"All of God's children are not beautiful. Most of God's children are, in fact, barely presentable." - Fran Lebowitz

Assuming this bike is pedaled and not motorized (that box above the rear wheel may be a motor), is it more or less stable than a regular bike? The larger wheels, once moving, have a gyroscopic effect greater than a normal size wheel. But the center of gravity is much higher and the thing is heavier. What do you think?

Interesting day. Learned lots of things in a wide variety of areas, which always makes for a good day in my book.

How 'bout some links tonight?
First this ten-question quiz from friend Jeff N. testing your knowledge of Mr. Rogers.
I only got 70%, but I was beyond that age when he appeared so I only watched the show when the boys were young and had it on.

Then there's this YouTube video from my brother Scott with a very impressive demonstration of finesse on a grand scale:
Liebherr

Three's a charm. Son Steve sent me this short YouTube video of a guy who set up his camera to catch his impressive burn-out. Keep an eye on the hood of his car.
Burnout!

My folks were married on this date - April 13 - sixty five years ago. It was a Friday that year. So much for superstition, eh?

A local woman has been arrested and charged with animal cruelty by the Sheriff's Dept. because she allowed her dog to die. She says she knew the dog was sick but couldn't afford to take it to the vet for treatment.

Am I the only one who finds this very troubling?
How much money did she need to spend to avoid the charges? And where was she supposed to get those funds? What bills should she have left unpaid? If the vet said surgery was required to save the dog would she be in the same trouble if she had chosen not to spend thousands of dollars on that operation? How much money spent on a dog is enough?

If her pet were a bird or a goldfish would she be similarly liable to prosecution? Where is that line?? Mammals? Reptiles?

We may say that if she can't afford to care for an animal she shouldn't own it, but we don't know her circumstances. Did she lose her job? Husband walk out leaving her alone with kids to care for? Assuming she legitimately cannot afford to pay for medical care for the dog, for whatever reason, are we as a society prepared to prosecute a person for allowing a dog to die of its ailments? It's certainly not what we want, but is it a crime?

Al is a great dog, the near ideal pet. But he's a dog. Don't tell him, but he's on a budget. It is bad (as in morally wrong) stewardship to spend money we can't afford to keep a dog alive. Back in the day, when we were preacher poor and vet prices were more reasonable, we set a limit of $50 in vet bills for our dogs. After that it was euthanasia time. We haven't discussed Al's limit but trust me, there is one and it's low 3-figures.

We anthropomorphize our pets and bond with them, especially dogs and cats. That's fine and good. But they have no more intrinsic value than mosquitoes, field mice or pigeons. If this case goes to court I'll watch it with interest. And I'd love to be the defense attorney! Seems to me just a few well phrased questions would box the Sheriff's Dept. into a logical mess of their own making.