The Dodo has the heartwarming (and catwarming) story of Lazurus, a tiny kitten found frozen beneath the snow in Utah, apparently lifeless. Brought inside, warmed by the fire, and given some CPR, Lazarus revived and is now fine. The cooling must have saved him from brain death:
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Below we have Kagonekoshiro, the famous “White basket cat,” who, along with his minions, is famous for being so chill that one can balance anything on his head or paws. Kago lives on a farm in Japan, and has a swell blog and a YouTube channel that will give you many LOLs.
I don’t know how they trained the cats to do this, but they do it repeatedly, with things like turnips and tangerines placed on their head and paws. Kagonekoshiro, head of the clan, is the white cat with red markings, third from the left. Notice how remains unperturbed (and asleep) while his minions, not fully trained, are following an object with their eyes.
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Meet Tribble the rescue cat, described by Hello Giggles as having “the cutest cat purr in the known cosmos. It’s something like a cross between a bird and a cartoon character.” Well, I’m not so sure about that, but it’s pretty adorable.
If you’re a science-fiction ignoramus like me, you’d have to look up the source of the name. As I found out, the cat was named after the furry Tribbles from Star Trek, one of the fakiest “species” to ever to appear on that show, but a species whose members made a cooing sound. First, Tribbles the cat:
And if you want to hear “real” tribbles making cooes, you can find a video here.
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Finally, as lagniappe, we have an ancient artistic cat that’s very old, carved about the time that humans were first crossing the Bering Strait to colonize the Americas:
Lioness carved on bone from the last glacial, 12,000-14,000 yrs ago, Grotte de la Vache, Ariege, Midi-Pyrénées #art pic.twitter.com/mjqqtF3oxi
— The Ice Age ❄️🌞 (@Jamie_Woodward_) December 6, 2015
h/t: Cindy, jsp, Grania
Sub
Heartwarming!
Pass your mouse over the volume slider over the videos today. Star Wars. It’s everywhere.
Doubtlessly Tribble showed up on the cat detector’s screen in the Ministry of Housing’s van.
“The cooling must have saved him from brain death”
You know, it’s not always prudent to toss out slow pitches like that. There could be a d_g loving smart-ass out there somewhere who is unable to resist…
That instantly occurred to my cynical brain too. Just as well I’m a cat lover.
It also occurred to me that Kagonekoshiro might, in point of fact, be stuffed, but I wouldn’t be so bold as to mention that in this forum. ; )
cr
The lagniappe image is gorgeous – what an elegant and sensual line, conveying much information with minimal strokes. An illustator of any era should be proud of such a drawing.
And, as a bonus, I discovered that lagniappe is a) not Leon the cat’s surname, and b) spelled with a “el” (L) not an “eye” (i).
The Troubble with Tribbles was the most popular episode of STOS if I remember correctly. Never underestimate the likeness of a cat!
Playing Devil’s Advocate again, I remembered this latest (?) migration discovery that discuss earlier migration dates for the very crossing:
“Two separate genetic analyses have found evidence for a surprising genetic link between the native populations of the Americas and Oceania.
The DNA of some native Amazonians shows significant similarity to indigenous inhabitants of Australia and Melanesia.
The two research groups, however, offer contrasting interpretations of how the Americas were first peopled.
The studies have been published in the journals Science and Nature.
There is agreement that the first people to populate the Americas came though Siberia – along a land bridge connecting it with Europe and Asia. But just where these people came from and when they arrived has been a matter of some debate.”
“By analysing the DNA of modern native Americans and ancient human remains, the group writing in Science concluded that all present-day Native Americans arrived in a single migration no earlier than 23,000 years ago.
Then, they argue, Native Americans split into two branches around 13,000 years ago: one that is now dispersed across North and South America while the other is restricted to North America.”
And there are other models described, with varying dates of the crossing et cetera, with dates up to 30 kyrs ago. [ http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-33612869 ]
The lovely drawings of lions is a good reminder, I think, that not too long ago lions stalked the plains and forests of Europe.
The Trouble with Tribbles is one of the most amusing and fun episodes of Star Trek, the TV series. It involved diplomacy and espionage along with intrigue. A very satisfying episode indeed. The immortal line from Scotty when asked what he had done with all the tribbles: “I sent the whole kit and caboodle to the Klingon ship where they will be no tribble at all” or something similar.
amen. I do wish they would have brought Captain Koloth back as they were supposedly going to do.
Pretty hard on the tribbles though. I bet their fate was not a pretty one.
the carving reminds me much of the lion paintings from the Chauvet cave in France.
Geographically the Grotte de la Vache and the Cahuvet cave are not too far apart. But the art works are separated by about 20k years in time. Is there any possibiltythat there was a continuous culture in Southern France for that long a time?