Grateful Dead

How Dogs Became Man’s Best Friend

A story told by some Native American peoples is that the Great Spirit decided to divide the worlds of animals and man.
He gathered all the living beings on a great plain and drew a line in the dirt.
On one side of the line stood man and on the other side stood all of the animals of the earth.
When that line began to open up into a great canyon and at the last moment
Before it became too great to cross, the dog jumped over and stood by man.
– Unknown -

Give a man a fire and he’ll be warm for the day.

Set him on fire and he’ll be warm for the rest of his life

I have had next to no interactions with police.

One speeding ticket when I was young and dumb
one pullover for ???
one pullover because I changed lanes too fast.

"so much things to say right now"...but dead.net isn't really the place.

just BE KIND and respect your fellow human beings, my people.

is to halt business as usual and think deeply about current affairs, and keep thinking, and act.

BLACKOUT: had no clue....it was fine, just wish they would have announced it. Hopefully it helped make a difference!
It did inform me that perhaps I’m obtaining a bit of a addiction here lol.

DOGS: love most animals, especially Dogs, it’s people I tend to have problems with. Some Dogs people will say “careful, their not nice, or their not friendly”....me, they love me! Go figure...real unconditional love, loyalty honesty...always glad to see you...amazing.
I’ve had a Irish setter that was really smart and well trained, a Lab/Husky, and lived for 5 years at a place with the best, smartest, mellowest Golden Mutt ever. This dog would look at you and you felt like perhaps they were a person last go round and now their stuck in this dog body lol. The dog would basically telepath it wanted to go out. Living where we did that meant just opening the door and letting her go. When she wanted to come back in, she would bark once. Then she would wait patiently. If no one let here in within five minutes, she’d bark again just once. Amazing dog! Oh, and she loved the Dead and music in general. I Played music with her owner and she loved to come curl up at your feet on stage while the band was playing! Owner was tight with LOS and she would do that sometimes at their gigs too!
Labs and Golden’s are awesome, but they need room and a lot of exercise. Both are fun and can be great partners and both usually have good personalities. Their usually really good with kids. But dogs, like people, definetly have personalities so it’s usually best if you can spend time or get to know them before you have to choose. My last Dog was a lab/Husky mutt and I immediately liked him out of the rest of the large litter....because the crazy little guy was already slipping away from mama and getting into stuff at four weeks old, lol. You could tell right then and there he was going to be a handful, named him Aiko because he had that vibe..hey now! Here i come, wuff!
He was a handful when he was young, but eventually became an awesome well behaved companion.

TIPS: get them fixed ASAP before they know what there missing etc, I didn’t for over a year and it was a big mistake....since he was fully mature by then and had “gotten some”, so it took years for him to calm down that way even after he’d been fixed. Be prepared to spend A LOT of time that first year. If you wait too long it’s much harder to get good results. You’ll thank yourself because there is nothing better than a life with a cool, mellow, behaved happy dog, and nothing worse than a bad untrained dog. Preferable to get your pup after they’ve been wormed.....
Insurance. Currently don’t have any pets but my understanding is nowadays you really need insurance....
Chewing: they do like to chew stuff up. I used crochet balls and old 2x4s. He’d instantly chew anything else up (until older) he couldn’t get enough jaw on the crochet balls and the 2x4s it didn’t matter that he’d shred them, at least they’d last a little while and were free so didn’t matter.
All dogs can be overprotective and act out. Every dog I’ve ever lived with or known for long has done it at least once, Usually it was just a weird situation and often not all the dogs fault, but it can happen.
Also, poop! You will be dedicating the next 10-15 years to endless poop; worming, cleaning up, walking, sickness etc.
In other words, it’s a big decision because it’s a big responsibility! Unfortunately that’s why we don’t have a dog anymore; our lifestyle is not organized and scheduled for the proper care of a dog, and Pedro doesn’t pick up poop, so though I miss not having one, it’s because it wouldn’t be fair to the mutt and I just don’t want all that responsibility these days. Sounds like you have a family to help which can make a big difference and it can be great responsibility learning for a young person. A life with a good dog can be one of the greatest experiences in life, but man is it hard when they go. I’ve lost my folks, all my grandparents, most of my aunts and uncles, even a few friends, but I think losing a good dog that you were really tight with and had a good life with can sometimes be harder. I still get pretty upset if I start thinking too much about missing those guys. I’m getting misty just talking about it...

COPS: I’ve had a few good experiences with reasonable, polite, and respectful ones, but unfortunately I’ve had more terrible experiences. Leddead your Denver buddies being some of the worst!
Years ago after a Phil and Phreinds show at the Philmore, I had 4 or 5 beers over the course of several hours, but stopped more than 3 hours before leaving. This is a system I’ve used based on science for years. Basicallly, get a little buzz early, then stop so by the time you leave your totally fine (legally and otherwise).
So I take the back street behind the Philmore to avoid all the lights on Colfax, and then cut back over near DT so I could get to the expressway etc. Well as I’m not familiar or good in the city, and my night vision sucks, I made a right on red at a place I wasn’t supposed to. Cop is sitting there hiding in an alley just waiting for this. So she pulls me over, and of course asks if I’ve been drinking. Since I knew I was legal etc I said I had a few, a few hours ago. I know, that’s what everyone says, but it was true. So next thing you know there’s a half dozen cops most of which are trying to mess with me and get me to do something stupid so they can mess with me. One even stepped on my toe while getting so close to my face he was spitting on me while he screamed at me. I was never so scarred in my life. Luckily, I know how to act around wild animals so I just stayed calm and was overly polite the whole time. So I take the so called sobriety tests that I can’t pass if it’s first thing on Tuesday and I’m more sober than a baby. It’s a proven fact these tests are designed for failure.
So of course I fail and they arrest me even though I’ve still not taken a breathalyzer which I’ve been asking to do the whole time. Now I’m pretty beat up for my age, and I’ve had reoccurring shoulder problems, and it’s extremely painful for me to ware the jewelry behind my back which is standard practice for officer safety. So I try to very calmly and politely explain this to the Women cop who originally pulled me over as she was the ONLY one of the posse that wasn’t being intimidating, obnoxious, rude, or trying to violate my rights. But as soon as I did, the brutes slammed me up against my truck and hurt me so bad putting the cuffs on I was crying out in pain. Luckily the ride was short as I was in severe agony.
So we get to the compound and go into an armored door underground garage. So before we go in the officer has to put her weapons etc in a locker in the garage area. So now she starts getting nervous about taking her hands off me while she attends to this protocol (they don’t want you grabbing their weapon after they take the cuffs off inside).
So since she’s now alone she’s not comfortable etc and has me stand on the other side of this fortress garage and says don’t go anywhere....so I’m like Mam, im over fifty years old, mostly broken, I’m in extreme agony here cuffed behind like this, what am I going to do, some acrobatic Kung fu shit and fly over there and bite you in the neck because I made an illegal right on red? Kinda like Arlo Guthrie LOL, but it helped reassure her and she actually smiled a little.
So next it’s this whole long convoluted process to book you and get mug shots etc and I’ve still not had the test. Meanwhile there are now new Neanderthals circled around trying to get me to give them any reason at all to mess with me. At some point they tell me I have to sign shit which lawyer friends say never sign anything! So I politely mention this and before I even finish they start telling me I’m now failing to comply and refuse the test (which I never did) and how I just lost my license and all kinds of other screaming and carrying on until they finally shut up enough so I say, look, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to know what your asking me to sign. So he takes the paper and jams it in my face so close it’s touching my face. Another inch and he would of basically hit me. Now I’m even more scarred...finally, after more threats, screaming, insults, intimidation etc, I get to take the test. Now I’m still not worried about DUI cause I know I’m not illegal etc, but I am worried about getting beat. Again this whole time I’ve never raised my voice. I’ve only spoken when asked to, and I’ve used only Sir, Mam, Officer etc and been extremely polite and respectful. So I take the test and of course barely register any alcohol like less then .001, .08 is the legal limit....but this nut doesn’t believe it so recalibrated the machine and made me blow multiple times, including putting his face next to mine and screaming at me that I’m not blowing hard enough (like a drill Sargent) even though I’m literally out of breath and panting etc...
Finally the original gal that stopped me (who’s been totally proffesional the whole time) says “enough, he’s good, I’m letting him go and taking him back.” We’ll they have to go through the whole convoluted process in reverse to sign all my stuff back out including my tour laminate (was not looking forward to notifying my cousin that the cops now have full access)...so while this is happening, they take one last run at me trying to get me to give them ANY reason to mess me up and lock me up, all because I failed to obey a traffic sign I never saw...
This is just one story, I have several others where I wasn’t as worried about being beat, but I did have my rights totally violated, so my 2 cents is that I’m scarred shitless anytime I have to deal with cops. It didn’t used to be as bad, my experiences have gotten worse over the years and I’m white, I’ve never done anything bad (I don’t believe minor drug stuff is bad) and I’ve never actually been convicted with anything except speeding, yet in the last ten years or so anytime I’ve been pulled over I’ve immediately become extremely scarred, nervous, anxious and worried for my safety. If these cops are all so good and there’s only a few bad apples, why should generally law abiding citizens be scarred for their life during even a routine traffic stop (last time had a company truck with tail bulbs out)? Another example, car searches: they rarely did them in the old days, now, it’s almost like standard practice...they used to have to follow the constitution....
Imagine how our brothers and sisters of color feel....
We have a serious systemic problem with the recruitment, training, and oversight of our law enforcement in our police state of a so called free democracy. Be careful out there folks....like Kerouac said “avoid authority, go through life like a ghost”

you made me check on Robb Johnson, I have none, I want. Amazon has a 5 cd set called "A Reasonable History of Impossible Demands". (I'd want it just for that title!) Used, it's an ok price. Anyone familiar with said album?

Simon-no I had no idea what was happening on this website yesterday until someone told me in an email. I am obviously following what is happening on the news, but I never came across any references to social networks-or whatever this is-closing for the day. It almost felt as though they were stopping discussion on the subject by their action. So...an act of protest. I would never have known it if I hadn't been told. I'm not sure what "going black" for the day is supposed to achieve.

Thick, Rich, White!!!

Still laughing, but will work that bad boy in, somewhere!

Dead-Shoreline amp. mountain view 6/3/76. Max creek-Capital theater 6/3/89. You could almost find as much acid at max creek gigs as the dead in the 80s. Whew, is it safe to come out now?

Two that I like, both from Half Man Half Biscuit lyrics:

“You’re the reason that Paradise Lost”
“The light at the end of the tunnel is the light of an oncoming train”

Perhaps a little simplistic but a lyric from Robb Johnson about an earlier Tory government
“They’re the cream of the nation. Thick, Rich, White”

I just read somewhere further down someone suggested a quote a day board (sorry forget who), but I thought what a great idea!

Here's an mean one to start off

I kept it in a cage, watched it weeping, but I made it stay. - Kate Bush

:-)