And Still I Persist

From The Chaser’s War on Everything (an Australian comedy series) comes the following attempt to recruit people into Al Qaeda using Mormon missionary techniques.

“Don’t be scared, we’re just from Al Qaeda. We just wanted to discuss the destruction of Western Civilization…”

OK, I’m Mormon, and I thought this was hilarious. Hat tip to Wes Vivian, who sent the link via e-mail. ..bruce..

Despair.com — long one of my favorite sites — now has a web-based function to do your own ‘Demotivation’ posters. For example:

Or:

Or, in honor of the puppy postings below:

Hat tip to Ace of Spades. ..bruce..

Gizmodo features a special kind of ring, just for guys:

The Remember Ring has a special nagging feature, using its “Hot Spot” technology that warms up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 seconds, every hour, on the hour, beginning 24 hours before that “special day,” apparently honoring the anniversary of your voluntary servitude. That’s supposed to be warm enough to be uncomfortable but not hot enough to burn you.

Heh, indeed. ..bruce..

First off, Wingnut’s official name is now “Howling Wingnut”. She howls — though it’s an eerie, high-pitched howl. She tilts her head back, points her snout to the sky, and honest-to-goodness howls. I’ll see if I can get a snapshot (or better yet, video) of it.

Second, the girls now have nicknames: “Winnie” and “Marti”. Winnie is obviously Wingnut; Marti (Moonbat) got her nickname because, Sandra said, there are times when she looks like a little Martian:

At other times, Marti lives up to her formal name of Moonbat:

Winnie, on the other hand, looks more like a classic MinPin, except her snout’s a bit thick:

It’s hard to tell yet how much her snout will lengthen and thin out as she grows — but she’s a beauty:

Mirabile dictu, both puppies are largely housetrained. Don’t ask me how; it took us weeks with Laverne and Shirley, and it wasn’t pretty. However, Marti and Winnie have immediately caught on to doing their business outside where Deacon and Laverne do it; we’ve had less than half a dozen “accidents” in the house since brining them home last Thursday.

Also, Deacon and Laverne are adjusting well to the puppies. Marti seems to favor hanging around Laverne, while Winnie likes to follow Deacon around. On the other hand, Marti’s willing to poke at anyone:

And, of course, being MinPins, they all like to curl up together, particularly if there’s a human involved:

This last photo pretty much reflects the different personalities: Marti content to lie in the sun, while Winnie looks for new worlds to conquer…or, at least, new things to chew:

More photos as time goes on. ..bruce..

…we have two new Miniature Pinscher puppies:

The light brown one standing by Sandra is named “Barking Moonbat”, while the black-and-tan one with the ball on Sandra’s back is “Flaming Howling Wingnut” (see here for explanation). They are sisters from the same litter, just as Laverne and Shirley were. That’s Laverne standing to the left; Shirley was killed by a wild animal last December, and Laverne hasn’t been quite the same since. (Frankly, neither have we.) Not shown in this picture is Deacon, the 13-year-old alpha dog (also a MinPin).

Deacon’s a bit too old to give Laverne (barely four years old) the activity and companionship that she had with her sister Shirley, and over the past several months she’s shown an increase in anxiety and some obsessive behaviors. So we have been looking for some time for a new MinPin puppy. These two showed up a week ago at the local pet shop. I happened to stop by, saw them, told Sandra, and she stopped by. And they I stopped by again.

Sandra and I weren’t happy that the breeder had clipped their ears (and done it while they were still so young), we were reluctant to buy from a pet store instead of from a reputable MinPin breeder, and we didn’t feel that either one was a replacement for Shirley. But today we went there together for the first time. As you can see, we walked out with both dogs. We couldn’t be happier. Laverne is still adjusting to the puppies, but she is more playful and content, and less anxious, than she has been for months.

We now have four dogs, two of them puppies needing housebreaking. I’m sure in a few days that Sandra and I will look at each other and wonder just what the hell we were thinking. But right now, Wing and Moon are curled up on our master bed pillows, sound asleep, both apparently feeling very much at home:

As they should. ..bruce..

UPDATE (09/15/06): Thanks to Dr. Steven Taylor of Poliblog for the linkback and welcome to those coming in from there.

More stuff after the jump.

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