Cleaning, Cleaning

Daniel got home early today, but not to do anything fun with me and the rest of the dogs. He and Paula spent most of the afternoon and evening rearranging one of the rooms in our house and cleaning the whole house. This is boring, but they think it needed to be done before Paula's relatives come to visit us tomorrow afternoon. I suppose they are right.

Freedom of the Press Day

Today is the Freedom of the press day in Sweden. Our country has the longest tradition of freedom of the press in the world, it was invented together with freedom of information by the Swedish parliamentarian Anders Chydenius. Freedom of the press is worth celebrating. The reason I am free to write virtually anything I like on this blog is a right that has evolved from the freedom of the press. Hurrah!

Another Graphic Novel Turned into Film

Daniel is looking forward to a movie that will be made from his favourite graphic novel, Watchmen. Even though he says every story tend to be worse when adapted to a new medium, the Watchmen story is so good he would like to see the movie anyway. I do not care much about graphic novels or comics, but movies can be nice. We will have to see if the film is good.

Claim for Damages

The Danish supporter who ran into the football field at the end of the Euro 2008 qualification game some time ago is now faced with claim for high damages. The arena company Parken Sport og Entertainment in Copenhagen wants damages because the two following Euro qualification games will not be held there, but at a different arena in Arhus. I can understand that they want damages, but I am not sure they will get any. The games were not moved just because the supporter ran in to the field, but mainly because the company could not ensure the safety of the players and referees during games. If the arena company would have had reasonable safety, this supporter would never have been able to enter the football field. Thus, I believe that the company may be so much to blame itself, that it would not be entitled to damages. The fact that a drunk supporter did come into the field is no cause for damages, when the safety was so low as it was, as evidenced by the two other supporters who ran into the field shortly after the first one. It is as if you park your car unlocked at a parking space where a lot of drunk people go - you are to blame yourself if your car or items inside of it are stolen.

Reshuffled Cabinet

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reshuffes the Cabinet. Some ministers go, some former ministers come back, some ministers get new posts. It remains to be seen if Shinzo Abe's new Cabinet can restore some popularity for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. I will keep an eye on the development.

Sixtythree Years Ago Today, Paris Was Liberated

The greatest war ever fought was the Second World War. In Europe, the Germans under the dictator Adolf Hitler tried to conquer the whole continent. (The only good thing about the Germans in World War II was that they were allied with Japan, home of the Shiba Inu breed.) Germany defeated and occupied France in 1940, but Americans, Brits, and Canadians landed on the French shores in June of 1944 and began liberating the country. Exactly 63 years ago today, they liberated Paris. Adolf Hitler had ordered the retreating German troops to destroy the city. However, mostly thanks to the efforts of the Swedish Honourary Consul General to Paris Raoul Nordling, a ceasefire was arranged and the German General Dietrich von Choltitz was persuaded not to ruin the city. The French must be thankful for the efforts of this Swede, Paris is said to be one of the most beautiful and romantic cities of the world. If I ever go there, I want to look for things commemorating Consul General Nordling's efforts.

Sports This Weekend

The Athletics World Championship starts this weekend in Osaka, Japan. It will be fun to watch it on TV, especially since it is in Japan, homeland of the Shiba Inu. Daniel says, however, that the most important sport event this weekend is the formula 1 grand prix in Turkey on Sunday. Very well, we all have different tastes.

Birthday

Today is Paula's birthday. She will have a great celebration on Saturday next week, but her sister Mia and her parents were here for dinner today. It is always nice to meet them. It was a nice little celebration.

Friendly Games

Sweden played a friendly game of football against the USA tonight. While Mum and April hoped that the USA would win, Auntie Linni, Daniel, and Paula hoped for a Swedish victory. I was torn in between, being half American though I have lived my whole life in Sweden. The game ended with a Swedish 1-0 victory, which seemed fair.

Dad was more interested in Norway's friendly game against Argentina, but we could not see it on any of our Swedish TV channels. We read on the Internet that Norway won by 2-1, which is a good result against such a strong football nation as Argentina. Paula use to hope for Latin American countries to win, but the rest of us congratulated Dad with all our hearts.

Early Bird

The space shuttle Endeavour landed a day earlier than scheduled today, in Florida. The mission was shortened because of fears that the hurricane Dean would affect the mission control in Houston, Texas. Well, there is nothing wrong with being an early bird. As the old proverb says: the early bird catches the worm.

Political Deadlock in Belgium

Dad's father is from Belgium, so I take a special interest in that country. They had a general election in Belgium last June, but no party got a majority of its own and the negotiations to form a new cabinet are still not over. The Belgian King, Albert II, has now stepped in and will talk to the various party leaders to try to reach an agreement. It is nice to have an impartial king who can do this when the parliamentary system does not run smoothly. I hope there will soon be a solution.

Another Show

At another dog show today, only April was shown. She got a CC. She is very well worth it, I congratulate her. She, Paula, Mum, and Dad got home in the late afternoon, that was fun.

Later today, Paula and Daniel took Auntie Tiffy and me to visit Paula's parents. That was even more fun, we got to run around on their lawn which is different from ours. It is always fun to experience somewhat different surroundings, and I know Paula's parents' lawn since I was a little pup.

Dad Did It!

Paula took April, Mum, and Dad to a dog show today. Long time readers of my blog know that Dad has not been shown for a long time. This is due to bad experiences with show judges in his youth. Paula has trained with him and she and Daniel has looked for dog shows with judges who could be nice enough to Dad so that he would not remember the discomfort of his early experiences. Today was the day when we would see if all of these efforts would pay off. It turned out it did! Dad was second best male among many male shibas at the show and he got a CC. He will be shown again next Sunday, and if he gets a CC on that show as well, he will be Swedish Champion. I am so glad for Dad's sake, even though he says he does not do it for himself but for the pedigrees' of his pups. My Dad is such a nice dad. I know he likes the cooperation with Paula, his handler, in the show ring too.

April was third best bitch and she also got a CC. Mum became reserve best bitch. I have to coongratulate them as well, though the result we all are most happy for is Dad's.

Killed By Samurai Sword

A man in Oslo, Norway, was assaulted by a samurai sword in a gang fight last weekend. He is now dead, after many critical days in hospital. I very much doubt that the assailant was a samurai. It is a disgrace that a samurai sword is used in this way. A true, Japanese samurai would have been merciful and killed the man right away.

Attack on Moomin

Someone has cut off the head of a Moomin statue in Koppom, a small village in Warmland, the Swedish province between us and Norway. The head was later found, but it was destroyed. Who would do such a vicious thing? Moomin is a nice character, we have a Moomin doll at home whom I play with once in a while. I would never behead it.

I Have Been Lazy

I have been lazy lately, not writing anything in my blog. It is my aim to keep it daily, as the name implies. Sometimes, I cannot write anything because I am away from home or other places where I can connect to my blog. On other occassions, I have just been too busy with other things to write anything. These last three days, I have no such excuse, I have just been lazy and have not cared enough to write anything. When you think about it, I do write this blog mainy for my own pleasure, I do not get paid or anything. Not that I would dream of demanding any payment, it is just that when nobody pays me, I can take any day off if it just pleases me. This is what I have done. However, I will now try to keep up the daily postings again.

Too Many Field Voles

Spain has been infected by a mass of field voles and the govrnment burns fields to get rid of them. Mum said they should call for dogs and other carnivores instead, who would be happy to help.

The dog show today was not a success.

Dog Show Tomorrow

We are going to another dog show tomorrow. Mum, April, and I will be shown. It is close to home this time, in the small town Askersund and arranged by our county kennel club. I have never had any problems with going for long car rides, but it is still nice to know we do not have to go so far this time.

Olympic Games

In a year from now, the 2008 Summer Olympic Games will have started in Beijing, China. There are protests against the Chinese government in connection with the preparations, since China is a dictatorship. As far as I know, these Olympic Games are only the third where a dictatorship has been chosen as a host, the first being the summer games in Moscow in the Soviet Union in 1980, the second the winter games in Sarajevo in Yugoslavia in 1984. (The Games in Germany in 1936 were held in a dictatorship, but Germany was selected to host them before 1933, when it was still a democracy.) I cannot understand why a dictatorship was chosen, even though it is a country of many great athletes. Should sports be so separated from politics that it does not matter whether the second largest sports event (the first is the FIFA World Cup of Football) in the world is held in a dictatorship or a democracy? I think not. Besides, in China they slaughter dogs for food and fur, I consider that to be horrible and barbaric.

Attack Beavers

Outside the small town Lindesberg just north of Örebro, beavers are attacking humans. Nobody knows why, beavers do not usually do that. It has now been decided to kill the beavers. I can understand why. I have nothing against beavers in general, but if some beavers would start attacking dogs, I would sure join a dog posse to kill those beavers.

The Mysterious Lego Man

A 2.5 metre tall Lego man has floated ashore in the Dutch resort Zandvoort at the North Sea. Lego men are toys from Denmark and are generally just a few centimetres tall. This giant Lego man has got red trousers/legs, blue shirt/upper body, and yellow head, arms, and hands. Nobody knows where he comes from yet, but I will look for the answer to this riddle in the news in the days to come.

The parts of Lego men that is supposed to be skin are always yellow. Have you ever thought of the fact that this makes them similar to the Simpsons cartoon characters? Personally, I do not care much what colour my toys are, as long as they are nice to chew on.

Hiroshima

Today marks the anniversary of a sad thing in human history, the first time (out of two) that an atomic bomb was used in war. The Japanese city of Hiroshima was hit.

Paternity

I normally do not comment on the lives and scandals of celebrities, it is not my cup of tea. There is, however, a story now where Dad had an interesting point to make. The American actor Eddie Murphy has now ackowledged he is the father of British singer Mel B's daughter, who was born in April this year. Eddie Murphy has not been happy about the child, while Mel B says it was planned by both of them. Now Eddie Murphy has accepted his responsibilities as a father and will pay to support the child.

Dad says dog fathers have it much easier than human fathers. Dad has fathered a lot of pups now, me being the eldest, but I am the only one he takes any care of. He says he knows he does not have to take care of the other dogs he has fathered, not because he is mean or negligent, but because they have humans taking care of them. According to Dad, this is one of many proofs that dogs are the true beneficiaries in the long relationship between humans and dogs. Pups are a good thing to get, because it lets your genes live on in future generations, and that is what our genes are programmed to do. We dogs can have many pups without having to support them ourselves, because humans do that for us. There are no others who support the children of humans for them, they have to do that themselves. Still, we dogs are not mean, like cuckoos, who lay their eggs in the nests of other birds, forcing them to support the cuckoo kids instead of their own. We are just so cute and so nice to humans that they want to take care of us and our pups. This is to the benefit of both us and them, though Dad believes it is mostly to the benefit of us.

I do not really agree with Dad, I think the benefits are equal to both humans and dogs, and I am sure there are not few humans consider the relationship to be most beneficial to them. Be that as it may, I really do not want to talk about who gains the most from the human-dog relationship. Humans and dogs are great friends, then you do not have to consider who benefits the most. That is not a thing that friends do.

Nevertheless, maybe Eddie Murphy would like to be a dog right now - or perhaps a donkey, like the one he gave his voice to in the Shrek movies - so he would not have to support his child himself?

A Bridge Fell Down

A highway bridge in Minneapolis fell down the other day. It was not because of a terrorist attack, nor because someone accidentally ran into it from below. It simply fell down because of lack of maintenance. The bridge had already been classified as "structurally deficient". Now authorities in the USA will check other bridges as well. It is surprising that it have to take an accident like this to make people do something. If a dog sees a problem that is worthy of being mentioned, he or she makes something about it at once. Humans have an advantage in that they are the best on planning ahead, but if "planning ahead" means "postponing necessary maintenance", I am much rather a dog.

They Made It!

One of the top news stories in Sweden today is the happy story of two dogs who survived a serious car crash. When the SOS crews came to the scene, the car was a total wreck, but the dogs where alive and well inside the car, having sustained not a single wound. Their human was taken to hospital with a concussion and hurting neck and back.

Was this a miracle? Far from it! These dogs were sitting in collision safe cages in the car. Be sure all the dogs in your family get cages like this, if they do not already have them!