http://arbl.cvmbs.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/digestion/basics/anatomy.html

(mirrored here)

This is among the more disturbing uses I've seen for a Disney character, especially Simba! I wonder how long before the cease-and-desist letter arrives from Disney Corp? In fact, that's why I mirrored it. }:)

Well, I just upgraded Sarabi's kernel; there's a newly discovered security hole in Linux Kernel 2.6, which Fedora Core 2 and 3 use by default.

So if you run kernel 2.6, you might want to look into getting your boxes upgraded/patched.

Bah, I hate kernel security holes. It's pretty much the only update on UNIX systems that requires a reboot!

Okay, pardon my French, but, what in the FUCK has happened to the Discovery Channel?

Every time I turn it on, all I see are shows about rebuilding cars, motorcycles, turning semis into trebuchets, and so on. It seems that Discovery Channel has turned into the Gearhead Channel. Most of the good programming I remember seeing on it years ago, such as wildlife documentaries, science-related programming, shows about aircraft, war documentaries, and so on have either completely vanished, or moved to spinoff channels that I don't get.

Not that I have anything against gearheads, and sometimes I do find those shows interesting, but overall the channel's transformation is negative. Why not spin the gearhead stuff off to another channel, and keep the regular "Discovery Channel" a home for general science and technology programming?

Sad, really...

Well, Darlene, one of the tigers at the property, is leaving tomorrow or Monday. She is going to the Palmdale facility which is way out of driving range for me to visit regularly. Major, major suckage for me, but she will have a bigger enclosure to prance around in, so I'm glad she will be a happy tigerkitty afterall.

She has been more affectionate than usual lately, as I mentioned in a previous post; chuffing a lot and letting me scritch her chin through the fence. She actually places her head in a way I can scratch her chin without even putting my finger past the fence (which I'm not qualified to do yet) It's as if she knows she gets extra scritches from the junior volunteers by doing this!
Tiffany, whom you can see at the right, is making what we call a "stinky-face". Basically, cats sometimes do this when trying to make out a scent; it exposes more of the air to the organ in the roof of their mouth that "tastes" the scent.

Some of the cougars on the property have come down with something; they will be seeing a vet soon and I'm a bit concerned about them, particularly my favorite, Mystique.

So in a way, it was a bit of a sad day, but I still got some decent pictures, including the ones inlined in this post. }:)

Click here for today's pictures

This video is a MUST for all forklift operators to view. It stresses that safety is the most important thing on the job.

Perhaps after watching this video, the world will be a safer place for forklift operators and warehouse employees across the world.

Forklift Safety Video (In German, but still gets the point across if you don't speak it)

So, the paper sleeve in one of these old LP's has an interesting marketing ad on them:

Records give you more of what you want

Back in 1972, when this was printed, the main competition to the LP was reel-to-reel tape and 8-track. Vinyl, of course, had the lowest overhead and highest profit margin of all manufactured music, so obviously the labels wanted people to buy their music on vinyl whenever possible.

Who knew that 10 years later, a shiny silvery disc would be introduced that would relegate most records to the dust bin...

Gotta love old out-of-date marketing materials...

It was a rather cold day at Sawgrass Recreational Park today, and due to this, not as busy as I expected. A couple of tour groups did come in, but not the massive after-xmas influx.

Junior was there, and was being rather frisky at first. A bit later when he calmed down, though, I sat down on the ground next to his "box", and he came over to me and climbed into my lap! He curled a bit sideways (he doesn't really fit in my lap, being over 90lbs already) and fell asleep.

He slept for 20 minutes in my lap, and kept me warm, too. He was purring on and off and he ocassionally turned around a bit and shifted positions. Unfortunately, my right foot started to fall asleep and hurt, so I had to get up. Awww...

Later on I visited the property and did the usual chopping-up-chicken and feeding the kitties. After that work was done, I sat right in front of the fence to Darlene's enclosure (a full grown tiger), and she came up to me and started chuffing and rubbing into the fence. At one point, my face was so close to hers, I could feel her breath on my face when she chuffed. It was definitely a "one with nature" moment. I stayed there for a few minutes, scritching Darlene and Tiffany through the fence. I sometimes wish I could get an invulnerability powerup in real life, so I could go in there and tussle with the tigers without risk of getting hurt. }:)

No photos at the property, but I took some at Sawgrass.

Link: A few photos at Sawgrass

Lynxie, lounging on the counter

Even though I have the much more expensive Canon EF 28-105mm USM, I can't help but extol the virtues of the cheapie 50mm f/1.8.

It's amazing how this $75 lens can produce such beautiful images. The control over depth of field is stunning, as is the pinpoint sharpness of the images.

If only they could make a zoom lens this good, at a reasonable price. Imagine an 18-300mm f/1.8 zoom. Yup, probably physically impossible, and if not, it would be rather large and costly, but one can dream, right?

The original full-resolution, much higher quality version of this image is in the Lynxie Pictures Archive.

I went to Sawgrass today; it's a half day since it's Christmas Eve and everyone just wants to go home. But I'm glad I did, as I got to meet a panther I hadn't met before, AND I got some cool photos in the process!

My friend Brian asked me to take some pictures of him with the panther, which is why there's so many of them.

Here are the photos,

and of course...

Here's my favorite of the day.

Happy Holidays!

So, you've all wondered what a tiger chuff actually sounds like? I've decided to post one so ya'll can hear it. The "chuff" is the sound tigers make when they're happy and affectionate. You can even chuff at a tiger, and he will usually chuff back in response. It is a great way to bond with them.

Here it is: Diana chuffing!

The tigers at VSW make this sound ALL THE TIME when people are around. They're happy to get attention, and of course, people being around means food is on the way, so that makes them even happier.

Tigers start chuffing when they are only DAYS old; I remember hearing Taj chuff when he was still a micro-tiger. It's so adorable!

Cougars can be vocal as well. One of the most vocal cougars at VSW is Mystique. Here's a sample of the sound she tends to make to try to get attention:

Mystique "meowp"ing!

You can hear her from quite a distance, too. }:)

-Z