1944 – Snowball the cat tries to take over a machine gun in Normandy so she can shoot some Nazis herself.
Blessed post. Good kitty
i want someone to read that headline in an old timey reporter voice
Okay fun fact: cats were actively deployed to trenches and ships to help deal with rodent infestations in both world wars, and they had the curb cutter effect of keeping the men’s spirits high.
One cat, Simon, was given the rank “Able Seacat Simon” after dutifully killing rats and mice that were destroying the HMS Amethyst’s food supplies. The ship had come under fire during the Chinese civil war and many of its crewmen had died. The cat had been gravely injured, too, but he picked out the shrapnel himself – seriously – and went straight to killing the rodents that were overrunning the ship. He unfortunately passed from his injuries two weeks before he was scheduled to receive the Dickin Medal. To this day, he is the only cat to receive this award.
Here’s another WW1 trenchcat, who would have been ratter, mouser, companion and gas warning – not AFAIK by dying, like a canary, but since cats reacted to the smell of gas long before it was strong enough for humans to notice, the troops had a bit more time to get their masks on, and the cats went into gasproof boxes.
Meanwhile, somewhere on the other side of No Man’s Land…
Meet Percy, mascot of HMLS (D20) “Daphne” with Lt Drader. Both survived the War, and Percy retired to live out his peacetime life in the Drader family home.
(Here’s a video clip; given how noisy, hot and smelly early tanks were, Percy seems remarkably unfazed.)
A US Army tank cat, Mustard of the 321st, with a Renault FT light tank and its driver Sgt Postal…
A Royal Artillery kitten (the battery mascot)…
Pincher of HMS Vindex on what looks like a Sopwith Pup scout…
Togo, ship’s cat of HMS Dreadnought (though I’ve also seen “HMS Irresistible”)…
Ship’s cat of HMS Queen Elizabeth atop 15″ main battery…
And speaking of big ships and big guns…
“Make nice all you like, Human. I despise you. I wanted a billet on a battleship, not this tinpot destroyer…” (Ching, of HMAS Swan.)
they’re all following this jesus nonsense instead of the old roman religion
they only know what it’s like under the empire and not the glory of the res publica
all of them want to follow weird greek fashions like writing poetry and growing beards instead of following the mos maiorum and wearing togas
they’re all so used to this cushy “pax romana” nonsense that none of them want to conquer anything like their ancestors did, and they probably don’t even remember carthage
they have no idea what it was like living before the common era
have any of them ever risen up on their own to depose a king or stab a tyrant? i think not
“is being gay genetic” there’s literally no good reason to ask this question. shitheel
???
what
Are you saying that “being gay is genetic” is such an obvious thing that it shouldn’t be asked? Or are you saying that “being gay is genetic” is so untrue that just asking it is offensive?
I don’t believe that being gay is genetic, partly because the studies that have been done on the subject have only been able to show loose correlative connections to being gay by conditions such as in-utero hormone levels, birth order, having an identical twin who is gay. The burden of proof lies on the person proposing that it IS true to prove it, and they have not proven it, thus there is no reasonable position to take than to say that being gay is not genetically caused.
I firmly believe that any scientific study that seeks to find the “biological causative variable” to being gay (such as a specific genetic sequence) has a VERY HIGH POTENTIAL to make it easier to commit anti-gay discrimination, anti-gay genocide, anti-gay eugenics, anti-gay conversion therapy. I do not want people to be able to be outed by a genetic test. Many minors and dependents’ safety is contingent on the fact that they are able to withhold the fact that they are gay from their parents and/or guardians. I do not want “gay” to be a part of people’s medical records, since medical records that indicate transgender status, mental illness, HIV positive status, etc, are currently used to discriminate against people. I do not want people to abort their fetus specifically because a test indicates that fetus will grow up to be gay.
I do not want the medical industry to destroy our ability to self-identify.
What do you do if you are gay but a genetic test claims that you are straight?
I am a 24 year old lesbian transgender woman. When I was about… 15-19 years old I identified as a bisexual male. I do not want a genetic test for gayness to be done to me in order to determine which one of those identities is “fake” and which one is “real.” I do not want such a test to injure my sense of self. I know who I am.
I believe that gender and sexual orientation are roles that are socially mandated, meaning that these are not universal labels but rather cultural labels. The idea of bringing genetics and biology into this to reinforce the barriers between different labels is horrible and invites social violence.
Gay people do not need such a test. They know they are gay, thus that test is obsolete.
A genetic test for gayness will not cure homophobia, but give it a weapon.
Instead of homophobes believing “gay people are moral degenerates” they will believe “gay people are, genetically, moral degenerates. Now please give us your blood so we can see if you are subhuman or not.”
I am American and I have never seen photos like this. I had no idea there are borders like this. Even though I LOVE the idea of open borders, I am staring at these pictures like “wait…people can just…walk across some stones or grass and BE IN ANOTHER COUNTRY??? and nobody stops them?? how does that WORK?!” So you can tell that my country’s propaganda has gotten to me by convincing me that this CAN’T work even though…it…obviously can.
These pics just seem unreal to me. I’ve been taught my whole life that this can’t exist. In 27 years no one has ever sat me down and gone, look, here’s how it is elsewhere. It isn’t impossible at all.
I want to add something, but I’d just be restating what they said. I.. didn’t know peace and kindness like this was possible.
I accidentally crossed into Germany while biking 2 years ago – didn’t notice until my cell phone provider sent me a “Welcome to Germany!” text.
Okay, but these are the internal borders; per the Schengen Agreement you can cross freely from one country to another. The *external* borders of Europe, however, are much more heavily guarded. Don’t mistake Europe for some welcoming, friendly, borderless Utopia.
It’s only because of the EU and/or the Schengen Agreement (as relevant) that there is free movement inside the area. Getting in to begin with is a very different matter, as already mentioned.
Urocyon's Jaunts 2.0 