Fun Stuff!

Recently I found a new (to me) website full of satire, sarcasm and some really laugh inducing articles. It's called The Hard Times. It's 'Punk News Coming Your Way'. And it's pretty darn funny.

It's like The Onion, but with a different slant. I saw a link to an article about a black metal vocalist moonlighting as a face painter, and HAD to visit. And it was worth it!

So here's a bit more fun from the site: 'Trump Lowers Ozempic Cost So SNAP Recipients Can Afford to Suppress Appetite' I love the last line: 'At press time, Trump was preoccupied watching a child drown in a lake as he stood motionless. '

And this article on Fetterman: If he were worth the effort, I would hate that guy for how much he's gone against everything he said he was for when he ran but, he's not worth the effort. Still, this article made me laugh and snicker in agreement, 'Fetterman Liberal Again After Second Fall'.

And finally, an older article for the travelers amongst us (and everyone else): '24-Year-Old Metalhead Passes for 48-Year-Old Dock Worker '. I ain't young enough to be the metalhead or the dock worker, but I sure like the idea of traveling that way!

Dogs!
Now, another interesting thing that was very cool to read about: the domestication of dogs, and service dogs. I, for one, really do believe it's possible, maybe probable, that humans and dogs domesticated each other, but that never really occurred to me to phrase it that way until I read the article linked above. Now, it's just a possibility, but it seems like a change in human brains, a cognitive revolution which gave our brains more function and ability, happened about the same time as dog domestication. If so, if this did happen, it's possible that dogs and their domestication were related to it. As the article says,

But if it was at the same time, that would be pretty intriguing. Once dogs were around, suddenly people didn’t have to worry about being surprised by an animal attack in the middle of the night, because dogs would warn them of impending danger. With dogs, humans could hunt rabbits and birds more easily. And with dogs, they didn’t have to worry about trying to hear and smell and see things that were difficult to hear and smell and see—such as wild animals or other tribes—because the dogs would do that for them. It’s an interesting theory, and if it’s true it means that dogs and humans started becoming closely connected a long, long time ago.

An image from the forum frieze at the House of Julia Felix in Pompeii. At the left center is a beggar, probably blind and holding a stick, with his dog, being given alms by a woman and her son. From pompeiiinpictures.com.

Also, I learned that some of the first evidence of service dogs, pictorial evidence, comes from Pompeii/Herculaneum. That is awesome! Just think, about 2000 years ago, a dog leading a blind man was depicted on a frieze. So maybe service dogs doing that weren't that uncommon at the time? I dunno. I dunno. Such a rabbit hole of learning!

Ok, here's the open thread! What's up, whatcha doing? Reading? Thinking? Listening to? Remember, everything is interesting if you dive deep enough, so tell us about where you're diving!