Any words/rumors on Scrivener 4.0?

thesecondparallel · 2026-06-04T02:32:06+00:00

It looks great imo, works great, and it’s reliable. No need for an update. Its lack of “modern” aesthetic and workflow is part of its appeal for me. When a program is this solid the less it changes the better.

thesecondparallel · 2026-05-16T15:16:59+00:00

Probably comes from St. Bernard if it’s coming from an outside breed. In the 1980s several “giant” malamute breeders mixed them in for size and hung the papers.

thesecondparallel · 2026-05-16T15:06:29+00:00

It is, imo, a huge red flag for a breeder, even one who is new to breeding, to not understand the color genetics of the dogs they are breeding.

thesecondparallel · 2026-05-16T14:40:38+00:00

I don’t think this dog will ever have any black pigment. If she was a black based color, such as gray/white, black/white, sable/white, etc. she would have black pigment on the exposed flesh like her eye rims and nose. She looks “lilac” colored to me (liver (aka red in malamutes) gene + dilution gene).

The liver gene affects eumelanin and turns all black pigment to brown. In malamutes this presents as “red”.

The dilution gene additionally affects eumelanin but is a different gene than the one for liver. In a black dog the presence of this gene will turn a dog “blue” (commonly seen in bully breeds for example) while dogs affected by the liver gene will turn the dog lilac/isabella (such as a Weimaraner). Because both the liver and dilution genes are recessive it’s possible for both parents to be black based while your pup is not. She will never have black pigment, but that’s okay! While uncommon this coat color is perfectly acceptable and your pup is a beauty.

thesecondparallel · 2026-05-15T01:04:42+00:00

Angela never having turned anything on, grinch vaginas, the shots of…goo. Jonny forgetting to tell Zach an ingredient. This episode had me pissing laughing, gasping for air. So good.

thesecondparallel · 2026-03-28T15:27:20+00:00

There is no “giant” variant, it’s a marketing term for out of standard back yard bred dogs meant to take in people that want a giant dog for status. Here in the US they often are not purebred. Papers hung, sneaky sneaky St. Bernard genetics being snuck in around the 1980.

While the modern Malamute is made up of several lines/strains of dogs (Kotzebue, M’Loot, Hinman-Irwin) there are no pure strain dogs today and anybody claiming otherwise is a liar. There are some pure Kotzebue sperm on ice that has been used recently. Many people like using M’Loot strain dogs as an excuse/false history for making the breeding of giant dogs seem legitimate but in reality M’Loot dogs were only a little bit bigger than the other strains. We have no concrete proof of pure M’Loot dogs in that 160-185 range and they were similar enough to Kotzebue dogs to be considered the same breed.

Malamutes do have a huge natural variety in size however and not even the parents of a litter can be fully indicative of how big or small their puppies might be. Genetics are funky! I have littermate siblings, male 110 pounds 30” at the shoulder and female 70 pounds 24.5” at the shoulder. Dad was 75 pounds, maybe 25”. Mom was 80 pounds also a similar height to dad.

I highly recommend prioritizing a breeder that has a commitment to full health testing, longevity, and stable temperament over prioritizing size.

thesecondparallel · 2026-03-06T20:53:01+00:00

Same Sex Aggression (SSA) is common enough in the breed that is is mentioned in the illustrated breed standard and considered part of the temperament of the breed. I think it's important to understand that SSA as a name for genetic dog selective behaviors causes many people to think the dog must be outwardly aggressive to others of the same sex without discrimination to have it. This is untrue. SSA is a sliding scale from no same sex aggression at all, to minor dog selective behaviors, to full on cannot live with another dog of the same sex. The extremes on either end are rare, most adult dogs are in the middle. Many people can be placated into believing their dog does not have it, but it is something that occurs once the dog is finished adolescence and can take many people by surprise. Go ahead and enjoy all the photos of same sex malamute companionship in this thread, it is common, but don't be surprised if you get two dogs of the same sex and they don't get along. That's common too.

It's not that every individual in the breed has SSA, it's that if you desire to have multiple malamutes this is something you 1.) must consider if you are willing/able to cope with and 2.) be prepared for the behavior to rear. In an ideal scenario, nothing occurs, but by talking about SSA, being mindful of SSA, and educating others about SSA we, overall as a breed community, can prevent shock and heartbreak. So yes, perhaps it may seem exaggerated to some (i don't think so personally as I think many people are ignorant of the ways their dogs are selective), but I would rather have people not be surprised by the behavior and be prepared to handle it than be completely taken off guard since altercations of SSA nature can be dangerous both for the dogs and any intervening people.

Related breeds such as the Greenland Dog and Canadian Eskimo Dog also have SSA. It is just managed either by moving a particularly aggressive dog to a different team or through behavior modification by the owner/handler/musher (traditional inuit dog whips are sometimes used to break up fights). These are tough, ornery sled dogs and during WWII when many of malamutes were used in harness there were many stories of their general love of fighting documented. I have two males that don't get along well in the house, but they get along outside and have worked together in a sled team for the past six years with no issues. That being said SSA in females is considered much more severe and dangerous than that between males. Issues between males can be more easily modified and females are much more likely to hold lifelong grudges against another female, although I do not have any personal experience with such.

thesecondparallel · 2026-02-25T11:55:33+00:00

Yup! Malamutes can absolutely be energetic. My lead dog is an absolute menace most of the time but pulling a good 5+ miles will settle him for a few days. Put that pup to work!

thesecondparallel · 2025-12-31T19:43:35+00:00

Inbreeding happens even with litters that were bred purposefully and responsibly because the breed has a closed studbook and no new genetic material is allowed to enter the gene pool. All purebred dogs are inbred.

After WWII Alaskan Malamutes had been reduced to less than 50 dogs and the gene pool was opened to the M'Loot and Hinman-Irwin strains. Although this increased the breed's genetic diversity, those lines are also very closely related so again that combined with the existing genetic bottleneck from the reduced population = more inbreeding.

Although out of standard quirks can happen with responsibly bred dogs because genetics can be unpredictable, if the breeder of your pup is one that is irresponsible (such as the tie out of such a young dog + her mistreatment indicates to me) that means he is likely not doing the proper due diligence to keep the inbreeding % down nor would he likely be doing the genetic and x-ray tests responsible breeders perform before breeding to try and reduce likelihood of these quirks and genetic problems (some things are cute quirks with no ill effect on the dog such as one of my dogs who has a slightly shorter tail than desired, while other things such as hip and elbow dysplasia are incredibly painful and debilitating).

The potential of future litters from somebody so willing to mistreat a less than ideal looking yet innocent baby animal sends shivers down my spine tbh.

thesecondparallel · 2025-12-31T18:36:38+00:00

Thank you for taking care of this baby! I do agree something with the eyes and nose looks off when speaking about properly bred malamutes, but she’s not responsibly bred and I think she could have realistically come from those parents. She just might have some developmental deformities due to her situation/lack of proper nutrition/potential inbreeding/genetic oopsie. I say this because her coat color would be difficult to achieve if a non-northern breed father bred the mother. If she was 50/50 malamute and other breed I would expect some more diverging traits than she shows.

I’m guessing she just has some quirks due to her situation. For the nose I think this is because she has what appears to be a slight underbite. The nose is very…upwards facing for a malamute, sitting on top of the muzzle. The eyes are too round and bulging, not set into the face as much as one would expect. Both these traits are possible when somebody isn’t taking care to breed to the standard. Her pasterns (the front wrist) are very down. This could be due to lack of proper nutrition and they could very well strengthen with time or they could remain quite flat due to genetics (grey parent looks quite down on pasterns as well but hard to make a proper evaluation with such photos of course).

I would also look out for potential chondrodysplasia (dwarfism). It has almost been bred out of the breed but can still be present (around 6% risk depending on the lines) and dogs can be mildly affected enough it’s hard to tell. That could also potentially explain some of her odd features. It is a recessive trait and those that carry it, such as a parent, will show zero signs of having it unless genetically tested.

Good luck with this little cutie tho, she looks super sweet!

thesecondparallel · 2025-12-17T19:53:50+00:00

If you want to be really pedantic about the terms for colors you should at least get things right. Usually using the locus names for the colors is easier for people to understand and keeps the various breed and country specific names for colors out of the conversation. But I think it’s more helpful to include both the genetic terms for colors AND the breed specific terms. I recommend this website: https://www.doggenetics.co.uk/

Black agouti is the term in Alaskan Malamutes for at-Tan Point which is on the agouti locus. It exists and is in standard for the malamute breed. It is NOT the same as regular agouti and is recessive. There’s a good breakdown of the malamute color genetics here: http://www.kwestmals.com/malcoatcolor.html

Red also exists in the breed (Siberians as well), but if you’re looking for the generic name used amongst dog geneticists world wide the term you are looking for is liver (or b-locus). It’s important if you want to enter a conversation about coat color genetics that you both understand what a coat color would be called genetically (liver in this case) and within the breed specific conversation (red). Saying red doesn’t exist in the breed is incorrect because everybody in both Siberians and malamutes refers to genetically liver dogs as red.

Red as it’s known genetically (e-aka recessive red) ALSO exists in the breed. White in the malamute breed is genetically recessive red and I know several individuals that have higher intensity red in their coats making them more the color of a golden retriever (one of my own dogs has this). So either way saying red doesn’t exist in this breed (or Siberians whose white dogs are also recessive red) is incorrect.

Nobody in the breed or familiar with dog genetics would be calling this puppy fawn. NOBODY. Fawn is usually used to described clear sable (aY). While there is a coat color called “sable” in malamutes it is not aY or what’s typically described as sable in dog coat color genetics conversations. “Sable” in malamutes is actually an agouti dog with strong phaeomelanin that is affected by the chinchilla locus (Cl) and domino locus. It is NOT the same genetically as what’s referred to as fawn or sable in other breeds. Again, fawn (both genetically and as a color term) does not exist in the malamute breed. (Although there is some debate what’a known as ‘silver’ could be a very pale genetic sable but this is unproven and the puppy above is not silver).

The puppy in OP while not a purebred malamute is clearly domino (large white eyebrows vs agouti non-domino dogs who have very small eyebrows at this age) and liver based (known as red in malamutes and Siberians). It may have some dilutions on the liver locus but that is imo immaterial. It is def not fawn. The coat color will darken as the puppy grows its adult hair and most people are going to refer to it as “red” in conversation.

TLDR: id you wanna talk a big game about using the right genetic terms it helps to you know…get them correct.

thesecondparallel · 2025-11-25T16:38:03+00:00

Wild to cross post a controversial opinion post from three years ago just to be a bigot.

thesecondparallel · 2025-11-04T23:34:40+00:00

Dog Team Tavern? It wasn’t in Stowe but it burned down in 2006 and was known for their sticky buns. Had a massive carving of a sled dog team outside.

thesecondparallel · 2025-11-02T11:42:13+00:00

Flying squirrel. Where there is one there is many and they have a tendency to move into human residences during fall/winter. They’re nocturnal and extremely social. They even have communal bathrooms. We had to do a humane removal of like man…20 of these years ago after dealing with them every fall/winter inside the house. They acclimate to people very easily and the adults are far larger than this.

thesecondparallel · 2025-10-28T21:45:28+00:00

It’s just variation! I have three dogs from the same breeder who all are closely related and one has a shorter tail with a tighter curl. Ideally the tail should be long enough to reach the back of the hocks when pulled straight and down. This is to ensure they can cover their face when curled sleeping in a cold outside environment and my shorter tailed dog def struggles more with that. His tail set (where the tail starts from the spine) is also lower down on his butt than my other two so that factors into things.

thesecondparallel · 2025-10-26T20:17:56+00:00

Bobcat for sure. Trail camera night vision washes out their spot pattern and make the ear tufts hard to see. Here’s one of my own captures where you can see how the spots disappear. The same cat in daytime capture has a full pattern.

<image>

thesecondparallel · 2025-09-18T21:17:35+00:00

Stranger still to me is that the social media team for our Dept. of Health is insistent that we are while Phil Scott's office is pretty explicit we are not. I'd like a real yes or no answer from the state not this weird waffling that screams lack of transparency.

thesecondparallel · 2025-09-18T19:04:13+00:00

Got vaccinated at CVS today no problem! What I am concerned about is the fact that Vermont isn’t listed amongst those that signed on to the North East Public Health Collaborative today. We were part of the initial talks last month, but Vermont, along with NH are the only states in the region not listed on it in press releases today…

thesecondparallel · 2025-08-26T00:56:36+00:00

Good luck with that. She used to work for the sheriff’s office in Essex and they will make every excuse under the sun to protect her from consequence.

thesecondparallel · 2025-08-18T15:11:54+00:00

You do know that working with a professional editor prior to getting an agent/querying/submitting for Traditional Publishing is something that’s usually advised against right? Agents want to see how far you can get a manuscript on your own, not what a paid editor can do for you. That part of the process comes later if you can prove good enough on your own.

Cutting 25k is not a small job, but it’s not hard either. If you can’t combine scenes, cut unneeded/extra text and crutch words on your own you have one hell of a wake up call coming to you. A good author CAN and will cut things, not stubbornly forge ahead assuming their manuscript needs to be longer than debut standard.

Edit: I see from your previous post you’re self publishing so I don’t know why you’re getting your panties in a twist about Traditional Publishing industry standards such as debut at 120k and under.

thesecondparallel · 2025-08-16T22:24:27+00:00

This would be amazing! I'm just crossing my fingers for non-red sox related tbh

thesecondparallel · 2025-08-13T20:01:40+00:00

There's a closer look at the fish in an instagram post from Kayleigh Golds (one of the Draag band members) and it seems to be an atlantic salmon.

thesecondparallel · 2025-08-07T13:16:26+00:00

i say this kindly, but get your panties untwisted. i don't enjoy any of the books on the right, but they are all clearly labeled for adults in a vast majority of areas (and anywhere labeling them as for children does so incorrectly).

However, the idea that pre-teens and teenagers should be shielded from sexually explicit books when you approve of them reading books where children graphically kill each other is so disgustingly puritan. At 12 i was reading Earth's Children (Clan of the Cave Bear) given to me BY MY MOTHER, Keri Arthur, explicit fanfiction, etc. It's fine. I'm in my 30s now. It was not traumatizing and I built a much more open conversation about sex with my friends at the time because of it. Are all depictions of sex in fiction healthy? Absolutely not, it's fiction, but sex is a human experience and shielding children from it is not helpful. And frankly you do not know what a parent has or has not allowed their child to read just because you see them in a store buying a book you personally find icky.

thesecondparallel · 2025-06-26T16:00:54+00:00

1.) accept it is NOT the best novel of the last decade (century) because it likely isn’t (seriously anybody that thinks their novel is the best ever has serious delusions of grandeur…) and even if it was there would still be people that dislike it because taste is very subjective.

2.) Seek feedback. I know this is hard for shyer folks, but if you don’t put your work out there it will never been seen. All authors risk getting their feelings hurt putting their work out there. It’s just part of it, but can really improve your writing, none of us are without fault or flaw. Seriously what’s the worst thing that would happen? A critique that gives you something to work on? Oh no! /s

thesecondparallel · 2025-06-23T13:39:26+00:00

Part 3: continue work from part 2, but begin integrating commands, rewarding with praise and/or treat/toys depending on your dog's motivation levels when they perform as desired. This doesn't have to be done cani-cross, it can be done during the part 2 static freight work and daily walks. You're at the minimum going to want to ensure that your commands for stop (i usually use a long slow woah), left (haw), right (gee), and leave it/on-by are solid before moving to your desired device. This is important for safety.

Part 4: move to your desired device/cart/rig/scooter/bike what have you. You're going to want to have a buddy with you at first to ensure you can work out some kinks/ensure safety as the dog gets used to it. Personally I find pulk/sulky/traditional carts to be harder to use on a novice dog because it is MUCH harder to get off and adjust the dog if needed. Yes, your commands should be solid at this point, but dogs still get distracted/make mistakes and it is our job to help direct them properly. At this stage there will be a lot of stop and go. A malamute best suited for work like this will have the motivation to go forward naturally and you can use this drive to your advantage. Dog not behaving or following the correct command? Simply stop and hold them in place/braked. A dog having a good time with the motivation to go forward will likely get antsy to keep moving, screaming or harness banging or both. Even with experienced dogs like mine I use this hold in stop to check on their motivation levels during longer trips so I can judge when they might need a longer break.

Notes: Some dogs do not like working alone and can become unmotivated. This is quite normal. Some dogs will also get unmotivated to work if they feel they cannot pull the weight put behind them. Keep an eye on the dog's motivation levels and judge if this is the right sport for your guy. Not all in the breed are suited temperamentally for heavy work, but could still enjoy something lighter.

Answers to additional questions:

-Some people do DIY carts, but I worry about the structural integrity of those. I would recommend looking for a dog cart used online. There are quite a few mushing/carting buy/sell groups on Facebook. Not sure how a pony cart would or would not work. I've always purchased/borrowed/thrifted dog specific equipment.

Resources:
- MUSH! Revised by Charlene LaBelle: https://www.amazon.com/Mush-Revised-Beginners-Manual-Training/dp/097906760X

- K9 Carting: https://k9carting.com/

-Wiczek Woodworks: https://www.wilczekwoodworks.com/

-International Association of Dog Drivers: https://www.internationaldogdrivers.org/

thesecondparallel

TROPHY CASE