Picture of the Day and B'days for Dec. 18

Posted December 17, 2008, 6:28 pm in

Today is Thursday, Dec. 18, the 353rd day of 2008. There are 13 days left in the year.

Today's Birthdays: Television writer-producer Hal Kanter is 90. Rock singer-musician Keith Richards is 65. Movie producer-director Steven Spielberg is 62. Movie reviewer Leonard Maltin is 57. Actor Ray Liotta is 52. Actor Brad Pitt is 44. Country singer Tracy Byrd is 41. Actress Rachel Griffiths is 39.

Thought for Today: "The idea that it is funny to see wild animals coerced into acting like clumsy humans, or thrilling to see powerful beasts reduced to cringing cowards by a whipcracking trainer is primitive and medieval."
—Dr. Desmond Morris, anthropologist, animal behaviorist, author

Picture of the Day: This is what's wrong with circuses that feature trained animals. These pictures are from a Chinese circus where a horse has been trained to allow a 400 pound predator to mount its back as it runs in a circle while a trainer cracks both animals with a whip.