News Archives: November 2006

Monday, November 27, 2006

Christmas Dog Show, etc.

The GAL Christmas Dog Show was fun, if exhausting - and we only went to half of it. Previous years' shows had ended up too big, so now they split it into a "greyhound day" and a "lurcher day". We only went to the lurcher day, despite neither of our dogs being a lurcher (i.e. a sighthound crossed with a non-sighthound). It was the day Claire had been asked to act as official photographer, which is what decided it.

Claire seemed to have a lot of fun, trying to take casual shots of all the dogs, as well as formal group shots of the winners. I held on to the two dogs, occassionally handing one or other to a "volunteer" while I entered the other one into a class. Tara picked up a fourth in "rough coat female" and first in "youngster" (again!). I'm most proud of Zak's second in "best sit" given that he didn't know how to sit four months ago.

Posted by graham @ 08:15 pm

Monday, November 20, 2006

Christmas Dog Show?

Anyone fancy spending Saturday at a dog show in Glasgow? As you might expect, we're going to the GAL Christmas Dog Show, which raises money to rescue Greyhounds. Claire's volunteered to take the official photos, which leaves me holding both doggies. Unless someone would like to come and give me a hand?

The event's this Saturday, roughly 10:30am to 4:00pm, at Langside College in Glasgow - where the ceilidh was held. Let me know if you're interested...

Posted by graham @ 09:54 pm

Friday, November 10, 2006

Bad Timing

Friends have a new baby, and we haven't been to meet him yet, as we are with leurgy. It just isn't fair to inflict the new born with our stinking colds, especially while still in hospital.

Now, plans to celebrate the new arrival have been derailed by the Dad suffering from a similar illness.

I tell ya, these viruses couldn't have worse timing if they tried.

Posted by graham @ 08:05 am

Wednesday, November 8, 2006

Last Weekend

A quick update, since I haven't posted for a while...

The GAL ceilidh was last Friday. We went over with a bunch of friends, and several large pizzas for the buffet. Obviously, I mainly danced with Claire, but also managed a short dance with Mags (they turned our dance into a progressive) and an Orkadian Strip the Willow with Kim. Exhausting but fun, and the night raised £1450 to rescue greyhounds and lurchers.

Got very little sleep Friday night - the draw back of owning dogs, you need to get up to walk them.

Saturday was our usual bonfire party. Duncan brought much wood, and burnt it all. I blew things up. Mainly quietly, although the catherine wheels were painfully loud. The dogs were pretty calm, other than Zak wondering why he wasn't allowed in the garden with everyone else.

Otherwise, it was a normal party - chatting, drinking, eating, hugging, ferrying people to and from the station. I finally got my first drink just after midnight (I'd been on taxi duty), just as everyone left. And so to bed...

Woke up on Sunday with a raging cold. Sore throat, head, stomach. Hard to breath, coughing. Generally yeuch. I'm just about starting to shake it off now, I hope.

Posted by graham @ 09:59 pm

Wednesday, November 1, 2006

Self-Awareness

I was puzzled by the recent Guardian story, Elephants Pass Mirror Test of Self-Awareness. Partly, the idea that this is somehow very rare seems odd. The article claims that this is limited to great apes, bottle-nose dolphins, and (now) elephants. This seems to me to be rubbish.

Cisco (my cat) once spent all day wandering around with a muddy spot on his forehead. He didn't seem to have noticed it. Hours later, he walked in front of a mirror. He stopped, and he stared. Thirty seconds passed, and then he very carefully washed the top of his head, checking himself in the mirror to make sure he got it all. This would seem to be functionally identical to the "mark" test described in the article, and has now been documented in at least as many cats as elephants. (i.e. One of each.) Presumably, therefore, cats pass the mirror test.

Equally, Tara reacts completely differently to her reflection in a mirror than to any other dog she ever sees. Normally, she will go and see another dog, or act nervous if it seems aggressive. The more similar a dog is to her (in size, shape, and/or hairiness) the more excited she gets. Her reflection, however, gets quietly ignored, or watched intently, even admiringly. She's also been known to look behind mirrors. Presumably, dogs also pass the mirror test.

My big problem with this is that understanding a mirror seems a lousy test of self-awareness. Most animals, surely, are capable of emotions such as "I'm hungry", "I'm scared", and "I'm horny". Most are capable of learning - "I did this last time, and got food, so I'll do it again". How is this possible without having a sense of "I"? Isn't that proof of self-awareness? Descartes "I think therefore I am"...

This all seems to be another attempt to prove humans more than animals. We understand mirrors, stupid animals don't. We must be so much better than animals. Like tools, language, culture, etc. before it, this seems pretty baseless.

Posted by graham @ 09:59 pm

Fun With Cooking

If you are giving a dinner party, or entertaining that special someone, why not try this recipe I used for tonight's dinner?

1. Take two or three strips of parma ham per person, and lay carefully on a board, overlapping them to form a large rectangle.

2. Lay fresh basil leaves on the parma ham, forming a thick line across the middle of the ham.

3. Turn your back for a moment, perhaps to find the next ingredient.

4. Turn back to find the basil on the floor, the parma ham missing, and the board being licked by a large dog. (I used a wolf hound-deer hound cross I had lying around. You'll probably get similar results with, say, a grey hound or great dane.)

5. Cuss. Loudly.

(Okay, if you insist, you can replace steps 3 to 5 with lay a skinless chicken breast fillet on the basil, cover with more basil leaves, then wrap in the parma ham. Fry in a little olive oil. The recipe doesn't work nearly as well if you use cheap bacon instead...)

Posted by graham @ 06:06 pm

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