Today I took Topsy the dog for a walk to see the autumn colours. We passed Vesla and the others on the way. They didn’t follow us, they were quite content where they were.
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A Bad Guide 
Ohhh! I think she’s smiling…
The picture makes me think of that dreadful Sound of Music song about a bloody goatherd. Since it seems unkind to blame wee Vesla, I blame AJP.
P.S. do dogs see in colour? I suppose that if their natural prey use camouflage, it’s a reasonable assumption. Or perhaps some poor laboratory drudge somewhere has studied the chromatic vision of dogs. Oh the pity!
What a burden: Any random goat picture might push poor Dearieme’s Lonely Goatherd button. How is Crown to know which one?
I had the same thought about color vision. I believe it is a firmly established factoid that dogs do not see in color as we do. If there is a fact behind the factoid, I wonder what it is, exactly. Maybe they have two different kinds of receptor in the retina where we have three?
Topsy’s certainly never complained, and I have colour-blind friends who like seeing the autumn colours. If Jamesssal is reading this perhaps he could give us an explanation…
I have another friend, a Norwegian, who thinks we live in Sound Of Musicland. He first said it before we even had the goats. I’ve never seen the film, but I expect they’ll be remaking it soon (so I can not see that one as well).
Julia, yes, she is smiling. We saw a man on the television news last night who looked just like Vesla.
There’s a particularly fine moment at about 8 minutes.
Not goat-related, AJP, but I don’t know how else to disclose the non-earth-shattering fact that I, pinhut, have my first blog post at LRB (on Guatemala), as they compelled the use of my real name. Feel free to speak up! Best. Pin.
Thanks for letting me know, Pin. I definitely think they ought to hire you on a full-time basis. I’ll be right over.
Thanks for getting the ball rolling.
Very interesting piece, pinhut. Revulsive issue, but it’s always better try to catch the truth. (Mrs. Conclusion would agree my argument, I believe ;-)
Dearie, that’s a goat. I don’t remember that.
I found Mrs. Premise and Mrs. Conclusion very hard to follow! I thought I could understand most types of English, but I could only get a word or two here and there. Of course, I have not spent much time in England.
But you must have followed the bits in French, m-l?
Hard to follow? It’s how dearie & I talk (he’s more Scottish).
Really? I can’t imagine you two talking in that high tone…
But I do can imagine Crown with Cleese’s hairdress!
I did follow the bits in French, but they were very few.
“I did follow the bits in French, but they were very few.” Ah, but if you can’t make out the bits that you assume are in English, how can you be sure that very few were in French?
Everybody expects the Scottish Inquisition.
I’m still not over the Scottish enlightenment.
dearieme, one’s native language is usually much more recognizable than the second one. But some of the French bits might have been obscured by the decidedly British pronunciation.
Hi, AJP, I’d love you to see the new pictures I posted on the work of a very interesting architect. I would have liked to write more about him, but at least I would like you to meet Francisco Salamone.
http://melioralatent.blogspot.com/2010/10/lo-implacable.html
¡Saludos!
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/10/gutsy-goats-caught-scaling-super-steep-dam.php
hat tip: Naked Capitalism
¡Impresionante, dearieme!
What are those goats doing up there? I mean obviously they’re eating something, but what could it be?
Thanks, Julia. I’ll be right over.
I hope they don’t let fainting goats climb up that Italian dam.
A rolling goat gathers no moss.
Goats of this breed seem to fall down when affected by certain strong emotions. One assumes that sexual excitement is not one of the emotions that has this effect, or else the breed would not still be with us.
From an article on Socrates, in the Guardian:
Is it okay for me to raise an objection to that quote?
It really reflects a modern sensibility to suggest that Socrates “probably suffered from catalepsy”. What if these episodes were actually reflections of his mental activity, or of his soul, as it were. Instead, they make it sound like some random conjunction, this particular man, this particular condition, in lieu of seeing Socrates-entranced as a single indivisible thing. Instead, these people would go back in their time machines and give him some pills. “And come back in ten days if the symptoms of having amazing ideas persists, we can always try a higher dose…”
Yeah, well said. I thought the same thing, only not as well. And if anything it should be goatalepsy.
The first Socrates joke I ever heard was in the Jimmy Edwards comedy show on the telly, Whacko! The Headmaster (Jim) had to justify ordering 50 Crates of Pale Ale. “No, look” he said, gesturing at the invoice, “it’s “Socrates” by Pali Ali””.
“And come back in ten days if the symptoms of having amazing ideas persists, we can always try a higher dose…”
A higher dose is what they ended up giving him, really.
Fifty crates is a lot of pale ale.
http://www.independent.ie/world-news/10-killed-in-stampede-at-goat-sacrifice-festival-2383801.html
Hat tip Mark Wadsworth.
What a shame, I am sure that all ten were really great people and the human race will face quite a struggle to go on without their contribution.
Yes. Thank you. Exactly.
One noteworthy feature is that in this story about hoofed animals and a stampede it seems to have been the human animals who were stampeding.
On an entirely separate note, I note that Cambridge, Massachusetts — the same place that has pioneered lampposts powered by dog shit — is now using graphics arts and the suggestion of deep-breathing exercises in an effort to change people’s feelings about parking fines. I found out firsthand when I parked near Harvard the other day and did not have enough quarters for the meter. Here’s a link. I love Cambridge and many of the things it stands for, but it is hard not to laugh or grimace or both sometimes.
It’s fine, but traffc wardens should also receive some literature, too, perhaps something that tried to wean them off impersonating members of the Third Reich. Hitler with a red cross over him and the injunction, “NO!”
And below, “If you tried to be more understanding, others might understand you too.”
Also, a good guerilla art piece would be to issue false traffic tickets to the artists who produced this work and covertly film the result.
“Wow, look how she radiates calm as he kicks that cat, swearing her head off.”
*bit of genderbending above.
Singular male artist, apparently. Yes, I wonder if he practices what he preaches.
” The boots are based on the original auto-immobilizer designed by Frank Marug, a violinist and pattern maker. This element was produced in collaboration with the Swedish conceptual craft artist Sissi Westerberg.”
“Swedish conceptual craft artist…” now there’s a niche.
I’m glad to see the citation salutation figures are not bilaterally symmetrical. That would have completely ruined it for me.
I’ve met one or two Norwegian conceptual craft artists; conceptual weavers, they are. I’m not sure they’re much different from ordinary weavers, but I suppose it’s good to have an idea before you start working on something that requires a lot of preparation.
You know, I was thinking the very same thing.
I imagined a Swedish conceptual craft artist returning from an exchange with their Norwegian counterparts and lamenting, “There was absolutely NO common ground…”