Tantalum Thursday

Thought for Today:

"When a man is wrong and won't admit it, he always gets angry." — Thomas Chandler Haliburton, Canadian jurist and humorist (1796-1865).

Sudiegirl’s response: Sounds like all the men in MY life.

I'm feeling a little better today...thanks for your patience.

It's RAINING in DC...BLEAH. I need to build an ark or get a scuba suit or some flippers or something. That might be part of what's affecting my mood. That and I feel like I have to sell my internal organs on the black market to afford my BP meds...yeah, I'd say that's a big factor too.

In other news...my mom is doing OK. I always wonder how she's coping with stuff like impending holidays where memories of Daddy would spring up. Like FATHER'S DAY. I've been trying to find a clip of the Warner Bros. cartoon version of "The Three Bears" (a la Chuck Jones) but so far, none can be had.

That sucks, because the Three Bears cartoon about Father's Day was one that made Mom and Dad laugh their heads off. I'm embedding the "Three Little Bops" cartoon instead, but it sure isn't the same.



Maybe some kind soul that has a clip of the Warner Bros. "Three Bears" can enlighten me as to where the clip can be found.

Anyway...enough of that wistfulness crap. Let' s move on, shall we? I've got some awards to give, and time's a wastin'.

First of all, I've got a Rancho Sudiegirl First here...I'm giving the "Egg Suckin' Dog" award to some (literal) dogs. In one case, the owner of an egg-suckin' dog is also an egg-suckin' dog, but it's rare that actual dogs win this award. Rejoice in this anomaly, folks!

Egg Suckin' Dogs #1 and #2:
Mok and Lai, two Thai dogs that rose up from the ranks of lousy street mutts to drug-sniffing dogs. Unfortunately, their bad behavior has demoted them once again to egg-suckers. To quote the article:

Two Thai street mutts who became ace sniffer dogs at an airport near the notorious "Golden Triangle" opium-producing region have been fired for urinating on luggage and sexually harassing female passengers.

The pair, Mok and Lai, had been plucked from obscurity under a program initiated by King Bhumibol Adulyadej to turn strays into police dogs, the Bangkok Post said on Sunday.

Yep...these pooches couldn't take the stress of being law abiding canines. However, one thing bothers me. According to the article, only one dog's bad behavior is cited. To quote:

"He liked to pee on luggage while searching for drugs inside," Mok's former handler, Police Lieutenant Colonel Jakapop Kamhon, said. "He also liked to hold on to women's legs."

Judge's comments:

So Mok was the "pisser" (so to speak) and the leg-humper. But what did Lai do? Apparently, he was an enabler or something. Yep...his partner is humpin' legs and peeing on Samsonite and he just stands idly by. Does he report it to Internal Affairs? NOOOOOOOO. It's that damned "drug-sniffing-dog brotherhood" thing going on. The "brotherhood in fur", shall we say...

BOTH of them lost their jobs and are now on farm duty, herding chickens and pigs. If I were Lai, I'd be really honked off. I mean, come on...here he is, keeping his muzzle shut while his partner is abusing the policing privilege, and now he's herding pigs. Where's the justice?

All right, enough of that one. Next, both the dog and the owner qualify for this Rancho Sudiegirl distinction...

Egg Suckin' Dogs #3 and #4: A Belgian businessman and his trusty pup.

Reason: Gee...the article states it so well, I'll just quote it.

A Belgian businessman rejected a Nigerian job applicant because the businessman said his own dog was racist and would bite non-whites, Belgian media reported Saturday. The 53-year-old man Nigerian told De Standaard newspaper he arrived at the Belgian's wrought-iron business and was immediately confronted by the barking dog.

The Belgian turned the man away before he could even enter, and wrote on his labor office letter that he could not hire the man because of his color, adding there was a risk the dog would bite him.

Great. Now let's look at one more quote from the article:

The local labor office has concluded that the Belgian was racist and has removed him from its list of potential employers.

"My dog is racist. Not me," the Belgian told De Standaard.

Judge's comments:

Oh my...You know, I could wonder how a carbon based living organism that licks its own butt could rub two brain cells together and be racist. However, I would be discounting the membership of the entire Ku Klux Klan and the skinhead movement if I did.

Apparently, the fault is not the dog's, but rather, the owner. Come on...dude...how can you even say that and think you're going to be taken seriously? I realize I'm stating the obvious.

But you know what else? I think this is a case for The Dog Whisperer!

Seriously - Cesar doesn't take s**t off of any dog, whether it's racist, sexist, facist, Communist, or a furniture-chewer. (Plus, it doesn't hurt that he's EASY on the eyes...)

I'd LOVE to see Cesar go to Belgium and set this dog on the straight and narrow. Something tells me that he could do it if nobody else could. Barbara Woodhouse and her "walkies" be damned...Cesar is the way to go on this one.

So - I've had my say on this particular one. Let's take a look at ONE more thing.

Here's today's "Blinded Me With Science" award winner!
Recipients: Lynda Boothroyd, a psychologist at Durham University in England, and her colleagues at the University of Wroclaw and the Institute of Anthropology in Poland

Reason: "I Want A Guy Who Looks Like the Guy That I Can Call My Dad"

To quote the article:

The type of man who makes woman’s heart flutter has a lot to whether she was a daddy’s girl, according to a new study.

Women who got along well with their dads as kids are attracted to men who resemble their fathers, whereas women who had a bad father-daughter relationship do not.

The process itself was fascinating. Between the calculations and the research, the anthropologists really honed the process down, and compared features of womens' love interests and the same womens' fathers. They also did research about the subjects' relationships with their fathers, and managed to put all these pieces of data into this theory.
Judge's comments:

Now this intrigued me...why?

I mean, my sister and I both got along great with our dad. We did have differences, and argued as all people do with their parents. But we always knew that Dad had our back, he loved us, and supported us. He'd chew our asses too, but that's another story.

However, I don't think I've ever been with anyone who REMOTELY looked like my dad (either in the face or the body). My friend and impromptu golf instructor (DD) is the only one who even comes close, and even he's not exact...he walks like my dad and makes the same clothing choices, and looks a little like him in the face, but I don't see a strong resemblance.

Examples? SURE! I got 'em! I've even inserted a picture of Dad so you have something to go on. (For new readers, this is Dad. For current readers, this is Dad. Haven't trotted his picture out in a while so here he is.)

1) My dad was slim, and approximately 5'8" in height. With the exception of Ed H., the shortest beau I ever had was probably 5'10". The tallest was 6'7", and D (the most recent) was 6'2"

My dad used to get vaguely pissy and ask, "Why can't you date someone I can intimidate?" He obviously wasn't paying much attention, and didn't realize that he even had a huge 6'7" farmboy scared to death.

Why? WEAPONRY. Pure and simple. Anyone with half a brain who sees their date's father with multiple copies of Guns and Ammo just lying around the house USUALLY puts two and two together. If they didn't, they had the advantage of lasting about a month longer than normal.

2) My dad had grey-blue eyes. The first husband had blue blue eyes, and Ed H. has greenish eyes. D had blue eyes, but again, not GREY BLUE. There's a difference. I've also dated plenty of brown-eyed men.

3) Note the nose and ears. Dad's nose wasn't HUGE, but it wasn't small. My first husband's nose was relatively small, but Ed H's nose was a little bigger than the first's. It looked right for his face, though. I have NEVER been with anyone who had ears like my dad's though...seriously. He's got cute ears, but I don't remember my beaus' ears looking so elfin.

4) Two words: POINTY EYEBROWS. While I do think my father was a handsome man, the pointy eyebrow thing was a little odd. When you consider that he was also a "Star Trek" fan, it just gets stranger. I've noticed that my sister and I have inherited one pointy eyebrow of his as opposed to two. As far as attraction to pointy eyebrows, I never really thought about it.

But now that I think about it, there are some actors I find attractive that bear a passing resemblance to my dad. One of them is Scott Glenn, especially in "Silence of the Lambs". He's got his hair slicked back and the resemblance was fairly spooky.

So maybe there is something to it...but you know, I'd rather be with someone that LOOKS like Dad as opposed to someone that SINGS like he did. It also explains why my mom picked Dad as opposed to someone that looked like Elmer Fudd (what HER father looked like and sounded like on occasion.)

So on that note, I'll bid y'all adieu for now until the next time I'm inspired.