Things I am interested in…

 I am very sad to report that one of our two brother cats, Cosmo, was hit by a car while crossing the road in front of our house at about 0630 this morning.  The driver did not stop.  Cosmo managed to crawl off the road, but died shortly afterwards.

 A nice gentleman who witnessed the event later came back to contact us and tell us what he saw.

 We brought Cosmo & Dilmah home to live with us in early May (see link here).  We think they were born towards the end of February.  Their birthday was recorded with our vet as Feb 18, the same day as mine.  This means Cosmo was about 8 1/2 months old when he died.

 I am suprised at how emotional I feel over the death of a pet cat.  In some ways Cosmo was the physically more frail of the two brothers. He was always getting sunburnt ears, and we were worried that he would get skin cancer. However, I liked him because he was more adventurous and inquisitive than Dilmah.  He figured out how to climb in our bedroom window first.  He was also less prone to come seeking affection, unlike “love slut” Dilmah.

 He is being cremated, and we will scatter his ashes in our garden, along with his favourite toy, Mousey (if we can find it wherever he left it last).

 At least he had a better life with us and his brother than he would have found if he had been left with his mother (a stray).

 Here is a link to an album of pictures. Cosmo has the white fur on his nose, and wears the red collar. His brother, Dilmah, has the black collar.

 We will remember him…

Someone to Love

Stacey’s Mom

An amusing excerpt from something I was listening to while walking to work this morning:

One of the earliest and most aggressive exponents of this economic imperialism was Gary Becker, the Chicago economist par excellence, who in an article published in one of the profession’s most prestigious journals applied the principles of microeconomics and consumer behaviour to what he called the market for marriage. Becker defined marriage as an arrangement to secure the mutual benefit of exchange between two agents of different endowments. In other words, people marry in order more efficiently to produce ‘household commodities’, including ‘the quality of meals, the quality and quantity of children, prestige, recreation, companionship, love, and health status’. The rational person will base any marriage decision on quantifiable costs and benefits. The gain from marriage has to be balanced against the losses – including legal fees and the costs of searching for a mate – to determine whether marriage is worthwhile.

Becker went on to analyse the effect of ‘love and caring’ on the nature of the ‘equilibrium in the marriage market’. To do so he defined love as ‘a non-marketable household commodity’, noting that more love between potential partners increases the amount of caring and that this in turn reduces the costs of ‘policing’ the marriage. Policing, of course, is needed ‘in any partnership or corporation’ because it ‘reduces the probability that a mate shirks duties or appropriates more output than is mandated by the equilibrium in the marriage market’. There’s no need to put a padlock on the fridge if your partner loves you. After pages of differential calculus, Becker reaches a triumphant conclusion: since love produces more efficient marriages, ‘love and caring between two persons increase their chances of being married to each other’.

What Becker’s wife thought about this analysis is not recorded, but in 1992 the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences was sufficiently impressed to award him the Nobel Prize for Economics for this and related work.

Beef – it’s what’s for dinner!

Today I found the website of the US Cattlemen’s Beef Board and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. How did I achieve this remarkable feat?!

The story began when I was listening to a podcast from the BBC – Digital Planet – while riding the inter hospital shuttle bus. One of the stories was about a classical music website, where one can listen to various types of classical music and decide what one likes. Once I arrived back at work I checked this website out, and eventually came across Aaron Copland. I have been interested in his work for years, but only recognise the most famous – Fanfare for the Common Man. Desirous of learning more, I did what I usually do in circumstances where I’m looking for more information about something quickly, and happen to be sitting in front of a computer – I went to Wikipedia…

General enquiry about Copland, led to specific investigation of one of his ballets (Rodeo, 1942). The most famous piece of music from Rodeo is the “Hoe-Down”. I wondered if I had ever heard this piece before (actually, I though I must have, but just didn’t know it was called Hoe-Down), so I scanned down the Wikipedia entry about this, and there it was!

“Hoe-Down”, the ballet’s final section, was prominently used by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association for television commercials in the US.

Instant connection…

There are a million strange and serendipitous web-surfing stories in the naked city… this has been one of them!

dan le sac VS scroobius pip “Thou Shalt always Kill”

Lyrics:

Thou shalt not steal if there is direct victim.
Thou shalt not worship pop idols or follow lost prophets.
Thou shalt not take the names of Johnny Cash, Joe Strummer, Johnny Hartman, Desmond Decker, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix or Syd Barret in vain.
Thou shalt not think that any male over the age of 30 that plays with a child that is not their own is a peadophile… Some people are just nice.
Thou shalt not read NME.
Thall shalt not stop liking a band just because they’ve become popular.
Thou shalt not question Stephen Fry.
Thou shalt not judge a book by it’s cover.
Thou shalt not judge Lethal Weapon by Danny Glover.
Thall shalt not buy Coca-Cola products. Thou shalt not buy Nestle products.
Thou shalt not go into the woods with your boyfriend’s best friend, take drugs and cheat on him.
Thou shalt not fall in love so easily.
Thou shalt not use poetry, art or music to get into girls’ pants. Use it to get into their heads.
Thou shalt not watch Hollyoakes.
Thou shalt not attend an open mic and leave as soon as you’re done just because you’ve finished your shitty little poem or song you self-righteous prick.
Thou shalt not return to the same club or bar week in, week out just ’cause you once saw a girl there that you fancied but you’re never gonna fucking talk to.

Thou shalt not put musicians and recording artists on ridiculous pedestals no matter how great they are or were.

The Beatles – Were just a band.
Led Zepplin – Just a band.
The Beach Boys – Just a band.
The Sex Pistols – Just a band.
The Clash – Just a band.
Crass – Just a band.
Minor Threat – Just a band.
The Cure – Just a band.
The Smiths – Just a band.
Nirvana – Just a band.
The Pixies – Just a band.
Oasis – Just a band.
Radiohead – Just a band.
Bloc Party – Just a band.
The Arctic Monkeys – Just a band.
The next big thing – JUST A BAND.

Thou shalt give equal worth to tragedies that occur in non-English speaking countries as to those that occur in English speaking countries.
Thou shalt remember that guns, bitches and bling were never part of the four elements and never will be.

Thou shalt not make repetitive generic music

Thou shalt not make repetitive generic music

Thou shalt not make repetitive generic music

Thou shalt not make repetitive generic music

Thou shalt not pimp my ride.
Thou shalt not scream if you wanna go faster.
Thou shalt not move to the sound of the wickedness.
Thou shalt not make some noise for Detroit.
When I say “Hey” thou shalt not say “Ho”.
When I say “Hip” thou shalt not say “Hop”.
When I say “he say, she say, we say, make some noise” – kill me.
Thou shalt not quote me happy.
Thou shalt not shake it like a polaroid picture.
Thou shalt not wish your girlfriend was a freak like me.
Thou shalt spell the word “Pheonix” P-H-E-O-N-I-X not P-H-O-E-N-I-X, regardless of what the Oxford English Dictionary tells you.
Thou shalt not express your shock at the fact that Sharon got off with Bradley at the club last night by saying “Is it”.
Thou shalt think for yourselves.

And thou shalt always kill.