Achilles vs. Santa Claus

There is a house down the street that has a bunch of those inflatable Christmas decorations in the front yard. There is some kind of compressor or something inside that inflates them and lights them up, but when it is turned off, they deflate into a puddle on the lawn. Ordinarily, these people don't leave their decorations inflated overnight, but one night earlier this week, they left Santa up all night long.

When Achilles and I went for our morning walk, Santa was standing in all his glory in this yard. As we approached, Achilles stopped dead in his tracks and stared at Santa for a moment. Then he let out one loud, aggressive bark. Then he pranced back and forth in front of Santa, sort of like boxers do before they start punching each other. Finally, we walked a little ways past Santa, and Achilles kept pausing to look over his shoulder at him. After a moment, he suddenly turned and started running for home.

It was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. Now I know never to take him to PetCo for pictures with Santa.

2009 Reading List

I believe one of last year's resolutions was to read at least 12 books in 2009, and I exceeded my goal. I think I'll set the same goal for 2010. Here's a list of the books I read in 2009:

1. The Complete Stories (Flannery O’Connor)
2. A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again (David Foster Wallace)
3. Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes (Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein)
4. The Last Lecture (Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow)
5. Consider the Lobster and Other Essays (David Foster Wallace)
6. The Icarus Girl (Helen Oyeyemi)
7. The Broom of the System (David Foster Wallace)
8. The Opposite House (Helen Oyeyemi)
9. Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew (Ellen Notbohm)
10. Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (David Foster Wallace)
11. The Octopus and the Orangutan: New Tales of Animal Intrigue, Intelligence, and Ingenuity (Eugene Linden)
12. The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday: Unexpected Encounters in the Changing Middle East (Neil MacFarquhar)
13. This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, About Living a Compassionate Life (David Foster Wallace)
14. The Cider House Rules (John Irving)
15. When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals (Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson and Susan McCarthy)

I really, really enjoyed The Cider House Rules and all of the David Foster Wallace books I read. When Elephants Weep was really difficult to get through because of the subject matter. The chapters about joy, love, compassion, altruism, appreciation of beauty and the like were enjoyable, but those about sadness, grief, pain, fear, rage, etc. were difficult to read. I can't stand to read about animals suffering. It is nevertheless important to think about the fact that animals experience a full range of emotions (anyone who has ever had pets or worked with animals can tell you this), and that we should therefore treat them with care and compassion. The book included this quote, which I have always found moving:

The French have already discovered that the blackness of the skin is no reason why a human being should be abandoned without redress to the caprice of a tormentor [see Louis XIV's Code Noir]... What else is it that should trace the insuperable line? Is it the faculty of reason, or, perhaps, the faculty of discourse? But a full-grown horse or dog is beyond comparison a more rational, as well as a more conversable animal, than an infant of a day, or a week, or even a month, old. But suppose the case were otherwise, what would it avail? The question is not, "Can they reason?" nor, "Can they talk?" but, "Can they suffer?"
~Jeremy Bentham (18th Century philosopher)