philly

Cock on the Loose!

Craigslist is an odd little duckling. And this week, Philly's incarnation has been surreal. It started with a post on Saturday [I think] which is now deleted, but the second post is still up there. The first two words are familiar for the free stuff section, "Curb Alert" but the third word was an odd one "Rooster" — it reads:

CURB ALERT ROOSTER
That rooster I had posted about is on the curb now. Or was. Whoever wants it might want to come to 10th and Ellsworth and pick him up before he runs away.

Ha!

And then the speculation began:

RE: ROOSTER AT CURBSIDE? IS THIS A JOKE?
IS THIS A JOKE, ARE WE TALKING ABOUT A LIVE ROOSTER OR SOMETHING CERAMIC??? IS ANYBODY ELSE WONDERING?

And then there was a bit of a flame war of posts that have been deleted where people got into a yelling match over the valuation of human life over that of a rooster's life. Someone posted how they were going to get the rooster and then another posted asking how many homeless people that person would pass on their drive over to pick up the rooster. Another post asked the antagonizer how many homeless people s/he had living in her/his house... Flame, flame, flame. All gone now. But someone did pick up the cock.

But then they found out that it's not so quiet

Free Rooster - Back on the Street Again!
That damned thing CROWS! Plus he didn't wait for morning to start in. He also shits as he's walking around. I am now leaving - to drop him off where I found him: at 10th & Ellsworth, and let nature take its course. I don't care if the bums eat him or a chinese restaurant catches him, I'm not getting evicted over a crowing rooster.

I recall reading that a rooster will crow at the first hint of daybreak. That you could make a rooster crow at Noon if it hadn't seen the sun up until then. I think I read that in an Encyclopedia Brown book like fifteen years ago.

And then someone got the SPCA to go pick it up

Rooster- SPCA is on their way
SPCA is on their way to pick the rooster up, after 30 min on the phone and pushing the right buttons on management, they are sending the patrolcar. Please don't take him home if you catch him- hang in there, they are coming. If you do decide to get it yourself and cannot keep him, please take him down to Phila SPCA instead of tossing him on the street.
Thank you

I have no idea if they caught the cock yet as I saw this post looking for the cock:

Rooster Running Loose in Philly
If anyone has seen the rooster recently, please contact me, especially if he seems injured (a previous post mentioned something about a limpy leg). I volunteer for a wildlife rescue, and although roosters aren't wildlife, we sure as hell won't sit around and wait for him to get hit by a car or mauled by vicious little childre

I hope the cock is okay. Maybe it will become a famous tic-tac-toe playing cock.

Just another day in Philly.

UPDATE 10.54a, there's more! And I think this will be updated throughout the day... It seems like I've already missed a post that has since been deleted...

Re: SOME EDUCATION FOR ROOSTER PEOPLE
Hey Educator,
Thanks for the advice, I agree SPCA will take care of it one way or another. However I wanted to share that there's a rant & rave page for all your R&R needs. It's within the Personals box on the main page. It has a disclaimer so be prepared. Glad I could share in the teachings.

Thanks!
P.S. Free hugs to anyone who catches me on the street today! Yellow shirt, tweed sports jacket! Happy V-Day!

I think there was a post deleted right before that one and addressed again here

WHAT THE HELL
What the hell does a rooster have to do with a baby you fuckin nut job?? GET A LIFE

Damn, I missed it.

At least one other person is keeping up:

to the rooster person- instead of deleting a post
maybe some people need to know what to do when they have an animal they can't take care of. you must be some Christian wacko, which explains why you would mention abortion when we're talking about a rooster, why don't you be christian like and do the right thing???

Flame bait!

More anger towards the post deleter:

ROOSTER GUY
Rooster guy seems to think that anyone that cares for a defenseless creature is some wack job who probably supports abortion!!
How far off the beaten path can you go???
All that venom that you spew politically could be going towards something more positive, like compassion. Look the word up in the dictionary
You might learn something

And another is just ticked off about the cock taking over the free section:

re rooster
do any of you dingbats read the pet section?
a rooster in the city ? HELLOOOOOO
THERE IS SOMEONE LOOKING FOR THIS BIRD IT ISNT FREE FOR ANYONE.
check the link http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/pet/133764890.html

Taking a swipe at the whole lot of posters!

DLC 4 Part Strategy

via this post over at Factesque.

And I will echo her statement that this is something that Chuck Pennacchio would never propose doing. Rolling up into a ball - literally and figuratively - is not an option. Vote Pennacchio on May 16th and vote for a Senator who will stand up for us.

originally

Photo: Mark Payne-Gill/naturepl.com

Giant Jellyfish

Pitting two hands against thousands of stinging tentacles, a diver attaches a tracking device to a giant Nomura's jellyfish off the coast of Japan on October 4, 2005.

I can hear Little Tiny Elvis right now saying "That thing is huuuuge."

More on this from National Geographic.

Photo: Yomiuri Shimbun/AFP/Getty Images

Colbert Report Rips Humane Society

On Thursday night's Colbert Report [it's French, bitch] Stephen cited this Inky article and it immediately piqued my interest. It was an article on how the Humane Society was "livid" about the episode. Stephen then played a [real?] taped conversation of his call to the Humane Society. The most hilarious part the one that had me almost in tears, was the "visual approximation" of the Humane Society receptionist. A just beginning to be dread locked dirty blonde haired girl with freckles or acne and a goofy smile. I was cracking up a storm. And when Stephen was handed off to a higher up, the graphic was changed to a black bear holding the phone up to its ear.

Stephen demanded an apology and when he didn't get one, he said that he accepted it anyways. When the bearman said that he/they didn't apologize, Stephen said that it was too late and that he had already accepted the apology and quickly hung up. I don't know how he does it. Keeping that straight face.

Feral Cats

There are so many damn cats in my neighborhood it's crazy. Maybe they'll be slightly scared or spooked off with the newly opened dog park around the corner. With all the noise the dogs make throughout the day, maybe the cats will congregate on another area of South St.

There are tons of cats over in West Philly around 48th/Market Sts as well. In this one parking lot, a cat lady feeds them every day. I guess she feeds them right around the time I leave work to cut through the lot to get to the El. I see about four cats sitting in various places in the lot waiting for the lady to show up with her cans of food.

Carnivale of the Dogs: Rittenhouse Square

Saturday November 12th from 10a - 2p, Rittenhouse Square should be teeming with doggies. More so than usual. Doggies in costume celebrating Carnivale is what this is all about from what I can see. Should be quite a site.

I am personally opposed to dogs wearing clothing, especially costumes. I'd never costume a dog if I had one. I hated it when my sister used to put a fleece onto her dog — it was a lab/pit bull mutt, he needed no fleece!

But this event sounds fun. I'm a dog lover first, dog-clothing-hater second. If I end up heading over there, maybe I'll liberate a dog or two from some stupid costume ears or something.

---

Didn't end up going.

ALF: the Animal Liberation Front

If you haven't heard of ALF yet, I think you may in the very near future. No, I'm not talking about Alf the alien who liked to eat cats and lived with Joe Lieberman a.k.a. Willie Tanner. After reading this article in the Chicago Tribune about ALF's break-in at the University of Iowa's Spence Laboratories, I smell national story.

IOWA CITY -- The shaky, amateurish video shows everything in graphic detail: Four masked people break into darkened university labs, pour toxic chemicals onto computers and stacks of files, and release hundreds of research rats and mice. They spray-paint walls with slogans such as "Science not Sadism" and "Free the Animals."

This is the kind of thing that just slides right into the headlines when things get hot for Bush and Co. Let alone the whole Michael Jackson fiasco which I really don't care for [but if you want my two cents, I think he's guilty and needs some serious help].

And last month in Washington, John Lewis, the FBI's deputy assistant director for counterterrorism, told a Senate committee that animal-rights and environmental activists resorting to arson and explosives are the nation's top domestic terrorism threat.

And why are they the top domestic terrorism threat? Maybe becasue they're disrupting things that will bring in beaucoup bucks for the big pharmaceuticals, who in turn, like to give beaucoup bucks to Bush and Co. for their tireless efforts.

Dogs Left Outside

I hate it when people do this to their dogs. "Man's Best Friend" eh? Would you leave your best friend outside of a store, tied up to the nearest stationary object, while you went inside to get yourself a stupid latté or whatever you drink? Whenever I see one of these dogs tied up like this outside a store, I always make a point to go over and give him/her a scratch and make him/her feel loved and not feel like an afterthought. Please do the same, unless you have some kind of fear of dogs or something preventing you from petting a nice dog.

I remember once seeing a dog left outside of a store in the pouring rain.

Biscuits & Gravy win over Patience & Fortitude

***News Flash***
[cue typewriter sound effects]
For the first time in 57 years, the President has elected to kill the official White House turkey stating, "Look everybody! I beat that turkey John Kerry good!" while holding 'John Kerry' by the neck

Okay, that's not for real. But that is a real photo of W grasping the pardoned turkey by the neck. The turkey in hand, Biscuits and it's backup, Gravy, were pardoned in the Rose Garden earlier today. Where did the names come from? From a poll on the official White House website. And no joke that pair of names beat out Patience and Fortitude. You can't even make that up. Middle America, sine November 3rd, has been hooked up to one of the internets and they voted, online. Someone send them a link to Air America Radio.com or NY Times.com! Oh wait, it's too late.

Here's the AP coverage and here's the White House's official coverage of the event.

Photo: Doug Mills/NYT

Doggie

Lots of times I just wish I were a dog. Carefree. Have someone feed me, walk me, pet me, play with me. And if I wanted to get away from it all, I could go chase a squirrel in the park or something.

"Ignorance is bliss" they say, but fuck it, I've already taken the red pill.

Speaking of dogs, here's a clip .wma | .ra of Nellie McKay's "Dog Song" - it always cheers me up. Ask me nice and I'll share the .mp3 with ya or maybe even the entire album. And thanks to Lady for introducing me to her music.

Photo taken from outside a park in Bella Vista. Perhaps it was Palumbo Playground?