Cats in Art: Panther Panel (Unknown Prehistoric Artist)

From my continuing weekly Sunday series of cats in art. Currently I'm using some prehistoric art, triggered by finally seeing "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" which depicts 30,000 year old art in Chauvet Cave, France.

Image credit The Bradshaw Foundation, here. 

Medium: red pigment on rock, 5 m x 1.5 m, approximately 30,000 years ago, unknown artist

Ten drawings are arranged over the area. The animal figures include 3 bears, 2 felines - including a panther - 2 ibex, 3 unidentifiable animals and 1 red dot, made with the palm of the hand. The central piece of the panel is dominated by the panther and the 2 superimposed bears. Whilst the outlines are precise and 'essential', the figures are incomplete. The spots on the panther represent a feline coat, where as the spots on the cave bear probably suggested a thicker fur. The figures are all drawn in red. Other visible marks on the panel are attributable to bears - paw-rubs and claw marks.

The cats in the image probably are Owen's Panther (Puma pardoides), a poorly known Old World fossil representative of a large cougar-like cat of Eurasia's Pleistocene (reference here).

As in last week's post of the lions in Chauvet Cave, I marvel at the artist who actually saw these panthers and had the artistic skills to draw them.  One can't help but ponder the timeless qualities of art and beauty intertwined...that's some enduring art, right there.

 

Gary's Relationship Advice

Yesterday's post about the wisdom of old female elephants got me to thinking about relationships. Nothing to do with Ultrarunning here.

This whole age/experience thing kinda dovetails with my theory of relationships. In today's culture young lovers often take things to the next level way too fast: dating, sex, moving in together, marriage (or not).

I've always thought that the key ingredient that seems to be missing is time: you need to be with someone for months, not weeks, so you can see them at their best and at their worst, in sickness and in health, so to speak, before you commit.  You need to see them when they are up, when they are down, how they handle pressure and adversity and joy and sorrow...before you are inextricably linked.

You don't want to be learning your loved one's basic traits after you've pulled the commitment trigger, because you may not like what you see.

Which brings me back to the value of just spending time, unrushed, unhurried time.  If your loved one holds up well (i.e., is a decent human being under most circumstances), then you may know that he or she is the one.

 

Age and Experience DO Count...and Ultrarunning

Via Science Magazine, here, confirmation from the animal kingdom of what is generally also true among humans: age and experience DO count:

What good is an older female elephant to her herd, especially one in her 60s and well-beyond her prime reproductive years? She's the best leader and the one most capable of making wise decisions, according to a study of African elephants (Loxodonta africana) in Kenya's Amboseli National Park that was published today in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. The oldest female in an elephant herd is always the leader.

But how did the researchers demonstrate this quantitatively, since this topic is mighty subjective?  A pretty ingenious experiment:

Researchers tested the decision-making skills of these matriarchs by playing recordings of lions roaring; they monitored the elephants' reactions to the roars of a single lion versus three lions for both male and female lions. Because of their size and heft, single male lions can pose a greater threat to elephants than do female lions. The oldest matriarchs proved best at recognizing a male lion's roar, as 66-year-old Joyce does in this video [Gary note: go to link, here, for the video]. When she hears the three male lions, she bunches her herd in a tight phalanx to ward off a possible attack. The study provides the first experimental evidence that the members of a herd benefit from an older leader—a discovery, the researchers say, that also shows how vital it is to protect the elders (who usually have the biggest tusks) from ivory poachers.

I like to think that as I've aged as an Ultrarunner, I've also gained the experience and knowledge that only years can bring.  Although I certainly recall as a young man thinking that old people thought they knew it all.

Turns out they did (at least to a point).

In Ultrarunning I've realized that it's the journey and not the destination.  I don't do dumb things anymore (usually!) such as not telling loved ones where I'll be and when I expect to get back.  Plus I always carry my cell phone on the trail , and more water and trail food than I think I'll need.

But mostly I just sorta listen to my instnincts and go with my gut in pacing, in adapting to weatehr conditions, whether, say, adding that loop makes sense today. 

My credo now--just like they told us in the 60s--is that speed kills. So take it easy and enjoy the trail.

The Speech That President Obama Should Give

I'm now feeling about this president the same way I felt about President Carter: hope and change were in the air, and the time was right for a bold, strong person with vision to correct the erroneous course that the U.S. had been on.

Unfortunately, President Carter didn't get the job done while in office, although in his case, I am in awe of his post-presidency humanitarian efforts.  And it remains to be seen how former President Obama will perform after 2016. 

But I must observe that unlike Carter, President Obama will have a whole lotta rehabilitation to do to repair his reputation (think warrantless surveillance, drones, coddling Wall Street while the middle class tanked, focusing on the deficit rather than jobs, failing to prosecute known war crimes committed by his predecessor....)

Which leads me to a great post by David Atkins at the blog Hullabaloo.

If I were President, I would go on camera and say:

"You know, I want what the American people want. Like you, I want to increase the minimum wage. I want to boost jobs, increase incomes for middle class Americans, and fix our decaying infrastructure. I want to do something to stop the epidemic of gun deaths in this country. I want to invest in green jobs, move away from the old fuels that fund our enemies, slow down and stop climate change and make America the leader in the technologies of the 21st century. I want to invest in our children's education and stop students from taking on a lifetime of debt just to go to college.

 

Like you, I want to do all these things. But I'm not a king. I can't force Congress to put these bills on my desk. They have to bring them to me, and Republicans in Congress refuse to do so. I'm asking them directly: give me these bills. The American people want them. I got elected by a significant margin in order to get these things done that I talked about on the campaign trail.

 

I'm as aware as the American People that nothing is getting done in Washington. It's all bickering and no action. But that doesn't mean everyone is equally to blame. I'm trying to get these things done to bring relief to my fellow Americans. Most of my Democratic colleagues in the Senate are trying to do the same. But the House of Representatives is refusing to do its job. In fact, they're planning on taking America hostage--again!--refusing to pay the bills we've racked up unless we slash even more jobs and hurt our economy even worse than they hurt it already.

 

Enough is enough. I'm waiting for the House to act, and for Republicans in the Senate to stop filibustering every bill we put forward to help the American people. The Republican Senate Minority has already blocked twice as many bills during my Presidency than in any other Presidency. I've tried compromising, I've tried threatening, I've tried pleading. Nothing works. There's nothing to trade. The Republicans are so invested in trying to make my Presidency fail that they're will to let American go down with it.

 

They don't want to raise the minimum wage. They want to cut taxes for the rich. They don't want to invest in green jobs and infrastructure: they want to cut jobs and privatize our roads and bridges. They don't want to reduce the number of guns on our streets and in our schools; they want to increase them. They'd rather regulate women's bodies than regulate corporations that evade taxes and pollute our air and water. There's no compromise to be had there. Trust me, I've tried--though the press often pretends I haven't, I've tried as hard as anyone can. They just don't want the same things the American people do.

 

My message to the American People is this: you elected me to do a job and make your lives better. I'm doing all I can, but I can't do it alone. I need Congress--and Republicans in Congress especially--to do their jobs rather than cater to the interests of a few big corporations and the wealthiest Americans. Everything I can do alone, I'm doing. But I can't do the big things without some help. If you want change as much as I do, if you want to realize your and my hope for a better future, call up and email your members of Congress and tell them to do their jobs and send these bills to my desk."

"I Foresee Terrible Trouble...." and Ultrarunning

Well, it's the end of an era.  I've blogged here before about my oldest and favorite garment.

Well. today was its last run:

 

 

 

The collar has pretty much given up the ghost.  I should have something like a flag retirement ceremony and consign the shirt to the flames.

 

I am uneasy, however, about no longer having this trusty garment.  In the immortal words of Steely Dan in "Dirty Work," I foresee terrible trouble unless I quickly rotate in a suitable replacement shirt.

 

 



 

Cats in Art: Panel of the Lions (Unknown Prehistoric Artist)

Go. See. Cave of Forgotten Dreams.

Or use Netflix, like I did, since the movie is now available there.  If you are like me, the theatrical release never made it to my backwoods area.

Image credit The Bradshaw Foundation, here, black drawing on rock, 30,000 years ago, unknown artist, approximately 4 meters square.

 

From the Bradshaw Foundation website, where you can view stills of the various images in the cave:

The wall to the right of the central recess has a large number of animals drawn on to it. The overall scene depicts a hunt. On the right of the composition there is a rhinoceros and a mammoth. On the left, there are four bison heads, and two more rhinos. Then there are seven bison, pursued by a pride of sixteen lions, mainly depicted by their heads alone. Above all of this drama, at a different scale, there is a large feline figure shown standing face to face with a lion cub. Almost all of the animals on this panel face left. This composition is unique in Palaeolithic art.

Chauvet Cave was discovered in 1994...or should I say, rediscovered, since prehistoric man obviously entered and used the cave some 30,000+ years ago, leaving behind stunningly beautiful and haunting art on the walls of the cave. You should go to the Bradshaw site and read more.

The story of the cave itself and its exploration:

These cat images--or should I say lion images, since the house kitty was still thousands of years in the future--are breathtaking in their detail. The artists of today paint house cats, and the event is totally non-threatening. The life of the artist in this image would literally been in danger just to have seen a lion.

Another Reason to Like President Jimmy Carter

I keep finding reasons to really like the worldview and actions of our former president: (via Firedoglake)

Former President Jimmy Carter announced support for NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden this week, saying that his uncovering of the agency’s massive surveillance programs had proven “beneficial.”

Speaking at a closed-door event in Atlanta covered by German newspaper Der Spiegel, Carter also criticized the NSA’s domestic spying as damaging to the core of the nation’s principles. “America does not have a functioning democracy at this point in time,” Carter said, according to a translation by Inquisitr.

“He’s obviously violated the laws of America, for which he’s responsible, but I think the invasion of human rights and American privacy has gone too far,” he told CNN, saying that nations were within their right to offer asylum to Snowden. “I think that the secrecy that has been surrounding this invasion of privacy has been excessive, so I think that the bringing of it to the public notice has probably been, in the long term, beneficial.” 

Guess Jimmy and I should expect a visit from the feds sometime soon.

Cats in Art: Fur Traders Descending the Missouri (Bingham)

Life is interfering with blogging...this is a repost...but the kitty is still mysterious and compelling, and Bingham as a painter sure knew how to intrigue the observer....

The above photo is entitled Fur Traders Descending the Missouri, by George Caleb Bingham (1811–1879), painted in 1845, oil on canvas, dimensions 29 x 36 1/2 inches. Credit for the image here.

Why post this? I love cats, I love art, and this is a natural confluence. I've decided that I'm going to do a continuing series of posts on instances of cats appearing in works of art. I've previously done this here, when I posted on a 122 Year Old Cat in a Night Cafe, based upon a painting by Paul Gauguin, with an adorable kitty under the table.


The cat really is the focus of this Bingham painting. The two men are backgrounded by the island, while the cat is silhouetted by the pale river as background and pops from the image. I wonder if Bingham strategically placed the cat in the bow of the boat for purposes of realism, or if he was just a cat lover and used the painting as a venue to get a kitty in there.

Also, think about the title--Fur Traders Descending the Missouri. This implies that their trapping journey is nearly over (also evidenced by the pile of furs on the canoe). So the cat, presumably, was along for the entirety of the trip, unless they got the kitty from Indians (who only had dogs as domestic animals, I think).

That's one loyal cat. Wonder how many lives he/she used up on the trip?