Walking Your Dogs the Right Way and Rewarding Them WIth ChurpiChews!

We are all familiar with the old adage: “Don’t walk in front of me, I may not follow; don’t walk behind me, I may not lead; just walk beside me and be my friend.” It’s a nice thought for human companions. Last year when our dogs went to obedience training, the trainer explained that when walking your dog, you should not let them lead the way. Unfortunately, our dogs did not learn that lesson. Haha. The three of them are not about to walk beside me, although they may linger behind to get in a longer smell or to mark an object (if you get my drift.) Since then, I have occasionally seen that sentiment repeated. Today I came across an article on Dog Breeder Info Center that explains the proper way to walk your dog on a leash. It is the best article I have seen on the subject. Unfortunately, I still resemble the “incorrect way to walk your dogs” photo. But I still enjoy my little jaunts around the neighborhood with our trio!

And since Esquire Treats are not just for humans, if you want to reward your dogs after their walk, try the latest cheese treat for dogs called ChurpiChews, available at AntlersAndChews.com.

Available at www.AntlersAndChews.com

Baltimore Bridge Collapses, Sending Cars into the Drink

I work in Maryland, but I would never go back to live there. This video shows why many people have fled the city of Baltimore -- the infrastructure is crumbling.

A bunch of automobile insurance companies are adding up their losses in the wake of this fiasco!

Girl Has Parasitic Twin Surgically Removed

I cannot imagine what this young woman has gone through, both in terms of living for years with the body of her sister attached physically attached to her own and then having the body removed surgically. It is truly an amazing story.

This story originally aired on BBC in the UK in November of last year. Here is how the girl's story is summarized.

On the surface Workitu Debebet looks like any other teenage girl. But the 17-year-old has spent her young life hiding an incredible secret -- a parasitic twin, including two arms and two legs, fused to her pelvis. Workitu was raised thinking she was normal and reached her late teens without treatment because her poor parents had no way of accessing expert medical care. But Workitu's life has finally been transformed after a team of expert surgeons performed pioneering surgery to separate her from her unborn conjoined twin. Now, the teenager is going to school and making friends for the first time and is looking forward to having a career, getting married and even having children of her own. A new documentary series reveals the amazing courage of Workitu and her family who tried everything to help her, despite prejudice in her community against people with disabilities. Doctors at CURE Hospital In Addis Ababa were amazed when they saw Workitu, who is thought to be the oldest person still to be living with a visible parasitic twin attached to their body. Dr Eric Gokcen, the hospital's medical director, said: "It was something I had never seen before. A parasitic twin is actually rarer than conjoined twins. But as a physician, when I look at patients with a problem, my mind starts thinking about what I am going to do to help them." In an eight-hour surgery, the team carefully removed the outer body but left the extra internal organs because they were working fine. Workitu spent the next three months in hospital but healed perfectly and is now looking forward to her future.

Similarly, this little Indian boy named Deepak is a few countries away from Workitu in Ethiopia. He also hosted a parasitic twin for many years of his life.

God bless Workitu, Deepak, the doctors who operated on them, and both their families!!

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Liberal Protesters Outside NRA Headquarters Make Fools of Themselves

MRC's Dan Joseph showed up at a protest to interview picketers outside of the NRA’s headquarters in Fairfax, Va. This is a few miles from where I live, and is indicative of the liberals who have invaded once-conservative northern Virginia. This video shows the liberal robots who spew talking points and cannot think for themselves.

Did you not that not a single car honked during the scenes that were shown? Maybe there is hope for Fairfax, Virginia.

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Why Are Mysterious Bars Appearing on Desks of Chinese School Children?

Yesterday I wrote about the Chinese truck driver who was impaled by a log that dislodged from another truck and came through his window. Today brings another tidbit from China -- and luckily this one is not gruesome like the truck driver story.

Take a look at these pictures and see if you can figure out why these two schools in China have installed the bars on the students' desks.

Pictures from http://caxalote.com/?p=35286.

When I first saw these, I thought maybe kids were falling asleep in class, thus necessitating the bar. Then I noticed that they are all wearing their coats, so if it is cold enough to requires coats to be worn, there is little chance the students would fall asleep in the classroom. Then I considered whether posture was a concern, such that the bar would encourage them to sit up straight. That seemed plausible.

The real answer is actually unexpected. The two schools in China are implementing the innovative desk attachment device, which was developed by one of the school's directors, in order to prevent the students from getting too close to their workbooks, paper, and books. In turn, this reduces the chances of the children developing myopia, or near sightedness. (Notice the little girl in the second row in the bottom picture -- she seems to be ducking below the bar to write.) Indeed, my initial impression was correct -- that the bars will improve posture-- and that is a bonus. The bars could help prevent back problems when these kids grow up.

Would something like this be accepted in schools in the United States? I suspect most parents would think it is nonsense, especially if there is no articulable data to support a conclusion that the bars reduce the occurrence of myopia. Of course, since schools in nearly every state are implementing Common Core curricula, it's not far fetched that the nanny state could indeed install such implements of control on the desks of public school children.

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Enlarge text easily for easy reading on the Kindle Paperwhite

Chinese Truck Driver Survives Being Impaled by Log During Accident

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

Every now and again you hear a story about someone getting shot or attacked with a knife, and the person survives because of the precise placement of the bullet or knife. Recently the UK Daily Mail reported on a Chinese truck driver who ran upon an accident -- literally -- and hit another truck from behind. The front truck was illegally carrying tree branches and other landscaping items that stuck out past the allowed limit. One of the logs on the truck entered the driver's side of the cab and penetrated the abdomen of the driver approaching from the rear. It took rescuers an hour to reach the accident scene due to the fact that it occurred in one of the busiest parts of the city.

Rescuers removing impaled driver from truck

The truck driver was impaled, and the log went all the way through the seat. Rescuers removed the entire seat and transported it with the driver to the hospital.

Driver being wheeled through the hospital

Doctors immediately took the man into surgery and found that the wooden spike had not destroyed any of his vital organs, particularly the heart.

Preparing for extraction of the log

During a grueling four-hour operation, surgeons were able to remove the log and save the man's life.

Maybe when he recovers, the Chinese driver should meet the two New Zealand drivers -- one who was impaled by a canoe that was dislodged from a truck and came through his windshield into his chest, and the second who was impaled in the backside when he fell onto an air spigot and was filled up with air. Talk about blowing things out of proportion! (The guy survived and joked about his injury later himself.)

Or maybe he should talk to Jason Ripley of the United Kingdom, who was impaled by a loose barrier that was propelled through his car windshield and lodged in his right shoulder. Jason also survived to tell the tale. 

39 year-old Jason Ripley during rescue operation that saved him

 You can't make this stuff up, folks.

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A Tale of Four Cities: Unpleasant Discoveries in Unassuming Homes

The first of two bizarre stories comes from Utah, and it is so "fresh" that all the facts are not yet out. One version of the Utah story says a family who was cleaning out the garage of their home when they found a box containing the body of a dead baby. They called police, who got a search warrant and executed it to search the house. In that search police found six more babies, all appearing to be full term.

Another version says it was the ex-husband of the woman who found the first baby and notified authorities. Whatever the means of discovery, the police have now arrested the previous owner, a 39-year-old woman named Megan Huntsman, who moved out of the house in 2011. Authorities have charged Ms. Huntsman  with six counts of murder over a ten year period from 1996 to 2006.

It is not known why the murder charge count is six when seven bodies have been found. It is possible that one of the babies was underdeveloped and/or not full-term, so the death may not qualify as murder if it is unclear that the infant survived outside the womb.

There will undoubtedly be more news reported on this bizarre story in the coming days.
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Quite eerily, the town where these seven deaths occurred was Pleasant Grove, Utah. What's eerie about that? Less than six months ago, another grisly discovery of a dead baby was made in the Missouri town of Pleasant Hill. The Missouri baby's body was found in a bucket, encased in concrete. The husband and wife who live in the home have four other children. As of November 7 when the report of the discovery was made, no information was available about whether there were suspects in the case or the nature of the relationship of the baby to the people living in the house.

Just over a year earlier, on August 12, 2012, the body of a woman was discovered in an apartment in Pleasant Ridge, OH, outside of Cincinnati. The woman was later identified as LaVaneva Green, and her death was ruled a homicide. A juvenile eventually was arrested for her murder.

Then there was the triple murder in November of last year in Pleasant Valley, New York.  A Pakastani man named Abbas Lodhi was found dead in his car outside a supermarket, with his nine-year-old son also dead in the car. Subsequently the older son, age 13, was found dead from gunshot wounds at family's home. Lodhi's wife, Sarwat, was missing, and may at first have been a suspect. However, when her bullet-riddled body was found on the highway the next day, the investigation led to the conclusion that the pharmacist father had killed his wife and two sons in a triple murder-suicide.

I think I will steer clear of towns that have "Pleasant" in their name.

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