A Pathetic Piece of Logic

Given the effects of this medication and the sheer amount of recommended hours in therapy we have considered making this place more of a weekly "we post on monday, only monday" kind of thing.

However, sometimes the medicated fog clears for breif moments. And in these moments, we move from continually licking our arms clean to doing something more constructive, like watching television or readings articles on the internet. These moments are fleeting and provide us, sometimes once a week, other times twice a week, with what we'll call a "good feeling." We're feeling pretty good right now, but not too good, Doc. The barbituates are still safely locked in the Dennis's shoe box, underneath his bed, behind the gray blanket, next to the old socks.

We recently came across this article and thought we'd share some of our favorite quotes with you, our sober readers.

The article concerns how animals (non-humans) feel about, you know, things.

Cows are also capable of feeling strong emotions such as pain, fear and even anxiety — they worry about the future. But if farmers provide the right conditions, they can also feel great happiness.

Webster and his colleagues have documented how cows within a herd form smaller friendship groups of between two and four animals with whom they spend most of their time, often grooming and licking each other. They will also dislike other cows and can bear grudges for months or years.

Dairy cow herds can also be intensely sexual. Webster describes how the cows become excited when one of the herd comes into heat and start trying to mount her. “Cows look calm, but really they are gay nymphomaniacs,” he said.

Donald Broom, professor of animal welfare at Cambridge University, who is presenting other research at the conference, will describe how cows can also become excited by solving intellectual challenges.

In one study, researchers challenged the animals with a task where they had to find how to open a door to get some food. An electroencephalograph was used to measure their brainwaves.

“Their brainwaves showed their excitement; their heartbeat went up and some even jumped into the air. We called it their Eureka moment,” said Broom.




“Sentient animals have the capacity to experience pleasure and are motivated to seek it,” said Webster. “You only have to watch how cows and lambs both seek and enjoy pleasure when they lie with their heads raised to the sun on a perfect English summer’s day. Just like humans.”