I just loved this clip:

"Squirrel!"

Click the image to go to the xkcd site and see the comic in larger size.

Attribution: xkcd. From the site:

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Note: You are welcome to reprint occasional comics pretty much anywhere (presentations, papers, blogs with ads, etc). If you're not outright merchandizing, you're probably fine. Just be sure to attribute the comic to xkcd.com.

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So, have you made any new friends lately?

This is an Open Thread.

Looks like those of us Obama supporters need to mount a rescue operation. PICTURES PLEASE! The Associated Press reports that the AP/Yahoo poll shows that pet lovers support McCain 42-37%. Why? no poochies on Obama's porch. Apparently McCain has dogs, turtles, a cat, a ferret, parakeets and fish.

This is Jack:

He knows he's going to get a treat for wearing the cap.

Jack is a happy dog.

This is Ember:

She's also going to get a treat for putting up with a stupid hat.

She's also a happy dog.

For those of you who love animals, and pets of any kind but dogs in particular, here's a few links to lineindesigns.org with some classics:

Dog and Children Look-a-Likes

Why God Made Pets (apparently, particularly doggie type pets)

and -- finally -- the piece du resistance of the day:

Automatic Screen Cleaner

...that last item may have to change, as I'm not 100% certain it was meant for public dispersal and thus may constitute bandwidth theft -- I'm sending an email to the site owner now to double check and inquire about loading it elsewhere for public consumption.

Hat-tip to peskydang for the initial pointer.

Enough politics, be kind to the animals - standingup

The Animal Rescue Site focuses the power of the Internet on a specific need — providing food for some of the 27 million unwanted animals given to shelters in the U.S. every year. Over 10 million animals are put to death every year in the U.S. alone because they are abandoned and unwanted.

from the mailbag...

This arrived in email this morning, and I thought it was worth passing along.

2 clicks of your mouse can make a difference.

The Animal Rescue Site is having trouble getting enough people to click on it daily to meet their quota of getting free food donated every day to abused and neglected animals. It takes less than a minute (How about 20 seconds) to go to their site and click on the purple box 'fund food for animals' for free. This doesn't cost you a thing.

Their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate food to abandoned/neglected animals in exchange for advertising.

Click here to go to The Animal Rescue Site.

So, give 'em a click. Doesn't cost anything except the time it takes for the page to load.

Image credit: Biscuit

A story in ABC News from early June of 2007 appears to indicate that science is now -- finally -- taking a look at the possibility that animals can have personalities. The article Do Pets Really Have Personality? didn't suggest anything that would come as a surprise to pet owners, of course. Regardless of pet size, shape, make or model, humans have been attributing them with personalities for years.

Of course, humans who don't own pets usually thought pet owners were crazy.

(Smoky doesn't look too impressed by the news, either.)

I've got a question about a book title for folks, and then a request for folks to share their favorite odd or surreal sayings; I'll cover the book question above the fold, then share an odd line related to the author and a relate a short experience with another "gotcha!" line afterward.

You'll have full use of the comment section for replies to either or both. First, the book related question:

There's a 1958 book by Richard Matheson called "A Stir of Echoes" -- it was eventually made into a Kevin Bacon flick, but that's not important. I'm interested in determining whether the title was ever a quote from a larger work of literature. I've checked quote databases, but cannot locate it. Yet, I can't shake the feeling that it was taken from somewhere...anybody know for sure?

A story by Kathy Matheson in today's edition of the Boston Herald caught my attention today: Teen faces extort rap over mutt. (Available online here.)

Edna, a ten-year-old beagle mix belonging to Bill Whiting of Philadelphia, PA, vanished during a Halloween walk. Whiting received a late-night phone call from kids demanding $600 for the safe return of the dog. A dog collar was jangled over the line, and in the background a dog yelped. Whiting didn't recognize the yelp, but the jangle of the collar sounded familiar.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Some of you know my husband GreyHawk, he of "The Woo Tales", his chronicle of Missy the Malamute and my mother. However, the tales, in my opinion, seem to neglect Ember, aka "Little Woo".  She's not really a woo dog. She's part shepherd, part border collie. And maybe part something else. Or not.  We've never been sure, to tell you the truth. But she definitely does have some shepherd in her. 

Right now I'm in a weekly writing contest at another site. Every week we receive a prompt, we all submit our entries, and we all vote on those we liked best. This week's topic is "The Giving Of Thanks".  Ember couldn't help but respond to it:

Via Yahoo! comes news of a horrendous, blatant disregard for life and of cruelty so debasing that it can only be human in origin -- no other creature on the planet could be so callous.

Pet massacres carried out in Puerto Rico
By YAISHA VARGAS and ANDREW O. SELSKY, Associated Press Writers Wed Nov 14, 6:24 PM ET

TRUJILLO ALTO, Puerto Rico - Back roads, gorges and garbage dumps on this tropical island are littered with the decaying carcasses of dogs and cats. An Associated Press investigation reveals why: possibly thousands of unwanted animals have been tossed off bridges, buried alive and otherwise inhumanely disposed of by taxpayer-financed animal control programs.

[...]

I couldn't believe I hadn't seen this noted anywhere before. Due to the graphic and upsetting nature of the information in the article, I will provide the link to the original article at the end of this piece. Be forewarned -- it isn't an easy read.