Greetings and Introductions

Hello! and welcome to my Underground Lair, which is neither, as it is above ground and has a couch and a television, which I believe technically makes it a den.  I'm your friendly neighborhood Jackal and a recent regular on Slate's "The Fray," which seems to be giving its death rattle. With kind and gentle urgings from other Fraysters I decided to hie me over to the interwebs to continue vomiting my weekly hairball of snark, a.k.a. mocking the "Dear Prudence" column.  While bashing DP is fun, hopefully this blog will expand to include more thoughtful rantings over time.

But first, answers to a few questions:

Why is/was your screen name Jackal1013?
Because I could remember it.  See, originally, I just needed a screen name for Slate.  I've always liked the Egyptian god Anubis (as a child I thought the Egyptians were brilliant, as they made their deities adorable cartoons), so that's where "Jackal" came from.  "1013" is a recurring number in The X-Files, and Cousin Jackal likes her some X-Files the way other geeks like them some Star Trek.  So initially there wasn't any special meaning behind it, but Cousin Jackal seems to be on a roll, so I'm just going to let it snowball and see where it goes.

"Cousin" Jackal?
Yeeeaahh, that was a one-time gag that took on a life of its own.  The Fray board has an "Aunt Messy" (her blog is here), so I figured I had to pick a different title if I was going to be a part of the DP-bashing family; that got cross-referenced with Cousin Itt (of Addams Family fame), and the result was...yeah.

Why is it "A Scavenger's Take"?
Jackals pick clean the dead, rotting carcasses of animals after larger predators have had their fill.  Look no further than the Dear Prudence column for a rotting carcass (*rimshot*) and as for the larger predators, head on over to The Fly for a sampling of what the apex Fraysters have to say about it!

Is that supposed to be you in the picture up top?
That's a Black-Backed Jackal and it was such a cute picture that I had to stick it right smack at the top of the page.  I mean, c'mon, don'tcha just want to reach out and pet those huge ears?

Are you supposed to be a furry or something?
No.  (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)

So is this blog for real, or are you a character?
C) A and B.  The opinions, advice, and ranting in this blog are for real, but I'll dress them up in Cousin Jackal's made-up life so they will be more amusing.  In other words, if it sounds like unreal bullshit, it probably is--enjoy.