The Lady & The Cairn

NEW YORK – Brute, a German shepherd, lay anesthetized on an operating table, his hairy chest under a plastic cover and his powerful paws taped immobile.

"Here comes the wire up the artery!" said Dr. Chick Weisse, who infused the dog’s cancerous liver with chemotherapy via a catheter at the century-old Animal Medical Center in Manhattan in an effort to "buy him some time."

Brute was home in days, the cancer at bay a while longer — perhaps eight months. The cost: $2,000.

Around the nation, veterinarians are practicing ever more advanced medicine on the nation’s 77 million dogs, 90 million cats and a myriad of other animals — treatments that vie with the best of human medicine. The driving force is "the changing role of the pet in our society," said Dr. Patty Khuly, a veterinarian at Miami’s Sunset Animal Clinic.

The bottom line for many people, she said, is that investing in a pet’s life "improves the quality of a human life immeasurably more than, say, buying a luxury car."

In a radiation suite at the Animal Medical Center, a black cat named Muka was undergoing a CT scan for a lung problem. A medical team hovered over the tranquilized animal, injecting contrast dye and poring over digital readouts to diagnose the problem: chronic pleural fibrosis.

The new, half-million-dollar Toshiba Aquilion — one of the latest, fastest 3D imaging scanners — was a gift from an owner whose pet was saved at the AMC, a not-for-profit research and teaching facility. The AMC offers 24-hour emergency care using once-unthinkable procedures like heart surgeries, MRIs and ultrasounds. It has a staff of 81 vets, including 27 certified in fields such as radiology, endoscopy, neurology, cardiology and oncology.

They train 18 interns and 24 residents, including two from Italy and one from Croatia this year.

read the entire article

Just checking out the new Windows Live Writer.

Can’t find a lot of new things but I haven’t really played with it very long!

Windows Live Essentials Beta … check it out.  The new Photo Gallery is pretty cool.

Google is a super dog-friendly company. It proudly names “company dogs,” like Yoshka (described as a “free-range Leonberger”) pictured above. Yoshka accompanies Urs Holzle, senior VP operations and Google Fellow to the Googleplex. Less senior staff are also allowed to bring their dogs to the office.

According to Google’s “Dog Policy”, one indiscretion too many on the Google carpets, or aggressive behavior, means Lassie will have to stay at home in the future. Strong bladdered and friendly canines are more than welcome across the campus.

Unfortunately, cats are not quite as welcome. Here’s an excerpt taken directly from Google’s Code of Conduct: “Google’s affection for our canine friends is an integral facet of our corporate culture. We like cats, but we’re a dog company, so as a general rule we feel cats visiting our offices would be fairly stressed out.”

We are all guilty of “internet procrastination”

Diigo is the best browser addon that I have been using for approx. the last 6 months.  So fast and so easy …. works with Chrome and Firefox.  I use it mainly for “bookmarking” but it can do so much more.

Research Annotate, Archive, Organize

• Online bookmark: Organize by tags or lists; Access from anywhere, anytime!
• Archive: Do not just bookmark! Archive pages forever! Make them searchable too!
• Annotate: Do not just archive! Highlight! Add sticky notes too!

Share Build Personal Learning Network

• Share your annotated pages with your followers on Diigo or elsewhere.
• Get a stream of interesting content by following others you like.
• Interact with others on content of interest.

Collaborate Create a Group Knowledge Repository

• Create a private or public group for your company, class, and teams.
• Share findings to the group — make it the second brain for your team!
• Interact on the web pages in-situ or in the group.

Give it a try …. Diigo

LOS ANGELES – Art Linkletter, who as the gently mischievous host of TV’s "People Are Funny" and "House Party" in the 1950s and ’60s delighted viewers with his ability to get kids — and grownups — to say the darndest things on national television, died Wednesday. He was 97.

Linkletter died at his home in the Bel-Air section of Los Angeles, said his son-in-law, Art Hershey, the husband of Sharon Linkletter.

"He lived a long, full, pure life, and the Lord had need for him," Hershey said.

Linkletter had been ill "in the last few weeks time, but bear in mind he was 97 years old. He wasn’t eating well, and the aging process took him," Hershey said.

Linkletter hadn’t been diagnosed with any life-threatening disease, he said.

Linkletter was known on TV for his funny interviews with children and ordinary folks. He also collected their comments in a number of best-selling books.

"Because of Art Linkletter, adults found themselves enjoying children," said Bill Cosby, whose style interviewing kids on his own show in the late ’90s was often compared to Linkletter’s.

"An amazing fellow, a terrific broadcast talent, a brilliant businessman. An all-around good guy," CNN’s Larry King added about his longtime friend and frequent guest.

Asked what made Linkletter so appealing to audiences, King said, "He had an unusual voice, a twang to his voice that was immediately recognizable. And he looked like your favorite uncle."

"Art Linkletter’s House Party," one of television’s longest-running variety shows, debuted on radio in 1944 and was seen on CBS-TV from 1952 to 1969.

"On `House Party’ I would talk to you and bring out the fact that you had been letting your boss beat you at golf over a period of months as part of your campaign to get a raise," Linkletter wrote.

"All the while, without your knowledge, your boss would be sitting a few feet away listening, and at the appropriate moment, I would bring you together," he wrote. "Now, that’s funny, because the laugh arises out of a real situation."

read the rest of the article ……TV’s ‘People Are Funny’ host Art Linkletter dies

Checking ScribeFire?

At least the British Academy Film Awards got it right!  “The Hurt Locker” was the best movie that I saw in 2009.  When it comes around to “oscar night”, the big hollywierdo get together of actors who think they are politicians, I’m sure they will not choose “The Hurt Locker”.  They will inevitably give the gold statue to “Avatar”.  A movie that I have no desire to ever watch.

A big “thumbs-up” to the British Film Academy for recognizing this wonderful film and awarding it the top honor of the night! 

LONDON (AP) – Britain’s love of the underdog triumphed Sunday as intimate war drama "The Hurt Locker" beat 3D spectacular "Avatar" to take six prizes, including best picture, at the British Academy Film Awards.

Kathryn Bigelow won the best-director battle with "Avatar’"s James Cameron, her ex-husband, for her intense depiction of a bomb-disposal squad in Iraq.

"It means so much that this film seems to be touching people’s hearts and minds," Bigelow said.

Both films had eight nominations for the British awards, considered an indicator of possible success at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles next month. "Avatar" and "The Hurt Locker" each has nine Oscar nominations.

"The Hurt Locker" also took British prizes for original screenplay cinematography, editing and sound.

"Hurt Locker" screenwriter Mark Boal dedicated the best-film prize to the hope of peace "and bringing the boys and girls back home."

Bigelow also paid tribute to soldiers serving in Iraq, and said the goal of the film was "putting a bit of a spotlight on a very, very difficult situation."

"I hope that in some small way this film can begin a debate … and bring closure to this conflict," she said.

The "Avatar"/"Hurt Locker" battle initially seemed like a David-and-Goliath story. Cameron’s last feature, "Titanic," won 11 Oscars, including picture and director. "Avatar" is a global phenomenon that has taken more than $2 billion at the box office.

"Hurt Locker" has made about a hundredth that much.

Sorry Firefox but Google Chrome is so much faster.  Truthfully, I could make a pot of coffee and wait for it to finish before Firefox loaded!  I do have a lot of extensions in Firefox but it shouldn’t take that long to load. 

Google Chrome just opened up their extension site …. wooooohoooo!!  This is what I’ve been waiting for.  Now I can use Chrome all the time.

You must be using Google Chrome Beta (windows) for the extensions to work.

Check out more than 300 Chrome Extensions

Chrome for Linux

Chrome for MAC

Someone please tell CNN that Tiger Woods not playing in his own golf tournament is NOT breaking news!

Someone please tell CNN that Chelsea Clinton getting engaged is NOT breaking news!

When I get a breaking news text alert on my cell, I expect it to be something important ….. not some garbage.

I used to love “The Equalizer” and always thought that Woodward was a great actor.

Veteran British actor Edward Woodward has died at the age of 79.

Woodward, best known for his roles in cult horror film The Wicker Man and hit TV series Callan and The Equalizer, passed away in hospital after battling illnesses including pneumonia.

In a statement, his agent Janet Glass says: "Universally loved and admired through his unforgettable roles in classic productions such as Breaker Morant, The Wicker Man, Callan,The Equalizer and many more, he was equally fine and courageous in real life, never losing his brave spirit and wonderful humour throughout his illness.

"He was further sustained by the love of his wife, Michele, children, Tim, Peter, Sarah and Emily, his grandchildren and numerous friends. His passing will leave a huge gap in many lives."

Too funny!  I heard about this on The WSJ This Morning …. the absolute best morning news EVER!  My mornings would never be the same without Gordon and Gina.

I hope I never get behind anyone wearing a pair of “Winkers”  LOL

One ray of sunlight was hitting the Thistle.  Made  an interesting shot ….

I can’t believe that they have put “Big Cat Diary” on hiatus.  This is my favorite program on Animal Planet.  What are the big bosses thinking?

I will miss the Lion, Leopard, and Cheetah families …. please bring them back!!

Big Cat Diary on Hiatus

A tiny, long-tailed bird of deciduous forests and scrublands, the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher makes itself known by its soft but emphatic "spee" calls and its constant motion. By flicking its white-edged tail from side to side, the gnatcatcher may scare up hiding insects.

reference

I was lucky to get these two shots …. these little guys never sit still for over a second or two.  Not the best shots but I was so happy to see one of these lovely little birds.  I did see a couple of them in early spring but this is the first sighting since then.  These were taken at Dolan’s Lake.

I went to a birthday party for my Uncle yesterday and the man that owns this “49 chevy” was there …. is that cool or what …….

Joining Netflix is one of the best things that I have ever done!  My son has been hounding me for a long time to become a Netflix member so I finally decided to take the plunge …… Thank you Doug.

After I had to have my sweet little Albie put to sleep last December, I have not been doing any walking and I think I have gained 5-10 pounds. In other words, my size 8 jeans are just laying there and I’m wearing the 10’s now (dreadful).  I always walked Albie LEAST 6 times a day … he loved being outside in any kind of weather.  My point is this … now I can walk to the post office every other day and have a new movie to watch and shed the extra pounds.  Exercise is always good.

New movies are always great but I also love the fact that you can watch many older  movies and tv programs instantly on your computer or TV.  I’ve already watched several movies including some really good foreign flicks ("TELL NO ONE" was great).  This week I will watch the British TV series “MI-5”.  It was one of my favorites.

One TV series that I am going to watch from the beginning is "24".  Everyone raves about this program so I might as well jump on the bandwagon.  I was never a big fan of Kiefer Sutherland but I’m gonna give it a whirl.  These DVD’s will have to be shipped as they are not available for instant watching. DARN!

I just did my morning walk to the post office and picked up my latest movies … "Changeling" and "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas". (no that is not a typo)