According to Vice, the Rio spendathon did some good for dogs and cats:
… Ferriera, who works with the Rio Olympics Sustainability Department, was there to help them. Danielle Bambace of World Animal Protection’s Brazil chapter, who was also there to document the captures, told me Maracana is not a safe place for cats. Some local soccer fans consider them bad omens. Both fans and stadium workers have been known to kill cats if they see them on game day, sometimes in particularly brutal fashion; Bambace said that when they first came to inspect the area, they found about 60 dead cats around the stadium. Also, the cats breed quickly here. Before the Olympics, there were some 100 cats outside the stadium. Within a few months, Bambace estimates, there could be five or six hundred.
Ferriera trapped 10 cats that night. All will be spayed and neutered, and any that need veterinary care will receive it before being released back into a special cat area inside Maracana’s grounds equipped with play areas that will hopefully keep them safe even after the Olympics are over.
Ferriera has had his eye on this cat colony for years, but the money has never been available to properly deal with it in a humane way. Because of this, Ferriera feels like one of the athletes competing at the Olympics, at least in the sense that he, too, has been waiting for many years to achieve a goal he’s had for a long time. “Without the Olympics,” he said, “it wouldn’t happen.”…
Back in November, Rosângela Ribeiro, the veterinary programs director for World Animal Protection (WAP), emailed the Rio 2016 sustainability department wanting to know what they planned to do with stray dogs and cats found during construction of Rio’s venues. She only had domestic animals in mind, but within a few hours, the sustainability department invited her to a meeting. Ribeiro met with the department for four hours, asking them what they planned to do. As she remembers it, they told her that they had no real plan.
Over the ensuing months, WAP worked with the organizers to create a comprehensive plan to humanely handle wildlife and domestic animals found at the venues, as well as addressing long-standing stray issues near venues like the one at Maracana. Rio 2016 doesn’t pay WAP anything, but the organizers cover the costs for trapping, spaying/neutering, and veterinary care…
At WAP’s recommendation, the sustainability department hired biologist Guilherme Andreoli to be the point of contact for all animal-related issues at venues. During an adoption event for the many good dogs rescued at Olympic venues in Barra da Tijuca last Saturday, Andreoli told me about the time he recently had to dive into a pool and put a feisty capybara in a headlock to remove it from the water. Not long after, he got a call alerting him to an alligator in a tent at the golf course, but he was waiting to hear if it was a “small, not a problem” alligator, as he put it, or a bigger, more worrying one…
Apart from warm fuzzies (however temporary), what’s on the agenda for the evening?
dedc79
Bill O’Reilly, ladies and Gentlemen:
lamh36
The power of Brendan Fraser. I actually sat here and watched Mrs Winterbourne…and I never really liked this movie AT ALL.
Not even close to my fav Brendan Fraser film (I’m partial to the Mummy films and Bedazzled)…but I do love Brendan Fraser.
Now I’m wondering what the hell he’s up to right now
debbie
@dedc79:
I must say, I’m surprised Putin hasn’t sneeringly reminded the world that the USA did so well because Russian athletes unfairly were not allowed to compete.
lamh36
@samsteinhp
Trump has cancelled his Colorado, Nevada and now Oregon events
what’s going on?
raven
@lamh36: None of that come close to his performance in God’s and Monsters.
Ultraviolet Thunder
Yesterday my sister rescued a 10 week old kitty that she saw being dumped out of a car out in the country. If you can believe that.
This cat is sweet and adorable, and has moved in with her other two elder cats. So two beings got lucky.
What kind of person abandons a house pet? I don’t want to think about it.
Major Major Major Major
I’m still at work, you jerks.
raven
@Major Major Major Major: I’m prepping for hernia surgery tomorrow after having a colonoscopy last week!
lamh36
@raven: Oh no doubt. I’m partial to his comedic/actions roles actually.
I even like the Journey to the Center of the Earth remake…go figure
Joel
@lamh36: You could check his website.
Iowa Old Lady
@raven: You win.
raven
@lamh36: God’s and Monsters ain’t for everyone, that’s for sure.
Major Major Major Major
@raven: @Iowa Old Lady: I don’t know, have you ever had to work with Salesforce?
Anoniminous
Two minutes before the Big Foot came down.
Is that a record?
MomSense
@lamh36:
Did you see him in The Quiet American? Great film.
Peale
Breathlessly awaiting that major speech on immigration policy. I’m guessing he’ll be going with “self-deport” and will get kudos for sounding serious like Romney.
debbie
@efgoldman:
They all did! That’s why those movies are so wonderful, especially compared to today’s actors/actresses who specialize in looking thoughtfully into the distance.
I can’t remember which show (maybe Letterman), but someone noted Kristin Stewart (of Twilight fame) would be on the show soon. The other person hoped she was bringing her second expression.
raven
@Major Major Major Major: You could be right!
debbie
@raven:
Good luck with that! You must be an expert prepper.
raven
@MomSense: He was decent in that.
Iowa Old Lady
@Major Major Major Major: I take it work isn’t going well?
lamh36
@MomSense: Oh I’ve actually seen the majority of his films, even the dramas…
raven
@debbie: Yea this was just one bottle of magnesium citrate compared to a gallon of the other stuff. As with any medical procedure the internet is full of awful information peppered with and occasional, “it ain’t that bad”! I’m banking on pepper!
MomSense
@raven
My dad had his hernias repaired when they went in to do his prostatectomy. No clearing trees or yard work for you or it will take forever to heal. He kept trying to split wood and we finally had to stage an intervention. I kept him busy talking politics and baking molasses cookies (his favorite) while my kids went outside and split and stacked all the wood.
Wishing you successful surgery and a speedy recovery.
raven
@MomSense: I’m pretty good as doing as I’m told on this stuff. I’ve survived some heavy duty trauma and I give credit to them’s that know.
MomSense
@raven:
I remember going to see The Mummy with my kids and dreading it. No one warns you that parenthood sometimes means suffering through tv and movies. Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed the movie mostly because he is just really charming.
ETA meant to respond to Lamh. My thumbs are all thumbs today.
MomSense
@raven:
Glad to hear it. You’ll feel so much better once you’ve healed.
Mnemosyne
Imma brag again — Daveed Diggs was at my friend’s workplace today and signed my copy of the Hamiltome (and even spelled my name correctly, as per the Post-It note!) Now I kind of regret not going there in person because she said he was an absolute sweetheart and now she has a crush on him, too.
It’s okay, we agreed to share him. ?
raven
@MomSense: That’s is the BIG issue. I am asymptomatic. I was diagnosed over a year ago and I have never had any problems so, if I feel better, it’s going to be a big shock.
Mnemosyne
@MomSense:
I still think the live-action George of the Jungle made over $100 million because every mom in America said, “Brendan Fraser in a loincloth? Quick, get in the car, kids!”
SiubhanDuinne
@lamh36:
I never saw the remake, but I am ridiculously, and inexplicably, fond of the 1959 original with Pat Boone, Arlene Dahl, James Mason, and a young Diane Baker. Cheesy as all get-out, but it holds a special place in my cinematic heart.
SiubhanDuinne
@raven:
I hope all goes well, as I’m sure it will. After this surgery is over, I hope you can take a nice long break from hospitals, doctors’ offices, and clinics/labs for a good long while. Take it easy and let us hear from you when you can.
WaterGirl
@Mnemosyne: I cannot believe you had a chance to see him in person and you did not go. What’s wrong with you!?!??!?!?!!!
(I mean that in the nicest possible way, of course.)
raven
@SiubhanDuinne: Ah it ain’t been that bad. It does look like I’m going to fly up to Villa Park for a memorial for my buddy in late September.
Mnemosyne
@WaterGirl:
IRL, I’m actually very shy, so I was too chicken to do it. ?
ETA: Also, with LA traffic, it would have been at least a 2-hour drive to get there. Yes, that’s one way from the Valley to West LA.
WaterGirl
@raven: Hey, raven. What time is your surgery tomorrow? We need to know so we have a fair idea of when to start griping that you haven’t updated us yet. :-)
Hoping it will be a (relatively) nothing-burger. Who will take the dogs to the bakery while you are recovering???
SiubhanDuinne
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
Many years ago, when NYC implemented their new Pooper Scooper law, hundreds of people simply dumped their dogs in Central Park or on the streets because bagging and disposing of their shit was just too fucking much trouble for these delicate and sensitive flowers. It was about then that I started to consider the possibility of hating people.
WaterGirl
@Mnemosyne: Wow, would not have predicted that. I do believe I could get over any shyness if I could interact with Daveed Diggs or LMM.
raven
@WaterGirl: 10:15. The boss lady is taking the day off and she’s aware that she’ll be on doggie duty for a while. The biggest issue will be Lil Bit’s eye meds because you have to pit her butt up on the couch. The deal with the surgery is that you have to pee before they let you go and some people have problems with that.
SiubhanDuinne
@raven:
Sad journey, but I know it will mean a lot for you to be there.
Mnemosyne
@WaterGirl:
Did you ever see the old Disney theme park commercial where the little kid talks all day about how he’s going to see Mickey and everything he’s going to tell him, and when the moment finally comes, he can’t say a word?
Yeah, that would be me.
WaterGirl
@Mnemosyne: Mickey is not even 1/10th as hot (or sweet) as Diggs. But I get what you’re saying.
Mnemosyne
@WaterGirl:
Plus I’m already married, so I couldn’t take the chance that Daveed would be able to convince me to run away to the Casbah with him. ?
Enzymer
@lamh36:
For me it’s Gods & Monsters
The Thin Black Duke
What, no love for School Ties?
Enzymer
I see Raven is way ahead of me. It’s not just that G&M is a great film, which it is, but that. Fraser’s ingenue provides a placeholder for “normality” amidst Redgrave & McKellen’s more dramatic/acted characters. For me that film was an eye opener for Fraser’s talents.
Steeplejack (phone)
@debbie:
Hey, I was pleasantly surprised, almost to the point of amazement, at how good Kristen Stewart is in Café Society.
MomSense
@Mnemosyne: m
I resemble that remark!
Daveed signed your Hamiltome. Wow, that’s cool.
WaterGirl
@Mnemosyne: If that ever happens, feel free to offer me up as an alternative! I should have told lamh that long ago re: Idris Elba.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Mnemosyne:
There is that great scene where shirtless George is training a horse, all the women are swooning, and some clueless asshole says, “What is it with chicks and horses?!”
Peale
So to continue…its Michael Wolff in USA today. For claiming that Hillary has gotten less scrutiny than any candidate in history, and we really don’t know her after 25 years…well he’s the one whose nose I shall bloody. He couldn’t even wait until after the election.
Brachiator
I had a free day today, so I wanted to catch a movie. Among my choices was Florence Foster Jenkins, starring Meryl Streep, or the faith based reboot of Ben-Hur, produced by Mark Burnett and Roma Downey. So I had to choose between great acting or a profound meditation on the nature of religious belief. So I chose the latter and went to see Sausage Party.
Sausage Party is a wildly scattershot animated comedy that amazingly for a mainstream film dramatizes the values of religious dogma vs an atheist’s skepticism; touches on the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians; and sympathetically portrays a lesbian taco shell. A parental film site notes that the film uses the F word 141 times.
You will never think about honey mustard the same way after seeing this movie. Or bath salts.
Brachiator
I had a free day today, so I wanted to catch a movie. Among my choices was Florence Foster Jenkins, starring Meryl Streep, or the faith based reboot of Ben-Hur, produced by Mark Burnett and Roma Downey. So I had to choose between great acting or a profound meditation on the nature of religious belief. So I chose the latter and went to see Sausage Party.
Sausage Party is a wildly scattershot animated comedy that amazingly for a mainstream film dramatizes the values of religious dogma vs an atheist’s skepticism; touches on the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians; and sympathetically portrays a l@sbian taco shell. A parental film site notes that the film uses the F word 141 times.
You will never think about honey mustard the same way after seeing this movie.
ETA. A version of this post may have had a forbidden word. Let’s try again.
SiubhanDuinne
@Brachiator:
Both versions are showing up for me. Did not realize that “lesbian” is on the forbidden words list. Let’s see if this goes through.
Edit: went through without problems. Wonder what you wrote that FYWP objected to?
MobiusKlein
@Major Major Major Major: I don’t know, but have you ever had to work with Salesforce software?
West of the Cascades
@lamh36:
Just as my tomatoes were getting overripe on the vine here in Portland …
rikyrah
Trump casts inner cities as ‘war zones’ in pitch to minority voters
August 22, 2016, 08:42 pm
Donald Trump cast inner cities as “war zones” where blacks and Hispanics live in constant fear for their lives as he took his “law and order” campaign to minority voters in Ohio on Monday.
Speaking at a rally in Akron, Trump painted a bleak picture of inner city life and blamed Democrats for what he described as a festering epidemic of murder and violence in crumbling minority communities across the nation.
“The Democrats have failed completely in the inner cities,” Trump said. “For those hurting the most, who have been failed and failed by their politicians, year after year, failure after failure, worse numbers after worse numbers, poverty, rejection, horrible education, no houses, no homes, no ownership, crime at levels that nobody has seen. You could go to war zones in countries that we’re fighting and it’s safer than living in some of our inner cities that are run by the Democrats.
“It is a disaster the way African-Americans are living in many cases and in many cases the way Hispanics are living,” Trump continued. “And I say it with such a deep felt feeling, what do you have to lose? I’ll straighten it out. I’ll bring jobs back, We’ll bring spirit back. I’ll get rid of the crime, so you’ll be able to walk down the street without getting shot. Right now, you walk down the street, you get shot.”
Brachiator
@MobiusKlein:
One of my clients is about to start using this.
What’s the word?
Splitting Image
I just finished The Last Hero by Terry Pratchett. Next up is The Amazing Maurice.
When I was at the local sci-fi bookstore a few weeks ago to collect the next few books in the series, I received yet another lecture about how reading the books chronologically is wrong, wrong, wrong. Apparently the first four books are so terrible that they can leap off of a bookshelf and strangle their owners’ pets. I’m not sure what else could generate that kind of hate.
I’m also not sure what the point is of telling me how terrible those books are at this juncture, since I obviously enjoyed them enough to read the rest of the Discworld series and I’m two-thirds of the way through now.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@rikyrah:
By the police, most likely.
Brachiator
@rikyrah:
Did Trump give this speech before a mostly white crowd? Again?
I suppose he will be able to write black folk off as uninformed ingrates when they turn him down.
MobiusKlein
@Brachiator: mostly just Oracle lite.
You get locked into their infrastructure, hard to get out.
Anne Laurie
@Brachiator: Pffft, you can’t buy actual bath salts any more! The Spousal Unit had to switch to bubble bath, because Avon stopped producing the bath salts he liked… which kinda surprised me, but I guess Avon is an “urban” (poor peoples’) brand, after all.
NoraLenderbee
@Brachiator: He was giving it to the year 1988. He must not have been to an inner city recently.
Brachiator
@Anne Laurie:
Wow. I just realized that I had totally forgotten about the other, non drug, version of bath salts.
Manyakitty
@lamh36: My favorite is School Ties