Colossal catch

This Colossal Squid was brought to the surface by Kiwi fishers out longlining for Toothfish.

The species was first contemplated in 1925, on the evidence of two tentacles found in a sperm whale's stomach. Since then there have been only a few sightings.

On the one hand, I'm excited, on the other saddened by the great creature being dragged to the surface. Prior to its capture, knowledge that the Colossal was there, but little known, was reassuring evidence that the sea is one of the few places left that remain dark, mysterious and truly confronting. Humans need a few places like that to keep us honest.

Old favourite dies

Elizabeth Jolley escaped mortality on February 13, but fittingly, rumours of her death were greatly understated.

For years, Jolley 'would write down her observations on scraps of paper and bury them in drawers', cobbling them into short stories and novels that started getting published when she was 53.

Asked whether she was concerned about the recognition gap, she noted:

I was writing for many years before my work was acceptable because I was writing about things that were not acceptable in Australia, in literature.

And things have changed a lot. The climate of acceptance has changed a lot, and that has been very fortunate for me.

Jolley impressed and delighted me, occasionally annoyed me, contributed to keeping me alive during some seriously bleak times. I read a lot of her stories aloud, to friends, or to myself. In my favourite tale, a typically droll and canny Jolley character takes out a lease on some rural land on the condition that she can plant one crop and see it through to harvest. She plants Jarrah.

Too much detail

If Australia falls for the shonky doublespeak that casts nuclear energy as not only safe but beneficial, we will be seeing more of this sign.

Personally, I prefer the simplicity of the trefoil by itself, but the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), who released the new symbol this week, claim that the big black fan (originally magenta) on a yellow background is insufficiently understood, having:

...no intuitive meaning and little recognition beyond those educated in its significance

Educate someone about a stark and simple form that can be recognised from a distance, or bombard them with clutter and use up time that could have been better spent running. Pretty clearcut to me what the preferred option is.

But hell, I'm such a symbol geek that I immediately recognise this. Probably should go and stencil it on the cathouse straight away, given its meaning is so intuitive and all, so the stream of curious passers-by that have taken to strolling down our street over the last couple of days appreciate the extent of the biohazard that they are exposing themselves to.

neighbours

Someone in my street got done today for cat hoarding.
One little cottage like mine -- two people -- eighty cats.
RSPCA and police came about 10 o'clock. It made the WIN news. That's all I know.
Update: I have full accounts of the rescue now from several neighbours; that's kind of sweet. It also made the Canberra Times:

RSPCA workers said they felt upset and nauseous after rescuing 49 cats from a Queanbeyan house yesterday. The RSPCA plans to prosecute the cats' owner, a middle-aged man, on animal cruelty charges.

It was the biggest animal seizure in the RSPCA's 55-year history in the region and there are up to 30 more cats still hiding in the house and garden at xxxx Street.

The RSPCA's manager of shelter services for the ACT, Lorraine Hamilton, was one of the first people to enter the house yesterday.

"It was a horrendous situation as we opened the door," she said...

Mrs Hamilton said there appeared to be no way for the cats to leave the house and there were piles of faeces 20cm deep. Mrs Hamilton said she did not see any food left out for the cats, who were sitting on shelves and under chairs due to a lack of space. Some of the cats had ringworm, cat flu or feline AIDS (feline immunodeficiency virus) and would have to be euthanased, she said...

RSPCA ACT chief executive Michael Linke said the cats were discovered when their owner was evicted from his house on Thursday night for defaulting on his mortgage payments.

It is believed the man lived in the house with his female partner.

The man will be interviewed by police over the next few days and might be charged with animal cruelty offences, which carry a maximum penalty of five years' jail or a $55,000 fine. Neighbours said they had no idea there were so many cats in the modest two-bedroom home.

An xxxx Street resident, who did not want to be named, said she thought there were only six cats in the house. There was a strong cat smell when passing by the house.

I feel nauseous / guilty, as you do, for not being more attuned to it.

Meanwhile, a cat who is nourished, supported, and given the respect that allows her to explore the interface between felinity and human-ness (without a lounge-room knee deep in catshit impeding her investigations) has taught herself to do this:



Go, Nora!