Morning all – for much of yesterday we thought there’d be no more morning walk photos. So grateful to all those who helped bring #cabbage home pic.twitter.com/ZDv4uTcNoU
— Rory Cellan-Jones (@ruskin147) November 13, 2021
Absolutely random dog / internet happiness story, because why not:
On Friday, our family suffered a terrible shock – our beloved collie cross Cabbage was stolen along with five other dogs when someone drove off in our dog walker’s van.
Now, I know a story about a lost dog might seem a bit tangential to the purpose of this newsletter but bear with me. My book Always On is about the radical changes to our lives brought about by the smartphone and powerful social networks – and both played a part in the happy ending to the story of the stolen dogs.
On Friday morning I was at the home of a distinguished director from the golden age of TV drama, interviewing him for a future project, when my phone rang. It was my wife telling me that she had just been called by our dog walker with some shocking news. After collecting Cabbage and five other dogs he had stopped off near the park at a relative’s house to see if they wanted to go on the walk – but had left his van’s engine running with the key in the ignition. He turned round to see it disappearing into the distance.
I cut short my interview and rushed out to drive home. Then I stopped – and realised that time was of the essence and I must first sound the alert. So I did what I’ve done for the last 14 years and composed a tweet…
People warned us against getting a collie – too energetic, too skittish, needing three walks a day, “she’ll wear you out.” Not having been brought up with dogs, I too was a little apprehensive but it was not long before Cabbage became a much loved member of the family.
Her energy turned out to be a spur to me to fight the middle-aged flab – I went running with her on a three mile route around a nearby park at least a couple of times a week. For years, she was hard to keep up with and there were scary moments – once on a dark evening, she was spooked by a firework and shot out of the park and across a busy road.
But over the years we have both slowed down. Since being diagnosed with Parkinson’s nearly three years ago, I have given up running and amble around the park. Cabbage, whose eyesight and hearing have both faded, sets an even more stately pace and sometimes looks askance at me as if to say “really – you want to go further?”
But in March 2020 as the pandemic arrived and we went into the first lockdown my early morning walk with the dog – my only permitted exercise – became a highlight of my day. I decided that each morning I would take a picture and post it on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter…
Got a gammy knee, my physio has had to cancel my appointment but gawd am I enjoying my one walk of the day pic.twitter.com/pwliKsiMIt
— Rory Cellan-Jones (@ruskin147) March 24, 2020
(via James Palmer‘s twitter feed)
debbie
Dogs are constantly lost or misplaced. About half of the posts on my community’s FB page are about lost or stray pets.
germy
Kalakal
I’m so happy for the reunitees.
Another story that makes me feel happier about humanity
There’s a BBC weatherman called Owain Wyn Evans who livened him his working from home broadcasts under lockdown by playing the drums. There’s also a BBC charity event called Children in Need. Our hero just raised 1.6 million quid by doing a 24hr drumathon. The man must have superhuman stamina.
https://www.thepoke.co.uk/2021/11/14/owain-weatherman-viral-children-in-need-drumathon/
NotMax
50 Ways to
Leave Your LoverDice Your Onion.:)
germy
NotMax
Haven’t we seen this movie before? You can’t spell dynasty without n-a-s-t-y.
sab
Over the years we have helped reunite lost dogs with the families. Dog ID tags helped in one case, but more often we only reached a landline when the owner was at work. In three cases it was their rabies tag which enabled us to call the veterinary office which was willing to follow through with tracing the owner. Facebook helped once, for a newly adopted dog with no other ID. County issued license tag is useless unless the dog otherwise ends up at the pound.
satby
I have a happy animal story too. On Friday, as the cold rainy/snowy weather set in, the little female black cat I’ve been feeding and befriending let me wrap her up in a fuzzy warm jacket I had put out for her to sleep on and then calmly let me carry her inside. TBF, she was completely covered and couldn’t see where we were going, but she didn’t fight at all. She’s now ensconced in the cat isolation bedroom until she sees a vet. Later today or tomorrow I hope to grab the other semi-feral; a big orange tom that I’ve been working on for a year. He’s walked into the house a few times, but goes out again when he sees or smells the other animals. So I know he’d like to come in too.
Kalakal
The English continue to lead in the War on Government Corruption! Hurrah!
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/nov/14/mps-keep-second-job-details-secret-for-years?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
The best bit
A system working as designed
sab
@satby: That is a happy story. We got StarScream many years ago when he insisted on coming into our house during a November sleet storm. He has only been outside once since then. I doubt if he would have survived that first winter outside.
Geminid
@NotMax: Marcos Jr. has at least one strong opponent: State Senator Manny Pacquiao. The former star boxer announced his bid September 19. When he wasn’t fighting title bouts, Pacquiao was serving in the national assembly since 2007. He is maybe the Philippines’ most famous citizen, and one of it’s wealthiest with an estimated fortune of $220 million.
Geminid
@Kalakal: It’s too bad Great Britain does not have midterms like we do. As long as the Conservatives hang together, there might not be another Parliamentery election for over four years, I think.
raven
@debbie: Exactly!
Patricia Kayden
I have a Border Collie as well. Way more energetic than my full Boxer and departed half Boxer. I asked for a Boxer at the shelter and they gave me what looks like a full Border Collie. Very cute though.
WaterGirl
@sab: Smart guy!
satby
@sab: That’s a great story too! They often pick us.
Omnes Omnibus
@Geminid:
People here have been decrying the lack of a parliamentary system here as we hit choke point after choke point in passing the BBB. It isn’t bad to be reminded that all systems have their drawbacks.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone???
Keith P.
@NotMax: Are they going to be running against Manny Pacquiao?
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Omnes Omnibus: Yeah. I think that when people say we need more than two parties. I look at Maine and think that’s how they wound up with Paul LePage
Geminid
@Omnes Omnibus: One aspect of the British system that I especially dislike is that candidates are selected by party committees instead of by registered voters in primaries, like we typically do here.
Omnes Omnibus
My grandfather used have a dog the would occasionally take off after a deer (not what it was supposed to do but “Giant Squirrel!” to some dogs) when they were out hunting. He would leave a jacket or something else with his smell on it where he had left parked the car and check back a few hours later. The dog was always there. Beagle.
zhena gogolia
Maybe this fits under respite. I took the Sunday Review section of the New York Times this morning and tore it into small pieces suitable for cat litter. Very satisfying.
Omnes Omnibus
@Dorothy A. Winsor: As far as parties go, the poli sci saying is that in our system we form coalitions and the have elections and they have elections and then form coalitions.
@Geminid: I think that you will note that we have more elections for everything than any other system does. Primaries, judges, district attorneys, county clerks, etc. Hell, we used to elect officers and NCOs in the militia.
Kalakal
@Geminid: I can see your point. The exact mechanism varies from party to party. One big difference is very few people join political parties in the UK, the whole registered Dem/Repub thing would be met with derision (and protests of government overeach) and considered an invasion of privacy, it is a secret ballot after all
I’d be amazed if more than 5% of the electorate voted in a candidate selection ballot
Heidi Mom
@satby: And that’s how you get a cat–step by step! So glad things are working out for the kitties.
Kalakal
@Geminid: Technically the British could have an election at any time. Lose a confidence vote and it’s bye bye PM. One downside I see to the US system is you seem to be perpetually having elections. On the other hand an English govt with a decent majority essentially has a 5 year rubber stamp for legislation
satby
@Heidi Mom: Yeah, she’s a bit unsure of things, but I think happy to be warm, dry, and have a bed to sleep on or hide under as needed.
Kalakal
@Omnes Omnibus:
This is something that still stuns me after 10 years living here
debbie
@Kalakal:
I like the more limited time for campaigns.
Kalakal
@debbie: Could not agree more. You’d love the party political broadcast system. Each major party gets about 2 10 minute slots and everybody just ignores them and switches channels
Benw
@rikyrah: Good morning!
Omnes Omnibus
@Kalakal: The Revolution caused election mania. But I can say that an ancestor of mine was basically a career county clerk (GOP, just after the Civil War when is it was still cool) while a county treasurer was elected again and again from the other. The parties agreed not to run against one another and let the competent people just stay in their fucking jobs. And even now, many lower level elected officials effectively run unopposed.
Mike E
Croatia slogs through to next year’s world cup by dominating but barely beating Russia 1-0 on an own goal, playing in a huge mud puddle in a torrential downpour…a draw would have qualified Russia and forced Croatia to win a playoff tournament to get there.
Geminid
@Kalakal: Here, if you register you generally can vote in a primary. In Virginia and South Carolina, there is no registration by party so primaries are totally open. Other states have primaries that are closed to all but registered Republicans or Democrats. But many states allow non-affiliated voters to register at the polling site for a party primary. Wyoming allows both Democrats and independents to reregister for Republican primaries. This may help Liz Cheney in her renomination effort.
Primary turnout varies a lot. In 2018, a young challenger beat an established New York City Congressman 17,000+ votes to 14,000+. That same June, Abigail Spanberger won the VA-7th Democratic Congressional primary with over 35,000 votes. The next of four other candidates got over 20,000. The 7th had a total population of around 740,000, I believe.
That year Democrats in what is now my Virginia Congressional district, the 5th, chose a candidate through caucuses and a District Convention. I was watching from over in the 6th District, and I thought they chose a weak candidate and there was a better one who could have won a primary. The mediocre Democratic candidate ended up losing to the lackluster Republican candidate by seven points.
Kalakal
@Omnes Omnibus: That’s good to hear. The idea of elected judges, fire chiefs etc gives me hives.
Gary K
Toward the end of his post, Cellan-Jones writes:
I had a similar thought while watching the new Netflix series about the investigation of the murder of Olof Palme in 1986. According to the plausible theory presented there, the perp was seen repeatedly with quite damning evidence, but the investigators were slow to home in on him and the basic facts were just muddled enough that he never was seriously questioned. If the murder happened today, there would be oodles of cell phone and security camera footage.
(By the way, I recommend the series. To me it was fascinating, since I am familiar with Stockholm. The series paints a very believable theory of the case, and in fact it’s the theory now officially endorsed. The sad sack perp eventually died c. 2000, so there’s nothing further to be done.)
opiejeanne
@sab: When we lived in Anaheim, we located a lost dog’s owner from Iowa through the vet’s phone # on the dog’s tag. It turned out he was visiting family just down the street.
Omnes Omnibus
@Kalakal: Elected judges though. That’s how we get the guy in Kenosha. But who wants to run against him? If you are a litigator in that county and you run and lose? You can’t ask for a new judge every time you get him in the draw.
Omnes Omnibus
@Gary K: Johnny English using that for good not evil.
Feathers
If your morning would be brightened by a TikTok duet of multiple talented musicians improvising atop a cat making cute noises: Link
zhena gogolia
@Feathers: Great!
Kalakal
@Geminid: Thank you, thats a helpful explainer.
Back in the UK people can join a party but it’s very much a minority sport. The actual procedure of electing a candidate varies between parties ( oddly the Torys are more democratic than Labour on this ). The actual vote is amongst local party members, it’s the selection of the shortlist of candidates where the skulduggery takes place. You can only vote for people on the shortlist and that list is compiled by the local party commitee with help/hindrance/ outright sabotage by central office.
Anyone can actually stand as a candidate in the real parlimentary election, you simply need a deposit of 500 and 10 local electors, clear that hurdle you get 30,000 for expenses from the taxpayer and you’re good to go. This is how you get the Monster Raving Looney Party.
I lived in a constituancy that split roughly 1/3rd Labour/Lib/Tory , for years we had an asshole Tory who would get about 37% of the vote. For about the last 20 the anti-tory vote combined and its been down to the quality of the candidate
O. Felix Culpa
@Feathers: Love it!
Kalakal
@Omnes Omnibus: Wow! I’d not even considered that, what a mess
Omnes Omnibus
@Kalakal: That’s one of the the reasons that I get a little annoyed when people complain that a party doesn’t get someone to run for every elected position on the ballot. Asking someone to give up six month to a year of their life to raise money and glad hand in order to take a long shot run at a job, all the while knowing that that if they don’t win they may well have done damage to their current career, is asking a lot.
Lyrebird
A little more respite?
Here’s a great pic of our Vice President thanking her France team
frosty
@zhena gogolia: Funny. Sounds good for respite to me.
eclare
@Gary K: What is the name of the series? I’ve googled Olof Palme and didn’t see anything
Got it. The Unlikely Murderer.
Kalakal
@Omnes Omnibus: yes, that’s a very good point.
Things I prefer about the English system
Length of campaign – 25 working days
Finance.
Political advertising – ban on political advertising on commercial television and radio. The parties are instead given free time to screen short pre-election broadcasts on television. (which nobody watches) – social media is starting to play merry hell with this
A glaring flaw in the British system is that it’s designed as a 2 party oppositional system ( in Parliament they even sit lined up opposite each other, like 2 opposing armies rather than the more usual horseshoe shape)
add a first past the post electoral system which means that smaller parties are reduced to little more than splitting the vote leading to permanent minority rule. Get 42%+ in the English system and you have a majority of a 100.
Kalakal
@Omnes Omnibus: One thing that does impress me about the states is , for good and for ill, the level of engagement in public and community life. The English tend to basically ignore society outside of being sociable.
gene108
@Geminid:
That’s how most (all?) parliamentary systems work. The party you join has near total control on who stands for elections. I think the only thing people here like about parliamentary systems is a vote of no confidence being able to swiftly end an unpopular government, like we had with Trump, Bush, Jr. and now with Biden (I guess going by recent poll numbers).
Mike E
@gene108: In Biden’s case, the vote of no confidence is preceded by the media’s campaign of no consciousness, sadly.
Omnes Omnibus
@gene108: But the unpopularity has to be within the governing parliamentary party not with the voters.
Kalakal
@gene108: Sadly in practice no confidence votes seldom work. If the ruling party has a majority of parliamentary seats it requires a number of its elected members to vote themselves out of office and to then fight for re-election at a time that they are unpopular. As the saying goes, Turkeys don’t vote for Christmas.
Omnes Omnibus
@Kalakal: If it works at all, it’s usually as a threat to make a sitting PM step down.
gene108
@Omnes Omnibus:
I think you are making a distinction without a difference.
If the Party or Coalition in power becomes publicly unpopular and is seen as unable to govern, a vote of no confidence gets called.
Coalition governments, where one party has a plurality of seats, but not an outright majority and has to form alliances with smaller parties to form a government are most likely to endure no confidence votes.
It’s not usually productive to have no confidence votes, and it’s general a matter of last resort when a governing coalition breaks down.
Governments popular with voters usually will not have to deal no confidence votes.
Omnes Omnibus
“President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping encouraged their delegates to find common ground ahead of a virtual summit, according to people familiar with the negotiation.”
Well, no shit. This is the way thing are supposed to work. It’s like everyone has forgotten how both diplomacy and legislation actually happen. People do shitloads of prep work. They fight over details. They threaten to walk away. Then, if everything goes right, they come to an agreement. It seems like all anyone thinks there is the summit meeting or the signing ceremony.
Kalakal
@Omnes Omnibus: Usually it’s more to do with internal party dynamics. Prime ministers are the most common users of it to force mps into line. The US equivalent would be Biden saying to Manchin and Sinema, we’re going to vote on BBB tomorrow, if it doesn’t pass every elected person in federal office has to stand for reelection, fancy that?
John Major who was pm in the 90s had a razor thin majority and was constantly being undercut by several of his own party, the eurosceptics or as he preferred to call them ‘the bastards’
Every so often he’d make a peice of legislation they were blocking subject to a no confidence vote. After much posturing they always folded
Omnes Omnibus
@gene108: No, I am not. It is a method by which one topples a PM and takes over. Think Thatcher to Major. The Tories decided that Maggie had to go, but they could survive.
@Kalakal: That too.
gene108
@Gary K:
When the started putting cameras in cellphones in the early 2000’s, I wondered what’s the point? I mean, if I want to take pictures, I’d bring a camera along like I usually do.
It’s amazing how much that decision by cellphone manufacturers and service providers has revolutionized so much in society over the last 15-20 years.
MrKite
@eclare: The Palme murder was apparently an obsession with Steig Larsson, the author of the “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” trilogy. He collected voluminous data for an upcoming book prior to his untimely death. Jan Stocklassa was given access to Larsson’s trove, and wrote a fascinating book that was published a couple of years ago (The Man who played with Fire). A friend who was then a foreign editor for Amazon was involved in the translation and publishing of the English language version, which she provided to me as a preprint. Recommended!
Ken
I saw the title, and thought that my prediction in John’s “No plans for the weekend” thread – that he’d end up buying and canning a hundred pounds of produce – had come true.
Gammyjill
@satby: congratulations on saving one feral cat. And I hope you have the same success with the other.
Kalakal
@Omnes Omnibus: I just looked it up.
since 1742 there have been 21 no confidence votes that led to a change of ministry. The last was in 1979. That gave the world Thatcher as pm
Thatcher herself was, as you say, shafted by the Tories who after the Poll Tax debacle had come to see her as an electoral liability. The biggest threat to a Tory pm is a challenge by a Tory mp.
If the challenger can get 15% of current Tory mps to back them there has to be a noconfidence vote. Thatcher lost, in came Major as pm, but the tories were still in government. Labour has a similar system.
A full parliamentary no confidence vote forces a complete change of government not just the pm, whence Callaghan to Thatcher in 1979, where Callaghan lost by one vote and the government changed from labour to tory
Omnes Omnibus
That was basically the premise behind the original British House of Cards.
Kalakal
@Omnes Omnibus: You may think that. I couldn’t possibly comment
Omnes Omnibus
@Kalakal: Well played.
eclare
@MrKite: Thank you! I devoured the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo books.
Soprano2
@satby: I wish I had a spare bedroom for that. I have to use the bathroom or our bedroom.
MrKite
@eclare: If not at your library, I found a used hard cover online for <$7. I bought one to give as a gift.
narya
Since it’s an open thread, here’s the latest cooking report! Last night was venison cheesesteak sammiches, with camembert as the cheese and topped w/ caramelized onions. Half a roasted delicata squash for some veggies. Baguette was from Hewn bakery, in Evanston; best breads I’ve ever had. They’re pricey, but the owners pay the staff living wages and health insurance, and the bread is just amazing. Today I stocked up from Bob’s Red Mill: cases of whole wheat flour, oats, oat bran, muesli, barley, farro, and bulgar; I decided I need to have more go-to grains around, not just brown rice, to have with my nightly Rancho Gordo beans. I’m not in a rush for anything, so if it takes a little while for stuff to get here, no biggie. I got my Q4 bean shipment from Rancho Gordo yesterday, so I’m excited about that, too: this month includes black, lima, cranberry, red lentil, popcorn, black-eyed peas, and pink beans. I also pulled out some pie/galette dough, so apple galette (w/ hazelnut praline) is in the offing, along with cast iron pan pizza. And I have two spaghetti squash that need to be roasted. My kitchen is currently occupied by a friend who’s preparing to go find Bambi’s grandfather, but that just means the oven will be at temp when I need it.
Omnes Omnibus
@narya: Is Evanston developing a food scene? A college classmate of mine (well, two years before me) owns both Found and Barn in Evanston.
Kristine
@narya:
Heard about them from a friend who’s lucky enough to live in Evanston–I guess the goods sell out fast. Sunset Foods now carries them, but I need to find out if I need to place an order or if it’s FCFS. Their bread is on my wish list.
BlueStater
@Patricia Kayden: My wife (a Brit) and I had border collies for 40 years. Border collies do not have owners. They have colleagues. The relationship is negotiated. We found that where we disagreed with our Border collie, the Border collie was usually right.
narya
@Kristine: You can definitely order ahead! They use Tock, I think.
@Omnes Omnibus: Sorta kinda maybe? I think it was starting to grow and then the pandemic hit; I don’t got out for dinner these days, so I’m not sure what has survived.