I continue to enjoy the podcast Lateral, hosted by Tom Scott, an immensely likeable, unashamed and self-confessed nerd. One of the questions requiring lateral thinking was about the connection between Tyrannosaurs Rex and a Boa Constrictor. They seem to be the only two animals whose common names and Linnaean binomials are the same, so it’s Boa Constrictor, Boa Constrictor and Tyrannosaurus Rex, Tyrannosaurus rex.
The American Bison, Bison bison, is arguably another contender. There turn out to be a fair few where the two parts of the binomial are the same. The Indri, a lemur, is Indri indri, the Western Gorilla is Gorilla gorilla, the largely nocturnal Caracal, or Desert or Persian Lynx is Caracal caracal. The name “Caracal” was given by Buffon and is from the Turkish Karrah-kulak meaning ‘black ear’. The Tokay Gecko is Gecko gecko, the Green Iguana Iguana iguana, the Ocean Sunfish is Mola mola, the Moose or Eurasian Elk is Alces alces, and there’s Meles meles, the Eurasian Badger.
I noticed a strange (to me) little insect on a table yesterday. Small, orange and black, I was mystified. It turned out to be a Harlequin Ladybird larva, Harmonia axyridis, who will become a voracious, ‘invasive’ and cannibalistic predator.
I have written about this painful subject before, but I am grateful for a letter in the local paper about the moment when children leave home, specifically to go to university. There is pride of course but also grief. “Real grief. Real sadness. Real loss. Bewilderment. Most parents feel it particularly as the first child goes to university … You are not alone. It is real. And common. You are not strange … Embrace it. Own it. Talk about it. Share it. Pray about it. Others will understand and like you, will be relieved.” I am especially glad that the letter was written by a man – from my attempts to discuss it, I believe it is more common in mothers than fathers, or at least fathers are less likely to be open about it. When I have tried to express my feelings though to two people supposedly close to me, I have been met with blank stares and silence, or I have been roundly mocked and told I need psychiatric help. I am thankful for this added vindication. To my mind not to feel these things would indeed be strange.
I am a huge fan of Sharon Horgan’s tv series and coincidentally this subject came up in the first episode of her latest, Youth. In her review in the Sunday Times, Charlotte Ivers describes the early scene “of Horgan pathetically jogging after her son’s car as he sets off for adult life, aware that she is being absurd but unable to stop, made me well up.” Me too.
I post about this again unapologetically here – it just might be that it is helpful to someone else who has felt the same pangs but made to feel ashamed of them.
I have been watching a few episodes of R.J. Decker, a glossy, ridiculous, but enjoyably escapist series about a private eye in Florida, based on the work of the brilliant Carl Hiassen. In one there’s a scene involving American cheerleaders and it got me thinking. Cheerleading seems one of those quintessentially, largely unquestioned American things, a bizarre anachronism, like Little League, hideous beauty pageants involving very young children, jock worship, the very existence of Las Vegas, blind patriotism and the daily recital of the Pledge of Allegiance. Cheerleading, surely, objectifies women as purely supportive of male achievement and is a terrible waste of a significant part of those young women’s formative years. It may require athleticism but it is also utterly ridiculous.
I used to love going to America for book fairs, usually with some holiday tacked on the end, but I wonder who goes there now as a tourist at all. Post-Trump, far fewer than used to.
I saw this plane as I was leaving Kelmscott Manor recently.
It was such an unusual and rather sinister shape that I was intrigued. It’s the Lockheed U-2, a high altitude reconnaissance plane, also known as the “Dragon Lady”, used by the American air force and previously the CIA.
I have had a lot to say about the royal family since I started this blog and so feel as I may as well throw in my pennyworth on the allegations in Earl Spencer’s book. We will never be completely certain whether or not Charles said the words quoted and I am not sure it matters hugely in the scheme of things, but the palace has certainly failed to deny it. The palace also said that it had a policy never to comment on books. What, any books? It also reminds me of the scandal about David Cameron and the pig’s head, which disappeared from the media as quickly as it arose. The public reaction seemed to be unsurprised – he probably did do that, it’s the sort of thing he and his chums would have done, and similarly the callous words alleged to have been said by the king, given the family’s stiff upper lip approach to life, would not be particularly startling.
The media are quick to condemn Spencer for cashing in, but they are surely loving the opportunity to milk the Diana story for all it’s worth, yet again.
My newfound enthusiasm for close-up photography happily provides decorative images for these posts, some sort of Aster at the top and above and a Fuchsia below.
Leave a Reply