Where can we get these tidy-minded rodents, and do they come in capybara
size?

<https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-67902966>

Tease'n'Seize <tease-and-seize@invalid> writes:

> Where can we get these tidy-minded rodents, and do they come in capybara
> size?
>
> <https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-67902966>

The downside of a rodent beset by neat-and-tidytude is the potential
destination of item tidies away. The reported beneficiary in this
case seems to have been lucky.

A few years ago, SWMBO determined that the failure of her inkjet
printer to print was accounted for by the fact that it was full of
almonds. Scrutiny revealed that there was only one small aperture
allowing ingress. About a pound of almonds must have been transported
-- tidied away -- from the adjoining room and inserted into the
printer one at a time.

--
Mike Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada

On 07/01/2024 20:18, Mike Spencer wrote:
> Tease'n'Seize <tease-and-seize@invalid> writes:
>
>> Where can we get these tidy-minded rodents, and do they come in capybara
>> size?
>>
>> <https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-67902966>
>
> The downside of a rodent beset by neat-and-tidytude is the potential
> destination of item tidies away. The reported beneficiary in this
> case seems to have been lucky.
>
> A few years ago, SWMBO determined that the failure of her inkjet
> printer to print was accounted for by the fact that it was full of
> almonds. Scrutiny revealed that there was only one small aperture
> allowing ingress. About a pound of almonds must have been transported
> -- tidied away -- from the adjoining room and inserted into the
> printer one at a time.
>

"Squirrel fills Antenna with Acorns"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZkAP-CQlhA

YouTube search also find various cars and houses afflicted with similar
mass collections of nuts. Saw a claim that when burying nuts, the
average squirrel has got exceptional memory of where they buried them.

Should be able to train them, or engineer a biological AI two-way
interface to their brains...

On second thoughts, perhaps not. Giving animals access to AI would be
the start of the end of us.

--
Adrian C

In article <s7OcnVWcuuqYfwf4nZ2dnZfqnPWdnZ2d@brightview.co.uk>,
Tease'n'Seize <tease-and-seize@invalid.?> on Sun, 7 Jan 2024 at
17:40:19 awoke Nicholas from his slumbers and wrote
>Where can we get these tidy-minded rodents, and do they come in capybara
>size?
>
><https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-67902966>

That is where my missing clothes pegs went. I thought that I had a
thieving magpie.
--
0sterc@tcher -

"Où sont les neiges d'antan?"

On 07-Jan-24 21:18, Adrian Caspersz wrote:

> YouTube search also find various cars and houses afflicted with similar
> mass collections of nuts. Saw a claim that when burying nuts, the
> average squirrel has got exceptional memory of where they buried them.

Exceptional - but that can include exceptionally bad.
The squirrels around here are responsible for half a dozen horse
chestnut saplings in this garden alone.

They bury nuts, but don't bother to go looking for them if there is
enough food elsewhere, so it's hard to tell if their memories are any
better than.. mine.

--
Sam Plusnet

On 07/01/2024 21:18, Adrian Caspersz wrote:
> Giving animals access to AI would be the start of the end of us.

I reckon we've already made a start of the end of us.

Tone

Sam Plusnet <not@home.com> wrote in news:FNFmN.147359$woU1.140001
@fx13.ams1:

> On 07-Jan-24 21:18, Adrian Caspersz wrote:
>
>> YouTube search also find various cars and houses afflicted with similar
>> mass collections of nuts. Saw a claim that when burying nuts, the
>> average squirrel has got exceptional memory of where they buried them.
>
> Exceptional - but that can include exceptionally bad.
> The squirrels around here are responsible for half a dozen horse
> chestnut saplings in this garden alone.
>
> They bury nuts, but don't bother to go looking for them if there is
> enough food elsewhere, so it's hard to tell if their memories are any
> better than.. mine.
>

The skwirrils in my gardnung don't seem to have particularly good memories,
judging from the mess they make of my lawn when looking for their nuts.

--
Peter
-----

On 07/01/2024 21:18, Adrian Caspersz wrote:
>
> Should be able to train them, or engineer a biological AI two-way
> interface to their brains...
>
>
> On second thoughts, perhaps not. Giving animals access to AI would be
> the start of the end of us.
>

Oh dear, TCP/IP for Elephants. Are Jumbo frames necessary?

https://www.interspecies.io/about

--
Adrian C

In article <FNFmN.147359$woU1.140001@fx13.ams1>, Sam Plusnet
<not@home.com> on Sun, 7 Jan 2024 at 22:42:45 awoke Nicholas from his
slumbers and wrote
>On 07-Jan-24 21:18, Adrian Caspersz wrote:
>
>> YouTube search also find various cars and houses afflicted with similar
>> mass collections of nuts. Saw a claim that when burying nuts, the
>> average squirrel has got exceptional memory of where they buried them.
>
>Exceptional - but that can include exceptionally bad.
>The squirrels around here are responsible for half a dozen horse
>chestnut saplings in this garden alone.
>
>They bury nuts, but don't bother to go looking for them if there is
>enough food elsewhere, so it's hard to tell if their memories are any
>better than.. mine.
>
Or ... they died before recovering the said nuts..
--
0sterc@tcher -

"Où sont les neiges d'antan?"

On 08/01/2024 12:24, Nicholas D. Richards wrote:
>> They bury nuts, but don't bother to go looking for them if there is
>> enough food elsewhere, so it's hard to tell if their memories are any
>> better than.. mine.
>>
> Or ... they died before recovering the said nuts..

Where do they go to die?

Our flats overlook the old York Cemetery, that is now a nature reserve
with lots of trees. So, we get lots of skwirrawls. But you never find a
dead one.

Mined yew we do have lots of foxen too. Maybe that's where they are, in
them.

Tone

Hymermut <tone@email.com> wrote:
> On 08/01/2024 12:24, Nicholas D. Richards wrote:
>>> They bury nuts, but don't bother to go looking for them if there is
>>> enough food elsewhere, so it's hard to tell if their memories are any
>>> better than.. mine.
>>>
>> Or ... they died before recovering the said nuts..
>
> Where do they go to die?
>
> Our flats overlook the old York Cemetery, that is now a nature reserve
> with lots of trees. So, we get lots of skwirrawls. But you never find a
> dead one.
>
> Mined yew we do have lots of foxen too. Maybe that's where they are, in
> them.

Not just foxen…

https://youtu.be/shkHrqW5bE0?si=jIetHLkbez0qH1gs

Tim

--
Please don't feed the trolls

On 08/01/2024 13:16, Tim+ wrote:
> Hymermut <tone@email.com> wrote:
>> On 08/01/2024 12:24, Nicholas D. Richards wrote:
>>>> They bury nuts, but don't bother to go looking for them if there is
>>>> enough food elsewhere, so it's hard to tell if their memories are any
>>>> better than.. mine.
>>>>
>>> Or ... they died before recovering the said nuts..
>>
>> Where do they go to die?
>>
>> Our flats overlook the old York Cemetery, that is now a nature reserve
>> with lots of trees. So, we get lots of skwirrawls. But you never find a
>> dead one.
>>
>> Mined yew we do have lots of foxen too. Maybe that's where they are, in
>> them.
>
> Not just foxen…
>
> https://youtu.be/shkHrqW5bE0?si=jIetHLkbez0qH1gs
>

Kinnell!

No wonder they aren't frightened when nicking one's chips!

Chris

In article <1253153753.726412525.374766.timdownieuk-yahoo.co.youkay@news
..individual.net>, Tim+ <timdownieuk@yahoo.co.youkay> on Mon, 8 Jan 2024
at 13:16:28 awoke Nicholas from his slumbers and wrote
>Hymermut <tone@email.com> wrote:
>> On 08/01/2024 12:24, Nicholas D. Richards wrote:
>>>> They bury nuts, but don't bother to go looking for them if there is
>>>> enough food elsewhere, so it's hard to tell if their memories are any
>>>> better than.. mine.
>>>>
>>> Or ... they died before recovering the said nuts..
>>
>> Where do they go to die?
>>
>> Our flats overlook the old York Cemetery, that is now a nature reserve
>> with lots of trees. So, we get lots of skwirrawls. But you never find a
>> dead one.
>>
>> Mined yew we do have lots of foxen too. Maybe that's where they are, in
>> them.
>
>Not just foxen…
>
>https://youtu.be/shkHrqW5bE0?si=jIetHLkbez0qH1gs
>
>Tim
>
Not just gulls, corvidae (round here we have Crows, Magpies and, atm a
single magnificent Raven), domestic cats and so on.

On top of which they are arboreal and quite probably go to a safe place
to recover/die. Likewise how often do you see a dead rat, at least
before you smell it, underneath the floor boards/shed?
--
0sterc@tcher -

"Où sont les neiges d'antan?"

In article <l02i6gF9h7mU1@mid.individual.net>, chrisnd@privacy.net
<chrisnd@privacy.net> on Mon, 8 Jan 2024 at 15:20:47 awoke Nicholas
from his slumbers and wrote
>On 08/01/2024 13:16, Tim+ wrote:
>> Hymermut <tone@email.com> wrote:
>>> On 08/01/2024 12:24, Nicholas D. Richards wrote:
>>>>> They bury nuts, but don't bother to go looking for them if there is
>>>>> enough food elsewhere, so it's hard to tell if their memories are any
>>>>> better than.. mine.
>>>>>
>>>> Or ... they died before recovering the said nuts..
>>>
>>> Where do they go to die?
>>>
>>> Our flats overlook the old York Cemetery, that is now a nature reserve
>>> with lots of trees. So, we get lots of skwirrawls. But you never find a
>>> dead one.
>>>
>>> Mined yew we do have lots of foxen too. Maybe that's where they are, in
>>> them.
>>
>> Not just foxen…
>>
>> https://youtu.be/shkHrqW5bE0?si=jIetHLkbez0qH1gs
>>
>
>Kinnell!
>
>No wonder they aren't frightened when nicking one's chips!
>
>Chris
Once they become habituated to humans they can be aggressive ohttref.

When I worked for the Nature Conservancy I had to walk through a gullery
to get from home to work and vice-versa or is it versa-vice?. They would
dive bomb dropping an evil smelling semi-liquid bomb in my hair. If I
disturbed a Great Black-backed Gull their technique was to dive and drag
their claws through my hair.
--
0sterc@tcher -

"Où sont les neiges d'antan?"

On Mon, 8 Jan 2024 18:03:17 +0000
"Nicholas D. Richards" <nicholas@salmiron.com> wrote:

> On top of which they are arboreal and quite probably go to a safe place
> to recover/die. Likewise how often do you see a dead rat, at least
> before you smell it, underneath the floor boards/shed?

AIUI the most common form of natural death is to be eaten alive.
It's strange the way people change their minds about wanting one when they
hear that. Personally I'd go for unnatural and as far in the future as
possible (I'd love to have to worry about the sun going red giant).

--
Steve O'Hara-Smith
Odds and Ends at http://www.sohara.org/
Host: Beautiful Theory meet Inconvenient Fact
Obit: Beautiful Theory died today of factual inconsistency

Nicholas D. Richards said:
> In article <l02i6gF9h7mU1@mid.individual.net>, chrisnd@privacy.net
>>On 08/01/2024 13:16, Tim+ wrote:
>>>
>>> Not just foxen…
>>>
>>> https://youtu.be/shkHrqW5bE0?si=jIetHLkbez0qH1gs
>>>
>>
>>Kinnell!
>>
>>No wonder they aren't frightened when nicking one's chips!
>>
>>Chris
> Once they become habituated to humans they can be aggressive ohttref.
>
> When I worked for the Nature Conservancy I had to walk through a gullery
> to get from home to work and vice-versa or is it versa-vice?. They would
> dive bomb dropping an evil smelling semi-liquid bomb in my hair. If I
> disturbed a Great Black-backed Gull their technique was to dive and drag
> their claws through my hair.

I visited Handa Island once. Skuas are scary.

--
Richard Robinson
"The whole plan hinged upon the natural curiosity of potatoes" - S. Lem

My email address is at http://qualmograph.org.uk/contact.html

Adrian Caspersz said:
> On 07/01/2024 21:18, Adrian Caspersz wrote:
>>
>> Should be able to train them, or engineer a biological AI two-way
>> interface to their brains...
>>
>> On second thoughts, perhaps not. Giving animals access to AI would be
>> the start of the end of us.
>
> Oh dear, TCP/IP for Elephants. Are Jumbo frames necessary?
>
> https://www.interspecies.io/about

They don't seem to have any participants who aren't human, chiz chiz.

"Interspecies Conversations", it says, but I see no elephants to chat
with.

--
Richard Robinson
"The whole plan hinged upon the natural curiosity of potatoes" - S. Lem

My email address is at http://qualmograph.org.uk/contact.html

On 2024-01-08, Hymermut <tone@email.com> wrote:
> On 08/01/2024 12:24, Nicholas D. Richards wrote:
>>> They bury nuts, but don't bother to go looking for them if there is
>>> enough food elsewhere, so it's hard to tell if their memories are any
>>> better than.. mine.
>>>
>> Or ... they died before recovering the said nuts..
>
> Where do they go to die?
>
> Our flats overlook the old York Cemetery, that is now a nature reserve
> with lots of trees. So, we get lots of skwirrawls. But you never find a
> dead one.
>
> Mined yew we do have lots of foxen too. Maybe that's where they are, in
> them.
>
> Tone

Squirrels die in the summer time, before the new years hazel nuts ripen.

--
greymausg@mail.com
Is There even an .Influencer to impale?
Charles I, beheaded, Charles II, killed by doctors, What is happen to poor Chuck III?

In article <unhlm7$1lkqj$3@dont-email.me>, Richard Robinson
<richard@qualmograph.org.uk> on Mon, 8 Jan 2024 at 20:24:39 awoke
Nicholas from his slumbers and wrote
>Nicholas D. Richards said:
>> In article <l02i6gF9h7mU1@mid.individual.net>, chrisnd@privacy.net
>>>On 08/01/2024 13:16, Tim+ wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Not just foxen…
>>>>
>>>> https://youtu.be/shkHrqW5bE0?si=jIetHLkbez0qH1gs
>>>>
>>>
>>>Kinnell!
>>>
>>>No wonder they aren't frightened when nicking one's chips!
>>>
>>>Chris
>> Once they become habituated to humans they can be aggressive ohttref.
>>
>> When I worked for the Nature Conservancy I had to walk through a gullery
>> to get from home to work and vice-versa or is it versa-vice?. They would
>> dive bomb dropping an evil smelling semi-liquid bomb in my hair. If I
>> disturbed a Great Black-backed Gull their technique was to dive and drag
>> their claws through my hair.
>
>I visited Handa Island once. Skuas are scary.
>
Not been there, however I have watched a Great Skua scaring Comic Terns.
What they would be like if I was anywhere near their nests wouldbe scary
to this human.
--
0sterc@tcher -

"Où sont les neiges d'antan?"

Nicholas D. Richards <nicholas@salmiron.com> wrote:

[...]

> >> When I worked for the Nature Conservancy I had to walk through a gullery
> >> to get from home to work and vice-versa or is it versa-vice?. They would
> >> dive bomb dropping an evil smelling semi-liquid bomb in my hair. If I
> >> disturbed a Great Black-backed Gull their technique was to dive and drag
> >> their claws through my hair.
> >
> >I visited Handa Island once. Skuas are scary.
> >
> Not been there, however I have watched a Great Skua scaring Comic Terns.
> What they would be like if I was anywhere near their nests wouldbe scary
> to this human.

ISTR a live WWP broadcast of rock-climbers on the Old Man of Hoy
some years ago. IIRC the resident skuas used projectile vomiting of
part-digested fish as a defence weapon.

--
^Ï^. Sn!pe, PA, FIBS - Professional Crastinator

My pet rock Gordon just is.

Nicholas D. Richards said:
> In article <unhlm7$1lkqj$3@dont-email.me>, Richard Robinson
><richard@qualmograph.org.uk> on Mon, 8 Jan 2024 at 20:24:39 awoke
> Nicholas from his slumbers and wrote
>>Nicholas D. Richards said:
>>> In article <l02i6gF9h7mU1@mid.individual.net>, chrisnd@privacy.net
>>>>On 08/01/2024 13:16, Tim+ wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Not just foxen…
>>>>>
>>>>> https://youtu.be/shkHrqW5bE0?si=jIetHLkbez0qH1gs
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Kinnell!
>>>>
>>>>No wonder they aren't frightened when nicking one's chips!
>>>>
>>>>Chris
>>> Once they become habituated to humans they can be aggressive ohttref.
>>>
>>> When I worked for the Nature Conservancy I had to walk through a gullery
>>> to get from home to work and vice-versa or is it versa-vice?. They would
>>> dive bomb dropping an evil smelling semi-liquid bomb in my hair. If I
>>> disturbed a Great Black-backed Gull their technique was to dive and drag
>>> their claws through my hair.
>>
>>I visited Handa Island once. Skuas are scary.
>>
> Not been there, however I have watched a Great Skua scaring Comic Terns.
> What they would be like if I was anywhere near their nests wouldbe scary
> to this human.

High-velocity Skewers.

--
Richard Robinson
"The whole plan hinged upon the natural curiosity of potatoes" - S. Lem

My email address is at http://qualmograph.org.uk/contact.html

On 08/01/2024 23:24, Sn!pe wrote:
> Nicholas D. Richards <nicholas@salmiron.com> wrote:
>
> [...]
>
>>>> When I worked for the Nature Conservancy I had to walk through a gullery
>>>> to get from home to work and vice-versa or is it versa-vice?. They would
>>>> dive bomb dropping an evil smelling semi-liquid bomb in my hair. If I
>>>> disturbed a Great Black-backed Gull their technique was to dive and drag
>>>> their claws through my hair.
>>>
>>> I visited Handa Island once. Skuas are scary.
>>>
>> Not been there, however I have watched a Great Skua scaring Comic Terns.
>> What they would be like if I was anywhere near their nests wouldbe scary
>> to this human.
>
> ISTR a live WWP broadcast of rock-climbers on the Old Man of Hoy
> some years ago. IIRC the resident skuas used projectile vomiting of
> part-digested fish as a defence weapon.
>

Was that the climb led by blind climber Jesse Dufton?

https://jessedufton.com/

Tone

In article <1qn1fff.1k07n1b196133dN%snipeco.2@gmail.com>, Sn!pe
<snipeco.2@gmail.com> on Mon, 8 Jan 2024 at 23:24:10 awoke Nicholas
from his slumbers and wrote
>Nicholas D. Richards <nicholas@salmiron.com> wrote:
>
>[...]
>
>> >> When I worked for the Nature Conservancy I had to walk through a gullery
>> >> to get from home to work and vice-versa or is it versa-vice?. They would
>> >> dive bomb dropping an evil smelling semi-liquid bomb in my hair. If I
>> >> disturbed a Great Black-backed Gull their technique was to dive and drag
>> >> their claws through my hair.
>> >
>> >I visited Handa Island once. Skuas are scary.
>> >
>> Not been there, however I have watched a Great Skua scaring Comic Terns.
>> What they would be like if I was anywhere near their nests wouldbe scary
>> to this human.
>
>ISTR a live WWP broadcast of rock-climbers on the Old Man of Hoy
>some years ago. IIRC the resident skuas used projectile vomiting of
>part-digested fish as a defence weapon.
>
WWP?

Probably Fulmars who nest on The Old Man. Their markings make them look
a bit like gulls from a distance, but are much more closely related to
Albatrosses, Shearwaters and Petrels.

The BBC broadcast live the second, third and fourth ascents in 1967 over
three nights by three pairs of climbers. I think it was Doug Haston who
became annoyed by his partner Pete Crew snoring while they were
bivouacced and wanted one of the Fulmars to projectile vomit into Crew's
open mouth.

They produce a stinking oil in their stomachs that they project,
accurately, as a defence against predators. Attractive birds, but they
stink.

Incidently the Old Man of Hoy has only existed as a structure for some
200+ years and is subject to erosion that means it has a limited life
expectancy.
--
0sterc@tcher -

"Où sont les neiges d'antan?"

Hymermut <tone@email.com> wrote:

> On 08/01/2024 23:24, Sn!pe wrote:
[...]
> > ISTR a live WWP broadcast of rock-climbers on the Old Man of Hoy
> > some years ago. IIRC the resident skuas used projectile vomiting of
> > part-digested fish as a defence weapon.
> >
>
> Was that the climb led by blind climber Jesse Dufton?
>
> <https://jessedufton.com/>
>

The first ascent was led by Chris Bonington, Rusty Baillie and Tom
Patey, 19 July 1966. The WWP coverage was a repeat climb in 1967.

Coo, what a long time ago, I was 17 then.

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Man_of_Hoy#Human_activity>

--
^Ï^. Sn!pe, PA, FIBS - Professional Crastinator

My pet rock Gordon just is.

Nicholas D. Richards <nicholas@salmiron.com> wrote:
[...]
> >ISTR a live WWP broadcast of rock-climbers on the Old Man of Hoy
> >some years ago. IIRC the resident skuas used projectile vomiting of
> >part-digested fish as a defence weapon.
> >
> WWP?
>

Wireless With Pictures aka The Haunted Fishtank

>
> Probably Fulmars who nest on The Old Man. Their markings make them look
> a bit like gulls from a distance, but are much more closely related to
> Albatrosses, Shearwaters and Petrels.
>

Quite likely, but according to my zrzbel (always a lying jade)
Mr Beeb called 'em skuas.

>
> The BBC broadcast live the second, third and fourth ascents in 1967 over
> three nights by three pairs of climbers. I think it was Doug Haston who
> became annoyed by his partner Pete Crew snoring while they were
> bivouacced and wanted one of the Fulmars to projectile vomit into Crew's
> open mouth.
>
> They produce a stinking oil in their stomachs that they project,
> accurately, as a defence against predators. Attractive birds, but they
> stink.
>
> Incidently the Old Man of Hoy has only existed as a structure for some
> 200+ years and is subject to erosion that means it has a limited life
> expectancy.

--
^Ï^. Sn!pe, PA, FIBS - Professional Crastinator

My pet rock Gordon just is.