Occupation of Independence

Earlier I tried to convince the reader that the poodle has the perfect business model: 1. three or four colors and sizes. The little guys are travel-friendly. 2. friendly to the point of being luvvie-duvvie. 3. intelligent. 4. trainable. 5. no shedding.  6. no drooling. 7. the sprightliest, prancing gait. What would be the perfect music for the poodle? Perhaps it is baroque music that features an oboe soloist. My new female miniature poodle, Q.T.𝞹, has a curious way of jumping up on my lap and facing me, with her head a bit higher than mine. She just looks at me -- she hovers in that high position, with a look of pure sweetness. Consider Albinoni's Concerto a Cinque Op. 9, no. 2. 

  In seeing the hysterical piling-on of the western media, it is as if NATO, the American Empire, and the mainstream corporate media's were making their death screams.

  I have come to believe that anything is possible. Look at how a large fraction of the population is being pulled into anti-Russian hysteria by politicians, the War Industries, and their stenographers in the mass media. But let's back up a step from today's crisis, the war in Ukraine. The recent behavior of the Ottawa government was frightening, particularly because it set a precedent for more frequent and more totalitarian controls based on pseudo-emergencies. The trucker protests showed that the Covid era has left the peasant masses angry and fed-up. If the peasants can push back in Canada, they can push back anywhere. This must be disturbing to the global Elites. They are just getting started.  Now that a dress rehearsal has been completed in Canada successfully, they would like to move on. But they would be wise to pause and regroup. That is where the anti-Russian and anti-Putin hysteria comes in. It allows the peasant masses to blow off steam in an orgy of anger, which i...

Few people know less about raising children than an old bachelor. Still, I like trying to imagine it, sometimes. It wouldn't surprise me if, even in this corrupt and debauched age of ours, there are idealistic parents who try to interest their children in free activities not based on buying some piece of crap -- probably with lots of plastic, electronics, and batteries.  When playing with a friend's dog and my new miniature poodle, Q.T.𝞹, I actually had to stretch my imagination to improvise with something to throw them. It is in our DNA to run to the store and buy some overpriced toy, which is normally designed for the human customer's eyeballs, rather than the dog's teeth and nose. Still, the store-bought toys can be well-designed at times. Like most dogs, these dogs like marrow bones, both to chew and to chase. But none was handy. Nor were there any rubber or plastic balls. So I picked up sticks to hurl for them. They loved the sticks, both to chase and to chew. It...

If I've said it once I've said it a thousand times: there is nothing better in this old world of ours than a freshly laundered poodle. The new dog got her first shower. Then I combed her out. Here was the entire harvest, deposited in the brush. This is orders of magnitude smaller than what would come from a regular dog with a double coat. How can other breeds compete against this? I am surprised that most dog breeds don't go out of business. Perhaps a small number of people need one of those breeds to perform some special task, but who needs those breeds as mainstream pets? The name-game is still going on. I am tempted to name the new dog, a creme miniature poodle (female), Q.T. Pie, or rather Q.T.𝞹  . In the mean time I got a kick out of a horse coming close to me on a mountain bike ride:  

  There is something to be said about taking an older dog out for a walk: you tend to go slow, you saunter. At the right place and time, this helps you think. I felt a need for such a saunter recently, at a tourist attraction in southeastern AZ. It was a playa lake that draws hordes of tourists to look at sandhill cranes. The internet reviews kept using words like 'amazing' or 'awesome' to describe the visual spectacle and the sheer number of silly birds, as if it matters where you stick the decimal point on an outdoor experience. Long-suffering readers of this blog know that I was rolling my eyes at those reviews. Walking through the crowded parking lot as sunset approached, I could hear generators running and beeping security alarms on cars. But that might be good news, because it could mean fewer people in my way. We walked toward the main area of concentration at the edge of the shallow playa lake. People seemed to be walking away from it, perhaps because of the eve...

  The history of prophets is a history of people making fools of themselves. Strangely, people keep listening to them. Well then, I need to get in on this racket. I hereby prophesy that inflation and shortages will dominate the economic landscape for the rest of my life. In the media you hear that inflation is 7.5%, which doesn't sound so frightening. Then they say inflation is higher than it has been for 40 years, that is, since the Carter era. That is frightening. Clearly, they have changed the 'spreadsheet' for calculating inflation. And why shouldn't they? It will reduce the cost-of-living allowance to pensioners and employees. Inflation happens when the government has turned money into a cheat. Why shouldn't a government that runs a fake-money operation also put out fake statistics? How long will it be before Big Tech censors people who use the awful word, inflation? For awhile, people will learn to get around the censorship by substituting, the 'I word...

This year there have been more mountain bikes on the desert trails than I have ever seen before. You need experience with this place to really appreciate it. The campers seem higher quality than elsewhere, especially with generators and noisy motorsports stuff. Yesterday there were three people and a dog walking around a local picturesque rock. Lots of people have actually walked by camp. This just didn't happen years ago! I never understood why boondocking was so popular -- most people didn't even come out of their rigs. What were doing in there all day -- watching the Weather Channel? Getting ready for the next potluck? But now, for whatever reason, it is suddenly better. Somebody suggested that the improvement might be due to the MTB Project app including the local two-track roads as "trails." It is a beautiful surprise. I want to appreciate it to the fullest. I want to wallow in it. Maybe that means visualizing it as an efflorescence that is more important and p...

Was it back in the 1970s that Steven Spielberg came out with the spooky truck movie, "Duel"? I guess that was considered his first success. What made me want to rewatch that movie?   I wonder if Trudeau has seen it?   

Overall, getting a new dog is a great experience. But it can certainly turn your life upside-down at the beginning. I had given up on F#^Ck#@ng rescue organizations. But county or city animal shelters were still a possibility. If only they would practice "ethnic" cleansing on their inventory. [eyes rolling]  The new push was in the direction of phoenix craigslist>community>pets. Its selection of pets was weird. I was determined not to get sucked into any scam artist who wanted a deposit from me to hold my dog, since of course "they would be having lots of other calls." So, I took the plunge. She was 70% of what I thought would be perfect. When does the world give you 100%? Almost instantly she got on my lap in the driver's seat and gave me a kiss. Hey, we were in the big city and there were pet-store big-boxes around, so why not take her shopping?   Yes, she is a miniature poodle, about 17 pounds, and 4 years old. And she ain't no stinkin' doodle o...

  The woman in the animal control office of a small town absolutely made my day. And she brought it up! I was moaning a bit about how frustrating it was to find a small, low-shedding dog to adopt, and she offered her opinion about "doodles" and other half-poodles, usually called "XYZ-a-poo". "Those dawgs are just mutts, but they call them 'designer dogs'," she said. Indeed. There is a genetic health argument for mixed breeds, but that isn't why half-poodles are so popular. The buzzword, Designer Dog, makes them sell for more $$$ to an aspirational consumer. Once, before I die, I would like to encounter something connected with money that is actually true.