Lou Reed, 1999(?)-7/12/2008

I couldn’t stay in the room while he did it. I could not watch the veterinarian put Lou Reed, my cat, to sleep.

Lou Reed (a female, despite the name) had always been an overweight, grumpy cat, so I was surprised when she seemed thinner and more friendly this past week.

By Friday night, she was lethargic and shaky. She seemed disoriented, but only when I picked her up to put her in the litterbox did I notice she was too weak to stand. She fell over in the litter and struggled to even turn over.

hey dudes

Sometime ago I developed an interest in Mormonism. I am open-minded but my interest was and is more a scholarly pursuit than an attempt to find religion. I am interested in why anyone does anything. Thinking about religion makes the brainbaby kick, especially in the area of motivation. It seems to me the great motivators are religion, biology and money, in no particular order. Sometimes those run together. Sometimes I put biology at the top and consider religion and money as products of our flawed genes. However, most reasons given for one’s behavior can often be traced to these three general headings. I am consistently amazed and horrified at the behavior of the faithful.

My interest in Mormonism either began or was fueled by three things. (Isn’t three such a nice religious number?) The three things were Mitt Romney’s (now unsuccessful) bid for the presidency, the book Under The Banner of Heaven and the television series Big Love. I don’t remember which of the three came first. Depending on who you listen to, Mormonism is one of the fastest growing religions in the United States. I have heard a similar claim about Islam. It seems Mormonism, Islam and atheism are claiming the defectors from other religions. By the way, I highly recommend Big Love and Under the Banner of Heaven. I can not, however, recommend Mitt Romney for the highest post in the land.

Of eels & ID theft

Our Internet is finally back, after being out for more than a week. Hooray! Of course, life cannot be in perfect harmony, so now our DirecTV is on the fritz.

Other matters have been occupying me though. My fire eel, who I had for almost two years, fled his aquarium and dried out on a windowsill. He was normally quite reclusive, only coming out of his plastic tree stump at feeding time, when he would give hell to a cube of frozen bloodworms. So I’m not sure why he chose to squeeze out of a small hole in the aquarium lid; because he could, I suppose.

He was difficult to photograph, but I was successful a couple of times.

I decided to replace him in the 55-gallon community tank with a trio of German blue rams, which I will take some pictures of in the next few days.

Over the next few days, I will also need to spend some time sorting out the matter of $1,998 that someone tried to pay from my Paypal account. What’s even better is that my bank charged me a $27 insufficient funds fee because I didn’t have the $2K for the fraudulent charge!

And…

http://www.edheads.org/activities/knee/index.htm

And…

http://www.lhsc.on.ca/transplant/surgeon/intro.htm

You too can perform thoracic surgery!

http://www.abc.net.au/rollercoaster/games/games/s1307616.htm

Religion and Politics

Why do I have a blog? You may have heard that most of what is written on blogs is read only by the person who wrote it. I hope others read and respond to this blog. If not, I will probably still write in it. I will try to write at least four posts a week. I will post links to interesting news items and opinion pieces. I will post about movies I think you should see or music I think you should listen to. I will post about the television you are missing while you are watching Scrubs or Grey’s Anatomy or whatever the hell it is you are watching when you should be watching Frontline or House or 30 Rock. I want your input. I will talk about religion and politics. I will post about interesting things I have seen or thought or done or had done to me. I will try not to drink and post. I will post about things that piss me off.

In case it is not up anymore, the very first thing I put up into the blogosphere was a clip from the film Superbad. It’s the scene in which Michael Cera sings. I posted it because I think Mike ( I call him Mike) is a funny man and that scene is magical.

Elijah Lee

Why ‘Rabbit Starvation’?

Some people are afraid of fat; some people are repulsed by it. And yet as evidenced by the phenomenon of rabbit starvation—a form of malnutrition brought on by a diet of exclusively lean meats, more specifically, rabbit—fat is essential to human survival.

So with a little variety in the diet—and a little fat—humans are widely omnivorous. But what about our mental diet? Vilhjalmur Stefansson wrote, in observance of Native Americans in the early 20th century, “If there are enough rabbits, the people eat till their stomachs are distended; but no matter how much they eat they feel unsatisfied.” Are your intakes of politics, religion, pop culture, science, pseudo-science and Internet opinions at healthy levels? Or are you starving while shoveling down platesful of paperwork, housework, parenting and consuming?

Stick around. There’ll be plenty of meat, but we’ll be sure to throw in a bit of blubber too.

Bellapoison