Differences

 

Differences

 

Arthur sleeps!

    There are many differences between working Labradors and Cocker Spaniels.

The most obvious difference is size. Labradors are bigger, between 25 and 38 kg. I’ve just discovered that working Labradors are known in the States as American or field-bred Labradors. British working Labradors are field-bred dogs from the UK and Ireland.

Working Cocker spaniels weigh 11 to 16 kg and are between 36 to 43 cm at the withers, which I have to remind myself is the highest point of the shoulder blades. Compare that to a Labrador standing 54 to 62 cm. at the same point.

Labradors are relaxed, steady dogs, though they do have their wild moments. Generally, well-exercised and well-fed dogs will settle down at your feet and snore sleep the hours away. Cockers are busy, fizzy little dogs. They are anxious to please and will greet their owners with enthusiasm and at least one toy in their mouths. Labradors are equally delighted to see their people and are keen to nose them and give them a good sniffing to discover where they’ve been and with whom.

When they’re outside, a cocker’s nose is never far from the ground if it’s not scenting the air. Labradors like to read the environment as well, but they’re not so keen to seek prey. That’s not their job. They are required to pick up, though they will sometimes spring birds or rabbits.

Both breeds love water and are drawn to it as to a magnet.

The biggest difference is in their approach to food. All Labradors – at least, all the many ones we’ve had, love food, and most of them live to eat, whereas cockers eat to live, from our limited experience of them.

When Arthur comes to play, we have to persuade him to eat, even when it’s obvious he’s hungry. Like a restless child, he is easily distracted from eating, whereas the Labradors plough straight through the food until there’s not a hint of a scent of anything left, and then look around with a half-starved expression, hoping to convince any passing human in the house that they really have not been fed for days.

Both breeds are great friends, like all dogs.

Jake

Dogs are wonderful companions, no matter what their provenance, and some of the best are rescue dogs looking for their forever homes. One of the loveliest dogs I ever knew was Jake, an absolute peach of a dog.

Of unknown breeding, he was delighted to be accepted and loved by my daughter and son-in-law. He was an amazingly loyal and loving dog to them and their children. When they acquired a Labrador puppy, and we went to see them, he would jump into the back of our car, hoping to come home with us. He liked the puppy but sometimes wanted a rest from her. All puppies are exhausting for a while and Jake enjoyed a quiet life. As the puppy grew up and calmed down, Jake became very fond of her.

There is always an unknown quality in rescue dogs. Unless they are very young puppies in a rescue centre, there is no knowing what has befallen them in their lives. It’s too easy to be led by the heart, rather than reason.

 Rescue societies do a grand job of assessing them and advising to the best of their ability whether a dog will settle with young children, or cats, or more than one or two people. The best rescue centres will interview prospective owners and will not release a dog unless and until they are satisfied that the dog is going to a good home and will not be returned in a few weeks when the novelty has worn off.

We don’t deserve dogs, really.                        

Starship 5

 

Starship Flight Test 5

                                        Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

On Sunday, we watched the launch of Starship 5 from SpaceX Starbase in Boca Chica in Texas. It was as spectacular as such things always are. The really impressive and innovative part of the test flight was the recovery of the Super Heavy rocket booster. It travelled back to the launch site and was captured by huge metal arms, called ‘chopsticks’ which prevented it from a hard landing. The objective is to use the Super Heavy rocket booster in future launches.

The spacecraft landed in the ocean and will not be recovered. Further tests will practise landing spacecraft on dry land.

Starship is destined to land US astronauts on the moon in 2026 in an ongoing bid to create a permanent settlement on the moon. This would then be the first stage in the development of further settlements in deep space. The USA and China are engaged in a race to become the first deep space settlement pioneers.

Protected again . . .

 

Protected again . .. 

We had our Covid and ‘flu jabs at midday, a stab in each arm, quick, efficient. We arrived early, went straight in and that was that, until the next time.

Then Barry trotted off for an ultrasound scan. He has had so many appointments recently but has a day off tomorrow, followed by an early start on Monday. He has to be at the hospital at 7:00 a.m. First on the surgeon’s list – a good place to be. A stay overnight and then home again on Tuesday, all being well.

He will not be able or allowed to lift or carry anything for a few weeks, which will be good for me, as I will get plenty of exercise doing the things he normally does. Can’t wait!

Clowns

 

Clowns

                                            Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Many people don’t like clowns. Some are actively scared by them.  A clown phobia is called coulrophobia and is more prevalent than some other fears, like arachnophobia or claustrophobia.

Traditionally, there are three major categories of clown to be seen in circuses, though some clowns, like Joseph Grimaldi, performed only on stage in pantomimes.

The whiteface clown is regarded as the superior clown, his face and neck completely masked in white greasepaint, ‘clown white’, the features painted on in red or black. He often wears a conical hat and a fitted, full sleeved costume with short trouser legs. The suit is usually colourful and elaborate and may be decorated with sequins. The clown in Pagliacci is a whiteface clown, the jocular exterior hiding the pain of his inner sorrow.

The Auguste or ‘red’ clown wears red or flesh-coloured makeup and outlines his eyes and mouth with white and paints other features in red or black. He wears baggy trousers in strident patterns and colours, oversized shoes, outrageous wigs and a bright red nose. He is ‘the fall guy’, the stooge to the whiteface clown. He is the one who receives a pie in the face or falls on his backside or has his clothes ripped off. He is the butt of every joke.

The third category is the character clown, who may support either of the other two clowns, depending on circumstances. He is cleverer than the Auguste clown but inferior to the whiteface clown. He is an eccentric version of any one of a number of standard characters, like a policeman, a housewife or a tramp. His make-up is flesh coloured and accessorised with such things as a false beard, big ears, huge glasses or an odd haircut.

Laurel and Hardy are examples of character clowns, though they relied on costume rather than make-up and bizarre accessories.

Marcel Marceau was not a circus performer and not traditionally a whiteface clown, though he adopted white make-up. He was a brilliant mime artist but also deserves to be remembered for his work in the French Résistance, saving at least seventy Jewish children from the Nazis.

I find circus clowns quite grotesque and not at all amusing, but am happy to watch Buster Keaton or the Marx Brothers, or any of the modern clowns.

Modern clowns include actors like Rowan Atkinson and Sacha Baron Cohen, though they may prefer to be known principally as actors, but then surely clowns are actors, too.

Grockles

 

Grockles

Jackdaw (Corvus monedula)

Grockle is a word originally used disparagingly to refer to tourists, in the Southwest of England – Devon and Cornwall, for example. Its usage spread to other parts of the country and even migrated to the former Northern Rhodesia, now known as Zambia, and Southern Rhodesia, which is now part of Zimbabwe. I don’t know if it’s still current in those countries. I doubt it!

I discovered that it has even been used by climbers to refer to people who visit mountains as sightseers rather than participants. In North Wales, the two easiest routes to the summit of Yr Wyddfa, which is more familiarly known as Mount Snowdon, are called Grockle Tracks.

On the Isle of Man, tourists in cars are called grockles. They are believed to be easily identifiable because all Manx numberplates have MN or MAN on them. When I tried to verify that, I found the following:

‘Not all cars on the Isle of Man have MN or MAN in their registration plates . . . . while MY and MAN are common, they aren’t the only options available.'

Isn’t it difficult to find reliable information on the internet? Sometimes, things are just contradictory! So, I checked on Grockle Tracks and discovered:

‘Grockle Tracks isn’t a specific term used for Snowdon’s paths . . . the easier tracks to the summit are often referred to as the Llanberis Path and the Snowdon Ranger Path. These are generally more accessible and popular with casual hikers and tourists.’

There’s nothing quite like facts to ruin a good yarn!

One definition of grockle suggests that it may derive from ‘grackle,’ an old name for the Jackdaw, whose Latin name is Graculus. When I checked that, I found it to be inaccurate. The jackdaw’s Latin name is Corvus monedula while ‘Graculus’ refers to the Yellow-billed Chough, ‘Pyrrhocoras graculus.’

Another suggestion is that the word came from a strip cartoon in ‘The Dandy.’ This Scottish children’s comic from 1937 featured a boy called Jimmy who had a pet that resembled a dragon and made the noise ‘grockle.’ Previously, in the 1920s, the grockle appeared in the comic ‘The Rover’ as Jimmy Johnson’s Grockle.’

One final explanation claims that holidaymakers in Torbay, Devon, were compared to little clowns. Grock, (1880-1959) was a Swiss music hall artist known as ‘the king of clowns.’ He used the piano and violin in his act and was one of the highest paid performers of the period in Europe.

 

Homunculus

 

Homunculus

Side view of sensory homunculus

                                        Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

I thought homunuculus was just a name for a fictional tiny humanoid, but discovered there’s a little more to it. In medieval times it was believed that a homunculus could be created through alchemy, but from the late 18^th to the late 19^th century, scientists believed in preformationism.

This theory held that a perfectly formed miniature person existed in a sperm or an egg and simply developed into a full-sized human being.

Nicolaas Hartsoeker, (1656-1725) was a Dutch polymath who was interested in embryology. He invented the screw-barrel simple microscope in about 1694 and claimed to be the first person to study sperm cells under a microscope. It is said that he believed that a tiny person was present in a sperm cell, although he never claimed to have seen one.

   Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

 He sketched his theory, which neatly explained how a human baby was conceived in a woman. Conception was ill understood! They knew the means but not the fine detail.

   Sensory homunculus

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

The cortical homunculus is a visualisation to represent how much of the brain is dedicated to different body parts. The size of each body part indicates ‘the degree of sensory or motor control it requires.’ A homunculus is shown with a huge face and tongue, for example, because they have a greater range of fine motor movement and  a greater density of neurons. Legs and trunk are disproportionately small because they assume less space on the cortical map.

 

October Poem

 

October Poem

October is the treasurer of the year,

And all the months pay bounty to her store;

The fields and orchards still their tribute bear,

And fill her brimming coffers more and more.

But she, with youthful lavishness,

Spends all her wealth in gaudy dress,

And decks herself in garments bold

Of scarlet, purple, red, and gold.

She heedeth not how swift the hours fly,

But smiles and sings her happy life along;

She only sees above a shining sky;

She only hears the breezes’ voice in song.

Her garments trail the woodlands through,

And gather pearls of early dew

That sparkle, till the roguish Sun

Creeps up and seals them every one.

But what cares she that jewels should be lost,

When all of Nature’s bounteous wealth is hers?

Though princely fortunes may have been their cost,

Not one regret her calm demeanour stirs.

Whole-hearted, happy, careless, free,

She lives her life out joyously,

Nor cares when Frost stalks o’er her way

And turns her auburn locks to gray.

Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)

Paul Laurence Dunbar was a prolific American writer and poet. He wrote in standard English, though during his lifetime his most popular work was that written in African-American English.

He died at the age of thirty-three, having contracted tuberculosis in 1900.