Wednesday: Hili dialogue (and Cleopatra lagniappe)

September 23, 2015 • 1:15 am

I must have been tired from my flight, as I slept 9.5 hours last night—an unheard-of episode of sloth for Professor Ceiling Cat. And although the Princess came in off the tiles last night, she chose to sleep with Cyrus, and didn’t deign to be with me—a severe insult! Nevertheless, I give you her daily lucubrations:

Hili: I couldn’t wait until you came! I had a dream that I was flying with you over the Atlantic.
Jerry: And what did you do in the plane?
Hili: I slept.
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In Polish:
Hili: Nie mogłam się na ciebie doczekać. Śniło mi się, że lecę z tobą nad Atlantykiem.
Jerry: I co robiłaś w samolocie?
Hili: Spałam.
And two bonus Hili pictures I took:
The Princess sleeping with her Giant Hot Water Bottle last night:
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And this morning on the bed (not mine!):
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Meanwhile in Princeton, Joyce Carol Oates has introduced her new Bengal kitten (Cleopatra, or Cleo) to her older cat Cherie. Her words:
Little Cleopatra trying to befriend the slightly grouchy older kitty Cherie, just visible in the chair to the left.  slowly she is winning over Cherie’s heart by exposing her tummy & rolling over to show what an innocent kitten she is.
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“The only way to win over a grouchy older kitty is by exposing my tummy.  Tirelessly, all afternoon.”  Cleopatra.  (Cherie in shadows, in chair.)
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I have landed!

September 22, 2015 • 12:01 pm

It was a long flight from Chicago to Warsaw, but I have arrived, been driven to Dobrzyn, and am now ensconced, somewhat jet-lagged, chez Andrzej et Malgorzata.

I was greeted by this sign on the gate, which got me excited until I learned that “Pies” means “d*g” in Polish (the sign means “Caution, d*g!”).

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But there is a pie, for later tonight. Cherry, of course:

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We went for a walk to the wide Vistula, with the moon rising over the water. Sadly, the Princess is still out on the tiles, but I hope to see her soon.

UPDATE: Hili appeared on the windowsill after dark, demanding to be carried in. I gave her one of the cans of Fancy Feast I brought from the U.S., which she ate with relish (and mustard). But now she’s asleep with Cyrus on the d*g bed–I fear I won’t get much Quality Hili Time.

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Spot the frogs

September 22, 2015 • 10:15 am

by Greg Mayer

As a preview of an upcoming post on frogs and toads, a chance to practice your spotting skills. No real difficulty here, but you need to spot all of them.

Green frogs (Rana clamitans about to enter Greenquist Pond, Kenosha, Wisconsin, 20 Sept. 2015.
Green frogs (Rana clamitans) entering Greenquist Pond, Kenosha, WI, 20.ix.2015.

As we’ll see in the upcoming post, these are “rescue frogs”.

Religious zealot still trying to prevent same sex marriage in Ireland

September 22, 2015 • 8:30 am

by Grania

 

In May this year a comfortable majority voted in Ireland’s  Marriage Referendum  to extend the right to marriage to same sex couples, however there are still some who oppose it bitterly. Well, mostly two people, Maurice J Lyons and Gerry Walshe.

As a result the entire process of writing this into legislation was temporarily in danger of being held up while a pair of zealots tried to reverse or nullify the outcome in court. Fortunately progress is being made on the Marriage Equality Bill.

The basis of the objection seems to be this:

…the State, in advocating a Yes vote, failed to protect the family, the “special position” of women in the home and the “God factor” in the Constitution.

I’m not sure what exactly the special position of women in the home is (in their heads, anyway), nor why they think that God needs protection; but suffice to say that this is not the most compelling of arguments. Then again, these are the guys who also argued – with straight faces – that the stamps sold by the Post Office had subliminal messaging influencing Irish voters.

They have already been rejected at the Supreme Court level, which ruled:

 neither had met the requirements for a Supreme Court appeal as neither had raised the necessary legal point of general public importance, raised no points “of substance” and the interests of justice did not require they be given leave to appeal.

However Walshe is now trying again where he will apparently seek permission to bring proceedings against the State through a judicial review.

They appear to be supported, at least in spirit, by Roger Eldridge of the Family Rights and Responsibilities Institute of Ireland and National Men’s Council of Ireland fame. Warning: reading the link should only be attempted after you have swallowed whatever beverage you may be sipping on. However, reading even a small part of the content will confirm that their motivations are both religious and painfully archaic, based on misinformation and myths.

If there is anything heartening about this pitiful story, it is that this is clearly a minority view. These people do not represent the average Irish citizen, not even the average Catholic Irish citizen.

 

 

 

Tiny little spiders

September 22, 2015 • 7:30 am

by Grania

Just as filler with your morning coffee, here are two immensely cute spiders. And yes, usually the adjective “cute” doesn’t belong anywhere near the noun “spider”.

Click on the white arrow in the Tweet to play the mp4 file mislabeled as gif.

 

 

The spider in the video is a Spiny Backed Orb Weaver Spider (Gasteracantha cancriformis). They’re pretty small, never getting much bigger than 13 mm. I’m not sure what the top spider is though. Can anyone identify it?

Hat-tip: Heather

Tuesday: Hili Dialogue

September 22, 2015 • 6:00 am

Good morning all! Grania here.

Jerry is already on his way to Poland and will touch down later today. I’m sure he will check in with us as soon as he is able.

Hili: History is a great teacher.
Cyrus: What do you mean?
Hili: In the past after returning home we always had something to eat.

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In Polish:

Hili: Historia jest wielką nauczycielką.
Cyrus: Co masz na myśli?
Hili: W przeszłości, po powrocie do domu, zawsze coś jedliśmy.

 

And there is a bonus Leon monologue:

Leon: Did astronomical summer go away?

leon autumn

 

It is indeed distinctly autumnal in parts of Europe today.

 

Today was a busy day in history. In 480 BC it saw the Battle of Salamis (not nearly as funny as it sounds), in 1692 the last unfortunate people convicted of witchcraft in the infamous Salem Witch Trials were hanged. I’d like to think that humanity has gotten better since then, and maybe it has. But not enough yet.

Here’s the Nilgiri Marten!

September 22, 2015 • 5:02 am

by Matthew Cobb

Many of you got it, but some of you were looking at something else entirely… The Nilgiri Marten has a golden chest, which you can just make out on the far right…

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They are cute-looking things, almost second Honorary Cats (though I wouldn’t want to get in a fight with one), as this photo by N. A. Nazeer from Wikipedia shows: