by Grania
Good morning! It’s the birthday of philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724), eccentric actor-director John Waters (1946) and a curiously large number of footballers.
It’s also the London Marathon today and KV Switzer is running.
Kathrine Switzer (1947- ) USA athlete, campaigner. First woman to run the Boston Marathon, 1967. Attacked during the race by an official trying to stop her, she finished and struck a blow for women’s equality. Now 71 she is running the London Marathon under her Boston number 261. pic.twitter.com/BW5lorDav2
— Womans_Place_UK (@Womans_Place_UK) April 22, 2018
Hey it’s a sea of red as I collect my bib number for the @VirginMoney @LondonMarathon and later visit the suffragette statue and think of those women, who like all of us, defy the status quo! Wish us luck today! #261Fearless #adidasWomen #adidasRunning #Bose pic.twitter.com/ayaczvKqwS
— Kathrine Switzer (@KVSwitzer) April 21, 2018
In the cat portion of this post, another cat has succumbed to Maru Syndrome.
https://twitter.com/StefanodocSM/status/987618242297556994
A toasted marshmallow (AKA Gus)
And a cat for sale.
There's a cat for sale in Tesco for £10 pic.twitter.com/oJ3G2SETJ0
— Bible John (@YerDaPuntsGear) April 20, 2018
Typical indeed.
Typical cat behavior pic.twitter.com/D4fZElgeAX
— Hunter of Cute (@jennandoah) April 20, 2018
Finally, on to Poland where Hili is strategising.
Hili: I have to hide.
A: Why?
Hili: So I could jump out suddenly.
In Polish:
Hili: Muszę się schować.
Ja: Dlaczego?
Hili: Żeby potem nagle wyskoczyć.
Hat-tip: Heather, Taskin, Gethyn
I. Kant believe it’s his birthday.
The categorical imperative made me write that.
Glen Davidson
Maru Syndrome:
Is there something in the glue (or other processing chemicals) use to make cardboard boxes that is a cat attractant?
In chaos theory terms, a “strange attractor”?
Especially boxes with Japanese writing on the exterior.
Cardboard boxes & cats: It’s selection bias by human observers – we peeps tend to have a lot of boxes about the place at times & most of them are cardboard. Kitties also enjoy other less common enclosures such as gaps in the bookshelf or a nice bowl-shaped bathroom sink or a Tesco display shelf.
Reasons for enclosure:
** Domestic cat comfort zone is 86-97°F [30-36°C] around 20°F greater than our own zone & poor kitty is close to the ground where all the draughts hang out. When there’s a blazing sun through a window kitty forgets about boxes entirely & sprawls in the sunbeam no matter how much people traffic & other disturbance there are. Domestic cats like being high too & I think that’s also mainly about draughts, plus the air is significantly warmer away from the floor
** It’s said that cats like enclosures because solitude/stress relief & ambush predator instincts, but I don’t think it’s top of their list – give ’em sun & they’ll lie exposed anywhere that’s hot.
My cats like to sleep in the washing up bowl .
And i have a photo of one of them hiding behind my books in a deep book case .
The cat statue nearly made me choke on my morning coffee. Nice one!
Katherine Switzer is amazing. At 71 she is a year older than I. I could not run 500 yards. And what an inspiration to young sportspeople, especially women, everywhere.
It took another 5 years (1972) til Boston Marathon caved and allowed women to race officially.
A friend, Louise Parsons, grew up in Philadelphia and now lives in corvallis, ran track in high school and college. She says she ran in, and completed, the BM a year or two after Switzer. She got her bib as “Lou” X, wore baggy sweats and hair under a watch cap. She says she wasn’t the only lady in the field. I surmise that someone arranged to detain Jock at a local bar.
I find it deeply shocking that women were officially kept out of the Boston Marathon until so late a date.
o/~ How much is the catty in the window? …