Oh, in random convergence news, I'm re-reading Murder Must Advertise, and I realize that's probably the 1930s the woman in Sophia's article wants to live in. Not even Wimsey's world, but the world of the ad agency people. Also, there's a female copywriter, which makes me think of Mad Men, thirty years (and one world war and ensuing backlash, at least in the US) later.

I love my cats. Devi is asleep with her head on my foot. Loki and MK are wrestle washing after having been curled up on me endearingly in different spots. It's fun to watch.

WRT the puppy cam

Puppy cam has notched up 2,464,939 views as I write this. But enjoy it while it lasts because Autumn, Ayumi, Amaya, Aki, Akoni and Ando reached their five-week birthday on Tuesday - and that means there's only three weeks before the puppies leave the nest.

which was run in the Guardian on the 13th, I think.

What will we watch without the puppies?

But enjoy it while it lasts because Autumn, Ayumi, Amaya, Aki, Akoni and Ando reached their five-week birthday on Tuesday - and that means there's only three weeks before the puppies leave the nest.

No! For the good of humanity, they must not go off with their future owners who have deposits on them. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few!

ION, do folks know there's a brand-new Star Wars/Robot Chicken on tonight?

College level quidditch. People scare me: [link]

Hee. At CTY a few years ago Quidditch was one of the most popular afternoon activities. (Schedule at CTY is class from about 9-3, then two afternoon activities, dinner, and then an hour or two of study hall. Afternoon activities are sometimes sports, sometimes rehearsals for various theatre and music stuff, and usually at least one "silent reading" or "cloud-watching" activity for the kids who need a bit of a break from people.)

ION, do folks know there's a brand-new Star Wars/Robot Chicken on tonight?

My TiVo doesn't think so. I hope it's not wrong.

Huh. I just told my TiVo to record it.

It seems like the problem may be that there's a whole lot of nothing in between the choice between giving them up or getting no help for them at all.

Several years ago in NJ two teenagers killed a pizza delivery man in what was described as a "thrill kill". My Mom worked a counseling agency in the county where it happened. One of the kids' Mother had been trying to get help for him for YEARS. Literall, frantically, desperately telling anyone who would listen that he was going to do something terrible if they couldn't get him some help. Can you imagine knowing that about your 14 year old boy, fighting for years, and then being right? It was a horror.

And there may be parents using Nebraska as a dumping area for kids that they just don't want to raise anymore. But if someone's willing to drive from another state to get rid of their kid, I don't know how great it would be for the kid to be raised by them. Being raised by someone who considers kids a burden can suck even if they are willing to stick it out.

At least they drive them to Nebraska. That's a step above the parents who just walk out on their kids. So many "runaways" are really throwaways.

Noah also got to ride a trike on the trike track. So cute. Until he exhausted himself into sleep.

At which point he was MIND NUMBINGLY cute?

As bad as they could be, orphanages really can serve a purpose and I hate that our society just stopped them altogether and have so few things around like the Methodist homes and Boys ranches.

We (and I'm not sure if that's "Americans" or "humans") have a nasty habit of discarding something wholesale when it has problems. When the "primarily residence home" model for every child abandoned by or yanked from their parents (often for reasons we'd now be appalled by) had serious problems we dropped it completely in favor of what evolved into foster-care -- which was never big enough from the start. Then they sort of accidentally created group homes (which were anemic temporary boys homes) and never made enough of them. Now we have a situation where in many states if a ward of the state can't be accomodated (often teenagers)they get sent to juvenile detention until a spot can be found. So if you're a homeless kid you get sent to jail. Very very Oliver Twist work house, you know?

The idea behind getting rid of the big mental institutions and orphanages, which had too often served as not much more than warehouses, was that they would be replaced by community-based facilities. They did the first part, but never got around to the second. Homelessness and a highly dysfunctional foster system are not really an improvement.

Yeah, that.