http://www.flickr.com/photos/flargh/18423481/
OK, you a Shakespeare lover, we have a few accounts to settle. A couple of
days ago you volunteered to say that the rats were not responsible for some
black plague outbreaks but the cats (or rather the lack thereof).
I relayed this outrageous statement to my cat who looks almost exactly like
the one on the couch at the link and he smiled with a big smile. I asked
him: "Why are you smiling like the Cheshire Cat?" He said: I smile because
it is a false and bogus opinion. Cats in any capacity could not be
responsible for that.
After that my cat put on his marching boots, sat on the couch and told me
this story:
Those rats came mostly from Asia in huge numbers and
carried plague endemic to Central Asian Steppes. Those places still are
endemic for plague. Some sporadic cases are an annual reality. In Russia and
Kazakhstan there are centers specifically devoted to control
the problem.
The birth rates of rats when left to themselves are regulated by pretty
much the same conditions like locust's. They are also dependent on the
available habitat, meaning the number of settlements. As the population grew
the epidemic was waiting to happen.
On the way to Europe the swath of your ancestors crossed Russia and the
Ukraine. There was no comparable epidemics in there although the rats were
infected and not because of the cats being present (allegedly). The reason
for the lack of major outbreak was that the population in those countries at
that time was very sparse and the epidemics could not catch up. A threshold
density of people is necessary for an outbreak. The population in those
countries was below that threshold. This process is described my math models
with simple differential equations.
The rats proliferated because of poor sanitary conditions. You rats are
ultimately responsible for the persecution of the Jews since the burghers
thought that the Jews caused the plague by witchcraft.
I doubt, said he, the cats were a major part of the equation. One has to
have armies of cats to control an avalanche of hungry rats. Rats when on a
move are known to eat people alive, let alone cats.
It is true, said he, that some cats were persecuted but that mostly
concerned black cats who for centuries and even up to modernity had a very
bad reputation. A cat like me, he said, had nothing to fear except rats. Any
peasant understood without a hard science than the more cats he had the
lower the losses in his barn were to mice and rats.
What you think was a factor is like trying to combat moving locust with a
few canaries.
I am just relaying what my beloved cat told me. I tried to post it the same
day but all my attempts failed. I kept thinking why I could not push that
post. Finally it dawned on me. I removed one single word and now I will be
trying to post it. I hope my theory is correct.
"the wharf rat" <> wrote in message
news:focv5r$ai7$...
> In article <ODhJ$>,
> Bill H. <> wrote:
>>How do I change the default for Vista Home Premium so that when Start,
>>Shutdown is selected, the default is to shut down, and not sleep?
>>
>
> To sleep, perchance to dream. Aye, there's the rub...
>
> To avoid taking a chance on bad dreams you can either pick
> a fight with your cousin at the king's feast or access your power
> control options->advanced->power buttons and lid -> start menu shutdown
> button. Then change it from sleep to power down.
>
>
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