Memories Of Jasmine: Camping

Jasmine loved her daily walks and hikes. Right from the start she taught me how important that was to her. So we did that, rain or shine. There was no excuse that would justify not going out.

What could there have been that was better than walks?



Camping!

WITH walks, of course.

When the bipeds started filling the kitchen with strange boxes and bags of all shapes and sizes, Jasmine was curious.

“Watcha guys doing? Are we redecorating?”

Then the truck got this big white house-like thing hooked up to it and all the boxes and bags got loaded into it.

Not redecorating, then. Feeding the white house-like thing.

We all got into the truck and went for a ride, taking the truck’s new friend along. For a long ride. For a very long ride. The furthest hiking trails were about an hour off and Jasmine knew the way. But we were going somewhere else and just kept driving. Did the bipeds forget where to go for a walk? Or were they trying to find a new place?

If they were looking for a place, though, they weren’t doing a very good job seeing them.

“Look, guys, there is a great looking stretch of woods right here! Guys! Don’t you see it? You missed it! Ok, never mind, there is another one over there. Guys? Are you not seeing it? How do you not see it?”

The bipeds must have lost their minds.

Finally they pulled over and everybody got out of the truck. It was an ok place but we passed some that looked much better. More importantly, we went for a short walk, got back into the truck and back on the road we were. But they weren’t going back to the den, they just kept going. Perhaps they realized that place wasn’t so great and went on looking for a better one? But yet again, they just kept passing them all. This started to get very frustrating. They just couldn’t tell a great hiking spot if their lives depended on it and wouldn't take an advice either.

Eventually Jasmine gave up on the bipeds making any sense and went to lay down.

After about an eternity of driving, finally they turned onto a rough, bumpy road. That was a good sign! Rough bumpy roads meant whatever fun place they were going to, we were there! Jasmine looked outside. There was a lake and a bunch of woods. Looked good!

The bipeds found a pretty good spot in the woods and parked. Finally we were there! 

To their credit, the place looked pretty awesome.

They pulled out the boxes and bags out of the white house-like thing. They put up couple of fabric domes. And while the furry biped was playing with those things, mom offered a walk. Upon further investigation the place really looked great. Ok, perhaps the long ride was worth it after all.

The biggest surprise came when it started to get dark and we weren’t going home! 

Instead, we had dinner and hung around in one of those dome-shaped things. Could it be that this was our new home? It surely looked that way, because we went to bed there too. Fantastic!

And time went on and we were staying in this great new place now! 

We got up in the morning and went for a walk to the beach. Then there was breakfast, we hung around a bit, checking out the critter smells and then went for a walk again. And that’s how the days went. Walks, splashing in the lake, perimeter patrols. The whole pack together all the time, doing all these fantastic things.

Life was good.

The dome-shaped things were quite good too. They provided shade, protection from rain and bugs, but you could see outside and all the sounds and smells could easily flow in. The ground was all sand, so one could adjust it to their liking.

***

Unfortunately, some time later, the bipeds loaded all the bags and boxes back into the white house-like thing and went for another long drive. Even worse, we ended up back at the den in the city. Jasmine could not understand how the bipeds could be so dumb. Finally they found this perfect place to live, why the heck did we go back to town?

Sometimes one just can’t even begin to try to understand the things bipeds do.

Fortunately, after the moon went across the sky certain amount of times, the kitchen started filling with the boxes and bags again!

***
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Who Says It's a Man's World by Emily Bennington - Book review

Who Says It's a Man's World

The Girls' Guide to Corporate Domination

By: Emily Bennington

Published: January 10, 2013
Format: Hardcover, 240 pages
ISBN-10: 0814431879
ISBN-13: 978-0814431870
Publisher: AMACOM












"Before you can decide what to do in your career, it's important to understand the kind of professional you want to be", writes career transition strategist Emily Bennington, in her straight talking and positive results oriented book Who Says It's a Man's World: The Girls' Guide to Corporate Domination. The author describes how women can change their attitudes and behaviors to become successful leaders and top executives in the highly competitive corporate workplace.

Emily Bennington recognizes that the key principle, for women achieving top corporate roles, is to be an outstanding women first to have an outstanding corporate career. The author guides women through the challenging journey from entry level to the executive suite. Emily Bennington offers advice for women to identify their personal core values, and then coordinate them with their most important career development goals. Instead of an often counterproductive aggressive approach to career management, the author demonstrates how a more human and virtues based path is not only more rewarding in terms of visible career success, but leads to personal fulfillment as well.

Emily Bennington (photo left) understands that women must develop a reputation as a true professional to achieve the status of C-level executive. As a result, the author helps women to assess their personal and career goals, and establishes an alignment between the personal and professional aspirations. Since achieving success in the corporate environment is about working with people, Emily Bennington shares the concept of having a woman assess her own strengths and weaknesses, her core values and virtues, and creating her own personal and career development plan.

Emily Bennington shares the following concepts of achieving full alignment between personal and professional career goals. The career management principles are as follows:

Self awareness: Removing the three worst career killing false beliefs
* Social skills: Replacing self defeating competitiveness with direct and positive action
* Personal effectiveness: Six techniques to gain widespread respect in the corporate setting
* Team development: Replacing failed team strategies with ones that get results
* Leadership: Improving personal skills and leading without the title

For me, the power of the book is how Emily Bennington offers a comprehensive guide to career management, with the practical strategies and tools to put them into action. The author provides a real hands on workbook for women to take charge of their own careers to increase the likelihood of reaching a C-level position. Emily Bennington takes a personal development approach to career management and personal development. The result is a proactive guide for women to take positive steps to manage and control their own career paths.

Emily Bennington offers practical tools and techniques that empower women to take charge of their own corporate careers and destiny. The approach of focusing on changing behaviors, being a positive role model, aligning personal and leadership capabilities with organizational goals is a solid strategy for corporate career success. The book contains chapter action plans, as well as useful guides for handling those difficult corporate and interpersonal situations. To add depth to the book and its premises, the author shares interviews with highly successful women, who offer their personal insights to corporate career development.

I highly recommend the very hands on and empowering book Who Says It's a Man's World: The Girls' Guide to Corporate Domination by Emily Bennington, to any women seeking a clear, concise, and no nonsense guide to achieving their goals of reaching the highest echelons of corporate management. This book provides the strategies, tools, and techniques needed to scale the walls of the corporation, and landing in the executive suite the right way.

It Can Happen Here

Auschwitz - Nazi Death Camp

By Alan Caruba

“How the Jews Defeated Hitler” is the title of a new book by Dr. Benjamin Ginsberg PhD, subtitled “Exploding the Myth of Jewish Passivity in the Face of Nazism.”  The title is counter-intuitive because, as is well known, the Nazis murdered six million Jews in Europe during the course of a deliberate genocide that has since become known as the Holocaust.

The author is a professor of political science and is chair of the Center for Advanced Governmental Studies at Johns Hopkins University and the book is more than just a history of that horrific period of history. It is not that long ago. I was a child at the time so, within the living memory of the survivors, their children and grandchildren, as well as others like myself around the world, it is living history.
 

The value of the book is the way it explains how many of the Jews of Europe, particularly those herded into ghettos, failed to grasp what was happening. “It was initially difficult for most Jews to believe that the Germans actually intended to kill them all.”

Another major factor was that the Nazis ensured that they were disarmed and unable to defend themselves, as were others who opposed the regime.

Where resistance fighters emerged, Ginsburg notes that “Germany relied, especially in Western Europe, on the help of local police forces to deal with partisans, and, especially in France and Holland, whose local police were quite helpful.” In occupied France, “The French police helpfully compiled a card index of all the Jews of Paris by name, street, occupation, and nationality.”

Therein lies the fears and concerns of Americans as they slowly come to realize that their government not only knows where they live, but a great deal of information about them courtesy of the Internal Revenue Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security, the National Security Agency, right on down to their local law enforcement authorities.

If or when Obamacare is fully implemented, anonymous bureaucrats will be able to “target” selected Americans who are seeking medical care for death simply by denying it. No need to set up concentration camps to kill them en mass. Just as the little girl who needed a lung transplant that was initially denied by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, individuals identified as “patriots” or other enemies of the state could simply be allowed to die.

So, yes, it can happen here.

The focus of the present day animus against Jews in general—extremely active throughout the Middle East and a major trend in Europe—is the nation of Israel. Zionism, the political movement that supports Israel, is a handy substitute for anti-Semitism.

Dr. Ginsberg, however, notes that “In actuality, Israel’s founding was very much the result of the West’s postwar unwillingness to accept Jewish refugees. Governments that felt that even one Jewish refugee was one too many had to find someplace to resettle several hundred thousand Jews.” The State of Israel, like the mythical phoenix, literally rose from the ashes of Europe’s murdered Jews.

“To the Americans and eventually even to the British, the State of Israel seemed the least undesirable alternative. Within two decades of Israel’s creation (in 1948) though, the reasons for its existence were forgotten or had become irrelevant, and new configurations of political forces gave rise to a renewed European anti-Semitic discourse taking the form of anti-Zionism…The European Left loudly proclaims its anti-Zionism by denouncing Israel as a racist and apartheid state and calling for boycotts of Israeli products, citizens, and ideas.” The United Nations is a hotbed of anti-Semitism.

During World War II, however, Jews played leading roles in the partisan efforts to disrupt German aggression, often held leadership positions in the allied military forces and served within them, were active throughout the FDR New Deal administrations, supported the U.S. bond drives to finance the war, and were instrumental in breaking the codes of the Nazis and Empire of Japan. Jews were also the core of physicists and engineers who developed the atomic bombs that speeded the end of the war in the Pacific.

The same authoritarian and leftist forces, whether it is the rise of Islamic ambitions to conquer the world or the efforts of the Left to impose a one-world government via the United Nations or just to undermine the former power and position of the United States as a defender of freedom, are at work today.

You need not be a Jew to fear the growing centralization of power in the federal government.

If you are a gun-owner, you know that the Obama administration and some in Congress seek to amend and erode the Second Amendment in an effort to take your arms away from you; a common goal of fascism.

If you are a member of the Tea Party or a patriot movement, you now know that the Internal Revenue Service sought to deny applications for tax-exempt status needed for fund-raising.

If you fear that your Fourth Amendment right to privacy is being eroded then you know that the Constitution is under attack.

If you are concerned about government by executive order, then yes, it can happen here.

 

© Alan Caruba, 2013

Veterinarians Answer: Heartworm Disease And Prevention

Do you think your dog might be at risk of contracting heartworm disease? Do you think it's something to worry about or not so much? Is your dog on preventative or do you think they don't need one?

I asked my veterinary friends.

Question: Have you been seeing heartworm positive dogs in your area? Do you feel that dog owners underestimate the seriousness of the issue?

***

Yes, we do see heartworm positive dogs in our area. 

Some of them are rescues coming up from the south but some are residents of Rhode Island.

I do feel that many owners underestimate the seriousness of this issue and I believe that internet sites that advise people that their dogs don't need heartworm or that the preventive medication is dangerous are a big part of the problem.

I believe it is irresponsible as a blogger or writer to be giving that type of advice.

—Dr. Lorie Huston, DVM, Rhode Island, Pet Health Care Gazette
    Dr. Lorie on Facebook and Twitter

***

Heartworms are transmitted by mosquitoes.  This means that heartworm disease is a regional issue which correlates to climate. When I lived in central Pennsylvania, I saw very few cases of heartworm disease.  I now live on the coast of South Carolina, where the locals joke that the mosquito is our state bird.  Unfortunately, our practice has seen 10 heartworm positive dogs this year.

A few of those dogs were from shelters, presumably not on preventative, but the rest were beloved companions, whose owners were sporadic in administering preventative, or had stopped giving it through the winter months.  Their owners, like most, underestimated the seriousness of the issue.

Treating heartworm disease is neither simple nor benign.  Treatment involves killing adult worms (which can be up to 14 inches long) residing in the dog’s heart and pulmonary arteries. It expensive for the client and painful for the dog, not to mention that the dog must be very strictly confined for one month following the final treatment.  Thankfully, prevention is simple, safe, and comparatively inexpensive!

—Dr. Julie Buzby, South Carolina, ToeGrips
    Dr. Julie on Facebook and on Twitter

***

I think that in light of the last few years of a struggling economy and many people being squeezed so tightly to try to make ends meet among a long list of demands from all sides that heartworm disease has become more prevalent.

I have spoken to many clients who have had to choose between "ideal care" for their pet which included flea & tick prevention, heartworm prevention, all recommended vaccines and high end food. For many of my clients their concerns about feeding their family and keeping a roof over their heads meant foregoing the recommendations of me, their veterinarian. I saw heartworm prevention sales decrease, and routine visits followed. I also saw an increase in advanced illness because many people took a "watch and wait approach" which in some cases caused more advanced, expensive, and more difficult to resolve diseases and illnesses.

Between the decrease in available funds for pets due to the economy and a false sense of safety about the prevalence and consequences of heartworm disease I have seen more dogs test positive for heartworm disease in the last few years.

I do think that many people do not understand how easily and unknowingly the disease is spread, how simply and economically it can be prevented, and the expense and danger treating this disease poses to their pet.

It seems that no matter how many times I tell clients about this potentially life threatening disease, the danger and expense of treating it, and the advances of modern medicine in being able to prevent it so effectively, I still see dogs that test positive.

One mention of advice (my hashtag is after all "FreePetAdvice), Please buy your heartworm prevention from your veterinarian. If you do your dog is protected by the heartworm manufacturers guarantee, IF you give it monthly (as prescribed). And please test your dog yearly. If your pet tests positive you need to know ASAP.

—Dr. Krista Magnifico, DVM, Pennsylvania,  Diary of a Real-Life Veterinarian,
    www.pawbly.com
    Dr. Krista on Twitter 

 ***

We saw three dogs with heart worm disease last year.

 I don't think that dog owners realize that the NY metro area is seeing an increase in heart worm disease due to a number of factors.

1. The natural spread of this parasite over the years
2. The importation of infected dogs by rescue groups tat mean well but don't test dogs before bringing them north
3. Potential resistant strains of the parasite emerging in the south.
4. Mild winters increasing the numbers of insect vectors

All dogs in endemic areas are at risk, even if they do not go out, as mosquitoes will come in. And cats are at ink as well, but that is another question for another time

—Dr. Keith Niesenbaum, VMD, New York, Crawford Dog and Cat Hospital
    Dr. Keith on Facebook and on Twitter

***

To first quote the OVMA website " How prevalent is heartworm in Ontario? Do I really need to worry about it in my pet?

The actual number of heartworm positive pets in Ontario varies from year to year.

While there is currently no system in place to track every case of heartworm in the province, a survey conducted in 2010 found that the number of dogs with heartworm in Ontario increased by 60% between 2002 and 2010.

Of the dogs that tested positive for heartworm in Canada, nine per cent of them were confirmed as having been imported from the Southern United States (Katrina dogs) and 12 per cent had been imported from other parts of the United States or other countries. Fifty-one per cent had never left their local area.

The take home message is that Ontario pets are vulnerable from a variety of sources, and prevention is the best approach."

Now the best information resource for this information is one's local veterinarian.

On the internet one can find opinions and information from around the world. The problem with parasites is; they behave differently depending on the local climate, and density of the hosts available to them.

Within my practice the risk of heartworm is measurably greater 10 miles away than outside my front door.  Go another 10 miles it increases again, and go 60 miles and the risk is now as close to 100 % as mother nature allows us to get.

Dog owners that have lost a dog to heartworm stay on top of testing and prevention. Those that have not been that unlucky may feel it is not a concern and under estimate the impact. The science and epidemiological information is there for heartworm, humans pay attention to things they feel are of importance to them and ignore those things they feel are not important.


—Dr. Rae Worden, DVM, Ontario,  Fergus Veterinary Hospital
    Dr. Rae on Facebook and Twitter

***

Most of my clients understand heartworms are bad news. 

They also understand there is easy monthly prevention. The only problem we ever get into is this business of "you can skip giving heartworm and flea prevention in the winter" that some clients have been raised with.

Almost invariably, that logic causes a gap in prevention that begins innocently enough as a plan to skip December, January and February. Yet somehow, it always seems that May rolls around, the snowmen are all melted, Christmas is long forgotten, the flowers are blooming, the dog is swarming with mosquitoes, crawling with fleas, and has no heartworm or flea prevention on board because the owner was so busy enjoying spring that he forgot to protect his furry loved ones. Then we get to spend the rest of the year fighting nasty fleas that could have been easily prevented, and worrying if Fido is growing heartworms inside until that six month post-exposure recheck heartworm test.

I realize prevention is a hassle, and can get expensive. The alternative is worse.

Train yourself to a habit of giving your dogs their monthly flea and heartworm stuff on the same day every month forever, and you'll prevent a world of hurt.

—Dr. Greg Magnusson, DVM (Leo's Daddy), Indiana, Leo's Pet Care
    Dr. Greg on Facebook and Twitter 

***

No, I have not been seeing (an increase in numbers of) heartworm positive dogs in my area of veterinary practice in southern California (Los Angeles).

There was only one occasion when I diagnosed a dog as being a positive in my seven years of SoCA practice.  This occurred in a dog that was brought to Los Angeles from Louisiana (where heartworm disease runs rampant) after being rescued from the aftermath of hurricane Katrina.

As our desert-adjacent climate is typically sees very little rain and is generally quite arid, the conditions that support the lifecycle of the mosquito are not as available as other parts of the country

Yet, such conditions do exist and mosquitoes can prosper.

Plus, wild populations of changes (coyotes, etc.) have been reported by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health to carry heartworm disease and could be a vector for transmission into our domesticated companion canines (and other species).

 —Dr. Patrick Mahaney, Los Angeles, The Daily Vet
     Dr. Patrick on Facebook and Twitter 


***

No, we don't see it on our area. As for prevention in endemic areas, yes, owners to underestimate the issue.

Heartworm disease doesn't show itself until the dog is quite sick.

It is easy for owners to ignore prevention and most owners don't realize the seriousness of the disease and how risky it is to treat it once it is diagnosed. All those things lead owners to underestimate the disease.

—Dr. Karel Carnohan, British Columbia, Animal Nutrition and Wellness Services
    Dr. Karel and Facebook and Twitter

Did these answers change your mind regarding heartworm prevention?  

Related articles:
Don't Let Heartworm Become A Heartbreak! 
Reading About Heartworm Is One Thing; Watching A Dog Suffer Is Another
Veterinarians Answer: What Do You Consider The Biggest Breakthrough In Veterinary Medicine?
Veterinarians Answer: Vegan Diet For Dogs? 
Veterinarians Answer: What Is Your Biggest Pet Parent Peeve?
Veterinarians Answer: What Is The Biggest Toll Our Dogs Pay For Obesity? 

Steve Tisch and John Paul DeJornia Join Shark Tank Season 5

New Shark's In Shark Tank Season 5

John Paul DeJornia and Steve Tisch New Shark Tank Investors

Shark Tank Season 5 coming soon!

 It looks like there's going to be some new money circling in the Shark Tank this fall in Season 5 as two new billionaire Shark Investors have been named. Both Chairman and Executive Vice President Steve Tisch and Paul Mitchell Founder John Paul DeJoria, will be guest Sharks during Season 5 along with last seasons Investors Mark Cuban, Barbara Corcoran, Daymond John, Lori Greiner, Kevin O'Leary and Robert Herjevic.

Meet The New Sharks For Season 5 Shark Tank Show:

Steve Tisch on Shark Tank

 As most of you sports fans already know Steve Tisch is the Chairman and Executive Vice President of the New York Giants which puts him in the same league of the Mark Cubans of the world.
Read More Here-->>>

Veterinary Highlights: Study To Relieve Chronic Pain In Dogs

A study targeting effective treatment of chronic pain in dogs involving a University of Colorado researcher and a Lafayette veterinarian is being expanded to include dogs with joint disease.

The study employs gene therapy to normalize glial activity to stop neuropathic pain.

Image Tumblr r

Glial cells  are non-neural cells in the nervous system that provide support and electrical insulation between neurons. They also act as central nervous system regulators. They can also excite neurons that transmit pain signals and contribute to chronic neuropathic pain.

The study is testing the effect of Interleukin-10, an anti-inflammatory regulatory protein injections.

The therapy should normalize glial activity, stimulate tissue regeneration and growth, decrease production of pro-inflammatory substances and increase production of anti-inflammatory substances and eliminate pain.

Originally, the study was focused on treating pain from spinal issues. Including joint pain in the study allows larger pool of participating dogs.

Those interested in having their dogs participate in the study can contact Mountain Ridge Animal Hospital in Lafayette at 303-665-4852. 

***

Further reading:
CU-Boulder study on chronic pain in dogs is being expanded
CU-Boulder, vet hospital team up for clinical study to treat canine pain

Cartoon Round Up

Wind Power Lunacy

By Alan Caruba

Can you love nature when it is covered with wind turbines? Or solar panels?

Putting aside the scientific, engineering, and economic idiocy behind the use of wind turbines and solar panels to generate less than three percent of the electricity used nationwide—or that, if the wind is not blowing and the sun not shining, electrical energy must be supplied by back-up traditional coal, natural gas, nuclear and hydroelectric plants.

My personal objection to wind power is the sheer ugliness of these devices. The notion of covering hillsides and plains with them is an offence to the land—to the nature Greens profess to love—and to the many thousands of birds they slaughter every year.

I can’t prove it, but I suspect that the only reason we have any wind energy, i.e. windmills and solar panels, anywhere in the U.S. is a combination of the huge propaganda power of the Greens, bribery, the stupidity and chicanery of politicians, and the gullibility of people who actually believe that wind—which does not blow all the time—is a rational source of power generation.

Suffice to say, the wind power industry would not exist without state government mandates for its use, federal tax credits, and the deafening silence of environmentalists who want to save every species on Earth with the exception of the wind turbine's slaughter of a million of eagles, hawks, geese, bats, and other flying creatures every year.

The cliché is that great minds think alike and recently there have been a spate of editorials and commentaries, all coincidently written by colleagues of mine. One of them is Dr. Jay Lehr, the science director of The Heartland Institute, for which I am a policy advisor along with others with far more impressive credentials than my own as a longtime science and business writer. On June 17, The Wall Street Journal published Dr. Lehr’s commentary, “The Rationale for Wind Power Won’t Fly.”

“After decades of federal subsidies—almost $24 billion according to a recent estimate by former U.S. Senator Phil Gramm—nowhere in the United States, or anywhere else, has an array of wind turbines replaced a single conventional power plant.” Dr. Lehr inferentially raises the question of why any nation would spend that kind of money without receiving sufficient and equivalent electrical power. It is a very good question.

As Dr. Lehr noted, “It’s known to everybody in the industry that a wind turbine will generate electricity 30% of the time—but it’s impossible to predict when that time will be.” There are about 24,000 of these hideous machines according to the American Wind Energy Association and, given their lobbying, that number could double in the next decade. They will still not produce sufficient electricity—let alone predictable and constant electricity—for a small city.

Neither wind nor solar power will provide sufficient electrical energy. This begs the question why they even exist.

The short answer is that wind and solar have been sold to the public (which pays more for the electricity they produce) as not producing “greenhouse gas emissions” that are blamed for a global warming which is not happening, but the main gas, carbon dioxide, is vital to all life on Earth, being the “food” for all plant life, much of which we consume as crops such as wheat, corn, and rice. As a demonstration of the idiocy and hypocrisy of environmentalists, huge quantities of corn are, by government mandate, converted to ethanol—moonshine—that must be added to gasoline.

Another colleague, Rich Kozlovich, has a commentary in circulation that asks why the “Precautionary Principle” that is beloved by the Greens is not applied to wind turbines. Rich quoted another colleague of mine, CFACT’s Paul Driessen, “The Precautionary Principle insists that no new technology should be permitted until it can be shown that it will pose no threat to human health or the environment.” If fully applied, humanity would be denied another medication, chemical, or technological innovation.

“The hard reality is that the green movement does not care about facts, wildlife or humans,” says Kozlovich, “and logical consistency is totally alien to them…Green elites ‘know’ what is best for all of humanity,”

I doubt he will get the plaudits and recognition he deserves, but Dr. John Droz, Jr., a physicist, has devoted his knowledge to providing the best collection of scientific date available regarding the futility and stupidity of wind power. Dr. Droz has a website where you can learn the FACTS about wind power or you can Google his name to find his many excellent articles on the subject.

I have cited some of those facts, as has Dr. Lehr, Paul Driessen, and Rich Kozlovich, but it does not take an advanced degree in physics or any other science to grasp why constructing thousands of wind turbines to produce a miniscule amount of electricity has been one of the most idiotic enterprises to emerge from the vast global warming/climate change hoax.

Instead, we live in a nation whose president insists that climate change is the greatest threat to mankind and who is devoting the powers of government to shut down coal-fired plants, deter exploration and extraction of energy reserves on lands owned by the federal government, delaying the construction of a new pipeline, and the construction of new nuclear facilities. One of his suggestions for power generation is algae, pond scum.

© Alan Caruba, 2013

Why Does My Vet Want To Xray My Dog?

by Dr. Greg Magnusson, DVM

This post is going to be part science, part philosophy.

Xrays are one of a veterinarians primary diagnostic tools. 

Side view of a dog’s knee looking for evidence of cruciate ligament ACL tear

Especially with general practice veterinarians, besides our hands, our eyes and our ears, we mostly have blood tests, urine tests, and xrays to guide our diagnostic and therapeutic plans.

That’s why nine times out of ten, if you bring your sick pet to me, I’m going to recommend all three of blood tests, urine tests, and xrays right off the bat. We vets call that our “minimum database” of baseline diagnostic tests, ie: the very least we can do in most cases to come to a proper diagnosis.

If I were a dog, I’d hate having xrays done. 

Laying on a cold hard table, with strange people restraining all my limbs, mom and dad not allowed anywhere nearby, usually holding me in awkward positions, even on my back, and doing it in complete darkness? Nuh uh, I’m not at all surprised my patients hate having xrays taken! But what’s gotta be done, has gotta be done.

Which is why, taking xrays is about my least favorite thing. 

Not because it’s technically difficult, but because for the most part, my patients hate it. I’m so glad I have outstanding technicians who patiently, gently guide my patients through the xray process. The downside, of course, is that it takes at least two technicians to take xrays, which takes up a lot of my staff’s time.

What information can xrays of my dog give a veterinarian?

Like I enjoy telling my clients, xrays are great at taking pictures of bones, really lousy with soft tissues like muscles, ligaments and tendons.

Observe the knee xray above. A trained eye can distinguish between the femur at the top, the tibia/fibula on the bottom, and the kneecap floating around in the upper middle. Can I see the tissue that connects the kneecap to those bones? Not really. Can I see the cruciate ligament between the femur and the tibia? Nope. I can see a vacancy where there should be fluid, and I can see a little cotton ball looking thing that suggests fat around the ligament, called the “fat pad”, but I can’t see the ligament itself. Many times, veterinarians aren’t looking for the ‘thing’ itself on xrays, we’re looking for surrounding evidence of the ‘thing’.

In the case of a cruciate ligament (ACL) injury in a dog, then, I’m not looking for the ligament itself, I’m looking for inflammation within the joint that suggests, but does not conclusively prove, that the ligament might be injured.

Most of the time, reading xrays is part gut feeling, part anatomy training, part art form. 

That’s why many veterinarians send all their xrays to a radiologist for “interpretation”. Radiologists spend their whole career looking at these pictures and trying to infer usable conclusions from lines and shadows. It takes a lot of practice to do it correctly.

Why might my veterinarian recommend against taking xrays of my dog?

Now we’re getting into the philosophy component of this blog post.

There are basically two reasons to ever take an xray. Either to discover what might be causing your pet’s problem (diagnostic) or to direct a treatment plan (therapeutic).

The flip side?

If I don’t think I’ll see anything on an xray that will explain a pet’s symptoms, I may not recommend an xray.

If I don’t think taking an xray will change my therapeutic plan, I may not recommend an xray.

Many times, for instance, I will not recommend xrays on an old, arthritic dog to prove they have arthritis. What’s the point? To show you a picture of your poor dog’s painful joints? Either way, I’m going to recommend glucosamine for every old limping dog just because they’re old and limping. And if your dog is visibly in pain, I don’t care what the pictures look like, I’m going to listen to the dog and treat the pain.

On the other hand, if your dog is vomiting, I will take xrays, because my other two tests (blood and urine) will probably be useless. 

Visit our blog on vomiting to learn why that is.

Xrays are hard to take, hard to interpret, hard on the pet, hard on my people, time consuming, staff consuming, and generally a pain in my butt. 

Let alone the cost of the machinery, the time, effort and challenge involved is the primary reason vets charge so much to take xrays. Yet often, there is no other test that will so clearly define your pet’s problem, and direct your veterinarian’s medical or surgical plan as a well taken xray.

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Reprinted with permission from Leo's Pet Care, 10598 N College Ave # 200, Indianapolis, IN 46280 | www.leospetcare.com | indianapolisvet@gmail.com

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Greg Magnusson, DVM describes himself as Leo's daddy. Public educator, mender of wounded bodies, healer of troubled souls, veterinarian in Indianapolis at Leo's Pet Care - out to change the world for one little boy...
Contact Dr. Magnusson via his Leo's Pet Care Facebook Fan Page or @IndianapolisVet on twitter.


Articles by Dr. Magnusson:
What's In The Blood? Blood Testing And Interpretation  
Everything You Never Wanted To Know About Anal Glands 
What Causes Bladder Infections in Dogs?
Indianapolis Vet On The Nose Bleeds Nightmare  

Brand Mechanics by Michael Llewellyn-Williams - Book review

Brand Mechanics

The Art and Science of Building Brands

By: Michael Llewellyn-Williams, Ph.D.

Published: January 31, 2013
Format: Paperback, 208 pages
ISBN-10: 0615747329
ISBN-13: 978-0615747323
Publisher: Chromium Books













"Brands are so important to the world economy today and get talked about every day, so it still amazes me that so many people - especially those who work with brands professionally - are unable to correctly define what a brand is", writes brand strategist, and Principal and founder of BrandMechanics®, Michael Llewellyn-Williams, Ph.D., in his very hands on and results oriented book Brand Mechanics: The Art and Science of Building Brands. The author describes a practical and repeatable process for discovering and pinpointing what he refers to as an inspiring, memorable desired essence of any brand.

Michael Llewellyn-Williams recognizes the real challenges faced by CEOs, marketers, and brand managers in identifying the key essence of their brands. The author points out that much of the confusion about branding results from not having a clear definition and understanding of the nature of a brand. The sheer number of brand experts, representing the various segmented aspects of branding, adds to this lack of a holistic view of the brand. To counter this lack of a cohesive brand essence, Michael Llewellyn-Williams offers his comprehensive guide and process to getting to the very heart of the brand itself.

Michael Llewellyn-Williams, Ph.D. (photo left) understands the complexity of not only getting to the core of the brand itself, but of creating and implementing an effective brand strategy as well. For many company owners, there is a lack of vision of what the brand stands for now, and what the leader wants the brand to stand for in the future. For many brand owners, even the most basic brand focus is lost in a haze of confusions about what a brand really means to the company and its customers.

Michael Llewellyn-Williams offers a complete guide to getting to the core of a brand and extracting its true essence. The author covers all of the aspects of a brand from understanding the basic premise of the brand DNA, through the entire process, and measuring the results. The book covers the following areas of the brand journey:

* What is a brand,branding, and messaging
* The FBE™ methodology: Logistics
* The FBE™ methodology: Tasks and overview
* Mission statement
* Deep human needs
* Provable superiority
* Character and personality
* Source of trust and authority
* The future
* Future brand essence
* Brand vision
* Now what
* Future brand essence alignment
* Brand reinforcement and tracking

For me, the power of the book is how Michael Llewellyn-Williams presents a complete and readily applicable process for establishing both the deepest meaning of the brand, developing a brand strategy and positioning, and for implementing that system for any brand. Along with the process itself, the author also includes a comprehensive approach to measuring the brand's impact and understanding by all stakeholders. The book is designed as a work book that involves all stakeholders in the overall process to achieve the optimum understanding of the complete brand essence.

Michael Llewellyn-Williams goes far beyond the scope of most books on brands and brand strategy by taking a holistic approach to the topic. The author guides brand owners through the entire lifespan of the brand, whereas most books focus on only a single area of brands, brand strategy, or brand positioning. The author also provides a complete measuring process to ensure that the brand and strategy are working as planned in the overall brand vision. The addition of several appendixes ensure that the process is both readily understood by all participants, and is an enjoyable experience as well.

I highly recommend the brand clarity building book Brand Mechanics: The Art and Science of Building Brands by Michael Llewellyn-Williams, Ph.D., to any brand owners, company leaders, brand marketers and managers, brand strategists and brand positioning specialists, who are seeking a clear and concise guise to uncovering a deeper and richer understanding of the essence of their brand to ensure the most appropriate brand strategy and positioning is put into action. This book offers a comprehensive overview, as well as an intensive investigation, into every aspect of the brand and its future.

Super-Dooper Snoopers

By Alan Caruba

While in the U.S. Army in the early 60s, I worked in the G-2 (intelligence) office of my battalion. I was surely no James Bond, but I did need a security clearance and quickly was granted one to be around documents marked “secret.” There are now thousands waiting for their security clearances and 4.8 million who already have one!

When Edward Snowden, an analyst for a national security contractor, decided to tell the world that the National Security Agency was actually gathering meta-data about all of our communications (and the rest of the world’s), I was among those who were not surprised. Whole books had been written about this practice before and since 9/11.  James Bamford had published “The Puzzle Palace” about the NSA way back in 1983!

The Justice Department has charged Snowden with conveying classified information to an unauthorized party, disclosing communications intelligence information, and theft of government property. The charges, each of which carries a potential 10-year prison term, were filed in federal court in Alexandria, Va. Well, at least that beats a firing squad.

Cliff Kincaid of Accuracy in Media thinks a lot of notable news media personalities have been duped. “Those who claimed NSA traitor Edward Snowden was a patriot or hero have egg all over their faces, as the former NSA contract worker has fled from China to Russia…”  I am inclined to agree.

It is a fact of life in this year of our Lord 2013 that information about you is so available that there are few if any of your purchases and preferences that are not known to every company with whom you do business. Your local supermarket knows the brand of cereal or shampoo you prefer. This is called “open source” information and it is not only gathered, but sold to anyone who wants it.

The information you voluntarily or unwittingly give to those with whom you do business as well as the information may post daily on your Facebook, Twitter and Linked-In accounts is all accessible and accessed.

The NSA has long had powers to scoop up scads of information about communications by, to, and from Americans. Its roots go back to the earliest days of the Cold War. Until recently revelations, we thought that the information we provide to the Internal Revenue Service was closely guarded and never to be used for political purposes, but in the Age of Obama, that illusion has been shattered.

In a recent Business Week article, Ashlee Vance reported “Less recognized is that, in this era of open-source software, the NSA gets direct access to the inventions of thousands of the smartest computer science minds on the planet for free.”

“It started,” said Vance,”with the founding of Google in 1998. The search engine giant needed to collect and analyze so much data that it couldn’t afford to buy systems from big-name tech companies. Instead, Google created its own open-source software program that ran across hundreds of thousands of computers. Yahoo!, Facebook, and Twitter have been even more aggressive about open-sourcing their underlying infrastructure.”

NSA and, indeed, the President, could have put a lot of the consternation to rest by coming out early and explaining what it does and the limitations under which it works. While it is most certainly a very secretive agency, there is much that is common knowledge about its mission.

In the post 9/11 era with a massive Homeland Security Agency charged with keeping us safe, it is a good, if not essential, idea to have a public discussion about the role of the Fourth Amendment protection of our privacy. Even though the Founders had no idea of modern communications they still believed that our privacy must be respected. Meanwhile, we live in a world of enormous electronic connectivity that is subject to surveillance.

Moreover, there are those who believe all the surveillance we are learning about is just the tip of the iceberg. There is widespread speculation that the Department of Homeland Security, in conjunction with the Department of Justice and other agencies has been working on a massive consolidation of power in the White House, preparing for the deliberate collapse of the U.S. dollar, and the chaos that would follow.

On June 19, the president of the Associated Press, Gary Pruitt, spoke at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. saying that the DOJ seizure of journalist’s phone records has had “a chilling effect” on newsgathering, not just for the AP but other newsgathering organizations.  He described the collection of records affecting more than a hundred journalists was an “overbroad and sloppy fishing expedition” that failed to follow procedures on notification. If the intent was to impact legitimate news gathering, it was successful.

We still trust that law enforcement must secure a warrant to tap our phones, but the information about with whom we speak is routinely gathered, as it must, by telephone companies. It can be a useful tool to determine patterns, especially if they are between Americans and foreigners with bad intentions.

Inherent in all this data-gathering is the potential for its misuse—and worse—but that is true of much of what government does. The need for congressional oversight was never more paramount, but it comes at a time when the Congress is held in low esteem and sharply divided.

The greater present concern must be that we have a White House engaged in a plan to render the Constitution useless with a manufactured crisis to deliberately impose an authoritarian control over all of us.

We now living in an Orwellian era of super-dooper snoopers

© Alan Caruba, 2013

Tackling The Veterinary Terminology: Prefixes (laryng-)

Remember the Spelling Bee? Big words are easier to tackle when you understand how they're put together. Veterinary terms are composed in the same way. Just like with other words, the main parts of a veterinary term are a prefix, a root, and a suffix. The difference is that they typically come more directly from Greek or Latin.

A prefix is placed at the beginning of a word to modify its meaning by providing additional information. It usually indicates number, location, time, or status.

laryng-/laryngo [luh RING goh] - from Greek - larynx, the voice box

The larynx is the box-like structure between the back of the mouth and throat that regulates the passage of air into and out of the trachea and allows vocalization.
Source: Dictionary of Veterinary Terms

Simply put, it controls the air flow and keeps the food out of the windpipe.




The scariest condition affecting the larynx is laryngeal paralysis. 

Laryngeal paralysis most commonly affects middle aged, to older large breed dogs. Usually for unknown reasons, the muscles that open the larynx begin to lose their ability to function normally. The larynx may be able to open partially or it may remain almost completely closed, in which case you’re dealing with a real emergency situation!

Noisy breathing is the first symptom of the disease that owners typically notice. 

Dogs may also be unable to exercise as they used to, tire easily, pant excessively, and the sound of their barks may change. As the condition worsens, or during times of stress or hot weather, breathing difficulties become more obvious.

To definitively diagnose laryngeal paralysis, a veterinarian has to watch the dog’s larynx move while he or she (the dog, not the veterinarian) breathes. 

This requires that the dog be lightly sedated. Mild cases of laryngeal paralysis can be treated with weight loss, medications that relieve anxiety, and modifying the dog’s environment and activity level (e.g., encouraging him or her to rest in a cool location).

Surgery is necessary for more severe cases. 

The most common type of surgery involves a procedure that permanently opens one side of the dog’s larynx. This greatly improves his or her ability to breathe, but also increases the chances that food or water will enter the windpipe and lungs, leading to aspiration pneumonia.

Image: Animal Surgical Clinic

Other common terms starting with this prefix you might encounter include laryngitis, inflammation of the larynx, and laryngospasm, which is pretty much self-explanatory.

Laryngoscope is an instrument that allows examination of the larynx, laryngoplasty is surgical repair of the larynx, and so on.

Finally, a note on a common mispronunciation… The name of the body part we’ve been talking about is “larynx” [lar INGKS] not “larnyx” [lar NIX]. Think about a guy named Larry writing in ink and you’ll get it right every time.

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Related articles:
Jake's Laryngeal Paralysis

Veterinary Suffixes (-itis)
Veterinary Suffixes (-oma) 
Veterinary Suffixes (-pathy)  
Veterinary Suffixes (-osis) 
Veterinary Suffixes (-iasis) 
Veterinary Suffixes (-tomy) 
Veterinary Suffixes (-ectomy)  
Veterinary Suffixes (-scopy) 
Veterinary Suffixes (-emia)
Veterinary Suffixes (-penia)
Veterinary Suffixes (-rrhea) 
Veterinary Suffixes (-cyte) 
Veterinary Suffixes (-blast) 
Veterinary Suffixes (-opsy)
Veterinary Suffixes (-ac/-al)

Veterinary Prefixes (hyper-) 
Veterinary Prefixes (hypo-)
Veterinary Prefixes (pyo-) 
Veterinary Prefixes (myo-) 
Veterinary Prefixes (myelo-)
Veterinary Prefixes (spondylo-)
Veterinary Prefixes (cardio-) 
Veterinary Prefixes (cervic-) 
Veterinary Prefixes (osteo-) 
Veterinary Prefixes (fibro-) 
Veterinary Prefixes (broncho-) 
Veterinary Prefixes (hemo-) 
Veterinary Prefixes (brady-) 
Veterinary Prefixes (tachy-)
Veterinary Prefixes (hepat-)
Veterinary Prefixes (gastr-)