Science Thoughts: Cats! (and global warming)

Just trying to get the attention of DamnCat.

There are lots of stray cats in the world. Some call them feral, but that’s illegal when talking about criminals, so it probably is also when talking about cats.

Stray cats strut, as we all know, but they may cause damage.

Or may not. Let’s give the complainers the benefit of the doubt, though, and suppose, even though it’s not proven, that stray cats are a menace and a detriment to society. I’ll reserve judgement on that, but I’ll proceed with the case.

If stray cats are a menace, then by some Byzantine logic mankind can be blamed for that menace.

All of it.

OK.

You are starting to see the linkage to Global Warming.

[Manmade Stray Cat Menace; Anthropogenic Global Deworming.]

Right. Let’s posit that stray cats are a menace, and humans are 100% to blame for their existence.

Who is going to calculate how many stray cats in the wild are acceptable? The government? Oh, that’s a comfort. But OK. That’s three things I’ve conceded.

Acceptable Cat Ownerless Outliers — a.k.a. CO2 = 0.

Zero?

Okay, fine. Stray cats are a menace, humans are to blame, and none are acceptable.

What about the rest?

[This is the part of the analogy that started me writing this.]

We have non-stray, non-feral, non-human-induced CO2 particles and snuggly cats REMAINING.

Will all their supposed ill effects then stop? By what definition?

Surely the natural — non-human-caused — snuggly CO2 particles and cats far outnumber the feral quantities by an enormouser (heh) preponderance, and their effects will persist through the ages.

So — don’t we have something less cute to fret about?

I don’t think the artist liked cats. He should’ve given them that “Who, Me?” look.

Devolva Las Vegas?

Since Walrus is our in-house expert, I’ll leave it to him to judge.

Viva Las Vegas? Tourists shun Sin City over ‘ridiculous prices’
The Sunday Times | July 06 2025 | Keiran Southern

On a sweltering morning as tourists line up for pictures with the famous welcoming sign, one topic of conversation dominates: when did Las Vegas become so expensive?

Hannah Warren, a 50-year-old assistant costume designer from Essex, was still reeling from paying $33 for coffee and a bagel at the Fontainebleau hotel.

I don’t think so, Partner!

Gary Langlois, a 65-year-old retired salesman from Minneapolis, paid $40 for two coffees and a couple of croissants.

I don’t think so, Partner!

That is on top of the resort fees, parking charges and various other costs that have become a fact of life for Las Vegas tourists.

And OF COURSE, despite all of the above:

. . . with experts blaming a combination of President Trump’s economic policies . . .

Bravo, experts. I was wondering how you were going to work that in.

Musical / Political Interlude

Democrat Ro Khanna Demands Vote To Release Full Jeffrey Epstein Files
Newsweek | 7/13/25

Representative Ro Khanna (D‑CA) has announced plans to force a vote in the House of Representatives demanding the full, unredacted release of all documents related to disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Khanna said he will introduce an amendment this week that would require the House Speaker to bring the measure to a roll-call vote, putting every member of Congress on the record.

.

Hey, did you Ro Khanna roll?
Roll-call, ooh, my soul
Hey, did you have Congress too? Did ya?
Hey, shout, sometimes news
Jumps up and drowns in your blue state’s dues
Hey, did you rock and roll? Ro Khanna


And where do we go from here?
Which is a way that’s clear?


Still looking to implicate Watergate
Party lovers they love to hate
Movers and shakers on Epstein screens
John Dean (shame, teens), not seen

.

Keep on Ro Khanna the free world

.

… We’re gonna Ro Khanna ’round the clock tonight

We’re going to turn over rocks to broad daylight,

We’ll be Ro Khanna ’round the clock tonight!

.

Okay, I’ll stop there.

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Bond Girlathon Wednesday : Results from 7/9/2025 : New Matches for 7/16/2025

Summertime and the voting is easy…

Results

Ana de ArmasNo PreferenceAngela Scoular
227111

Lea SeydouxNo PreferenceMonica Bellucci
167258

Week of 7/16/2025

Match 1

Gloria Hendry (Rosie Carver) vs Cassandra Harris (Countess Lisl von Schlaf)

ContestantRecordTotal Scores
Gloria Hendry1 – 3 – 0140 – 10 – 683
Rosie Carver

Actress:Gloria Hendry
Nationality:American
Bond Movie:Live and Let Die (1973)

Synopsis:

Rosie Carver was an inept and incompetent double agent, working for the CIA and for heroin baron Dr. Kananga. She checked into Bond’s hotel room as Mrs. Bond, and said she would take him to the spot where Bains, another MI6 agent, was killed. While picnicking near the area, Bond confronts Rosie, revealing that he knows she is working for Kanaga. Bond threatens to kill her, and Rosie runs away, only to be killed by a hidden gun in one of Kanaga’s scarecrows.

Gloria Hendry

VS

ContestantRecordTotal Scores
Cassandra Harris0 – 4 – 0162 – 12 – 550
Countess Lisl von Schlaf

Actress:Cassandra Harris
Nationality:Australian
Bond Movie:For Your Eyes Only (1981)

Synopsis:

Countess Lisl von Schlaf was the mistress of Milos Columbo, a Greek smuggler. Columbo asked Lisl to stage an argument with him at dinner, as an excuse for her to go off with Bond, to discover some information about him. Lisl and Bond spent the night together, and got on quite well. They went for a walk on the beach the next morning, and Lisl was tragically killed by henchman Locque.

Cassandra Harris

This poll is no longer accepting votes

Who do you prefer?
53 votes · 53 answers

Match 2

Madelaine Smith (Miss Caruso) vs Kristina Wayborn (Magda)

ContestantRecordTotal Scores
Madelaine Smith3 – 1 – 0552 – 5 – 347
Miss Caruso

Actress:Madeline Smith
Nationality:English
Bond Movie:Live and Let Die (1973)

Synopsis:

Miss Caruso was an agent of the Italian Secret Service. She was asleep with Bond at his home when, just before 6am, the doorbell rang. Bond answered the door to find M, who announced an urgent mission. He also casually mentioned that the Italian’s were complaining about their missing agent, Miss Caruso. In a scene lit with humour, Bond continually distracts M to avoid him finding Caruso, with a little help from Miss Moneypenny, who had accompanied M.

Madeline Smith

VS

ContestantRecordTotal Scores
Kristina Wayborn2 – 2 – 0439 – 4 – 359
Magda

Actress:Kristina Wayborn
Nationality:Swedish
Bond Movie:Octopussy (1983)

Synopsis:

Magda was the right-hand woman of Octopussy, and assisted her smuggling partner Kamal Khan on many occasions throughout the film. After attending an auction in which Bond stole a Fabegé egg, Magda was sent to sleep with Bond so that she could steal it back. After Octopussy found out that Khan tried to kill her, her cult of girls, Magda included, storm Khan’s palace.

Kristina Wayborn

This poll is no longer accepting votes

Who do you prefer?
55 votes · 55 answers

Nostril-Domus

I can predict things, and when they come true I’ll cash in, somehow.

☑ There will be a weather event with great loss of life.

☑ There will be a plane crash with great loss of life.

☑ Fireworks will take the life of someone not used to handling fireworks.

☑ Deep-frying turducken will take the life of someone not used to deep-frying turducken.

☑ A Chicago weekend will cost a few lives.

☑ Politicians will grandstand.

☑ Liberal politicians will lie while grandstanding.

☑ The press will also lie about the same thing.

☑ Men will still be attracted to good-looking women.

“Kool-Aid Bar’s Closed. The Mausoleum Out Front Should’ve Told You.”

Jonestown mass death survivors who didn’t ‘drink the Kool-Aid’ weigh in on the site becoming a tourist attraction
ny post | July 12, 2025 | Michael Kaplan

Jonestown is seared into the American psyche as one the darkest tragedies of the modern era, where 918 people “drank the Kool Aid” and ended their lives under the command of cult leader Jim Jones.

Located in the remote Guyanese jungle, the site where the army first discovered the mass of dead bodies of People’s Temple members in 1978 is now opening as a somewhat morbid tourist attraction. It is designed to pay somber tribute in the manner of Auschwitz and the Killing Fields of Cambodia.

The curious can pay $750 to visit the clearing where Jones’ religious cult, mostly US citizens who had traveled with him to Guyana, unraveled in the most gruesome way imaginable.

“Dad, when are we going to . . . . Egaaaaahhhhhh?!”

Entrance through the Heaven’s Gate. Purple robes and sneakers available in gift shop.

Don’t miss the Harambi gorilla petting zoo.

This might Spahn Ranch a whole new industry.