We've recenty integrated two new cats into our household: Frederick the attack cat and Winston the rarely-seen black cat. This brings our total household cat population to six, which is the Edmonton by-law limit.

Thank God.

Tonight, Dizzy is sitting on one of the chairs in the living room and Frederick came downstairs to explore. He's even letting me touch and pet him, which is amazingly positive. I took a picture of Frederick hiding behind Dizzy's chair while Dizzy looks suspiciously over his shoulder, but unfortunately the camera battery went dead immediately thereafter, so I can't upload it now. Maybe tomorrow.

Right now they're having a staring match across the living room floor.

It has been very easy to introduce these two (both males) to our other two males -- especially when compared to the endless nightmare we have with the two females and the original two males. (Actually, with the one troublesome female -- Kess, who hates Dizzy and whom Dizzy hates.)

My working theory is that if you have a male pet cat, its development is arrested such that it thinks of itself as a kitten and you as its mother; while if you have a female pet cat, it thinks of you as a kitten and itself as your mother. Many males coexist because many kittens can coexist; but a sufficiently proprietary female cat drives out all others. Or tries to: you don't have much traction in driving out an animal three times your weight.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder proposes an increase in corporate taxes to raise money for the government to pay to repair flood damage.

I don't really see what the logic is, here. Create a flood tax so that the corporations won't cause more flooding in the future? This is like the conservative joke argument in favor of estate taxes: since taxing an activity discourages it, by raising the death tax rate we can extend our lifespan.

There are many good things about the Edmonton Fringe festival. For one: a violent, Barney-beheading clown.