Dear Congress: Don’t break the Internet

I know I said I was planning to post every day for a month.  However, I’m making an exception tomorrow for a very important reason.  I’m going on strike, along with many other sites, to protest two proposed bills with some very scary implications.

These bills, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) have flashy titles that sound good on the surface.  Piracy’s bad, right?  Not so fast – these deceptively simple titles hide some truly scary provisions that could cripple online security and chill freedom of expression.

Don’t get me wrong – protecting intellectual property rights is important. However, the measures taken to protect these rights need to be balanced with the need for freedom of expression.  A process needs to be in place to ensure due process for those accused of infringing upon someone else’s intellectual property rights.  These laws take innocent until proven guilty and turn it on its head – under a regime like that, freedom of expression won’t just be chilled. It will be frozen.

Want to learn more?  First, watch the video below for a quick primer.  Then, head to Stop American Censorship to learn more and to find out how you can join the strike tomorrow.  Check out this infographic.  Learn more in this great (yet terrifying) article.  Write your Senator and Representative.  Whatever you do, don’t let Congress break the Internet.


(Via Fight for the Future on Vimeo)

Thanks to my friends at Something Wagging This Way Comes and Will My Dog Hate Me for alerting me to tomorrow’s protest.

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Take the pledge: don’t support puppy mill pet stores

You may recall that for October’s Blog the Change for Animals, I joined several other bloggers to tell Petland USA to stop selling pets in its stores.  (If this issue is new to you, learn more about the pet store/puppy mill connection here.)

Over 45,000 people  have signed the petition, but Petland USA has not changed its ways.  For that reason, I’m sharing a call to action from Mary Haight (of the Dancing Dog Blog), who led the charge on this issue in October.

Want to get involved? Join us in telling Petland USA that until they stop supporting puppy mills, we’re not supporting them.  I’ve reproduced the instructions below.  For more info and background, visit here.

From Change.org:

Sometimes pictures can be more effective than words. Since
they have the power to help stop this, remind Petland USA what breeder
puppy mill dogs look like.  Estimates report there are more than a
million of them trapped in hopeless lives.

We need your help THIS WEEKEND with this simple action. It should only take 10 minutes of your time:

1) Download the images in this blog post to your computer (right-click and “save as”).
2) Post these images to your Facebook profile and ask your network to share.
3) If you have a blog, please re-post these instructions and
share widely! If not, please email your networks with a link to the original blog post.

[Editor’s Note: Over on the Change.org post there are actually 4 steps – however, upon learning of this weekend’s call to action, Petland blocked postings of these images to its franchise Facebook pages.  Guess they don’t want their customers to see where their pets might have come from….]

Spread the word and take the pledge – don’t support puppy mill pet stores!

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Corgis (and Ryan Gosling)… in… space!

Before we get into the usual Friday linkage, I wanted to take a moment to thank the veterans who have served our country.  We owe them a great deal.  As always on this holiday, my thoughts go to the poem “In Flanders Field” – those verses say so very much.  If you have a chance, I also recommend you check out these amazing and inspiring photos from a new book on canine soldiers.

Now, it’s time for your usual installment of No Frown Friday…

  1. We begin, as always, with punny pet names, this time with a farming twist: Billy Goat Idol.
  2. Take an iconic album cover.  Insert adorable kitten(s).  Achieve awesomeness.  (Bonus punny pet name: David Meowie.)
  3. Also awesome?  Puppies running in slow motion.  You know I can’t resist puppies having a Chariots of Fire moment.
  4. Apparently the Internet is all about giving me plenty of slow-mo dogs this week.  Thanks, Internet.
  5. This next one’s not slow-mo, but it’s fantastic… talk about a unique dog.
  6. Now it’s time to answer an age-old question.  Forget puppies versus babies, the real cute-off is between puppies and Ryan Gosling. (I’m beginning to think Gosling needs his own category on the blog.  Oh, fine – here you go.)

Another topic that makes frequent appearances?  Space.  So, without further ado, I give you this week’s video:  Corgis… in… space!



 (If you can’t get enough space, go watch Nyan Cat too.  Someone should come up with Nyan Gosling Cat.  Get on it, Internet.)

That concludes your regularly scheduled linkage.  Before I go, you should know that a pretty cool event is going on in blogland this weekend – it’s a Blogpocalypse!  A group of wonderful bloggers will be participating in a blogathon to raise support for various causes.  I hope you’ll check them out.  (If you do, you might even see a guest post from me over at My Brown Newfies!)

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Shelter employee fired for taking non-crappy photos of dogs

Ernie 24
Shameless plug – adopt Ernie!

You know I’m all about the notion that better photos can help dogs get adopted.  It’s logical, after all.  I’m always drawn to a photo of a pup with more personality.  (Speaking of personality… at right, you’ll see a photo I took when I volunteered at a local shelter last month.)

Anyway, today I’m here to share a story about something that strikes me as completely illogical.  Let’s say you’re a shelter… you have a crappy camera and have some crappy photos of adoptable dogs up on your website.  An employee decides to use her higher-quality DSLR to snap some photos of dogs scheduled to be euthanized and shares them in hopes of finding a rescue group or potential adopter who could save the dogs.

This woman displayed initiative, saw a problem, and took steps to improve the situation. Sounds like Employee of the Year material to me.  In reality, she joined the ranks of the unemployed.


According to the New York Times, Emily Tanen was fired from Animal Care and Control of New York City for taking photographs of animals scheduled to be euthanized.  Why?  Her photographs apparently violated her employer’s rules regarding photos – specifically, who can take photos, how the animals can be photographed, and how the photos can be used.  (One rule precludes showing humans in photos with the animals – apparently this extends to body parts such as a hand.  Even with my limited experience, I can tell you that it’s not always possible to get a photo of a nervous dog without a human’s arm or elbow somewhere in the frame.)

Emily took some lovely photos of the dogs that put the official shelter photos to shame.  It sounds like those photos helped some animals escape death row. Instead of seeing the potential here, the shelter fired her.  (Another former volunteer has also expressed displeasure with the fact that the shelter wanted to tightly control any of the photographs he took instead of allowing him to post them on his Facebook page.  Since when is wider exposure for an animal in need of a home a bad thing?)

Don’t get me wrong – I realize that not all shelters have the time or resources to devote to getting some truly fantastic photographs of adoptable animals.  They may not have enough volunteers to do so – in fact, the article suggests that there are only a handful of volunteers to take photos for the entire city shelter system involved here.  In addition, I’m sure there are sometimes valid legal reasons that an organization like this one would want to control the use of photos or set forth standards.

However, why not try to find a middle ground?  Perhaps the shelter could have taken this opportunity to revisit its policies and come up with a plan for getting photos of the animals that would both be acceptable to the shelter and would increase the animals’ chances of adoption.  (Similarly, in the case of the other volunteer I mentioned above, perhaps agreeing to a reasonable way that the photos could be circulated while noting that he did not officially represent the shelter would have been an option.)

This story isn’t about a lack of resources – you have an employee who is willing and able to help take better photos of the animals.  Perhaps she violated the policy, but wouldn’t a reprimand would have made more sense than firing her?

You can read the full New York Times article here.

UPDATE 11/15/11: There appears to be an online petition circulating to get Emily her job back.  If you’d like to learn more, click here.

 

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Dogs in hot cars: when will it stop?

Seriously… what is it going to take?  I dream of the summer when I won’t end up writing a post about the tragic tale of a dog left in a hot car to bake.  I use that term for a reason – on a hot day, you can actually bake cookies in a car.  Think about that for a moment.

You can bake cookies.

Would you put your dog in an oven while you whip up a batch of chocolate chip cookies?  That’s exactly what you’re doing if you leave your dog in a hot car.  Yet every summer, many people do just that.

I can’t sugarcoat this one for you – leaving your dog in a hot car is like giving him a death sentence.  So for the love of whatever it is you believe in… don’t do it.  Spread the word so that others don’t do it.  Please.

My Dog Is Cool
Today’s tale of woe comes from Loudoun County in Virginia.  (Thanks to my fellow dog lover Hey Love Designs for the tip.)  I admit, this story has a bit of a twist.  I warn you… you’re going to get angry.  Really angry at a whole bunch of people.  I am.  (Though you probably already figured that out.)  Allow me to set the stage…

A man goes to a party.  He gets in his car, leaves the party and decides, as many do, to stop for food before heading home.  He goes inside the restaurant, leaving his dog in the car.  He then falls asleep at the restaurant.  The manager calls the police, who then arrest him for drunk in public.

Point of anger #1 – If this man was drunk, why was he driving to IHOP in the first place?

Point of anger #2 – If this man was drunk, he was endangering himself, other people on the road, and his own dog (the helpless passenger).  I’ll reserve my commentary on this specific point of anger for another day, but I thought it was worth noting.

Point of anger #3 – The man left his dog in the car while he went to the IHOP.  I realize it was dark out, but I’m not really a fan of the idea of leaving your dog alone in a car for an extended period of time in any event.  You never know when you’ll be delayed and then your dog will be trapped and helpless, at the mercy of the weather and passersby.  (I recognize that others may have different opinions here – that’s just mine.)

The man was arrested in the early hours of the morning, around 5:15 A.M.  He allegedly told the cops that his dog was still in the car, and they allegedly told him not to worry about it.  He was taken to the county jail, where he allegedly begged the cops to help his dog, who was no doubt baking in the unattended vehicle.

Point of anger #4 – Really?  I mean… really?  Would the police (allegedly) have ignored the man’s pleas if he’d left a child in that car instead of his dog?  Did none of the officers have a heart?

Point of anger #5 – Did this man get a phone call?  If so, then why didn’t he call someone to go rescue his dog?  If not, then why?

I’m sure you can already guess the sad ending to this story.  It was over 100 degrees that day.  The man was released from jail late that night.  He returned to the parking lot.  The dog had collapsed.  The man rushed the dog to the emergency vet, but it was too late.  Rex was dead.

Point of anger #6 – How many people must have been in the parking lot of that restaurant that day?  Did none of them (or the management/employees of the restaurant) notice or care about the dog slowly dying inside that oven?

Honestly, I can think of enough points of anger to fill a book right now.  My anger is mixed with a deep sadness about what has occurred.  Poor, innocent Rex.  My heart breaks for him.

Loudoun County Animal Control has launched an investigation, as has the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Department.  To follow this saga, you can visit the Justice for Rex Facebook page.

Each time I read one of these tragic stories, I find myself rapidly transforming into a female version of the Incredible Hulk.  Right now, I’d really like to Hulk smash pretty much every terrible person involved in the story above.  You can find more information about the dangers of hot cars in my earlier posts:

You can also visit MyDogisCool.com for more info.  Please spread the word so that we can prevent needless tragedies like this one.
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These are a few of my favorite posts…

and doggies in spacesuits, rescuing puppies and cats that are so cute… the cone of shame and the amusement it brings… these are a few of my favorite things. (I adore The Sound of Music, and it just seemed like a perfect fit today.)  When I saw that Dr. V did a post highlighting her top 10 posts from 2010, I really liked the idea.  Even better, she’s hosting a blog hop for those who want to join the fun.  Time for a blast to the (fairly recent) past!

Dogs eating ice cream and punny pet names, attempting to test my pup’s IQ with a brain game, having a party for Bella to host… these are a few of my favorite posts (in no particular order):

She’s cute, but…
I administered an IQ test to dear Bella… the results were not promising.

Celebrating the cone of shame
The name says it all.  (It was one of my favorite No Frown Friday posts.)

To all the dogs (and cats) I’ve loved before
For my 100th post, I took a stroll down memory lane.

Corgi, P.I.
The very first breed spotlight.

Protecting people and their pets
A post about the Pets and Women’s Shelter Program (and my contribution to October’s Blog the Change).

My favorite flavor? Neopawlitan
The epic battle of Bella vs. ice cream.

Head of the class
Dogs… in… school!

When he jumps high he flies like a wild eagle
One word: Flashbeagle.

Horrible woman does terrible thing, and now I’m angry
In which I got very, very angry at people who leave their dogs in hot cars.

Case of the Mondays?
Try my guaranteed cure.

I tried not to pick any that were too recent… I figured it would be more fun to dig around in the archives.  Did I miss any of your favorites?

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