Cats on Tuesday
A poet's cat, sedate and grave,
as poet would wish to have,
was much addicted to enquire,
for nooks to which she might retire,
and where, secure as mouse in chink,
she might repose, or sit and think.
I know not where she caught her trick,
nature perhaps herself had cast her,
in such a mold philosophique,
or else she learn'd it of her master.
Sometimes ascending, debonair,
an apple tree or lofty pear,
lodg'd with convenience in the fork,
she watched the gard'ner at his work;
sometimes her ease and solace sought,
in an old empty wat'ring pot,
there wanting nothing, save a fan,
to seem some nymph in her sedan,
apparell'd in exactest sort,
and ready to be borne in court.
~ William Cowper (1731 - 1800)
Cowper, a prolific poet and hymnist, is still known today for such quotations as the following:
God moves in a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.
- Olney Hymns (1779)--'Light Shining out of Darkness'
He also suffered from severe depressive episodes and numerous suicide attempts, convinced that he was condemned to hell eternally and that God was commanding him to make a sacrifice of his own life. Translator of The Iliad and The Odyssey, prolific writer, and hailed by Samuel Taylor Coleridge as "the best modern poet," Cowper remains one of the most influential poets of his time.
Ode to SpotFelix Catus, is your taxonomic nomenclature,
an endothermic quadruped carnivorous by nature?
Your visual, olfactory and auditory senses
contribute to your hunting skills, and natural defenses.
I find myself intrigued by your subvocal oscillations,
a singular development of cat communications
that obviates your basic hedonistic predilection
for a rhythmic stroking of your fur, to demonstrate affection.
A tail is quite essential for your acrobatic talents;
you would not be so agile if you lacked its counterbalance.
And when not being utilized to aide in locomotion,
it often serves to illustrate the state of your emotion.
O Spot, the complex levels of behaviour you display
connote a fairly well-developed cognitive array.
And though you are not sentient, Spot, and do not comprehend,
I nonetheless consider you a true and valued friend.
~
Commander Data, Starfleet, United Federation of Planets
At first Isis was in the box.
Isis had to inspect Morgan inspecting the box.
As you can see, Emma was satisfied to observe the proceedings from a safe distance.
Although she was sure she had seen her enter it, Isis had some difficulty ascertaining whether or not Morgan was still in the box.
What is this? It's the Rosetta Disk, with 13,500 pages of data describing 1,500 languages etched onto a tiny nickel data chip. To see an individual page, you'd need a 500x microscope. Thanks to Gizmodo for yet another fascinating tidbit (and I do mean tidbit).
According to The Rosetta Project, "Fifty to ninety percent of the world's languages are predicted to disappear in the next century, many with little or no significant documentation."
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