i: Look what I’ve got…ii: Tasmania waterfall.iii: Sleepy Little Fox.iv: It’s Sunday so I have my hat on…v: Things to do, animals to see.vi: We is best buddies!vii: Three little ducks from school are we.viii: Flores, Indonesia.ix: Tufted Titmouse.x: Maintenance Puss here. At your service.xi: a rainy day in Seattle town.xii: La famille des bonhommes de neige.xiii: Brrrrrrrrr!!!xiv: Am I, or am I not, the cutest animal here today?xv: Get a move on Junior!xvi: I was rescued by this bloke here after my mum was run down by a car. I reckon he’s my mum now. Anyway, he has comfortable shoulders.xvii: Sunlight through the trees.xviii: Stressbuster, for boy and dog alike.xix: There’ve been too many dogs on here today. Complaint to Munguin!xx: I HATE baths and she makes me have one every week!
***************
Note from Munguin: To be published at one minute after midnight on Sunday morning (Scottish time) and all numbers to be Roman instead of Arabic. Send extra bill to Danny!
Thanks Tris! Arrival in USA was very timely! Only Conan beat me in.
And I love the Roman numerals. Really adds class to the place! Honestly though, I assumed that the surcharge would be borne equally by the subscribers…..with mine free of charge for coming up with the idea. 😉
Handsome critters and pretty pictures! The trees (xvii) and the antlered critter (xiii) are especially nice, and the snow family (xii). “Tufted Titmouse” is one of the all time great critter names IMHO.
sorry seal but I think you might not be the cutest creature after all. I mean a baby elephant, cute cats and a majestic stag and the orangs – it’s a lot to compete with. The Indonesian picture was glorious and I’ve never seen a snowman family before.
I thought that Burns Nicht might have prompted some poetic contribution to Sunday soppiness – or Sensualis Solis as it’s turned out. I began with an effort that was more of the O Me Miserum variety, with a nod to fellow Mac – Andi of this Munguin parish – who shares my occasional visits from the muse and perpetual fitba’ support masochism…
O wad that ne’er I’d seen the day
Sic awfy times befa’ us
That a draw awa’ wi’ Alloa
Should mak’ us gled an’ gallus
Until today, tae oor dismay
Aince canty Firhill laddies
Got beat sae bad by an Arbroath squad
Mair kent fir smokin’ haddies
And that was as far as I got when distracted by a message from my partner Dave (business partner, in case of doubt). Dave’s frae Ayr and maintains the bardic tradition of the most famous ‘honest man’ whose immortality was celebrated across the world last night. Here’s his toast ‘Tae the Lasses’. Seeing we’re in classical mode today, I can only note that his muse dalliance was obviously with Thalia and Erato, while I had to make do with Melpomene and Gayfield…
Brithers, some quiet for a wee…
look roon the present company
an here an’ there I’m shair ye’ll see
wi’oot yer glasses
a wheen that’s no like you an’ me – –
weel, they’re the lasses.
They’ve leeved amang us since the faa
of Adam. Eve’s daein. Efter aa
she stappit fu his gapin maw
wi a rotten aipple
tho he wis steerin fine an braw
wi oats as staple.
An aye since thon it’s muckle waur
they’ll gar ye trachle in the glaur
heavin an pechin, aa whit for?
Weel here’s the truth o’t –
tae buy their lipstick fae Dior
an clart their mooth o’t.
They’ll staun an gie ye white for black
an deave ye wi their glaiket clack
but gin ye gie them logic back
they’ll no confront ye
fair on, but wi a sleekit tak
jeuk roon ahint ye.
But haud, afore I tak my pew,
tae kiss a man wad gar ye grue,
sae leeze me on the beardless crew
for makin passes.
Fur aa their fauts, ye ken we lo’e
the bonnie lasses.
Ach, John, Ah thocht the Muse had left me,
o rhymes an notions she’d bereft me.
Ah’d lift ma pen, then dwam an dither:
ah couldna string twa words thegither.
But then the Muse did me address,
“Pit doon yer pen an lift a gless.”
Ah took Euterpe’s braw suggestion:
but, ken, the first yin’s no the best yin.
Sae anither dram an yet anither,
Ah son lost coont o them athegither.
Braw sangs an poems thronged ma brain
but noo there’s nocht but thumpin pain.
Again Ah’ve lost the poetic pow’r –
dumb, seek and sair, Ah’m fair hung-ower.
Lift up ma pen, ye say indeed?
Faith, man, ah can scarcely lift ma heid!
Ah could gie up poetry there’s nae doot –
the drams Ah’d hiv tae think aboot.
I love the rhythm in that piece. These musicians are good. I wonder if the mass evacuation of the theatre towards the end was because they hear that Gove was on next to talk about agricultural policy when Britain leaves the UK.
We know them Arabic numerals, but they’d be Greek (figuratively speaking) to exclusively Arabic readers. Arabic uses numbers derived from Hindi and are equally Greek to those of us familiar with what we call Arabic numerals. For example, O means five and a full-stop is zero. Nine and one the only units that look roughly the same as Western ‘Arabic’ in 9-0 sequence…
٠ ٠ ١ ٢ ٣ ٤ ٥ ٦ ٧ ٨ ٩
Hard to imagine offhand how the Romans did numerical calculations, or dealt with really large numbers, or very small numbers, etc. I suppose something is known about it. They may not have had a lot of science, but at least they did up architecture in a big way.
This made me think of another (different) big number issue using letters in English. At age 7 or 8, I had some interest in science, and discovered in an old encyclopedia what was represented as the “weight” of the earth. I remember it as being sex sextillion, five hundred seventy quintillion tons. For some reason, I still remember that number, whether it’s correct or not.
I started thinking about named numbers. Now I can go to Google/Wikipedia and learn for example how you add various prefixes to “-illion” and get REALLY big number names. But back then, we didn’t yet have a workable internet connection at home (mid- 1990’s,) and Google and Wikipedia were not quite yet on the scene. So I asked an “expert”…..a family friend who was an engineer/scientist…….what the names of even bigger numbers are.
He paused before answering, and then told me that my question was based on an incorrect assumption. He said that really big and really small numbers are simply not expressed that way …….and launched into a big lecture on what I now understand as exponential notation. I finally told him that I understood, although I really didn’t, and went away to ponder the matter. I finally figured out that while I had learned exactly nothing about the naming of larger numbers, I HAD learned something about human nature and “experts.” When confronted with a question that they don’t know the answer to, an expert simply tells you that you’re asking the wrong question. Then they come up with a NEW question that they DO know the answer to, and that’s the one they answer. Experts are loath to ever reply “I don’t know.”
Danny, you probably know that google itself is a number so I won’t repeat the story here. And a googleplex is a google of googles. The name was coind by the son/grandson (?) of the mathematician who was wondering what to call a sequence of 1 plus a string of zeros. I could Google it to refresh my memory of how many but that would spoil it for readers who like to find out for themselves.
And Tris, yes, the Arabic numbers can be very confusing, especially what looks like a 7 and it’s mirror image. Car number plates in the Middle East carry both styles, so in my early days there I learned the numerals by comparing them on passing cars while on road trips. I was the passenger, I should stress in the interests of road in safety. You don’t drive there if you can avoid it, especially as a novice. In Saudi, traffic lights show a count-down of seconds remaining until they turn green. Into single digits, waiting cars rev like the front row of a F1 starting grid, each driver determined to be first off the mark and all roaring away in a cloud of burning rubber and exhaust fumes.
I’d never thought of UK drivers as particularly courteous till my first visit after a year in the Gulf. I was amazed at how deferential they were (mostly) after getting used to the ‘me first and de’il tak the hindmost’ style that prevails. And if you don’t join in, you’ll be pushed aside indefinitely!
My first serious confusion with number naming was when I encountered British numbers like “four hundred thousand million.” That is obviously four hundred BILLION, but why on earth didn’t the Brits actually say that? In time, I found out about long scale and short scale number naming. Having a misunderstanding about what “billion” and “trillion” means could be problematic in government financial reports.
“[In 1974,] British prime minister Harold Wilson explained in a written answer to the House of Commons that UK government statistics would from then on use the short scale. The BBC and other UK mass media quickly followed the government’s lead within the UK.”
These Wiki articles on large number naming are interesting. I’d never heard of Milliard and Billiard before getting into short scale and long scale.
Having mastered number naming with the help of Wiki, I plan to look into why on earth there were once two……count them TWO…….lower case “s”s, one of which looked life an “f”, and both of which were sprinkled freely throughout old writing and printing. Lots of stuff is written about the fact that the long s has historical roots going back to Roman times, and hung around for 1500 years or more; but no one seems to have a clue about WHY on earth it coexisted so long (with complicated rules of usage) with the short s, which sounded the same and meant the same thing.
MUNGUIN'S NEW REPUBLIC 
Omnia dici possunt latine. Verum.
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I thought I figured out possum and latrine, but wasn’t sure about Verum. Google however seems to translate as:
“All things can be said in Latin. but”
Not sure that “but” really adds all that much.
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“Verum” means “true”… as in verity, Danny.
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verum!
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Thanks Tris! Arrival in USA was very timely! Only Conan beat me in.
And I love the Roman numerals. Really adds class to the place! Honestly though, I assumed that the surcharge would be borne equally by the subscribers…..with mine free of charge for coming up with the idea. 😉
Handsome critters and pretty pictures! The trees (xvii) and the antlered critter (xiii) are especially nice, and the snow family (xii). “Tufted Titmouse” is one of the all time great critter names IMHO.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m glad you approve, Danny.
Munguin’s not sure, though, about sharing it cost… and letting you off. He thinks you should contribute your ideas “gratis” (as it were.
The tufted titmouse says “thank you”!
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂
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sorry seal but I think you might not be the cutest creature after all. I mean a baby elephant, cute cats and a majestic stag and the orangs – it’s a lot to compete with. The Indonesian picture was glorious and I’ve never seen a snowman family before.
Wonderful stuff.
LikeLiked by 3 people
The seal is now sitting in the corner sobbing quietly…
I thought the snow family was really artistic.
LikeLiked by 1 person
awhh, is s/he having a blubber?
Sorry seal I didn’t say you weren’t cute just that you had competition.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I thought that Burns Nicht might have prompted some poetic contribution to Sunday soppiness – or Sensualis Solis as it’s turned out. I began with an effort that was more of the O Me Miserum variety, with a nod to fellow Mac – Andi of this Munguin parish – who shares my occasional visits from the muse and perpetual fitba’ support masochism…
O wad that ne’er I’d seen the day
Sic awfy times befa’ us
That a draw awa’ wi’ Alloa
Should mak’ us gled an’ gallus
Until today, tae oor dismay
Aince canty Firhill laddies
Got beat sae bad by an Arbroath squad
Mair kent fir smokin’ haddies
And that was as far as I got when distracted by a message from my partner Dave (business partner, in case of doubt). Dave’s frae Ayr and maintains the bardic tradition of the most famous ‘honest man’ whose immortality was celebrated across the world last night. Here’s his toast ‘Tae the Lasses’. Seeing we’re in classical mode today, I can only note that his muse dalliance was obviously with Thalia and Erato, while I had to make do with Melpomene and Gayfield…
Brithers, some quiet for a wee…
look roon the present company
an here an’ there I’m shair ye’ll see
wi’oot yer glasses
a wheen that’s no like you an’ me – –
weel, they’re the lasses.
They’ve leeved amang us since the faa
of Adam. Eve’s daein. Efter aa
she stappit fu his gapin maw
wi a rotten aipple
tho he wis steerin fine an braw
wi oats as staple.
An aye since thon it’s muckle waur
they’ll gar ye trachle in the glaur
heavin an pechin, aa whit for?
Weel here’s the truth o’t –
tae buy their lipstick fae Dior
an clart their mooth o’t.
They’ll staun an gie ye white for black
an deave ye wi their glaiket clack
but gin ye gie them logic back
they’ll no confront ye
fair on, but wi a sleekit tak
jeuk roon ahint ye.
But haud, afore I tak my pew,
tae kiss a man wad gar ye grue,
sae leeze me on the beardless crew
for makin passes.
Fur aa their fauts, ye ken we lo’e
the bonnie lasses.
LikeLiked by 4 people
What can I say, John?
I’m seriously impressed.
That would confuse the life out of your Bulgarian neighbours!
Thanks to you and Dave.
🙂
Bravo!
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Ach, John, Ah thocht the Muse had left me,
o rhymes an notions she’d bereft me.
Ah’d lift ma pen, then dwam an dither:
ah couldna string twa words thegither.
But then the Muse did me address,
“Pit doon yer pen an lift a gless.”
Ah took Euterpe’s braw suggestion:
but, ken, the first yin’s no the best yin.
Sae anither dram an yet anither,
Ah son lost coont o them athegither.
Braw sangs an poems thronged ma brain
but noo there’s nocht but thumpin pain.
Again Ah’ve lost the poetic pow’r –
dumb, seek and sair, Ah’m fair hung-ower.
Lift up ma pen, ye say indeed?
Faith, man, ah can scarcely lift ma heid!
Ah could gie up poetry there’s nae doot –
the drams Ah’d hiv tae think aboot.
LikeLiked by 5 people
Rose to the challenge, quite brilliantly, Andi.
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An open air concert – for cows.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Very nice!
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I love the rhythm in that piece. These musicians are good. I wonder if the mass evacuation of the theatre towards the end was because they hear that Gove was on next to talk about agricultural policy when Britain leaves the UK.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I for one, love Roman numbers.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Ouch… that should be in the jokes page!
x
LikeLiked by 1 person
We know them Arabic numerals, but they’d be Greek (figuratively speaking) to exclusively Arabic readers. Arabic uses numbers derived from Hindi and are equally Greek to those of us familiar with what we call Arabic numerals. For example, O means five and a full-stop is zero. Nine and one the only units that look roughly the same as Western ‘Arabic’ in 9-0 sequence…
٠ ٠ ١ ٢ ٣ ٤ ٥ ٦ ٧ ٨ ٩
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hard to imagine offhand how the Romans did numerical calculations, or dealt with really large numbers, or very small numbers, etc. I suppose something is known about it. They may not have had a lot of science, but at least they did up architecture in a big way.
This made me think of another (different) big number issue using letters in English. At age 7 or 8, I had some interest in science, and discovered in an old encyclopedia what was represented as the “weight” of the earth. I remember it as being sex sextillion, five hundred seventy quintillion tons. For some reason, I still remember that number, whether it’s correct or not.
I started thinking about named numbers. Now I can go to Google/Wikipedia and learn for example how you add various prefixes to “-illion” and get REALLY big number names. But back then, we didn’t yet have a workable internet connection at home (mid- 1990’s,) and Google and Wikipedia were not quite yet on the scene. So I asked an “expert”…..a family friend who was an engineer/scientist…….what the names of even bigger numbers are.
He paused before answering, and then told me that my question was based on an incorrect assumption. He said that really big and really small numbers are simply not expressed that way …….and launched into a big lecture on what I now understand as exponential notation. I finally told him that I understood, although I really didn’t, and went away to ponder the matter. I finally figured out that while I had learned exactly nothing about the naming of larger numbers, I HAD learned something about human nature and “experts.” When confronted with a question that they don’t know the answer to, an expert simply tells you that you’re asking the wrong question. Then they come up with a NEW question that they DO know the answer to, and that’s the one they answer. Experts are loath to ever reply “I don’t know.”
LikeLiked by 2 people
I’m inordinately glad to say that I must not be an expert in anything then, because I never have any difficulty saying… Dunno…
These sextillions and quintillions are a bit scary though. They sound like the British debt.
LikeLiked by 1 person
John……I would have a terrible time with that “0” for the numeral five. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
6 looks like 7… that’s very confusing.
Well, I’m not gonna start trying to number the pics with read Arabic numbers.
I got them all mixed up when they were false arabic numbers… heaven knows what I’d do if I ha do cope with the real ones…
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LOL
LikeLiked by 1 person
Danny, you probably know that google itself is a number so I won’t repeat the story here. And a googleplex is a google of googles. The name was coind by the son/grandson (?) of the mathematician who was wondering what to call a sequence of 1 plus a string of zeros. I could Google it to refresh my memory of how many but that would spoil it for readers who like to find out for themselves.
And Tris, yes, the Arabic numbers can be very confusing, especially what looks like a 7 and it’s mirror image. Car number plates in the Middle East carry both styles, so in my early days there I learned the numerals by comparing them on passing cars while on road trips. I was the passenger, I should stress in the interests of road in safety. You don’t drive there if you can avoid it, especially as a novice. In Saudi, traffic lights show a count-down of seconds remaining until they turn green. Into single digits, waiting cars rev like the front row of a F1 starting grid, each driver determined to be first off the mark and all roaring away in a cloud of burning rubber and exhaust fumes.
I’d never thought of UK drivers as particularly courteous till my first visit after a year in the Gulf. I was amazed at how deferential they were (mostly) after getting used to the ‘me first and de’il tak the hindmost’ style that prevails. And if you don’t join in, you’ll be pushed aside indefinitely!
LikeLiked by 2 people
John……Entertaining description of Saudi driving!
My first serious confusion with number naming was when I encountered British numbers like “four hundred thousand million.” That is obviously four hundred BILLION, but why on earth didn’t the Brits actually say that? In time, I found out about long scale and short scale number naming. Having a misunderstanding about what “billion” and “trillion” means could be problematic in government financial reports.
“[In 1974,] British prime minister Harold Wilson explained in a written answer to the House of Commons that UK government statistics would from then on use the short scale. The BBC and other UK mass media quickly followed the government’s lead within the UK.”
These Wiki articles on large number naming are interesting. I’d never heard of Milliard and Billiard before getting into short scale and long scale.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_and_short_scales
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_large_numbers
Having mastered number naming with the help of Wiki, I plan to look into why on earth there were once two……count them TWO…….lower case “s”s, one of which looked life an “f”, and both of which were sprinkled freely throughout old writing and printing. Lots of stuff is written about the fact that the long s has historical roots going back to Roman times, and hung around for 1500 years or more; but no one seems to have a clue about WHY on earth it coexisted so long (with complicated rules of usage) with the short s, which sounded the same and meant the same thing.
https://www.grammarly.com/blog/history-of-long-s/
LikeLiked by 1 person
LOL, John, Sounds like their definition of “road rage” is getting into the car!
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