The cat puked on my homework

Actually, this happened last week. I had a big pile of student work—final exams, really—sittin' at the end of my couch. They've been sittin' there for over a month.

Well, TigerAnn, resident cat, got sick (like cats do) and puked all over this student work. I saw it happening. She began retchin' like they do. I immediately suggested to the Tige that she move over to the floor or someplace else to do her Technicolor Yawn. But she seemed determined to puke exactly on this big pile of paper. And so she did. You know cats.

Annie came around and I told her, "TigerAnn just puked on these final exams."

"Really? Is she OK?"

"Yeah, but I think some of these exams are pretty nasty."

"Oh."

Here's a closeup:

I came across these old photos of Stettin, Pommern (Germany). They show some neighborhoods very near my mom's old neighborhood (Rosengarten). Very cool:

That's Jacobi-Kirche in the background. I think this is BreiteStrasse ("broadstreet"), which is very near Rosengarten.

Not sure where this is in old Stettin, but it sure is cool.

Hard times in California higher ed

California Cuts Weigh Heavily on Its Colleges (New York Times)

     …The compromise to close the state’s huge budget gap included cuts to state agencies of all kinds, but none were as deep as those to the state’s public colleges and universities. The state’s two systems were each cut by $650 million, and they each could lose $100 million more if the state’s optimistic revenue expectations do not materialize. For both systems, the $650 million is roughly a 20 percent cut of operating money from the state.
     This fall, for the first time, the University of California will take in more money from student tuition than from state finances.
     The state’s two-tier system has long been seen as a model of public higher education, with the University of California’s 10 campuses as major research hubs and the California State University’s network of 23 campuses graduating tens of thousands each year. But the cuts, which are the biggest in the state’s history, threaten to erode the system’s stellar reputation.
     “There’s no question that California has had the most emulated public universities in the nation, and for the rest of the world,” said Terry W. Hartle, senior vice president of the American Council on Education. “What we are seeing is the abandonment of the state’s commitment to make California’s education available to all its citizens.”…. 

The emotional depth of a cow (The Guardian)

     Who would think that beneath that calm exterior there is a boiling mass of emotions? I'm not talking about Wimbledon champions here, but cows. Yes, cows; those creatures that we eat, and take milk from, but rarely think about. According to new research by scientists at Northampton University, cows have "best friends" and get stressed when separated….

Red light love
Makes my heart stop
Drives me so crazy
I can’t even walk
I got a red light love
Hoping every day
He don’t green light go
Go go go away

and i'm going down
where the waves will surround
to the roar and the pound
of the wild, wild sea
talking sweet to me