A Way I Have of Driving Off the Spleen

“…Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong …

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Dr. Hypercube

Introducing (exposing?) John Pittman, doing-business-as “Dr. Hypercube” in various post comments here. Says Steve: “…Our frequent commenter, like Pluvi before him, has been shyly concealing a GREAT blog : http://www.hawkdog.net/wordpress/“ We’re adding John to the blogroll today!

Jolly Good!

Merrie Olde England–the one with guns and fieldsports–may be gone (or going), but a few good souls refuse to let her die. Enter The Connaught Square Squirrel Hunt. You may recall a couple previous stories we shared, wherein British citizens lampooned the Hunting Act of 2004 (which outlawed, among other things, encouraging your dog to …

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“Civil Unrest” Among the Ants

OK: Who here has ever pitted insects against each other in a jar? Even once? Or fed an ant lion? Surely… No show of hands, please; you know who you are. Offering some proof to the suspicion that biologists are just highly-educated versions of the same people they were in grade school, here’s a story …

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Death of a Good Dog

Please stop by Patrick’s blog and read about the remarkable life and sudden, recent death of his good dog Sailor. Patrick, we are all sorry!

Migration Meme

As Helen harks to the sounds of migrating birds, I am still waiting for the first one to whack itself cold against the window at the Student Union. I check every morning, taking a short detour down the pedestrian ramp and parking my bike against the retaining wall at the bottom of the stair. Up …

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Common Thread?

We’ve said it among ourselves through pursed lips and wondered aloud about it here at the Q.: Is there something we can point to that explains most or all of the things we complain about? Urban sprawl, nanny states, gun control, leash laws, animal rightists, humanist leftists (sorry), illiteracy, virtual reality, canned hunts. . .There …

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Working Like a Dog

Thanks to Chas for posting on this piece in Slate, a story by Jon Katz about a border collie who earns her keep and then some. It is a paean to a working pooch that ought to give Wayne Pacelle the willies—one domesticated animal whose job and joy it is to keep other domestics in …

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Guest Post: Dog Whispering

My friend Gregg Barrow trains championship protection dogs and has a soft spot for unwanted “hard case” hounds. A German police unit recently sent him a dog they couldn’t handle, a monsterous, muscled-up, sulking giant schzauzer who savaged several handlers. Gregg has also been, in past years, a case worker and counsellor for criminal teens. …

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Sandburg’s City

It’s too late to be the first to read Sandburg’s fine poem in lament for Chicago. We made this rather obvious connection here, way back in May. Yesterday Reid spotted this LATimes editorial by Nick Gillespie, who chimes in with a feature-length razzing of the Windy City’s accelerating nanny-fication. As Steve says, “Unfortunately, we animal …

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