Archive for July, 2013
I had a dream that a man stormed in to my house to announce that he was starting a convoluted legal process to abduct me. I wasn’t happy about it, but went along with it at first as I thought he was the same man that had abducted a work colleague, and this was a chance to save them.
As part of the legal process, I was evicted from my house, without any of my property except clothing, for 24 hours. I informed the man that he had to record weather updates for my hobby radio station in my absence, and then left. It was nearly 5pm and I realised that work would be expecting me at any moment, but without my phone I could not inform them that I would not be coming in as I was being abducted.
The next thing I knew, I was hiding in a cupboard so that the court-appointed pre-abduction psychiatrist couldn’t find me. Unfortunately the cupboard did not have a door, but only a curtain, which the psychiatrist stuck her nose through.
Suddenly I realised I was sharing the cupboard with a dingo. The dingo scared the psychiatrist away and then kept me company. I gave the nice dingo a pat. The dingo seemed to enjoy this.
A short time later, one of the dingo’s army friends came over and told me he could help me with my abduction problem. The dingo trusted him, and that was good enough for me.
Alas I was then woken up by a phone call and did not find out how the dream ended, but based on the fact that I was feeling safe for the first time in the dream in the presence of the dingo and his army friend, I suspect the dream may have ended well. Either that, or it would have cut away to another semi-related scene without any sort of resolution.
Samuel
-35.232977149.165809
July 30th, 2013 at 01:51am
Today’s Fairfax Radio News national 12pm eastern bulletin had an interesting story about how dogs can help people to de-stress at the end of a busy day. It featured a vet by the name of Dr. David Neck who was talking about how going to the park with your dog can be fun for both you and the dog.
No problems so far, and I have to admit that it wasn’t the content of the story which caught my attention as, seeing as I have dogs, the fact that it can be fun to play with dogs is not news to me. What caught my attention was the name of the vet. Dr. Neck? Really? For some reason there seem to be a lot of medical professionals with body parts in their name. Dr. Andrew Foote (not spelled “foot”, but it’s pronounced “foot”) is a prominent doctor here in Canberra who pops up in the media regularly, and there are others in various news reports around the world. This always seems to catch my attention for some reason and I wanted to check if I had misheard it.
It seems that I heard correctly. Dr. David Neck is a vet in Cottesloe in Western Australia. With that out of the way, I went in search of the story which I had heard in the news…but I couldn’t find it from a Google News search. That’s not uncommon, especially for press releases which are released to the media on a weekend when fewer staff are on-hand in most places and insignificant press releases are more likely to be ignored.
A general search for the story did lead me to something rather odd. It seems to have disappeared from the website recently, but Google cached the website of the Australian Veterinary Association on the 8th of July, which is just short of three weeks ago. At that time, the website carried a press release dated Wednesday, 25 July 2012 which is very familiar.
Media release
Furry friends help humans to de-stress
Wednesday, 25 July 2012
With Lifeline’s Stress Down Day coming up on 27 July, the Australian Veterinarian Association (AVA) is reminding people how important pets are in keeping us healthy and happy.
“Research shows that people who own pets are healthier and happier as they provide a sense of well-being and allow people to feel a part of their community said Dr David Neck, President of the Australian Small Animal Veterinary Association, a special interest group of the AVA.
“Those who live in cities and have stressful jobs can really benefit from having a four legged friend to come home to.
“A pet staring up at you when you come home asking for that pat of recognition can help to put everything in perspective.
“I get a real kick out of being greeted by my dog Fonti at the end of a hard day.
“Her affection is boundless. She offers love, companionship and a non-judgemental ear, all for a bit of food and attention.”
For many people one of the best ways to de-stress is through regular moderate exercise, which is exactly the sort of exercise you get interacting with your devoted companion.
“Walking your pet in your neighbourhood gives you a strong appreciation of your environment and gets you out talking to others who are doing the same thing.”
Dr Neck said that like humans, animals need to interact and communicate in order to remain healthy.
“This becomes a win win. Pets need regular exercise, socialisation, a healthy diet and love and attention and they’ll give back four-fold.
“It’s important to ensure you can provide all of these things before getting a pet and choose the right pet to suit your lifestyle.”
It continues after this with various links to websites of the Australian Veterinary Association, and phone numbers for media enquiries…but doesn’t that sound very much like the story which I heard on the radio this afternoon? It is effectively the same story. Dogs are nice. Exercise is beneficial for humans and dogs. Exercising with your dog will help you to de-stress. Dr. Neck has plenty of quotes. It’s the same story!
So, my question is, was the press release re-issued this year? Or did Fairfax Radio News recycle it with a grab of Dr. Neck from last year. I find the latter scenario highly unlikely, but then I also can’t see why roughly the same press release would be issued almost exactly a year after the original press release.
It has been a bit of an odd few days for news reports of insignificant things. Among other things:
The list goes on, but I can only take so many pointless studies at a time before I start to yearn for my tax dollars to be spent on more useful things…and besides which, if we give it a year, a whole new set of studies will tell us the opposite of these studies, and tell us the same things as these studies. I wonder if we will also hear about the benefits of going for a run with the dog in a year from now?
Samuel
July 27th, 2013 at 01:15pm
It looks like my absent-mindedness in forgetting to put in my tips last night has cost me a bit in terms of the margin of the NRL matches as well.
Cowboys V Broncos -2
Bulldogs V Eels -28
Dragons V Raiders
Titans V Rabbitohs
Warriors V Storm
Sharks V Panthers
Knights V Roosters
Tigers V Sea Eagles
Samuel
July 27th, 2013 at 12:39pm
Oh dear. I was so busy yesterday that I completely forgot to submit my footy tips, and then when I woke up from a nap I realised the football was almost over and it was just about time for me to go to work. To make matters worse, last night’s match was a flogging, and the rules do state that if I fail to submit a tip for a match, I lose whatever the margin is of that match. Oh well.
Essendon V Hawthorn -56
Gold Coast V Carlton
Melbourne V North Melbourne
Collingwood V GWS
Fremantle V Adelaide
Geelong V St. Kilda
Port Adelaide V Brisbane
Western Bulldogs V Adelaide
Sydney V Richmond
Samuel
July 27th, 2013 at 12:28pm
Tigers V Warriors
Raiders V Eels
Roosters V Sharks
Panthers V Knights
Sea Eagles V Titans
Rabbitohs V Dragons
Samuel
-35.232441149.162136
July 19th, 2013 at 05:12pm
North Melbourne V Carlton
Hawthorn V Western Bulldogs
GWS V Essendon
Gold Coast V Collingwood
St. Kilda V Port Adelaide
Melbourne V Brisbane
Richmond V Fremantle
Adelaide V Geelong
West Coast V Sydney
Samuel
-35.232973149.165804
July 19th, 2013 at 04:58pm
Broncos V Sharks
Eels V Panthers
Bulldogs V Storm
Cowboys V Sea Eagles
Samuel
July 12th, 2013 at 03:24pm
Collingwood V Adelaide
Port Adelaide V Hawthorn
Geelong V Melbourne
Richmond V Gold Coast
Carlton V St. Kilda
Brisbane V North Melbourne
Sydney V GWS
Western Bulldogs V Essendon
West Coast V Fremantle
Samuel
July 12th, 2013 at 03:22pm
Storm V Broncos
Sharks V Tigers
Dragons V Roosters
Titans V Panthers
Raiders V Cowboys
Bulldogs V Knights
Rabbitohs V Warriors
Sea Eagles V Eels
Samuel
July 5th, 2013 at 12:19pm
Carlton V Collingwood
GWS V Western Bulldogs
North Melbourne V Richmond
Brisbane V Gold Coast
Geelong V Hawthorn
Adelaide V West Coast
Melbourne V Sydney
Fremantle V St. Kilda
Essendon V Port Adelaide
Samuel
July 5th, 2013 at 12:16pm