Sunday, October 23, 2005
return of statistics sundays
Today's Big Cat Fact:
Black tigers have been reported occasionally (Burton 1933, Perry 1964, Guggisberg 1975, Mazák 1981), but the only physical evidence rests with a skin recovered from illegal traders in Delhi in October 1992, which has deep black on the top of the head and back extending down the flanks to end in stripes (P. Jackson pers.comm.).
Did you know that... stripe patterns differ among individual tigers and from one side of the cats body to the other?
Today's Big Cat Trivia:
What is the common name for Panthera uncia? The Snow leopard.
Death Toll Reminder: Three races of tiger - virgata Caspian, balica Bali and sondaica Javan tigers -- have become extinct since the 1950s.
The Bali tiger was the first to become extinct, in the 1940's. (And, if you are like me, you can imagine very well that last Bali tiger crumbling to the ground... dying... and with it going its entire specificity. Fact is, I imagine this with much greater chagrin than I do the demise of the last few dinosaurs... Mayhaps because we are responsible for the Bali tiger's demise... hmm?).
What are two major steps we can take to protect tigers?
To help protect tigers, we can prevent poaching for illegal tiger part trade, and create protected habitats that house tiger prey.
Tigers generally feed predominately on large deer species and wild boar. They will occasionally kill wild cattle, elephant and rhino calves, and sometimes kill monkeys, birds, reptiles, fish, or even crocodiles and leopards when the opportunity arises. Males have also been known to kill cubs fathered by other tigers.
And, just so I am not accused of talking only about tigers... While the puma cannot roar, it is capable of a variety of vocalizations. Both sexes have a distinctive call, likened to a womans scream, which is probably associated with courtship.
More Big Cat Trivia:
What percent of cheetah cubs live to adulthood? Only 5% of cheetah cubs make it to adulthood; cheetahs are not very strong Big Cats, and many stronger predators like hyenas and lions, prey on cheetah cubs.
The cheetah appears to have suffered a series of severe population bottlenecks in its history, with the first and most significant occurring possibly during the late Pleistocene extinctions, around 10,000 years ago.
Enough cats already - let's bring to attention some birthdays and special holidays perhaps, to round up today's post less... somberly?
Last Friday was the International Day of the Nacho... Apparently...
Who does dream these ''holidays'' up again?!?
Much better to honor two birthdays (even if both may be entirely speculative and all...) - OCTOBER 23, 4004 B.C.E. is the date - THE DAY that God created the universe - according to creationists who go by the Ussher-Lightfoot Calendar, itself created in 1650 (C.E.). I'll take that over the World According To Garp any day of the week... Still... I have some reserves! The Ussher-Lightfoot Calendar is indeed only a calculation, an estimate that men came up with - and only God Himself Knows for sure! Those who know me recognize that it is far from my intentions to instigate another Scopes Monkey Trial though...! I have far too little respect for the flawed earthly justice system for that! But enough about that - for now!
Of lesser importance, October 23rd (1958) is the Smurfs' birthday too! Those little forerunners of the Snorks (their aquatic cousins, who are said not to be based on the Smurfs at all - but influences can even be unconscious, so...) but also of the Astroniks and, I dare say, precursors to the Pokémons, Digimons and even Teletubbies as well...! Those Smurfs, yes, were created by Belgian cartoonist Peyo on this very date. Had he known what he would influence, maybe he would have shelved it... hmm? He could always have fallen back on *Johan & Pirlouit*- aka Johan and Peewit (!) if I am not mistaken... (Peewit is pronounced Pee-Wee - oui!).
No one would have missed the rather ineffective (in all ways) Smurfs foil, arch-nemesis Gargamel - so much is certain! Some villains we love to hate - this one was just plain boring! And I did not appreciate, even as a kid, to see such a great name as Azrael being wasted on an evil cat - Gargamel's cat or fleabag as he called it... Aye, the sorceror's pet was not all that appreciated (what is it with witches that they always need a cat?!? That might be the subject of another blog altogether!). Now that I know the name Azrael to belong to an angel, I stand steadfastily by my original call! Still... I'll say HAPPY BIRTHDAY SMURFS (SCHTROUMPFS, originally)... But ONLY FOR PEYO'S SAKE REALLY!Link
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International little buggers they are, eh...
Smurfs in other languages:
Arabic: Sanafer سنافر (singular: Sanfur سنفور)
Basque: Pottokiak (singular: pottoki), after the Basque pony race pottoka. Early editions used pitufoak, straight from Spanish.
Catalan: Barrufets (singular: barrufet)
Chinese: Lan jing ling (藍精靈)
Croatian: Štrumpfovi (singular: Štrumpf)
Czech: Šmoulové (singular: Šmoula), name based on their light blue colour.
Danish: Smølferne (singular: en Smølf)
Dutch: Smurfen (singular: Smurf)
Finnish: Smurffit (singular: Smurffi)
French: Schtroumpfs (singular: Schtroumpf)
German: Schlümpfe (singular: Schlumpf)
Greek: Stroumfakia Στρουμφάκια (singular: Stroumf/Stroumfaki Στρουμφ/Στρουμφάκι)
Hungarian: Törpök (singular: Törp)
Icelandic: Strumpar (singular: Strumpur)
Italian: Puffi (singular: Puffo), the name has been reinvented from scratch because in Italian language the "schtroumpf" or (in Italian spelling strumpf) reminds speakers of the Italian word "stronzo", literally meaning 'piece of excrement'. Note that the dialect word 'strunz' is even closer to 'strumpf'. The fantasy name "Puffi" is derived from word "buffi" (singular: buffo, as in opera buffa) a word meaning at same time "funny" and "strange".
Hebrew: Dardasim (singular: Dardas)
Polish: Smerfy (singular: Smerf)
Portuguese Estrumpfes (singular: Estrumpfe), (Brazil knows them as Smurfs)
Romanian Ştrumfi (singular: Ştrumf)
Slovak: Šmolkovia (singular: Šmolko)
Slovenian: Smrkci (singular: Smrkec)
Spanish: Pitufos (singular: Pitufo; later used as a slang word for 'local cop' in Spain, after their blue uniforms). In an early time, they were published by the magazine TBO under the name of tebeítos.
Swedish: Smurfer(na) (singular: smurf)
Turkish: Şirinler (singular: Şirin)
Serbian: Štrumpfovi (singular: Štrumpf)
Smurfs in other languages:
Arabic: Sanafer سنافر (singular: Sanfur سنفور)
Basque: Pottokiak (singular: pottoki), after the Basque pony race pottoka. Early editions used pitufoak, straight from Spanish.
Catalan: Barrufets (singular: barrufet)
Chinese: Lan jing ling (藍精靈)
Croatian: Štrumpfovi (singular: Štrumpf)
Czech: Šmoulové (singular: Šmoula), name based on their light blue colour.
Danish: Smølferne (singular: en Smølf)
Dutch: Smurfen (singular: Smurf)
Finnish: Smurffit (singular: Smurffi)
French: Schtroumpfs (singular: Schtroumpf)
German: Schlümpfe (singular: Schlumpf)
Greek: Stroumfakia Στρουμφάκια (singular: Stroumf/Stroumfaki Στρουμφ/Στρουμφάκι)
Hungarian: Törpök (singular: Törp)
Icelandic: Strumpar (singular: Strumpur)
Italian: Puffi (singular: Puffo), the name has been reinvented from scratch because in Italian language the "schtroumpf" or (in Italian spelling strumpf) reminds speakers of the Italian word "stronzo", literally meaning 'piece of excrement'. Note that the dialect word 'strunz' is even closer to 'strumpf'. The fantasy name "Puffi" is derived from word "buffi" (singular: buffo, as in opera buffa) a word meaning at same time "funny" and "strange".
Hebrew: Dardasim (singular: Dardas)
Polish: Smerfy (singular: Smerf)
Portuguese Estrumpfes (singular: Estrumpfe), (Brazil knows them as Smurfs)
Romanian Ştrumfi (singular: Ştrumf)
Slovak: Šmolkovia (singular: Šmolko)
Slovenian: Smrkci (singular: Smrkec)
Spanish: Pitufos (singular: Pitufo; later used as a slang word for 'local cop' in Spain, after their blue uniforms). In an early time, they were published by the magazine TBO under the name of tebeítos.
Swedish: Smurfer(na) (singular: smurf)
Turkish: Şirinler (singular: Şirin)
Serbian: Štrumpfovi (singular: Štrumpf)
Now Italy had them huge - but they could have been an even bigger success as... Puffi, the Vampire Slayers! *LOL*
Brazil just had to be original and NOT go with the correct translation for SCHTROUMPFS in their language - ESTRUMPFES - and instead stick with the shortened American name... One more way to reaffirm your independence from Portugal, eh?
VIVA O BRASIL!
Mas tambem... VIVA O PORTUGAL!
So Smurfs were huge... for little fellows!
Even in Arab countries (Sanafer... hmm... sounds... not so good!).
Although their rep is badly and irremediably damaged in PUERTO RICO... sheesh.
My question is... if this happened to Smurfs... WHY IN BLUE BLAZES HAS IT NOT HAPPENED TO HARRY POTTER YET?!?
Brazil just had to be original and NOT go with the correct translation for SCHTROUMPFS in their language - ESTRUMPFES - and instead stick with the shortened American name... One more way to reaffirm your independence from Portugal, eh?
VIVA O BRASIL!
Mas tambem... VIVA O PORTUGAL!
So Smurfs were huge... for little fellows!
Even in Arab countries (Sanafer... hmm... sounds... not so good!).
Although their rep is badly and irremediably damaged in PUERTO RICO... sheesh.
My question is... if this happened to Smurfs... WHY IN BLUE BLAZES HAS IT NOT HAPPENED TO HARRY POTTER YET?!?
According to Wikipedia though - the year is wrong...
''A Smurf is a fictional tiny blue humanoid, created by Belgian cartoonist Peyo in 1957.''
And of notable interest...
"Smurfing" is also a technical term related to money laundering.
Sheesh!
''A Smurf is a fictional tiny blue humanoid, created by Belgian cartoonist Peyo in 1957.''
And of notable interest...
"Smurfing" is also a technical term related to money laundering.
Sheesh!
"Smurfing" has also been applied in a pun/parody form of the long-standing expression "surfing the web". An example of this can be found here
"The Smurf" was a popular 1980s dance. (merchandising is not enough - shades of the batuzi I gues... or whatever it was called! The Batman Sixties craze...).
A Smurf attack is a particular type of Denial of service (DoS) attack on computer networks.
"Smurfing" is also used in verb format to indicate the action of getting a song stuck into a listener's head by singing the same lines repeatedly. The Smurfs television show had what was considered very annoying theme music, involving repeated intonations of the word "La".
Fans of Warhammer 40,000 sometimes jokingly refer to the Ultramarines as "smurfs", due to their blue armor.
A smurf is also an account registered at a forum or messageboard in addition to the user's regular one, often with the intent of disrupting the community. This is possibly more commonly known as a sock puppet.
(Funny - I thought that was a TROLL? Confirms my suspicion - leprechauns, elves, trolls, smurfs, little people, little greys, chupacabras... all of them! They sprout out from the same roots - and so did the Cabbage Patch Kids surely! *lol*).
In Finnish, "smurffit" (Smurfs) (and in Spanish, "pitufos", Smurfs) is sometimes used as slang for the police.
In military slang, "smurffipuku" (Smurf suit) is a name for the standard blue jogging suit used in the Finnish Defence Forces.
The Smurfs are EVEN a pop music band whose music consists entirely of jocular remixes of famous songs by other pop bands.
(no - it wasn't them who had a hit with BLUE... ''I'm blue - da ba dee da ba dye... oh da ba dee da ba dye... da ba dee da ba dye... oh da ba dee da ba dye... da ba dee da ba dye... oh da ba dee da ba dye... da ba dee da ba dyyyyye...'' - yes, THAT annoying song! As annoying, surely, as the Smurfs' own theme song, ironically enough! And this was actually sung by... one hit-wonders Eiffel 65!).
"The Smurf" was a popular 1980s dance. (merchandising is not enough - shades of the batuzi I gues... or whatever it was called! The Batman Sixties craze...).
A Smurf attack is a particular type of Denial of service (DoS) attack on computer networks.
"Smurfing" is also used in verb format to indicate the action of getting a song stuck into a listener's head by singing the same lines repeatedly. The Smurfs television show had what was considered very annoying theme music, involving repeated intonations of the word "La".
Fans of Warhammer 40,000 sometimes jokingly refer to the Ultramarines as "smurfs", due to their blue armor.
A smurf is also an account registered at a forum or messageboard in addition to the user's regular one, often with the intent of disrupting the community. This is possibly more commonly known as a sock puppet.
(Funny - I thought that was a TROLL? Confirms my suspicion - leprechauns, elves, trolls, smurfs, little people, little greys, chupacabras... all of them! They sprout out from the same roots - and so did the Cabbage Patch Kids surely! *lol*).
In Finnish, "smurffit" (Smurfs) (and in Spanish, "pitufos", Smurfs) is sometimes used as slang for the police.
In military slang, "smurffipuku" (Smurf suit) is a name for the standard blue jogging suit used in the Finnish Defence Forces.
The Smurfs are EVEN a pop music band whose music consists entirely of jocular remixes of famous songs by other pop bands.
(no - it wasn't them who had a hit with BLUE... ''I'm blue - da ba dee da ba dye... oh da ba dee da ba dye... da ba dee da ba dye... oh da ba dee da ba dye... da ba dee da ba dye... oh da ba dee da ba dye... da ba dee da ba dyyyyye...'' - yes, THAT annoying song! As annoying, surely, as the Smurfs' own theme song, ironically enough! And this was actually sung by... one hit-wonders Eiffel 65!).
Blue (Da Ba Dee) Lyrics
(by Eiffel 65)
yo listen up here's a story
about a little guy that lives in a blue world
and all day and all night and everything he sees
is just blue like him inside and outside
blue his house with a blue little window
and a blue corvette
and everything is blue for him and hisself
and everybody around
cos he ain't got nobody to listen to
i'm blue da ba dee da ba dye...
i have a blue house with a blue window.
blue is the colour of all that i wear.
blue are the streets and all the trees are too.
i have a girlfriend and she is so blue.
blue are the people here that walk around,
blue like my corvette, it's standing outside.
blue are the words i say and what i think.
blue are the feelings that live inside me.
i'm blue da ba dee da ba dye...
(by Eiffel 65)
yo listen up here's a story
about a little guy that lives in a blue world
and all day and all night and everything he sees
is just blue like him inside and outside
blue his house with a blue little window
and a blue corvette
and everything is blue for him and hisself
and everybody around
cos he ain't got nobody to listen to
i'm blue da ba dee da ba dye...
i have a blue house with a blue window.
blue is the colour of all that i wear.
blue are the streets and all the trees are too.
i have a girlfriend and she is so blue.
blue are the people here that walk around,
blue like my corvette, it's standing outside.
blue are the words i say and what i think.
blue are the feelings that live inside me.
i'm blue da ba dee da ba dye...
Lions, and Tigers, and Bears, Oh My! LOL I wonder if the Cowardly Lion had any Black Tigers as friends?
I have never heard of a black tiger! I know there are black leopards and black jaguirs, but didn't know there was such thing as a Black Tiger!
Tigers are my favorite big cat.
We need the Big Cats of the world and other preditors, to help keep the balance of nature! Without the preditors the herbivores would over populate and stave from over grazing!
Ahh the Smurfs! hehehe
I used to watch them when I was a kid. I also had the little rubber bendable figurines.
LOL when I read this ("The Smurfs television show had what was considered very annoying theme music, involving repeated intonations of the word "La".) that smurf theme song started going in my head! I can't get it out.
Aaaaaaaaaaahhhh I hear smurf voices in my head singing!!
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-la-la la-la-la-la-la
*Call 9-1-1 I'm going crazy!*
"Belay that order ensign"
"Point your phazer at those white coats that are coming for me"
"Beam me up Scottie"
*goes directly to infirmary,after beaming to ship*
"Dr help me! I Have 20th century blue smurfs singing in my head! I need emergency surgery to get them out!"
LOL
I never knew there were so many things that have been named because of the smurfs.lol
This was a good blog post. Thanks!
God Bless You Luce (\ô/)
Countess
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I have never heard of a black tiger! I know there are black leopards and black jaguirs, but didn't know there was such thing as a Black Tiger!
Tigers are my favorite big cat.
We need the Big Cats of the world and other preditors, to help keep the balance of nature! Without the preditors the herbivores would over populate and stave from over grazing!
Ahh the Smurfs! hehehe
I used to watch them when I was a kid. I also had the little rubber bendable figurines.
LOL when I read this ("The Smurfs television show had what was considered very annoying theme music, involving repeated intonations of the word "La".) that smurf theme song started going in my head! I can't get it out.
Aaaaaaaaaaahhhh I hear smurf voices in my head singing!!
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-la-la la-la-la-la-la
*Call 9-1-1 I'm going crazy!*
"Belay that order ensign"
"Point your phazer at those white coats that are coming for me"
"Beam me up Scottie"
*goes directly to infirmary,after beaming to ship*
"Dr help me! I Have 20th century blue smurfs singing in my head! I need emergency surgery to get them out!"
LOL
I never knew there were so many things that have been named because of the smurfs.lol
This was a good blog post. Thanks!
God Bless You Luce (\ô/)
Countess
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