inkbluesky

golden waters smokey mountains

I have been here and it is as beautiful as this wallpaper, probably even more so.

What happens when a zoo animal gets depressed?

Some zoo veterinarians prescribe antidepressants as a last resort. Last year, the Toledo Zoo admitted that it had been running an extensive psychiatric program: One gorilla took Prozac for anxiety that seemed to be associated with her menstrual cycle, zebras and wildebeests were given the antipsychotic Haldol to relax in a new environment, and an agitated tiger was dosed with Valium.

It’s not clear how well these drugs work for exotic animals—there aren’t many placebo-controlled studies of antidepressant use in gorillas, zebras, and tigers. We’ve got more information on dogs and cats: Both SSRI-class drugs (like Prozac) and tricyclics (like Anafranil) seem to work. Researchers assess a pet’s anxiety by counting anxious behaviors, like the number of times it urinates in a stressful situation.

I’m all for better living through chemistry, but this is a little strange. While they have passed away I used to have pets that had lots of anxiety during thunderstorms. The only time I ever gave them drugs was to treat a medical problem. I didn’t like that they seemed to lose a certain liviness under those drugs. It was funny is a pathetic kind of way to see them wobble as they tried to do their best to keep doing the stuff they usually did. Still looking back I wonder if being under the effects of an anti-anxiety drug wouldn’t have been better then having them feel such tremendous fear because of another storm.

Opponents of Torture Are True Patriots

We should hope that he and his colleagues continue to ignore the right-wing demagogues and opportunists, and instead heed the wise counsel of Lieutenant General John Kimmons, the U.S. Army’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, who explained the other day why torture is such a costly mistake.

“I am absolutely convinced [that] no good intelligence is going to come from abusive practices. I think history tells us that. I think the empirical evidence of the last five years, hard years, tell us that,” said the general. “Moreover, any piece of intelligence which is obtained under duress, through the use of abusive techniques, would be of questionable credibility, and additionally it would do more harm than good when it inevitably became known that abusive practices were used. And we can’t afford to go there.”

His words summarize the view of the professional officers who have been working so bravely to restore the honor of the armed forces. It is they who represent tradition, values and patriotic faith.

We’ve had all those Ages, the Romantic Age, the Age of Reason, I wonder if in the future will label this the age when too many people, people with more power then they should have, turned their back on honor.