Today I was sitting in a waiting room. Everything was blending into mindlessness when I realized I was getting really irritated. It took me a minute to realize that the source of my irritation was the canned music being piped into the room. So I went outside and was greeted by "Bad Moon Rising" drifting across the parking lot from a car dealership.
This got me thinking, every where we go is music. All sorts of music, rock, adult, punk, 60's, bee-bop. Occasionally we are someplace where they are piping in the news or talk radio. Even my office cafeteria has a TV that is perpetually tuned to Fox News.
I remember a time in my life when I could sit down at an establishment and not have my auditory canal bombarded by something. Or is that just my imagination? Have I always been forced to listen to canned noise and I have just forgotten because it is so ubiquitious?
Why do public areas do this? Is there some marketing strategy behind forcing people to listen to Micheal Bolton, The Rolling Stones and crew. Does it increase sales or does it reduce lingering?
I know that when I go to a coffee shop, such as Starbucks, I refuse to sit inside if the music is more than a whisper. I would rather sit in my car with the windows up than be subjugated to their idea of music - whether I agree it's music or not.
And some of us can't sit in a quiet car anymore, or in a quiet house. Now we have to buy "White Noise" machines that pump in static or surf or rain sounds. My wife even bought an iPhone app that plays a sound the programers claim sounds like an A/C window unit, and she listens to it when she goes to bed.
Is that necessity or conditioning, that even in our sleep we need some sort of noise to beat a rhythm on our ear drum...
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
Stray dog round up
"April 15th to May 15th - Illegal Period for Dogs Running at Large
It shall be unlawful for any owner or custodian of any dog to allow any dog to run at large in the County of Amelia during the period of April 15th to May 15th of each calendar year. A dog shall be deemed to run at large while roaming, running or self-hunting off the property of the owner or custodian and not under the owner or custodian's immediate control."
- Amelia County Animal Control
Both sides of my family are farmers but my parents left that life behind and I have lived in a city or suburban environment ever since, until, that is, my wife and I moved to Amelia. Of course, by Amelia standards, we live in a suburban area (Rural Residential (RR)), not on farm land or in the country (Agricultural (A)) but to us, we live in farm country.
**the difference between RR and A zoned land lies in the number and type of animals you can have per acre, buildings, waste disposal, etc with A being more or less ungoverned**
Amelia is a great place and we have been loving the local culture. One piece of that culture is a local newspaper, The Monitor. In this month's issue of The Monitor there was an article reminding everyone to round up your dogs and to make sure they are licensed and their rabies shots are up to date. Dogs that are picked up are held for five days and then, if not claimed, are put up for adoption. During the adoption period they can still be claimed by their owners until an adoption is finalized, after that, little Billy's Spot is now Jo Bob's Patch. Dogs that are not adopted are, well, Animal Control is not specific so anything I say would be speculation.
So I read this piece, which shared the front page of The Monitor with two stories on the local school system, and one on a local wildfire (I love reading a paper with no crime or scandal on the front page), and the first thing that came to mind was - there must be a problem with stray dogs. And then I thought - well, this is an efficient solution, no haggling with the public, no public service campaign, just set a 4 week period to gather up every dog you can find. Anyone who cares about their dog will take precautions and those who don't probably were not taking care of the animal anyway.
But now I want to know, what about cats. I know of a feral cat colony not far from where we live with a population of about 35 (according to the local gossip). From past experience, I know a feral cat colony can decimate an environment. My mothers neighborhood was over run by a feral colony for a couple of years. The cats hurt and maimed domesticated cats and small dogs, got in the trash and there was not a squirrel or bird to be found in the area for most of that period. It took a coordinated effort among neighbors and a dedicated vet to capture and neuter as many of the cats as they could catch. The effort expended itself after they had neutered 98 cats. As far as I know, no one ever determined the actual population size so I don't know what percentage of the population 98 cats was, but today there are squirrels to be seen and bird feeders are emptied daily.
I understand that a pack of stray dogs can be more than a nuisance for farmers. Once, when I was visiting family in Kentucky, I have watched a pack chase dairy cows through a field. And I understand that dogs can inspire a greater fear in people than cats, Stephen King never wrote a horror novel about a house cat after all. But every where I have lived, people seem to be able to ignore or forgive the damage that a large, unmonitored population of cats can cause while taking measured actions against the threat of harm from an unmonitored population of dogs.
Why is that? It's not just because of the cute kitten posters sold to children and sentimental adults, there are just as many cute puppy posters out there. And I do not think it has anything to do with the relative size of each species. So what is it?
It shall be unlawful for any owner or custodian of any dog to allow any dog to run at large in the County of Amelia during the period of April 15th to May 15th of each calendar year. A dog shall be deemed to run at large while roaming, running or self-hunting off the property of the owner or custodian and not under the owner or custodian's immediate control."
- Amelia County Animal Control
Both sides of my family are farmers but my parents left that life behind and I have lived in a city or suburban environment ever since, until, that is, my wife and I moved to Amelia. Of course, by Amelia standards, we live in a suburban area (Rural Residential (RR)), not on farm land or in the country (Agricultural (A)) but to us, we live in farm country.
**the difference between RR and A zoned land lies in the number and type of animals you can have per acre, buildings, waste disposal, etc with A being more or less ungoverned**
Amelia is a great place and we have been loving the local culture. One piece of that culture is a local newspaper, The Monitor. In this month's issue of The Monitor there was an article reminding everyone to round up your dogs and to make sure they are licensed and their rabies shots are up to date. Dogs that are picked up are held for five days and then, if not claimed, are put up for adoption. During the adoption period they can still be claimed by their owners until an adoption is finalized, after that, little Billy's Spot is now Jo Bob's Patch. Dogs that are not adopted are, well, Animal Control is not specific so anything I say would be speculation.
So I read this piece, which shared the front page of The Monitor with two stories on the local school system, and one on a local wildfire (I love reading a paper with no crime or scandal on the front page), and the first thing that came to mind was - there must be a problem with stray dogs. And then I thought - well, this is an efficient solution, no haggling with the public, no public service campaign, just set a 4 week period to gather up every dog you can find. Anyone who cares about their dog will take precautions and those who don't probably were not taking care of the animal anyway.
But now I want to know, what about cats. I know of a feral cat colony not far from where we live with a population of about 35 (according to the local gossip). From past experience, I know a feral cat colony can decimate an environment. My mothers neighborhood was over run by a feral colony for a couple of years. The cats hurt and maimed domesticated cats and small dogs, got in the trash and there was not a squirrel or bird to be found in the area for most of that period. It took a coordinated effort among neighbors and a dedicated vet to capture and neuter as many of the cats as they could catch. The effort expended itself after they had neutered 98 cats. As far as I know, no one ever determined the actual population size so I don't know what percentage of the population 98 cats was, but today there are squirrels to be seen and bird feeders are emptied daily.
I understand that a pack of stray dogs can be more than a nuisance for farmers. Once, when I was visiting family in Kentucky, I have watched a pack chase dairy cows through a field. And I understand that dogs can inspire a greater fear in people than cats, Stephen King never wrote a horror novel about a house cat after all. But every where I have lived, people seem to be able to ignore or forgive the damage that a large, unmonitored population of cats can cause while taking measured actions against the threat of harm from an unmonitored population of dogs.
Why is that? It's not just because of the cute kitten posters sold to children and sentimental adults, there are just as many cute puppy posters out there. And I do not think it has anything to do with the relative size of each species. So what is it?
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