What station do they leave on for the dogs? Easy listening? Talk radio?

I have a friend who used to leave a radio on Top 40 music for her cat, until another friend convinced her to switch to NPR for the cat's eddification.

If I left anything on for entertaining my cat, I'd probably leave Animal Planet on the TV--occasionally, animals will interest her on the screen (she was fascinated by some bears last week, as well as Meerkat Manor, and birds will always catch her eye), but as soon as a person comes on, she looks away.

Is this part of the same "reading" study?

A new AP-Ipsos poll finds that liberals read more books than conservatives.

...

Pat Schroeder, president of the American Association of Publishers, attempted to explain the results: “The Karl Roves of the world have built a generation that just wants a couple slogans: ‘No, don’t raise my taxes, no new taxes. It’s pretty hard to write a book saying, ‘No new taxes, no new taxes, no new taxes’ on every page.”

Responding to the poll, White House spokesman Tony Fratto attacked liberals for being too “locquacious”:

Obfuscation usually requires a lot more words than if you simply focus on fundamental principles, so I’m not at all surprised by the loquaciousness of liberals.

I suppose it's not too loquacious to say "Fuck you."

[link]

My cats could care less. Unless it is 3 dimensional and battable, it holds no interest. Sometimes even then.... My parents had a cat who would attack jets on the war channel or whatever.

You know what's annoying? Not knowing what job you are doing or expected to do. Need to remedy that shortly. Also? Other stuff where I'm required to be clueful where I'm not.

Oh, and apparently men suffer from menstrual cramps as well. Because it sucks to be around women who have cramps, I guess. At least that's what this 1968 ad for Femicin says: [link]

beej, have you checked out any of the local dog daycares? A lot of them do overnights, and I'd be much more confident in them than a random kennel. Lucy used to go to one on 14th street which I highly recommend - they're super good with dogs and very attentive. [link]

She loved it - I remember we ran into the owner once on the street and Lucy about had a coronary she was so excited to see her.

switch to NPR for the cat's eddification

This is what I'm saying.

Beej, is there a pet-sitting service in your town? If you can find one, I'd recommend it--most of them are very good, fully bonded, and really care about the animals.

I'm really struggling to figure out the best option here.

• irresponsible friend whose offered many times...nope
• pet sitter who walks other dogs and has her own dog to look after...maybe, except I don't really know her all that well and it would kill me if she left him alone at night
• Good friend, who loves him...and would take him to her country place a half hour from the retreat site...possible
• MUCH trusted boarder recommended by a good friend...would keep him about an hour from the retreat site

The problem with the good friend a half hour from the retreat site is that they let their dogs run in the woods. I can just see Bartleby running after some wildlife or other, getting freaked out and then trying to find me in the mountains. Even though they offered to keep him on a hundred foot lead, I'm still nervous.

This really is taking up too much of my time. I haven't even written the retreat yet, and this is all I can think about.

Team standings based on arrest records - seven points for a felony, three for a misdemeanor.

Okay, what's interesting is that there's one whole conference that gets a perfect score. It looks like the problematic people cluster on particular teams. (And why am I not surprised that New England scores a 0? Bill Belichick has been known to get rid of players because he didn't like how they talked; I imagine if one of his players got arrested he might have the offender roasted on a spit.)

I do know that, last summer, some reliever for a team I don't remember was arrested on the street outside Fenway for hitting his wife, and at the game the next day his whole team got booed. (More than usual, I mean.) I was... actually I was pleasantly surprised that Red Sox fans had made it all the way to "it's not okay to hit your wife" in the feminism Olympics.

if someone has a cluestick handy, i wouldn't mind being the one to knock some sense into that NAACP president. i need a place to funnel my rage today and he seems like an appropriate person.

un-fuckin'-believable!

How the heck can you malign a whole group of people loquacious while using the word obfuscation!?!