Coffee and Provocation

AKA:  Lying R. Liar, I. B. Charlatan, and False Front Freddy
The Center for Consumer Freedom, which runs "HumaneWatch.org," used to call itself the "Guest Choice Network" when it was founded by public relations entrepreneur Richard Berman as a way of siphoning money out of the tobacco lobby which wanted to be able to continue to poison for profit (500,000 American deaths a year). Now the Center for Consumer Freedom has decided to change its name again. The new shill-shack will be called the "Center for Organizational Research and Education". To be clear, The Center for Consumer Freedom never represented consumers (its donors are corporations and corporate lobbyists), and its staff has no actual expertise or knowledge about food, farms, animal welfare, dogs, cats, or the environment, nor do they hunt. So will the Center for Organizational Research and Education be hiring experts on research, education or organizations? Nope. It's the same tiny staff as before, and they have no expertise in any of that stuff. It's also the same business model: manufactured conflict and contrived controversy generated through dozens of web sites and misrepresentation of who they are and who they speak for. If that sounds just like HSUS and PETA, you would be right!

A Science-based Case for Tail Docking?
Veterinary Record notes that a survey has shown that tail injuries in working dogs rose after a ban on docking was imposed and that "given the results of this and the accompanying paper it may be appropriate to consider changes to the current legislation for specific breeds of working dogs."

PETA Attention Whores

Wonkette says members of PETA are "the vegan equivalent of a Westboro Church member" and that the organization itself is little more than a "completely off-the-rails troll machine." Yep!

Pet Food Consolidation?

Mars has bought Procter & Gamble’s dog food brands Eukanuba, Iams, and Natura. Mars already owns Pedigree, Royal Canin, Nutro, and Greenies, as well as Banfield Pet Hospitals.

Obama Targets Grizzly Bears?
Remember when armchair hunters and reactionary gun nuts said Obama was going to grab all the guns and ban all hunting? Obama sure is lazy and unfocused! I mean he hasn't even started grabbing guns, and his Fish and Wildlife Service is now moving to take grizzlies off the Endangered Species list.

Slaves Knew Fossil Was an Elephant
In 1725, African slaves who dug up colossal teeth while working in a swampy field on Stono Plantation in North Carolina knew exactly what they were looking at: elephant teeth.

Fox In Charge of the Hen House?
Is Dropbox run by idiots? What else to make of the fact that the organization has just added Condoleeza Rice to its tiny, four-person board; the same Condoleeza Rice that believes in domestic surveillance without a court order.

Oldest Message in a Bottle?
A beer bottle tossed into the sea off of Germany's Baltic Coast in 1913 has turned up over 100 years later very near where it was tossed into the ocean. A helpful hint:  if you  want your bottles to travel, you have to weight them on one end so that they float upright!

Now I Feel Like an Idiot for Buying That Million Dollar Violin
In a blind acoustic test, top violinists cannot tell the difference between a Stradivarius and a modern violin.