Another Very Important Issue

"Calling animals 'pets' is insulting, academics claim"

Domestic dogs, cats, hamsters or budgerigars should be rebranded as “companion animals” while owners should be known as “human carers”, they insist.

Even terms such as wildlife are dismissed as insulting to the animals concerned – who should instead be known as “free-living”, the academics including an Oxford professor suggest.

Good grief.
Don't these people have anything more important to think about?

So far, Molly and Daisy haven't released a statement regarding their preferred title.  I'll keep you posted, though.

Tuscaloosa Twister

I just can't get over the photos and video from yesterday's huge tornado in Tuscaloosa...

While I have always had a strong(er-than-average, I think) fear of violent weather and the possibility of being in the path of a tornado (which is probably the most frequent, consistent subject of my nightmares), even I don't really expect tornadoes in this number or of this magnitude, in the South. I used to think my degree of fear during tornado warnings was probably a little less than rational. This isn't Kansas, you know. Now I'm not as sure my level of fear is unwarranted.

People are less likely to have a basement, down here, than in some other parts of the country. If something like that is coming toward you, sheltering in a windowless, interior room (or closet) and covering yourself with blankets or a mattress might not be enough...

Prayers for everyone affected.

The Internets Are Creepy

(And often annoying.  But I'm resisting the urge to write about that today.  Well, except for that little thing about Grooveshark, but that doesn't count, because it's not what's really annoying me online right now.)

Yesterday I uploaded that video snippet of Trixie playing with the Nylabones, and I mentioned the brand name in the description (both on YouTube and here in this blog).  Well, this morning I noticed that a third entity (not YouTube, not Blogger-- somewhere I definitely didn't post or mention the video or Nylabone at all) recommended that I "follow" Nylabone.  Coincidence, or somehow linked to yesterday's activities online?  I don't really like these creepy little reminders of how much the Internet probably knows about us all.

(And yet here I am, "feeding" it even more information. Oh well. (g))

Typical

Ugh!
Two days after I start using Grooveshark to put a music widget on this blog, they appear to have disabled that feature.  Man, do I have great timing, or what? 

Maybe this is temporary... Otherwise, annoyance.

Trixie Barks at Bones

It's so much fun when the People slide one of the dogs' Nylabones over the hard surface floor and send it flying toward you! (Just take Trixie's word for it.)

...Of course, it's a little anticlimactic, because, in the end, it's still just a gnawed-up plastic bone. Oh well. Such is life.