২৬ সেপ্টেম্বর, ২০২০

"Though they have terrible eyesight, the rats are ideal for such work, with their extraordinary sense of smell and their light weight – they are too light to trigger the mines."

"When they detect a mine, they lightly scratch atop it, signaling to their handler what they've found. Their reward: a banana."

From "Hero Rat Wins A Top Animal Award For Sniffing Out Land Mines" (NPR). Elsewhere, I've seen it written that this rat "won a medal," and, indeed, the president of the U.K. charity that honored the animal said "This is the very first time in our 77-year history of honoring animals that we will have presented a medal to a rat." They call it a medal, so that makes it a medal.

It's a very useful rat, obviously, but it's not choosing benefit us people (or even other rats). It's simply doing what reliably produces a banana. It has no idea of the danger of a land mine, and there doesn't seem to be any danger for the lightweight creature, certainly nothing that the rat knows about, so there is no courage involved other than what courage it takes to hang around human beings for the sake of banana.

Show me a rat that has displayed heroism. This isn't that rat. But the medal is for us humans, to feel pleased with the contribution of a rat. The rat doesn't care about a medal. It cares about a banana.

৫১টি মন্তব্য:

rehajm বলেছেন...

Show me a rat that has displayed heroism

There was that one what got separated from his family then ran a Michelin starred restaurant kitchen, proving 'Anyone can cook'?

buwaya বলেছেন...


Epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries



These, in the day when heaven was falling,

The hour when earth's foundations fled,

Followed their mercenary calling,

And took their wages, and are dead.



Their shoulders held the sky suspended;

They stood, and earth's foundations stay;

What God abandoned, these defended,

And saved the sum of things for pay.



A.E. Housman



Mr. Forward বলেছেন...

There’s Rocky the Flying Rat. He may have been a liar but he was heroic. I don’t know how many times he rescued Bullwinkle, who is Canadian by the way and never had a work permit or green card. Moose are hard too stop.

That squirrel tail on Rocky is a wig and if you look carefully it falls off close to the end of the third episode. Rocky used more wig glue after that embarrassing incident. He would get a little goofy on the fumes and start chewing his helmet strap.

Iman বলেছেন...

Biggy Rat scorned medals. Now THERE was a rat!

Rory বলেছেন...

"Dolphins get a lot of good publicity for the drowning swimmers they push back to shore, but what you don't hear about is the many people they push further out to sea. Dolphins aren't smart. They just like pushing things.” -- Dwight Schrute

exhelodrvr1 বলেছেন...

Rats are just squirrels with scrawny tails

Mr. Forward বলেছেন...

The flaw in this strategy is you are fattening up your best rats.

boatbuilder বলেছেন...

If Conan the Dog didn’t win that award, it’s just another lefty scam.

MarkW বলেছেন...

Show me a rat that has displayed heroism.

Would you settle for altruism? And isn't altruism the first step toward heroism?

Fernandinande বলেছেন...

"HeroRAT" is a brand name for the trained rats.

They also heroically spread diseases:

"In 2003, the United States' CDC and FDA issued an order preventing the importation of the rodents following the first reported outbreak of monkeypox."

Rick.T. বলেছেন...

exhelodrvr1 said...
Rats are just squirrels with scrawny tails
——————
We country folk think squirrels are rats with bushy tails.

Lucid-Ideas বলেছেন...

I've heard of some laotians and cambodians that will hand-probe and hand deactivate anti-personnel and antitank mines on the old ho chi Minh trail for a little rice and some cold rat meat. They also make great tunnel rats (they are super tiny). Does that count?

JAORE বলেছেন...

And then, when the last mine was uncovered, and the danger had passed the heroes were feted with cyanide laced bananas.

JAORE বলেছেন...

The difference between a rat and a politician is that the politician cares about both the banana and the medal.

rhhardin বলেছেন...

A pet shop guy long ago always had a rat on his shoulder. The rat felt comfortable there with him, if that isn't anthropomorphizing too much psych 101.

Ralph L বলেছেন...

I like heroes who weren't captured by fruits.

Tom T. বলেছেন...

"It's simply doing what reliably produces a banana."

Honestly, this basically describes my workday.

rhhardin বলেছেন...

Squirrels think you're a tree to be investigated when tamed. A rat is content to snuggle.

Tom T. বলেছেন...

"It's simply doing what reliably produces a banana."

Honestly, this basically describes my workday.

David Begley বলেছেন...

This post calls for - no, demands - an Althouse rat drawing!

Fernandinande বলেছেন...

A pet shop guy long ago always had a rat on his shoulder.

A guy with a rat on his shoulder walks into a bar and the bartender says "Say, where'd you get that thing?", and the rat says ...

a: "I dunno, it was just a bump on my ass a few days ago."

b: "Boston, they're all over the place!"

MadTownGuy বলেছেন...

Where's the rat picture? This post is crying for a rat drawing.

Rob বলেছেন...

The U.K. charity’s statement will be recycled if Trump wins the Nobel Peace Prize.

Iman বলেছেন...

Blogger rhhardin said...
Squirrels think you're a tree to be investigated when tamed. A rat is content to snuggle.


So... you're admitting you've been tossed around every she-rat in this town...

ColoComment বলেছেন...

James Clavell's first novel was titled "King Rat," and was set in a WW II POW camp in Singapore. It's been a long time since I read it, but recall it being an interesting examination of character and survival in adversity.

JML বলেছেন...

I prefer MDKs - Mine Detection Kitties. Adorable and disposable. Guaranteed to work the first time, which is also the last time...

Nichevo বলেছেন...


Lucid-Ideas said...
I've heard of some laotians and cambodians that will hand-probe and hand deactivate anti-personnel and antitank mines on the old ho chi Minh trail for a little rice and some cold rat meat. They also make great tunnel rats (they are super tiny). Does that count?



Why is this a thing anymore? We have Roomba now. Surely for a few grand somebody can come up with a Mineba?

Leland বলেছেন...

This is the UK these days. Brits think that showing they care by doing meaningless things means they are right to feel better about who they are. Just ask them about climate change.

Joe Smith বলেছেন...

'It cares about a banana.'

Is that wrong? I'll bet it never gets leg cramps.

Wince বলেছেন...

You know, I have one very simple request...

And that is to have jeeps with frick'n .50 caliber machine guns attached to their chassis!

Yancey Ward বলেছেন...

"Show me a rat that has displayed heroism."

I would need to get a banana first.

William বলেছেন...

But the medal is for us humans, to feel pleased with the contribution of a rat. The rat doesn't care about a medal. It cares about a banana.

Banana. Heh.

loudogblog বলেছেন...

"Mama rat saves baby from the jaws of a snake"

https://www.wrcbtv.com/story/32369228/mama-rat-saves-baby-from-the-jaws-of-a-snake

daskol বলেছেন...

Dogs can be courageous, or at least seem that way. People, including scientists who study animal intelligence, argue that rats are intelligent, social and that it's not obvious, for example, that rats are less intelligent than our beloved dogs. I don't buy it.

Tomcc বলেছেন...

The rat cares about the banana, the charity cares about fundraising. It's called a symbiotic relationship.

Jarby বলেছেন...

Don't be so confident that a dog isn't doing its "heroic" work just for treats...
https://www.nytimes.com/1908/02/02/archives/dog-a-fake-hero-pushes-children-into-the-seine-to-rescue-them-and.html

Skeptical Voter বলেছেন...

Well the rat would rather have a banana than a George Medal.

And I find it appropriate that NPR would have a story honoring a rat. It seems to me that in their choice of subjects, they've done that a lot of times before this.

YoungHegelian বলেছেন...

The rat doesn't care about a medal.

So, yer sayin it doesn't give a rat's ass for the medal! Git it? -- A rat's ass!

Kevin বলেছেন...

Does the rat care it's the Year of the Rat?

Rory বলেছেন...

"Dogs can be courageous, or at least seem that way."

My dog and are walking down a trail through a little wood, can hear a chainsaw, but can't see anyone. Tree falls right across the trail, ten feet ahead. I turn to see my dog...50 feet down, and high-tailing it. I catch up with him back at the car.

Rory বলেছেন...
এই মন্তব্যটি লেখক দ্বারা সরানো হয়েছে।
Howard বলেছেন...

The rats I knew liked avocado much better than banana.

Howard বলেছেন...

Blogger Lucid-Ideas said...

I've heard of some laotians and cambodians that will hand-probe and hand deactivate anti-personnel and antitank mines on the old ho chi Minh trail for a little rice and some cold rat meat. They also make great tunnel rats (they are super tiny). Does that count?


Saigon. Shit. I'm still only in Saigon

"Charlie didn't get much USO. He was dug in too deep or moving too fast. His idea of great R&R was cold rice and a little rat meat. He had only two ways home: death, or victory."

Openidname বলেছেন...

This is a happy story. The rat gets a banana; the humans get to give it a medal and feel good. Bonus: Countless lives have been saved. Why should this story get the Scrooge filter?

BudBrown বলেছেন...

I lived in an old 850 sq. ft. shot gun apt. with 15 windows. Owner removes the screens to fix em up. No ac so I/m not closing the windows. I'm watching tv one night and a rat jumps on the window sill and scampers off to my kitchen where I can hear it clattering about. Returns carrying a big banana that it gets to the window sill. It eyes me for a few seconds before it and my banana vanish into the night. I wonder where it went to eat the banana. Beautiful rat. Nice smooth skin had a bluish sheen. Thing was audacious. When's audacious get heroic. Rat took my banana way Grant took Vicksburg.

Tomcc বলেছেন...

Openidname: Why should this story get the Scrooge filter?
Moderation in all things.

rcocean বলেছেন...

Regarding Rat Heroics: "Even a cornered rat will fight" - said William Howard Taft, a great intellect and a very bad politician.

Rat's will fool around with landmines for a banana. We've trained dolphins to fool around with Sea mines, but I'm not sure what we give them. Is there sort of fish they prize above all?

Krumhorn বলেছেন...

You try to serve Anton Ego a ratatouille and let's see what happens when they take away your last star....unless your name is Remy.

- Krumhorn

Doug বলেছেন...

He wouldn't give his own rear end for that medal.

Focko Smitherman বলেছেন...

I once put a (domesticated) rat's head in my mouth just so I could tell people that I once put a (domesticated) rat's head in my mouth. Wife asked what I'd done with the body. She's gross.

bylbo বলেছেন...

Leland said...

This is the UK these days. Brits think that showing they care by doing meaningless things means they are right to feel better about who they are. Just ask them about climate change.

9/26/20, 9:55 AM
----
Imagine being able to read the minds of an entire country. Imagine believing everyone in a country has the same point of view. You are the living embodiment of American Exceptionalism.