March 2006
Harrison Ford: Wife Force One
March 30, 2006 - 4:40pm | MelvixWhen a (non-Indiana Jones) Harrison Ford movie comes out, I a) don't go see it, and b) wonder if it's a sequel to that one... You know that one... The one where he is a government dude with a wife and kid and lives in a nice house but someone's out to get him? What was that one called? You know the one?
This video explains this phenomenon.
The Final Word Is Hooray!
March 16, 2006 - 4:52pm | MelvixThe Jack Phenomenon (revisited)
March 15, 2006 - 5:18pm | MelvixI got this email today from a guy named Jack:
My nephew asked me to let you know that I am a Jack.
Which doesn't exactly destroy my hypotheses, but it does make it difficult for me to claim that I've never met anyone named Jack.
I Wonder What Kind Of Message I'm Sending To The Troops
March 15, 2006 - 5:15pm | MelvixI read in the paper that a lot of the troops are complaining about the war, and want to come home. They're putting their lives on the line. It's my duty to support them, but I get confused. What message am I sending the troops if I read articles like that? For that matter, what kind of a message are those troops sending themselves? They are the troops, but it almost sounds like they're not supporting the troops!
The Jack Phenomenon
March 14, 2006 - 7:45am | MelvixThe other day I was watching something on tv that had a character named "Jack" in it, which got me to thinking about how there are a lot of characters named "Jack" on tv and in movies, and yet I cannot think of even one time where I've knowingly met anyone named Jack.
What's going on here? Is the evil liberal media misrepresenting the number of actual Jacks? Is Hollywood so out of touch with mainstream America that they think there are more Jacks than there actually are?
Or is there something more nefarious going on? According to this web site, in 2005 Jack was the most popular name for baby boys for the 11th year in a row in the United Kingdom. Could it be that there is a secret US program, aided and abetted by a complacent, witless media, to build an army of Jacks to compete with the burgeoning masses of Jacks across the Atlantic? You heard it here first, folks.
Schatzi!
March 13, 2006 - 8:57am | Melvix
The question of what kind of dog to get was made moot by this delightful 3-year-old beagle-dachshund mix. She goes by Schatzi, at least until we think up new sickeningly cute nicknames for her.
Couldn't ask for a better dog. Shall I list her virtues? Extremely cute. House trained. Very friendly. Well-mannered (although there isn't any apparent obedience training in her past). Good in the car and on a leash. Very enthusiastic about walks. Good with other dogs. The info from the shelter where I got her said she was given up by her owner, but I can't think of any reason why someone would willingly give up this dog.
In the minus column, she's afraid of cats. Especially cats who torment her (ie, our cats). But they seem to be working it out. As I write this, Frank and Schatzi have made some kind of truce and are sleeping in the same room. Kofi is outside puking up hairballs.
American Indian dog hoax?
March 9, 2006 - 8:08am | MelvixSpeaking of dog breeds, there is a fellow who claims to have reintroduced the "American Indian dog" as a breed.
I don't know much about dog breeds, or breeding, but I'm skeptical. The dogs are marketed as "the true descendants of the 'old dogs'", which smells fishy to me. The guy claims to have learned how to breed the dogs from talking to "elders." It sounds exactly like the kind of thing you'd say if you wanted to sell dogs to people who are overly interested in imitating native lifestyles and religion. Much of the evidence given to support the claim that these dogs are "authentic" is vaguely scientific at best, and generally based on similarities to dogs depicted in paintings and drawings of Native Americans.
There are detractors. This lengthy forum topic about the dogs and their breeder at the Museum of Hoaxes web site is worth reading.
There are some nice ironies here, too. As it turns out, there is a kind of feral dog that lives in isolated places in North Carolina (called the Carolina Dog) that may be an actual descendent of dogs originally brought to North America. Maybe.
But I really love this part: According to Wikipedia, the diminutive, ordinary, non-travois-pulling, non-plains travelling, often-annoying Chihuahua is "the oldest canine breed in North America." You see, Mexico is part of North America. Mexico had people living in it before Columbus came snooping around. If you like, you can think of those people as being "Indians." Indians who had dogs. Little tiny Indian dogs.
