friday fun, #9

Before I get started on the usual Friday Fun entries, I wanted to share this little article that I found via SF Girl living in the UK that she found in The Guardian. With Dakota getting on in years and the ways that I’m thinking about a future that may not include him because of that, this made me want to love each and every tail wag, lick, and howl all the more.

Are you happy?
Stan Rawlinson, dog behaviourist
Saturday August 25, 2007

I have this habit of breaking bones. I broke my leg in 18 places and partly ripped off my ankle after falling down a collapsed rabbit warren. I ended up in a wheelchair for a while and began studying dog behaviour. Over the years I had been in the armed forces, a musician and worked in sales, but I was never happy. Since working with dogs my wife said I’ve changed completely.

Dogs can feel the stress of owners. The lead is like an aerial and the dog can sense what’s happening through it. Dogs are affected by their owner’s reactions.

I’ve lost my father, my mother, but I was really affected when I lost a young springer spaniel. Next to my desk I have a little coffin-shaped box with a model of him on it and his ashes inside. We had to put him down at five because of bone cancer. I was devastated. I cancelled everything for a week. Before he died I had him with me 48 hours straight. I’m over William but I still get upset thinking about him.

My dogs are an extension of me. When I watch them work and see the pleasure on their faces I feel a sense of reflected happiness.

Humans hold grudges more than any animal. We allow unhappiness because we can’t be like dogs. You can tell a dog off one minute and the next minute you smile and it wags its tail. If we could give absolute love and loyalty to other humans we’d be happier.

Today’s Friday Fun is full of sex (and I’m not so sure it’s all about fun this time) and animals (but not together, thank goodness). Don’t ask me how that happened (and if you think that it is a continuance from last week’s Plant Porn, you didn’t watch that video (which wasn’t really porn anyway but really interesting)). Sex was popping up (pun intended) all over the Internet this week.

making connections
Wouldn’t it suck if you went online to find a connection and found your soulmate? No? It wouldn’t, would it? But what if that soulmate happened to be your in-person partner and you both were out on the ‘Net looking for someone else? That would definitely suck. Or maybe it wouldn’t. Maybe you’d realize that you always had exactly what you had been looking for.

smell me and .com (NSFW)
This is NOT safe for work. I’m not quite sure if Vulva is funny, sad, or disgusting. Is it a parody or the real thing? And how would they get the right scent for each person? I mean, really. We all smell different and what appeals to you may not appeal to me (not that this would be my cup of tea anyway but I’m just sayin’…).

sex sells (NSFW)
We’ve seen women’s bodies used to sell cars, tools, magazines, food, clothing, shoes, and everything in-between. This, however, is more than a little offensive to me. Tom Ford uses sections of a woman to sell his cologne. As if that (or any) cologne would be the only thing needed to get any man between the legs of a woman.

impotence
We’re done talking sex — unless you consider proofreading sexual (and for some of us, that could entirely be the case). The Impotence of Proofreading is one of the funniest videos I’ve watched on YouTube. I think you’ll enjoy it, too.

hooked up pooch
I love Dakota and I love my electronics. But, do I love my dog enough to hook him up with his own cell phone? Maybe. Next on the list: barking ringtones. Oh, oops…the iPhone beat us to that. Darn.

i can meets secret
I’m not a huge fan of the i can has cheezburger movement. I am a big fan of PostSecret and have written about them previously. What happens when you mix silly kittens with super salacious secrets? lolsecretz is what happens. And it is funny.

That is it for fun for this week. I’m on a plane to North Carolina on Sunday to check out two schools.

I’m sorry I’m not a great communicator lately. There is a lot going on. Between trips to schools, finishing my thesis, working, teaching, working on application packets, and trying to spend as much time with my family before I move away in the next year, it has been hard making it all work. I will try to be better at it. Really.