YouTube - A cat stands on 2 feet (original)

How does this cat stand on two feet for so long?! ;-P




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EI3WBamlxio

More But Bizarre Bottle Openers

I forgot to add this bizarre set of bottle corkscrews to my previous post. The post of that site, appeared in 2007, so its a bit old. But you gotta check it out if you have not seen this yet. Some of them made me chuckle. These are truly weird! Some I didn't like though.

35 Coolest Bottle Openers
http://bizarrearea.com/index.php/gadgets/35-coolest-bottle-openers.html

A Visit To The Virtual Corkscrew Museum

The virtual corkscrew museum contains both old and unusual corkscrews. I don't really know what to say at this point, because my brain is so fried right now at 2AM. Besides, they have so many categories that it takes a while to see everything. There are so many different types and styles of corkscrews. These aren't your typical corkscrews that are made these days. But I liked what I saw. It has been fun so far. Maybe some of them weren't so unusual back in the 19th century, but to now they are.

The Virtual Corkscrew Museum
http://www.bullworks.net/virtual.htm

Blog - munequitosrusos

This blog is in Spanish (the blogger is from Spain), I viewed it using the Yahoo Babelfish translator. From what I gathered, the posts in this blog are related to pop culture and nostalgia mostly from Europe and Russia. I didn't really read much but I liked the posts about the Russian cartoons. By the way, I don't know what the word "munequitosrusos" means. I think it's a Russian word.







http://munequitosrusos.blogspot.com/

Yahoo Babelfish translator
http://uk.babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_txt

What Are These Service Dogs For?

There is a nice thread about the background and history of the different types of assistance and service dogs under a topic called "paws and claws", in a forum site called Building Foundations. I am not familiar with this site, but I like it. I have not been able to find a specific statement as to what this site is about, maybe I missed it. But it appears that it provides emotional support for people who are going through difficult times emotionally and mentally.

I can't guarantee though, that all the information in this thread is entirely accurate. Most likely it is. Either way, it has valuable information.

As I have mentioned in the past, I have a hearing dog. So, this is why sites about service and assistance dogs intrigue me. I keep learning about different type of service dogs that I never heard of before. I've even heard of donkeys, ponies and guinea pigs as service animals. Also, about monkeys for deaf people in another country. Personally, I can't imagine walking around places with a monkey on your shoulder. I like monkeys, but no thanks. I'll stick to the dog ;-)

Building Foundations - Paws & Claws
http://www.buildingfoundations.net/chat/index.php?showtopic=26875

Lock a Lock

I never really thought about their history. It's one of those things that you just don't think about. Besides, I always assumed it was possibly just a few hundreds years old invention. It didn't occurred to me that there is such a rich history for this little thing. But, I discovered that locks have been around long before the birth of Christ. They are often mentioned both in the old testaments and in the mythology. Once I read that, it made sense to me. I've also learned that there are many types of locks with different shapes, purposes and origins. There is even a lock museum in Terryville, Connecticut. I had no idea there is such a museum. It wouldn't even crossed in my mind.

Also. I saw several other good links that I liked. Below are links for three sites that I enjoyed viewing. The first link is focused on the history, the second one is the museum, and the last two links are from the American Lock Collectors Association. There are a truly many amazing pictures of unique shaped locks. There are even locks that are shaped like animals. They are called Figural Locks.

Schlage's History of Locks
http://www.locks.ru/eng/informat/schlagehistory.htm

Lock Museum Of America
http://www.lockmuseum.com/

The ALCA's site has a photo gallery of all kind of locks including historical locks

The American Lock Collectors Association (ALCA)
http://alca.us/PHOTO_GALLERY.html

The ALCA even has a page for fake locks!

ALCA - Fakes
http://alca.us/FAKES.html

A Road To Nostalgiaville Of Soda and Beer

This is great. The site is a museum that mainly focused on the beer and soda's historical background. I have never seen so many ads for old beer and soda cans which is what I liked the best. You can view them in the first link. In the second link you can see big collections of soda bottles, soda glasses, con top soda cans, and soda cans. There is a link within the second link that will lead you another page called "A Pop-A-Can Soda Story". The third page is the home page as you can see.

Soda Pad Home Page
http://www.gono.com/collectorhomepage.htm

The Museum of Beverage Containers & Advertising's Soda Collection
http://www.gono.com/tb/soda/1sodacollection.htm

Home Page - Welcome To Nostagiaville
http://www.gono.com/

The collection is part the Nostalgiaville farm in Springfield, Tennessee. There are pictures of the location of the farm as well interior pictures of the museum. There is a virtual tour as well, where you can see the collections and everything. If you wish to see it in person, you can make an Personal tour to visit the farm.

There are other pages that are not collection. There are photographs of other cities.

Peterbilt All The Way

An interesting history of Peterbilt, a heavy duty truck history from 1900 to 2000. The company itself was established in 1939.

According to the site, the goal was for the industry was to concentrate on delivering high performance and low maintenance, as well very strong and durable vehicles. The focused to paying off a low operating cost with the driver productivity and high resale value. That was basically what the focus of Peterbilt when it was established. If you will keep reading, you'll find that there is quite a rich history for this company, that actually does begin in 1900 before the trucks even existed yet. There were motor wagons that were motor driven commercial. There was a big competition at the time. But when the steam power was fully in use in the early 1900's those wagon were no longer in a higher demand. People now turned to the railroad system which was much faster and thus a faster service. The rivers and the canals also became highly useful as another mean for transportation. This early technology paved the way to a company called Peterbilt which gradually become a top trucking company since its birth 1939. If you do the math, it is a 71 years old company. I don't know of many companies that still exist after so many decades.

Much more information at:

Peterbilt
http://www.peterbilt.com/history.aspx

Soviet Pressed Steel Vehicles At Tri Ang

I admit, I don't really understand much what this page is all about. This page is just an addition to the tri - ang site. These are are Soviet and Chinese pressed steel models of vehicles. The page mentions Tippers, special trucks, excavators, fire engines, ZIS/ZIL, Zavod, AZLK and Camocean trucks.

Tri - Ang: Soviet Models
http://www.triang.nl/russian.htm

Blog - Hearing Dog Training

My friend, Martha, has just started a new blog.

Martha Hoffman has been a trainer with the Hearing Dog Program (HDP) for many many years, and is one of the trainers who helped established the new HDP that was established when the SFSPCA cut off its old program. She now is the Training Director for the new independent HDP. She has now started a new training blog.

Blog - Hearing Dog Training
http://marthahoffman.info/blogs/blog6.php

In her new blog, Martha will be describing all of her HDP training visits that are interesting and how to train. If you are in another dog training list or sites, could you please pass this information along. So since she just started the blog, it's very fresh.

I volunteered to help promote her blog. Hopefully, it'll bring more awareness about these service dogs. Many people don't know what hearing dogs are. They are not widely known like dogs for the blind. I've been in situations where people didn't want me to go inside the store with my previous hearing dog, Bodie, but explaining that he is a service dog helped most of the times.

You know, I've had people asking me what kind of things does the hearing dog perform for me. But when they ask me for more information about the training, it becomes harder for me to explain because it's not that simple. There is more than just training a dog to do basic commands like sit, stay and come. This blog has answers to all those questions with details and descriptions.

I've known Martha for many years now. She has a lot of experience and can vouch for her as a good trainer. She helped me a lot when I was dealing with Bodie's mischiefs.

Above is Shelby, my new hearing dog. She is a Black Lab who just turned 2 years old early March. Thanks to Martha she is now a part of my life.