Weasels in Space

These dogs don’t give two fucks

I think it says something about humans that every single year there is a 15 minute performance of golden retrievers sedately walking around and sitting patiently, and every year it fills an entire 6,000 seat arena

chihuahuas and pit bulls both just bring out people's inability to be normal about dogs

I swear it's about intersectional power dynamics. They're both dog breeds especially popular among the poor, and within the poor they are especially popular with PoC, and then you get the sexism elements associated with Chis on top of all of it.

They're dogs, y'all. That's really all they are. I swear.

You may be on to something, but I think it's more than that, or else dogs like the Bolognese would be more heavily stigmatized.

Pitt Bulls and Chihuahuas are two dog breeds that when raised poorly tend to have very specific behavior issues. That's not unique to those two breeds Dalmatians and Grey Hounds are high strung, Dachshunds can have very similar behaviors to Chihuahuas. The list goes on. However, I think what we're seeing is these animals being stigmatized by their bad behavior with not enough good press.

Part of that bad press is likely about the intersectional power dynamics, like you said. But part of it might also be that many of the other breeds have noble roles: racing, hunting, guarding, herding, etc. Pitt Bulls and Chihuahuas are largely known for dogfighting. Dogfighting is a shameful practice, and without other avenues for redemption in media, these two breeds end up stigmatized.

Now Chihuahuas are special because they do have a second role in the media: annoying. Chihuahuas are carried by annoying ditzy girls as their purse dog, they are given horrible accents and plastered on ads for comedic relief. We've typecast them in the media.

And it's easy to use dogs as a visual representation of traits, based on stereotypes from their breed. It just reads well. But it means that we are furthering these breeds' bad reputations on top of the real-world stigmas that already existed.

I think that part of the solution to this may be to provide those noble roles for these dogs in media. Star them in Homeward Bound esque movies, give them a role that's not dogfighting or being annoying comedic relief.

.....chihuahuas are not known for dogfighting lmao. nobody in history has ever used a chihuahua as a fighting dog. and most people who aren't really into dogs don't even know what a bolognese is so i don't think that's a great comparison.

and actually i think grison is right, at least in pit bulls' case

here's a study

as for chis, i think you're forgetting how often they've been used as racist caricatures. i mean, the old taco bell mascot is just one example. Tito from oliver and company is another.

anyway while dogfighting might play a role in pit bull hate (once again: not chihuahuas. i cannot stress this enough chihuahuas are not fighting dogs and never have been) I'd actually argue that racism plays a much bigger role than you're implying here. after all, bulldogs were also originally bred for bloodsports (although the modern english bulldogs are a far cry from their ancestors). english bull terriers were fighting dogs as well. even little boston terriers are descended from fighting dogs. and yet they are rarely, if ever, brought up in discussions of "dangerous dogs", why is that? i truly believe the answer is that they're simply less likely to be associated with poc (black and latino men specifically) in the minds of upper-middle class white americans

boston terriers, of course (I know you know this) are simply toy pit bulls. and I love 'em for it.

did you know about the pug crosses in the development English bulldog or were you the person who told me about it in the first place? genuinely cannot remember, scattered brain is scattered

watching gen z and millennials make fun of gen alpha has been torturous. "But they're actually stupid" 1. theyre middle schoolers 2. isn't that what older gens said about us? don't you remember being 11?

it truly is just "impulse reaction to cringe <- has not yet unlearned shame"

the cycle continues let me out of here

guys. guys I think we should kill cringe culture

My kids and their friends are Gen Alpha, and they are sweet, sweet kids living though appalling times.

They grew up with the most rigidly binary models of childhood that have existed in my lifetime (girl-glue, anyone?) and been viewed as their earning potential since before they could walk. They have been exploited and abandoned on the internet by their parents, have been exploited on the internet by the algorithm when they were too young to understand it. They are the first large generation of the children of Mommy bloggers, anti-vaxxers, trad wives, and quiverful types.

They’ve survived a pandemic, and had it cut through their schooling in a way that has been enormously traumatic. They have the smallest outdoor range of any generation to date. In their lifetime, climate change has become violently real, socioeconomic disparity has only increased, reactionary movements have increased, and rights that we’ve taken for granted have been rolled back. They are the generation of British trans kids taking their lives on the now-static youth GIC waiting lists. The American trans kids who are watching their very existence become illegal. They are the generation of creative kids whose arts and humanities funding has been cut to the bone. A generation who have grown up watching soft-lit, queer friendly cartoons, walking out in to a world of violent trans and homophobia.

They are depressed, anxious, afraid. Their aspirations are low, their hopes for the future fragile.

They are clever, and creative, and charming, and brave. And they are KIDS.

Be nice to them, they’re dealing with a lot.

They are clever, and

creative, and charming, and

brave. And they are KIDS.

Beep boop! I look for accidental haiku posts. Sometimes I mess up.

no but Buck's first thought of open queer joy and clear request was that he wanted to dance at his sister's wedding with someone (which still hasn't happened) and now we find out that Eddie enjoys dancing when it's not competitive. if I think too much about the simple joys and whimsy they have that simply align with each other I might need to lie down on a pavement.

okay though but here's my question: can Buck dance at all beyond the obligatory White Person Shuffle? because imagine Eddie trying to teach him. do you have ANY IDEA how fun queer same-sex partner dancing can be when you can fluidly switch lead and follow whenever the hell you want instead of being assigned to role by gender?!

Radical Feminist theory has no home in Intersectional theory. Radical Feminism is practically innately antithetical to Intersectional Feminism. The ideas and criticism that would create the framework of Intersectional Feminism pre-Kimberlé Crenshaw came to be as a near direct result of questioning Radical Feminist practices and ideology.

Audre Lorde, bell hooks, Angela Y. Davis, Judith Butler, Leslie Feinberg, all wrote/have written in ways that challenge and defy the core principles of Radical Feminist dogma. Kimberlé Crenshaw created terminology, Intersectionality, to envelope it all. People like Patricia Hill Collins, Mikki Kendall, Roxane Gay, Kate Bornstein, Leah Thomas, and Emi Koyama continue to write in ways that challenge Radical Feminist ideology - half the time purely by the nature of their framework.

You don't need Radical Feminism. Radical Feminism is not your friend. It will never be your friend. There is better Feminism out there - I promise you.

The Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute has done extraordinary work, especially these last three years, in translating major works of Ukrainian literature. It is very worthy of support.

I have a trade deficit with my car repair guy because I paid him 400$ to repair my bumper and he doesn't subscribe to my Patreon.

We should probably go to war with the gas station across the street.

Torn between declaring war on the grocery store for inflating the trade deficit between us by raising egg prices and the painful realization that this brings me way closer than I'm comfortable with to the guy wearing the Pikachu hat and weeping in the Costco because they won't let him bring his unsheathed katana into the store with him.

I've been following what's been going on with Belphie the kitten and his person, Greer Stothers, has just mentioned pet insurance in a tag on a post and I wanted to give an example from my life backing up why pet insurance can be a good idea and why I think it is worthwhile.

Two years ago my sister's dog had bloat while she was on vacation. The kennel he was staying at recognized symptoms and called my sister to clear them to take him to the emergency vet. My sister is very financially secure and this dog is an enormous part of her life, so she said yes with barely a moment of hesitation. That ended up being about twelve thousand dollars of emergency surgery.

Large Bastard and I got pet insurance for Tiny Bastard the same week because we realized that if someone had presented that option to us, we would have had no choice but to have Tiny Bastard put down, and we didn't want to be put in that position.

I did a lot of research about different kinds of pet insurance and different levels of coverage and annual maximums and deductibles and so on and so forth. Tiny Bastard is a senior dog, so this was going to be expensive no matter what options we went with, so I chose a moderately priced plan with a $500 annual deductible, unlimited annual coverage, that pays 80% of the bills incurred annually below the maximum. What that means is that we pay the first $500 of care totally out of pocket, after which point we are reimbursed 80% of any vet bills for care covered by the plan.

The first year we had this plan I was kind of iffy about it. It's a noticeable monthly expense and we didn't even spend the deductible in vet bills the first year. Except that a month before the policy was set to renew, Tiny Bastard got diagnosed with diabetes. We now have monthly insulin costs and syringe costs; there are tests she has to have regularly to monitor her overall condition and we need to do more frequent vet visits to track symptoms.

Suddenly the insulin alone means that the insurance is break-even within six months and the additional visits and tests are something we can afford instead of something we'd have to put on credit.

Our plan (through ManyPets) covers medication, surgery, diagnostics, medical equipment, and euthanasia and cremation. It doesn't cover pre-existing conditions, joint conditions for dogs who were signed up over a certain age, dental care, spay/neuter, vaccinations, or prescription food but honestly all of that makes me just kind of wish we'd signed her up earlier - her knee problems *would* be covered if we'd had her signed up as a puppy, and the monthly cost would have been lower if we'd signed her up then. And there are at least a few emergency vet bills that I wouldn't still be paying off on my credit card. Hell, I've probably paid more in interest on some bruising she got in a fight three years ago than I have for this policy as a whole.

I am glad that Greer is able to take care of Belphie. I am glad that my sister was able to take care of her dog. But I'm also really, really glad that for a relatively low cost, I would be able to take care of Tiny Bastard if she were catastrophically injured, or if she needed emergency surgery. I'm glad that I'm able to take care of her now with her medications and her additional vet visits.

There are a lot of people who say that pet insurance isn't worth it, especially not for young animals. But if your young animal gets very sick, or gets badly injured, or eats a hairband and needs an emergency endoscopy, then it will probably be VERY worth it. It's a risk/reward question. You feel like you're wasting money if you're paying for a policy that you never use, but honestly that just means you're lucky to have a healthy pet.

I'm lucky that Tiny Bastard was relatively healthy before I got the insurance; I'm also lucky that she was insured when she was diagnosed with a chronic illness that will need lifelong care. This enables me to provide care for her that would otherwise be financially unmanageable, and that makes the insurance *extremely worth it* from my perspective.

And Belphie is a good example of why it's a good idea to get coverage even for very young pets. Greer is recommending it because this kitten has required a tremendous amount of care during a period in his life when it's generally taken for granted that a cat will be healthy. (And Greer is not stupid for forgoing pet insurance - pet insurance is still a relatively new concept and there are lots of people who are leery of it for a number of good reasons)

So I'd say that if you've got a pet or are getting a pet it is very worthwhile to find a pet insurance plan that fits in your budget. There are a variety of plans out there and some are very inexpensive. Check coverage levels (you can even get some with wellness plans that include dental care and vaccinations) and see if there's something that works for you.

I personally don't think I'm ever going to own another pet without having pet insurance. It's ridiculous how much easier it is for me to say yes to diagnostic tests or different treatments than it was before because I know I'm going to be able to fit Tiny Bastard's care into our budget.

For another example, if you want one: Matilda got that cat claw in her face that needed surgical removal when she was four months old--not much older than Belphegor! Over the summer, her treatment to identify the source of recurring facial abscesses, assess the odds that there might be a foreign body in her face, multiple bacterial cultures and a full CT scan to assess potential involvement with other tissues has easily come to $10,000+. Like Belphegor, Matilda was a deliberately purchased puppy from a responsible breeder, and her foreign body is an example of a recurring health problem that was a) totally non-genetic in origin and b) not really preventable with husbandry best practices.

(FIP is a novel mutation of extremely common feline coronaviruses and probably came in on the URI Greer's cats all got at once; they are really infectious and most cats catch them early. The cat claw in Matilda's face happened when she was whacked in the face by a cat in the household, a pretty normal interaction between a cat and puppy that happened to have the extraordinary bad luck of breaking a tiny sliver of nail inside her face.)

I'm irritated with Trupanion right now and idly contemplating Pet's Best, I think it was, for future animals. But I also would not own another pet without insurance unless I felt that the pet's quality of life was such that I could recommend euthanasia without hating myself for it in grief. I have seen insurance open up so many options when stuff that can't be planned for otherwise just happens anyway.

Have you looked into Pet’s Best much more since then? I’m in the market for pet insurance for two young cats and am not sure where to start.

I have not; all my pet energy has really been going to easing the end of Tribble's life lately, and I have too many pre existing conditions on the existing critters to make a switch right now. I had intended to do more in depth research the next time I was considering adding an animal to the household, but that will not be happening until a) either Arthur or Ishka passes (we're not sure Arthur could handle being an only cat but his pica management is also an ongoing household strain), b) Tribble passes, c) the ongoing political fascist emergency in the US either seriously improves or my funding runs out/my current work is published and we leave the US to settle elsewhere. So it hasn't been a huge priority thus far, is really my point there.

I would welcome additional experiences from followers, though!

Benoit Blanc is my favorite kind of detective story character

He is a goofy lil guy

Who fuckin hates injustice

He isn't motivated by some obsession with law or punishment

He is motivated by equal parts a mind that loves trying to solve a puzzle and a heart that has compassion for people and is appalled by those who are genuinely terrible people

Much like two of my other fave sleuths, Charlie Cale and Jessica Fletcher, he's got an uncanny knack for puzzling out mysteries and also a good heart

He's also eccentric and silly he's not dark and brooding and cruel he's this goofy motherfucker and he doesn't care he isn't brooding in some mancave between cases he's playing Among Us with his friends in the bath tub

<3 and hell yes, you can tell that Craig has more fun playing him than he ever did playing Bond honestly, he's a JOY in these movies and I hope they never stop making them as long as he wants to do them :D <3

I still need to watch Glass Onion, but yes to all this!

HE SPARKS JOY <3

Agree

Give us more Benoit Blanc we crave this :D

The ONLY worse possibility than governor hotwheels running for senate

ALRIGHT DEMS WHO ARE WE NOMINATING TO BEAT THIS FUCKER

*mutters obscenities at Beto*

This could actually be a pretty good thing. Local Dems are fairly cheerful: they'd much rather run against Paxton, a known lunatic with a history of corruption, than against John Cornyn.

You have to understand, you don't see Cornyn in the news as much as Cruz outside the state but in many ways he is much worse. John Cornyn has been the Senator for Texas for over twenty years, and he is widely respected and at the middle of an extraordinarily corrupt network largely paid for and controlled by Big Oil executives. He is an Institution, and he has the connections, contacts, and power within the GOP Senate that goes with that. Cornyn does not bother to execute basic services that Congressional delegates are required to offer for free to constituents, such as checking on stalled USCIS petitions; he comes across as utterly milquetoast but he was a wildly reactionary new Senator in his day, before Cruz.

Just taking him out, even if replaced by a deeply homophobic windbag who is going to be equally obsequious to Trump's every demand, would be a win electorally. I swear. The man was McConnell's whip from 2013 through 2015, and he still is a particular counselor to the current Senate majority leader and a deputy whip; he is not a junior senator who could be exchanged for just any weirdo.

*shrugs* At the very least, they'll both have to bleed out their campaign funds on fighting one another while the Dem candidate--Colin Allred, maybe--sits back and snacks on popcorn until the primary concludes.

I love it when a news article about rats is clearly talking about trained rats of some description, but the headline doesn't specify that. "Rats are disarming bombs" what, of their own initiative?

it's always the gambian pouched rats too, never like. normal rats.

gambian pouched rats are like the size of cats so it seems strange to just call them rats without further clarification I AM JUST SAYING

Yeah that makes s-what did you say

oh

okay

(photo source : https://www.npr.org/sections/goats-and-soda/2024/06/13/g-s1-4277/rats-africa-heroes-search-and-rescue-mines-tb)

I love it when a news article about rats is clearly talking about trained rats of some description, but the headline doesn't specify that. "Rats are disarming bombs" what, of their own initiative?

it's always the gambian pouched rats too, never like. normal rats.

gambian pouched rats are like the size of cats so it seems strange to just call them rats without further clarification I AM JUST SAYING

Time to buy more King Arthur Flour!

If you need more reason to support them, they’re worker owned.

Also they actually are working on regenerative agriculture:

Also they do blog articles about adaptive baking:

You know, way too often I find articles talking about how the maker of some product I use is actually Evil. It's really nice to get the opposite.