|
|
Monday, January 14th, 2008
| |
5:18 pm
|
|
| Wednesday, October 31st, 2007
| |
5:52 am
|
|
| Friday, September 21st, 2007
| |
8:51 pm
|
|
| Sunday, August 12th, 2007
| |
11:45 am
|
Oh, and on the topic of behavior, human this time rather than equine, here is a link to an article I ran across rather randomly and found interesting. The author tidily codifies rather vague notions I've had in the back of my mind for quite a while now based on my own observations, but was never able to piece together articulately. Bravo, Amanda. (I'm not nice.)
current music: Cherry Popping Daddies: Diamond Light
|
|
(1 comment | comment on this)
|
| |
4:11 am - Random animal behavior retrospective
|
Some time ago I was having dinner with trainer David Lichman the evening prior to the clinic he was going to be holding. (This was at Sue Whalen's house, Ingrid, as I'm sure you'll remember.) At some point the conversation turned to Arabians, and since I was rather active at the time on the horsemanship mailing list of which we were all a part, David turned to me and asked how I would characterize Arabians.
In my characteristic slug-wittedness when put on the spot like that, I hemmed and hawed a bit while the usual stereotypes flitted through my head--"high-strung," "flighty," "airheads," etc--followed soon after by a mental collage of the Arabians I'd worked with. The grumpy, neglected old lady who just wanted someone around to keep her company, the eagerly willing girl Aunt Nasty was taking care of and who readily accepted her required eye meds without fuss, the goofy gelding who tried his best to convince anyone who entered his pasture he was going to kill them but readily let slip that he was just playing, the pen of mellow, inquisitive studs...and as I mulled over all these different thoughts I realized, too late of course, that my answer was "I wouldn't."
Rather than approach a pen with some set of generalized preconceptions of what the animal is supposed to be based on its physical attributes, I'd rather let it tell me what kind of individual personality it actually has. There may be vague things which can be said of certain classifications (breeds, genders, etc), and those may have their place; but when my intent is to work one-on-one with an animal, stereotypes are of no use to me. I need an unprejudiced mind to assess the individual in front of me.
Naturally this coalesced after the topic had moved on to other matters, so I'm getting it off my chest now, years later, to an audience who likely has no interest in the topic. :)
current music: Kraftwerk: Dentaku
|
|
(comment on this)
|
| Friday, July 27th, 2007
| |
5:55 pm
|
|
| Saturday, July 14th, 2007
| |
6:41 pm
|
|
| Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007
| |
1:14 am - Random pointlessness (or: The power of misinformation on the Intarweb)
|
Back before the web, in the days when online life was altogether more texty, various factions on usenet and bbses would trade song lyrics and guitar/bass tablature as one of the ways of procrastinating on schoolwork. Sometimes there were liner notes, but generally these were all done by listening to sometimes rather dodgy copies on tape to try and make out what we supposed was being played or sung. The accuracy was...well, I recall reading something from Carl McCoy, who'd found some of these attempts at interpreting his voice and sounded rather amused at how wildly off they were. Some of these managed to find their way to places like ftp://archive.uwp.edu/, and from there in turn to http://www.olga.net/, and so on.
Bands have since gotten better about releasing their lyrics, or at the very least the consensus of more pairs of ears has produced better attempts as time passes. But it still amuses me to see some of my crappier relics from those ancient times still being passed around as if they had any merit.
Meanwhile, news for today is ten days of neopolybac and a lifetime of cyclosporine for pooch.
current music: Peter Murphy: Hit Song
|
|
(comment on this)
|
| Monday, May 28th, 2007
| |
11:59 pm
|
"We're fat fucked and forty. What's your excuse?"
--Johnny Rotten to the audience on their Filthy Lucre tour
current music: The Ukes: Anarchy in the Ukraine
|
|
(2 comments | comment on this)
|
| Sunday, March 11th, 2007
| |
3:55 am
|
|
| Saturday, February 24th, 2007
| |
11:44 pm - Apologies.
|
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070224/ap_on_re_us/slavery_apology
On that note, I'd like to apologize to Native Americans everywhere for all the bad things my Irish ancestors may have done to my Native American ancestors. I'd also like to apologize for anything unpleasant my Viking ancestors may have inflicted upon my Irish ancestors. It was terribly insensitive of them.
And now if everyone will pardon me, I'm going to go sue myself for the sins of my forefathers.
current music: Descendents: I Don't Wanna Grow Up
|
|
(comment on this)
|
| Thursday, February 22nd, 2007
| |
6:26 pm - Gross (and icky) anatomy
|
|
| Wednesday, February 21st, 2007
| |
7:12 pm
|
( Need an even more satisfying crunch? )
EDIT: For anyone who cares, the other driver was found at fault and their insurance covered my totaled vehicle without hassle. Insurance also covered the medical, apparently nothing worse than a broken wrist and general sprains. Oddly enough they left me with the carcass rather than salvaging it so I donated it to a local pet rescue through DonateACar.com. I miss the versatility of a truck, but my new car gets me around, and more economically to boot.
current music: They Might Be Giants: Spider
|
|
(2 comments | comment on this)
|
| |
1:30 pm
|
恭喜发财，红包拿来
Yeah I know, couple days late. Cope. And have a piggy. If you're lucky I might even remember to mention Ash Wednesday sometime next month.
current music: Siouxsie and the Banshees: Face to Face
|
|
(1 comment | comment on this)
|
| Thursday, January 25th, 2007
| |
1:04 am
|
|
| Monday, January 1st, 2007
| |
5:03 am
|
And so another year endeth, with the traditional countdown courtesy of time.gov and Auld Lang Syne at ready on midi (watching the ball drop at Times Square is like so 1900s). The champage cork hit the ceiling fan and gave us an unexpected shower of confetti-like dust to add to the festivities.
Happy whatever, losers.
current music: auld-lang-syne.mid
|
|
(9 comments | comment on this)
|
| Saturday, July 15th, 2006
| |
9:26 am
|
|
| Friday, July 14th, 2006
| |
11:01 pm
|
|
| Wednesday, July 12th, 2006
| |
3:43 am
|
|
| Friday, June 30th, 2006
| |
12:06 am
|
Looks like a few people've been picking up new puppies. Just want to give my endorsement for these guys and their training books. Haven't seen their DVDs, but I'd be really surprised if they turned out to be crap. Like any good training guides, they're more about trying to teach how to figure things out on your own rather than giving a cookbook of unthinking procedures, so you'll get more out of their stuff if you read and evaluate what they say with that in mind.
current music: Dvar: Taai Liira
|
|
(1 comment | comment on this)
|
|
|
|
|
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
urocyon's journal