When Pigs Fly

One of the things I think is so interesting is the tendency for people to commit themselves to absolute truths. "I would never do that", "That could never happen", or the good old "Yeah, when pigs fly". I am sure I do this myself, but do try to hesitate in fully commiting to believing in anything 100%. One of the few lessons I think I have firmly grasped in my life is to never say never - nothing is impossible. (For example, if I asked my 20-year-old-self how likely that my 30-something-year-old-self would still be a full-time student ... I would be sitting here eating my words at this moment)

Recently I was watching Real Time with Bill Maher (a show I have yet decided if I actually enjoy or not) and he had the author of The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins. Basically, the book denounces religion and aims to persuade the reader that a belief in God is irrational. Dawkins discussed his athiesm openly on the show, and spent much time mocking those with religious beliefs. At the end of the interview, Maher asks him about a scale of athiesm, with a one being "utterly certain there is a god" and 7 being someone who is "utterly certain there is not" and Dawkins says he is a 6 (later in continued converstation actually says 6.9). His rationale? Dawkins says "I think any scientist would be unwise to commit himself to saying there definitely is not anything. I mean, I can’t definitely commit myself to saying there are no fairies. I’m pretty sure there are no fairies."

So this writes a book about the foolishness of religion, and then still leaves himself wiggle room on the topic. That got me to thinking alot about how strong my beliefs are on some things, and if I follow that same logic ... and I think I do. Which brings me to the real reason for this post. If you asked me a couple of days ago about the liklihood of a cougar roaming around my neighborhood I would have definitely told you there is no way that would ever happen. I would have bet money on the fact. And I would have been wrong.

When A Cougar Invades
Yesterday, a cougar was shot and killed about 8 doors down from my house. It was initially spotted under the deck of the house on my corner, about 5 houses down. After getting startled, it ran into a yard several doors down (where it was eventually shot and killed by local police). Below is a video that shows the whole ordeal. Between 1:40 and 1:30, where officers are walking through an alley ... they are right in front of my garage. Note: you may not watch the end of the video, it doesnt end happily
And here is a pic from my street this morning, covered with reporters still doing the story. They are all in front of the house where it was initially spotted.