It's WIKI!

Dins-Dale!!!!

I first read/saw the video of Bella and Tarra a few years back (the one where the dog was sick or injured and Tarra found a way to be near her) and fell apart in tears. The other day I read how Bella passed away and Tarra carried her body to their play spot. Again, bawled. Once again animals remind us how we should treat each other despite our differences.

Totally bawled over Bella and Tarra too. Broke my heart.

I can't even talk about Bella and Tara broke my heart

Anyone who thinks animals are soulless creatures - well...

I've been through the passing of my dear babies - hence my two new adoptions last year. At least with good care, my kitties stay with me a few decades. Too short, no matter what, though. They are our dear ones.

anonymous entrepreneur

Physical users of the commodity they are trading and need to hedge against volatility. ?

Read the subject

you're aware that the amount you'd be taxed would be a dollar or less per trade, right?

High frequency trades caused the flash crash.

This will make the stock market more immune to the kind of financial damage caused by the flash crash that was caused by dueling software.

The thing that would be effected most by the trade tax is automated computer based transactions, where software determines how and when to trade. All those software systems would have to be redesigned to account for the tax. These modifications would work much the same way as the paramutuel system used for race tracks (horses and dogs).

This would curb speculation, which would bring the stock market more in line with it's original purpose, which is to sell stock that pays a return based on profit that works like interest payed to banks for loans. Stock speculation is not supposed to be the primary method used to profit from stock investment.

It was legislative malpractice that the financial transactions tax wasn't part of the banking system bailout in the first place. There was absolutely NO cost to the financial institutions for the crater they created in the economy through their own malfeasance. This is WAAAAYYYY overdue.

@ anonymous entrepreneur . . . You must be making a fabulous number of trades if your margins would be affected by a tax of 1/4 or 1/2 of 1%. Or even a full 1% of the amount traded. Based on the amount of profits you say you're making, you're already paying 35% federal tax (unless you're one of those tax-favored hedge funds, which need to have their regular rates increased from 15% to 35%+; if so, we have no sympathy for you), not to mention state income tax. If so, you're taxing the financial system. Maybe it's time it taxed you.

And paper plates! That's a little bit of awesome, too!

And Wiki is adorable!!

But if Wiki leaks do you have to use litter?

Oh, no! Hoosierprof, thanks for a Monday morning laugh!

I never knew hedgehogs could be so cute.

My office mate still has it. Looks better on Wiki.

Wiki, the Maddow Fan mascot! Prickly hedgehog seems oddly appropriate.

Damnit Jess I was all happy about her cuteness and then you add this: Sadly, the angle of the top picture is so you cannot see the squamous cell carcinoma tumor that is destroying her mouth and jaw. Poor girl =( But I do agree she's the official mascot of TRMS. We should put her silhouette on a T-Shirt that says something to that effect, that'd be cool.

Still, she is cute. What does it feel like to pet her? Like a hairbrush? I do not know I have never met a Hedgehog.

Oh I wasn't meaning to say she isn't adorable- I meant just the opposite. I don't like the idea of such a sweet little animal having a tumor. That makes my heart heavy =(.

I cast my vote for Wiki for TRMS mascot!

Seconded!

Welcome back, DonQ!

I think it is official Jess- everyone wants Wiki to be the TRMS mascot. Is there a way we can start a petition to make this happen?

Awww, adorable. Best of luck in hedgie world. We have one here as well, they really do great impressions of the sounds of the coffeemakers.

Have you seen the style of that T-shirt made in honor of Megan Rapinoe's hair?

That would be an interesting treatment for a Wiki the TRMS Mascot T-shirt/logo/badge. Like, a hedgehog outline, stylized.

http://store.nike.com/us/en_us/?l=shop,pdp,ctr-inline/cid-1/pid-454562

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wfvSzpINuM

@Chris- YES that's exactly what I was thinking! Only, obviously, in hedgehog format. And then underneath it the caption Official Mascot of The Rachel Maddow Show

The shirt can be blue to match Wiki's eyes!

I want one

I think Wiki the TRMS Mascot swag would be awesome! I could totally go for a coffee mug with Wiki :)

@The Mouzer Trust me, as her owner, the last two weeks dealing with the effects and the symptoms and knowing what it leads to has been terribly heartbreaking. She's been my little rock for the last three years, and seeing her slowly leave before my eyes is the worst. But she's still happy, and loving the attention.

@NextMSNBCStar She feels like a sharp brush when petted the wrong way; the right way (head to tail) feels like... thin rice grains, or straw, even.

@bagelbones But isn't Rachel the mascot of her own show? Or at least, the kakapo? But thank you all. She's very special, and I love sharing her with everyone.

The immortality this hedgehog achieves is well deserved. If Maddow followers/blogsters have to play as teams against eachother, it will always be Kakapos vs. Hedgehogs.

The kakapo is definitely a favorite, but Wiki is family, Jess.

@Jess- I'm just glad she has such a wonderful mom and family =)

Very cute.

Jess, isn't there anything they can do to remove the cancer, or at least stop its spread? Have you tried calling the Cornell University or Tufts University Veterinary Schools? I had a kitty with a nonregenerative anemia a few years ago, and one of Cornell's professors had developed a cure for it. It was still in the experimental stages, so few vets knew anything about it.

I have no idea what they're working on, but maybe they've come up with something that can help your adorable little friend. We'll all keep our fingers crossed!

@mpguy

Oh, how I wish there was. How I wish my talking to a dozen different vets, including two friends at the Tufts Veterinary School, had yielded some hope.

The problem is unfortunately, a common one for hedgehogs, and the cancer is hard to detect when it's treatable. Unlike cats and dogs, hedgehogs are so small, that even little cancers spread quickly and do damage. It is in her jaw, and even if they could operate without an 80% chance of death, they would have to remove her entire lower jaw.

It's a quality of life issue. They only live for 3-5 years, and she's almost 4. The best I can do is keep her happy, give her painkillers, and spoil her and enjoy her until I know she's no longer happy.

I have spent every day since the diagnosis feeling if I had only done this or that, she would have lived well beyond her years. I feel like a failure as a pet owner and as a guardian. I wish I could change it all, but I can't. I have only a few more weeks with her, but I will love her to the fullest for every last day.

@Jess, the folks at Angell Memorial over in Jamaica Plain can do amazing things with our four-legged companions. One of our dogs received a pacemaker to help him out as a tumor attacked the nerves controlling his heart rhythm. You might want to give their oncology staff a ring. http://www.mspca.org/vet-services/angell-boston/oncology/meet-the-team.html

We also take our cats & dogs who require cancer treatments to NEVOG out in Waltham. http://www.nevog.com/

I am not sure from this post if you're just expressing exasperation or if you truly feel guilty. It's normal to feel guilty when we can't control situations, but I would hope you don't dwell on that aspect. Unless you're god and capable of curing all disease and controlling all elements in the world I wouldn't be too hard on yourself ;-). From what I hear once hedgehogs get attached to someone they thrive on attention from that person. I read up on a couple of blogs after these goofy little posts here (I am seriously contemplating getting one they are so cute!) and from what I can tell you're doing everything you're supposed to be doing. Beyond that you have to take it from her perspective- if they normally live 3-5 years then she's the equivalent of an 80 year old woman. If you were her daughter she'd be telling you stories of the "good ol' days" back when she first discovered cat food and the first time she experienced the joys of exploring a coffee table ;-). O how scary it was when that cage door opened! But how exciting! ;-) That's how she'd be looking at it. I guarantee she wouldn't be cursing you for giving her a disease, that's for sure. She's probably just happy to have such a loving family.

@mightbealiberal

Actually, Wiki's primary doctor is Dr. Graham at Angell Medical. She is awesome, and has been amazing, keeping me up to date and answering my emails and make sure she is as comfortable as possible.

Jess

I had friends with hedgies and they are truly remarkable critters. I even had the honor of being nipped and tagged. Whatever life Wiki has she will know your love and that's what counts.

"Nipped and tagged"? Is that code for "bitten and peed on"? :D

I was watering a jasmine vine in my back yard one evening when a hedgehog shot out of the foliage and ran down the fence line into the neighbor's yard. Scared the stuffing out of me, but it was so cute! Unfortunately I never saw it again. I've always felt bad about ousting it, even if it was accidental.

Nipped & tagged. I was told that was hedgehog love. ;-)

Laughing all over my face!

I was watering a jasmine vine in my back yard one evening when a hedgehog shot out of the foliage and ran down the fence line into the neighbor's yard. Scared the stuffing out of me, but it was so cute! Unfortunately I never saw it again. I've always felt bad about ousting it, even if it was accidental.

It was a very similar encounter that prompted the Ploughman Poet Robert Burns to write "To a Mouse."

Wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim'rous beastie,
O, what a panic's in thy breastie!

Thou need na start awa sae hasty
Wi bickering brattle!
I wad be
laith to rin an' chase thee,
Wi' murdering pattle.

I'm truly sorry
man's dominion
Has broken Nature's social union,
An' justifies that ill
opinion
Which makes thee startle
At me, thy poor, earth born companion

An' fellow mortal!

I doubt na, whyles, but thou may thieve;
What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!
A daimen icker in a thrave
'S a sma'
request;
I'll get a blessin wi' the lave,
An' never miss't.

Thy
wee-bit housie, too, in ruin!
It's silly wa's the win's are strewin!
An'
naething, now, to big a new ane,
O' foggage green!
An' bleak December's
win's ensuin,
Baith snell an' keen!

Thou saw the fields laid bare
an' waste,
An' weary winter comin fast,
An' cozie here, beneath the
blast,
Thou thought to dwell,
Till crash! the cruel coulter past
Out
thro' thy cell.

That wee bit heap o' leaves an' stibble,
Has cost
thee monie a weary nibble!
Now thou's turned out, for a' thy trouble,

But house or hald,
To thole the winter's sleety dribble,
An'
cranreuch cauld.

But Mousie, thou art no thy lane,
In proving
foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o' mice an' men
Gang aft
agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd
joy!

Still thou are blest, compared wi' me!
The present only toucheth
thee:
But och! I backward cast my e'e,
On prospects drear!
An'
forward, tho' I canna see,
I guess an' fear!

Thanks, Don! Fortunately for my guilt, it was a lovely summer evening in San Diego, but the reference is nevertheless apt and I didn't twig to it at the time.

Hedgehogs make decent pets, with a couple of caveats:

Hedgehogs are not pets for children. Under the age of 12, and there is probably going to be some serious issues for the child and the hedgie.

Hedgehogs are not going to usually answer to their name, play games, or shower you with attention. They are mostly solitary animals; you are climbing equipment. (Wiki knows my voice, and that it means she is going to get food/treats when I turn on the light. And that if I've got the gloves on, she's getting a bath.)

They are nocturnal. They are going to be waking up around 6-8 pm.

They do not make any noise, unless in a lot of pain, or if upset (they will 'huff' and 'snuff' but that's the extent of the noise).

That being said, if you take the time, they are very friendly, very cute, don't smell like bunnies or hamsters, and are incredibly interesting creatures. If you want one, talk to a breeder (NEVER a pet store), and find out if they have open houses. Wiki came from the Hamor Hallow family, who breed the friendliest hedgies EVER.

Good advise about not using a pet store.

Thanks.

You would like a special effects suite.

The specific thing you would like to explore is called a "video layer". This is when a specific color is used to mix the video from two sources to produce a single output. This is often called "green screen". Each video input is a "layer". Color is used like a "cookie cutter" to mix the video.

The color green is removed from the video layer containing the actor, and the green section of the screen is replaced by whatever is in that location in the other video feed. This was used with Sally Fields in the Flying Nun to make her fly in some of the shots. While it is called "green screen", any color can be used to trigger the replacement.

I don't know the specific technique used on TRMS, but I imagine the light saber is an illuminated tube with a single color, and the rest of the items used on the set are carefully selected to eliminate that color everywhere else. The second video layer is the color of the light saber, which could be a single color. The second layer could also include motion, flashing lights, or other embellishments.

These kinds of systems used to cost the better part of $100,000, but digital technology has reduced the entry fee if you are willing to put in the effort.

This kind of software can be somewhat $expensive$, but you can get a feel for the technology with these free products.

• http://sourceforge.net/projects/moviemasher/
• http://sourceforge.net/projects/openshotvideo/

Not a trivial week-end project, but very rewarding if you are willing to put in a few hours a week.

• http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
• http://sourceforge.net/projects/opensebj/

If you get really good, you can do things like this (something I would like to see remade with Bohner, McConnel, Cantor, ...).

• Bush Blair Gay Bar

I have no idea why this is banned in the US and UK.

Also a good mascot because Maddow fans are geeks and in-ta-lect-shulls, and we have lots and lots of POINTS to make, you name the topic!

(We like to highlight our POINTS too! When not using highlighters as light sabers.)

You know... it might be interesting to launch an ACTUAL TRMS wiki with WIKI the Hedgehog as its mascot and symbol.

Here's what's behind my thought: Will and others on Maddow staff do a good job of highlighting fun things like ringtones and memes or motifs introduced by the show and built on or carried forward by the fan community. A kind of TRMS shorthand, if you will.

And there is something building here, we might argue, that deserves a more robust kind of documentation and historical record, say, from the launch of the show with the historic 2008 election, through its lifecycle.

Newsvine is a convenient platform for community hosting, but once an item isn't part of current events any longer, salient or important aspects of the community fall into a black hole, never to be seen or heard from again.

Same with the archive of the show video clips, which are organized by reverse chron, and by some dates and tags, but not really in a robust and cross-linked topical fashion (as a wiki would do).

There's more that could go into such a wiki, like a master list of all TRMS guest appearances, cross-linked to their clips, so that you could jump into a Krugman, Michael Moore, or Lemony Snicket guy Maddow Show guest page and see a list that links to each appearance that that guest has made, with a summary of what it was about, perhaps a transcript, and a link to the clip.

I know this may sound like a lot of work, unless it is crowd-sourced, perhaps. It could integrate into the Newsvine profile pages of common figures posting here as well, perhaps linking to their Vine columns and contributions.

None of it would come off without the active support of Maddow staff, so I am just throwing it out here as something to think about.

P.S. I might also own up to a particular agenda and perspective as well, so you know where I'm coming from.

I did my doctoral dissertation as a cyberspace ethnography of the fan-spaces and virtual landscapes constructed by the online fans of the show "Xena: Warrior Princess." (http://www.nutball.com/dissertation )

What I learned from studying the community-constructed interfaces and tools of those spaces is that there needed to be an active collaboration between Xenastaff and fan-webmasters, particularly those with the skills to build out databases of episode guides, memorabilia, fanfiction, filksongs, fan-art, listservs and bulletin boards (what this space is now), active chat spaces (what Twitter is now, was then in IRC).

Basically, my findings were that it didn't work if it was top-down, marketing-driven primarily by TPTB (what the Xenaverse called the producers of the show), AND it didn't work well if fans (Lucy Lawless called them "Hardcore Nutballs" once, and the name stuck, so they were HCNBs from that point on) got too isolated from TPTB.

The best interactions and the most rewarding online community experiences grew out of a synergy between TPTB and HCNBs. It had to feel (and be) real, authentic. (think of the way the #Occupy movement eschews professional "movement" people and practices)

Granted, this was the mid-90s, pre-Buffy, all that. You could say (and I did) that the Xenaverse laid the groundwork for the Buffy fans (just as Trek fans laid the groundwork for everyone).

But the more I hang out in these spaces, the more I am aware that the similarities in the type of communities and their worldly focus (Xena fans were deeply involved with making the world a better place, with charities, advocating for battered women, against global poverty, etc... see http://nutball.com/dissertation/mains/Knot5.html ) is uncanny.

One virtual world (Xena) was based on a strong woman (and others inspired by her) fighting for truth and justice in a fictional space, and this virtual world is...

You fill in the blanks.

The thing is, a virtual community with a strong and fierce identity only exists if we build it. Perhaps the Internet of the 1990s was populated with people with a higher level of geek and database coding skills, but the free tools available now are much easier to use and build.

A Wiki WIKI? Way ta meta! As for the rest, Joss Whedon trod well in the footsteps of the Raimies who began with the humble yet visionary Evil Dead franchise.

Erm can't I just add an entry to Wikipedia that says as of Nov 5 2011 Wiki the Hedgehog was named the official TRMS mascot and then source it back to here?

Wikipedia is pretty heavily policed and monitored by the elves who run it, and it is global in scope. That's the main difference.

Well, Wiki is named after Wikipedia... (her mother was Google. Dad was iPod. The breeder is also an IT professional).

Tres meta.

The Wiki Wiki idea is good.

I don't think anyone would mind as long as it follows the standard format.

You can assure your wife that the caterpillars (Lambchop and Maddowpillar) successfully transformed and were released :)

Thank you so, Laura! My spouse is overjoyed and relieved at the news. Such things are Very Important to her. (She fosters the larvae of gulf fritillaries in our back yard.)

Its amazing how it takes one individual to change your mind on everything forever. Wiki is a gateway groundhog, making you view all other groundhogs with new respect and admiration.

My shih-poo Amelia Jane did the same thing for me with dogs. I'd always viewed dogs with antipathy until we got her. Now I see the lowliest cur the, veriest frou-frou lap pooch, the most majestic mastiff and the yappiest chihuahua as soul bearing people who's acquaintaince it would be good to make. Gateway dog.

Gateway Hedgehog. Not the shadow-frightened groundhog. This would be the hedgehog of the classic Grimm story: The Hare and the Hedgehog.

I've loved them ever since. Screw that whole tortoise and the hare nonsense. It's all about the hedgehogs. And hedgehog wives that for some reason look just like their partners...

http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm187.html

Eek! My apologies to hedgehogs everywhere. Was anyone else disappointed when it failed to rain blood in New York after that ground hog bit mayor Bloomburg and drew blood on Ground Hog Day? Ground Hog Day starring Bill Murray, directed and produced by Wes Craven.

@Don Quixokie

Not to worry- since she often came with me to my former job at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, she has been called a hamster, ferret, mouse, rat, and a tenrec. so, a groundhog is not as bad as it could be.

Tenrec? http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/tenrec.aspx