This could be a slow week for the Institute as Uncle Ken is engaged in another one of his Sullivan's travels, but I'd like to add add a few bits and pieces in the meantime, if I may.
Whenever I click on a link in one of the news aggregators I follow, I assume it's new "news" but that is not always the case. I found an article, about two years old now, that is tick related. If you want to rid your property of ticks you should get friendly with Mr. Possum. Because they are fastidious self groomers they eat a lot of ticks, between five and six thousand per week. Some critters find those nasty ticks are tasty morsels...who would've thunk it?
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I was not a big fan of history back in my school days but I find that as the years have gone by my interest in historical matters has increased greatly and I'm always learning something new. The curious tale of the Battle of Lake Tanganyika, led by Geoffrey Spicer-Simson, caught my eye.
During WWI, the British hauled some small gunboats from South Africa though the bush to the Belgian Congo in order to take out the German gunboats on Lake Tanganyika. Not a trivial journey; besides hundreds of natives they used steam powered tractors and it took months. It's a good story and you can see a documentary here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-osCkzoL53U
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Since Mr. Beagles reads The National Geographic he may already be familiar with this, but it could be news for Uncle Ken, the feline fancier. Unlike dogs, which have been bred by humans for domestication over thousands of years, the cats have domesticated themselves. I knew there was some reason I don't trust them, and the complete article is here: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/06/domesticated-cats-dna-genetics-pets-science/
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In closing, this is one of my favorite quotes from the good version of Moby Dick, as spoken by Captain Ahab: I do not give reasons, Mr. Stubbs. I give orders.
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