Twice in one week! Maybe I’ll get a raise – or a pay cut, depending on your perspective I guess.
A Topeka police officer, previously jailed for killing a person while responding to a false alarm call, encountered a 26 pound dog while responding to another false alarm call last month. Josie was the beloved pet of an elderly couple who rescued her off the streets as a puppy 6 years ago and kept her in the yard by means of an invisible fence. When the officer entered Josie’s backyard, he says he felt like he was in imminent danger of attack so he shot her to death. The police department attempted to hide the officer’s identity but failed to redact his signature at the bottom of a public record. (Thanks Clarice for the link.)
At the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, researchers have discovered a way to get more accurate results when performing quick tests to monitor blood glucose levels in diabetic dogs and cats. Their findings may inspire further research to see if the same benefits are applicable for human diabetic patients.
At Camp Rudder in the Florida panhandle, Army Ranger students are trained to identify and handle reptiles which are housed at the school.
A woman was pulled over by police on the Autobahn in Germany with a Shetland pony on a bed of straw in her hatchback. She said she was driving 300 miles to meet the owner. She was escorted to the nearest police station where the pony was let out and given water. The police contacted the owner who showed up to collect the pony in a proper trailer.
Not to be outdone, a motorist was stopped by police in England for having 2 bald tires. And of course they wanted to inquire about the sheep in the car. The man explained that some people take their dogs with them on car rides and he takes his sheep. They were on their way to a drive-through to get some food. And off they went.
If you’re in Arkansas and need your teeth cleaned, this place might be good. (Thanks Clarice.)
I love the animation in this video (if you don’t like the music, you can always watch it on mute).
Illustrations in the video are very Edward Gorey-ish.
I think he would approve of the cat band.
I’ve some – actually pretty minor – reservations on the findings of the study on blood glucose readings. I think it would be very useful in a clinical setting, but even with a cute little centrifuge all my own, I wouldn’t want the extra step. Especially with significant lows, which can go south very rapidly in the wrong conditions – better to treat, than worry about whether the reading is precisely accurate. Lows do unpleasant and sometimes downright weird things to one’s cognitive functions too, so I’d think it’d be of limited use for people on that score … I’ve more than once caught myself staring at my glucometer thinking, ‘Huh, that’s interesting, who came up with this? Wait, wasn’t I supposed to be doing something? Oh.’ Handing me a centrifuge in the midst of that wouldn’t be of much use.
I also question how useful strict accuracy is in daily control of diabetes, since nothing else is standardized or accurate – blood glucose levels can fluctuate by hormonal states, seasons, weather, individual sensitivities to various foods, exercise, stress levels, and sheer cussedness; response to insulin is highly variable; and, on top of which, there’s a lot of variability in the carbohydrate content of foods, so even the most accurate of analyses listed on the label or in the guide won’t be reflected in the dish. With all that, I honestly don’t think it matters much if, in a non-clinical, non-emergency, routine setting, blood glucose measurements are off by 10-15 percent. Not so long as they’re reasonably consistent.
Yeah but there’s a sheep! In a car!
Unfortunately, though, not up front.
Horse Plus Humane Society’s Tennessee chapter recently had a mini in the cab:
http://horsehumane.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/8-3-15-7.jpg
The video cam footage, of the cop shooting Josie, has been released. Some may not want to view it, as it does show him shooting the dog. There was no hesitation. The gun was in position to fire and someone was going to be shot. If a person had appeared, they would be dead. What a coward.
http://cjonline.com/news/2015-08-06/topeka-police-alter-deadly-force-policy-when-dealing-dogs-release-shooting-video
TY for letting us know. I won’t be watching. What if that dog had been protecting a kid and his mom from the stranger in the backyard by growling – who would have ended up with bullets? Unreal that they behave like this. Makes a saloon fight in the Wild West look like a highly professional outfit.