The Furries

Star
Sponsored by: LindaR
Sponsored: November 22, 2005

Message: Ruby (from WHS), Roger, and Melba Toast - all Sibes wish Star all the luck in getting a new family. Love, the R's Sibes Pack

Thanks to the R's for sponsoring me on behalf of their Siberian Huskies!

Happy Holidays!

My November Furry

Creole
Sponsored by: LindaR
Sponsored: November 7, 2005

My guardian recently passed away, and her family was unable to care for me. I'm a sweet senior looking for a laid-back, loving home. Stop by WHS to meet me...I'd love to host you in my spacious suite.

Thanks to my angel, Linda, for recognizing all the wonderful qualities older dogs possess.

For my Last Lesson

Description:
Chestnut Morgan Gelding

Morgan Horse
breed of American light horse descended from a single progenitor—the famous Justin Morgan. Morgans are used as all-purpose light horses and are very popular on cattle ranches. Their average height is just under 15 hands (60 in./150 cm), and their average weight is about 1,000 lb (450 kg). Bay, chestnut, and black are common colors.

What is a horse? (ahhh my Latin classes)

A large hoofed mammal (Equus caballus) having a short-haired coat, a long mane, and a long tail, domesticated since ancient times and used for riding and for drawing or carrying loads.

What exactly is meant by chestnut?

A reddish/yellowish brown with no black points.

What is a gelding?

Oops! Sorry, there boy.

Words relating to horse anatomy

Horse parts:

withers: the highest point of the shoulder seen best with horse standing square and head slightly lowered. The tops of the two shoulder blades and the space between them define the withers.

mane and forelock: (mane is what I am always grabbing on to!)
long and relatively coarse hair growing from the dorsal ridge of the neck, lying on either the left or right side of the neck, and the continuation of that hair on the top of the head, where it generally hangs forward.

Dock: the point where the tail connects to the rear of the horse.

Flank: Where the hind legs and the stomach of the horse meet.

Pastern: The connection between the coronet and the fetlock.

Fetlock: Resembles the ankle of the horse.

Coronet: The part of the hoof that connects the hoof to the pastern.

Cannon: Resembles the shin of the horse.

Muzzle: the chin, mouth, and nostrils make up the muzzle on the horse's face.

Crest: the point on the neck where the mane grows out of.

Poll: the portion of the horse's neck right behind the ears.

Hock: Hindlimb equivalent to the Heel, the main joint on the hind leg

Stifle: corresponds to the elbow of a horse, except on the hind limb

Gaskin: also known as the "second thigh," the large muscle on the hind leg, just above the hock, below the stifle

---

This is how it looked when I was on the trail ride - riding Skippy I think:

Photo from the Hoofers Riding Website.

Black Fiction
when: Wed 11.16 (9pm)
where: The Make-Out Room (3225 22nd St, 415.647.2888)
price: $6
links: Black Fiction

All the indie kids are atwitter about Black Fiction — and it's no wonder. The band might be San Francisco's answer to the Arcade Fire, if the Arcade Fire took a time machine to the late-'60s/early '70s for a peyote-laced vision quest in the desert. Born out of quirky folk-pop band Feller Quentin, Black Fiction make music like a warped radio transmission from another time. Most of the wide-ranging instrumentation — fiddles, acoustic guitars, melodica, and a variety of percussion — has an organic, earthy sound, and even the keyboards and samples are tinged with nostalgia.

What's an indie kid?

Wow! The Urban Dictionary @
http://www.urbandictionary.com/

So, an indie is:

Short for independent rock. In terms of music it would be independent of major labels/mainstream stuff.

History: grew out from 60s garage, 70s punk, and 80s post punk it started in the mid 80s as alternative/college radio music. Once nirvana hit big the alternative genre split: the popular side was just alternative(Smashing Pumpkins, Hole, No Doubt, etc.) and the other half that wasn't mainstream(by choice or not) became indie rock(Pavement, Sebadoh, Built To Spill, etc).Some bands have signed to major labels but are still considered indie(Modest Mouse, etc.). Go figure.

Sound: In the begining indie sounded like alternative(because it was) but it grew more experimental and weird. In Britain indie has more of a typical sound like Radiohead, Muse, etc. rather than a definition based on 'the scene.'

The scene: if you really think all indie kids do is try to be cooler than other people then... well.. you're mostly right. The main point is, don't take the scene and the whole hipster attitude seriously. No one does. And if you do, well, then I'm cooler than you.
just gimme indie rock

Score 1 for Mitch

Otters winning battle of wits
Wildlife officials may give up on relocation plan


"...an ambitious federal program to preserve otters while protecting shellfish divers from natural competition."

"In an admission that the slick-furred creatures refuse to respect boundaries imposed by man, authorities want to officially abandon their otter-relocation policy."

Read the rest of the AP article at http://www.cnn.com

Point of Reference: Ring of Bright Water (1969)
Mij the Otter - killed by a shovel.
Movie Review at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064893/plotsummary

Men?

"The retro pulp-fiction jacket features a bombshell in a clingy red dress strap-hanging under the leering gaze of her fellow subway riders, all male. "

Review by By KATHRYN HARRISON
Published: November 13, 2005
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/13/books/review/13harrison.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1132085355-PAXR7sb9CgjJ9LU0y1yMyg

Chix Eyes and the Flu

Origins of the flu:
According to Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, all influenza viruses originate in wild birds.

Pandemic variants often occur when a bird or avian virus infects pigs. The virus may then recombine, or mutate, to form a new virus that is able to infect humans and possibly pass from person to person.

The disease we consider the normal flu, which tends to hit America every winter, is left over from the 1968 pandemic.

Mutations

There are two main ways the flu virus mutates or evolves: antigenic shift and antigenic drift.

Antigenic shift is when two different strains of the flu combine to form a subtype, or a combination of the two originals. This only occurs in type A influenza, because it affects multiple species (birds, pigs and humans, for example).

Antigenic drift is the change of a virus over time as it tries to evade the immune system of the organism it is infecting. This is why a new flu vaccine has to be prepared each year.

Peg Leg Peg

Handicapped Puppy To Get Artificial Leg
POSTED: 6:44 am CST November 15, 2005

FLINT TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- Rex Miller, owner of the Greater Flint Prosthetic Center in Michigan, is making a new leg for a puppy.

Peg, a 4-month-old mixed breed dog, was born without an ankle joint or right paw.

Miller said Peg will be able to walk and run better with the new leg.
Making an artificial leg for a puppy can be tricky. It could be attached to the dog's leg with a harness or a Velcro-type material. To prevent her from chewing on the leg, it will be made of material similar to bulletproof vests.

Peg's owner, Carol Beavnier, trains dogs to become leader dogs for the blind. Peg eventually will be a therapy dog, visiting nursing home patients.

What would you do with a brain if you had one?

Ginny Fan Club

Dog's Funeral To Be Attended By 300 Cats

Ginny was a Schnauzer/Siberian-Husky Mix.
She went to the rainbow August 25, 2005

(AP) WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. It could be a first: a dog's memorial service attended by 300 cats.That's what will happen November 19th at the Westchester Cat Show in White Plains, New York, when a schnauzer-Siberian husky mix named Ginny is eulogized.

Ginny's not just any dog, though. She's an honorary cat.Ginny was named Cat of the Year in 1998 for her uncanny skill and bravery in finding and rescuing endangered tabbies.Ginny died in August at age 17, after a long career as a one-dog rescue party for cats on Long Island's South Shore.

The club says she saved hundreds of cats who were abandoned, injured or in harm's way.One time, she threw herself against a vertical pipe at a construction site to topple it and reveal kittens trapped inside.Her owner, Philip Gonzalez, says the adopted shelter dog wasn't trained to do that -- she was "just magical in a way." He's written two books about Ginny.

Noses

Above the Arctic Circle, Answering the Call of the Wild
in today's www.nytimes.com - in the travel section.

A dog sled above the Arctic Circle on the King's Trail in the north of Sweden

Article and Photos by:
By NATHANIEL VINTON
Published: November 13, 2005

Who is cuter?

Cow Girls

Wednesday Funnies

"When I was a baby, my father used to throw me up in the air and then...answer the phone."
--Rita Rudner ---

"If your mind goes blank, don't forget to turn off the sound."
--Red Green ---

"I have no respect for gangs today. None. They just drive by and shoot people. At least in the old days, like in West Side Story, the gangs used to dance with each other."
--Robert G. Lee

Hermione

Bush supports human rights at summit

Bush speaks to reporters at the Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata, Argentina.

Does anyone think this is the weirdest photo?

Master Po and Roger

We talk down to them and yell "Sit!" while we ourselves find it difficult to do just that: Sit and be still." — Clöe Ghesang, founder, Buddhist-Bowwow Institute

How to meditate with your dog
By Allan Johnson
Source: Chicago Tribune

Meditating with your dog-it's not as far-fetched as it may sound, according to James Jacobson.

"I think meditation by itself is one of the most important things we can do," says Jacobson, co-author of "How to Meditate With Your Dog."

"(The book) is showing people a way to leverage the love that they already have for something - for their dog, for their cat - and turn that into the heart of the meditation process," says Jacobson, 39, who teaches the practice ... when he isn't Zenning out with Maui, his Maltese.

Jacobson offers these tips for creating oneness with your pooch:

- Schedule a regular time. "First thing in the morning is a great time, or right after you get home from work but before you get into your evening activities. The more consistent you are, the more you and your dog will be able to ease into meditation."

- Develop a ritual. "Rituals help to prepare you and your dog for meditation. Light a candle, burn incense, put on quiet music, or sit in the same place and position each day."

- Let go of expectation. "If you have a pre-conceived idea of what your meditation experience will be, you'll just get frustrated. Your experience will not be the same as someone else's, and chances are will be different for you from day to day."

- Connect with your dog. "When you sit down to meditate, your dog should be either lying next to you or on your lap. Put one or both hands on your dog. This connection is soothing to him. Your dog may get up. That's OK. Just stay quiet, and when your dog returns, put your hand or hands back on him."

- Conclude your meditation the same way each time. "This signals your body and mind, as well as your dog, that it's time to move on to the next part of your day. The transition should be gentle rather than jarring. Pet your dog slowly, lengthening the stroke from short to long; whisper or say aloud an affirmation, quote, or prayer; or roll your head from side to side."

Purity

Digital ID: cph 3f05738
Source: color film copy slide
Reproduction Number: LC-USZC2-5738 (color film copy slide) , LC-USZ62-28604 (b&w film copy neg.)
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
Retrieve higher resolution JPEG version (177 kilobytes) Retrieve uncompressed archival TIFF version (32 megabytes)

Be Sitting Down before you watch this!

Scary Halloween


You MUST READ THE STORY before watching the video
VOLUME REQUIRED
Strange but interesting.

This is a car advertisement from Great Britain. When they finished filming the ad, the film editor noticed something moving along the side of the car, like a ghostly white mist. They found out that a person had been killed a year earlier in that exact same spot. The ad was never put on TV because of the unexplained ghostly phenomenon.

Watch the front end of the car as it clears the trees in the middle of the screen and you'll see the white mist crossing in front of the car then following it along the road....Spooky!

Is it a ghost, or is it simply mist? You decide.

If you listen to the ad, you'll even hear the cameraman whispering in the background about it near the end of the commercial.