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The week on FOX marks the season premier of the popular cartoon comedy block known as Animation Domination.  This TGIF of raunchy cartoons serves a weekly staple for college kids across the country.

The main change to the line up is that Mike Judge’s down home style King of the Hill is no longer.  FOX has filled the vacancy with yet another one of Seth MacFarlane‘s animated attempts at Family-Guy-but-with-different-characters in The Cleveland Show.

You can catch all the episodes on Hulu, which in my opinion were quite entertaining, especially the highly unique episode of Family Guy.

Some of the most astute of cartoon viewers may have noticed a recurring joke that arced from The Cleveland Show to American Dad.  MacFarlane, who is most notable for his hodge-podge of obscure cultural nods and references, recreated a familiar movie scene in two of his premiers.

We are all familiar with the movie and TV joke of the ducks crossing.  Characters are somehow speeding down the road, only to come to a screeching halt at the sight of a mother and her ducklings crossing the road.  This is usually followed by a cutesy comment that is ironic given the character’s normal disposition.

It is funny because no matter what the scenario, humans will drop whatever they’re doing to allow the adorable ducklings to cross their path.  This cultural reference seems to expose a soft spot in the human psyche for ducklings.  The insertion of a duck crossing scene into an inopportune time makes us smile and chuckle.  Scene’s such as this are reminiscent of the common Springtime local news story of a person going out of their way to assist a mother and her ducklings.

It is interesting to see how frequently this gag is used throughout American entertainment.  We are compiling a list all the Duck Crossing scenes in TV and movies.  Can you think of any?  Please tell us in the comment boxes below.

• Interested in Ducks? Check out my new blog post – : American Capitalism as Understood Through Scrooge McDuck http://bit.ly/q5kJz #
• RT @TheDudeDean: Digg: Seagate claims first 6Gbit/sec, 2TB SATA hard drive http://bit.ly/Seagate2TB #Hardware #Technology #
• RT @HogSandwich: @mojojay someone has a pet duckling?!? Where do you get one?? Me: check out http://is.gd/3xiAE for Pet Ducklings! #
• RT @Beth_Walker: i WANT A PET DUCKLING Me: Check out http://is.gd/3xiAE if you're looking for info on ducks for sale. #
• RT @DaveySparks: when I was 6 I used to have a pet duckling and his name was skeeter. Me: What breed was Skeeter? #
• RT @B1ondie: off for a walk to feed the ducks, best buy some bread. Me: Don't feed ducks bread. Check out this article- http://is.gd/3xjdL #
• ducklings for sale #
• thanks for the RTs @TheDudeDean @TCed @culturesmash #
• RT @RelyOnYourself: Worlds best organic pest control is pet ducks. They are easy to take care of and don't need any training. #
• @B1ondie yeah…it's not the end of the world to do it…just an unsound environmental practice in reply to B1ondie #
• Funny blog post about how Scrooge McDuck embodies American capitalism. http://bit.ly/u6Jn3 #
• We get asked all the time which breeds of duck make the best pets. Here's a run down of the top 4. http://bit.ly/N8Lll #
• Only crazy people have pet ducks….like Joey http://bit.ly/1bcL9U #
• RT What breed of duck is Peter? @FueledByAsh: that's cool! RT @zacseif my pet ducks name is peter #
• RT @DuckInfo: American Capitalism as Understood Through Scrooge McDuck – http://tinyurl.com/lyp3a3 #
• RT @FlowersAndFruit: If Echinacea Could Talk – http://tinyurl.com/l6vool #
• RT @BrettBorders "Update Twitter and Facebook Automatically via RSS" – http://bit.ly/KSQkU #
• RT @FlowersAndFruit: Top Five Vegetables to Enjoy this Fall – http://tinyurl.com/mnfoxb #
• RT @nfoldca: [Cramahe Now] Ducks for sale: The ducks at Brick House Farm have been ranging the farm yard all summer http://bit.ly/3HTBcc #
• You certainly can. Check out http://is.gd/3BkWJ . RT @row78: I can see four ducklings, can you get ducklings at this time of the year? #
• Good news…we've partnered with the extremely popular site LiveDucks.com . They've created the preeminent source… http://bit.ly/9x5nD #
• RT @TheQuackPack: #didyouknow domestic or pet duck do not have the same instincts to survive or Migrate on their own that wild ducks have? #
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America has a fascination with ducks.  They serve as mascots, heroes, villains, sidekicks, icons, pitchmen, etc. in our everyday culture and society.  We’ve often anthropomorphically portrayed the duck in manner that is reflective of our overall mindset and values.  If one wants to truly understand the American culture, look no further than our ducks…

Thus to explore American Capitalism using the wisdom of our waterfowl, we look to Scrooge McDuck…

Scrooge McDuck embodies the good and bad of American capitalism.

One of the most defining characteristics of the United States society is our commitment to capitalism, and no duck embodies this American drive for wealth and achievement more than Scrooge McDuck.

Scrooge McDuck emerged out of the war-galvanized American ideals of the late 1940s.  He embodies all the economic opportunitites of capitalism, and the ensuing responsibilities and hazards brought on by wealth and achievement.

His name Scrooge is an obvious reference to the cold-hearted miser Ebeneezer Scrooge of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.  When one examines his fictional background, immigrating penniless from Scotland, and becoming and American rags-to-riches success, it evokes the notion of fellow Scotsman and robber baron Andrew Carnegie.  Thus in Scrooge McDuck we see that every American is afforded and opportunity to succeed, but we also see the dehumanization that takes hold when greed and materialistic gain is at the root of endeavor.

Scrooge McDuck often serves as a villain, evoking the public outcry of a dominant titan of industry interested in nothing but profits at any human expense.  American culture as a whole despises him as we despise Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Vanderbilt for their opulence and greed.  The portrayal of these characteristics in a duck somewhat satisfies the American psyche in that as one achieves more and more wealth, they become less and less human.

While Scrooge McDuck owns multitudes of wealth, in some regards he does not even own himself.  His ambition and material greed have placed him up as a duck for sale, owned more by his riches and their ensuing responsibilities than his own character.  Thus Scrooge McDuck may be able to swim through oceans of gold coins in his expansive mansion, but he will always be a goofy, waddling duck – holed up to live in solitude in his fortress of lonely extravagance.

However, our hatred for the capitalistic magnates is conflicted with our enthusiastic joy in the inherent and universal opportunity which capitalism and Scrooge McDuck present to one and all.  This is evident when Scrooge McDuck offers sound economic theory and puts it into practice.  As most of us carry a deep disdain for anyone higher on the capitalistic ladder than one, few of us would give up our own economic freedom which has enabled the financial success of Scrooge and others.  Thus we humbly acknowledge and respect his economic outlook, just as we currently do with capitalistic sages such as Warren Buffet and Bill Gates.

In summary, Scrooge McDuck represents the American love-hate relationship with capitalism.  We hate him for his success, and he hates us back.  We take solace in knowing that even though he swims through money like duck in a pond, he is at times overcome with misery in light of the gravity of his economic alienation.  Furthermore, we cannot deny that even though we hate his success, we would never deny our love for the opportunity to achieve a similar level of financial success.  Thus we always respect the economic wisdom of economic titans such as Scrooge McDuck.

Ducks are only good house pets as long as you can keep them comfortable in a large box or cage. As the ducklings mature to about 6-8 weeks of age, their care demands will change such that they need access to water, will become a bit messier, and will require more space.

Generally, we consider the 6-8 week old mark to be “pond ready”, when ducks can be released as primarily yard or pond ducks.  Granted, they’ll still need some type of duck housing, but their domain should move to a more natural environment at this age.

Now there are certainly exceptions to these guidelines as there are for nearly any bit of pet waterfowl care knowledge.  We receive many testimonials of pet duck owners who keep their friends primarily indoors, but most breeders and experts will agree that they need to be more of a yard pet.

While it may be uncommon for a dog and a pet duck to get along, it isn’t unheard of.  Check out the video below for some cuteness…