Elizabeth March 23rd, 2008
99.98% of you look completely ridiculous.
My hope is that you look back on this period in your lives with a healthy mixture of shame and amusement - much like the time you bought those pants with the built-in skirt. Make no mistake - history will judge you.
I am hoping that Winter takes care of this alarming trend.
Elizabeth February 27th, 2008
Never feed your dog the following foods: grapes, raisins, sultanas, onions, macadamias, chocolate, garlic, coffee or fruit pips.
To find out more, read on.
It’s a rare pet owner who doesn’t slip his critter the occasional treat. Our pets add so much to the quality of our lives that we look for ways to return the kindness, or to at least impart some measure of thanks for all they do. Yet though the urge to do good is there, the mechanism often isn’t.
Humans and the pets they keep have widely differing views on what constitutes welcome rewards or recognitions. Your dog, for instance, wouldn’t think much of a thank-you card, nor would your cat feel properly appreciated were he the recipient of a dozen roses presented in a nice vase. (Likewise, you would probably feel far less than delighted by the gift of a headless mouse.)
Yet food transcends the species. Almost every creature we would think to keep as a companion appears to take some delight in eating, so a gift of tasty yet out-of-the-ordinary ingestibles becomes a workable way of communicating “I love you,” “Well done!” or just “Thanks.” Unfortunately, good intentions can have deadly consequences when pet owners make the mistake of assuming all their favorite snacks are also suitable for their animals.
via Snopes
Word is spreading that dogs and onions don’t mix. Even so, Harry and I had to learn this the hard way after a big meal of bolognaise sauce a few years ago. There’s nothing like seeing your living room floor covered in blood-filled pee to make you remember that rule.
Harry was fine, although he risked acute renal failure and was very anaemic for about a week. Had I hesitated before taking him to the vet he might not be with us.
Somehow after 18 years of dog ownership no vet had ever warned me about the dangers of onion. This week I discovered a few more human foods that are also potentially fatal to dogs.
Please read the list, and pass the information on to any dog owners that you know. I’m living proof that a responsible pet owner can be completely ignorant, and risk making a horrible mistake.
ONION AND GARLIC
It doesn’t take much onion to kill a small dog, and repeated small doses are just as harmful as a single large dose.
Onions and garlic are other dangerous food ingredients that cause sickness in dogs, cats and also livestock. Onions and garlic contain the toxic ingredient thiosulphate. Onions are more of a danger.
Pets affected by onion toxicity will develop haemolytic anaemia, where the pet’s red blood cells burst while circulating in its body.
At first, pets affected by onion poisoning show gastroenteritis with vomiting and diarrhoea. They will show no interest in food and will be dull and weak. The red pigment from the burst blood cells appears in an affected animal’s urine and it becomes breathless. The breathlessness occurs because the red blood cells that carry oxygen through the body are reduced in number.
GRAPES, RAISINS AND SULTANAS
This was news to me until a few days ago. Harry always whines at me when I eat grapes, so I’ve slipped him quite a few over the years. Once again, I had absolutely no idea that I was feeding something that could cause his kidneys to fail.
The database showed that dogs who ate the grapes and raisins typically vomited within a few hours of ingestion. Most of the time, partially digested grapes and raisins could be seen in the vomit, fecal material, or both. At this point, some dogs would stop eating (anorexia), and develop diarrhea. The dogs often became quiet and lethargic, and showed signs of abdominal pain. These clinical signs lasted for several days - sometimes even weeks.
When medical care was sought, blood chemistry panels showed consistent patterns. Hypercalcemia (elevated blood calcium levels) was frequently present, as well as elevated levels of blood urea nitrogen, creatinine and phosphorous (substances that reflect kidney function). These chemistries began to increase anywhere from 24 hours to several days after the dogs ate the fruit. As the kidney damage developed, the dogs would produce little urine. When they could no longer produce urine, death occurred. In some cases, dogs who received timely veterinary care still had to be euthanized.
It’s crazy that an everyday fruit can have such dire consequences for a domestic animal. I wonder how many people know about it? That article goes on to say that pesticides, heavy metals and fungal contaminants have been ruled out as the cause of grapes’ toxicity, so it’s something to do with the grape itself.
MACADAMIAS
The toxic compound is unknown but the affect of macadamia nuts is to cause locomotory difficulties. Dogs develop a tremor of the skeletal muscles, and weakness or paralysis of the hindquarters. Affected dogs are often unable to rise and are distressed, usually panting. Some affected dogs have swollen limbs and show pain when the limbs are manipulated.
Dogs have been affected by eating as few as six macadamia kernels (nuts without the shell) while others had eaten approximately forty kernels.
CHOCOLATE
Most dog owners already know that dogs shouldn’t eat chocolate, but here’s why. Chocolate contains theobromine, a compound that is a cardiac stimulant and a diuretic.
When affected by an overdose of chocolate, a dog can become excited and hyperactive. Due to the diuretic effect, it may pass large volumes of urine and it will be unusually thirsty. Vomiting and diarrhoea are also common. The effect of theobromine on the heart is the most dangerous effect. Theobromine will either increase the dog’s heart rate or may cause the heart to beat irregularly. Death is quite possible, especially with exercise.
After their pet has eaten a large quantity of chocolate, many pet owners assume their pet is unaffected. However, the signs of sickness may not be seen for several hours, with death following within twenty-four hours.
Cooking chocolate and cocoa are the most toxic forms of chocolate to a dog, so something like mud cake is a real landmine. A dog has to eat a fair amount of milk chocolate to be affected, but I have a policy of never buying “doggy chocolate” treats so that he doesn’t develop a taste for it.
OTHER DANGERS
According to Petalia, these are some of the other human foods and household items that are especially toxic to dogs:
The Pet Center adds the following:
If you’ve read this far, thank you! Don’t forget to tell other pet owners about this post, so that we can raise awareness of these foods. It’s not my usual style to embark upon a crusade like this, but what’s more important than protecting the animals who can’t take care of themselves?
Elizabeth January 31st, 2008
With thanks to Katie Chatfield for this disturbing piece of history.
1943 Guide to Hiring Women: The following is an excerpt from the July 1943 issue of Transportation Magazine. This was written for male supervisors of women in the work force during World War II.
Eleven Tips on Getting More Efficiency Out of Women Employees
There’s no longer any question whether transit companies should hire women for jobs formerly held by men. The draft and manpower shortage has settled that point. The important things now are to select the most efficient women available and how to use them to the best advantage. Here are eleven helpful tips on the subject from western properties:
1. If you can get them, pick young married women. They have these advantages, according to the reports of western companies: they usually have more of a sense of responsibility than do their unmarried sisters; they’re less likely to be flirtatious; as a rule, they need the work or they wouldn’t be doing it — maybe a sick husband or one who’s in the army; they still have the pep and interest to work hard and to deal with the public efficiently.
2. When you have to use older women, try to get ones who have worked outside the home at some time in their lives. Most transportation companies have found that older women who have never contacted the public, have a hard time adapting themselves, are inclined to be cantankerous and fussy. It’s always well to impress upon older women the importance of friendliness and courtesy.
3. While there are exceptions, of course, to this rule, general experience indicates that “husky” girls — those who are just a little on the heavy side — are likely to be more even-tempered and efficient than their underweight sisters.
4. Retain a physician to give each woman you hire a special physical examination — one covering female conditions. This step not only protects the property against the possibilities of lawsuit but also reveals whether the employee-to-be has any female weaknesses which would make her mentally or physically unfit for the job. Transit companies that follow this practice report a surprising number of women turned down for nervous disorders.
5. In breaking in women who haven’t previously done outside work, stress at the outset the importance of time — the fact that a minute or two lost here and there makes serious inroads on schedules. Until this point is gotten across, service is likely to be slowed up.
6. Give the female employe in garage or office a definite day-long schedule of duties so that she’ll keep busy without bothering the management for instructions every few minutes. Numerous properties say that women make excellent workers when they have their jobs cut out for them but that they lack initiative in finding work themselves.
7. Whenever possible, let the inside employe change from one job to another at some time during the day. Women are inclined to be nervous and they’re happier with change.
8. Give every girl an adequate number of rest periods during the day. Companies that are already using large numbers of women stress the fact that you have to make some allowances for feminine psychology. A girl has more confidence and consequently is more efficient if she can keep her hair tidied, apply fresh lipstick and wash her hands several times a day.
9. Be tactful in issuing instructions or in making criticisms. Women are often sensitive; they can’t shrug off harsh words the way that men do. Never ridicule a woman — it breaks her spirit and cuts her efficiency.
10. Be reasonably considerate about using strong language around women. Even though a girl’s husband or father may swear vociferously, she’ll grow to dislike a place of business where she hears too much of this.
11. Get enough size variety in operator uniforms that each girl can have a proper fit. This point can’t be stressed too strongly as a means of keeping women happy, according to western properties.
Elizabeth November 28th, 2007
enormity
n., pl. -ties.
1. The quality of passing all moral bounds; excessive wickedness or outrageousness.
2. A monstrous offense or evil; an outrage.
3. Usage Problem. Great size; immensity: “Beyond that, [Russia's] sheer enormity offered a defense against invaders that no European nation enjoyed” (W. Bruce Lincoln).
[French énormité, from Old French, from Latin ?normit?s, from ?normis, unusual, enormous. See enormous.]
USAGE NOTE Enormity is frequently used to refer simply to the property of being great in size or extent, but many would prefer that enormousness (or a synonym such as immensity) be used for this general sense and that enormity be limited to situations that demand a negative moral judgment, as in Not until the war ended and journalists were able to enter Cambodia did the world really become aware of the enormity of Pol Pot’s oppression. Fifty-nine percent of the Usage Panel rejects the use of enormity as a synonym for immensity in the sentence At that point the engineers sat down to design an entirely new viaduct, apparently undaunted by the enormity of their task. This distinction between enormity and enormousness has not always existed historically, but nowadays many observe it. Writers who ignore the distinction, as in the enormity of the President’s election victory or the enormity of her inheritance, may find that their words have cast unintended aspersions or evoked unexpected laughter.
In my reading today I’ve come across this word 3 or 4 times, and in each case the author meant “enormousness”. I’m not a complete pedant, but this does seem to be one word that is misused by lots of people.
| Completed: 16/101 | |||||||||
Keep track as I complete my 101 Things in 1001 Days challenge (commencing Jan 1st, 2008).
