Dog: It's what's for dinner.

     In China, at least. Although in recent years, owning a pet dog has become more and more popular in Chinese culture, and animal activists are rising up and attempting to put a stop to the consumption of their four-legged friends. This fight between animal owners and animal eaters has cropped up in the news lately, mainly because of a truck full of over 500 dogs that was driven off of the road by an angry dog owner. To sum up the story, a man driving with his girlfriend saw the truck full of dogs driving, shipment in tow, and ran it off the road. As news of the near-hijacking spread around the nearby areas, animal activists from all over, followed closely by the police, managed to gather together $17,000 which they used to pay off the driver and convince him to turn over his shipment of man's best friends.
     This not only caused a major roadblock, but also resulted in the homelessness of 520 dogs. It was a small victory for animal activists, who were able to save these canines from becoming dinner, but also quite the loss as now the rescuers are trying to find homes, food, water, and veterinarian care for a bunch of wild dogs.
     Now, living in the Western hemisphere, I find myself instinctively making a disgusted face when I think of people sitting down to hot steaming plate of dog. But, that's because I've owned a dog, thrown a frisbee for a dog, commanded a dog to sit and stay, and also looked into the sad eyes of a dog when I leave the house and he or she doesn't get to come along. Essentially, I have had a domesticated dog as a pet, and yes, it is revolting to think of that pet being eaten. But we must acknowledge the hypocrisy here. People are up in arms over an animal being eaten. Well, breaking news, folks, animals get eaten every day. In our own country. And cute ones too. So, wait, it's okay to eat pigs, cows, and lamb, but not dogs, merely because we've trained them to obey us?
     The only reason people are even disgusted by it is because we've domesticated dogs and made them our own. We've named them, and brought them into our homes, and given them their own plush beds, and now they're considered some kind of superior species. Now, before you get all angry and think I'm some kind of dog-hater, think again. Because here's where the hypocrisy really rears its ugly dog-eating head. People probably read that article (link below) about dog delicacies in China and were outraged. And to be fair, it is horrible how the dogs are treated when they are shipped to and fro. They're crammed together in cages, malnourished, and sometimes diseased. But we have that same problem here in the United States. Animals are constantly being mistreated all over the country! In pounds and pet stores, and even in homes.
     Now obviously to begin eating dogs in the United States and many other western countries would be strange and would definitely cause an outrage. But that's because a) we've had dogs as pets for centuries, and b) we don't have wild dogs. In China, there are wild dogs. Granted, some pet dogs are actually stolen and sent off to become restaurant fare, but most of them are wild. And what's really bothering people over in China is that this fight over whether or not dogs should be considered a consumable good is that it is so closely linked to the growing class distinction. Rich people are the dog owners and poor people are the dog eaters. Why? Because owning a dog is expensive, and eating a dog is cheaper than eating pork or beef. So, as pointed out in the article, when a man in a Mercedes runs a working-class truck driver off of the road and convinces him to take $17000 ($3000 less than he is owed) to give up his shipment in the name of "animal rights", it strikes more than one chord. So now that truck driver is having trouble finding work due to his last failed attempt at delivery, and the increasingly impoverished lower-class is wondering why people care more about dogs than they do about humans.
     I'm not trying to promote a vegetarian lifestyle for everyone in which we stop eating animals altogether. And I'm definintely not trying to put dog on the menu. But I do think it's important to realize that there is a double standard when it comes to rescuing animals from certain danger. We're choosing to focus our attention on only one species, when in reality, animals (humans included) all over the world are being mistreated, abused, and mercilessly killed. It's not that we shouldn't try and save some animals if it means we can't save them all. But if saving one species leads to the hunger and job loss of our own species and leaves other species like cow and sheep to go on being mistreated, are we really doing the right thing?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-pacific/chinese-dog-eaters-and-dog-lovers-spar-over-animal-rights/2011/05/20/AGvgmVDH_story_1.html

P.S. There's a slide show of photographs in this article, but some of the photographs are rather...graphic. Nothing you wouldn't see in a normal meat locker, but...just a warning.

bin Laden, Black Plague, and Bunkbeds

Now there's a winning combination. Let's start at the top.

As videos of bin Laden spending the last days of his life huddled under a blanket watching himself on TV (come on, doesn't he have youtube in that mansion?) begin to surface in the news, something else is rising to the top of the water as well--realization. People are finally beginning to realize that the death of one terrorist--even if he was a prominent leader--does not mean the end of terrorism. In fact, it probably doesn't even mean the end of the war in Afghanistan. There are plenty of terrorist groups still active, and frankly, killing bin Laden probably just made a lot of terrorists even angrier at the US than they were before. The diversion of two US commerical flights to nearby airports in the past week--both of which resulted in the evacuation and interrogation of all passengers and a thorough search of the plane--is certainly not a great sign. Let's face it, the death of Osama was a symbolic victory for Americans who lost 3,000 citizens in a seemingly meaningless act of violence. Whether or not his death will make an actual impact is something for which we can only hope.

In other news, New Mexican fleas may be the next big thing for us to worry about as Americans. A man who lives in New Mexico was diagnosed with and treated for bubonic plague this week. That's right, it's still around! Apparently 10 to 15 Americans catch it every year. It's treatable, but it's also another great reason to bathe and to keep rats and fleas at a safe distance. On the other hand, now that we're no longer living in the Dark Ages, if bubonic plague actually does become a serious issue, we could always get little flea collars for everyone at a cheap price. We could wear them on our wrists--it could be the new Livestrong bracelet!

Also on the list of dangers in America are...bunkbeds! That's right, thousands of kids around America may find themselves involuntarily re-enacting that scene from the movie Stepbrothers where their homemade bunkbeds collapse. Except these are bunkbeds sold by family-friendly stores like Wal-mart and Target that have bed rails prone to breaking and causing some minor injuries. Can you imagine waking up to a bed falling on top of you? Ouch.

And finally, having trouble finding a parking space? There's an app for that. That's right, apparently in San Francisco they're experimenting with this new app for smartphones that notifies people of open parking spaces. The spaces have some kind of electronic sensors that enable them to send signals to the app when spaces open up. Of course, while you're looking at your smartphone trying to find a space, you may accidentally run over a pedestrian. And won't this merely increase parking lot rage? A bunch of people all racing madly to the same space? Maybe the app can be integrated with Foursquare. "Pete just checked in at Space A-2! Better keep looking, lazybones."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703859304576306941215709576.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/05/08/2011-05-08_man_in_new_mexico_diagnosed_with_bubonic_plague_first_case_of_black_death_in_201.html
http://www.imperfectparent.com/topics/2011/05/08/bunk-bed-sold-by-major-retailers-has-collapse-risk/
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/08/technology/08parking.html