Paula's New Blog

Paula has a new blog. I have edited the link to her blog to point to the new one, she had not written in the old one for quite some time anyway. I can recommend Paula's blog, it is interesting. You may think that I say so just because Paula is my human, but I do not. I really think the blog is a good read.

Cutting Down Trees

We cut down some trees by our house this weekend. Paula's father and Daniel did most of the work, but I was out watching to make sure everything went well. These trees were very tall and they cut out sunshine from our lawn, so it is good that they are gone. They will also make a nice addition to the wood that we can burn for heat indoors next winter. We have not burned a lot of wood this winter, but it may very well be colder next winter. Time will tell.

Hips

Yesterday, we got the result from April's hip X-ray. Today, we got another copy of the result. We do not know why we got two copies. Nevertheless, the result was good. April got B on her hips, which means there are nothing wrong with them. The best result is A. B is good enough, I got B myself.

Rome

Paula and Daniel have bought a DVD box of the second season of the TV series Rome. They really think it is good. The other day, they saw three episodes in a row. Tonight they saw the final two episodes. I was appalled by one thing in the second to last episode. There was a famine in Rome and the humans were talking about eating dogs. How could anyone do that? At the same time, these Romans scolded other peoples for being barbaric. Is it not barbaric even to think about eating dogs? Dogs are man's best friend, who eats a friend? Apart from this, I think the series is good.

An Important Reminder

Dog owners must be aware that they should not leave their dog tied outside a store, when going inside to shop. The dog may be kidnapped. This is not only true for dogs, but also for children. A woman in Latvia left her infant child outside a store sixteen years ago, he was kidnapped, and has only just been found by the police. Imagine if this boy would have been a puppy. Most dogs do not live to see their sixteenth birthday. Whereas the boy is still young, a dog in this situation would probably not be alive any longer and the case might never have been solved. I am glad Paula and Daniel would never consider tying me outside a store and leave me there.

A Praying Dog

Dogs can do anything, as long as they want to. In Japan, a pet dog at a Buddhist temple has started to pray like his humans, the monks. This has attracted much more visitors than usual. Aren't dogs fantastic, doing things like this?

Shiba Meeting and Snow

Some of us went to a Shiba Inu meeting south of Stockholm today. Auntie Linni was disappointed, she had been looking forward to see her breeders, but they could not come since a road was blocked by a car accident. The weather did it. A lot of snow fell over large parts of Sweden today. Some snow fell at home as well, but not much stayed on the ground, the temperature was too high for that. Nevertheless, it was not your ordinary Easter weather, it made the day more exciting.

Resurrection

Easter is celebrated because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who came back from the dead. In no way so astounding, Ferrari formula 1 driver Kimi Räikkönen nevertheless came back today from a terrible race last Sunday and won. His most prominent competitor, McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, came in fifth. Thus, the Ferrari and Räikkönen fans have had a more happy Easter this year than the McLaren and Hamilton fans. This is good, it makes the championship exciting.

Easter Competitions

The second formula 1 race of the season is tomorrow in Malaysia. Last race, the McLaren Mercedes cars triumphed. Now the two Ferraris will start in the front row. Is it their turn to triumph this time? It is bound to be yet another exciting race.

In Stockholm, Paula will show April and Calvin on one of Sweden's biggest annual dog shows. This, too, is bound to be an exciting competition.

I hope for red winners in both of these competitions. Red Ferraris to win in Malaysia and red Shiba Inus of our family, April and Calvin, to win in Stockholm.

Anime Ambassador

The Japanese Foreign Ministry has appointed the robotic cat Doraemon the first Japanese anime ambassador. I guess this is the first anime ambassador of the world, anime being a Japanese art form. It is nice to see that the ministry thinks anime is so important that it names an ambassador for it. I would have liked to see an anime Shiba Inu as ambassador, but I know of none. Doraemon is fairly well known.

World Championship in Gothenburg

The 2008 Figure Skating World Championship takes place this Easter in Gothenburg on the Swedish west coast. This is a sport where the Shiba Inu home country Japan and Mum's home country America are quite good, so I rather like it.

The silly thing is, however, that the Swedish hosts either do not know what their own home city is called in English, or simply disregard it. They call Gothenburg by its Swedish name Göteborg. Mum is upset, she believes the hosts do know, but simply disregard the English name Gothenburg. The English language is the property of the native English speakers, Mum says, and she loathes any attempt by Swedes to try to change the English name of a city. This is not a thing that Swedes can do. I agree. I would not want Englishmen or Americans to try to change the Swedish names of things or places.

Winter

It has been a warm winter with very little snow, but this week, snow has fallen and it is really cold. In a way, it feels like a winter that is very late. The snow is just about a centimetre on the ground, so it is not enough to play in. I was looking forward to spring for Easter this weekend, even though we have an early Easter this year. Well, the only sure thing about the weather is that you can never be sure what weather there will be.

A Famous Author Is Gone

One of the world's most famous science fiction writers, Sir Arthur C Clarke, has died. He was an Englishman who lived his last years in Sri Lanka. He is one of Daniel's favourite authors, this is why Daniel wanted me to mention this in my blog. I know of only one dog who has had books published, and that is Snoopy, who is not a real dog but a character in the comic strip Peanuts. Perhaps I could be another, if I would find the time to write anything else than this blog. I have no illusions that I would be such a good author as Sir Arthur, though, whose penmanship brought him a knighthood.

ABBA Drummer Deceased

Sweden is mentioned in the world news today, since Ola Brunkert, drummer for the world famous band ABBA, was found dead late Sunday. Ola Brunkert was not even a member of ABBA, but played with them on many albums and tours. It is amazing that your death can attract such attention, just because you have been working with people who are world famous.

Dogs are rarely world famous, but it would be amazing if I would be such a great co-worker of someone world famous that I would be mentioned in the world news when I pass away. I probably will not, but you can always dream.

The Right Jurisdiction?

A court of law in Macedonia has convicted a bear of stealing honey from a beekeeper's hives. Since the bear was of an endangered species, it goes free and the Government will pay for the damages instead. I think it is a silly ruling. That bear is a wild animal, it should not be subject to human jurisdiction. If you convict a bear of stealing the honey, you can also make the argument that it is not the beekeeper's honey anyway, but that he is stealing it too - from the bees. In that case, the beekeeper should also be convicted. Since the beekeeper is a human and thus not member of an endangered species, he would have to pay damages himself. Of course, not all humans make the same logical thinking as I, as a dog, do. Maybe there is some logic behind this judgement that I just do not understand?

Competitions

Paula went with some of the dogs of our family to Malmoe to compete in a dog show there today. None of them made any top results, but they performed well and had a good time with two and four legged friends. I did not come along, which may be one explanation there were no victories in our family.

This evening, the final round of the Swedish qualifying competition to the Eurovision Song Contest took place in the Stockholm Globe Arena. We did not think the best song won. Daniel said, however, that a more important game was won in the Johanneshov arena next door. His favourite Swedish ice hockey team, Djurgården, won the third game of the seven game quarter final series in the Swedish ice hockey championship. Thus, Djurgården took a chance at prolonging the quarter final, since its opponent had won the first two games.

Daniel will get up early tomorrow morning to see the first formula 1 race of the season. This is also a more important competition than the Swedish qualification round for the Eurovision Song Contest.

Japanese Pictures of the Moon

I will write about Japanese pictures again, like I did yesterday. However, this time it is about photographs on a far frontier. A Japanese space probe has gone to the Moon and taken high definition movies from its surface. Scientific marvels like this make me proud to be of Japanese origin.

Chinese Comics

Japan is not only the home of the Shiba Inu, but also of the distinguished form of comics called Manga. There is a Chinese version of Manga, called Manhua. Since China is a dictatorship, there are much more restraints on what Manhua can be about. I suggest that my readers who are interested in comics would rather go for the Japanese original, Manga.

Repair

Our ordinary computer is on repair. It turns itself off spontaneously, of course it is not supposed to do that. Paula and Daniel brought out an old computer to use until we have the ordinary one back. This older computer is a bit slower than the one we are now used to. However, it was the computer upon which I started to write my blog a long time ago. It makes me feel a bit nostalgic using this computer. However, I want our ordinary computer back as soon as possible. A computer that you use a lot becomes almost like a friend, you get to know the special features of that particular computer. While it is nice to get to know our old computer again, it is not like our ordinary computer. We all hope the repair will be done quickly.

Pygmy Hippos

There is a species of very small hippos living in western Africa, often called pygmy hippos. It is an endangered species, but recent photography has revealed that some do get by. This is nice. I like animals that are smaller forms of normal sized animals. Shiba Inus are smaller than the average dog breed, maybe this makes me feel affiliated to smaller forms of other animals.

An Evil US Marine

The US Military is a good force in the world, promoting freedom and human rights. This is what my American Mum has taught me. She should know, not least because Art, the man in the family where she lived in the USA, has been in the US Military. There are, however, evil individuals in even the most good natured organisation. In a short film posted on the Internet, a smiling US Marine soldier throws a little pup down a ravine. The Military will now investigate the film. If the film is for real, the pup falls to a certain death and the soldier should be held responsible for cruelty to animals.

I am really upset with this. Sure, there are evil people everywhere, but they do not belong in an organisation that I have always seen as a defender of what is good. In my mind, that soldier should be thrown down that ravine himself. Even if the film is not true, it shows a man with an evil heart - or perhaps a really good actor (but I believe the former). You cannot be a good human and be cruel to puppies.

Wolves in Scotland?

There are no wolves in Scotland nowadays. Wolves used to be native to Scotland, but were extinct when humans exploited the woodlands more and expanded farmlands and held more cattle. Other wild animals that has been extinct in Scotland has been reintroduced from other countries in present time. The idea has now come up to reintroduce the wolf as well. As it says in the article that I have linked to, a research team from the UK and Norway published a study last year that found reintroducing wild wolves to the Scottish Highlands would help the local ecosystem. This seems to be a reasonable finding. It will be quite a while before this will happen, though. It would be interesting to hear about the future of this idea.

Vasaloppet

Vasaloppet, an annual long distance cross-country ski race, was held today. Paula's father Nils Olov usually participate in the race. He is actually more daring than most participants, since he runs twice a year, the first time in the "Open Track" on the Sunday before the actual race, and then in the real race. This year, he was interviewed after the Open Track race that he did. This is fun to watch, you can tell that the interviewer is not really prepared for all of Nils Olov's answers.

Kesshi celebrated his sixth birthday today. Paula and Daniel were there, representing the whole family (except perhaps Dad, since Dad and Kesshi do not like each other). I would have wanted to go as well, but I guess I will have to wait a little longer to see Kesshi.

Daniel brought some birthday cake back home, that Dad and I shared. Daniel told us afterwards that the cake was meant for him. The truth is, however, that he had already had some at the birthday party and he had put the plastic container with the cake in a place where Dad could easily get access to it. I think it was more fair that Dad and I had the cake than that Daniel would have it. The other dogs, well, they did not even try to get any cake, so it is their loss.