This report, all over the news, from Science, should be no surprise to dog lovers. And, on whether it is just "fetching behavior": No. Dogs not only can understand a lot of what people say, they also are capable of communicating in very sophisticated ways. Sophie wrinkles her forehead, tips her head and focuses, trying hard to understand what is said, and to learn new words. Rudy barks sentences, and his meaning is loud and clear. Hobo listens and responds to conversations, even when he is in another room.

It is looking like we will switch to DSL after all. I have been very happy with it during the trial. Time Warner has some worthy competition, they better watch out. Bob is planning to have the cable discontinued when we cancel road runner. We can get the local channels without it, and that plus the DVD player is plenty of TV. If he decides he wants to reconnect after the summer is over, we will get satellite instead.