. Ben E. King has got to be happy with these covers of his famous song.
  
  
• 133,828 deer were shot in Wisconsin in two days and this is a 22% decline from the 2007 season. Deer? Yeah, this country has deer.
  
  
• A British political debate that I really wish I had been there to see.
  
  
• The Big Book of Lesbian Horse Stories. A real book. So specific. Love it. Also this one.
  
  
• Newt Gingrich has always been an arrogant moron. His sister knows all about it and writes pretty well too!
  
  
• Foods I will not be eating include live baby octopus (see the video!), duck fetus egg, and maggot cheese (yes, with real fly maggots). The coffee made from beans picked out of civet crap is something I will drink though, but only if it's the real stuff!
  
  
• Check out the blogroll on the right side of this blog. A new section on canine health has been added, as well as some dog lniks and a few other links as well. Every day is a feast here at Terrierman.com.

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