My cat does this too, but he likes to try to stick his head *inside* my mouth.

I have spotted words meaning “I”, “left”, “speak”, “morning” and “white people”, but I wish I could really read the Chinese. (In my own defense, I studied Japanese, not Chinese…)

I'm in the middle of reading Jane Goodall's book “In the Shadow of Man,” and there is no doubt in my mind that chimps experience grief and loss. I really recommend the book.

Not to be a stickler, but as a dog trainer, I feel the need to fight misconceptions. The dog can not “read” “words”. The dog is responding to a visual cue, the same way I can use a hand signal to tell my dog to lay down. Operant conditioning, that's it. What's the difference between that and reading? If that dog were to observe another dog waving, it wouldn't be able to indicate the sign with the right word on it. Dogs don't experience concepts or symbols, which are essential for using language. Grow a brain, Today Show.

That is not funny, that is horrifying. That is inflicting psychological damage and calling it a prank. I lived in Japan for two years and watched a lot of TV, and it never ceased to amaze me how studio audiences would laugh at really un-funny things.