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.
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.
I thought this was cute – and below, my handsome Murphy.
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:
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.
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.
What if your friends acted like your pets . . .?
Bonus cat – Murphy in repose.
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.
Firearms, fibers, any news or behaviors that make me say, "hmm, let me take another look at this."
I still miss my man, but my aim is getting better.
Gunsmoke and Knitting 