A Republican Conspiracy

Will Truman

Will Truman is the Editor-in-Chief of Ordinary Times. He is also on Twitter.

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32 Responses

  1. Kazzy says:

    I saw this lamp and just had to have it.

    http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12475992&CAWELAID=1260990301&pla=plab&cagpspn=pla

    Those two could be up to anything! Where do you think they’re going?!?!

    And, yes, those are the two phrases I repeatedly yell every time I see it, much to Zazzy’s chagrin.

    Elephants are dope and fit a broader “jungle animal” motif, even though the animals typically associated with the motif are better described as animals of the grasslands. Donkeys? Boooooooooring.Report

    • Will Truman in reply to Kazzy says:

      The problem with elephants is that it’s hard to articulate the sound they make. So when I am holding the cube in front of Lain and saying “Monkey! Monkey! Ook Ook!” to introduce her to words and sounds… I had a lot of difficulty when it came to elephants.

      I decided to go with “Elephant! Elephant! Stomp! Stomp!” because presumably they are loud stompers.Report

    • LeeEsq in reply to Kazzy says:

      Thats one of the most adorable things I ever saw in my life.Report

      • Kazzy in reply to LeeEsq says:

        I know, right?!?!?! I was so excited when we went to buy it that Zazzy had to shush me, leading to this response:
        “Ya know, I’m finally excited about this pregnancy and it’s because of this lamp. You should be happy!”

        I was being mildly hyperbolic.Report

    • BlaiseP in reply to Kazzy says:

      Elephants are almost too sapient to stay in the animal category. The longer I live, the blurrier the line between animals and people becomes for me.

      There were wild elephants in West Africa by the rivers when I was a kid. They would sometimes come raiding cornfields and orchards but the baboons were far more destructive and violent. Hippos scared me to death: hippos will kill people without provocation.

      Elephants are wise and they vocalise in many ways. They have a way of thundering, hard to describe, it’s a subsonic rumble you can feel.Report

      • Glyph in reply to BlaiseP says:

        I agree. I have a feeling that one day we will really regret what we have done to elephants (and dolphins, and chimps, and whales, etc).

        That subsonic seismic communication (they “receive” through their feet and trunks, standing/placing them in such a way so as to triangulate the signal’s origin direction) can go up to 10 miles.Report

        • BlaiseP in reply to Glyph says:

          At some point, we’ll have a communications breakthrough. Hoo boy… I wouldn’t want to be around when the elephants and dolphins start talking back: I don’t think they’ll give us much praise and thanks for how we’ve behaved.

          But then, sapience hasn’t served as any deterrent for how we treat our fellow humans.

          My personal totem animal is the snow leopard. I went to Como Zoo, didn’t realise they had one. I suppose they treat the animals as well as possible, it seems to be a well-run facility. Yet for all that, I saw this animal through the plexiglas and burst into tears, not from some maudlin wish for this leopard to be returned to his mountains. It was the realisation that animal was probably safer in his cage, miserable as he was, than back in those hills, where he’d probably end up in a snare and his pelt sold.

          It’s embarrassing, being a human being, sometimes.Report

        • LeeEsq in reply to Glyph says:

          Dolphins might be sapient but if recent observations are right, lots of them seem to be what humans would call psychopaths. Scientists found evidence that dolphins engage in what we would call gang rape and murder for fun.

          Elephants are giving us an example of evolution in actions. The number and percentage of elephants born without tusks are increasing because of poaching. Being a tusk-less elephant is now a desirable trait that gets selected for.Report

  2. Miss Mary says:

    I chose not to find out the sex of my child and so I got lots of ducks and turtles. I suspect I got more turtles than the average person because everyone in my life knows that I love aquatic (or semi aquatic) turtles.Report

  3. NewDealer says:

    Elephants are generally considered cute and fanciful animals.

    I don’t think anyone has ever considered a donkey to be a cute animal.Report

  4. Mike Schilling says:

    And dinosaurs. Kids love them.Report

  5. Patrick Cahalan says:

    I see cats and dogs. Monkeys, giraffes, elephants. Dinosaurs, yes. Sharks are big for toddler stuff, not so much on babywear. Kangaroos.

    Eeyore is a donkey, so sometimes.Report

  6. Tod Kelly says:

    Who wants to play with a donkey?Report

  7. Shazbot5 says:

    Also, what does Donkey Kong have to do with donkeys?

    Nothing?

    You be the judge:

    http://www.snopes.com/business/misxlate/donkeykong.aspReport

  8. So is Winnie the Pooh a tool of the democrats? Or is it Republicans trolling democrats about losing their tails?Report