Hello, I'm Ken.  This is my 4-year-old Shetland Sheepdog named Kiyomi.  I thought I'd say 'Hello', to let you know there's a person behind the text.  _"Flesh and blood, hopes and desires, warts and all."_

During the halcyon days of BBSes and IRC, I used to "toss my bottle into the ocean".  This is an odd concept of mine where I'd strike up a conversation with a complete stranger, tell my story, and hope for a story in reply.  Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.  Sometimes it had wonderful results but I was too immature to handle it.  Sometimes they were.

So this is my bottle onto the waves of Google Plus…

The Bible begins "In the Beginning was the Word".  Dexter Palmer writes in his novel, The Dream of Perpetual Motion to "say something, say anything, but it all begins with a word."

So what do I say to start this story?

"Hello World"… no, too cliche.
"Once upon a time…"
"It was a dark and stormy night…"

No, none of these things.

Hello, I'm Ken…  This is my 4-year-old Shetland Sheepdog named Kiyomi.  I thought I'd say 'Hello', to let you know there's a person behind the text.

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Firefox is prettier in Japan

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By McConnell, Allen R.; Brown, Christina M.; Shoda, Tonya M.; Stayton, Laura E.; Martin, Colleen E.
 
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 101(6), Dec 2011, 1239-1252.

Social support is critical for psychological and physical well-being, reflecting the centrality of belongingness in our lives. Human interactions often provide people with considerable social support, but can pets also fulfill one's social needs?

Although there is correlational evidence that pets may help individuals facing significant life stressors, little is known about the well-being benefits of pets for everyday people.

Study 1 found in a community sample that pet owners fared better on several well-being (e.g., greater self-esteem, more exercise) and individual-difference (e.g., greater conscientiousness, less fearful attachment) measures.

Study 2 assessed a different community sample and found that owners enjoyed better well-being when their pets fulfilled social needs better, and the support that pets provided complemented rather than competed with human sources.

Finally, Study 3 brought pet owners into the laboratory and experimentally demonstrated the ability of pets to stave off negativity caused by social rejection. In summary, pets can serve as important sources of social support, providing many positive psychological and physical benefits for their owners.

(PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved)

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LOUDOUN COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE (LCSO) K-9 UNIT RECEIVES GRANT FUNDING FOR BALLISTIC PROTECTION VESTS

 June 18, 2013
 Contact: Liz Mills, Director of Media Relations and Communications, 571-251-5568 (mobile)
 [email protected] 
 
Loudoun County, VA- The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office received funding for five ballistic protection vests for the agency’s K9 units today. 

 Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman is happy with the donation which will protect the dogs and save their lives. “Our highly trained canines are often the first to enter a dangerous situation and now they will all have the protection they deserve,” said Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman. This is the first time that all five canines in the K-9 Unit will have vests.

 The Loudoun County K-9 Unit is assigned to the Operational Support Division and supports the other divisions of the Sheriff’s Office. Currently the unit consists of five teams. Each dog in the K-9 Unit is cross-trained for patrol work and in narcotics detection.

The funding for the vests, a $3500 grant, was provided by the local chapter of the NRA Foundation, the Loudoun County Friends of the NRA. The vests were purchased from Dulles, VA based Velocity Systems, Inc. 

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Dr. Peter Venkman: Generally you don't see that kind of behavior in a major appliance.

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Good morning from Ken & +Kiyomi Foreman!

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They are the things you get ashamed of, because words diminish them — words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in your head to no more than living size when they're brought out. But it's more than that, isn't it? The most important things lie too close to wherever your secret heart is buried, like landmarks to a treasure your enemies would love to steal away. And you may make revelations that cost you dearly only to have people look at you in a funny way, not understanding what you've said at all, or why you thought it was so important that you almost cried while you were saying it. That's the worst, I think. When the secret stays locked within not for want of a tellar but for want of an understanding ear.” 

― Stephen King, Different Seasons

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Camping with +Victoria Foreman at Catoctin, MD…

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Paprika opening credits and soundtrack

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I think the pendulum has swung the other way.

 An at-will employee can be fired at any time, for any reason (except for a few illegal reasons, spelled out below). If the employer decides to let you go, that's the end of your job–and you have very limited legal rights to fight your termination.

 If you are employed at will, your employer does not need good cause to fire you. In every state but Montana (which protects employees who have completed an initial "probationary period" from being fired without cause), employers are free to adopt at-will employment policies, and many of them have. In fact, unless your employer gives some clear indication that it will only fire employees for good cause, the law presumes that you are employed at will.

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