05.27.08
‘Blink of an eye’ has morphed into ‘Here Kitty’
To all of my 2 fans out there, apologies for no recent posts.
I have my new blog “Here Kitty” and its companion website, Global Cats up and running now, so that’s where I’ve been.
I discovered since I started blogging (one whole month into it) that I wanted to focus more on a specific topic and found that since I had a gadzillion links to cat sites and cat news that the topic seemed to pick me. I have been writing a book for the last year with cats as the main characters. Thus, all my ’cat’ tags and cat folders and all the del.icio.us links and the news stories and bizarre tales that I have saved over the last year just begged for public attention.
I find myself reading ‘cat news’ stories daily and I am most intrigued by the devoted efforts of so many people who work to save them, very often in horrible conditions. I found that I love these stories because they give me hope in human nature and for the human race. In spite of all the horrific events going on in the world, there are people who really care and actually do something to follow up on their passion.
I hope you take a look at my new sites and give me some feedback. I am developing a custom Google Global Cat map which placemarks many of these interesting news stories on the map. Since the emphasis at Global Cat is on rescue cats, the Global map will feature rescue cat stories sent in by readers. So if you have a rescued cat and want to feature your feline, check it out. Links are on both the blog and webiste, but here’s the direct link to the map.
05.06.08
Biloxi angel
There is a Catholic church in Biloxi, MS which sits directly across the street from the floating casinos which abound there. It struck me the first time I saw it (before Katrina) because of the angel. He carried a sword and looked out over the floating casinos. He seemed to carry the qualities of both compassion and serious intensity of an divine being with a mission.
The church survived Hurricane Camille and Hurricane Katrina.
Recently, we traveled to this area and I was very curious to see what had happened to the angel. It had a such a strong presence and its placement is so incongruous to its surroundings that I can’t help but think that he is trying to tell us something.
Here’s what we found. The angel stands on the ground now, sword broken. The church is barely functioning, if at all. However, the casinos are back in full force. Most of the casinos had been completely destroyed by Katrina but now they are more plentiful than ever. Since the relaxing of the laws that prevented casinos to be built on land (pre-Katrina) the
I thought it was an interesting, and sad, reflection of how the priorities of humankind manifest themselves.
05.05.08
The origin of cats
There was a study done by some UC Davis scientists wanting to learn more about the origin of cats. So they swabbed about 11,00 cats, I think it was, for their DNA.
I had a funny image of hundreds of scientists in lab coats with Q-tips and zip lock bags traveling to remote locations all over the globe, taking a quick swab of random cats’ cheek cells and getting on the plane to take their samples back to the lab. But hey, I’m not a scientist and of course it was all done through the mail.
But the DNA results were interesting because they discovered that the cradle of human civilization, appropriately named ‘The Fertile Crescent’, is also the origin of the domesticated cat.
Cats became domesticated about the same time that people did apparently. When we went from being nomadic beings and settled down, raising and storing crops and grains, cats quickly discovered that those storage units harbored their favorite cuisine. Humans realized what a great service cats provided and a mutual bond was struck.
Today most cat owners don’t rely on their cats to keep the mice out of their grain cellars (although we do depend on Marco and Polo to keep the rodents at bay here at our country ‘estate’).
So there’s some magnetic bond between humans and cats, sort of a mutual respect it seems, that obviously doesn’t depend on a work ratio factor. All they have to do is look cute, which is most of the time, and we feel better. Pet a cat and your blood pressure goes down. If he purrs, then you’ve soaked up a little of his nirvana. Instant stress relief.
Maybe we love cats because they never worry about anything. They are truly an inspiration in the art of relaxation.
Here’s a link to something more scientific. Cats’ Family Tree Rooted in Fertile Crescent
05.04.08
Word fog
