C. Henry Martens's Blog, page 12
February 3, 2017
The Next BIG Thing
©2017 C. Henry Martens
I remember hearing stories. Stories of before my time, when the world was young and technology confined to gears and clear glass and keeping time. Tales of true horsepower, as opposed to fire-breathing mechanical monsters that have come to be entirely ubiquitous and blamed for much of our earthly problems.
Can you imagine a time before automobiles? Taste that word on your tongue. Say it slowly. *Automobile* -- If you don’t get the flavor of an ancient time, an era of discovery, the inventing of a word to describe an entirely new thing, leading to a new age… then you must be lacking somehow.
There was a time when little boys heard the clang of brass bells and the clatter of hooves, and they rushed to the street to chase after a horse-drawn fire engine.
In the space of ten years or so, ninety percent of the horses in industrial nations lost their jobs.
I’ve never read a single account of what those times were like for people in the horse industry. Can you imagine how internal combustion engines coupled to steel frames and turning rubber clad wheels must have impacted those financially invested in animal power? Breeders, trainers, farriers, veterinarians, grooms, people who built facilities for housing equines, feeding equines, and disposal of equines, growers of hay and grain, and especially all of the people using horses for transportation, farming, delivery services, and status symbols.
Yes, status symbols. You don’t believe that a ‘67 Mustang was the first cool horse, do you? Why do you think they used the name?
There have been a lot of big things since the first 1903 curved dash Oldsmobile belched and farted its way down the cobbled streets of downtown New York City or San Francisco.
Jazz, Pop, Rap, and Grunge Rock. Hula Hoops, Skateboards, and banana seat Stingray bicycles. Chatty Cathy, Patty Playpal, Barbie, Cabbage Patch, and American Girl dolls. Transistor radios, portable CD players, iPods, and smart phones.
Every time I look at a kid on a bike, one of those with the seat lowered to the frame, I want to scream. Do they not understand how a higher seat works better, allowing the power in their legs to do a better job? And then there are the Hoverboards… no muscles necessary.
So much of the past technological change was driven by necessity. Something that improved the product, made it work better, last longer, be more reliable, cost less.
It is truly amazing how reliable things have become. They are either so badly made that they don’t function right out of the box… or they are really pretty darn good.
And THAT brings me to one of my favorite next big things. The power that consumers have to give feedback. You can read a review on any product made. I hope you realize how much power that gives you and that you use it wisely. Truly, the course of your future depends on the art of writing a review and whether the reviews get read.
I look at the vehicles going down the road today and see how they have changed due to customers using the power of their dollars to force change. Vehicles have power steering and brakes, get better mileage, have better sound systems, choices in wheels, and are more reliable because people buy these things and leave the vehicles without them on the lots.
But I have to say… I’m still waiting for that flying car that seemed so likely fifty years ago.
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I remember hearing stories. Stories of before my time, when the world was young and technology confined to gears and clear glass and keeping time. Tales of true horsepower, as opposed to fire-breathing mechanical monsters that have come to be entirely ubiquitous and blamed for much of our earthly problems.
Can you imagine a time before automobiles? Taste that word on your tongue. Say it slowly. *Automobile* -- If you don’t get the flavor of an ancient time, an era of discovery, the inventing of a word to describe an entirely new thing, leading to a new age… then you must be lacking somehow.
There was a time when little boys heard the clang of brass bells and the clatter of hooves, and they rushed to the street to chase after a horse-drawn fire engine.
In the space of ten years or so, ninety percent of the horses in industrial nations lost their jobs.
I’ve never read a single account of what those times were like for people in the horse industry. Can you imagine how internal combustion engines coupled to steel frames and turning rubber clad wheels must have impacted those financially invested in animal power? Breeders, trainers, farriers, veterinarians, grooms, people who built facilities for housing equines, feeding equines, and disposal of equines, growers of hay and grain, and especially all of the people using horses for transportation, farming, delivery services, and status symbols.
Yes, status symbols. You don’t believe that a ‘67 Mustang was the first cool horse, do you? Why do you think they used the name?
There have been a lot of big things since the first 1903 curved dash Oldsmobile belched and farted its way down the cobbled streets of downtown New York City or San Francisco.
Jazz, Pop, Rap, and Grunge Rock. Hula Hoops, Skateboards, and banana seat Stingray bicycles. Chatty Cathy, Patty Playpal, Barbie, Cabbage Patch, and American Girl dolls. Transistor radios, portable CD players, iPods, and smart phones.
Every time I look at a kid on a bike, one of those with the seat lowered to the frame, I want to scream. Do they not understand how a higher seat works better, allowing the power in their legs to do a better job? And then there are the Hoverboards… no muscles necessary.
So much of the past technological change was driven by necessity. Something that improved the product, made it work better, last longer, be more reliable, cost less.
It is truly amazing how reliable things have become. They are either so badly made that they don’t function right out of the box… or they are really pretty darn good.
And THAT brings me to one of my favorite next big things. The power that consumers have to give feedback. You can read a review on any product made. I hope you realize how much power that gives you and that you use it wisely. Truly, the course of your future depends on the art of writing a review and whether the reviews get read.
I look at the vehicles going down the road today and see how they have changed due to customers using the power of their dollars to force change. Vehicles have power steering and brakes, get better mileage, have better sound systems, choices in wheels, and are more reliable because people buy these things and leave the vehicles without them on the lots.
But I have to say… I’m still waiting for that flying car that seemed so likely fifty years ago.
Click here to receive the Apocalypse Observer Newsletter in your inbox
www.readmota.com
To comment, scroll down and type in your comment. Under Comment As, you can select Anonymous or Name/URL (you don't need to enter a URL). Then hit Publish.
January 27, 2017
Blind Loyalty
©2017 C. Henry Martens
Is loyalty a good thing? I know people that are “loyal to a fault,” which means that they are “taking loyalty to an extreme; generally causing more harm than good.”
Have you ever seen a parent that will never let their child come to harm? Someone that hovers above as the child plays, helicopter parenting, never allowing the kid a way to test boundaries? Soon the kid begins to think they can do no wrong, and sooner or later they find out the hard way that there are consequences.
You and I see it all the time. An out of control kid that displays violence, throws tantrums, is destructive, and the parent comes to the rescue claiming, “Little Jimmy didn’t mean it, PLEASE give him another chance.” And this goes on and on and on, until Little Jimmy hits a wall by doing something that the parent can’t fix.
I’m going to tell you straight up… it is the parent’s fault. They should have let Little Jimmy skin his knee when he wanted to do something stupid. Even worse than saving the kid from physical harm is the mental cost of raising a child that thinks they are entitled and above the natural consequences of reality.
Society has evolved in the last several decades into an entitled child factory, and those kids as adults are visiting the lessons of their youth on civilization.
My religion is the only true path, my political party is good and all the others are evil, my team deserves to win, my kid needs to get an award too, my choices are better, my dog is better than your dog, my, my, my, my, my…
What it comes down to is a recipe for disaster.
I have my leanings. But one of the things I pride myself on is the ability to pick apart my choices. The ability to see both the good and the bad in any party, organization, or group that I associate with.
I catch a lot of flack for that.
Why is it that people think it is a good idea to just blindly agree with everything that their tribe does? I use the word, “tribe,” when in fact the behavior seems to demand the word, “herd.” Herd mentality…
I’m going to propose something. I am going to suggest that the extreme loyalists to any cause or organization are the people most likely to make their intention fail.
WHAT?!?!?!?
How can that be?
Well, let’s think about it. Is there a perfect organization? If there is, then no problem. That organization never needs to change. Never needs a new idea, a new strategy, a new goal, a new trajectory. We can all just shout loudly that our way is the only way and that everyone who disagrees is stupid or blind or evil. Nothing our organization ever does is wrong, and everyone else is never right. I’m sure, I know, this is the way it is, written in stone, and God bless us everyone!!!
Personally, I take a different approach to loyalty. I see loyalty as letting my children skin their knees.
I also question what I am told, or expected to believe. And I don’t mean in *the other guy’s* organization or cause… but in my own.
I not only question my own associations, but I speak out. There are no perfect organizations, and it is my responsibility to hold feet to the fire. If someone comes up with some ridiculous story that makes no sense, and expects me to swallow it, even expects me to broadcast the fallacy out of loyalty… then woe be unto them. I’m not your guy.
I want my choices to reflect the truth. Why? Because the truth is always better than a lie. Because the truth is right, and an untruth is evil. Because, as Mark Twain once said, “If you tell the truth you never have to remember anything.” Because if we are operating on an accurate, identified truth, then we can offer a best argument leading to a solution.
Mark Twain also said, “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.” And that applies to being on the majority side within an organization. Numbers are often an indication of blind loyalty more than they are intellectual acuity or ethics.
In the end, do we not want our organizations to be held to the highest standards? Do we not desire that they are not only correct, but that they are not wrong?
Do we always have to justify the opposite side of an issue, just because it may agree with people we would like to be “righter” than?
There is far too much following the herd as an act of faith. Too much agreeing to get along, rather than because the facts are accurate. Too much desire to belong, at the expense of reality.
Our organizations suffer for it. Our communities, nations, and children suffer for it. Most of all, and I know most people who read this will be whom I am speaking of, YOU suffer for it.
If you can’t find and speak to the faults in your own… then you deserve everything you get.
But the rest of us don’t.
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To comment, scroll down and type in your comment. Under Comment As, you can select Anonymous or Name/URL (you don't need to enter a URL). Then hit Publish.
Is loyalty a good thing? I know people that are “loyal to a fault,” which means that they are “taking loyalty to an extreme; generally causing more harm than good.”
Have you ever seen a parent that will never let their child come to harm? Someone that hovers above as the child plays, helicopter parenting, never allowing the kid a way to test boundaries? Soon the kid begins to think they can do no wrong, and sooner or later they find out the hard way that there are consequences.
You and I see it all the time. An out of control kid that displays violence, throws tantrums, is destructive, and the parent comes to the rescue claiming, “Little Jimmy didn’t mean it, PLEASE give him another chance.” And this goes on and on and on, until Little Jimmy hits a wall by doing something that the parent can’t fix.
I’m going to tell you straight up… it is the parent’s fault. They should have let Little Jimmy skin his knee when he wanted to do something stupid. Even worse than saving the kid from physical harm is the mental cost of raising a child that thinks they are entitled and above the natural consequences of reality.
Society has evolved in the last several decades into an entitled child factory, and those kids as adults are visiting the lessons of their youth on civilization.
My religion is the only true path, my political party is good and all the others are evil, my team deserves to win, my kid needs to get an award too, my choices are better, my dog is better than your dog, my, my, my, my, my…
What it comes down to is a recipe for disaster.
I have my leanings. But one of the things I pride myself on is the ability to pick apart my choices. The ability to see both the good and the bad in any party, organization, or group that I associate with.
I catch a lot of flack for that.
Why is it that people think it is a good idea to just blindly agree with everything that their tribe does? I use the word, “tribe,” when in fact the behavior seems to demand the word, “herd.” Herd mentality…
I’m going to propose something. I am going to suggest that the extreme loyalists to any cause or organization are the people most likely to make their intention fail.
WHAT?!?!?!?
How can that be?
Well, let’s think about it. Is there a perfect organization? If there is, then no problem. That organization never needs to change. Never needs a new idea, a new strategy, a new goal, a new trajectory. We can all just shout loudly that our way is the only way and that everyone who disagrees is stupid or blind or evil. Nothing our organization ever does is wrong, and everyone else is never right. I’m sure, I know, this is the way it is, written in stone, and God bless us everyone!!!
Personally, I take a different approach to loyalty. I see loyalty as letting my children skin their knees.
I also question what I am told, or expected to believe. And I don’t mean in *the other guy’s* organization or cause… but in my own.
I not only question my own associations, but I speak out. There are no perfect organizations, and it is my responsibility to hold feet to the fire. If someone comes up with some ridiculous story that makes no sense, and expects me to swallow it, even expects me to broadcast the fallacy out of loyalty… then woe be unto them. I’m not your guy.
I want my choices to reflect the truth. Why? Because the truth is always better than a lie. Because the truth is right, and an untruth is evil. Because, as Mark Twain once said, “If you tell the truth you never have to remember anything.” Because if we are operating on an accurate, identified truth, then we can offer a best argument leading to a solution.
Mark Twain also said, “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.” And that applies to being on the majority side within an organization. Numbers are often an indication of blind loyalty more than they are intellectual acuity or ethics.
In the end, do we not want our organizations to be held to the highest standards? Do we not desire that they are not only correct, but that they are not wrong?
Do we always have to justify the opposite side of an issue, just because it may agree with people we would like to be “righter” than?
There is far too much following the herd as an act of faith. Too much agreeing to get along, rather than because the facts are accurate. Too much desire to belong, at the expense of reality.
Our organizations suffer for it. Our communities, nations, and children suffer for it. Most of all, and I know most people who read this will be whom I am speaking of, YOU suffer for it.
If you can’t find and speak to the faults in your own… then you deserve everything you get.
But the rest of us don’t.
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www.readmota.com
To comment, scroll down and type in your comment. Under Comment As, you can select Anonymous or Name/URL (you don't need to enter a URL). Then hit Publish.
January 20, 2017
How to Guest Blog for the Apocalypse Observer
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The Unvarnished Truth about Pit Bulls
©2017 C. Henry Martens
Image courtesy of pixabay.com
I have never seen a good, in-depth, article about pit bulls. At least one that isn’t slanted by a biased conclusion. Almost everyone has an opinion, but very few people KNOW what is involved in the genetic manipulation of dogs, or the care and training that dogs are intended to have. Please understand that I will write this with an open heart and as little bias as I can muster, as I do not blame dogs for what they are at the hands of human beings. With some good information, you can draw your own conclusions.
Dogs are amazing animals. They come in more shapes and sizes than any other animal in the world. Long or short hair, legs of all lengths, tails or not, flat or pointed faces, heavy muscles or thinly clad, tall, short, fast, slow, upright or floppy ears, uncontrollable barkers or completely silent, and differing skills. Dogs are *bred*.
What does that mean, dogs are *bred*?
Well, it means that if you want a certain look, or feature, or survival advantage, or skill… within reason a dog can be molded to fill a niche. All domesticated animals become something other than their wild cousins, more or less by artificial selection, but dogs are unique in their adaptability.
There is good evidence that domesticated dogs evolved alongside humans in different parts of the world simultaneously. That means that while later Neanderthals were copulating with Homo Sapiens in northern Europe, and rare Denisovans were partnering with early man in eastern Siberia, all while more Homo Sapiens were exploding out of Africa to populate the Earth… entirely different genetic strains of domesticated dog were evolving alongside them in different parts of the world.
All of those dogs could interbreed. Today, all dogs can interbreed. The genetic gene pool is huge. Presently there are one hundred eighty-seven breeds recognized by the American Kennel Club. I suspect there are far more breeds still to be recognized, if only because it is so easy to build one to order.
What kind of dog do you want? Most people in industrialized societies today concentrate on status symbols. They want a dog that looks like what their neighbors think is cool. Something fuzzy and cute to curl up on your lap or stick its head out the window as you drive, to lick the kids faces and not be too much of a bother. Perhaps something majestic that will draw attention. Alternatively, they might want something that their neighbors will see as dangerous. Perhaps because they think that having a dangerous dog will rub off on them and the neighbors will see the dog owner as dangerous. Sometimes the owner will be dangerous, but whether to the neighbors or his own dog is a question.
Do you hunt birds that flush from ground cover? How about a setter or a pointer? Water birds? Well, a retriever of course. Do you have something heavy to haul? Working breeds. Do you need an alarm or a threat dog? Lots of breeds bark at strangers. How about herding livestock? Yup, we’ve got something for that, too.
Do any of you doubt that a dog bred to hunt birds by pointing will not point? Or that a dog developed to herd sheep will not nip at the heels of a flock? Dog breeds are designed to work. That may come as a surprise to some people, but almost every breed of dog was originally purposed to do a job. Even fuzzy lap dogs. Most breeds were designed to hunt in some capacity in the early stages of genetic selection. Soon after, dogs were selected to haul loads. But hunting was the first job of the first domestic dog… and the breed that followed.
Have you ever seen someone that hired out rat terriers to farms to clear the vermin from barns and feed storage bins? Nowadays, we in our comfortable homes have forgotten what dogs were intended to do. The shear viciousness of a good rat terrier after a scurrying rodent is a revelation. A killing machine without equal. Intent, focused, lethal… and unstopping once it gets a blood lust unleashed. Terriers have been used in timed contests to kill rats, with the record being one hundred rats dying in less than five and a half minutes. This is what terriers were bred to do… by human beings. This ability made the dogs useful.
Ready to quit reading? Just the facts.
Dogs are designed by human beings. Humankind has always had many requirements, and death has always been one of them.
You might wonder at this point if I have a problem with dogs. I don’t, but I am not one to shy away from the grimmer realities of our genetic manipulation involving our animal companions and partners.
All dog breeds have been used by human beings as companion animals. Dogs should be so lucky as we are in finding a companion as loyal and trustworthy… and kind and forgiving. Truly, we humans are the blessed ones in the arrangement.
But it is important to understand what our forefather’s priorities were. They designed dogs to do a job, and the ones that didn’t… well… they didn’t survive. That is a very strong incentive to succeed in whatever is asked of you. And in genetic terms in a species that is highly moldable, the skills that were long ago retained by harsh selection criteria are still retained in gentle, “he won’t bite”, Fido.
Dogs may not be used for the same purposes as they once were, but the genetics are still floating around in the gene pool… and closer to the surface than many people imagine.
All dogs bite.
Oh yes… they do. Dogs have a survival instinct. They understand pain, and hunger, and mortality. They feel fear and anger and can hold a grudge. A startled dog will react, a dog being chased will weigh the options in fleeing or defending itself. A threatened dog will consider the possibilities.
If you work with dogs at all, you may have had people tell you that, “Muffin won’t bite.” The result being a quick retreat from snapping teeth and a fervent apology from the owner denying it has ever happened before. Dogs that are “certified” to work in rest homes and hospitals as comfort animals, will and do bite. The certification process does not abuse the dogs to the point beyond what they are likely to encounter in working situations. The certification process works well, but it does not remove the bite from the dog.
All dogs bite. Some haven’t found the right incentive. Yet.
Numbers and statistics can be good, bad, or incomplete. But it is important to at least review a few.
There are roughly nineteen thousand genes in dog DNA. We humans share about eighteen thousand of them. About fifty or so of these genes are the ones that humans play around with in determining how a breed of dog will develop.
By most estimates, less than two percent of dog bites end up requiring hospitalization. There are many things to fear in life more than your family pet. Of the things that kill people, dogs are relatively benign. Only one in less than a hundred twenty thousand people will die from a dog attack.
There has been a dog bite related death attributed to a Yorkshire Terrier. These dogs are diminutive little scamps, so it is difficult to see how they can be dangerous. Of the canines that are most common in human death cases, dogs of some size are common. Before pit bulls rose in popularity, starting about thirty-five years ago, working dogs held the highest numbers for dog related human deaths. Mastiff and Saint Bernard breeds were more popular and these large dogs were often not properly socialized or trained. German Shepherd, Husky, and Rottweiler breeds were traditionally high in the statistics, too. Rotts are still very high in human related deaths, second only to pit bulls. But they are a popular dog, while the other breeds have declined in numbers or percentages.
A serious flaw in most statistics is that they rarely give the actual numbers of a breed in context with the percentage of that breed in the canine population as a whole. Some of the other flaws are that often dogs are not identified accurately by breed, or even identified at all.
Presently, pit bulls stand at approximately 6.6 percent of the canine population in the United States. That’s a fairly popular breed, and that number has come down from the peak a few years ago.
One scenario is clear. There are many more pack style attacks than most people realize. Dogs of all breeds will run together and they will forget any human instruction they have received. Feral dogs will entice home bodies to run with the pack, and kill with the pack. But don’t be mistaken, home bodies don’t need a feral leader. There are some estimates that suggest almost a half million uncared for dogs live on Native American reservations, and several pack killings have been recorded. But there are as many packs running off the reservation and many of those begin with a family pet let out to do its business...
But you want to know something about pit bulls, or you wouldn’t be reading this.
First off, pit bulls are not a breed of dog. They are not recognized as a breed by the American Kennel Club. What pit bulls are is a *type* of dog. Generally, there are four breeds recognized as being pit type dogs. These are the American Pit Bull Terrier, the American Staffordshire Terrier, the American Bully, and the Staffordshire Bull Terrier. Pit type dog breeds are not all recognized by the AKC but may be recognized by other entities.
There are many physical characteristics common to all the pit type dog breeds. Until recently they were relatively small compared to other working dogs. Fighting dogs were often under thirty pounds. The dogs are muscular and heavy in the shoulders and neck. In particular, they have large jowls with strong biting muscles. The dogs are short haired with a medium long muzzle, characteristics common to most bull dog style breeds.
All the breeds recognized as pit types are related, and the close relationship stems from not only genetic similarities, but the use they were put to as working dogs in centuries past. These dogs were used to do a job. Whether for industry or sport, they were used to dominate livestock. Thus, they were described as “bull” dogs because they were used on cattle, and in particular bulls. Humans aren’t satisfied with legitimate use though, and pits were used in fighting arenas to be bet on, and slaughtered if they didn’t kill as expected.
Here is where it gets interesting.
Pits were bred to do a specific job but were often invited into the home for other purposes much like other breeds that are designed for outside work. They had to get along with their owner, and their owner’s children. The dogs seem remarkably friendly as a result, and appear reliable.
Genetics are a funny thing though. Each characteristic in any animal is heritable. That means that the parents pass down into their offspring the characteristics that they, themselves, possess. Some characteristics are hard to pass on, and some are easy. Docility is easy to pass in most animals. In fact, the characteristic for domesticity, a calm personality, is linked to color variation from the wild state. Animals that vary little in color within a species have little variation in temperament. Those that vary more in how docile or aggressive they are have more color variation. Wolves vary quite a bit compared to other wild species, in both color and temperament. They have personalities.
Something needs to be said about cross breeding. While people will often breed an animal to an unlike animal in hopes of getting particular traits that are desired, quite often traits are magnified in crossing breeds unintentionally. In the case of pits, they were initially designed to tolerate their owners well even though they were used in violent sports or work. Cross breeding with another kind of dog may remove some of that tolerance. Especially in breeding done by people ignorant of or uninterested in consequences.
Dog breeds were designed to do a job. Along with their job, they were bred to be both calm… and fierce. They need to get along with the human being that feeds them, and keeps them, or they would have never have found a home with us. But most of the jobs dogs were originally intended to do involved hunting and killing. All dogs have a trigger.
This is where it may seem that I am biased. I swear to you that I will give you nothing but facts, and you can take from those facts what you will.
Pit bulls have a trigger. They were designed to serve their masters. We, human beings, created them to do what we asked.
What we asked was that they lived in our house when they weren’t chained or caged, and when we asked, they killed to survive. They have a trigger in their DNA, just as all dogs do.
Just as a pointer or a herding dog has DNA that affords them a certain kind of ability, something that is inherent in the breed and more or less in each individual… something to be selected for and cultivated and in the end instructed to perfection, so too do the breeds that were selected to be killing machines. Some individual dogs have little of these ingrained abilities, yet their litter mate has the ability in quantity. You can’t always tell by looking, or even after living with an animal, how much of the genetic trigger is inside or how close to the surface it is. This is true of all breeds. But what is also true is that some breeds have a more sensitive trigger than others. I believe pits have a more well controlled trigger than most dogs, but not by much.
In the pursuit of their job, baiting and dominating large animals like bulls, bears, and other dogs intent on destroying them, as well as fleets of rats to be killed for sport or legitimate use, pit bull type dogs developed something else. Have you ever watched a dog attack? Most dogs will rush in and bite, each breed having a particular kind of bite, and then the attacker will back off. Very often the attacking dog will run away. Some breeds are not as likely to run away. One breed in particular is likely to attack again and again, sometimes never backing off or releasing at all. Even under heavy abuse, pit bulls were designed to be tenacious. They were bred to identify a target and destroy it. I have seen a pit bull attack a man, and even when the man was surrounded by others trying to keep the dog away, the attacking animal ran from side to side until it found an opening and went in to maul the original victim until it was repulsed… but the dog continued to dive in as it found openings, ignoring the easier targets it might have selected.
This is a characteristic of pit bull attacks. They are focused. They are tenacious. They are intent on doing their job. The pit bull style of attack is unique to the breed in its intensity.
I believe that pit bulls are no more likely to bite than any other dog. What pit bulls do… is finish the job.
They are genetically programmed by human DNA manipulation to finish the task they are assigned.
It is a fact that in 2015 there were thirty-four human beings killed by dogs in the United States. Of these attacks, twenty-eight of the animals involved were identified as pit bulls or pit bull crosses. The next breed in the numbers was Rottweiler with three, and between the two breeds, they represented the breeds in ninety-one percent of the deaths that occurred.
These are not numbers I made up. You have a way to verify the numbers. Check them out for yourself. Don’t ask for a link, because you will think I will guide you to biased information. Just be as honest as I am when looking for verification.
I like dogs and have always owned one. I was three when I got my first. I have lived with my dogs in my home from that first animal. I always socialize my dogs, and I always obedience train my dogs. They are much happier if they know what their pack leader wants, and I am happier, too. One of my pet peeves is seeing a dog abused by people that neglect them, and that neglect can be by not training them as much as by ignoring their needs. Dogs like to know what is expected. They were bred to please us, and they get all kinds of mental and emotional problems when they are freed from that obligation. If your dog is straining at the leash ahead of you, it is in control and less secure mentally because of it.
I also like pit bulls. They are not at fault for their genetics. Human beings have made them what they are. The vast majority will never bite. Some because they possess a calm temperament, some because their trigger is buried deeper, some because they have been handled appropriately, and some because they are lucky. I don’t want to be around a pit bull that attacks. Once they make that leap, open themselves to violence, they are difficult to turn off.
I am always nervous when a dog is first introduced to people, especially a child. Even moreso if there is more than one child. Children need training, too, and many are not socialized properly around dogs. Often, they are encouraged to be overly friendly. Dogs know that elderly people are frail. Anyone that falls in front of the right dog at the right time can become a target.
I have often wondered why our ancestors preferred smaller dogs, especially those they used for fighting. I believe they wanted to be sure they could control the animal if it became aggressive. They didn’t have medical facilities like we do today. One thing is sure. If they had wanted to breed huge dogs for fighting, they could have.
Just a little perspective…
Post script: Considering the children attacked so recently in Atlanta, I hope you will try to consider this article appropriately. I know it is popular to protect animals seen as gentle and part of the family, and I agree completely. But there is a line where reality must be understood as well.
One more thing. If you visit a county shelter you may see that there are more pit bull types being turned in than other breeds. I believe this is because young people without stable accommodations tend to like dogs that are seen as trendy, and pits are trendy because they are perceived as misunderstood or as intimidating. Both reasons are attractive to young people, so pits end up in shelters more often than other breeds... It is a sad fact that pits are harder to place, and that most dogs in shelters are euthanized. The best solution, as in most things, is to understand the realities through education and let the *market stabilize* by realistic and natural means. If this happens, there will be fewer pits bred and there will be more responsible ownership… and the issue will become more naturally balanced to the pit type dog’s advantage.
Post post script: I have been asked by my daughter to investigate the recent interest in calling pit bulls “nanny dogs.” Many of the claims made are entirely bogus in that the pit bull types were never called nanny dogs in the preceding centuries. That term has been invented in the present century, the last sixteen years. There are plenty of documented cases of pits living with families and small children, but the numbers of fatalities are consistent with modern times in context with the breed popularity. One of the larger pit bull advocacy groups, BAD RAP, has within the last few years announced that it will no longer support the “nanny dog myth.” It is not often that an advocacy group will deny something that supports a position that the group sees as beneficial to their cause. Good for them.
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To comment, scroll down and type in your comment. Under Comment As, you can select Anonymous or Name/URL (you don't need to enter a URL). Then hit Publish.
Image courtesy of pixabay.comI have never seen a good, in-depth, article about pit bulls. At least one that isn’t slanted by a biased conclusion. Almost everyone has an opinion, but very few people KNOW what is involved in the genetic manipulation of dogs, or the care and training that dogs are intended to have. Please understand that I will write this with an open heart and as little bias as I can muster, as I do not blame dogs for what they are at the hands of human beings. With some good information, you can draw your own conclusions.
Dogs are amazing animals. They come in more shapes and sizes than any other animal in the world. Long or short hair, legs of all lengths, tails or not, flat or pointed faces, heavy muscles or thinly clad, tall, short, fast, slow, upright or floppy ears, uncontrollable barkers or completely silent, and differing skills. Dogs are *bred*.
What does that mean, dogs are *bred*?
Well, it means that if you want a certain look, or feature, or survival advantage, or skill… within reason a dog can be molded to fill a niche. All domesticated animals become something other than their wild cousins, more or less by artificial selection, but dogs are unique in their adaptability.
There is good evidence that domesticated dogs evolved alongside humans in different parts of the world simultaneously. That means that while later Neanderthals were copulating with Homo Sapiens in northern Europe, and rare Denisovans were partnering with early man in eastern Siberia, all while more Homo Sapiens were exploding out of Africa to populate the Earth… entirely different genetic strains of domesticated dog were evolving alongside them in different parts of the world.
All of those dogs could interbreed. Today, all dogs can interbreed. The genetic gene pool is huge. Presently there are one hundred eighty-seven breeds recognized by the American Kennel Club. I suspect there are far more breeds still to be recognized, if only because it is so easy to build one to order.
What kind of dog do you want? Most people in industrialized societies today concentrate on status symbols. They want a dog that looks like what their neighbors think is cool. Something fuzzy and cute to curl up on your lap or stick its head out the window as you drive, to lick the kids faces and not be too much of a bother. Perhaps something majestic that will draw attention. Alternatively, they might want something that their neighbors will see as dangerous. Perhaps because they think that having a dangerous dog will rub off on them and the neighbors will see the dog owner as dangerous. Sometimes the owner will be dangerous, but whether to the neighbors or his own dog is a question.
Do you hunt birds that flush from ground cover? How about a setter or a pointer? Water birds? Well, a retriever of course. Do you have something heavy to haul? Working breeds. Do you need an alarm or a threat dog? Lots of breeds bark at strangers. How about herding livestock? Yup, we’ve got something for that, too.
Do any of you doubt that a dog bred to hunt birds by pointing will not point? Or that a dog developed to herd sheep will not nip at the heels of a flock? Dog breeds are designed to work. That may come as a surprise to some people, but almost every breed of dog was originally purposed to do a job. Even fuzzy lap dogs. Most breeds were designed to hunt in some capacity in the early stages of genetic selection. Soon after, dogs were selected to haul loads. But hunting was the first job of the first domestic dog… and the breed that followed.
Have you ever seen someone that hired out rat terriers to farms to clear the vermin from barns and feed storage bins? Nowadays, we in our comfortable homes have forgotten what dogs were intended to do. The shear viciousness of a good rat terrier after a scurrying rodent is a revelation. A killing machine without equal. Intent, focused, lethal… and unstopping once it gets a blood lust unleashed. Terriers have been used in timed contests to kill rats, with the record being one hundred rats dying in less than five and a half minutes. This is what terriers were bred to do… by human beings. This ability made the dogs useful.
Ready to quit reading? Just the facts.
Dogs are designed by human beings. Humankind has always had many requirements, and death has always been one of them.
You might wonder at this point if I have a problem with dogs. I don’t, but I am not one to shy away from the grimmer realities of our genetic manipulation involving our animal companions and partners.
All dog breeds have been used by human beings as companion animals. Dogs should be so lucky as we are in finding a companion as loyal and trustworthy… and kind and forgiving. Truly, we humans are the blessed ones in the arrangement.
But it is important to understand what our forefather’s priorities were. They designed dogs to do a job, and the ones that didn’t… well… they didn’t survive. That is a very strong incentive to succeed in whatever is asked of you. And in genetic terms in a species that is highly moldable, the skills that were long ago retained by harsh selection criteria are still retained in gentle, “he won’t bite”, Fido.
Dogs may not be used for the same purposes as they once were, but the genetics are still floating around in the gene pool… and closer to the surface than many people imagine.
All dogs bite.
Oh yes… they do. Dogs have a survival instinct. They understand pain, and hunger, and mortality. They feel fear and anger and can hold a grudge. A startled dog will react, a dog being chased will weigh the options in fleeing or defending itself. A threatened dog will consider the possibilities.
If you work with dogs at all, you may have had people tell you that, “Muffin won’t bite.” The result being a quick retreat from snapping teeth and a fervent apology from the owner denying it has ever happened before. Dogs that are “certified” to work in rest homes and hospitals as comfort animals, will and do bite. The certification process does not abuse the dogs to the point beyond what they are likely to encounter in working situations. The certification process works well, but it does not remove the bite from the dog.
All dogs bite. Some haven’t found the right incentive. Yet.
Numbers and statistics can be good, bad, or incomplete. But it is important to at least review a few.
There are roughly nineteen thousand genes in dog DNA. We humans share about eighteen thousand of them. About fifty or so of these genes are the ones that humans play around with in determining how a breed of dog will develop.
By most estimates, less than two percent of dog bites end up requiring hospitalization. There are many things to fear in life more than your family pet. Of the things that kill people, dogs are relatively benign. Only one in less than a hundred twenty thousand people will die from a dog attack.
There has been a dog bite related death attributed to a Yorkshire Terrier. These dogs are diminutive little scamps, so it is difficult to see how they can be dangerous. Of the canines that are most common in human death cases, dogs of some size are common. Before pit bulls rose in popularity, starting about thirty-five years ago, working dogs held the highest numbers for dog related human deaths. Mastiff and Saint Bernard breeds were more popular and these large dogs were often not properly socialized or trained. German Shepherd, Husky, and Rottweiler breeds were traditionally high in the statistics, too. Rotts are still very high in human related deaths, second only to pit bulls. But they are a popular dog, while the other breeds have declined in numbers or percentages.
A serious flaw in most statistics is that they rarely give the actual numbers of a breed in context with the percentage of that breed in the canine population as a whole. Some of the other flaws are that often dogs are not identified accurately by breed, or even identified at all.
Presently, pit bulls stand at approximately 6.6 percent of the canine population in the United States. That’s a fairly popular breed, and that number has come down from the peak a few years ago.
One scenario is clear. There are many more pack style attacks than most people realize. Dogs of all breeds will run together and they will forget any human instruction they have received. Feral dogs will entice home bodies to run with the pack, and kill with the pack. But don’t be mistaken, home bodies don’t need a feral leader. There are some estimates that suggest almost a half million uncared for dogs live on Native American reservations, and several pack killings have been recorded. But there are as many packs running off the reservation and many of those begin with a family pet let out to do its business...
But you want to know something about pit bulls, or you wouldn’t be reading this.
First off, pit bulls are not a breed of dog. They are not recognized as a breed by the American Kennel Club. What pit bulls are is a *type* of dog. Generally, there are four breeds recognized as being pit type dogs. These are the American Pit Bull Terrier, the American Staffordshire Terrier, the American Bully, and the Staffordshire Bull Terrier. Pit type dog breeds are not all recognized by the AKC but may be recognized by other entities.
There are many physical characteristics common to all the pit type dog breeds. Until recently they were relatively small compared to other working dogs. Fighting dogs were often under thirty pounds. The dogs are muscular and heavy in the shoulders and neck. In particular, they have large jowls with strong biting muscles. The dogs are short haired with a medium long muzzle, characteristics common to most bull dog style breeds.
All the breeds recognized as pit types are related, and the close relationship stems from not only genetic similarities, but the use they were put to as working dogs in centuries past. These dogs were used to do a job. Whether for industry or sport, they were used to dominate livestock. Thus, they were described as “bull” dogs because they were used on cattle, and in particular bulls. Humans aren’t satisfied with legitimate use though, and pits were used in fighting arenas to be bet on, and slaughtered if they didn’t kill as expected.
Here is where it gets interesting.
Pits were bred to do a specific job but were often invited into the home for other purposes much like other breeds that are designed for outside work. They had to get along with their owner, and their owner’s children. The dogs seem remarkably friendly as a result, and appear reliable.
Genetics are a funny thing though. Each characteristic in any animal is heritable. That means that the parents pass down into their offspring the characteristics that they, themselves, possess. Some characteristics are hard to pass on, and some are easy. Docility is easy to pass in most animals. In fact, the characteristic for domesticity, a calm personality, is linked to color variation from the wild state. Animals that vary little in color within a species have little variation in temperament. Those that vary more in how docile or aggressive they are have more color variation. Wolves vary quite a bit compared to other wild species, in both color and temperament. They have personalities.
Something needs to be said about cross breeding. While people will often breed an animal to an unlike animal in hopes of getting particular traits that are desired, quite often traits are magnified in crossing breeds unintentionally. In the case of pits, they were initially designed to tolerate their owners well even though they were used in violent sports or work. Cross breeding with another kind of dog may remove some of that tolerance. Especially in breeding done by people ignorant of or uninterested in consequences.
Dog breeds were designed to do a job. Along with their job, they were bred to be both calm… and fierce. They need to get along with the human being that feeds them, and keeps them, or they would have never have found a home with us. But most of the jobs dogs were originally intended to do involved hunting and killing. All dogs have a trigger.
This is where it may seem that I am biased. I swear to you that I will give you nothing but facts, and you can take from those facts what you will.
Pit bulls have a trigger. They were designed to serve their masters. We, human beings, created them to do what we asked.
What we asked was that they lived in our house when they weren’t chained or caged, and when we asked, they killed to survive. They have a trigger in their DNA, just as all dogs do.
Just as a pointer or a herding dog has DNA that affords them a certain kind of ability, something that is inherent in the breed and more or less in each individual… something to be selected for and cultivated and in the end instructed to perfection, so too do the breeds that were selected to be killing machines. Some individual dogs have little of these ingrained abilities, yet their litter mate has the ability in quantity. You can’t always tell by looking, or even after living with an animal, how much of the genetic trigger is inside or how close to the surface it is. This is true of all breeds. But what is also true is that some breeds have a more sensitive trigger than others. I believe pits have a more well controlled trigger than most dogs, but not by much.
In the pursuit of their job, baiting and dominating large animals like bulls, bears, and other dogs intent on destroying them, as well as fleets of rats to be killed for sport or legitimate use, pit bull type dogs developed something else. Have you ever watched a dog attack? Most dogs will rush in and bite, each breed having a particular kind of bite, and then the attacker will back off. Very often the attacking dog will run away. Some breeds are not as likely to run away. One breed in particular is likely to attack again and again, sometimes never backing off or releasing at all. Even under heavy abuse, pit bulls were designed to be tenacious. They were bred to identify a target and destroy it. I have seen a pit bull attack a man, and even when the man was surrounded by others trying to keep the dog away, the attacking animal ran from side to side until it found an opening and went in to maul the original victim until it was repulsed… but the dog continued to dive in as it found openings, ignoring the easier targets it might have selected.
This is a characteristic of pit bull attacks. They are focused. They are tenacious. They are intent on doing their job. The pit bull style of attack is unique to the breed in its intensity.
I believe that pit bulls are no more likely to bite than any other dog. What pit bulls do… is finish the job.
They are genetically programmed by human DNA manipulation to finish the task they are assigned.
It is a fact that in 2015 there were thirty-four human beings killed by dogs in the United States. Of these attacks, twenty-eight of the animals involved were identified as pit bulls or pit bull crosses. The next breed in the numbers was Rottweiler with three, and between the two breeds, they represented the breeds in ninety-one percent of the deaths that occurred.
These are not numbers I made up. You have a way to verify the numbers. Check them out for yourself. Don’t ask for a link, because you will think I will guide you to biased information. Just be as honest as I am when looking for verification.
I like dogs and have always owned one. I was three when I got my first. I have lived with my dogs in my home from that first animal. I always socialize my dogs, and I always obedience train my dogs. They are much happier if they know what their pack leader wants, and I am happier, too. One of my pet peeves is seeing a dog abused by people that neglect them, and that neglect can be by not training them as much as by ignoring their needs. Dogs like to know what is expected. They were bred to please us, and they get all kinds of mental and emotional problems when they are freed from that obligation. If your dog is straining at the leash ahead of you, it is in control and less secure mentally because of it.
I also like pit bulls. They are not at fault for their genetics. Human beings have made them what they are. The vast majority will never bite. Some because they possess a calm temperament, some because their trigger is buried deeper, some because they have been handled appropriately, and some because they are lucky. I don’t want to be around a pit bull that attacks. Once they make that leap, open themselves to violence, they are difficult to turn off.
I am always nervous when a dog is first introduced to people, especially a child. Even moreso if there is more than one child. Children need training, too, and many are not socialized properly around dogs. Often, they are encouraged to be overly friendly. Dogs know that elderly people are frail. Anyone that falls in front of the right dog at the right time can become a target.
I have often wondered why our ancestors preferred smaller dogs, especially those they used for fighting. I believe they wanted to be sure they could control the animal if it became aggressive. They didn’t have medical facilities like we do today. One thing is sure. If they had wanted to breed huge dogs for fighting, they could have.
Just a little perspective…
Post script: Considering the children attacked so recently in Atlanta, I hope you will try to consider this article appropriately. I know it is popular to protect animals seen as gentle and part of the family, and I agree completely. But there is a line where reality must be understood as well.
One more thing. If you visit a county shelter you may see that there are more pit bull types being turned in than other breeds. I believe this is because young people without stable accommodations tend to like dogs that are seen as trendy, and pits are trendy because they are perceived as misunderstood or as intimidating. Both reasons are attractive to young people, so pits end up in shelters more often than other breeds... It is a sad fact that pits are harder to place, and that most dogs in shelters are euthanized. The best solution, as in most things, is to understand the realities through education and let the *market stabilize* by realistic and natural means. If this happens, there will be fewer pits bred and there will be more responsible ownership… and the issue will become more naturally balanced to the pit type dog’s advantage.
Post post script: I have been asked by my daughter to investigate the recent interest in calling pit bulls “nanny dogs.” Many of the claims made are entirely bogus in that the pit bull types were never called nanny dogs in the preceding centuries. That term has been invented in the present century, the last sixteen years. There are plenty of documented cases of pits living with families and small children, but the numbers of fatalities are consistent with modern times in context with the breed popularity. One of the larger pit bull advocacy groups, BAD RAP, has within the last few years announced that it will no longer support the “nanny dog myth.” It is not often that an advocacy group will deny something that supports a position that the group sees as beneficial to their cause. Good for them.
Click here to receive the Apocalypse Observer Newsletter in your inbox
www.readmota.com
To comment, scroll down and type in your comment. Under Comment As, you can select Anonymous or Name/URL (you don't need to enter a URL). Then hit Publish.
January 13, 2017
Truth be Told
©2017 C. Henry Martens
A collection of thoughts and quotes jotted down as life passes by.
Good design is very often beyond the designer's grasp. They don't have the ability to design for the market as they are stuck on designing to impress each other, those with deep pockets that provide funding, and those few who really care about chrome and shiny bits. Lucky for them that the rest of us can use enough of what they make, that we buy what they are selling.
All good leaders have to lie, cheat, and steal to do their job well. This is something that most people seem to not understand. The thing that separates lousy leaders from good ones is their intentions. Those who listen and represent ALL of the people, city, county, state, nation, world... to the betterment of everyone are the good guys. Those who represent their donors, their own pockets, and especially their egos, are the bad guys. Unfortunately, the ones who intend to represent people instead of donors are rarely elected, much less reelected.
It's easier to see the truth when you realize that you have chosen a veil to see the world through, and then purposefully remove the veil.
Theodore Roosevelt: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
There is a very large change in attitude over the years with people using selective reasoning in choosing what they see as right, and even ethical. It's like a bunch of young parents protecting their child, even though they know their kid did the wrong that they are accused of. I hear people all the time, screaming in protection of the second amendment, proclaiming loudly that they are supporting the Constitution... and all while they are making excuses for the breaches of the fourth amendment. And this can be said just as easily in reverse depending on which party is yelling loudest at the time.
Reality is independent of what human beings perceive. We either see it accurately or we don't. We either understand what we see, or we don't. We either accept what we see, or we don't. We, ourselves, are the problem with having the perception of different realities because we are human and want to make reality as we see fit. If we don't see, understand, and accept reality for what it IS... in our pride we change it. But only humans are so mentally insufficient that we believe the changes are real.
Mark Twain: “It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.”
The world population was 2.5 billion in 1950 and 6.7 billion in 2008. The earth was already warming uncontrollably at the turn of the twentieth century. At the present population the practice of recycling, driving electric cars, and building wind farms is purely symbolic.
What cracks me up is that we all fail to see the humor in it when we are caught out believing something that just ain't so. It is a universal that humans will rally around a falsehood when on the other side of truth, rather than simply change their mind in support of the truth.
Yes, we are survivors, and yes we are breeders... but once we have wasted the last critical resource, we will have to find another way to continue to exist, or we will die.
Sorry, can’t find a good attribution for who said this: “People are more offended by labels, swear words, opinions, and middle fingers than they are by famine, warfare, and the destruction of our environment.”
All organizations have their faults. It does not matter what organization it is. The best way to repair those faults is to recognize them and speak up. The most sure way to be labeled a traitor to the organization you would like to make successful, is to point out the faults in it and try to repair what is wrong. The extreme loyalists in any organization are the people most likely to make the organization fail.
Click here to receive the Apocalypse Observer Newsletter in your inbox
www.readmota.com
To comment, scroll down and type in your comment. Under Comment As, you can select Anonymous or Name/URL (you don't need to enter a URL). Then hit Publish.
A collection of thoughts and quotes jotted down as life passes by.
Good design is very often beyond the designer's grasp. They don't have the ability to design for the market as they are stuck on designing to impress each other, those with deep pockets that provide funding, and those few who really care about chrome and shiny bits. Lucky for them that the rest of us can use enough of what they make, that we buy what they are selling.
All good leaders have to lie, cheat, and steal to do their job well. This is something that most people seem to not understand. The thing that separates lousy leaders from good ones is their intentions. Those who listen and represent ALL of the people, city, county, state, nation, world... to the betterment of everyone are the good guys. Those who represent their donors, their own pockets, and especially their egos, are the bad guys. Unfortunately, the ones who intend to represent people instead of donors are rarely elected, much less reelected.
It's easier to see the truth when you realize that you have chosen a veil to see the world through, and then purposefully remove the veil.
Theodore Roosevelt: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
There is a very large change in attitude over the years with people using selective reasoning in choosing what they see as right, and even ethical. It's like a bunch of young parents protecting their child, even though they know their kid did the wrong that they are accused of. I hear people all the time, screaming in protection of the second amendment, proclaiming loudly that they are supporting the Constitution... and all while they are making excuses for the breaches of the fourth amendment. And this can be said just as easily in reverse depending on which party is yelling loudest at the time.
Reality is independent of what human beings perceive. We either see it accurately or we don't. We either understand what we see, or we don't. We either accept what we see, or we don't. We, ourselves, are the problem with having the perception of different realities because we are human and want to make reality as we see fit. If we don't see, understand, and accept reality for what it IS... in our pride we change it. But only humans are so mentally insufficient that we believe the changes are real.
Mark Twain: “It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.”
The world population was 2.5 billion in 1950 and 6.7 billion in 2008. The earth was already warming uncontrollably at the turn of the twentieth century. At the present population the practice of recycling, driving electric cars, and building wind farms is purely symbolic.
What cracks me up is that we all fail to see the humor in it when we are caught out believing something that just ain't so. It is a universal that humans will rally around a falsehood when on the other side of truth, rather than simply change their mind in support of the truth.
Yes, we are survivors, and yes we are breeders... but once we have wasted the last critical resource, we will have to find another way to continue to exist, or we will die.
Sorry, can’t find a good attribution for who said this: “People are more offended by labels, swear words, opinions, and middle fingers than they are by famine, warfare, and the destruction of our environment.”
All organizations have their faults. It does not matter what organization it is. The best way to repair those faults is to recognize them and speak up. The most sure way to be labeled a traitor to the organization you would like to make successful, is to point out the faults in it and try to repair what is wrong. The extreme loyalists in any organization are the people most likely to make the organization fail.
Click here to receive the Apocalypse Observer Newsletter in your inbox
www.readmota.com
To comment, scroll down and type in your comment. Under Comment As, you can select Anonymous or Name/URL (you don't need to enter a URL). Then hit Publish.
January 6, 2017
Ground Zero for Plague
©2017 Kari Carlisle
Plague Pit (anthropology.msu.edu)
I am at high risk for plague exposure. The Black Death. It’s a little disconcerting.
You’ve heard of The Black Death, the bubonic plague that crippled Europe in the 14th century. An infection of the bacteria, Yersinia pestis, the disease killed an estimated 75-200 million people. Recent archaeological excavations have exposed plague pits, mass graves that demonstrate the extent of the disease’s spread. Deaths occurred in such great quantities and so rapidly, the survivors could no longer bury the dead individually. They had to resort to placing the bodies into massive pits.
And the plague didn’t stop, either. Multiple pandemics through the centuries have continued to kill millions more. Today, Africa is hardest hit with hundreds of cases annually, primarily in Madagascar. In the United States, a mere 10-20 cases are typically diagnosed, most of them in the southwestern region. In the last year, a small number of cases were isolated to a campground in Yellowstone National Park.
The plague is spread by fleas. I hate fleas. I’m particularly sensitive to their bites, an itchy, burning sensation that persists sometimes for two weeks. I’m not fond of biting insects (who is?), but fleas are hard to see, hard to catch, and friggin hard to kill. Plague-infected fleas do not get sick but pass the infection to mammals through their bites.
Prairie dogs have fleas. It’s a given. If the fleas do not carry the plague bacteria, the prairie dogs do just fine. If the fleas infesting a prairie dog town become exposed to plague bacteria, it’s not good for the prairie dogs. You’ll see a significant die-off of prairie dogs. Then what happens to the fleas? They find other mammals to infest, such as mice, rats, rabbits, cats, dogs, and people. A rapid prairie dog die-off is like the dead canary in the mine – if it happens, you know why. There are no other known reasons for a prairie dog die-off than bubonic plague.
The northeastern Arizona house I live in sits in the middle of a massive prairie dog town. And a few weeks ago, the prairie dogs disappeared. A rapid, massive die-off.
Nobody really noticed at first. The prairie dogs just sort of blend into the landscape. You get used to their chirps, so when they’re gone, you don’t even realize they’re gone. Finally, someone noticed, and everything shifted into gear. Officials were notified and government representatives began testing. Insecticide sprays and powders were administered, and notices posted. Everyone learned a lot about plague real fast.
The symptoms of plague are distinctly flu-like. Only it’s not the flu, and untreated, you have a 30-90% chance of dying a painful, gruesome death within days. With treatment, which is one of a few antibiotics that are effective against plague, the mortality rate drops to 10%... a sobering thought. Attempts have been made at a vaccine, but not with any real success. A vaccine has been developed for the prairie dogs, which is great for prairie dogs, but then we lose our canaries!
So here we are, keeping an eye out for flu-like symptoms in us and our dogs. We have been bitten by fleas within the last few weeks, and since plague symptoms begin with 3-5 days, we’re so far in the clear. I believe prevention is the best medicine, so trying to keep the house clean and flea-free is top priority. Now that winter has set in, I hope that the risk is over and done. Come spring, though, we will be diligent... Applying repellent essential oils to ourselves, the dogs, the furniture, and the yard. Using copious amounts of diatomaceous earth in and around the house. We’ll consider barriers to keep the skunks and cats out of the yard that like to steal our dogs’ food. And of course, at the first sign of flu-like symptoms, we’ll be seeking medical intervention.
I refuse to live in fear or even trepidation. So as in all things, I will trust God, enjoy life, and appreciate another viewing of Monty Python and the Holy Grail . Bring out your dead….
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Plague Pit (anthropology.msu.edu)I am at high risk for plague exposure. The Black Death. It’s a little disconcerting.
You’ve heard of The Black Death, the bubonic plague that crippled Europe in the 14th century. An infection of the bacteria, Yersinia pestis, the disease killed an estimated 75-200 million people. Recent archaeological excavations have exposed plague pits, mass graves that demonstrate the extent of the disease’s spread. Deaths occurred in such great quantities and so rapidly, the survivors could no longer bury the dead individually. They had to resort to placing the bodies into massive pits.
And the plague didn’t stop, either. Multiple pandemics through the centuries have continued to kill millions more. Today, Africa is hardest hit with hundreds of cases annually, primarily in Madagascar. In the United States, a mere 10-20 cases are typically diagnosed, most of them in the southwestern region. In the last year, a small number of cases were isolated to a campground in Yellowstone National Park.
The plague is spread by fleas. I hate fleas. I’m particularly sensitive to their bites, an itchy, burning sensation that persists sometimes for two weeks. I’m not fond of biting insects (who is?), but fleas are hard to see, hard to catch, and friggin hard to kill. Plague-infected fleas do not get sick but pass the infection to mammals through their bites.
Prairie dogs have fleas. It’s a given. If the fleas do not carry the plague bacteria, the prairie dogs do just fine. If the fleas infesting a prairie dog town become exposed to plague bacteria, it’s not good for the prairie dogs. You’ll see a significant die-off of prairie dogs. Then what happens to the fleas? They find other mammals to infest, such as mice, rats, rabbits, cats, dogs, and people. A rapid prairie dog die-off is like the dead canary in the mine – if it happens, you know why. There are no other known reasons for a prairie dog die-off than bubonic plague.
The northeastern Arizona house I live in sits in the middle of a massive prairie dog town. And a few weeks ago, the prairie dogs disappeared. A rapid, massive die-off.
Nobody really noticed at first. The prairie dogs just sort of blend into the landscape. You get used to their chirps, so when they’re gone, you don’t even realize they’re gone. Finally, someone noticed, and everything shifted into gear. Officials were notified and government representatives began testing. Insecticide sprays and powders were administered, and notices posted. Everyone learned a lot about plague real fast.
The symptoms of plague are distinctly flu-like. Only it’s not the flu, and untreated, you have a 30-90% chance of dying a painful, gruesome death within days. With treatment, which is one of a few antibiotics that are effective against plague, the mortality rate drops to 10%... a sobering thought. Attempts have been made at a vaccine, but not with any real success. A vaccine has been developed for the prairie dogs, which is great for prairie dogs, but then we lose our canaries!
So here we are, keeping an eye out for flu-like symptoms in us and our dogs. We have been bitten by fleas within the last few weeks, and since plague symptoms begin with 3-5 days, we’re so far in the clear. I believe prevention is the best medicine, so trying to keep the house clean and flea-free is top priority. Now that winter has set in, I hope that the risk is over and done. Come spring, though, we will be diligent... Applying repellent essential oils to ourselves, the dogs, the furniture, and the yard. Using copious amounts of diatomaceous earth in and around the house. We’ll consider barriers to keep the skunks and cats out of the yard that like to steal our dogs’ food. And of course, at the first sign of flu-like symptoms, we’ll be seeking medical intervention.
I refuse to live in fear or even trepidation. So as in all things, I will trust God, enjoy life, and appreciate another viewing of Monty Python and the Holy Grail . Bring out your dead….
Click here to receive the Apocalypse Observer Newsletter in your inbox
www.readmota.com
To comment, scroll down and type in your comment. Under Comment As, you can select Anonymous or Name/URL (you don't need to enter a URL). Then hit Publish.
December 30, 2016
Saying Goodbye to 2016 and Some Amazing People
To all of our fellow geeks, here's hoping for a better year in 2017. 2016 has kicked the hell out of us. Many famous people have died this year, and they have family and friends who are devastated by their loss. To most of us, we didn't know them, yet they represented something far outside our own lives. They took us us to space and to fantastic worlds. Grab a beer and join us in remembering what these people meant to us.
Time to Start Gardening
©2016 C. Henry Martens
We have had our first snow fall, winter is here, and the months ahead will generate more cabin fever than a body can take.
Well, unless you find something to keep the doldrums away. What better than planning your spring garden? But the catalogs haven’t even come yet! Well, hopefully you already have some idea what you will be planting, and where.
I rotate my planting areas. With a limited space, I like to change crops in the small, separate areas that I use for specific plants. In particular, I try to find new areas for my green beans, so that the soil only gets used for them every fourth year. Rotation not only reinvigorates earth that has been drained of nutrients, but it also displaces insect pests from the current crop to some degree.
With some luck there will be some warm weather between freezes. That means that I will get the opportunity to turn the loose soil I have already loosened last fall. Turning it over several times during the winter will kill bugs and weeds that might otherwise survive. To aid in this, I try to cover as much of the garden with black roofing material, the plastic under shingles, so the soil warms quickly when there is sun. This does not prevent the ground freezing when the snow covers the plastic, so the temperature changes benefit the process of killing what you don’t want to have in your garden next year.
I like to plant early, and a lot of varieties, and if the frost gets them… I plant again. Better to have an early start and lose a few than to be raising young plants in the heat of these latest suddenly too hot springs.
Plants that seem especially worthy for early planting are Swiss chard, parsnips and carrots, broccoli, beets, and sweet peas.
I like to get the chard started as early as possible. If possible I will even protect my fall planting well into winter so I have fresh greens. With a plastic sheet over the space, generating heat on sunny days, I can work the soil and get those seeds to sprout very early. Continued protection and a little care will deliver food to the table when other plants will just be germinating.
If the winter is particularly mild I might even grow a crop of radishes in with the chard, to be harvested about the time the larger greens will start to cover the root crop.
There are a few plants that I start early in egg cartons. Squash, cucumbers, and tomatoes. I’ll be monitoring the weather forecasts later in the year so I can time the plants going into the outdoor soil.
Man, I am so looking forward to pulling weeds! This is the only season I can say that.
Bring on the catalogs! I’m ready!
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www.readmota.com
To comment, scroll down and type in your comment. Under Comment As, you can select Anonymous or Name/URL (you don't need to enter a URL). Then hit Publish.
We have had our first snow fall, winter is here, and the months ahead will generate more cabin fever than a body can take.
Well, unless you find something to keep the doldrums away. What better than planning your spring garden? But the catalogs haven’t even come yet! Well, hopefully you already have some idea what you will be planting, and where.
I rotate my planting areas. With a limited space, I like to change crops in the small, separate areas that I use for specific plants. In particular, I try to find new areas for my green beans, so that the soil only gets used for them every fourth year. Rotation not only reinvigorates earth that has been drained of nutrients, but it also displaces insect pests from the current crop to some degree.
With some luck there will be some warm weather between freezes. That means that I will get the opportunity to turn the loose soil I have already loosened last fall. Turning it over several times during the winter will kill bugs and weeds that might otherwise survive. To aid in this, I try to cover as much of the garden with black roofing material, the plastic under shingles, so the soil warms quickly when there is sun. This does not prevent the ground freezing when the snow covers the plastic, so the temperature changes benefit the process of killing what you don’t want to have in your garden next year.
I like to plant early, and a lot of varieties, and if the frost gets them… I plant again. Better to have an early start and lose a few than to be raising young plants in the heat of these latest suddenly too hot springs.
Plants that seem especially worthy for early planting are Swiss chard, parsnips and carrots, broccoli, beets, and sweet peas.
I like to get the chard started as early as possible. If possible I will even protect my fall planting well into winter so I have fresh greens. With a plastic sheet over the space, generating heat on sunny days, I can work the soil and get those seeds to sprout very early. Continued protection and a little care will deliver food to the table when other plants will just be germinating.
If the winter is particularly mild I might even grow a crop of radishes in with the chard, to be harvested about the time the larger greens will start to cover the root crop.
There are a few plants that I start early in egg cartons. Squash, cucumbers, and tomatoes. I’ll be monitoring the weather forecasts later in the year so I can time the plants going into the outdoor soil.
Man, I am so looking forward to pulling weeds! This is the only season I can say that.
Bring on the catalogs! I’m ready!
Click here to receive the Apocalypse Observer Newsletter in your inbox
www.readmota.com
To comment, scroll down and type in your comment. Under Comment As, you can select Anonymous or Name/URL (you don't need to enter a URL). Then hit Publish.
December 23, 2016
Electoral College
©2016 C. Henry Martens
By the time you read this the decision will be made. Today, as I write this, the Electoral College will vote for the President of the United States.
What matters even more than the outcome, to me, is that the institution set up by our Founding Fathers works. That it works as intended. And after skimming the Wiki article on the college, I didn’t even see the intention I refer to mentioned.
To protect the national interests in the case of the public voting against those national interests.
From that statement, and that position, you might make some assumptions that are not accurate… so let me clear up what I mean by that immediately.
First off, it is my understanding that the EC is *obligated* to vote for the candidate that wins in the area they represent, but only if they believe that the candidate will make a viable and competent President. And that obligation mentioned is as important, perhaps MORE important, if the choice they have does not represent the national interests in any major way.
Secondly, I never felt that the two major candidates represented the interests of the country anyway. As the campaigns progressed it became increasingly apparent that they did not. What’s more, the public knew this before they entered the voting booth. We were forced to elect from a field that had no real candidate worthy of our vote.
Third, I have been a big advocate for a viable third party to emerge. I find myself increasingly dismayed by the extreme polarization in both parties and would love to see an effort made at bringing the public more toward a position of working together rather than tearing each other apart. If any election brought us closer to imploding as a nation, I have never heard of it.
And fourth, I am not an advocate for “experience” in order to be elected to public office. In fact such experience might be argued to preclude a person from running, in my opinion. What I AM an advocate for is a track record of reasoned effort to promote the national interest. Those who do this in ways outside of public office would be excellent candidates to consider, far better than a rehash of perpetually reelected incumbents. The problem has been that reasonable possibilities never get a chance due to financial necessities running campaigns.
Just what are the national interests? In the current climate we have to wonder what values and principles of the country we have loved and supported will survive.
Some of the present dangers we must fear going forward are major changes to our system of government.
Do we want to see Social Security thrown in the trash? Or Medicare? Or public education? Do we really desire a trade war with the rest of the world?
The problem is that nothing was clearly defined… but in desperation a significant number of the voting public has thrown away their votes without knowing what they will get.
Please don’t get the idea that I haven’t seen positive signs. I LIKE the idea of getting along with another super power, but not at the expense of cheating the system we use to elect our officials. I LIKE having a Secretary of State and a Secretary of Defense that will make terrorists and foreign powers think twice.
But I truly worry about the major changes to our environmental strategies going forward, as well as those offices that seem slated for destruction.
The biggest worry I have is the economy. I worry about debt… and I worry about bankruptcy. In my opinion these concerns alone should give the EC pause.
I would dearly love to see the Electoral College use their understanding of how fragile the confidence is in our new choices. I would embrace a revolution led by them, a sudden and thorough cleansing of the results in order to bring a more reasoned result. They don’t have to vote for the candidate that won the most Electoral votes, nor the candidate that won the popular vote.
The Electoral College can save us from ourselves.
But they won’t…
Congratulations President Trump. I wish you… and the nation… all that is good.
Click here to receive the Apocalypse Observer Newsletter in your inbox
www.readmota.com
To comment, scroll down and type in your comment. Under Comment As, you can select Anonymous or Name/URL (you don't need to enter a URL). Then hit Publish.
By the time you read this the decision will be made. Today, as I write this, the Electoral College will vote for the President of the United States.
What matters even more than the outcome, to me, is that the institution set up by our Founding Fathers works. That it works as intended. And after skimming the Wiki article on the college, I didn’t even see the intention I refer to mentioned.
To protect the national interests in the case of the public voting against those national interests.
From that statement, and that position, you might make some assumptions that are not accurate… so let me clear up what I mean by that immediately.
First off, it is my understanding that the EC is *obligated* to vote for the candidate that wins in the area they represent, but only if they believe that the candidate will make a viable and competent President. And that obligation mentioned is as important, perhaps MORE important, if the choice they have does not represent the national interests in any major way.
Secondly, I never felt that the two major candidates represented the interests of the country anyway. As the campaigns progressed it became increasingly apparent that they did not. What’s more, the public knew this before they entered the voting booth. We were forced to elect from a field that had no real candidate worthy of our vote.
Third, I have been a big advocate for a viable third party to emerge. I find myself increasingly dismayed by the extreme polarization in both parties and would love to see an effort made at bringing the public more toward a position of working together rather than tearing each other apart. If any election brought us closer to imploding as a nation, I have never heard of it.
And fourth, I am not an advocate for “experience” in order to be elected to public office. In fact such experience might be argued to preclude a person from running, in my opinion. What I AM an advocate for is a track record of reasoned effort to promote the national interest. Those who do this in ways outside of public office would be excellent candidates to consider, far better than a rehash of perpetually reelected incumbents. The problem has been that reasonable possibilities never get a chance due to financial necessities running campaigns.
Just what are the national interests? In the current climate we have to wonder what values and principles of the country we have loved and supported will survive.
Some of the present dangers we must fear going forward are major changes to our system of government.
Do we want to see Social Security thrown in the trash? Or Medicare? Or public education? Do we really desire a trade war with the rest of the world?
The problem is that nothing was clearly defined… but in desperation a significant number of the voting public has thrown away their votes without knowing what they will get.
Please don’t get the idea that I haven’t seen positive signs. I LIKE the idea of getting along with another super power, but not at the expense of cheating the system we use to elect our officials. I LIKE having a Secretary of State and a Secretary of Defense that will make terrorists and foreign powers think twice.
But I truly worry about the major changes to our environmental strategies going forward, as well as those offices that seem slated for destruction.
The biggest worry I have is the economy. I worry about debt… and I worry about bankruptcy. In my opinion these concerns alone should give the EC pause.
I would dearly love to see the Electoral College use their understanding of how fragile the confidence is in our new choices. I would embrace a revolution led by them, a sudden and thorough cleansing of the results in order to bring a more reasoned result. They don’t have to vote for the candidate that won the most Electoral votes, nor the candidate that won the popular vote.
The Electoral College can save us from ourselves.
But they won’t…
Congratulations President Trump. I wish you… and the nation… all that is good.
Click here to receive the Apocalypse Observer Newsletter in your inbox
www.readmota.com
To comment, scroll down and type in your comment. Under Comment As, you can select Anonymous or Name/URL (you don't need to enter a URL). Then hit Publish.
December 16, 2016
AI Can’t Get Here Soon Enough
©2016 Kari Carlisle
I am busy. I’m sure you are, too. So many times I’ve wished I could afford to hire a personal assistant to do some of the tedious, time-consuming things that eat up my time. How much more could I accomplish if I could avoid certain tasks?
This week, a months-old task that I had already spent too much time researching and attempting reached the top of the critical pile: shopping for a replacement work vehicle.
I hate shopping. Just ask my husband. It’s one of those tedious, time-consuming tasks that take away from meaningful work and, worse, hiking. I would rather be hiking than just about anything else, especially shopping.
Even with the help of a coworker and my husband, we had already exhausted local options for a vehicle that would meet our business needs, and so I bit the bullet and headed down to the big city, a 5-hour drive, and started looking at more vehicles. On my long drive, I did a lot of thinking. Why is car buying so hard? Why can’t I just ask Siri what car to buy?
Well, silly me, I never even bothered to ask Siri, so for all I know there is a magical solution there, but I seriously doubt that based on the bit of experience I have using Siri. In fact Siri doesn’t behave well for me at all. She turns herself on when I have conversations with my staff and interrupts us with gibberish. I tell her to mind her own business, and next thing you know I’m fighting with her. I’m told that it’s impossible for her to turn herself on, that you have to push the button on the phone, but I’m here to tell you, she frickin turns herself on without me touching my phone. Kind of creepy, but kind of fun, too.
So why can’t I just start talking to Siri, have her do all the research (which should take seconds, right?), ask me all the questions I haven’t thought of, tell me the best vehicle for me, and then find available ones within driving range in my price range. For that matter, why can’t she call the dealers, verify the vehicle’s in stock, do the negotiating, and get the paperwork started while I’m on my way? Once I’ve test-driven the car (which eventually robots will do for me, or the car will test drive itself), all I have to do is sign, pay, and drive away.
Instead, here I am, days later, still away from home, crashing at my friend’s house (which is fun and awesome at least). I have looked at and test driven multiple vehicles, finally settled on one, gone through the negotiating, and now I still need to go back to do the paperwork. Sad thing is I may end up having to come back in a few days if we can’t get the payment done today. Heavy sigh. AI can’t come soon enough for me.
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www.readmota.com
To comment, scroll down and type in your comment. Under Comment As, you can select Anonymous or Name/URL (you don't need to enter a URL). Then hit Publish.
I am busy. I’m sure you are, too. So many times I’ve wished I could afford to hire a personal assistant to do some of the tedious, time-consuming things that eat up my time. How much more could I accomplish if I could avoid certain tasks?
This week, a months-old task that I had already spent too much time researching and attempting reached the top of the critical pile: shopping for a replacement work vehicle.
I hate shopping. Just ask my husband. It’s one of those tedious, time-consuming tasks that take away from meaningful work and, worse, hiking. I would rather be hiking than just about anything else, especially shopping.
Even with the help of a coworker and my husband, we had already exhausted local options for a vehicle that would meet our business needs, and so I bit the bullet and headed down to the big city, a 5-hour drive, and started looking at more vehicles. On my long drive, I did a lot of thinking. Why is car buying so hard? Why can’t I just ask Siri what car to buy?
Well, silly me, I never even bothered to ask Siri, so for all I know there is a magical solution there, but I seriously doubt that based on the bit of experience I have using Siri. In fact Siri doesn’t behave well for me at all. She turns herself on when I have conversations with my staff and interrupts us with gibberish. I tell her to mind her own business, and next thing you know I’m fighting with her. I’m told that it’s impossible for her to turn herself on, that you have to push the button on the phone, but I’m here to tell you, she frickin turns herself on without me touching my phone. Kind of creepy, but kind of fun, too.
So why can’t I just start talking to Siri, have her do all the research (which should take seconds, right?), ask me all the questions I haven’t thought of, tell me the best vehicle for me, and then find available ones within driving range in my price range. For that matter, why can’t she call the dealers, verify the vehicle’s in stock, do the negotiating, and get the paperwork started while I’m on my way? Once I’ve test-driven the car (which eventually robots will do for me, or the car will test drive itself), all I have to do is sign, pay, and drive away.
Instead, here I am, days later, still away from home, crashing at my friend’s house (which is fun and awesome at least). I have looked at and test driven multiple vehicles, finally settled on one, gone through the negotiating, and now I still need to go back to do the paperwork. Sad thing is I may end up having to come back in a few days if we can’t get the payment done today. Heavy sigh. AI can’t come soon enough for me.
Click here to receive the Apocalypse Observer Newsletter in your inbox
www.readmota.com
To comment, scroll down and type in your comment. Under Comment As, you can select Anonymous or Name/URL (you don't need to enter a URL). Then hit Publish.
