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What am I sappy cat blogging?

June 14, 2013

Today is FLAG DAY, so here are some patriotic kitties.

Flag Day commemorates the adoption of the stars and stripes as the official flag of the United States of America in 1777. Observance of Flag Day came much later. In 1916, Wilson recommended the a day to honor the flag, but Flag Day was not designated as an official holiday until Harry Truman signed an Act of Congress in 1949 proclaiming June 14 as a nation wide observance.

No post on Flag Day would be complete without mentioning Betsy Ross, creator of the original American flag.

This is the Betsy Ross house and museum in Philadelphia.

More on Flag Day here at the National Flag Day Foundation.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Betsy Ross, cats, Flag Day, history, holidays, sappy cat blogging | 4 Comments »

What is tattoo Tuesday about?

June 11, 2013

I never get tired of looking at the moon and I found this “fun fact” on my iPad Moon app today:

How long would it take to get there?

Car ( @ 60 mph) – 5 months, 22 days, 15 hours, 56 minutes, 48 seconds

Plane (@ 600 mph) – 17 days, 11 hours, 23 minutes, 41 seconds

Sound (@ 761 mps) – 13 days, 18 hours, 39 minutes, 8 seconds

Saturn V (@ 17,432 mph) – 14 hours, 26 minutes, 20 seconds

Light (@ 186,282 mps) – 1.351 seconds

This is because the moon is at (or nearly at apogee) which makes it 251,673 miles away, or 1,350,546 Eiffel Towers away from Earth. The moon’s phase is a waxing crescent.

Here are some moon tattoos.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged art, astronomy, moon, nature, science, tattoo Tuesday, tattoos | 2 Comments »

Why am I looking up?

June 9, 2013

Reblogged with thanks from Why Because Science.

Ouch.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged asteroids, astronomy, geeky science blogging, NASA, science, space, space program | Leave a Comment »

What am I sappy cat blogging?

June 7, 2013

What if your friends acted like your pets . . .?

Bonus cat – Murphy in repose.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged animals, cats, Dogs, entertainment, Friday, friends, nature, pets, sappy cat blogging | 6 Comments »

What am I celebrating?

June 5, 2013

Happy National Doughnut Day!

In case anyone missed it on the news, Duncan Donuts came up with a wonderful idea that happens to coincide with this holiday. Read here from the Boston Herald:

The . . . coffee and doughnut chain is introducing a new breakfast item that sandwiches cherrywood-smoked bacon slices and pepper fried egg between a sliced glazed doughnut.

The full story is here.

I heard on NPR that this delicacy actually has fewer calories than the chain’s sausage, egg and cheese breakfast sandwich. I’ll take two!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bacon, donuts, doughnuts, food, National Donut Day, National Doughnut Day, whimsey | 2 Comments »

What is tattoo Tuesday about?

June 4, 2013

This is not a tattoo. The model is wearing paper lashes from here.

I cannot imaging wearing these without rubbing them off almost immediately.

Or these.

This is makeup, not a tattoo.

But this one is a tattoo. I would like permanent eyeliner like this (I think.)

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged art, beauty, eye lashes, eyeliner, fashion, makeup, permanent eye liner, style, tattoo Tuesday, tattoos, whimsey | 4 Comments »

What did I celebrate on Sunday?

June 3, 2013

The answer is that the first Sunday is June is traditional for celebrating the Day of the Rice God. From Chase’s Annual Events:

Chiyoda. Annual rice-transplanting festival observed on first Sunday in June. Centuries-old rural folk ritual revived in 1930s and celebrated with colorful costumes, parades, music, dancing and prayers to the Shinto rice god Wbai-sama.

Here is a lovely set of rice bowls from Halcyon Pottery.

Disclaimer: this is a totally self-serving plug from the author, Anne Bonney – pirate-potter.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged art, Day of the Rice God, history, holidays, Japan, nature, pottery, rice | Leave a Comment »

What am I sappy cat blogging?

May 31, 2013

These beautiful creatures are white tigers. As you can see from the black stripes, these tigers are not albinos. Researchers in in China’s Chimelong Safari Park sequenced the genome of white tigers and their normal colored relatives. They found a variation in just one gene, SLC45A2, that makes the difference, and makes white tigers white:

The SLC45A2 gene makes a protein of the same name, which consists of 560 amino acids. A single mutation in the gene—a change in just one DNA letter—switches one of those 560 amino acids from an alanine to a valine. This distorts the protein’s shape, and potentially prevents it from taking part in the creation of red-yellow melanin. Every white tiger has two copies of this mutated gene, and can only make the distorted protein. That’s all it takes to change their coats from orange to white.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged animals, Chimelong Safari Park, Friday, genetics, mutation, nature, sappy cat blogging, tigers, white tigers | 2 Comments »

About what am I being pedantic?

May 30, 2013

I have been blogging for a while and have found many interesting people sharing their thoughts and their knowledge online. I enjoy that a lot. I also enjoy the process of composing my own posts and am delighted when they seem to touch another person.

Lately I have given some thought to the whole blogging process and have come up with the following – The Five Stages of Blogging. This is offered with much gratitude to the classic developmental psychologists whose influence you will recognize in these descriptions.

Five Stages of Blogging

Infancy – the exploratory phase

What is a blog and who are these people?
Do I have anything to say?
Will anyone read this?
Look at what people are writing – I can certainly do this – and better, too!

Launch phase-gaining in dependence

Choosing a blogging platform
Choosing a picture and avatar
Crafting my about page

Angst and inadequacy

I spent all this time designing my page why isn’t anyone reading me?
Am I not interesting?
Could my blog be more attractive?
Maybe I would attract more readers if I were more sassy, sexy, vulnerable, assertive, . . . ?

Elation, validation and obsession

I have followers!
From Malaysia!
I received a blog award!
I’m thinking I can quit my job and make money at this

Self-actualization – reality is re-established

If you have read this far, please give yourself the following blog award and know that you are my favorite reader.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged avatar, blog awards, blogging, developmental psychology, five stages of blogging, writing | 8 Comments »

What is Tattoo Tuesday about?

May 28, 2013

Last week we took a road trip – a voyage, actually – to one of the off-shore islands in Lake Erie’s western basin. Only a little over 4 square miles, Kelley’s is still one of the largest of the Lake Erie Islands. The island was settled by Native Americans and then taken over by white settlers. Signs of Native Americans still exist, such as Inscription Rock near the ferry dock, and mounds and earthworks on the island.

Inscription Rock purportedly designed by Native Americans on Kelley’s Island

The primary industries were logging, quarrying and wine making. I will never understand the logic of living on an island (an ISLAND!), then cutting off parts of it and selling it. This is, however, what people did and are still doing on Kelley’s. The quarries are impressive. We watched a osprey float on the wind along the edge of the larger quarry stopping to stoop now and then after some kind of prey. We never saw what he was after.

Here’s a view of the quarry.

Now Kelley’s is mostly a vacation spot. In addition to boating, swimming, picnicking and pubbing, Kelley’s is a geologist’s paradise. The limestone in the quarries is full of fossils. I was after trilobites, but came up empty handed. The trilobite, Isotelus, is Ohio’s official state fossil. And I felt silly writing that.

Isotelus

We did, however, find a bunch of horn corals embedded in the limestone giving a glimpse into live at the bottom of the shallow ocean that once covered this part of Ohio.

Horn coral in limestone

Also impressive are the glacial grooves that were almost lost to the limestone industry, but are now preserved as a landmark.

Kelley’s Island Glacial Grooves

The grooves were made during the last ice age when boulders at the bottom of the glacier scoured out these grooves out of the limestone as the glacier moved over the land.

Anyway – the topic of tattoo Tuesday is Trilobites. I found this interesting article in Discover about people who are combating extinction (or at least commemorating extinct species) by getting them tattooed on their bodies.

Here are some trilobites: