A Not-Fake Ubercute Tiger Cub Story

Bottom AP photo by Achmad Ibrahim- don't sue, please.




As you may recall, I've highlighted the fake grieving-tiger-raising-disguised-piglets-in-California story, which turns out to be the case of some well-meaning folks subverting natural wild animal behavior. The Thai tiger in question there was raised with and by pigs, so that plunking some into its cage later didn't excite predatory behavior.

I'm happy to report that the following story generating seriously cute tiger pictures seems authentic, well, depending how much one trusts the AP, but it does feel more likely.

Within an Indonesian zoo nursery, very young tiger twins have bonded with 5-month old orangutans. We can enjoy the unusual sight with the knowledge that the animals aren't being made vulnerable by the early contact since they'll live in habitation, also knowing they'll be separated by the time the cubs reach 3 months of age, about the time they'd start eating meat. For now, it's very sweet.

CNN Article Link

Update: Added top two pictures from BBC article I saw at www.cuteoverload.com
Permalink's not working for me and I can't stomach all the HTML again, so type in the name if you want.

Holy Day Yawns, Sunglasses, and Man Boobs

Today's Ash Wednesday, so I salute all those dusty ones who shall return. And if the following image of the current champion, Don, doesn't cultivate 40 days' worth of pensive humility, item 3 has the link for more.

1) I was reading the following item from reference.com: "Yawning is an involuntary action that causes us to open our mouths wide and breathe in deeply. No one knows for sure why we yawn, but there are some interesting theories. One states that yawning is physiological: we yawn to draw in more oxygen or remove a build-up of carbon dioxide. Another theory states that we yawn because we are bored, fatigued, or drowsy, while a third suggests that yawning is evolutionary; according to this theory, our ancestors used yawning to intimidate others by showing their teeth, or to signal a change in activity. The use of yawning as a form of communication would also explain why some people find yawning contagious; 55% of people will yawn within five minutes of seeing someone else yawn."

I found myself yawning even before I got to the following part: "Reading about yawning usually makes people yawn as well. The average yawn lasts about six seconds. All animals appear to yawn, too!"

Did you yawn reading that, too? Sure it's boring, but more than that, I think. Doesn't that strange contagious reflex seem like more than just a simple form of communication? I don't talk or even grunt back to the computer screen usually anyway. So why did the translation of dark squiggles into meaning in my brain cause me to yawn? I don't sneeze when I read that word. Anyway, here's to the deep mysteries inherent in the everyday.

2) I don't think I could live through the original, almost eight-minute version, but as someone who's mocked David Caruso's woodenly humorless "acting" on CSI:Miami for as many seasons as it's existed, I adored this video compliation of his "Sunglass Method". See 24's Keifer Sutherland for "Whisper Method."

Defamer: Caruso One-liners, Endless Sunglass Edition

3) Via April, if the Valentine's Post left you hungry for more man-meat stew, here's your cup-overflowing helping of mannery glands.

"Man Boobs UK

The tastelessness of today's post merely documents my need for penitential contemplation.

Super Sexah Valentine's Ya'll

What else is there to say? Except that I'm waiting amid a snowstorm with freezing rain for furniture delivery, which seems stupid, so I tried to talk the companies taking the old stuff and bringing the new out of it, but no dice. Yet. In the meantime, enjoy the hotness.

Joining the Club While On the Road

I'm currently in Ventura County, California. I've been visiting family and risking my life on Grimes Canyon Road, but today I'll be flying out to Seattle for the Left Coast Crime convention of mystery writers, fans, adoring hangers-on (as if).

Here's an article about the doings with links to the conference homepage.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/books/2003550086_mysterywriters01.html

Now, Ann Althouse and her 7,000 daily visitors have switched over to the new Blogger and hate it, too. Perhaps, there'll be some fixes forthcoming now? Right. But here's the poop on this crap from a big, reputable blawg who's having different, but equally or more annoying, problems from mine. Here are her several posts, ugly links because I don't have time for the HTML today and because, as she puts it-

New Blogger is Driving Me Crazy
http://althouse.blogspot.com/2007/02/new-blogger-is-driving-me-crazy.html

I Hate Blogger
http://althouse.blogspot.com/2007/02/i-hate-blogger.html

You Might Be in Blogger Hell if...
http://althouse.blogspot.com/2007/02/you-might-be-in-blogger-hell-if.html

Don't be fooled by the puny number of commenters, more like this site's than hers. It's another part that's broken.

Enjoy your weekend. I'll be Reading in the Rain!