Posts Tagged ‘Friday’

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What am I sappy cat blogging?

August 23, 2013

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A prototype cable car from Japan (of course).

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What am I sappy cat blogging?

August 16, 2013

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For Sappy Car blogging this week, I offer this story run on NPR in April about cats and the poets who love them.

Reference: Word Tapestry, with thanks.

Sappy cat bonus, Commander Samuel Vimes in repose.

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When I sit in the chair of the person he obviously loves best, Sam boxes me about the ears with both front paws and tries to eat my hair.  Just last night, in fact.

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What am I sappy cat blogging?

August 9, 2013

I thought this was cute – and below, my handsome Murphy.

Murphy

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What am I sappy cat blogging?

August 2, 2013

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Happy Friday

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What am I sappy cat blogging?

July 26, 2013

This week is a combination of sappy cat and geeky science blogging with this little video about Schrodinger’s Cat:

As a Sappy Cat Bonus, here is Cmdr. Sam Vimes modeling his new doggie hat:

Sam in his doggie hat

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What am I sappy cat blogging?

July 19, 2013

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Lions and Tigers and Bears

Read more about this unlikely friendship here.

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What am I Sappy Cat Blogging?

July 12, 2013

lion and cat

This photo is courtesy of a post on Simon’s Cat about unlikely animal friendships.  Simon’s Cat is the creation of British animator, Simon Tofield.

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What am I sappy cat blogging?

July 5, 2013

Sam Vimes and Murphy enjoying a tender moment.

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What am I sappy cat blogging?

June 7, 2013

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

Bonus cat – Murphy in repose.

murphy in repose

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What am I sappy cat blogging?

May 31, 2013

White_tigers

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.

Read more about the research, the white tigers, and the plight of tigers in the wild at National Geographic’s Phenomena: Not Exactly Rocket Science.