Protecting Animals But Not Humans
Nicholas Johnson
The Gazette, August 6, 2021, p. A5
Why does the law permit evicting the mammalian species Homo sapiens from shelter, but not mammalians like dogs and cats?
Of course, I support laws protecting animals’ rights. I love and attempt communication with all creatures. (Fish and ants are the most obstinate.) Increasing penalties and enforcement for animal mistreatment are encouraging.
But an Aspen Institute analysis reveals 30 to 40 million American Homo sapiens are at risk of eviction.
This is made worse by COVID. We knew since January 2020 COVID elimination is possible (test, trace, quarantine, isolate). Some elected officials preferred the path that produced 600,000 deaths.
Vaccine creation was appropriately celebrated. But vaccine in bottles is much less effective than vaccine in arms.
Rather than vaccination, some of our “leaders” prefer our “freedom” to choose risk of death to ourselves and others. So, more die.
Meanwhile, 7000 miles away in Wuhan, China, all 11 million residents are being tested. Since May 2020 Wuhan eliminated positive cases. Recently, when three symptomatic and five asymptomatic cases popped up, they resumed test, trace, isolate and quarantine.
Evictions in China? Yes, housing is a challenge for migrants. But during the 2020 lockdown Wuhan built shelters for about 5000 persons.
Like Americans, the Chinese have even more concern for animals. Bloomberg reports they are building 13-story condominiums for hogs to protect them from disease – with on-premises vets and individually prepared and served meals.
It’s unlikely that capitalist America will ever provide the housing for humans that China provides for hogs.
But can’t our Democrats and Republicans, the religious and agnostics alike, at least agree to provide every member of our species with shelter? It’s what we insist on for our fellow mammalians. It’s what the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says is a basic human right.
So how do we do that?
Start by skipping the 38 percent of Americans who own their homes free and clear. Concentrate on the 30 to 40 million who are housing insecure – starting with the homeless. [Photo credit: Wikimedia.org Creative Commons]
Iowa City’s Shelter House is building a second “housing first” facility for Homo sapiens. Housing first is a movement demonstrating why it’s more effective and cheaper to assist the homeless and unemployed with housing before addressing their other challenges. Duplicate it across America.
It’s how Finland is eliminating homelessness.
Let’s start saving life on Earth while searching for life on Mars. We spend more on military than the next 11 nations combined. It used to be 10. Cut it to five.
Explain to those devoid of compassion how much we’ll save by housing the homeless. Cost? We can’t afford not to.
Then address the housing insecure. Forbes has headlined, “Housing Shortage Worse Than Ever.”
We need the government to start creating homes, not Section 8 vouchers. Learn from the early public housing “projects” problems. Build homes tenants and communities welcome. Charge no more than 30 percent of tenants’ income.
Let’s treat our own species at least as well as we rightfully require for other animals, starting now.
.____________________
Nicholas Johnson of Iowa City is former co-director of the Institute for Health, Behavior and Environmental Policy. He is the author of "Columns of Democracy." Comments: mailbox@nicholasjohnson.org
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SOURCES
Tougher animal protection laws. Kat Russell, “Tougher law ‘step in the right direction’ for animal abuse cases,” The Gazette, Aug. 2, 2021, p. A1, https://www.thegazette.com/crime-courts/tougher-law-step-in-the-right-direction-for-animal-abuse-cases/ (‘the animal abuse and neglect cases reported to Cedar Rapids police so far this year — a year that to date has seen more arrests for the offenses than in the entire four previous years.” “recent changes to the state code strengthened penalties for some of the state’s animal cruelty laws … Under House File 737, if an animal was seriously injured or killed as a result of abuse or neglect, the crime would be an aggravated misdemeanor and punishable by up to two years in prison.”) And see, Rod Boshart, “Iowa Senate adopts tougher animal cruelty law,” The Gazette, March 4, 2020, https://www.thegazette.com/article/iowa-senate-adopts-tougher-animal-cruelty-law/
Evicting Americans. Emily Benfer, et al, “The COVID-19 Eviction Crisis: an Estimated 30-40 Million People in America Are at Risk,” Aspen Institute, August 7, 2021 (“The United States may be facing the most severe housing crisis in its history. … in the absence of robust and swift intervention, an estimated 30–40 million people in America could be at risk of eviction ….”[101 M Americans in renter households] [“eviction risk disproportionately impacts black and Latinx renters, and renters with children”] [People at risk of eviction by state: Iowa 118,000-239,000] “Foreclosure can lead to a lack of maintenance, urban blight, reduced property values for neighboring properties, and erosion of neighborhood safety and stability. Without rental income to pay property tax, communities lose resources for public services, city and state governments, schools, and infrastructure ….”
See text under heading “Proposed policy interventions avoid suffering, save lives, and prevent severe harm”
Wuhan testing 11 M. Vivian Wang, “Wuhan, where the virus emerged, will test all residents after its first outbreak in over a year,” New York Times, Aug. 3, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/03/world/wuhan-china-covid-new-cases.html (Wuhan in Hubei Province) “Wuhan … is planning to test all of its 11 million residents for the coronavirus …. The city … had not recorded any local cases since May of last year, after a harsh two-and-a-half month lockdown helped eradicate the virus there. But city officials said they had detected three symptomatic local cases in the previous 24 hours, as well as five asymptomatic ones.”
Homelessness in China. “Homelessness in China,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homelessness_in_China (during the 2020 lockdown “The Wuhan Civil Affairs Bureau set up 69 shelters in the city to house 4,843 people.” “In 2017, the government responded to a deadly fire in a crowded building in Beijing by cracking down on dense illegal shared accommodations and evicting the residents, leaving many migrant laborers homeless.”)
Hog Hotels. “China’s Putting Pigs in 13-Story ‘Hog Hotels’ to Keep Germs Out,” Bloomberg News, August 1, 2021, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-01/china-s-putting-pigs-in-13-story-hog-hotels-to-keep-germs-out (“more than 10,000 pigs are kept in a condominium-style complex, complete with restricted access, security cameras, in-house veterinary services and carefully prepared meals.” Another is “equipped with robots that monitor animals for fever, air filtration, and automatic feeding and disinfection systems.”)
Owned homes. Jonathan Jones, “Cities Whose Residents Have Paid Off Their Homes [2020 Edition],” Construction Coverage, Nov. 4, 2020, https://constructioncoverage.com/research/where-residents-have-paid-off-homes (“According to Census Bureau data, over 38 percent of owner-occupied housing units are owned free and clear. For homeowners under age 65, the share of paid-off homes is 26.4 percent.”)
Housing First. “Housing First,” National Alliance to End Homelessness,” April 20, 2016, https://endhomelessness.org/resource/housing-first/ (“belief that people need basic necessities like food and a place to live before attending to anything less critical, such as getting a job, budgeting properly, or attending to substance use issues.”)
Caleb McCullough, “Shelter House breaks ground on second ‘Housing First’ project,” The Gazette, June 18, 2021, https://www.thegazette.com/news/shelter-house-breaks-ground-on-second-housing-first-project/
Finland eliminating homelessness. Tahiat Mahboob, “Housing is a human right: How Finland is eradicating homelessness,” CBC Radio, Jan 24, 2020, https://www.cbc.ca/radio/sunday/the-sunday-edition-for-january-26-2020-1.5429251/housing-is-a-human-right-how-finland-is-eradicating-homelessness-1.5437402
US military spending. “THE UNITED STATES SPENDS MORE ON DEFENSE THAN THE NEXT 11 COUNTRIES COMBINED, Peter G. Peterson Foundation, July 19, 2021, https://www.pgpf.org/blog/2021/07/the-united-states-spends-more-on-defense-than-the-next-11-countries-combined
Housing shortage. Graison Dangor, “The Housing Shortage Is Worse Than Ever—And Will Take A Decade Of Record Construction To Fix, New Reports Say,” Forbes, June 16, 2021, https://www.forbes.com/sites/graisondangor/2021/06/16/the-housing-shortage-is-worse-than-ever-and-will-take-a-decade-of-record-construction-to-fix-new-reports-say/
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August 20, 2008, 8:20, 9:10, 9:40 a.m.
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"UI Sexual Assault Update," July 19-August 9, is now being updated as a Web page, "University of Iowa Sexual Assault Controversy -- 2007-08," July 19-present.
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"What We Know That Ain't So," July 28, 2006.
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"Earthpark, Editorials and Beating Dead Horses," August 15, 2008.
"Alcohol, Three Items and a Comment," January 22, 2008.
"Media's Medicines," August 12, 2008.And see, Database Index of 500-plus blog entries
Higher Education's "Leadership"
A group of 114 college and university presidents calling themselves "higher education leaders" has formed what they call the Amethyst Initiative and "have signed their names to a public statement that the 21 year-old drinking age is not working, and, specifically, that it has created a culture of dangerous binge drinking on their campuses."
For the story that first reported their actions, and got this controversy started, see Justin Pope, "College presidents seek debate on drinking age," Associated Press [Yahoo! News], August 18, 2008, 9:57 p.m. ET ("Mothers Against Drunk Driving says lowering the drinking age would lead to more fatal car crashes. It accuses the presidents of misrepresenting science and looking for an easy way out of an inconvenient problem. MADD officials are even urging parents to think carefully about the safety of colleges whose presidents have signed on. . . . . University of Miami President Donna Shalala, who served as secretary of health and human services under President Clinton, declined to sign. 'I remember college campuses when we had 18-year-old drinking ages, and I honestly believe we've made some progress,' Shalala said in a telephone interview. 'To just shift it back down to the high schools makes no sense at all.' . . . McCardell cites the work of Alexander Wagenaar, a University of Florida epidemiologist and expert on how changes in the drinking age affect safety. But Wagenaar himself sides with MADD in the debate. The college presidents 'see a problem of drinking on college campuses, and they don't want to deal with it,' Wagenaar said in a telephone interview. 'It's really unfortunate, but the science is very clear.' Another scholar who has extensively researched college binge-drinking also criticized the presidents' initiative. 'I understand why colleges are doing it, because it splits their students, and they like to treat them all alike rather than having to card some of them. It's a nuisance to them,' said Henry Wechsler of the Harvard School of Public Health. But, 'I wish these college presidents sat around and tried to work out ways to deal with the problem on their campus rather than try to eliminate the problem by defining it out of existence,' he said.")
The Initiative's proponents have come upon the brilliant insight that if illegal behavior on campus is a problem the simplest way to prevent it is to repeal the law. No law, no illegal behavior. With creative insights like that no wonder they've been able to make it to the top of their academic totem poles.
Who are these folks? Well, a week ago Forbes magazine came out with a listing of 569 colleges and universities (including Iowa) that it considered "America's Best." Hana R. Alberts, Michael Noer and David M. Ewalt, eds., "America's Best Colleges," Forbes, August 13, 2008, 6:00 p.m. ET.
The ranking includes Forbes "ten best." They are:
# Princeton University
# California Institute of Technology
# Harvard University
# Swarthmore College
# Williams College
# United States Military Academy
# Amherst College
# Wellesley College
# Yale University
# Columbia University
Cross-check this list with Amethyst's 114 "signatories" and you will find not a single one of America's ten best has joined the effort.
Fortunately, our own UI President Sally Mason has chosen to join with "America's Best" rather than this rather embarrassing movement of self-proclaimed "higher education leaders."
"I do not agree that lowering the drinking age would be effective at this time," Mason wrote in a letter Tuesday to John McCardell, president emeritus of Middlebury College in Vermont [who] started the Amethyst Initiative . . ..
Mason explained that because 19- and 20-year-olds can enter Iowa City bars, many underage patrons are drinking alcohol and getting drunk.
"As a consequence, one-in-five of our students reports being assaulted by a drunken peer. One in three reports being the subject of an unwanted sexual advance. This is simply unacceptable and I do not believe that these statistics would change in the current cultural environment with a lowered drinking age," Mason wrote.
Erin Jordan, "U of I president opposes lowering drinking age," Des Moines Register, August 19, 2008, 4:56 p.m. And see, Brian Morelli, "Locals weigh in on drinking age debate; UI president says proposal won't solve the problem," Iowa City Press-Citizen, August 20, 2008; and Editorial, "Drinking Debate OK," The Gazette, August 20, 2008, p. A4 ("[W]e’re skeptical that expanding the pool of legal drinkers will somehow diminish campus alcohol issues. We think the 21-year-old threshold should not be changed to simply accept bad behavior or to relieve college administrators from having to deal with tough issues spawned by excessive drinking.").
So why do I say the 114 are "embarrassing"? Because this effort represents what many consider disappointing about "the academy" and its "higher education leaders."
They are disingenuous.
It is clear from the statement they have all endorsed that they want to lower the drinking age to 18. Under headings such as "It's time to rethink the drinking age," "Our experience as college and university presidents convinces us that Twenty-one is not working," and "How many times must we relearn the lessons of prohibition?" they use arguments such as, "Adults under 21 are deemed capable of voting, signing contracts, serving on juries and enlisting in the military, but are told they are not mature enough to have a beer."
OK. That's fine. We've all heard those assertions before. No reason why advocates can't continue to use them.
The problem is that when these academic leaders are called on the fact they are ignoring the scientific literature on the subject that has come from research at "America's Best" academic institutions, they do the little sidestep . . .
[The preceding one-minute fair use clip is from the delightful 1982 R-rated full-length musical comedy, "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas," staring Burt Reynolds and Dolly Parton, among a great many other accomplished and well-known actors, and still available for rental and sale. It's based on a true story of a brothel outside LaGrange, Texas, that was ultimately closed down in 1973, following the work of investigative reporter Marvin Zindler of KTRK-TV, Houston. The writing was done by Larry King (whom I remember from Austin in the 1950s), the Governor was played by Charles Durning, and the studio was RKO Pictures. The film is copyright by, presumably, RKO. The use of this miniaturized, very brief clip is for non-commercial, educational and commentary fair use purposes only. Any other use may require the permission of the copyright owner.]
. . . and say, "Oh, we're not really proposing the age be dropped to 18, our statement just calls for 'an informed and dispassionate public debate.'" Which, indeed, it does.
But for a group of academics to say they want an informed debate while simultaneously excluding from that debate any and all solid evidence that is contrary to their position, and urging little better by way of support than one could get from any drunken undergraduate at one of their campus bars on a Friday night, does not speak well for "the academy."
See, e.g., these excerpts from "Underage Drinking: Why Do Adolescents Drink, What Are the Risks, and How Can Underage Drinking Be Prevented?" Alcohol Alert, no. 67, January 2006, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
Perhaps most telling is this statement under "Interventions for Preventing Underage Drinking": "Increasing the age at which people can legally purchase and drink alcohol has been the most successful intervention to date . . .."
The "most successful intervention to date" and these 114 "higher education leaders" (a) make no reference to the finding, and (b) pick doing away with it as their top priority for treating the binge-drinking problem?
"NHTSA [National Highway Traffic Safety Administration] estimates that a legal drinking age of 21 saves 700 to 1,000 lives annually. Since 1976, these laws have prevented more than 21,000 traffic deaths. Just how much the legal drinking age relates to drinking-related crashes is shown by a recent study in New Zealand. Six years ago that country lowered its minimum legal drinking age to 18. Since then, alcohol-related crashes have risen 12 percent among 18- to 19-year-olds and 14 percent among 15- to 17-year-olds (62)."
The report begins:
"Alcohol is the drug of choice among youth. Many young people are experiencing the consequences of drinking too much, at too early an age. As a result, underage drinking is a leading public health problem in this country.
"Each year, approximately 5,000 young people under the age of 21 die as a result of underage drinking; this includes about 1,900 deaths from motor vehicle crashes, 1,600 as a result of homicides, 300 from suicide, as well as hundreds from other injuries such as falls, burns, and drownings. . . .
"According to data from the 2005 Monitoring the Future (MTF) study . . . 11 percent of 8th graders, 22 percent of 10th graders, and 29 percent of 12th graders had engaged in heavy episodic (or “binge”) drinking within the past two weeks.
"Other research shows that the younger children and adolescents are when they start to drink, the more likely they will be to engage in behaviors that harm themselves and others. For example, frequent binge drinkers (nearly 1 million high school students nationwide) are more likely to engage in risky behaviors, including using other drugs such as marijuana and cocaine, having sex with six or more partners, and earning grades that are mostly Ds and Fs in school."
Aside from the deaths and "risky behaviors," what are the effects of binge drinking?
"Brain Effects—Scientists currently are examining just how alcohol affects the developing brain . . .. Subtle changes in the brain may be difficult to detect but still have a significant impact on long-term thinking and memory skills. Add to this the fact that adolescent brains are still maturing . . .. Research has shown that animals fed alcohol during this critical developmental stage continue to show long-lasting impairment from alcohol as they age. . . ."
And see also, Harvard School of Public Health, College Alcohol Study, "Key College Alcohol Study Publications."
In general, we know that alcohol is our nation's number one hard drug problem by any measure. Roughly half of prison inmates have a problem of alcoholism or alcohol abuse. Similarly, alcohol is involved in roughly half (give or take) of all crimes, including sexual assaults, spousal and child abuse. It involves roughly 10 million Americans -- who then have an adverse impact on maybe 30 million more (such as family members and co-workers). It causes more, and more serious, permanent health effects (e.g., brain and liver damage) than some of the drugs that are illegal and thought to be more dangerous. It's involved in many if not most accidental injuries and deaths -- automobile and other. And the economic losses, from a whole variety of related consequences, run into the billions.
As if that were not enough, as the NIH's and other studies point out, there are additional consequences for binge drinking adolescents above and beyond those for adults.
It's counter intuitive that making it easier for even more young people to get access to even more alcohol, and driving down the problem to junior high students and younger, is somehow going to improve the situation.
I understand the impact of the profits of local bar owners on their community's city council members, college and university administrators, and media (advertising). I understand the political power that comes from the profits of an alcohol industry engaged in heavy advertising and promotional campaigns aimed at encouraging college students' "culture" of binge drinking. I understand the need for the additional tuition cash flow provided by those who come to school more to party than to learn.
But I also understand the need for "higher education leaders" to provide some leadership -- even if it involves some risk to their future job opportunities at even higher salaries.
The NIH report also lists some six strategies for serious improvement, and four case studies. There is a literature out there. We know what to do. We know what works -- and what doesn't. And what these "higher education leaders" have been doing, and what they are now proposing to do, hasn't and won't work.
Indeed, it's sad to say, but after years of their deliberately choosing to do nothing very effective, it's hard to believe they have ever really wanted to do anything that would work.
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August 17, 2008, 11:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m.
Currently Most Popular Blog Entries
"Earthpark: 'Pretty Quiet Phase; No Timetable to Speak of,'" August 14, 2008.
"UI Sexual Assault Update," July 19-August 9, and related Web page, "University of Iowa Sexual Assault Controversy -- 2007-08," July 19-present.
"Media's Medicines," August 12, 2008.
"How to Build an Indoor Rain Forest," July 10, 2008.
"Georgia on My Mind," August 13, 2008.
"Police Accidental Shootings -- Of Themselves," May 9, 2008.
"Random Thoughts on Law School Rankings," April 29, 2008.
Forbes and Ferentz
Forbes magazine has been ranking colleges and universities -- and their football coaches. Forbes is no friend of the University of Iowa. It ranks the University 331 out of the 569 ranked schools. Hana R. Alberts, Michael Noer and David M. Ewalt, eds., "America's Best Colleges," Forbes, August 13, 2008, 6:00 p.m.
And while "We're Number One!" "We're Number One!" in at least one category, we'll probably want to consider postponing any public celebrations of the honor.
Forbes ran a kind of comparative benefit-cost analysis of what every college football coach is being paid, and what they are producing for the money. The University of Iowa came in number one in the nation for "most overpaid coach."
Peter J. Schwartz, "The Business Of College Football; The Best (And Worst) College Football Coaches For The Buck," Forbes, August 13, 2008, 6:00 p.m. ET ("But the best bargain was Ohio State’s Jim Tressel, who scored a 122. Tressel has led the Buckeyes to the last two national championship games (losing to Florida in 2007 and Louisiana State in 2008) and was paid $2.6 million last season, less than eight of his peers. . . . The most overpaid coach is Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz, who made $3.4 million last year despite lackluster results on the field, for a score of 71. Just how lopsided is Ferentz’s deal? During the last three years he’s pocketed $10 million, including a record $4.7 million in 2006, but has led the Hawkeyes to just a 19-18 record.").
If the Press-Citizen's Pat Harty is to be believed, it doesn't look all that much better for the 2008 football season. Pat Harty, "Lack of competition for starting jobs is alarming," Iowa City Press-Citizen, August 17, 2008, in this morning's paper as, "Offense Up in the Air; Lack of Desire is Alarming," p. B1.
Of Mural and Money
Fungibles -- whether bushels of graded corn or cars -- have cost, market price, and based on their potential use by the owner, a "value." Lose one, or break one, and you can just buy another. "It's only money."
Irreplaceable natural resources, such as petroleum, are thought to have a "value," and price, that are merely equivalent to the cost of removing and consuming them (plus profits) -- not the millions of years it will take to replace them, or the billions of dollars it will take to find replacements for a fossil-fuel-based economy. It's "use it and lose it."
Paintings, or a multi-generation family Bible, likewise, have a cost (materials and artist's time) and market price. But their "value" is something that exits separate and apart from the economist's realm.
And so it is with the UI's Jackson Pollock painting. See, Nicholas Johnson, "Selling the Pollock" in "Floodplains, Art and Celebrities' Affairs," August 9, 2008, and . . .
Editorial, "True value of Iowa's art? Priceless," Des Moines Register, August 17, 2008 ("'Mural' belongs to the people of Iowa - those alive today and future generations. It's one of Iowa's gems, the same way public land, artifacts, monuments and rare documents are pieces of this state's history. . . . Iowa leaders should recognize the value of these items and places - beyond what they could bring at an auction.").
Pamela White, "What's the value of 'Mural'? Irreplaceable," Iowa City Press-Citizen, August 16, 2008 ("Museums have stringent standards regarding when it is appropriate to sell artwork from their collections. Donors give their art to museums in trust so future generations may enjoy and learn from them, and it is the duty of the museum to honor the donor's intention and to ensure that the art remains in public, not private, hands.").
Performance and Poverty
Richard Doak, who has had a long and distinguished journalistic career, including as an editor and columnist, is in fact one of Iowa's best sources of thoughtfully creative public policy analyzes. This morning he lays out a persuasive case for increasing educational performance by decreasing poverty. Richard Doak, "Best reform in education? End poverty," Des Moines Register, August 17, 2008 ("Poverty in itself does not produce low student achievement, but the conditions of life for children in poverty are not conducive to learning. . . . In the richest country in the world, a certain level of poverty seems to be increasingly intractable, chronically pushing down the average on test scores, among other social pathologies.
Finland, South Korea, Canada, Japan and other countries that outperform the United States in education are not as wealthy as America, but their gaps between rich and poor are not as wide. The wealth they do have is more evenly distributed. So is their student achievement.
We might not want to talk about it, but one of the most serious problems in contemporary America is the deep and widening chasm between rich and poor. There is a segment of the population . . . who are at risk of becoming members of a permanent underclass . . . in which poor and undereducated parents beget poor and undereducated children. . . .
[P]oliticians find it convenient to blame the schools, bash teachers and demand non-solutions such as vouchers. The political right chants a mantra that is uttered like one word: thefailingpublicschools.
Wrong. It is not the public schools that are failing. It is the larger American culture and economy.").
Look Who's Running for President
Jason Clayworth, "Seven presidential candidates on ballot," Des Moines Register, August 16, 2008,
"Iowans will have seven presidential candidates to choose from when they go to the polls in November," and here they are:
"PRESIDENT: (In addition to Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama) Bob Barr, Wayne A. Root for the Libertarian Party; James Harris, Alyson Kennedy for the Socialist Workers Party; Gloria La Riva, Robert Moses for the Socialism and Liberation Party; Cynthia McKinney, Wendy Barth for the Green Party; Ralph Nader, Matt Gonzalez for the Peace and Freedom Party."
. . . Knock, knock. Who's there? Shmoo. Shmoo who?
A high school friend who has been staying at our home just gave me what I guess is what we used to call a "house gift." It's called a "shmoo" (spelled by some as "schmoo").
In case shmoon (the plural) are unfamiliar to you, permit me to quote a line from the Wikipedia lengthy entry: "A shmoo (plural shmoon, also shmoos) is a fictional cartoon creature. It first appeared in Al Capp's newspaper comic strip Li'l Abner, on August 31, 1948."
In short, the Shmoo is coming up on his or her 60th birthday.
The only reason I mention this gift at all, thereby risking your judgment that I have finally totally fallen off the ledge, is because the donor is curious to know how many of you out there have any memory of these creatures -- or in fact actually have one of your own. I think it is social science research of some kind. Feel free to attach your comments to this blog entry and I'll pass them along to him.
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