When I was a little kid, one of the stories I distinctly remember from my second or third grade reading book was about a little boy who got new copper-toed (if you can imagine such a thing) boots and became so engrossed looking at them as he walked that he got lost. That was my first of many encounters with the limits of human navigational skills. Now there are scientists who study this phenomenon as it affects our brains and view of reality. And some of them ponder the effect electronic devices that do this kind of thinking for
Read more →After I recorded this I realized I hadn’t mentioned what I learned from cockroaches. I’ll save that for another podcast. 🙂
Read more →Since I recorded this I’ve been thinking a lot about mood contagion, embodied cognition, and body mapping as these apply to our interactions with companion animals. Particularly, I’ve been wondering about the effect all-positive training has on an animal’s development of empathy. Does such a view of reality make it difficult for them to understand what it means to do wrong, to hurt someone else? Given the role modeling plays in learning, do they see others suffering and then mimic their mood and the physiological changes that go with it? But if that’s the case, then their lives wouldn’t
Read more →I apologize for the variable quality of this recording. Part was switching between computers, part was me. Hopefully, I’ll get it all sorted out. The article mentioned in the podcast, including pictures of the enchanting Caenorhabditis elegans, is “RNA Revolution” by Gary Taubes in the October 2009 edition of Discover Magazine. For those who do not know what a worm hotel looks like, here is a picture of mine. Granted it’s not very elegant, and it’s first floor is leaking (hence the plastic), but I had it for years. I put just about everything but meat and dairy products
Read more →If you’d like to read more about some of the latest plant studies I mentioned and their implications, check out this link. And here are a few pictures of some of my favorite non-animal household companions. The first is a philodendron that is notable because it’s more than 20 years old. Admittedly, this isn’t any big deal for that species which seems capable of surviving just about anything. This one is in my office. It’s mother lives in my bedroom. This ivy plant is also in my office and it’s looking a bit shopworn because Bamboo likes
Read more →Could you resist playing with this dog? Bamboo’s post-visit response.
Read more →The title of this podcast comes from the caption of a famous cartoon that depicted a cat singing “Love them mousies, mousies that I love to eat.” The newsletter that inspired this commentary came from BottomLineSecrets.com. The growling in the background came from Ollie and Fric playing on the dog-couch while I was recording, not some dogfight I was too distracted to break up not that I ever would. And, finally, this is what I discovered when I went to see what the cat was up to: As you can see, he’s learning to climb trees. He’s not exactly
Read more →About 2 weeks before I recorded this podcast, I experienced another phenomenon associated with perception. I switched the radios in my house and car from an all-talk public radio station to an all-music one. This wasn’t a rash decision on my part and I initially felt guilty about what I perceived—there’s that concept again!—as a potentially detrimental lack of awareness of what was going on in the world. I mean, seriously, the fact that I wouldn’t recognize Ashton, Brittany, or the Jonas Brothers (or is it Boys?) if they were tap-dancing on the roof of my garden shed already
Read more →This is a podcast I did just for fun and I’ll admit up-front that I wasn’t at my peak the day I recorded this. Still, it will give you an idea of how various human-canine rituals evolve. If you have dogs, you may want to listen to this when they’re not around or else keep the volume down. Cats? I’m not sure. Could go either way. Bamboo usually sits in the bathroom sink when this ritual occurs, but I imagine some cats would want to put as much distance between themselves and this as they can.
Read more →This podcast meanders a bit about that old bumper sticker sentiment, “I speak for the animals.” Fortunately, it seems to have disappeared but the thoughts it evoked years ago still remain. And even though the bumper sticker no longer exist, its supporters are live and kicking. And lest you think I’ve taken up exotic dancing in my spare time and walk around with little tinkling bangles as I record, those sounds in the background are Ollie’s and Fric’s tags as they play with the cat. I keep telling myself I need to remove their collars before I start recording,
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