Year of the Dog

Dog lovers rejoice, the year of the hound is upon us. Those  familiar with Chinese/Japanese/Korean astrology will know that we're leaving the Year of the Rooster behind. Birds did reign supreme in 2005, or at least their flu did.

But 2005 was heavy on the dogs as well, perhaps in a canine wind up to 2006. Think about it.

1. The year's largest scientific scandal revolved around Dr. Hwang, a South Korean scientist whose cloned human stem cells were fake. Skepticism then spread to the innocent in the form of Snuppy, his cloned Afghan hound. Was the pup a fake too? Turns out not. He's the real mccoy, reports the Washington Times.

2. Then there's the newly minted Dog Genome.

3. Finally, the Rovers just kept on trucking. When Spirit and Opportunity were flown over to Mars, they had expected lifespans of three monhts. That was 29 months ago - proving beyond a doubt that on the red planet, the bots are man's best friend. PLUS, their data has given us such neat games as the 3D Mars Rover Game. Valles Marineris here us circus folk come.

Comments

[Katie]

If you were in any doubt that it's the year of the dog, check this out:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4578188.stm

The world has gone mad. Mad, I tell you.

[Anne]

How I LOVE the French. Any nation who loves their dogs so is a bosom buddy of mine. It reminds me of this time my parents and I were eating in this little countryside inn. I ordered steak and it was super stringy meat. So what did I do? I cut out all the gross bits.

At the end of the meal the waiter came over, Lifted his groomed eyebrow at me and then hountook my plate to the table next to us. Lo and behold a little chien jumped onto the chair and ate my scraps. Right before our very eyes.

[MT]

It's a little early to talk about leaving the rooster year behind isn't it? Don't them oriental calendars turn a little closer to the vernal equinox?