... as I did my sunless sunrise run this morning.
I needed to remember a distinctive word in the passage I wanted to blog from the audiobook I had in my earphones.
I search the Kindle version. Ah, here it is:
Mittens has graciously deferred to Gary; Leo couldn’t care less about power; and the dog just finds the whole thing, and, in fact, everything in life, exciting. So what are these two creatures fighting about? I trust in the fact that animals are pure in their hearts, efficient in their emotions. I admire that they don’t seem to waste time hating each other if there isn’t a specific purpose to it. Food, shelter, dominance, and love affairs seem to be the things that matter, and once those are sorted out, what else is there to say? Could it just be a personality conflict? Does Gary find Mittens unlikable? What a disappointment that would be. It would mean that animals are just as flawed as we are, susceptible to petty grievances and pointless conflict and capable of making awful sounds at each other when we really have nothing to say.
The book is "On Animals" by Susan Orlean. The "creatures" — Mittens and Gary (and Leo) — are cats.
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That first picture makes me think of 2021 (a.k.a. 2020 won). Happy New Year to you and Meade, and may 2022 not be 2020 too for you.
Gary is insisting that Mittens call him an elephant and treat him as such. Mittens just doesn't want to be hassled and doesn't care what Gary wants. Leo already calls Gary an elephant because he wants to get along. Once Mittens is made to comply, Gary will turn to Leo and say that he must publicly denounce Mittens and all other ciscats and say that cat to elephant transition is the highest order of being. All three cats will then be miserable. The dog won't know what hit him.
Like a broken pencil.
… in a nutshell.
Hierarchical power reigns. Always. It’s just who they are.
Do they have pure hearts? I prefer the word honest, as they are driven by instinctive nature.
That’s how I’ve observed it all these years.
Great. Looks like a new dusting of snow on the previous layer of polished ice. That's gotta be fun to run on.
Two dogs make a pair of dogs. Three or more dogs make a pack, and heirarchy, priority, submission and dominance become really important and sometimes violent issues.
Two cats are just and only two cats. Any number (n) of cats is specifically (n) individual cats. Cats will love, hate, caress, bite, and anything else cats do to each other on the basis of "I am a cat. You are a cat. Let us each be a cat and see where that takes me, and perhaps you."
Kipling was right about the cat who walks by himself. They all, each do.
RIP, Betty White. She was less than three weeks from making it to 100.
Isn't this a just good example of the difference in cognition between humans and animals? I am always curious as to why people see choice in animal behavior when they don't have the ability to make that choice. Some even see nobility in that lack of choice. Odd.
I've got snow envy.
We got back into town and discovered a shoveled (sort of) sidewalk -- but we need a good dose of sun to complete the clearing-off of it (our sidewalk slopes up from south to north, sun does a wonder on it). Not happening soon enough.
Dogs are all alike. Every cat is crazy in its own way.
I was happy to figure out the story wasn't about senator Romney
I went out to our home site for the weekly storm water inspection. Not much chance of any runoff reaching our creek today as everything is frozen over with snow, about 6-in deep. The nearby pond is frozen over, but not enough to walk on. Pictures and description here.
Corrected link: https://tokulacres.com/
London Times December 31 2021
Heartwarming New Year's Eve Story:
'The Taliban have ordered a series of mannequin beheadings, telling clothes shops to remove the heads of dummies that offend Islam.
The instructions were given by the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice in the western Afghan province of Herat.
Aziz Rahman, the head of the local department of the ministry, described the mannequins as “statues” and claimed that they were being worshipped, which is prohibited under Islam.
Despite shopkeepers’ pleas that they needed their dummies, Rahman said he “ordered that they [the mannequins] should have their heads removed” and warned there would be severe punishment if they violated the ruling.'
'...The ministry, which has said that it will continue to amputate thieves’ limbs, has already resumed public hangings and displayed several headless corpses of hastily convicted kidnappers in market squares...'
Thanks to Joe Biden for making this all possible.
DM
UPDATED: 21:57 EST, 31 Dec
"White people infected with COVID in New York State - the hardest-hit state in the country - are in jeopardy of being turned away from potential lifesaving treatments in favor of other more at-risk races because of a national shortage of two promising types of medical treatments.
In a shocking memo sent out by the state's Health Department and approved by Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday, white residents were told not to bother trying to get Pfizer's Paxlovid pill or monoclonal antibody treatments.
'Non-white race or Hispanic/Latino ethnicity should be considered a risk factor as longstanding systemic health and social inequities have contributed to an increased risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19,' the document reads."
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10359065/White-people-told-not-bother-trying-monoclonal-antibody-treatment-amid-shortage.html
Those damn "longstanding systemic...social inequities" excuse rearing its woke head again.
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