31 Oct 2009
Halloween Sheep

We certainly didn't intend this, but our barn is the perfect horror venue for sheep on this All Hallows Eve...

We have three sheep currently in our medical stall - one belongs to my friend Tim: we're keeping 16 of his sheep for a month to give his pasture a break.

She ripped off most of the skin on her snout, right down to the skull. This happened about four weeks ago, so the wound itself is healed, but her skull bone is still visible, and probably always will be. We nicknamed her "Scarface".

About a week ago we brought Jihad in - at first we thought it was mastitis, but finally came to the conclusion that Neo the mini-horse had trampled her. Neo has a new home now - we couldn't tolerate that kind of behavior no matter how cute he was. She's pretty beat up and sore, and when sheep get that way they tend not to eat. We've practically had to force feed her - we think she'll recover but right now she's positively skeletal.

And finally, what did we find this morning but Stubby, our oldest ewe and a Horned Dorset, literally covered with blood. She had removed one of her horns! Probably either got it caught in the fence or (more likely) by butting heads with another ewe or wether. She'll be fine, but horns have a lot of blood vessels, and she looks like an extra in one of the chainsaw massacre movies.

The rest of the flock keeps coming over to the gates and gawking at the three wounded girls, then moving on out to the paddocks, just like people do when they visit a seasonal "haunted house". I wonder if they know it's Halloween?

20:43 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

Irrational Decisions – Anchoring and Arbitrary Coherence

Now this is absurd - but apparently quite accurate. Scary and fascinating ...

Professor Ariely describes some experiments which demonstrated something he calls “arbitrary coherence”. Basically it means that once you contemplate a decision or actually make a decision, it will heavily influence your subsequent decisions. That’s the coherence part. Your brain will try to keep your decisions consistent with previous decisions you have made.

(link) [The Rat Race Trap]

20:26 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

This Is Your Brain on Kafka

Q: How many Zen monks does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Two - one to prepare the dinner and the other to fill the bathtub with brightly colored machine tools.

Tomato guppy!

Does absurdist literature make you smarter? Giraffe carpet cleaner, it does!

(link) [Miller-McCune News Blog]

20:22 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link