10 Crowned Dogs

1. I don't actually mind the rain. I kind of like it. I've always liked the cozy feeling of it. After the dog became more unpredictable and couldn't go to off leash hours rainy days were great park days because there were fewer other people around to get angry at her.

2. Speaking of dogs, the Great PUPkin is upon us, hopefully Saturday. It all depends on the weather. Clinton Hill Blog has an interview with Kath about it. If you've got any contacts in NYC please send them over, it's hilarious fun with or without your own humiliated dog.

3. Scalzi does an interesting analysis of the recent interaction (or lack thereof) between the White House and FOX News Network. Check the comments, too, because a lot of people are disagreeing with him but for so many different reasons. Fascinating.

4. There are a lot of jaw dropping pieces of information in this short piece on Gothamist about a foiled terrorist plot against...shopping malls. The one I found most interesting, though, is that the conspirators were hampered by an inability to get automatic weapons. From experience in my own area I've got to wonder exactly what the hold up was and how committed they were. Did they just not have transportation to the Carolinas? Is Massachusetts that much stricter on gun control? Was their internet connection down?

5. Are you dressing for Halloween? My Mermaid crown (pictured) is being resurrected and perhaps re-tooled and  I'm getting my face painted. Probably also spraying the hair pink for funsies to match my glasses. I have no dog to dress so I have to step up. Pony Express is helping. I'm not going full costume, though, but if I were I could pull from this Feministing list of non-racist, non-sexist ideas.

6. The Flu, both H1N1 and the plain version, are getting a lot of air time these days. Hysteria has lessened, at least in my neck of the woods (it's possible we were naturally vaccinated for this strain by our spring outbreak)  but it's a constant rumble. They've installed hand sanitizer dispensers in the lobby of my office building, next to the elevators. So here's a link to Flu.gov. Get your info and your rumor-righting from there, please. Also wash your hands and for the love of Pete stop licking your neighbor.

7. I loved the idea of doing a neighborhood Halloween Boo when Melissa did her How To last year. I love Sundry's take on it this year. I don't live in a place where it's possible but I can live vicariously through others. Boo!

8. The reasons we're glad that German Shepherds are loyal are legion. This video (via Gothamist, which I haven't watched, too scared, too sad) illustrates the point. They can be fucking smart and agile and determined and if we do not command respect and utter loyalty they will do some straight up stupid shit.

9. I wanted to write here about my grievance with misuse of the word "went" which I've been hearing in a lot of places where people should know better but now I can't think of an example. It's so wrong that my brain banishes the misuse completely! I'll keep you posted if I think of one. In the mean time, now that I know how to detect the appropriate usage parameters for "My friend and I" vs. "My friend and me" I am amazed and a little frightened at the number of smartypantses (yeah, I did it) who have no clue. Really? You write for a living and you're using that wrong? Who's your agent? **Ah, while proofreading I thought of one, "I would've went if I'd known about it." National TV, talk show host, funny and articulate lady. How does that not just sound like 12 hands of fingernails on a blackboard?**

10. There have been a lot of stories about domestic abuse lately. In specific, stories about ways in which systems that are meant to help abused people are being twisted to harm them. Surely you've heard that some insurance companies are classifying domestic abuse (and c-sections by the by) as pre-existing conditions under which they can refuse coverage to a patient (read: woman). Here's another set of folks that ought to be hung by their short hairs from a very tall tree (via Feministing). Yeah, she's being evicted because she reported her abuser to the authorities. The rationale is that the abuser was conducting illegal activities which violate the lease. Yet, because she got him removed from the premises by reporting said activities (the weapon and, you know, the threatening to kill her) she's got to go. Warms my heart, 'cause you know me, I love a strict interpretation of a text whenever I can get one.

Whassup with you today?