He has been steadily losing weight. A couple days ago he stopped eating. They found a mass the size of a baseball in his stomach. There was no way he could have survived surgery or chemo. He was suffering so I had to let him go.
I got him when he was 4 weeks old. He was 15 a couple of days ago. I will really miss him.
Those of you who already either know me or know of me know that I am a massive pootie person. We moved into an apartment and now have a pootie, named Jenny; however I grew up with both cats & dogs and I love both. I do not discriminate against any animal & love animal photos of all kinds. Please enjoy the following and add any photos that you think the community would like to see. Now, enjoy the photos & have some fun.
Interrogatories
If you had to create something and had an unlimited budget to do so, what would you create? If the world were in black and white and you were allowed to have just one thing in color, what would it be? Would you describe yourself as confident, insecure, or somewhere in between? What is the last song you heard on iPod, radio or CD?
The Twitter Emitter
The GOP economic plan: Decrease funds for social programs and increase gun sales. This way you have your choice of how to die. #p2
— Joseph J. Santorsa (@Marnus3) April 9, 2013
Would you hire someone who hates children to babysit your kids? Why would you elect a party who says they hate gov’t to run gov’t? #GOP
— DrLearnALot (@DrLearnALot) April 9, 2013
It’s OK, everybody. Mother Jones reporters were dressed as pimps at the time.
— David Waldman (@KagroX) April 9, 2013
NRA trying to encourage more black people to buy guns: “Coincidentally, it’s a great way to encourage our white members to buy more guns”
— The Daily Edge (@TheDailyEdge) April 9, 2013
They say that Pot makes you violent. And lazy.I say making violent people lazy is the only crime prevention that works.
— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) April 9, 2013
In the beginning, the universe was created. This made a lot of people very angry, and has been widely regarded as a very bad idea.
— kara vallow (@teenagesleuth) April 9, 2013
Marco Rubio: “I’m outraged that Obama didn’t check with me before allowing Beyonce and Jay-Z to go to Cuba.”
— Top Conservative Cat (@TeaPartyCat) April 10, 2013
Constitutionalist – n. a Republican who uses something that isn’t the constitution to stop the Senate from debating extremely popular bills
— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) April 10, 2013
I was going to wear a cloak of invisibility, but I just couldn’t see myself in it.
— JerryThomas (@JerryThomas) April 10, 2013
If evolution was real, how could Mitt Romney have received 48% of the popular vote?
— kara vallow (@teenagesleuth) April 10, 2013
For those who are new … we discuss books. I list what I’m reading, and people comment with what they’re reading. Sometimes, on Sundays, I post a special edition on a particular genre or topic.
If you like to trade books, try bookmooch
I’ve written some book reviews on Yahoo Voices:
Book reviews on Yahoo
Just finished
Standing in another man’s grave Another in the Rebus series of Scottish noir crime novels. Here, Rebus is investigating a series of girls who have gone missing over a number of years.
Weird Life by David Toomey. Life is weird. But, in this book, Toomey discusses weird living things and even weirder things that might be living somewhere else; that is, unusual life on Earth and the possibilities for life elsewhere. Recent years have seen a great expansion in the regions of Earth that are known to have life: Inside of rocks; far under the sea; in places previously thought too hot, too cold, too dry or too acidic for life to exist. Then Toomey goes farther and discusses life that might not be based on DNA or even on carbon. Fascinating and accessible.
Rereads of Flynn and Flynn’s World by Gregory McDonald. Meet Francis Xavier Flynn. Father of 5. Boston police inspector (the only one with that rank). International operative. Wise-cracking, irreverent with no sympathy for rules and regulations but an uncanny knack for arresting the right person.
Now reading
Cooler Smarter: Practical tips for low carbon living by the scientists at Union of Concerned Scientists, a great group. These folk make sense, concentrating on the changes you can make that have the biggest impact with the least effort.
Thinking, fast and slow by Daniel Kahneman. Kahneman, most famous for his work with the late Amos Tversky, is one of the leading psychologists of the times. Here, he posits that our brains have two systems: A fast one and a slow one. Neither is better, but they are good at different things. This is a brilliant book: Full of insight and very well written, as well.
What hath God wrought? by Daniel Walker Howe. Subtitled “The transformation of America 1815-1848. I am reading this with the History group at GoodReads. This is very well written, and does a good job especially with coverage of the treatment of Blacks and Native Americans.
On politics: A history of political thought from Herodotus to the present by Alan Ryan. What the subtitle says – a history of political thought.
He, she and it by Marge Percy. Near future dystopian SF set on Earth.
Visions of Infinity by Ian Stewart. A nontechnical look at 11 famous problems of math. So far, it’s a little too nontechnical for my taste.
Woodrow Wilson by John Cooper, Jr. A fairly admiring look at Wilson.
Measurement by Paul Lockhart. About mathematics and, especially, how it should be taught and learned. Lockhart is wonderful; his first book A Mathematician’s Lament was, in my view, the best book on teaching math ever written.
Just started
Good morning, Moosekind. Don’t forget to let your peeps know where to find you.
The common Moose, Alces alces, unlike other members of the deer family, is a solitary animal that doesn’t form herds. Not so its rarer but nearest relative, Alces purplius, the Motley Moose. Though sometimes solitary, the Motley Moose herds in ever shifting groups at the local watering hole to exchange news and just pass the time.
This image of the Moon is probably not familiar to you. It is the Moon’s far side. Only 24 people have seen it with their own eyes and not in an image. They are the Apollo astronauts. Click on it for a detailed and closeup view.
Because the moon is tidally locked (meaning the same side always faces Earth), it was not until 1959 that the farside was first imaged by the Soviet Luna 3 spacecraft. Russian names are common for prominent farside features, such as Mare Moscoviense. The widespread smooth maria on the nearside that we see do not appear much on the farside. It is a very different world from what we see from Earth.
More below.
Olympic Gold Medal swimmer – Cullen Jones
While net-surfing ran across a news story which has wing-nuts all a flutter, promoted on Faux news by resident twit Tucker Carlson and Crystal Wright, his black Republican female sidekick, as yet another excuse to attack affirmative action, and to spread falsehoods. What struck me was the headline on the story which blared in all caps:
“AFFIRMATIVE ACTION GONE WILD – AZ TO HIRE LIFEGUARDS WHO CAN”T SWIM”
Interrogatories
Usually kids are taught by grown-ups, but every now and then they teach us little lessons. What have you learned from kids? Are you a good traveling companion? What was your first job? Peanut butter – creamy or crunchy?
The Twitter Emitter
“I will mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy”. – Martin Luther King
— Seema Chandwani ™ (@SeemaChandwani) April 8, 2013
I rejoice when a politician I dislike is no longer in power, not when they die.
— Dub Pool (@dubpool) April 8, 2013
I just know Miss Thatcher is in Heaven and she’s cut angel salaries by 40%
— Jack Kimble (@RepJackKimble) April 8, 2013
Annette Funicello made me choose the heterosexual lifestyle
— Gen JC Christian (@JC_Christian) April 8, 2013
I think Wikileaks has gone too far by releasing this Brad Paisely/LL Cool J joint.
— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) April 8, 2013
The 4-year-olds are the ones actually coming for your guns.
— David Waldman (@KagroX) April 8, 2013
Hey U.S.: if every now and then I heard a “God PLEASE bless America”, maybe you’d have better luck.#manners
— God (@TheTweetOfGod) April 8, 2013
President politicizing children’s shooting deaths by trying to do something about it.
— Chris Dashiell (@cdashiell) April 9, 2013
Majority of Americans would support a limit on the number of TV shows Wayne LaPierre is allowed to appear on #sensiblereform
— The Daily Edge (@TheDailyEdge) April 9, 2013
RIP Margaret Thatcher & LL Cool J’s rap career.
— William K. Wolfrum (@Wolfrum) April 9, 2013
I’ll say this for Margaret Thatcher: she never hawked reverse mortgages or appeared a Lifelock infomercial.
— Culture of Truth (@Bobblespeak) April 9, 2013
With both Reagan and Margaret Thatcher in Heaven now, maybe the divine nature of conservatism will trickle-down to wretched souls on Earth.
— Top Conservative Cat (@TeaPartyCat) April 9, 2013
Make sure you let your peeps know where to find you!
This Thursday the US Senate will take up gun safety legislation. So far, several Senators have threatened to stop any and all legislation.
Rand Paul of Kentucky, Mike Lee of Utah, Ted Cruz of Texas, Marco Rubio of Florida and Jerry Moran of Kansas, Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Mike Enzi of Wyoming, Jim Risch and Mike Crapo of Idaho, Dan Coats of Indiana and Pat Roberts of Kansas.
Gabby Giffords wrote a piece denouncing the cowardice and ignorance of these Senators. I think she’s run out of patience:
But lately I’m not feeling too patient toward senators and representatives who are listening to the misinformation that’s out there about universal background checks instead of to their constituents, and saying they may not support common sense solutions to ending gun violence.