Thank Zeus for Experts

You can always tell as city kid, but you can't tell him much.

The pundits ask why those of us in fly-over land recoil at the solutions offered by coastal elites.  The thing is sometimes we hear those coastal elites talk about something we actually know something about, and they reveal themselves to be idiots.  If they don't know how to handle a growing deer population, what else do they not know about?

Experts Call City's Deer Vasectomy Plan "Really Stupid"

Last week, the de Blasio administration unveiled their plans to manage Staten Island's exploding deer population by giving every single male deer a vasectomy. However, some experts are questioning their solution—a Cornell University ecologist told the Staten Island Advance, "It's difficult for me to come up with all the reasons why this is a really stupid plan. It's ridiculous from the onset."  

The city hopes to perform vasectomies over the next three years in order to bring down the deer population by 10-30%. But biologists say this really won't do anything.

Read the whole thing here.

California Building

Northeast Minneapolis has been revitalized over the last few years as older manufacturing era buildings have been made into studios and homes for local artists.

Every year the California Building hosts a bring your dog to the studios event.  The kids, Sparta, and I took the opportunity to check out some art.  

Everyone loves bunnies.

A mirror into the future?

Did Mom know about this?

The mermaid wanna-be stands transfixed.

No trip to the big city is complete without a stop at Jimmy Johns.

Coyote Zapper

Words fail me.

A Kevlar vest?  Yeah, maybe, I can understand.  I might buy one for tracking or hiking if the dog seemed to need it.  Probably not, but maybe in a bout of irrationality or in the midst of a week long bender.

Spiked collar?  Seems a bit of fashion overkill when there is still plenty of neck for a coyote to use to drag this dog off or it will just find its trachea ripped out from below but, hey, I roll in a libertarian direction, who am I to judge?

"Coyote whiskers"?  Alright, now you're going too far.  I am calling the animal welfare people.  No dog should be forced to wear that in public and definitely need to be taxed at a higher rate because you have too much disposable income.

"Coyote Zapper"?

The CoyoteZapper utilizes a dog training collar capable of delivering a painful shock. But instead of shocking your dog in the neck, it shocks the coyote in the mouth. 

It works by attaching two strips of highly conductive fabric along the length of the CoyoteVest and connecting them to the shock module. ​The strips are attached to either side of the CoyoteVest in such a way that it is impossible for a larger dog to pick up your small dog without his mouth touching both of them at the same time. If you push the button on the remote to activate the shock module the voltage will be directed though the strips directly into the mouth of the attacker. The shock is harmless, but painful enough to make the attacker let go.

I can't even remember where I put the poop bags half the time, like I'll always have the remote zapper control.

I love that the maker feels the need to assure us that the shock is harmless to the coyote.

Is there a hidden camera?  Is this, a skit from Portlandia?