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Rick LeCouteur
Inviting young readers to marvel at the wonder of nature's creatures
Rick's Blog
#bunyipsbooksbeyond
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The Spoils System: Mark Twain’s perspective (#384)
The term spoils system often conjures images of a bygone era in American politics, a time when public offices were distributed as...
Rick LeCouteur
Aug 5, 20253 min read
The Fragility of Freedom: Lessons from 1933 (#383)
Burning of The Reichstag, 1933 “To know your future, you must know your past” George Santayana (1863-1952) Adolf Hitler’s rapid...
Rick LeCouteur
Aug 4, 20254 min read
Silent Stories: Rethinking narrative medicine for animals (#382)
In human healthcare, narrative medicine emerged in the early 2000s as a response to the increasing depersonalization of modern medical...
Rick LeCouteur
Aug 3, 20253 min read
The Great Hedge of India: How empires enforce borders (#381)
Long before the Berlin Wall or the US–Mexico border fence, the British built a living barrier across the heart of India. A hedge so vast...
Rick LeCouteur
Aug 2, 20253 min read
Obesogens: What veterinarians should know (#380)
While diet and exercise are often blamed for rising obesity rates, accumulating evidence points to a less visible culprit—...
Rick LeCouteur
Jul 28, 20253 min read
Rethinking Outdoor Cats: The invisible toll on Nature (#379)
Cats are among the most cherished companions in the modern world. Their independence, elegance, and comforting purrs have earned them a...
Rick LeCouteur
Jul 27, 20254 min read
Infuse, Don’t Impose: A model for sustainable change in veterinary culture (#377)
There is no exact match in existing leadership literature that mirrors the biomedical precision and internal diffusion principles of...
Rick LeCouteur
Jul 21, 20252 min read
Convection-Enhanced Leadership: Deliver change where it matters (#376)
A conceptual illustration of convection-enhanced leadership in a veterinary hospital setting, translating a clinical metaphor into an...
Rick LeCouteur
Jul 21, 20253 min read
Managing Problems from Within: Convection-enhanced leadership (#375)
What can the treatment of brain tumors teach us about leadership in veterinary medicine? In the mid-1970s (Yes – 50 years ago!), I found...
Rick LeCouteur
Jul 21, 20254 min read
Evolution Explained: Separating fact from fiction (#374)
Giraffes didn’t evolve long necks just to reach high leaves – though that may play a role. The more compelling evolutionary explanation...
Rick LeCouteur
Jul 20, 20254 min read
Rethinking Peer Review: Who pays? (#373)
Reviewing a manuscript for a scientific journal used to be considered an honor – an act of collegial duty, a reciprocal obligation to the...
Rick LeCouteur
Jul 19, 20254 min read
The Interrobang in Vet Med: When "?" or "!" alone just doesn't cut it (#372)
Ever seen this combo – !? – at the end of a sentence and wondered what it means? It’s called an interrobang – a fascinating piece of...
Rick LeCouteur
Jul 18, 20252 min read
Gen Z in the Vet Clinic: Blank stares and busy minds (#371)
I first noticed it in the UC Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital. Vet students, early twenties, listening intently as a I...
Rick LeCouteur
Jul 18, 20252 min read
From Calling to Career: Gen Z challenges the corporate vet model (#370)
Generation Z – those born between 1997 and 2012 – are now entering the workforce in full force. They are the first true digital...
Rick LeCouteur
Jul 17, 20254 min read
Habeas Corpus: Protecting freedom for centuries (#369)
In 1963, when I was just 12 years old, my history teacher Mr. Lipscombe asked our class a question that would stay with me for life: ...
Rick LeCouteur
Jul 10, 20252 min read
Science and Democracy: Russell’s call for citizens who build (#368)
Every time I read Bertrand Russell, I wonder how he saw so clearly into the future. His words about science, imagination, and human...
Rick LeCouteur
Jul 9, 20255 min read
Scientific Writing: Elmore Leonard’s 10 rules of writing (#367)
If there was ever a writer who understood the power of economy and rhythm in prose, it was Elmore Leonard . Known for his razor-sharp...
Rick LeCouteur
Jul 9, 20254 min read
The Four Desires That Shape Humanity: Acquisitiveness, rivalry, vanity, & power (#366)
In his 1930 work The Conquest of Happiness , Bertrand Russell outlined what he believed were the four fundamental desires driving human...
Rick LeCouteur
Jul 8, 20253 min read
Golf Course Reality Check: Parkinson’s and pesticides (#365)
Recently, I discovered that three people who lived on Fairway Drive (named for the golf course it leads to) in Davis California had...
Rick LeCouteur
Jul 8, 20254 min read
Prams, Tutus, and Perfect Faces: Reflections on modern identity (#364)
A dog in a pram is more than a dog in a pram. It is a statement about the relationship between humans and animals, and perhaps more...
Rick LeCouteur
Jul 4, 20253 min read
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