Intelligent Animals: Dogs

I have decided to post about the amazing intelligence of animals, randomly throughout this blog's lifespan. Some people believe that animals have no souls. I for one think this is truly inconceivable.

I own a dog, a border collie, in fact. And I find her to be extremely intelligent, even more so than some of my regular human correspondents (not really, although it does get pretty close). I can attest that whenever I feel upset and express it by sighing excessively, stomping about, or yelling, my dog comes running up to me with a sad look on her face. (Yes, I see an expression in her face. One I would label as "sad".) Anyway, as she comes to me she slightly wags her tail, usually puts her front paws on my legs and the proceeds to sniff me, or even lick my face if I am sitting.

I conclude that this his her way of trying to comfort me. Just to test this, I groaned loudly several times, and she came running over to me. I did this again later, achieving the same result. This to me says several things: One, she was able to notice my feelings. Two, she was able to understand my feelings. And three, she acted on her perception of my feelings by trying to soothe me. (Well, I am a good owner, if I do say so myself.)

If that isn't proof enough for you, check this out:

Noah's Ark

As we all know, Noah's Ark is a story about a man named Noah, who lived during biblical times. During these times, all of mankind was disobedient to God and so He decided to destroy the world, for He regretted He had made man. Noah was the only one whom God thought truly holy, and so set upon him a task: To build a great ark, collect every animal, male and female, and put them into the ark (an impossible task.) So, as the story goes, Noah goes about collecting "every animal" and puts them in the ark (built prior). God then floods the earth.

The bible tells us that Noah was 600 years old when the great waters came. He must have eaten loads of apples, drank plenty of water, or something like that. Skipping over this, we go to the next "fact". Noah's collection of the animals. Everybody knows he collects them two by two:

"...Of all other living creatures you shall bring two into the ark, one male and one female..."

But in another passage, the Bible says,

"...Of every clean animal, take with you seven pairs, a male and its mate; and of the unclean animals, one pair, a male and its mate..."

When the floods com, they last for forty days and forty nights. But a little later a passage reads,

"The waters maintained their crest over the earth for 150 days..."

After the rain has ceased, Noah sends out a dove to search for land. In the previous sentence, the Bible tells us Noah sent out a raven to do the exact same thing. Make sense? I didn't think so. If you read this story carefully, it may seem as though there are two different accounts of Noah, woven into one story. From this evidence, we can now say the bible is not true. Most Christians today acknowledge this, but there are some fundamentalists that believe everything in the bible is literal. That is a lie.

Blog Disclosure Statement

Hello. I am glad you have stumbled upon my blog disclosure statement, because this is where I will explain to you what *the Brass Tacks is all about. The first thing you need to know is that I will try and post at least once a day, but this will most likely change, after a longer occupation of the Internet, to possibly four posts a week.

The content of this blog will be based upon my beliefs, added to another's individual (or unanimous) argument/agreement, equaling out to *what you, as a reader, think is true. What I mean, is that hopefully you will be able to consider things, and ultimately decide for yourself what is right. My goal for this blog is to act as a prompter of thought, if you will, whereas normally you would not think about certain aspects of life. In other words, I am trying to invoke a sense of curiosity in you.

My arguments will be based on traceable fact. When I say this, I mean that you will be able to view the evidence surrounding my thesis, therefore establishing my views as real. I say this, not only to keep the meaning of my blog true, but to help establish a solid background for you to base your thoughts on.

Before I leave you, I would like you to note the following: I am an extremely liberal person, a practicing Catholic, and just a normal guy. As I said before, all I want to do is invoke some thought. With these things in mind, and with a bit of luck, this blog will suspend belief and reveal fact. Now, let's get down to Brass Tacks, shall we?