____________________
While watching one of those Saturday morning educational TV shows aimed at young people, I locked onto a segment about the mongoose. I was so fascinated by the little creature that I decided to look it up online and learn a bit more about it.
Well, that's just the way I am.
The mongoose is any one of the 37 species of carnivores constituting the family Herpestidae, found in Africa, Asia, and southern Europe. One species is a small and extremely fast animal from India that eats snakes and rodents Though not immune to venom, some species attack and kill poisonous snakes by cracking the serpent's skull with a powerful bite.
The word "mongoose" is derived from the Marathi name mungus. It has no etymological connection with the word goose. The plural form is mongooses, not mongeese, although the Merriam-Webster Dictionary is one of the few sources that does list mongeese as an additional form of the plural.
A well-known fictional mongoose is Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, who appears in a short story of the same title in The Jungle Book (1894) by Rudyard Kipling. In this tale set in India, the young mongoose saves his family from a krait and from Nag and Nagaina, two cobras. The story was later made into several films, and also a song by Donovan, among other references. A mongoose also features in Bram Stoker's novel, The Lair of the White Worm. The main character, Adam Salton, purchases one to independently hunt snakes. Game Freak's Pokémon franchise has a Pokémon named Zangoose that is part mongoose.
Simply fascinating.
_____
I really have nothing relevant or important to say about the the elephant, except that I ran across the below-pictured image and decided it would be interesting to post it here.
If the original photographer (or rights holder) objects to the photo being shown here without permission, I will hasten to remove it immediately upon being informed to do so.
_____
Did You Know . . .?
There are still people today who practice the old Norse religions and worship Odin, Thor, etc.
Also:
There are still people who practice the Abrahamic religions and worship the monster Jehovah.
Jehovah is a monster who demanded all sorts of atrocities be inflicted on the peoples of Earth.
_____
HISTORICAL EVENT
Despite the fact that bullrings were more closely regulated and inspected in the aftermath of Sincelejo, a temporary bleachers in Honda, 60 miles southeast of Bogota, collapsed in February 1989. In that incident, seven people died and 300 more were injured.
Disaster again struck a Colombia bullring in October 2006. A partial collapse of the spectator stands in Doima injured more than 100 people.
_____
WORD FOR TODAY
plinth
noun
1. a slab-like member beneath the base of a column or pier.
2. a square base or a lower block, as of a pedestal.
Plinth
_____
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
(born January 20, 1930)
Buzz Aldrin is a former American astronaut, and the second person to walk on the Moon. He was the lunar module pilot on Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing in history. He set foot on the Moon at 03:15:16 (UTC) on July 21, 1969, following mission commander Neil Armstrong. He is also a retired United States Air Force pilot.
(born January 20, 1967)
(born January 20, 1956)
Bill Maher is an American stand-up comedian, television host, political commentator, satirist, author, and actor. Before his current role as the host of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, Maher hosted a similar late-night talk show called Politically Incorrect, originally on Comedy Central and later on ABC.
(born January 20, 1970)
Kerri Kenney-Silver is an American actress, comedian, singer and writer best known as a cast member on MTV's The State and for her role as Deputy Trudy Wiegel on the Comedy Central series, Reno 911!.
__________
Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue with that; I'm right and I will be proved right.
--John Lennon
NASA TV
No comments:
Post a Comment