Ratte steckt im Gulli fest: German firefighters save fat rat stuck in a manhole cover

February 27, 2019 • 7:45 am

What a great country is Deutschland! I can’t imagine any place where a huge rescue effort would be mounted, involving multiple firefighters with fancy equipment, to save an obese rat stuck in a manhole cover (should it be “personhole” now?). But the Germans stepped up!

Courtesy of alert reader Jószef, we have a lovely BBC article and video showing that die Deutschen win the prize for best First Rat Responders (click on screenshot):

An excerpt:

In the German town of Bensheim, rescue workers got an unusual call – a chubby rat needed help after getting stuck halfway out of a sewer manhole.

“She had a lot of winter flab and was stuck fast at her hip – there was no going forward or back,” animal rescuer Michael Sehr told local media.

A fairly large rescue operation ensued – leading some to question why all the effort was spent on saving a sewer rat.

“Even animals that are hated by many deserve respect,” Mr Sehr responded. [JAC: Yes!!!]

Volunteer firefighters reacted to a call on Sunday afternoon, the local fire department said, and noted the “animal rescue, small animal” code.

Mr Sehr, from the local professional animal rescue in Rhein Neckar, was already there – but could not free the chunky rodent from the top of the manhole cover.

Eight firefighters and Mr. Sehr worked together, using wedges, lifters, and a rat-restraining noose, to free the distressed and squeaking creature (you can hear its heartrending squeals in the 5-minute rescue video below):

Many people would have ignored or even killed this rat, but I’m touched by people’s effort, ultimately successful, to save the life of one trapped rodent.

My only beef is that they put the rat back in the sewer after rescuing it. What if it tries to crawl out again?

UPDATE: Grania found a tweet from a journalist that lauds the BBC for its stuck-rat coverage, but then notes that there was once a rescue of a fat SQUIRREL! In fact, I found that I wrote about this in 2016.

 

Wednesday: Hili dialogue (and Leon monologue)

February 27, 2019 • 6:30 am

by Grania

Good morning and welcome to the middle of the week. Jerry has guests at the moment, so his time is a little limited. He’ll be joining us later.

First, some recommended reading; Heather Hastie’s new post on her website, “The benefits of a single-payer healthcare system.” [JAC: as I’m largely out of action here till Sunday, this will substitute for a post on WEIT.”

Today in history:

Notable Birthdays today:

I don’t particularly like Josh Groban’s music, but he does have a good sense of humour and while he was in the UK he endeared himself to audiences during his appearances on Never Mind The Buzzcocks.

Hili and Cyrus have carefully made their plans for today:

Hili: Look, it’s so interesting over there.
Cyrus: Let’s take a nap and then go out again later.

In Polish:

Hili: Patrz jak tam ciekawie.
Cyrus: Prześpimy się i wyjdziemy znowu.

Hili’s friend and associate Leon also has something to share this morning.

Leon: I just wish it were spring!

Reader Jerry Piven, who teaches philosophy at the university level, sent this photo noting,  “A student of mine drew this on the board before class today….as we were about to discuss section 125 of Nietzsche’s The Gay Science…” He added that the student’s name was Tyler Chang (given with permission).

.Finally, on to Twitter’s offerings du jour. As always, a little white arrow indicates a short video that you need to click on to view.

Heart-warming stuff:

https://twitter.com/AwwwwCats/status/1100130983133802497

Capybaras in Japanese zoos get special onsen treatment: hot showers and baths!

https://twitter.com/InfinityLoopGIF/status/1100427321016795138

The return of auto-tune cat.

Humanity’s at its less than finest:

An entitled student:

And the weird and wonderful world of animals and critters. A belly tickle, and the snake plays dead.

https://twitter.com/Bob_Animal/status/1100087086382764032

Practicing, but not ready for prime time:

https://twitter.com/KaptanHindustan/status/1100026017643667458

Jerry wrote about a similar species the other day:

https://twitter.com/LlFEUNDERWATER/status/1099548910970781697

And finally, an old take on a 21st century meme.

(. . . . this one, in case you are wondering)

 

Macron declares that anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism

February 26, 2019 • 9:00 am

Criticism of Israel, its leadership and its politics, whether misguided or not, is not generally anti-Semitic. Hatred of Jews (beyond criticism of their religion) is anti-Semitic, and so, I maintain, is anti-Zionism, which I take to be denial of the right of Israel to exist. Whatever you think about the UN vote in 1947 to establish Israel, it’s here and is a recognized country. To single it out, among all countries of the world, as a country that should disappear, is palpable anti-Semitism. And that is the goal of the BDS movement, as well as those “one-staters” like Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, who know full well what would happen if they try to amalgamate Palestine and Israel. If you think that Palestinians can live in harmony with the Jews they despise in a single state, you’re delusional. That’s why I and many others favor a two-state solution, distant as that now may be.

French President Emmanuel Macron, as reported by the Torygraph, is at least smart enough to recognize this (click on screenshot):

An excerpt:

France is to recognise anti-Zionism, the denial of the state of Israel, as a form of anti-Semitism in response to a surge in acts against Jews not seen “since the Second World War”.

Emmanuel Macron, the French president, also promised new legislation in May to fight hate speech on the Internet, which could see platforms such as Facebook and Twitter fined for every minute they fail to take down racist or violent content.

While stopping short of calling for new legislation, the President said the working definition of anti-Semitism drawn up by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance would help guide police forces, magistrates and teachers in their daily work.

That definition stipulates that anti-Semitism can take the form of “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour”.

“Anti-Zionism is one of the modern forms of anti-Semitism,” said Mr Macron. “Behind the negation of Israel’s existence, what is hiding is the hatred of Jews.” Such guidelines in no way infringed on people’s right to criticise to the Israeli government and its policies, he said.

Mr Macron also said that his party would introduce a bill in parliament in May to force social media to withdraw hate speech posted online and use all available means to identify the authors “as quickly as possible.”

Now I don’t agree with these “hate speech” laws; I don’t think it should be a crime to call for the dissolution of Israel, or even the destruction of the Jews, which, of course, Palestinian state media does regularly. That’s freedom of speech. But I personally deem those who support the BDS movement, those who want a one-state solution, or those who cry “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, as Jew haters.  That also goes for those who call Israel an “apartheid state” without recognizing that the Palestinian territories are real apartheid states.

Anti-semitism has gone under a number of rubrics in its long life, and this is merely the latest.

Readers’ wildlife photos

February 26, 2019 • 7:30 am

Today we’ll have the last wildlife photos until Sunday for, as I said, posting will be light until then. This batch comes from reader Saloni Rose, an evolutionary biology and neurobiology student at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (ISER) in Mohali, India, near Chandigarh. (See her website, Obscurum per Obscurius.) Although I visited that department about a year ago, I didn’t have the pleasure of meeting her. Herewith her lovely bird photos, with her captions indented:

One of my favourite courses at IISER Mohali was a course on Ecology. We learnt to identify different bird species, estimate plant biodiversity and observe animal behaviour. I remember the days where my friends and I would take our bird books and binoculars around campus and gasp in excitement every time we saw an exotic bird. I want to continue birding whenever I go and document them (inaturalist.org). This is my set of pictures of birds I found in my parents’ workplace (Rawatbhata, India) this week. To describe the region, it is located in the dry arid south-west part of the country.

Purple Sunbird (Cinnyris asiaticus): I found these birds constantly hovering around, drinking nectar from the flame of the woods (Ixora coccinea). Purple sunbirds are sexually dimorphic: the males have a bright metallic purple colour on their wings while the females were dull grey. The downward curving bills help them in nectar feeding.

Indian Roller (Coracias benghalensis):

Coppersmith Barbet (Psilopogon haemacephalus):

Continuing my birding adventure, I decided to go to a wetland about 20 minutes from the Anupratap colony. Wetlands in Rajasthan host several migratory birds over the winter (Check out Bharatpur).  About 7:30 AM, just as the sun was rising, we reached a small waterbody surrounded by wheat fields. To my amaze, there were several exotic waterbirds including ducks, ibises, kingfishers and cranes. Ducks, in particular, were very docile, it was extremely tricky to get a close-up shot. Here are some photos!!

We saw a group of Sarus Cranes land on the other end of the waterbody. Sarus Cranes are the tallest of all flying birds, growing as tall as 1.8m. Their numbers are drastically decreasing due to habitat loss and they are declared “Globally Vulnerable” by IUCN. Their scientific name is Antigone antigone. Antigone (Greek mythology) was Oedipus’s daughter who hanged herself. The bare red neck of Saras Crane symbolises her death by hanging.

Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle rudis). The Pied Kingfisher has a cool hunting strategy: they hover over water at one place, circling around before vertically diving in!!

White throated Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis):

Ruddy Shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea):

Lesser Whistling Duck  (Dendrocygna javanica):

Tuesday: Hili dialogue

February 26, 2019 • 6:30 am

It’s Tuesday, February 26, 2019, and National Pistachio Day, celebrating one of my three favorite nuts (the others are macadamia nuts and cashews).

The news of the day is the conviction in Australia (in December, but reported only now because of a gag order) of Cardinal George Pell, once the third most important official in the Vatican. He was convicted of sexually abusing two choirboys and faces up to fifty years in prison. That’s a life sentence for him. It’s a start. . . .

The news from February 26 is a bit thin. On this date in 1616, Galileo was banned by the Church from teaching or defending his idea that the Earth orbited the Sun.  199 years later, Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from Elba. After a hundred days of governing, he turned himself in to the British and was exiled to St. Helena, where he died in 1821.  Two National Parks in the U.S. were created on this day: Grand Canyon National Park (Woodrow Wilson, 1919), and Grand Teton National Park (Calvin Coolidge, 1929).

On February 26, 1935, Adolf Hitler, in violation of the Treaty of Versailles, ordered the re-formation of the Luftwaffe: the German air force.  In 1980, Egypt and Israel established diplomatic relations. On February 26, 1993, the (first) World Trade Center bombing took place as a truck bomb exploded in a below-ground parking garage, killing 6 and injuring more than a thousand. Six terrorists were convicted of the bombing, and all remain in jail.

Finally, it was on this day in 2008 that the New York Philharmonic, under the direction of Loren Maazel, performed in Pyongyang, North Korea (a first and probably a last). Here they are performing Arirang, a traditional (and lovely) Korean folk song (you can see a traditional Korean version, complete with singers, here).

Notables born on this day include Victor Hugo (1802), Honoré Daumier (1808), Levi Strauss (1829), Buffalo Bill (1846), William Frawley (1887), Wallace Fard Muhammad (1893), Jackie Gleason (1916), Theodore Sturgeon (1918), Fats Domino (1928), and Johnny Cash (1932).

Wallace Fard, who took the name Muhammad, was the founder of the Nation of Islam. His origins and fate are unclear; he was probably white, and he disappeared for good in 1934.  Here’s a photo:

Those who took the Dirt Nap on February 26 include Harry Lauder (1950), jazz trumpeter Roy Eldridge (1989), and Judge Joseph Wapner (2017). This Eldridge performance, “After You’ve Gone” (1944) is one of my absolute favorite jazz performances.

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is considering her outdoor options:

A: Are you going to the river with us?
Hili: I’m just considering diverse options.
In Polish:
Ja; Idziesz z nami nad rzekę?
Hili: Właśnie rozważam różne opcje.

A cartoon found on Facebook (and yes, versions of “The Scream” were stolen twice).

And another:

A tweet from Heather Hastie showing a rogue windmill:

https://twitter.com/OregonJOBS2/status/1099118657651716097

And from reader Barry a rogue kingfisher, oblivious to rules. Be sure to watch the whole clip:

 

Tweets from Matthew: This first one shows baby Matthew himself demonstrating insight learning: getting the dog’s milk (which Matthew wanted to drink) using a tool. “Insight learning” is figuring out something in an “aha” moment.

Wasn’t he cute?

The winds have been fierce in the Midwest and Northeast, and here’s what they did to the frozen Niagara River:

I’ve seen a lot of flies in my time, but never one this large! Note that adult timber flies don’t feed, and thus live only a short time.

This is amazing. Does the dead fish give off a chemical cue?

https://twitter.com/ThingsWork/status/1100117779946958848

Tweets from Grania. Now this is a classy restaurant!

https://twitter.com/HMSPitts/status/1100046458642927616

As the government said, “from Friday when the order comes into effect, being a member, or inviting support for Hizballah, Ansaroul Islam and JNIM will be a criminal offence, carrying a sentence of up to 10 years’ imprisonment.”

This kitten is so ugly that it’s adorable (sent by Grania and reader Barry):

https://twitter.com/AMAZlNGNATURE/status/1099781179665014788

I just want to hug these little fuzzballs:

https://twitter.com/AMAZlNGNATURE/status/1099935763880239104

No winner in the Oscars contest

February 25, 2019 • 4:31 pm

This was a tough year to guess the Oscar winners, and on January 23 I challenged readers to guess the winners in the categories of Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Supporting Actor.  While the consensus votes weren’t bad, no individual save one even came close. And that individual, reader Dragon, guessed four of the six winners: here are Dragon’s guesses:

Film: Green Book
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Lead actor: Rami Malek
Lead actress: Glenn Close
Supporting actor: Mahershala Ali
Supporting actress: Amy Adams

Close was thought to be a shoo-in for her role in “The Wife”, but lost to Olivia Coleman of “The Favourite”. And Amy Adams in “Vice” lost to Regina King in “If Beale Street Could Talk.” Otherwise, Dragon was nose-on.

The readers’ answers were, in the same order of categories as above, and counting the winners of the poll:

Roma
Alfonso Cuarón
Rami Malek
Glenn Close
Mahershala Ali
Amy Adams

This is close to what Dragon guessed, but that is the consensus poll, not any individual’s vote.

Anyway, congrats to Dragon, though no prize will go out this time.

I won’t analyze the Oscars as there’s a big Woke Fight about these results and I didn’t see any of the movies anyway. All I know is that I’ll have to see “Roma”.

 

 

A biologist says goodbye to a dying chimp

February 25, 2019 • 2:00 pm

I came across this video in a New York Times review of an upcoming (March 12) book by Frans de Waal, Mama’s Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us About Ourselves. The notes below, however, are from YouTube, not from the book or the review:

Mama, 59 years old and the oldest chimpanzee and the matriarch of the famous chimpanzee colony of the Royal Burgers Zoo in Arnhem, the Netherlands, was gravely ill. Jan van Hooff (emeritus professor behavioural biology at Utrecht University and co-founder of the Burgers colony) who has known Mama since 1972, visited her in the week before she died of old age in april 2016. It took a while before she became aware of Jan’s presence. Her reaction was extremely emotional and heart-breaking. Mama played an important social role in the colony. This has been described in “Chimpanzee Politics” by Frans de Waal, who studied the colony since 1974.

If this doesn’t make you tear up, I don’t know what would.

The art accompanying the review, by the way is great; it’s an illustration by Wesley Allsbrook:

h/t: Nilou