I named my French Bulldog Wilson because A. I like Wilson Pickett, and B. He's Black. My buddy named his cat Harlem, solely because he's black.
In my Chinese class in undergrad our professor was explaining that to form the diminutive form of a word you ad "se" to the end. As an example, my professor told us that his cat was named heise. It very literally translates as "blackie." Also, my professor was a white guy.
My friend got a cat and named it Cosmo. I said "Cosmo Kramer? Your cat is a racist!" and she replied that her cat "couldn't be racist, because he's black."
I would like to point out that naming the cat not only classifies the animal as property rather than a living with with natural rights, but is also an attempt to personify it in a way that denies its animal nature. The whole thing is so speciesist that it makes me hungry for cat. Humans rule.
I found an orange tabby stray in my neighborhood a few years back. I called him Orange Chicken and returned him to the restaurant.
If you watch the original, and absolutely amazing The Dambusters, the squadon's dog was a black lab called Nigger. Needless to say those parts of the movie have been cut or over-dubbed when I've seen it broadcast on TV.
Yes, and white cats do white things. My white cat Roger likes to listen to smooth jazz while fiddling about on his Blackberry while wearing clothes that fit. My black cat T-Roy hates going down on female cats and usually just fusses about how Roger always copies his styles. Actually, I have one cat named Booya and it doesn't do much besides its freakish high-jumping ability but she's a decent pet. If you ever use the term "Animal Companion" around me and I'll drop a curling stone on your face while you sleep.
Growing up, my dad's cat had a black patch right under his nose and had a very severe expression. His name was Adolf. The vet thought this was extremely offensive, for some reason. My dad said, "Sir, you should see what he does to the woodland critters around my house. He's a sadistic bastard." Apparently Adolf was a very friendly, affectionate cat... except to rodents.
I feel like I have just passed one of life's major milestones. Some kid decided to graffiti my office door. I am now fast approaching "get off my lawn!" territory.
We have a dictator/evil things naming convention for our pets. Jack the Ripper (Jack russel cross), Chairman Miaow (Burmese cat) and Lucy Fur (A white moxy cat with two black 'horn' markings on her forehead) and a siamese named Gremlin being the current ones. In the past we've had Kidi Amin and Fidel Catro. We seriously considered Yassa Arracat, Vladimir Kittin and Kittler as alternate names. There's actually a website for cats that look like hitler - <a class="postlink" href="http://www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com/</a> Don't judge me.
I'm dying here. Boy, the human race really bit into its own hype at times, didn't it? This is how douchebags USED to look. Like the dudes from Color Me Badd.
Tomorrow afternoon I have a call with [real big company interested in giving me some advertising dollars]. I have fracking no idea how much to ask for. Right now, they have an ad out with the big site in my genre (AboveTheLaw), and the space is listed at $30 per 1000 ad impressions (hits). Our demographics are largely the same, they just have a bigger audience, but when you're paying per ad impression, that shouldn't really matter; the only difference is whether a site is too small to be worth the trouble of dealing with contracts and writing checks. This is almost comical in the way that is mirrors a classic negotiation exercise (typically someone who has inherited a painting, doesn't know it's value, and is trying to sell it). My BATNA (what I can expect if there's no deal) is nothing; I have another company interested, but not for another month or two, and that would be a short run, so if this doesn't go through, there might not be any money coming in. Ideally, they would make the first offer, since they have information about what they typically pay (if they get discounts with ATL, what they pay for other ads, etc), but as the seller, I'll likely be stuck throwing out the first offer. In my negotiations class in law school, I got above median results in every exercise except one, and on that one I was high on muscle relaxers. But, with a real world negotiation on my hands, I don't know what the fuck I'm doing. One thing I have learned though is that positional bargaining (the traditional back and forth "20" "No! 10!" "No! 18!" "No! 12!...") is pretty bad, and putting out a realistic offer is better than high balling. Especially true when you want a long term relationship, and it really helps that they know you're not jerking them around. I guess what I'm trying to say is that this is stressful enough to make Campari palatable.
I've posted this before, but my dog is named Tyrone. Yes, he's the one on the left. Also, I'm incredibly white.