Michael Jackson dead

Details here. Waiting for the world reaction.

The return of scoodog's blog

Readers: I am happy to report the return of scoodog's blog. I had a talk with Scooter tonight and we agreed that the blog would no longer be called "The Leona Helmsley Memorial Blog" -- a screenshot of which is shown below for posterity. Long live scoodog's blog!

Trouble

THIS IS SCOOTER AND I AM THE DOG WHO THIS BLOG IS NAMED AFTER AND EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY "SCOODOG'S BLOG" IS BEING RENAMED "THE LEONA HELMSLEY MEMORIAL BLOG" BECAUSE LEONA LEFT $2 MILLION TO HER DOG TROUBLE (AND NOTHING TO TWO OF HER GRANDCHILDREN FOR "REASONS THAT ARE KNOWN TO THEM") AND I ALSO THINK THAT MONEY SHOULD BE GIVEN TO DOGS WHENEVER HUMANLY POSSIBLE AND THIS IS SCOOTER.

Have a Coke and a smile -- and some tissue damage and diabetes

That nasty (but cheap!) artificial sweetener, high-fructose corn syrup, continues to make news -- and perhaps diabetes.

And yes -- I declare that the sweetener in Coke, Pepsi, Mountain Dew and many other sweetened foods and drinks is indeed artificial! It's corn syrup that has been put through chemical reactions. It's certainly not sugar. Sugar is expensive, relatively speaking. And in this day and age of maximizing profits, the bottom line is what really matters, right?

Researchers have found new evidence that soft drinks sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup contain high levels of reactive compounds that have the potential to trigger cell and tissue damage that could cause diabetes, which is at epidemic levels these days.

Full story here.

The beat goes on

New iPods are to be announced next Wednesday at a scheduled press conference. What surprises does Apple have up its sleeve?

What do you see?

Two photos of peeling paint and rust spots on an outside door to a garage. But as with clouds, I see something else. What do you see?

Why dogs don't live as long as people

Special thanks to my dear friend Cherry for forwarding me the following story...

Being a veterinarian, I had been called to examine a ten-year-old Irish Wolfhound named Belker. The dog's owners, Ron, his wife Lisa, and their little boy Shane were all very much attached to Belker and were hoping for a miracle.

I examined Belker and found he was dying of cancer. I told the family we couldn't do anything for Belker, and offered to perform the euthanasia procedure for the old dog in their home.

As we made arrangements, Ron and Lisa told me they thought it would be good for the four-year-old Shane to observe the procedure. They felt Shane might learn something from the experience.

The next day, I felt the familiar catch in my throat as Belker's family surrounded him. Shane seemed so calm, petting the old dog for the last time, that I wondered if he understood what was going on. Within a few minutes, Belker slipped peacefully away. The little boy seemed to accept Belker's transition without any difficulty or confusion.

We sat together for a while after Belker's death, wondering aloud about the sad fact that animal lives are shorter than human lives. Shane, who had been listening quietly, piped up, "I know why."

Startled, we all turned to him. What came out of his mouth next, stunned me. I'd never heard a more comforting explanation.

He said, "People are born so that they can learn how to live a good life—like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?"

The four-year-old continued, "Well, dogs already know how to do that, so they don't have to stay as long."

Coolness

On a day when the St. Louis temperature hit 100+ degrees (again), it's time for something cool, courtesy of Mark's dog Andy.

DOG STOLEN -- NEED HELP

Update (7:00 PM): The dog is safe and home. Details here. Original posting below.

The neighbor of a friend of mine's bulldog boxer was stolen from his yard last night, about 12 hours ago. Maplewood. The guy saw a white car speeding away from the house and then put things together when the dog was nowhere to be found in the yard. The dog is extremely sweet and wouldn't gave run off on his own.

HOW YOU CAN HELP: Since it's within the first day, there may be some specific things we can do that otherwise cannot be done outside of such a window of time. I'm looking for specific ideas to pass along to my friend's neighbor that may help him recover his poor dog. Please add a comment to this posting of any ideas you may have.

Having fun at Toys 'R' Us

What do you get when you combine three hyper children, one hyper adult and a Toys 'R' Us store? Below are some hints; find out more by viewing the whole gallery of photos here.

20 years for Vick?

Court papers for Michael Vick said that he and his two accomplices executed eight dogs by methods such as hanging and drowning. These were dogs who did not perform well in testing sessions for Bad Newz Kennels, Vick's illegal dogfighting operation.

Makes me sick.

According to CNN, Vick has two choices: accept a guilty plea deal and serve a minimum one year in prison, or face further charges punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

I hope he doesn't accept the plea.

He needs to spend a lot more time in prison than one year.

Imagine

Today I listened -- really listened -- to the words of John Lennon's "Imagine." Quite beautiful -- and dreamy.

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

In memory of Aunt Mildred

Aunt Mildred passed away this morning. The photo below, of her and my nephew Willie, was taken on June 23 at a family reunion. She was a sweet person.

scoodog's blog is on vacation... sort of

Okay, I'm not going fishin'. But that's close. I'm off to Branson, Missouri this morning for a few days of get-away with my sister-in-law, niece and nephews. But... thanks to the power of modern technology, YOU can be there, too.. kind of! Watch this space for live updates on the goings-on... But, please, don't sit at your computer 24x7 constantly hitting refresh... if you really wanted to come along that much, you should have let us know!!

UPDATE: The trip has ended. Here is the archive of the trip messages, in reverse-chronological order, captured about 30 minutes after the trip ended. Click for readable versions!

On a related note, it was a lot of fun to track fun moments of the trip!! So much fun that I'm continuing it, at random points during my life. So check out scoodog's mini-blog on the right-hand-side of scoodog's blog... you never know what you'll find... unless you happen to be me. :)

Remembering Tom Synder

Leave it to those Dang Gnats!™ to pay the nicest tribute to "The Tomorrow Show" host Tom Synder...
BWA-HA HA-HA HA! The strip continues here and here...