Naturally as soon as I wanted a picture of Bam doing something devilish to go with this podcast, the camera affected him like a sedative. After taking more pictures of a sleeping or dopey-looking cat than I’d ever have any use for, I tried baiting him. This worked in that it did produce some devilish behavior. Unfortunately, that consisted of him lunging at the camera, the result of which was a series of pictures of a blurry cat. All I can offer is this picture from his kittenhood with the comment that he hasn’t changed much. But frustrating though
Read more →Perhaps because our society has become increasingly obsessed with reducing everything to single concepts or problems that exist is some sort of vacuum, I now pay a lot more attention to the way things are related. At least that’s the explanation I’m offering for how thoughts of rural railroad tracks meandered into those about medical and behavioral health and with whom the responsibility for it lies. 🙂
Read more →My general rule of thumb is that I can’t ask someone to do something I’m not willing to do myself. In keeping with that, here’s my attempt at a haiku about my cat, Bamboo: On my desk corner Bamboo curls Purring into dream worlds Beyond me.
Read more →It seems like only yesterday we were entering a new century yet here we are past the decade mark in it. The older I get the more interested I become in those basic elements that make life special. What’s interesting is that what makes these special is that they’re so common and accessible that we tend to ignore them. The seed for this podcast was planted by something the Dali Lama said in response to comments regarding what a wretched state the world is in. He replied that this was only the case if one mistakenly views the news
Read more →First to get you in the mood for the season: And a disclaimer: No animals were harmed during this photo session even though you would think from the expressions on Ollie (left) and Frica (right) that they were suffering and had suffered for a long period of time. These are pictures I took last year—I didn’t have time this year—the ordeal lasted less than 5 minutes per dog, and we celebrated with low-fat vanilla yogurt when we finished. I can’t actually swear to that because it’s been a while, but that seems like the most likely human-canine celebratory
Read more →In one of my favorite essays written by physician-researcher Lewis Thomas, he describes sitting in his corner office with a pad of paper and a sharp pencil (remember those?) trying to mentally put his thoughts into words. This took a while and as it is wont to do, the sun moved during this time. Because he’d subconsciously held the pencil with its point in the center of the pad, its shadow moved around the point when this happened. When Thomas noticed this it dawned on him that, were he inclined to do so, he could believe that he and
Read more →As those familiar with my commentaries and podcasts know, I have this thing about the inconsistent interpretation of human and animal behaviors. I don’t care a parrot’s patootie if we attribute a particular display to cognition, mindless conditioning or even dumb luck. But I get seriously annoyed when a behavior that’s attributed to some higher thought process in humans is dismissed as the result of a simple reflex or conditioning when displayed by an animal. As you might imagine, there are some who don’t agree with me. 🙂 These same folks understandably have a cow when others even hint
Read more →Much as I enjoy a day that unfolds as planned as much as anyone else, there’s also something to be said for events that put everything up for grabs, too. At least for a while. A visit from the She-Devils falls into that category. Their addition to our household for 5 days provided the dogs, the cat, and me with some food for thought, and inspired me to record this podcast.
Read more →From the time I was a little kid, I remember people asking me what my favorite holiday was. Back then if someone had told me a time would come when “Thanksgiving” would be the answer, I would have hooted, “You’re kidding! It’s the most boring holiday of them all!” Thanksgiving used to be my least favorite because, aside from some token giving thanks, it also meant helping my mom prepare and clean up after a big meal in a hot kitchen with the rest of the females while the males watched football on television or lazed around. And for
Read more →Over the years I’ve discovered that those who have the greatest insight into their particular area of expertise are those who take a two-pronged approach. First, they master their material as presented within its discipline. This imbues them with the critical thinking skills and patience for the second step, which is to consider how those same concepts play out in other areas and alter their views based on what they discover. Not only does this approach result in a more comprehensive view, it also leads to respect for those in other disciplines. As a biologist and veterinary ethologist, I
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