Let me give you a specific example of a behavior that I asked Koonie to perform, and he accomplished the first time (though it took a few months to set the building blocks).

When I go to the Millstone, a little grocery market across the street from my house, Koonie will sit in front of the house when I say “stay”. He just sits there and waits. I didn’t have to train him, he did it the first time I asked.

Here’s what I did over 6 months to make Koonie patiently wait for me.

Develop bonds. We’ve spent nearly every minute together over 6 months. I take Koonie everywhere I go. If I go into the market, he’s learned that I always come back.

Develop trust. I trust Koonie just as much as he trusts me. When we’re doing an off leash walk and Koonie runs ahead out of sight, I know that he’s taking shade under a tree. We trust each other: he’s not running away nor am I. I take every opportunity to develop trust.

Build confidence. This has been hard road for Koonie. It’s a work in progress. Koonie is a rescue dog that I got December 15, 2016, and he came with a deficit in confidence. I’m learning different training exercises to build Koonie’s confidence, but it’s taking a lot of time

This morning he waited for me across the street from the store, but when I came out I noticed he moved around 20 feet, which he had never done before. Then I realized he moved out of the sun to the shade under a tree. Good decision!

One of the things that amazes me every day is how many good decisions Koonie makes. On his own, he makes decisions that I have absolutely no problem with and don’t need correcting. Even if I have a minor correction, I don’t often make it because it would be nitpicking.

How I trained my dog to be a great companion is pretty simple. I needed everything that I expected from him: patience, trust, and confidence.

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You can take all the tea in China
Put it in a big brown bag for me
Sail right around the seven oceans
Drop it straight into the deep blue sea
She’s as sweet as tupelo honey
She’s an angel of the first degree
She’s as sweet as tupelo honey
Just like honey from the bee

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Do these 4 things:

1. Live life in a constant state of simmering rage, like you’ll snap at any second. Get angry about diabetes.
2. Learn to hate food. You have to hate the smell of food, what it looks like, and what it tastes like. All food. When you smell fresh toast, trick yourself into having the impulse to regurgitate.
3. Work yourself into dust. Exercise regardless of injuries. You’ll be in constant pain, hobbling around with sprained ankles and pulled muscles, but it’s the only way. Keep the fuck moving.
4. Hate your life. End relationships, hobbies, or anything that gives you joy. There is no joy, you have diabetes. You should be thinking about your weight every waking moment. There is nothing else.

That’s all.

At some point you’ll realize that I wasn’t joking. Right now you think I’m trying to be funny by exaggerating. Then come back and read this again. Truth.

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You’ve got a career in your own right, an actor of some note, but people still think of you as that geek married to Christina Hendricks. Some people call you Mr. Christina Hendricks!

Well, good on you Mr. Geoffrey Arend. Touché!

https://twitter.com/billweye/status/537700267945635841

@billweye I think it's working pic.twitter.com/l0jcQi48lU

— geoffrey arend (@GeoffreyArend) November 26, 2014

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I don’t care if someone in California wants to see what’s going on.

That makes sense only if you don’t understand that local customers — and potential customers — use the Web on a daily basis. They might use the Web before visiting your business — at their home or even in the parking lot.

Remember, the Web isn’t just for desktop computers anymore.

Here are three ways a business who doesn’t need a website can use a website:

1. Encourage people to sign-up to your new email list. If you’re a good business person and your customers like you, then they’ll want to hear your expert opinion. Email marketing (‘ol school!) is still the most effect way to encourage sales.
2. Establish and define yourself as an expert in your field. Whatever business it is, it doesn’t matter, you’re an expert compared to your customers. People who use the Web are starved for information, and on your website you can be a source of information.
3. Become ingrained in your local community. The only way to become part of the conversation on the Web is to have a presence on the Web. That includes providing opportunities for customers to review your business and having online conversations with customers.

Whether you like it or not, your customers rely on the Web every day. Why wouldn’t you want to be where your customers are?

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ZZ Top, 1970 pic.twitter.com/YZJUvxlQah

— History Photographed (@HistoryInPics) October 14, 2014

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Secret Service Director Julia Pierson says the front door to the White House now locks automatically in a security breach.

Pierson told a House panel that the switch to automatic locks at the White House’s north door was made after an Army veteran jumped the fence on Sept. 19 and made his way into the interior of the building through two unlocked doors.

Photograph republished here under a public domain license.

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I think people like isolating the vocals of their favorite songs because it’s sort of a behind the scenes peek at how the song was crafted. Like this rap, Nuthin But A G Thang from Snoop and Dre.

Find more isolated vocals here.

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Every picture tells a story, donut!
Every picture tells a story, donut!
Every picture tells a story, donut!
Whoa!

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“How can you look at the world and not believe someone created/thought of it? It’s amazing!!!”

I agree; it is amazing! I’ve written about this many times. But we know that complexity can arise naturally through the laws of physics. It doesn’t take very complex rules to create huge diversity. Look at poker; a simple set of rules creates a game that has so many combinations it’s essentially infinite to human experience. We can figure out the rules of nature by studying the way processes follow them, and deduce what’s going on behind the scenes. And whenever we do, we see science.

Sitting down at a poker table, I get excited with anticipation waiting to see what my two hole cards are going to be.

Will I be able to play them? Will the cards be good enough to beat anyone else, or will I have to use my best skills to outplay the table? Who knows?! That’s the excitement of infinite possibilities.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgo-dYAgzSs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdRHaDi2E9c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smu8nKXX0Bs

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One of Crabapple’s latest pieces, for Talking Points Memo, has been released from behind their pay wall (thank you, TPM). TPM sent her to Istanbul to report on the violence and protests in Turkey, a country that should fascinate you, if you’re the least bit interested in the intersection of Western thought and Islam (and the Ottoman Empire!).

As parks go, Gezi is nothing special. A few blocks of Central Istanbul, with scraggly trees and a Cthulhu-looking fountain, it is neither the city’s biggest park nor its prettiest. But when Erdo?an revealed plans to replace the park with reconstructed Ottoman barracks, and then convert those into a shopping mall, city dwellers saw it as the final straw in his sale of Istanbul to developers.

On May 31, environmentalists camped in the park. Police began with tear gas, then burnt their tents.

A year later protesters still divide their lives into before and after Gezi.

The boundary is made of tear gas.

Crabapple is capturing a truth in her drawings that can’t happen with just words. We’re better for that.

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What good salad cheese am I missing?

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I hate to admit it, because this thing looks like a rabbit’s wet dream, but the salad I made this weekend tasted fucking good. A simple homemade dressing on fresh spinach and Swiss chard from the first farm share distribution of the season.

Does that look good to you? Then make the damn thing!

Dressing:

• olive oil
• apple cider vinegar
• pepper

Salad

• spinach, chopped bite size
• Swiss chard, chopped bite size (cut the stems and ribs out — they’re tough)
• chopped up toasted almonds
• raisins
• feta cheese crumbles, not too much
• a little bit of grilled chicken

You want amounts? Forget about it! Figure it out yourself, I’ve already given you something that tastes good!

What makes this salad are the almonds and feta (the saltiness of the cheese). Don’t screw it up and substitute.

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