Europeana

Europe's digital library, museum and archive

In response to Google's project to archive American culture, the French convinced the EU to create their own archive called Europeana to counteract US cultural dominance.

Is this a cat or a snake!

What every cat wants for Xmas this year

Thanks to Spook over at the beach house for pointing this out.

In memory of Alex

This one is for my friend KT. Years ago, when we were both in high school, KT worked at a pet store. In that pet store was a Macaw named Alex, who ran the place and would chase the cats in the store. I wonder sometimes where he is and how he's doing. If he had good caretakers, he should out live both of us.

The horror of 2012

We have a sick little dog

Ear Hematoma

From Long Beach Animal Hospital

On occasion a pet has a swollen ear due to blood vessels that have ruptured inside the ear flap, between the inside and outside layer of cartilage. This causes the ear to fill up with bloody fluid and after a period of time the blood in the ear clots and there is a firm swelling. If left untreated the ear will be painful and will eventually scar down similar in appearance to a cauliflower ear.

Kelly started showing symptoms yesterday. I took her to the Vet this morning and started with medical therapy. The Vet drained her ear, gave her some steroids, and taped down her ear to reduce swelling. We were told that there is a 50-50 chance this will take. If it doesn't she'll have to have surgery. We're keeping our fingers crossed.

First Snow of the Season

This is the first snow of the season, such as it is, down here on the Plains. We got enough to cover everything, but temperatures are rising, so it should all be melted by the weekend. The mountains, of course, have had snow for at least a month. Contrary to what most people think, Denver and the other Front Range communities are not in the mountains. Our weather is more similar to that experienced in the plains states, to the east, than the mountain weather to the west.

Here's a shot of the Indian Peaks. They got a nice dusting.

50 facts you might not know about Barack Obama

• He collects Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics

• He was known as "O'Bomber" at high school for his skill at basketball

• His name means "one who is blessed" in Swahili

• His favourite meal is wife Michelle's shrimp linguini

• He won a Grammy in 2006 for the audio version of his memoir, Dreams From My Father

• He is left-handed – the sixth post-war president to be left-handed

• He has read every Harry Potter book

• He owns a set of red boxing gloves autographed by Muhammad Ali

• He worked in a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop as a teenager and now can't stand ice cream

• His favourite snacks are chocolate-peanut protein bars

• He ate dog meat, snake meat, and roasted grasshopper while living in Indonesia

• He can speak Spanish

• While on the campaign trail he refused to watch CNN and had sports channels on instead

• His favourite drink is black forest berry iced tea

• He promised Michelle he would quit smoking before running for president – he didn't

• He kept a pet ape called Tata while in Indonesia

• He can bench press an impressive 200lbs

• He was known as Barry until university when he asked to be addressed by his full name

• His favourite book is Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

• He visited Wokingham, Berks, in 1996 for the stag party of his half-sister's fiancé, but left when a stripper arrived

• His desk in his Senate office once belonged to Robert Kennedy

• He and Michelle made $4.2 million (£2.7 million) last year, with much coming from sales of his books

• His favourite films are Casablanca and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

• He carries a tiny Madonna and child statue and a bracelet belonging to a soldier in Iraq for good luck

• He applied to appear in a black pin-up calendar while at Harvard but was rejected by the all-female committee.

• His favourite music includes Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Bach and The Fugees

• He took Michelle to see the Spike Lee film Do The Right Thing on their first date

• He enjoys playing Scrabble and poker

• He doesn't drink coffee and rarely drinks alcohol

• He would have liked to have been an architect if he were not a politician

• As a teenager he took drugs including marijuana and cocaine

• His daughters' ambitions are to go to Yale before becoming an actress (Malia, 10) and to sing and dance (Sasha, 7)

• He hates the youth trend for trousers which sag beneath the backside

• He repaid his student loan only four years ago after signing his book deal

• His house in Chicago has four fire places

• Daughter Malia's godmother is Jesse Jackson's daughter Santita

• He says his worst habit is constantly checking his BlackBerry

• He uses an Apple Mac laptop

• He drives a Ford Escape Hybrid, having ditched his gas-guzzling Chrysler 300

• He wears $1,500 (£952) Hart Schaffner Marx suits

• He owns four identical pairs of black size 11 shoes

• He has his hair cut once a week by his Chicago barber, Zariff, who charges $21 (£13)

• His favourite fictional television programmes are Mash and The Wire

• He was given the code name "Renegade" by his Secret Service handlers

• He was nicknamed "Bar" by his late grandmother

• He plans to install a basketball court in the White House grounds

• His favourite artist is Pablo Picasso

• His speciality as a cook is chilli

• He has said many of his friends in Indonesia were "street urchins"

• He keeps on his desk a carving of a wooden hand holding an egg, a Kenyan symbol of the fragility of life

• His late father was a senior economist for the Kenyan government

Source, the telegraph.

Final Election Results
Rabbit Hash, Ky

An estimated 215% of local registered and unregistered voters swarmed the polls here in Rabbit Hash, Kentucky for the 2008 Mayoral election.

A highly contested race from the beginning, this race has not let up since it began on Old Timers' Day, 2008. Ten dogs, one cat, one opossum, one jackass, and one human being vied for the ultimate position of political power in this small Ohio River community in Boone County, Kentucky.

It was a dog-eat-dog race. Only this morning, the front runner was Travis the cat, holding a modest lead over two canine contenders. Travis showed a steady popularity the entire day, gaining the majority of the popular vote cast during the day.

After the presidential polls closed at 6:00 PM EST, the focus and the voters and the money relocated to Election Central in the Rabbit Hash barn. Food, fellowship, and good old American politics then prevailed for the next hour or so......and boy-oh-boy did things get heated. Candidates were chasing each other around the barn while the humans on the other end of the leashes were cutting deals and lobbying the public. Bark-The-Vote was the order of the day as the characteristic idiosyncrasies of the Darwinian mix prevailed. Growls, yelps, nips and bites were rampant amongst the candidates. The human conceded early on. Some of the canines followed suit. It was a political battle unrivaled in American political history.

In the waning moments of the months-long ordeal, the great common denominator reared its ugly head and responded to the "last call.' Money flew like fur and the hair was rising the length of each and every spine. Even the dogs knew something was going on as they pulled on their leashes in an attempt to control their handlers.

The final tally was reported:

Lucy Lou New Mayor of Rabbit Hash 8085 votes
Toby Runner-up 4596 votes
Travis 3721 votes
Higgins 2229
Macy 1182
Izzy 580
Pike 557
Rembrant 494
Noggin 184
Molly 150
Peggy Lee 73
Cletus 54
Manson 8
Paulette 5
Alex 2
Ruby 1

This reflects 100% of all precincts in Rabbit Hash. The results have been confirmed and are official.
Rabbit Hash Historical Society

You can find out more about Rabbit Hash

How To Remove a McCain bumper sticker from your auto

This instructional video will show you how to remove the bumper sticker of a failed candidate, such as McCain/Palin. Now you can stop broadcasting failure without leaving a sticky residue.

Known as "the can with thousands of uses," WD-40® protects metal from rust and corrosion, penetrates stuck parts, displaces moisture, and lubricates just about anything. WD-40 is also great when it comes to cleaning grease, grime, and other marks from most surfaces.

From Wonder How To

A Republican nightmare

Post election zombies

Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are

Another sign of the end of times.

This is the second time I'm agreeing with this FOX reporter. Truely a sign of the end of times!! ;)

This is just wrong

Happy belated Halloween!

That one, has won

Obama, now president elect, has won a landslide. Over 340 electoral votes. After eight long years under the most corrupt administration its a breath of fresh air. He has both houses of congress behind him. Lets see if they can do anything with it.

Vote or shut up!

WTF! Hillary voters vote for Obama

A man canvassing for Obama in western Pennsylvania asks a housewife which candidate she intends to vote for. She yells to her husband to find out. From the interior of the house, he calls back, "We're voting for the n----r!" At which point the housewife turns to the canvasser and calmly repeats her husband's declaration.

Read the whole story here.

Squirrels, not just for Dogs any more.