Boring books, too much work and one eye-candy

* I'm not reading Lewis Carroll anymore, I'm fed up with it. Here's why:

Complete Illustrated Lewis Carroll by Lewis Carroll

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
I gave up in the middle of the Bruno and Sylvie saga. The Alice in Wonderland stories were fun and interesting to read but by the saga the nonsense and the bizzare attraction to young girls who are a symbol of prefection was getting on my nerves. Call me a cold-hearted person but there's only so much strangely-placed nonsese I can tolerate and if there's too much child-adoration and not enough plot I give up.



Don't bother with the whole collection; Alice's stories are quite enough to enjoy Carroll.


View all my reviews.

Currently reading: Winston Churchill's The Second World War series volume 3; The Grand Alliance

* Too much work @____@

* Now there's a fine young man for you:

Hyena project = complete!

* Yup, it's over and done with. I've still statistical analysis to do but the testing is OVER. So far it seems the ice lolly's winning on the what's favorite.

* There's a new rat friend; Rizzo Rat and he's a cute and smart little fellow. He used to curl up in my pockets like Nathan but he's grown used to the movement and much prefers sitting on my shoulder facing forward like a pirate's parrot or sitting atop of my head. The only down side is that he pees freely...fun, not!

* Haven't had the time to tell you but I've finished Karl Marx and here's the review:

Karl Marx by Francis Wheen

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
Wheen's wonderfully written book illustraits, with colors as vivis as possible, the life and works of Karl Marx, warts and all; from blood-thirsty arguments with opponents, to medical details of the various many ailments Marx suffered from to the horrificly true and not-so-nice predictions of Europe's political future including the world wars and what brought them about.

Karl Marx is an educating idol for anyone who wants to think on their own, to conclude only what their mind understand by constantly checking for contradictions and 'plot holes' in grand theories around them and Wheen describes wonderfully both how Marx came about this and what it brought him.

The book is well written, light to read and enjoyable. The style is humorist and serious at the same time, with a keen eye on the various misdeeds various politically-enclined historians twisted or wrongly presented Marx history and work, which is always nice to see.



A very good book, I highly recommend it.


View all my reviews.

Am now reading Complete Illustrated Lewis Carroll

* Due to the fact that people in cat forums are stupid enough to think a troll would go all the way to invent a story describing my cat research, or that I'm the MI5 (people are really, honestly stupid) I've decided to turn to places where I can proove my identity more easily, so I've opened a FaceBook account and here it is.

* I'm officially have been working at the store for a month and now I'm getting precenteges for my sales, which is another bonus in an already bonus-packed work place ^_^

* Piccies!!

This is Anat, she volenteers at the zoology garden, helping Shimon (the hyena's keeper) with his work. Those two were such great help to me in the project, they were simply marvelous. I wrote them each a thank you letter and got them a box of chocolates for their bother and help.


The hyena enjoying the fishy ice lolly. It took him a while to wrap his brains around the concept of the ice lolly, and he didn't like the fish at all!


Egret tree at the zoology garden


The hyena cheating; he was supposed to keep the bone ine cage so that I'll know if he prefers the bone so much that he'd go into the cage for it while there's the yard and all its treasures to relish, but he took the bone out to the yard as you can see


Yum yum yum, Ice Lolly Version 2.0; chicks and fruits and the hyena is loving it!


Having a dust bath


The wolves dug a tunnle (*commence The Great Escape jokes now*) in the yard and it's the hyena's pleasure the destroy it from time to time, as you can see here; he's pulling out a log they stuck in it...


A happy hyena; having a short dip


One of the wolves


Sniffing the fat stain a dead sheep the wolves got left behind


And rolling in it....


The yard


Moi in the final toy-free observation today, a picture taken by my dad who climbed on the roof with me for 'security reasons' (Mr. Safety's orders *rolls eyes*)




The garden


A herd of gazelles


And that's it for today!!

Mommy's little helper

* This week was a bit of a stress; five days of work which meant the only time I was home was in the morning and then after 23:00...not fun. But the pay will be good (and I need it!)

* Speaking of pay, lovely Ebay ended up demanding almost half the sum I earned on my first sale, after a long list of various fees, half of which aren't mentioned. Cute people, like hell I'm using their services again without a proper reserve price, the assholes.

* The Deaths: Legend is on hiatose due to problems with the beta-ing, but mostly due to the nonexisting free time I have. I'll keep writing various bits of it but it'll take me a while to find a proper beta and once I found them, to trust them again to properly do the jobs they took upon them or last for long without kicking up drama to cover laziness (the first being the fault of the latest now ex-beta and the last being the fault of my first ex-beta). See, Allan, no battle axes ^_^

* This morning Scarlett was very nice, helping mom fold the laundry. Mind you, the term "help" is very flexible in the feline world. I'll let you be the judge:



"Here, mom, take this, oh my clawas are in it? So sorry *pulls hard*"




Slowely creeping atop the pile to block any more kidnapping of items:




N00, THEY BE STEALIN' MAH LONDRI!!


Perhaps rolling around and looking cute'll do the trick...


She's just an angel


"leave me alone already"


"I'm sleeeeeeepiiiiiiing!!"


Yeah, right.

* Store stuffs: Meet Nathan, as I think he aught to be named:


Nathan was one of our kept-for-snake-food rats in the store along with several other rats. Last week there were only him and two other rats left and since I already introduced myself to him I held him again and he snuggled up in my overall's chest pocket to doze off, pop out and scare/delight costumers and pee in the pocket. ANYWAYS, halfway through the shift a man comes and wants two rats for his snake. The bastard insisted I'd get him the rats even after he saw what I had in my pocket and had to be prized off by the other worker in the store, bless his soul. So Nathan's buddies were taken and my little one, having been in my pocket, was saved.
The name stems from my father's sensitive and tactful (note the sarcasm) comment about the story that I "made Sophie's choice"....now tell me, is that something to tell a gal like me?
Anyways, the day after that I convinced a nice young couple of obvious animal fanatism to take Nathan in as a pet and his life were completely saved ^_^

Another friend who kept me company this week is this little cocktail parakeet:

Luckily, he was considerate enough to not leave any birdly "presents" behind while he stayed where he did. Kind parakeet <3

* The hyena project: He doesn't know what to do with ice XXXD it's not in hus umwelt, the poor baby. he spent the whole hour pacing like he always does with short tiny breaks to check if anything tasty melted off the ice yet and to lick it listlessly for a few minutes. Here's the ice lolly full of goody yum yums for hyenas like fish, whole chicken, canalopes and dates:

Bears go nutty over these lollies but I guess bears live in places much more prone to ice and snow while the currently more desert-inhabiting striped hyena has a problem wrapping his mind around the concept of nibbling and kicking the ice into melting to release the goody yum yum. Oh well, it's a result and it's a great result too IMO, so I'm pleased.

@_@

Five work days + university + zoo experiment + project + university obligations = no life

However, I had this to cheer me up:
Brand New Monty Python Papperbok by Graham Chapman

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
Very silly.


View all my reviews.

Book report

* A friend from uni forwarded my cat survey to his friends and they've been sending me back what is now the bulk of the Israeli voice in my survey. Thank you, Zohar!!

* Finished The Book Thief and here's the review:

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
When I started reading this book I thought there was too much kitsch in it but then I told myself I've been reading too much documentry history books that human emotions seem like kitsch to me. Also, Zusak's writing swept me like a tidal wave.



This book really has everything; exact history, two sides of a coin, the whole ugly truth, and a boog plot. Sometimes it's got kitsch history moments but this book wouldn't become so glorified and admired by so many people if it hadn't had some pointless kitsch.



It's a wonderful, captivating read and it's written brilliantly, despite its slight amount of kitsch. I suppose saying it's not a human being narrating the book but death makes it some kind of an excuse to kitsch. I guess.



Still, it's a lovely book as is highly recomended!


View all my reviews.

Am now reading Francis Wheen's Karl Marx

Happiness is....

1. A cocktail parakeet on my shoulder, playing with my earring and putting its tiny face into my curls' loops.
2. Fluffing up a bunny and having a child-costumer come up to me asking if they can hold it and to quickly and sternly answer "No".
3. Doing the same to an annoying screeching teenager girl, who has been running around the store aimlessly babbeling nonsense and responding to animals' natural behavior like only stupid teenaged girls can react when they think being disgusted and amused by whatever looks odd to them is the right and feminine thing to do, and is now standing by the bunny pen with a large sign on it saying 'Do Not Touch the Animals' asking if she can pet the bunny.
4. Fondling a rat who, after a long while of sniffing around my hands and shirt, curls up in my palms and goes to sleep.

Did I tell you I love my job yet?

The hyena project relaxed a bit and now the toy stage is in full force. The bones experiment is done and next week'll be time for the ice lolly test. I enjoyed making the ice lolly (take a small plastic tub, fill it with cut up chicken, sardines, canalopes and dates, fill it with water and put it in the freezer) but I did not enjoy putting it in the freezer. I found a dead sheep there, waiting for consuming; not a pretty sight on the end of a long bunker-like refrigerator, opening a giant bunker-like door and once the clouds of frost dissappear to see the sheep's legs sticking out in odd directions @_@

Anyways! Here are some kitty pictures:



Muh?


You again? What do you want?


The biggest toy bone (the one he did not yet consume, BTW) was also a key interest to the fluffers when I let them sniff it around. Scarlett was the most intersted:


She was trying to get under it for some strange reason...


Sam joined in




But gave up when Scarlett started showing too much interest. He's a gentleman like that; he'll give her whatever she's interested in even if he's playing with it. The only thing he'll take from her is the food bowl come gushy food time...


Hopefull much, ne?


She tried biting it from every direction

She even managed to drag it for a few centimeters...

Today I was in the zoology garden doing the last round of the bones test and here are pictures!!

This is the predator's compound's yard. Mostly the wolves are in it but the hyena gets to go there once in a while


This is the hyena in one part of his cage. The other part is of equal size on the other side of the wall.


Shiran, who came up with me onto the roof of the wolves & heyna side of the compound, looking glum. I had to take someone up there with me due to security orders...


More of the hyena


Standing in his water pool, he likes sitting there, scratching himself or drinking the water while cooling on them.


Bones round I. Note the big yellowish bone is the same one Scarlett tried having a go at. Note the changes a hyena can do...


And that's it for today, I'll bring pictures of the ice lolly round as well ^_^

Yup yup

* The cat handling survey's on the roll!! If you wish to participate (which means you have a cat who's willing to be picked up or you frequently meet a cat who does so - like in a family's/friend's house) please email: CatSurvey@windowslive.com with a headline "bloggish" Thank you!

* The hyena thing is semi-solved, that is, if the hyena won't destroy all the bones we brought him too fast....

* Finished reading A Historical Achievement and its Evolution (BTW, they didn't mis-use the term 'evolution 8D) and here's the newly-made Goodreads review-form thingie:

A Historical Achievement and its Evolution by Abigale Paz-Yeshaiyahu

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is a gathering of many articles dealing with the kibbutz and moshav movements, the political and general history of the two.

A promising book, it managed to be a vewry good and educating book covering history well until it reached topics beyond that of WW2 and beyond. Until then it was extensive, well written, easy to read history and a bit of philosophy. Everything beyond the second world war and the foundation of Israel (including the big Stalin-good-or-bad crisis in the kibbutz movement!) was neglected. The articles became vague and overly sociologistic-politic-centered. Besides one purely economic article about the crumbling of the lesser-successful kibbuts during the 80s, and an article about Ben Gurion's efforts to create education settlements for the new arrivals as Israel was founded, there was nothing historical about anything happening in Israel beyond 1939.

Big, big, GIANT cock-up and a huge mistake in a book which claims to cover the kibbutz and moshav movements from 1900 to 1990.


View all my reviews.

Am now reading: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

* I started putting some old anime-fandom-era treasures up to sale on Ebay and so far the one product I put on is getting quarrled over by two people, good good ^_^

*waves smoke away*

I got a job! I'm now a proud (and happy) worker in a PET SHOP in a neighboring city's mall. Yeah, Couldn't have thought of a better part-time job for me than that, huh? I'M SO HAPPY!! A hissing cockroach walked on me and a tarantula walked on me and a leopard gecko bit me and a budgy walked on me and an ara parrot missed pooping on me and rats smelled me and a siberean hamster yelled at me and *can go on forever* fun fun!!

On a different note; the hyena experiment is under a bit of problems. Here's a short video you can sort of make out my mood from:


Goodnight and happy D-Day anniversary.

Quick Note

* Dana has left the animal behavior lab course and I'm therefore alone on the job. Not that I mind; I much prefer working alone rather than having to synchronize everything with other people. Also news on the course is that the martes are making a full use of their enclosure's branches, shelves and various entertainment facilities and despite the fact that they do show some repeatative behavior, they're also doing a whole lot more (only about 10% of what they've been doing was repeatative behavior) while the hyena's spening half an hour pacing without noticing what's going on around him...so the martes are off the topic, but I'll make 'em toys anyways <3

* The new Legend chapter is out in my original fiction LJ and FictionPress, go read it.

Over and out.

A bit of history

Theres an employment fair in the university today, where various companies spread out their nets for enhgeneers and computer people (believe me, I looked, there's nothing for anyone else in there). Amungst the booths was a booth by Siemens, with the usual bumbling recruitment people and free candy to lure hungry peniless students into the flytrap. I approached one of the salesmen recruitment guys and asked him if he knew Siemens had factories in Auschwitz, Ravensbruck and was a general employer of forced labor and nazification during the second world war, that they actually produced crematoriums for Buchenwald. His answer was, after a small awkward silence, "uh....they don't do that anymore".
Yeah, Allies troops can do that to you sometimes...shame, isn't it?

Just for further reading, here's Siemens' official declaration of the subject in their website:

From 1933, National Socialist economic policy pursued two primary goals: combating unemployment and “militarization of the German economy.” 'combating unemployment is a funny way of saying 'firing jews and hiring gentiles A four-year plan was instituted in 1936 to ready the economy and the armed forces for war within the space of a few years. Like other sectors, the electrical industry received an increasing number of orders from public offices and was drawn into the program of war preparations. This development marked the onset of a phase of rapid growth that continued through to the end of World War II So, nazis are good for business, eh?.

Following its invasion of Poland in 1939, Germany embarked on a gradual transition to a war economy. The state restricted and even prohibited the production of certain civilian goods and requisites, and military conscription led to a widening shortage of labor. gee, you could have solved that by putting women into factories like the US, UK and Soviets did...or you can just put the women in the army, like the soviets, but women in the nazi idea was a baby factory (and the occasional guard dog when needed in camps) but never anything more useful than that... As a result, an increasing number of foreign civilians – men and women – were employed in manufacturing. Initially, they chose to work of their own free will re-writing history, ladies and gentlemen, is not just a Soviet feature; capitalists do it too ^_^. Later, though, many were forced into labor. They worked throughout German industry – in the manufacturing sector, in public services, and in agriculture. By the winter of 1941-42, the German economy had become entirely dependent on forced labor.

In late 1944, at the height of World War II, Siemens’ total workforce of 244,000 included some 50,000 people who had been put to work against their will. The overall number of men and women who served as forced labor at Siemens during the war years was, however, higher. No actual numbers and the number which do exist, I don't know of a source that can approve them, but that's something that can be checked

During the final years of the war, numerous plants and factories in Berlin and other major cities were destroyed by Allied air raids. To prevent further losses, manufacturing was therefore moved to alternative places and regions not affected by the air war. Like Poland? that was before 1944-1945... The goal was to secure continued production of important war-related and everyday goods. According to records, Siemens was operating almost 400 alternative or relocated manufacturing plants at the end of 1944 and in early 1945.

Germany’s political, military and economic collapse led to the closure of Siemens’ plants in Berlin on April 20, 1945. By the time the war came to an end, the greater part of Siemens’ buildings and industrial installations had been completely destroyed. The company’s overall losses resulting from World War II amounted to 2.58 billion reichsmarks – four-fifths of its total assets. Makes you cry, doesn't it? I mean, they were at a horrible loss, horrible, you see; they're the victims here, the army used them, the poor things.

Ugh.