A Stray Cat's Prayer
Dear God, please send me somebody who'll care!
I'm so tired of running and sick with despair.
My body is aching and filled with such pain;
And dear God I pray, as I run in the rain
That someone will love me and give me a home,
A warm cozy bed, and food of my own.
My last owner left me alone in the yard...
Continue reading "Dear God Please Send Me Somebody Who Will Care: A Stray Cat's Prayer" »
There's a girl from Poteau, Oklahoma (a portion of which is pictured above),14-year-old Alyssa Kramer, who can repeat any word you say backwards in three seconds or less. The girl is fast.
Go ahead and try it. No, not any three-letter words.
Alyssa is a unique girl with a useless skill. Or, you might say:
Assyla si a euqinu lrig htiw a sselesu lliks.
It's a Huffington Post comment that "Alyssa is a special girl with a useless skill." I would never say that. It's obvious that Alyssa's skill is not useless -- she has become famous because of it. I imagine it's one of those 15 minutes type of fame.
I've just learned something. For years I've thought that it was Marshall McLuhan, talking about his media theory and the ephemeralty of fame in the information age, who said in 1968: "In the future, everyone will be world famous for 15 minutes."
Thanks to Alyssa I found out I've been wrong for years! It was artist Andy Warhol, or Ydna Lohraw, who coined the words. Warhol died 25 years ago, but anytime you go to Google News you see a long list of current articles about his work. Try it. You will see that the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh has announced a large retrospective exhibition of Andy Warhol’s artwork will tour five Asian cities over the next three years, reports the Washington Post.
Back to Alyssa and her backward ways. She's from Poteau, with 8,520 residents and located 25 miles southwest of Fort Smith, Arkansas. Poteau is almost completely surrounded by mountains. Yes, I did say Oklahoma. And just west of town is Cavanal Hill -- the world's tallest hill, according to the town's website.
Alyssa's first step towards fame came when a friend posted a video on You Tube where friends in a car shouted words for her to say backwards -- in 3 seconds or less. To date, the video has had more than 2 million views. Click here to view the video.
She was even in Time magazine. Wow! Time reminded readers of the movie The Exorcist when the demon inside Reagan was speaking in a strange and mysterious language. The Catholic priests sent to expel the demon were not impressed because she wasn't speaking Latin or Aramaic, but backwards English.
The really big surprise came when NBC's Today Show called and wanted to do a live interview with her in New York. On the Today Show, Alyssa said she began talking backwards at the same time she was learning to read. "My brain flips it for me," she said, explaining that she visualizes the word in her brain and then reads what she sees backwards.
Very interesting!
by Sharon McEachern
Grand Canyon Squirrel - Photo by Sharon McEachern - Copyright EthicSoup.com
Today is Squirrel Appreciation Day. Oh, yes, it is.
Called "suburban rodents" by those who do not appreciate squirrels on any day, the little guys are part of Sciuridae -- the scientific name for the squirrel family.
Squirrels do not hibernate, as pointed out by Washington Post columnist John Kelly: "They're out there 24/7, living la vida squirrela: climbing trees, foraging for nuts, chittering, trying to get into your attic, getting flattened by steel-belted radials."
Fun-to-read, Kelly has written often about squirrels, here, here and here.
Why does this special day for squirrels occur in late January? The wildlife rehabilitator who founded Squirrel Appreciation Day back in 2001, Christy Hargrove of Asheville, North Carolina, figured squirrels were running out of food sources around this time of year, according to the National Wildlife Federation.
Continue reading "Hip Hip Sciuridae! It's Squirrel Appreciation Day" »
We already know that entrepreneurs and manufacturers are putting caffeine in everything. But soap? That's the newest in a long list of caffeinated drinks and foods: energy drinks, cough medicine, candy bars, popcorn, chewing gum, ad nauseum.
Advertisers ask if you are among those who can't wake up without drinking one, two, three cups of coffee. Hey! Kick the coffee habit and get clean with caffeinated soap.
And then, you won't have to worry about your cat slurping the left-in-a-cup coffee that you didn't drink. It's toxic, poisonous, to cats and dogs. Just 150 mg can kill little snookums.
However, if the odor of your soap in the shower has the scent of coffee, your cats just may let you lather them up under the shower faucet.
Hard to believe, huh? Yes, I hear you laughing. If you buy the promise that caffeine-infused soap will wake you up -- just go back to bed and try dreaming some more.
Yet, there are a number of caffeinated soap brands and entrepeneurs who -- having convinced Grandpa to give up some money -- think they'll make a fortune. After all, caffeinated coffee is the most popular drug in the world.
There is Costic's Peppermint Scented Caffeinated Soap, with a slight mentholatum effect and costs $8.68, a soap called Shower Shock is a mere $6.99 and Bath Buzz costs $5.95. The Psyco Soap folks however, think caffeinated soap is crazy!
ETHIC SOUP HAS MORE CAFFEINE POSTS:
Click and read: Caffeine is in everything: How much is in you?
Click and read: Teens and Caffeine: Wired With Chewing Gum
Click and read: Caffeine gender effect: Caffeine more addictive for boys
Click and read: Caffeinated popcorn: the latest in absurdities
Click and read: Coffee overdose hospitalized rock star Dave Grohl
by Sharon McEachern
THE SPIRIT of Christmas can be seen in the smiles of children and this holiday is made more happy for a number of children -- and adults. Growing numbers of Secret Santas are popping up at layaway counters in stores across the country.
They are paying the layaway bills for strangers who haven't enough money to pay for and pick up the presents that the stores are holding for them. And many are doing so anonymously.
The first incident reported in the media happened in Plainfield Township, Michigan, two weeks ago. At a Big Kmart, a 30-something woman walked up to the layaway desk, pushing a shopping cart full of toys she was going to donate, reported Money MSN.
DONOR INSISTED ON ANANIMITY
The shopper asked if she could pay a few customers' layaway contracts, only asking that the orders include toys and that she could remain anonymous. She randomly selected three and ended up paying about $500 -- all but $10 on each ticket.
Continue reading "Good News: Secret Santas Pay for Strangers' Layaway Bills" »
Las Cruces Mystery Bull - Composite Art - Copyright by Ethic Soup
Ethic Soup is a cattle-friendly blog. We're sporadically thinking about eating vegetarian. That's not a promise yet, but a desire.
First, we wrote about Yvonne, a Bavarian bovine scheduled for the slaughter house last May, but escaped by charging through a 4,000-volt electric fence of a German farmyard. The six-year-old dairy cow experienced freedom for three months, even though German authorities issued a shoot-on-sight order against runaway Yvonne.
COWABUNGA!
Now we're writing about a 4-year-old, 2,000-pound Brangus bull, mysteriously appearing, uninvited, near Las Cruces, New Mexico, strutting around a lush alfalfa field and neighboring pecan orchard -- bull heaven. Or rather, cowabunga!
You may think that endearing exclamation was introduced by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Wrong. I first heard it as a child watching the "Howdy Doody Show." Cowabunga was an expression used by Chief Thunderbird, "the only Indian ever to have a mustache," according to the Urban Dictionary.
Continue reading "Mystery 2000-LB Brangus Bull Decides To Live in Las Cruces Pecan Orchard " »
"Moo" Copyright by Sharon McEachern - Acrylic - 4' x 3'
A Bavarian bovine, named Yvonne, was scheduled for the slaughter house last May. But, she apparently didn't want to go (imagine that) and charged toward freedom through a 4,000-volt electric fence of a farmyard in Germany, says the BBC.
Run, Yvonne run. See Yvonne run.
The six-year-old dairy cow was at large for three months, apparently living alongside a herd of deer and foraging with them at night. But she was so elusive that German authorities issued a shoot-on-sight order for the runaway cow, after a cow bolted in front of a police car. This Mooo-ving violation they said must have been committed by Yvonne and labeled her "a public danger."
No matter what country they live in, policemen seem to set things up so they can shoot their guns -- at living things.
Oh, no. Oh, no Yvonne. See, see the guns, Yvonne.
Continue reading "Yvonne-the-Cow Wins War with Germany: Slaughter House Be Damned" »
The new born orphaned zebra now at China's Wuhan Zoo was only five days old when its mother died. That's why he was named "Little Five," because he only spent five days with his momma .
The Chinese zoo attempted to leave Little Five's care to its father.
"We wanted to leave it to the father," said Chen Nong, the feeder. "But the father denies responsibility and kicks the baby each time he sees it."
Then they noticed that coincidentally when Nong wore a striped t-shirt, the baby zebra became very excited each time that he saw him.
The zoo built a separate cage for the orphan where it's fed milk, according to the Tribune (Pakistan). But the zebra refuses the milk unless its feeder Nong wears the striped t-shirt.
"He also looks for nipples on me," said Nong. "I had to give him my thumbs."
Well, thumbs up for a baby of different stripes!
This is a follow-up story for several other Ethic Soup posts :
Click to read "Mamas are so important: a touch, a coo can mean life"
Click to read "Oh yes they do: Babies remember emotional events and moments of neglect"
I cannot look at this chihuahua in pink goggles, ears flying in the breeze, without smiling. That's why pets are such great therapy animals in hospitals for people facing health problems.
And, surprise! Pets are great sources of social and emotional support for everyone.
This isn't really news. There is a lot of research showing how having pets can help folks be happier and healthier. But is there really a cause-and-effect relationship between having pets and better physical and mental health?
New research answers that question with a "Yes!" Having a dog or cat as a companion has big and wide-ranging benefits.
This is certainly something we want for President Obama (pictured right with dog Bo), the guy whose finger on a button could begin a nuclear war.
To find out the benefits of pet ownership, psychologists from Miami University and St. Louis University conducted a series of studies.
Continue reading "Pets Make You Happier & Healthier: They Be Good Fer Ya" »
CHURCH PET BLESSINGS happen all year around, including Easter. The tradition began in the 4th century, with San Antonio de Abad, the patron saint of the animal kingdom, in a ritual of thanks for beasts of burden.
This week there were special pet blessings by churches across the country, including Los Angeles, Grand Rapids and Dallas.
ON HOOF, FOOT & PAW
In Los Angeles, pets came out on "hoof, foot and paw" for the 81st annual blessing of the animals on Olvera Street, at the cobblestone plaza in downtown L.A. "with the sweet smell of fresh hay and manure," writes Jason Felch, Los Angeles Times.
"There were llamas, goats, geese and sheep. Parakeets, iguanas, goldfish and geckos. Turtles, horses, doves and a 25-pound albino python," wrote Felch. "And there were dogs. Hundreds of dogs. Dogs in tutus, leis and bunny ears. Dogs in bows and ribbons and T-shirts that read "Momma's Boy."
