I'm "Trawgdor" on there.

  +1

Well, they know the sounds and the associated meanings. You can use a similar sounding word - or even just a non-word sound that's similar- and get the same results. "Gray COW!" gets the same results as "Lay DOWN!"  "Creee" produces the same expectations as "hunGRY".

 Not sure what I was trying to say, but...um...yeh. 



OH! - yeh, so they understand human vocalizations; not necessarily the English 'word'. Or German, or Russian, etc.

 The also know when you're talking ABOUT them - like you mentioned.
 
 

Me too. Not only can you click on it; you can do ANYThing when you do!

 Heh. They're not even the ones who started it all. The first one was my dog General. I came home one morning to find he had a serious puncture wound just under his jaw, and several smaller wounds all over the side of his face and head. I suspect it was a local stray cat trying to cut through the yard. At any rate, he was the one to met the vet first. And like kids, computers, and cars; once one gets sick. . .  the rest soon follow.

 Mowmow the cat came running full speed into the studio room, hooking a claw in the carpet to make a sharp, fast right-handpaw turn.

Disappearing behind a cabinet with a short "Mow!", he crept up to the opposite corner and peeked out from behind it. I blinked at him; a

cat sign meaning "Yay!" or "awesome!" or "Its all good" or just a general, positive acknowledgement of his presence. He responded by

trotting out from behind the cabinet with his tail straight up and hopping up onto my lap. As I was petting him, the thought crossed my

mind that I should give him his meds now. AS SOON AS I thought that, he stiffened, crouched, and looked me in the eye, pupils growing huge.

I tried to pretend I hadn't thought of his meds, but he wasn't buying it. He wanted to get down, and NOW. When he hopped to the floor, he

ran straight to the doorway and stopped, looking back at me. He seemed to be studying me from this safe distance. I called to him and moved

towards him, and he made his decision - RUN! He took off.
 
  I must mention at this point that he *never* runs from me. Never has. These meds, though, apparently taste unspeakably horrible. This is

the first time he's ever actually ran from me; once he tasted the foul concoction I was forcibly squirting in his mouth.
 
  What just amazes me though is how he, quite literally, read my mind. All was perfectly fine until I thought about his meds; and BAM! He

was onto me and my nefarious intentions, and intent on GTFOutta there. Non-human creatures just fickin' amaze me; constantly.

The crowd repeating things is called a "human microphone". In NYC, you need a permit to use a microphone or even a bullhorn, so protesters used this technique to allow speakers to be heard by very large crowds. See paragraph 3: http://blog.voicegig.com/social-issues/naomi-klein-at-occupy-wall-street/. What's unfortunate about this particular group is that the crowd appears to be small, making the human microphone unnecessary and rather silly. But imagine standing at the back of a crowd of thousands, and hearing the speakers words roaring from the front of the crowd.

This video will probably go viral, if it hasn't already, through the conservative blogosphere, because it knocks the movement down a few pegs. Yeah, these kids in Atlanta are a bit silly, and, as Jon Stewart would say, are "not helping".

 ...yeh, that too I suppose. I was looking more at their actions/ideas; while hearing words like 'democracy' and 'the democratic way' being used.

   At any rate, I'm a hardcore individualist; so when I see things like this video, all I can hear is
"BAA!..  baa baa baaaah!"
  "BAA!..  baa baa baaah!" *finger waggles*

  Then there's the weird wording of things... "THIS IS NOT A VOTE! Im just going to take the temperature of the crowd... "
   That way of talking always puts me on guard. Why can you not flat out say "Vote; up or down - should we let him speak?"
  There's no shame in a vote. But wait - THAT conflicts with the other creedo - "No human being...sorry; Human Being
  is better or worse than any other Human Being!"  ...(how can that be; when you just VOTED NO to letting him speak?)

And yet... There's something brewing. After complaining for almost 40 years that youthful activism died in the 60s, I'm watching this with... interest.

 I can agree with that.

Is anyone else having issues with going to the first unread post only to find it brought you some post from last year?

I just got done looking through two pages of a thread to find the new post and there wasn't even one!

 Yess'm. I think Chris had to restore all or part of the database once or a few times recently. That's what I figured was the dealio anyway.

concur.

Also hate downloading .pdfs to fill out and mail in.

also, from here: http://radio.foxnews.com/2011/10/06/judge-americans-dont-have-right-to-eat-drink-what-the-want/

“It’s a case of fundamental rights,” said Elizabeth Gamsky Rich, an attorney representing the group of farmers. “The plaintiffs are maintaining they have a right to own a cow; they have a right to consume the milk from that cow and that these are fundamental Constitutional rights.”

Rich told Fox News Radio they will appeal the judge’s ruling.

“The state of Wisconsin has said, ‘We regulate dairy heavily in this state. We have a statute and that statute governs everyone who owns a dairy farm – and if you own a cow or a sheep or a goat you have a dairy farm under this statute,’” she said.

I can kind of see this and kind of can't.
The big issue is the operating diary farm. They don't just own a cow and milk it. They own several cows and they sell that milk.

 Wrong. They do NOT sell the milk. The only commerce involved is their boarding; and the fee for that.
  If you owned a cow, I owned a cow, Min owned a cow, and Mr. Shifty owned a farm; and we
 pay Mr. Shifty a boarding fee to board and feed our cows since we three don't have pastures; THAT is what they are doing. They then milk the cows, and drink their own milk. They aren't selling anything (except Mr.Shifty; who is selling his services as a boarder.)
  The judge is basing his decision on the fact that the milk isn't pastuerized. He says it's somehow a public health issue. Also, the law there allegedly reads that if you own A cow, A sheep, or A goat; you are operating a "dairy farm".

  It looks to me like abuse of the law to obtain revenue in the form of fees, licenses, taxes.
 Not to mention that it smacks of yet another intrusion of government in people's lives.