Rats!

As everyone has prob'ly noticed by now, I love rodents. And that includes rats. I had two rats when I was younger, Ben & Lucy, and they were terrific pets. Smart, clean, friendly animals.
But now I live in Alberta - a rat-free province! Back in the '50s, a Rat Patrol eradicated every rat in the province. This accomplished zilch, 'cause the province is now teeming with mice (mice carry just as many diseases as rats and can be just as destructive in large numbers, but people don't find them as "icky" as rats, so they've become socially accepted).

Rats got a bad rap. You always hear, "They carry diseases! They were responsible for the spread of the Black Plague! They'll chew your face off while you're sleeping!" Etc. Well, here's an FYI: Sure, rats carried the Black Plague, but the fact that people just dumped their putrid sewage and rotten garbage any ol' place they felt like it didn't exactly help!!
As for the "chewing your face off" thing, I'm sure that occasionally applies to lepers and people who sleep in alleys, but the average rat is not going to hop onto the average person's face in the middle of the night and begin chomping on his ear. There's much tastier fare at the local landfill.

Anyway, the reason I'm mentioning all this rat stuff is because of an article Richard clipped out of the paper for me. It's about a new website, www.greatpointedarcher.com, that defends the noble rat and suggests renaming it "great pointed archer". A PR site for rats. I'd love to believe that the anonymous person behind the site is a true rat-lover, but of course it's far more likely that some dildo is trying to prove he can re-package and market anything. So, if that's the case: I hope a rat chews on his face.