Hmm…

There is no sound quite as revolting as an ex-street cat on heat and with ferocious nasal congestion licking its posterior end, and the smell is not exactly Scandinavian pine either. Jimmy Rushing on his 1944 recording of Harvard blues sings I don’t keep dogs or women in my room but omits mention of pussy,…

Charles Jenkins’ dog

I haven’t seen anything in the Japanese press, but this Straits Times story is a giggle anyway. According to the ST, Japanese pundits were expecting to concentrate on one thing when Mr Jenkins stepped off his flight in Jakarta: If Mr Jenkins brought the dog, it meant he intended to stay for some time in…

Translation of Den Haag Connection rap calling for death of Dutch MP

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a highly talented Somali immigrant who started as a cleaning lady and, although still only in her mid-30s, was elected last time round to the lower chamber of the Dutch parliament on the VVD (liberal-right) ticket. She has been threatened frequently since being elected for describing Islam as a backward religion,…

Animals in mediaeval visions of the hereafter

In the Middle Ages anyone of any commercial talent (and his/her mum) had visions and stored some human bones in the new toilet chapel extension of the pig shed nave of the temple next to that handy spring holy source on the hillside. Here, extracted by moderately cunning device from Amazon, is the relevant part of the ToC of Eileen Gardiner’s (not completely exhaustive) Medieval Visions of Heaven and Hell: A Sourcebook:

A passion called asparagus

The kinky Murcian waiters clique is anxious to watch rude muscles bulge and divine blood flow in Mel’s Pash and will not be making an appearance today, which means that we need not fear interruption as, for a change, we get random with some really boring stuff. Take Catalan passion plays, for example. The most…

Beware of the saint

This afternoon round the back the cat took a chunk out of a monk with San Francesco d’Apussy delusions. Here, then, are two gateposts from a small estate over the back of Collserola:

as man, so his livestock

Says a Western Yugur proverb. I don’t know if it works in reverse, but I note that the cat (who one of these days will require a name) is already asleep.

Dog only understands (commands in) Czech

Reports the Chicago Tribune: New Lenox’s newest cop barks, or at least understands, only a foreign tongue. So when canine officer Bear joined the force five months ago, his partner, Officer John Conroy, learned to give commands to the Czech born and bred German shepherd in his native language. “It is a bit of a…

free transfer

Bad news: the cat has become a coke addict and has taken up snooker.