Posted: 1/2/2008 at 03:53 PM
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Happy New Year, devoted readers of my ever-updated blog! You may or may not be aware of this, but 2008 will be (according to Chinese astrology) the Year of the Rat. Yes, you read that right. A year is actually dedicated to the plague-causing rodent that is also know the disgusting (in my opinion), beady-eyed rat. Here's a little insight into what we can expect in the rat-themed lunar new year:
"In the Year of the Rat (beginning on Feb. 7th), we can expect 12 months of plentiful opportunities and prospects not to mention being relatively free of turbulence, (which is great to know especially if you’re planning on making some long-term investments, starting new projects, or keeping the home fires burning brightly)."
“A Rat Year is a time of hard work, activity, and renewal. This is a good year to begin a new job, get married, launch a product or make a fresh start. Ventures begun now may not yield fast returns, but opportunities will come for people who are well prepared and resourceful. The best way for you to succeed is to be patient, let things develop slowly, and make the most of every opening you can find.”
So, I don't know about you, but I take these things with a grain of salt. I'm not quite sure what to believe: Is this stuff totally, 100% true or is it antiquated hog-wash? We'll never know. I do know however that a few years ago (2004 I believe), was the Year of the Monkey, and my friends brought it in with a banana-themed party, with mini-banana bread loafs passed out to each guest and crazy monkey-esque games that were played. So when February 7th, 2008 hits, what kind of rat-themed foods, games, etc, would be apropos for a Year of the Rat party? Ratatouille (the French vegetable dish, not the Disney movie), cheese, peanut butter served on faux mouse traps, "pocket full of puss" cake? The options are....the opposite of endless.
Happy Year of the Rat, Disaboomers!
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*cough* Okay, you knew this was coming, right?
I have pet rats. Lots of them. Thirteen, to be exact (which is a number I like, to be honest, largely because of the negative connotations with the number 13- it's fun to threaten to sic my 13 attack rats on people who don't know that the worst the 13 rats would do is beg for chocolate chips).
Some facts about rats:
-Rats actually STOPPED the Black Plague, according to many current theories. The Black Rat, rattus rattus, carried fleas that transmitted the Plague. When the Norwegian Brown Rat, rattus Norvegicus, was introduced to the areas where the Plague was prominent, its greater resistence to fleas and its larger size caused the Plague to lose its hold on civilization- Brown Rats drove rattus rattus into hiding, away from humans to share their fleas with, in territory battles, and thus has it stayed. To this day, the Norwegian Rat is the species kept as pets, and the species you think of as a sewer rat- Black Rats are still around, but are shy and rarely seen by humans.
-Rats are currently the only non-primates known to possess meta-cognition, the trait of knowing what they know and knowing what they do not know, which was previously considered exclusive to primates and is known to be a sign of high human-like intelligence.
-Rats are excellent mothers, and will nurse even babies of different species, from mice to newborn kittens.
-Rats live in social groups and develop close friendships, with many rat owners reporting that rats carried food to sick friends or even buried dead friends.
-Rats are very clean, grooming themselves up to several hundred times per day!
-Rats can easily be trained to do tricks and to come when called, and are used as introductions to animal training for students at the nation's premier animal training school, which eventually teaches students to train tigers and the like- rats are considered so trainable that they make better first subjects for the students than dogs!
-Rats avoid poisoned foods by selecting a colony member to taste a small portion of a new food offered to wild rats, and if after several hours the first colony member is alive and well, only then will the rats partake of their own small portions- they gorge themselves only on foods they know to be safe.
-Rats are also very human like in their sexuality- males will cross electrified floors to reach a mate!
-Rats empathize with other rats. In a study, two rats were introduced and then separated into two cages with a clear dividing wall. One rat was offered food, but its taking food meant the other rat received an electric shock to the tail. In this disturbing and cruel study, they found that rats will literally starve themselves to avoid a friend being hurt. Empathy is another trait that was once considered applicable only to humans.
If you want to serve ratty favorites at a New Year's party, I suggest eschewing such stereotype-reinforcing ideas as pus cake and fake mouse traps on the grounds that you never know who might be a rat owner and be terribly upset by the idea. Some things my rats particularly enjoy:
-Any dish containing pasta.
-Berries of all sorts (rats fed blueberries retain cognitive abilities into old age far better than rats not fed blueberries)
-Chocolate chip cookies.
-Fresh greens
-Oysters
-Beef liver
-Frozen peas
my apologies regarding rats.....im just not a fan. sorry.
yo tiff :) xoxo
heya deb ;)
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