Sniplettes

After a night of precious few ZZZZs (90 piffling minutes of ‘em) I got a fabola surprise. I came downstairs, fetched Princess’ brekkie and, with a hopeful but heavy heart, put out a small dish for Ghost Cat. He hasn’t made an appearance in more than two weeks – not since the big brouhaha with Umlaut. I was beginning to accept that his absence might be permie – that our wild boy wasn’t just off on a long series of bootie calls. Either he’d gone on to meet Bast or he'd found a stray cat sucker who dished up a better brand of kibble.

Nope. Ghost Cat’s back – PHEW!
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The Amazing Bob loved this plant, at left. I forget what it is but it blooms just a few times a year. This delighted TAB to hell and back and he always made sure to point out the sweet blooms. Naturally, this called for cookies but then, what happy occasion doesn’t?
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Becky Ferreira, writing at Motherboard has found a very interesting aspect of our closest cousins, the howler monekys.

…in a beautiful twist of expectations, scientists have now found that the louder the monkey's calls, the smaller the monkey's balls.
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Loud monkeys need to secure exclusive access to females because they would have trouble keeping up with their big-balled counterparts, who are more likely to fertilize females due to larger sperm production. Quieter monkeys have less success attracting females with their bellows, but they are locked-and-loaded where it counts.

This, as Shannyn Moore notes, explains right wing talk radio. The Bloated Buttercup too...of course
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Pilgrimage of Human Life – Guillaume de Deguileville

I follow a fellow on ShoutyFace who always posts the most interesting paintings, prints, illustrations and such. There’s rarely text and, when there is, it’s no more than title of the piece and artist. I love his page, his taste in art – endlessly fascinating.

His name is Stephen Ellcock and his About page notes only that he studied Venery at Rat Bastard Protective Association. Mister Ellcock also attended the special needs school of Hard Knocks and Max’s Kansas City. He lists his professional skills as Letting the Side Down.

Thomas Theodor Heine

I only mention it but dictionary.com defines Venery as the gratification of sexual desire.
Merriam-Webster, on the other hand, lists it as the art, act, or practice of huntingoranimals that are hunted, game.

 

The fuck? Which is it? World Wide Words explains that these are actually two different words with separate meanings and origins.

It (venery) refers to hunting or the chase. Let us leave unexplored the other meaning, which the Oxford English Dictionary defines as “The practice or pursuit of sexual pleasure”. At times it may seem to its participants to resemble a hunt, but that sense isn’t connected etymologically: it comes from Venus, the Roman goddess of beauty and love.

Our sense is from Old French venerie, which comes from Latin venari, to hunt. 

Fascinating. Back to Mr. Ellcock though – I found an interview with him on the Toi Gallery site. He def sounds like someone with whom I’d utterly and wickedly enoy sharing a tot or two.
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OK, back to bed and, hopefully, sleep. 

Meeting of the Mickey Mouse Club, 1930s