CSotD: Let’s End a Busy Week With Humor
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I got about halfway through today’s tranche of editorial cartoons and decided this was not the day for all that. Saw some good ones, but nothing that won’t keep until tomorrow. Santino’s cartoon made me laugh because I’m just the opposite: I wake up most mornings not wanting to do my usual and have to chide myself to take the first steps into normalcy.
Anyway, we’re doing humor.
Bravo’s cartoon is funny but the timing seems a little off. I was in a brief discussion yesterday about hurricane season, because Isaias came along late, apparently because of the super El Niño. The season is usually August to the end of November, but we’d been told the Atlantic would see fewer hurricanes and so far it’s been true. Our question was, will the whole thing now be longer than usual, or will it wrap up on schedule just after Thanksgiving?
It was pure curiosity, because most hurricanes head out to sea before they get here, and we’ve haven’t been really pounded since Irene came up the Connecticut River Valley in August of 2011, but here’s NOAA’s forecast for this winter for those who fret over such things.
Whatever winter’s gonna be like, it’s coming, and Mt. Washington’s road to the summit closed for the season yesterday.
If you’re looking for a way to skip winter, the universe is full of possibilities, but with my luck, I’d end up living next to one of Musk’s colonies. Might as well stay here.
My neighbor (well, 20 miles or so) Harry Bliss offers a seasonal cartoon that is sadly apt. He can laugh, ensconced as he is in JD Salinger’s old retreat in the woods (Jerry really knew how to ensconce himself), but I’m on a street that abuts the town square and just last week the damned leaf blowers started up, including the guy who does the post office lot next to my side yard and, yes, he’s determined to blow the last leaf into the pile, no matter how long it takes.
When he shows up, it’s a good time to go to the dog park, which brings us to this
Juxtaposition of the Day
I used to feel bad whenever I used a leash, since I’ve generally taken my dogs to rural sites where running around is the point, but I’ve noticed they don’t mind when you buckle them up and I think maybe it’s like taking your kid’s hand — a way of silently connecting. I’ve only had one dog that needed to be taught not to pull, and he got it quickly.
One of my ridgebacks, however, knew that letter carriers and UPS drivers carry doggy cookies, and, since he weighed 95 pounds, that required some bracing, but it didn’t require a dog-casting reel. The only use for those extendable leashes is so you can stand on the sidewalk looking the other direction while your dog craps in the middle of somebody’s lawn, and that ain’t my style.
Beyond that, they give you no control and constitute a tripping hazard for people and a tangling hazard for other dogs. A lot of places with leash laws specify six feet and that seems about right, and you ought to shorten that up if you’re walking in a crowd.
An exception for huskies, since they are runners by nature and will wander off if left unleashed, but you can get a tracking lead that gives them room to roam but maintains control.
Basenjis are also runners, but if you get a basenji, that’s likely to be the least of your issues.
I laughed, but this is a pretty good take on the extent some people go to in order to let their kids have pets that don’t require leashes or litter boxes or longevity, that last part involving some legerdemain and story-telling to avoid the kids learning about reality.
I got a fish tank, but we already had a cat and two dogs and my boys were pretty hip to how life works, which was good because I didn’t lie to them and I wasn’t the type to stage elaborate funerals or create fish cemeteries in the back yard.
I had a GF at the time whose favorite thing was going to the fish store and finding interesting things to add to the collection. The store’s tanks had colored stickers to tell you which fish were sociable and which were not. Usually.
I don’t remember any stickers on the fresh-water morays, but we brought two home and they were promptly dubbed “snake guys” as in “Look! Snake Guy has that gourami!” and in less than a month, the surviving snake guy ate his way to solitude, his partner having climbed out and turned into eel jerky behind the cabinet. We’d have noticed his absence sooner, but the snake guys would slip through the bubbler tower and hide under the gravel.
Given what I paid for that gourami, I could have gotten Snake Guy a Big Mac instead, but the kids found it all fascinating without my having to invent any cover stories.
There was a time, O Best Beloved, when the NFL experimented with a rule that allowed the visiting quarterback to stop play if the crowd got so loud his team couldn’t hear the snap count. He would raise his hands and, if the ref agreed, things would halt until the crowd settled down. If they didn’t, the home team lost a time out. If they ran out of time outs, they would get a five-yard penalty.
This was also about when end zone celebrations were forbidden and the league was known as the No Fun League. The rule against excessive crowd noise didn’t last the season, which makes sense, given that having a good time includes cheering and yelling.
I’m not sure letting the home team flash scoreboard messages encouraging the fans to drown out the opposing team’s snap count is fair play, however, but it’s why teams now have silent counts and visual signals.
Meanwhile, golfers and tennis players have conniptions if somebody in the crowd sneezes.
It’s Science Friday!
We’re not NPR, so here’s the Science Guy instead:
Mike Peterson has posted his "Comic Strip of the Day" column every day since 2010. His opinions are his own, but we welcome comments either agreeing or in opposition.
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