A Dream: Weasels in Space

[Joe Bernstein]

Last year, I posted about a recurring dream - orbiting Mercury in a
spacesuit - that sort of reflected what was going on in my life at
the time.

Last night, I had a dream that was rather a drag and had none of the
grandeur of the Mercury dreams. So I want to head it off by posting
about it before it can recur.

Apparently we're on Titan, building a base, and for some reason we
have weasels along. This complicates base-building. However, when
we return to the much older, roomier and more civilised base on Mars,
we find swarms of weasels.

This makes all kinds of nonsense. Weasels typically eat a significant
percentage of their body weight per day. I thought maybe they were
obligate hunters, who couldn't be fed except live prey, but it isn't
quite that bad; one animal rescue site advocates feeding baby weasels
cat food. Still, that's a lot of weight to loft, and an increasing
amount if you're freaking letting them *breed*, as Mars evidently was
in the dream.

Also, weasels are pretty consistently territorial, not social.
American otters (genus Lontra) are social, but not weasels, genus
Mustela. For some reason the ones on Titan were wrapped in little
weasel tubes, but the ones on Mars were running around loose, and
should have been tearing each other to shreds, instead of cavorting
otterishly with each other.

In the dream, I kept remembering that Titan should be very dark and
cold - in other words, being aware that my dream was unrealistic
while I was having it. It isn't difficult to analogise that to my
sleeping conditions, but actually I was pretty warm last night. I
think rather this was my critical side getting some exercise. Anyway,
real weasels can live pretty far north, but I don't know if they live
far *enough* north for really long nights, and even those have
moonlight. Cold shouldn't have been an issue inside the base, but I
do remember that we were in spacesuits, and the weasels weren't.

I'm pretty sure I've encountered otters - Earth otters, that is - in
space somewhere or other, but not at all sure I've ever seen Mustela
in space. Has it happened, somewhere in sf? Should it happen, in
reality or in sf? Any other comments?

Joe Bernstein

--
Joe Bernstein, writer and tax preparer <j...@sfbooks.com>

[Kevrob]

Before retiring, had you been watching the Muppets, and before that,
listening to Frank Zappa?

Kevin R

(Checked Narnia wiki for weasels: none)

[Garrett Wollman]

In article <38410850-3e45-40a0...@googlegroups.com>,

Joe Bernstein <j...@sfbooks.com> wrote:
>I'm pretty sure I've encountered otters - Earth otters, that is - in
>space somewhere or other, but not at all sure I've ever seen Mustela
>in space. Has it happened, somewhere in sf? Should it happen, in
>reality or in sf? Any other comments?

Not quite Mustela spp. but IIRC Elf Sternberg has written space porn
with anthro mustelid-morphs.

You did ask.

-GAWollman

--
Garrett A. Wollman | What intellectual phenomenon can be older, or more oft
wol...@bimajority.org| repeated, than the story of a large research program
Opinions not shared by| that impaled itself upon a false central assumption
my employers. | accepted by all practitioners? - S.J. Gould, 1993

[Joe Bernstein]

On Friday, January 20, 2017 at 12:56:24 PM UTC-8, Kevrob wrote:

> On Friday, January 20, 2017 at 3:20:51 PM UTC-5, Joe Bernstein wrote:

[snips]

> > Apparently we're on Titan, building a base, and for some reason we
> > have weasels along. This complicates base-building. However, when
> > we return to the much older, roomier and more civilised base on Mars,
> > we find swarms of weasels.

> Before retiring, had you been watching the Muppets, and before that,
> listening to Frank Zappa?

No, and no.

Also, these weasels were cute, which is not exactly how weasels are
normally depicted in popular culture. The ones on Mars really did
act like otters, but didn't look like them.

Beats me.

-- JLB

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <38410850-3e45-40a0...@googlegroups.com>,
Joe Bernstein <j...@sfbooks.com> wrote:

>Last year, I posted about a recurring dream - orbiting Mercury in a
>spacesuit - that sort of reflected what was going on in my life at
>the time.
>
>Last night, I had a dream that was rather a drag and had none of the
>grandeur of the Mercury dreams. So I want to head it off by posting
>about it before it can recur.
>
>Apparently we're on Titan, building a base, and for some reason we
>have weasels along. This complicates base-building. However, when
>we return to the much older, roomier and more civilised base on Mars,
>we find swarms of weasels.

Was your dream in the Heterodyneverse, do you think? There,
specially bred and trained weasels are of considerable importance
in detecting the minions of the Other.

Many people keep ferrets, which are a variety of weasel. Have
you ever encountered any of them? They (the ferrets, not their
owners) are kind of cute, but smelly. The can't hold a candle to
cats, IMO.

--
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at gmail dot com

[Kevrob]

Oohh! Good catch, Dorothy.

I found a whole page of "Ferrets in F&SF"

http://www.canit.se/~griffon/ferrets/text.e/ferrets_in_fsf.html

Ferritina The Weasel Queen is specifically mentioned.

Kevin R

[Robert Carnegie]

But weasels and ferrets are stoatally different.

Somewhere, if only in brain cells of mine that are working less well than formerly, are lyrics that I
wrote mostly about Ferretina, with the tune of
the Eagles' "Take It Easy" in mind, but my chorus
was "She's a weasel." (Literally so. Up to a
point.) This isn't exactly right, so I claim
poetic licence (although it also wasn't particularly
good poetry).

[Titus G]

On 21/01/17 09:20, Joe Bernstein wrote:
> Last year, I posted about a recurring dream - orbiting Mercury in a
> spacesuit - that sort of reflected what was going on in my life at
> the time.
>
> Last night, I had a dream that was rather a drag and had none of the
> grandeur of the Mercury dreams. So I want to head it off by posting
> about it before it can recur.
>
> Apparently we're on Titan, building a base, and for some reason we
> have weasels along. This complicates base-building. However, when
> we return to the much older, roomier and more civilised base on Mars,
> we find swarms of weasels.

snip

> I'm pretty sure I've encountered otters - Earth otters, that is - in
> space somewhere or other, but not at all sure I've ever seen Mustela
> in space. Has it happened, somewhere in sf? Should it happen, in
> reality or in sf? Any other comments?

In Eejit: A Tale of the Final Fall of Man, (which is absolutely 5 star
brilliant science fiction and space opera), by Andrew Hindle, a weasel
who has "stowed away" suddenly appears. It is a weasel and has no
significance in the Tale other than in character description/development

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <6b5953fd-aa02-4b9c...@googlegroups.com>,

They're both mustelids, I believe.

[Don Bruder]

In article <oK3wE...@kithrup.com>,

Weasel = Ferret on overdose of growth hormones + full-blown 'roid-rage.
And smoking crack. While on meth. On a really, Really, REALLY, *REALLY*
bad day.

Ferrets *SUPPOSEDLY* can make decent pets - I've known folks who like
'em better than cats, though due to their close relationship to weasels,
I personally wouldn't trust one as far as I could throw my pickup truck.
Weasels (when they go to their winter coloration, then for some reason
never understood by me, they get called ermines instead of weasels) can
be used for making nice fur clothing - assuming you can trap enough of
them to make something large enough to be useful.

Weasels are so viciously anti-anything-else-living that I'm amazed they
can even get together long enough to continue the species without
killing (and probably eating) each other.

--
Brought to you by the letter K and the number .357
Security provided by Horace S. & Dan W.

[Kevrob]

This is how I learned about weasels as a kid:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1cyji_foghorn-leghorn-1956-weasel-stop_fun

Kevin R

[David Mitchell]

On 20/01/17 20:20, Joe Bernstein wrote:
>
> I'm pretty sure I've encountered otters - Earth otters, that is - in
> space somewhere or other,

There are, IIRC, eight foot mutated otters in Pohl and Williamson's
Starchild Trilogy.

Otters. In. Spaaaaace.

[Robert Woodward]

In article <38410850-3e45-40a0...@googlegroups.com>,
Joe Bernstein <j...@sfbooks.com> wrote:

<SNIP of his dream of Weasels on Titan and Mars>

>
> I'm pretty sure I've encountered otters - Earth otters, that is - in
> space somewhere or other, but not at all sure I've ever seen Mustela
> in space. Has it happened, somewhere in sf? Should it happen, in
> reality or in sf? Any other comments?

There are at least 2 otters (mutated to some extent, IIRC) in James H.
Schmitz's _Demon Breed_ (aka "The Tuvela"). As for weasels, IIRC,
"Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons" were mutated weasels.

--
"We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_.
—-----------------------------------------------------
Robert Woodward robe...@drizzle.com

[Kevrob]

On Saturday, January 21, 2017 at 12:59:43 AM UTC-5, Robert Woodward wrote:
> In article <38410850-3e45-40a0...@googlegroups.com>,
> Joe Bernstein <j...@sfbooks.com> wrote:
>
> <SNIP of his dream of Weasels on Titan and Mars>
>
> >
> > I'm pretty sure I've encountered otters - Earth otters, that is - in
> > space somewhere or other, but not at all sure I've ever seen Mustela
> > in space. Has it happened, somewhere in sf? Should it happen, in
> > reality or in sf? Any other comments?
>
> There are at least 2 otters (mutated to some extent, IIRC) in James H.
> Schmitz's _Demon Breed_ (aka "The Tuvela"). As for weasels, IIRC,
> "Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons" were mutated weasels.

Not mink? (Still Mustelidae, though.)

Kevin R

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <robertaw-33151D...@news.individual.net>,

Robert Woodward <robe...@drizzle.com> wrote:
>In article <38410850-3e45-40a0...@googlegroups.com>,
> Joe Bernstein <j...@sfbooks.com> wrote:
>
><SNIP of his dream of Weasels on Titan and Mars>
>
>>
>> I'm pretty sure I've encountered otters - Earth otters, that is - in
>> space somewhere or other, but not at all sure I've ever seen Mustela
>> in space. Has it happened, somewhere in sf? Should it happen, in
>> reality or in sf? Any other comments?
>
>There are at least 2 otters (mutated to some extent, IIRC) in James H.
>Schmitz's _Demon Breed_ (aka "The Tuvela"). As for weasels, IIRC,
>"Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons" were mutated weasels.

Minks, actually. Still mustelids.

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <xcKdnZ7Ig73Ecx_F...@brightview.co.uk>,

There's the mutated otters living, not in space exactly, but in
the oceans of an alien planet in Schmitz's _The Tuvela_ (aka _The
Demon Breed_).

[hamis...@gmail.com]

On Saturday, January 21, 2017 at 2:55:00 PM UTC+11, Don Bruder wrote:
> Ferrets *SUPPOSEDLY* can make decent pets - I've known folks who like
> 'em better than cats, though due to their close relationship to weasels,
> I personally wouldn't trust one as far as I could throw my pickup truck.

A friend of mine had a couple.
I didn't have a lot to do with them, they were fairly excitable and tended to get locked up when company came around but they weren't bad.

The main character in the Greywalker series by Kat Richardson keeps a ferret (I believe Kat Richardson does as well)

[larry]

There was a time when the birthday announcement was accompanied
with a skit and a firing of the Civil War cannon by the Skippys
on afp.

I remember one skit involved astronaut Skippys.
Probably not enough to trigger weasels in space dreams years
later though.

[Kevrob]

The film, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" had the Toon Patrol,
manne.....weaseled?.....by these guys:

http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Toon_Patrol

They weren't the book, "Who Censored Roger Rabbit?"

Zemeckis kept very little from the book.

http://www.avclub.com/article/book-vs-film-iwho-framed-roger-rabbiti-8568

[wikia quote]

The design of the Toon Patrol and their switchblades was inspired
by the weasels in the 1949 Disney cartoon, "The Wind in the
Willows."

[/quote]

Weasels and stoats took over Toad Hall in Kenneth Grahame's book.

Kevin R

[art...@yahoo.com]

On Friday, January 20, 2017 at 3:20:51 PM UTC-5, Joe Bernstein wrote:

>

> Apparently we're on Titan, building a base, and for some reason we
> have weasels along. This complicates base-building. However, when
> we return to the much older, roomier and more civilised base on Mars,
> we find swarms of weasels.

Some Michigan State fans refer to University of Michigan peeps as weasels. Could you be thinking of that?

[Kevrob]

The Wolverine "is the largest land-dwelling species of the family
Mustelidae (weasels)."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolverine

The US Air Force has wild weasels:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Weasel

There's also Rocky Rococco, "that sleazy weasel," from
"Nick Danger, Third Eye" by the Firesign Theatre.

Kevin R

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <1bd3e8d7-90df-40fc...@googlegroups.com>,

And he was right to do so. I've seen the book.

[J. Clarke]

In article <e3cca6a7-a550-47a7-a9da-71cc196eb9d2
@googlegroups.com>, kev...@my-deja.com says...

>
> On Saturday, January 21, 2017 at 9:09:52 AM UTC-5, art...@yahoo.com wrote:
> > On Friday, January 20, 2017 at 3:20:51 PM UTC-5, Joe Bernstein wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > Apparently we're on Titan, building a base, and for some reason we
> > > have weasels along. This complicates base-building. However, when
> > > we return to the much older, roomier and more civilised base on Mars,
> > > we find swarms of weasels.
> >
> > Some Michigan State fans refer to University of Michigan peeps as weasels. Could you be thinking of that?
>
> The Wolverine "is the largest land-dwelling species of the family
> Mustelidae (weasels)."
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolverine
>
> The US Air Force has wild weasels:
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Weasel

For a while they had a C-130 precision aerobatic
team called the "Thunderweasels" but they
changed it to "Four Horsemen"--you can find a
video under that name.

[Quadibloc]

And here I thought they were kiloton-yield nuclear missiles.

John Savard

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <5567505b-a226-4b62...@googlegroups.com>,

Nope, nope. Nukes, like the electronics that service them, have
grown more efficient and hence smaller over the years, but not
that small.

[Jerry Brown]

On Fri, 20 Jan 2017 12:20:46 -0800 (PST), Joe Bernstein
<j...@sfbooks.com> wrote:

>I'm pretty sure I've encountered otters - Earth otters, that is - in
>space somewhere or other, but not at all sure I've ever seen Mustela
>in space. Has it happened, somewhere in sf? Should it happen, in
>reality or in sf? Any other comments?

I'm pretty sure I M Weasel (Michale Dorn's other great contribution to
The Arts) went into space at least once.

--
Jerry Brown

A cat may look at a king
(but probably won't bother)

[Dan Tilque]

psst! Dorothy, you missed the horrible pun. The best answer to a bad pun
is an even worse pun. Maybe something about how you "must elide" the
maker of such puns.


--
Dan Tilque

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <o60oi7$b3t$1...@dont-email.me>,

Oops, sorry, you're right, it went right in one eye and the
other.

[Garrett Wollman]

In article <oK4B6...@kithrup.com>,

Dorothy J Heydt <djh...@kithrup.com> wrote:

>In article <xcKdnZ7Ig73Ecx_F...@brightview.co.uk>,
>David Mitchell <david.robo...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>On 20/01/17 20:20, Joe Bernstein wrote:
>>>
>>> I'm pretty sure I've encountered otters - Earth otters, that is - in
>>> space somewhere or other,
>>
>>There are, IIRC, eight foot mutated otters in Pohl and Williamson's
>>Starchild Trilogy.
>>
>>Otters. In. Spaaaaace.
>
>There's the mutated otters living, not in space exactly, but in
>the oceans of an alien planet in Schmitz's _The Tuvela_ (aka _The
>Demon Breed_).

Then Graydon Saunders' Commonweal has ocelotters -- apparently (he's a
bit oblique about the appearance, never mind ontogeny) the front is
ocelot and the tail end is otter. Must have required a *lot* of
paperwork.

-GAWollman

--
Garrett A. Wollman | What intellectual phenomenon can be older, or more oft
wol...@bimajority.org| repeated, than the story of a large research program
Opinions not shared by| that impaled itself upon a false central assumption
my employers. | accepted by all practitioners? - S.J. Gould, 1993

[synthi...@yahoo.com]

Ferrets, and possibly space-weasels, are used to run conduit. Weasel handler is in one room holding the critter and tying a string to it. The baiter is in the other room and entices it over through the tight and twisty conduit passage. When the string is all the way through you tie the cable or conduit to it and pull it through.

They are extremely eager to plunge into holes. When I visited a ferret enthusiast friend I would take off my boots for them to jump into.

Nils K. Hammer

[Robert Woodward]

In article <551997bb-981f-4d3c...@googlegroups.com>,

I should have checked before posting; mutated minks they were.

[Cryptoengineer]

synthi...@yahoo.com wrote in
news:9bc11d20-5304-4751...@googlegroups.com:

Ferrets have also made valuable contributions in the field of fundamental
physics research.

Meet Felicia the Ferret, at Fermilab.
http://history.fnal.gov/felicia.html

pt

[Robert Carnegie]

When I saw those words[*], I feared worse than it is.
But still - is (was) she radioactive? Maybe, and ouch.

[*] "pipe cleaner".

[Robert Carnegie]

It's basically a joke from childhood, explaining
(or not) that you can weaselly tell apart stoats
and the species were were discussing originally.

And I'm not sorry.

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <1f5f9fba-0c33-4759...@googlegroups.com>,

I get the impression Felicia did her thing *before* the
radioactive stuff went in.

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <XnsA70599743C...@216.166.97.131>,

Awwwww.

Since the articles are all dated 1971, I assume Felicia has gone
to her reward long since. Which leads one to speculate on what
ferret heaven looks like: probably like the Tactile Dome in the
Exploratorium, only more so.

[Bernard Peek]

On 2017-01-20, Joe Bernstein <j...@sfbooks.com> wrote:

>
> Also, these weasels were cute, which is not exactly how weasels are
> normally depicted in popular culture. The ones on Mars really did
> act like otters, but didn't look like them.
>
> Beats me.

Have you been reading David Weber? I'm still waiting to find out what a ship
crewed entirely by treecats would look like.


--
Bernard Peek
b...@gizmodynamics.com

[Joe Bernstein]

On Friday, January 20, 2017 at 9:59:43 PM UTC-8, Robert Woodward wrote:

> In article <38410850-3e45-40a0...@googlegroups.com>,
> Joe Bernstein <j...@sfbooks.com> wrote:

> > I'm pretty sure I've encountered otters - Earth otters, that is - in
> > space somewhere or other, but not at all sure I've ever seen Mustela
> > in space. Has it happened, somewhere in sf? Should it happen, in
> > reality or in sf? Any other comments?

> There are at least 2 otters (mutated to some extent, IIRC) in James H.
> Schmitz's _Demon Breed_ (aka "The Tuvela"). As for weasels, IIRC,

> "Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons" were mutated [mink].

Huh. We have a winner: long, long ago, I definitely read both of
those. (Cordwainer Smith has been on relatively short "to re-read"
lists for some time now, too. Schmitz on longer ones.)

I also saw <Who Framed Roger Rabbit>, which is no doubt a big part
of what I think of as the popular culture version of weasels.

-- JLB

[Ted Nolan <tednolan>]

In article <bb8b1976-dfb9-43f1...@googlegroups.com>,

Joe Bernstein <j...@sfbooks.com> wrote:
>On Friday, January 20, 2017 at 9:59:43 PM UTC-8, Robert Woodward wrote:
>
>> In article <38410850-3e45-40a0...@googlegroups.com>,
>> Joe Bernstein <j...@sfbooks.com> wrote:
>
>> > I'm pretty sure I've encountered otters - Earth otters, that is - in
>> > space somewhere or other, but not at all sure I've ever seen Mustela
>> > in space. Has it happened, somewhere in sf? Should it happen, in
>> > reality or in sf? Any other comments?
>
>> There are at least 2 otters (mutated to some extent, IIRC) in James H.
>> Schmitz's _Demon Breed_ (aka "The Tuvela"). As for weasels, IIRC,
>> "Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons" were mutated [mink].
>
>Huh. We have a winner: long, long ago, I definitely read both of
>those. (Cordwainer Smith has been on relatively short "to re-read"
>lists for some time now, too. Schmitz on longer ones.)
>
>I also saw <Who Framed Roger Rabbit>, which is no doubt a big part
>of what I think of as the popular culture version of weasels.
>

Or Foghorn Leghorn. "yehyehyeh!" Of course those wher McKimson shorts,
so the writting team was not top notch, but the visual was good
--
------
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..

[David Johnston]

On 1/20/2017 1:20 PM, Joe Bernstein wrote:
> Last year, I posted about a recurring dream - orbiting Mercury in a
> spacesuit - that sort of reflected what was going on in my life at
> the time.
>
> Last night, I had a dream that was rather a drag and had none of the
> grandeur of the Mercury dreams. So I want to head it off by posting
> about it before it can recur.
>

> Apparently we're on Titan, building a base, and for some reason we
> have weasels along. This complicates base-building. However, when
> we return to the much older, roomier and more civilised base on Mars,
> we find swarms of weasels.
>

> This makes all kinds of nonsense. Weasels typically eat a significant
> percentage of their body weight per day. I thought maybe they were
> obligate hunters, who couldn't be fed except live prey, but it isn't
> quite that bad; one animal rescue site advocates feeding baby weasels
> cat food. Still, that's a lot of weight to loft, and an increasing
> amount if you're freaking letting them *breed*, as Mars evidently was
> in the dream.
>
> Also, weasels are pretty consistently territorial, not social.
> American otters (genus Lontra) are social, but not weasels, genus
> Mustela. For some reason the ones on Titan were wrapped in little
> weasel tubes, but the ones on Mars were running around loose, and
> should have been tearing each other to shreds, instead of cavorting
> otterishly with each other.
>
> In the dream, I kept remembering that Titan should be very dark and
> cold - in other words, being aware that my dream was unrealistic
> while I was having it. It isn't difficult to analogise that to my
> sleeping conditions, but actually I was pretty warm last night. I
> think rather this was my critical side getting some exercise. Anyway,
> real weasels can live pretty far north, but I don't know if they live
> far *enough* north for really long nights, and even those have
> moonlight. Cold shouldn't have been an issue inside the base, but I
> do remember that we were in spacesuits, and the weasels weren't.
>

> I'm pretty sure I've encountered otters - Earth otters, that is - in
> space somewhere or other, but not at all sure I've ever seen Mustela
> in space. Has it happened, somewhere in sf? Should it happen, in
> reality or in sf? Any other comments?
>

> Joe Bernstein
>

There is a book entitled "Space Weasels". I checked.

[Cryptoengineer]

djh...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) wrote in
news:oK6vp...@kithrup.com:

I've been in the Tactile Dome - one of my more unusual experiences.
Reccomended.

Felicia was important enough to Fermilab that her obituary is still
online, 45 years after:

https://history.fnal.gov/wildlife.html#Felicia

pt

[Quadibloc]

On Sunday, January 22, 2017 at 1:02:14 PM UTC-7, David Johnston wrote:

> There is a book entitled "Space Weasels". I checked.

Once you told me that, I Googled.

It's by Edward M. Grant, it's a "Dirk Beretta, (ex) Space Marine Story"... and
the protagonist is out for revenge against the weasels, who slaughtered many of
his comrades in... the battle of Din Bin Foo.

Obviously a reference to Dien Ben Phu in Vietnam.

John Savard

[Quadibloc]

Now I found an author interview...

https://judygoodwin.wordpress.com/2014/10/30/author-interview-edward-m-grant/

Oh, and that was Dien Bien Phu. Or, to be more precise, Điện Biên Phủ. But the
major battle there involved the French, before the Vietnam War.

John Savard

[Gene Wirchenko]

On Sun, 22 Jan 2017 13:02:12 -0700, David Johnston
<Davidjo...@yahoo.com> wrote:

[snip]

>There is a book entitled "Space Weasels". I checked.

Piers Anthony's _Mute_ has a telepathic weasel. I do not
remember how much space is involved in the story.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

[William December Starr]

In article <oK3nF...@kithrup.com>,

djh...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) said:

> Many people keep ferrets, which are a variety of weasel. Have you
> ever encountered any of them? They (the ferrets, not their
> owners) are kind of cute, but smelly. The can't hold a candle to
> cats, IMO.

"I always wondered if there had once been a companion
magazine called _Traditional Ferrets_."

-- Margaret Young, in rec.arts.sf.written,
re a magazine called _Modern Ferret_.

From: Margaret Young <mmy...@umich.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Horrible Covers? trade paper?
Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2001 10:34:10 -0400
Message-ID: <g4hlttckeqa35j6go...@4ax.com>

-- wds

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <o66gri$a1o$1...@panix3.panix.com>,

William December Starr <wds...@panix.com> wrote:
>In article <oK3nF...@kithrup.com>,
>djh...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) said:
>
>> Many people keep ferrets, which are a variety of weasel. Have you
>> ever encountered any of them? They (the ferrets, not their
>> owners) are kind of cute, but smelly. The can't hold a candle to
>> cats, IMO.
>
> "I always wondered if there had once been a companion
> magazine called _Traditional Ferrets_."
>
> -- Margaret Young, in rec.arts.sf.written,
> re a magazine called _Modern Ferret_.

Well, there's a classical Greek poem comparing women to different
sorts of animals ... unfavorably of course. In the later
editions one woman is compared to a cat ... but in earlier
versions she was compared to a ferret. I believe there was a
time when cats weren't allowed to leave Egypt, which would
suggest a time when there weren't any in Greece.

[Lawrence Watt-Evans]

On Tue, 24 Jan 2017 05:39:01 GMT, djh...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J
Heydt) wrote:

> I believe there was a
>time when cats weren't allowed to leave Egypt, which would
>suggest a time when there weren't any in Greece.

Given that we're talking about cats, I don't think it suggests
anything of the sort. Cats go where they damn well please.




--
My webpage is at http://www.watt-evans.com

[Juho Julkunen]

In article <bmud8c5simskj230n...@reader80.eternal-
september.org>, misencha...@gmail.com says...

>
> On Tue, 24 Jan 2017 05:39:01 GMT, djh...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J
> Heydt) wrote:
>
> > I believe there was a
> >time when cats weren't allowed to leave Egypt, which would
> >suggest a time when there weren't any in Greece.
>
> Given that we're talking about cats, I don't think it suggests
> anything of the sort. Cats go where they damn well please.

Are you suggesting the revered cats of Egypt were not law-abiding
creatures?

--
Juho Julkunen

[Anthony Nance]

...but still very good imho; after all McKimson/Pierce were
responsible for many of Foghorn's lines, including the immortal
"That boy's about as sharp as a bowling ball" (from "Sock A Doodle Do").

Tony

[Scott Lurndal]

Then there was one of the Durona's comparing Miles Vorkosigen to
a Ferret in _Cryoburn_.

I had a roommate in college who had a pet ferret. Brain smaller
than a peanut, but somewhat cute. Since they must back into a corner
to do their business, simply putting newspaper in each corner of the
room was sufficient to prevent messes.

[Ted Nolan <tednolan>]

In article <o67lmq$5ie$1...@dont-email.me>,

True, Foggy did have a lot of great lines, they just came in often
pedestrian scripts. Or maybe Foggy was just "bigger" than his 'pictures'...

[Quadibloc]

There was a time when humans were not permitted to take cats out of Egypt.

Since Greeks could still have taken cats out of, say, Libya if they wanted to,
while of course there was a time when there were no cats in Greece - just as
there was a time when there were no anatomically modern humans in Greece, and,
for that matter, a time when there were no life-forms based on the eukaryotic
cell in Greece - I would not blame the Egyptian law for this entirely.

John Savard

[Lawrence Watt-Evans]

Indeed, I am saying cats are a law unto themselves.

[Dimensional Traveler]

I seem to recall reading somewhere (a long time ago) that in Pharoahnic
Egypt the law was that cats got to do whatever they wanted and harming a
cat was a capital offense.

--
Running the rec.arts.TV Channels Watched Survey.
Winter 2016 survey began Dec 01 and will end Feb 28

[Anthony Nance]

To me the scripts were enjoyable but repetitive (from cartoon to
cartoon), but that's a bit of quibbling with your point - we're
not too far from complete agreement here.

> Or maybe Foggy was just "bigger" than his 'pictures'...

Foggy would almost surely agree. Of course, the dog would
substitute 'britches' for 'pictures'.

Tony

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <o683oq$ssc$1...@dont-email.me>,

Dimensional Traveler <dtr...@sonic.net> wrote:
>On 1/24/2017 8:15 AM, Lawrence Watt-Evans wrote:
>> On Tue, 24 Jan 2017 15:45:17 +0200, Juho Julkunen
>> <giao...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> In article <bmud8c5simskj230n...@reader80.eternal-
>>> september.org>, misencha...@gmail.com says...
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, 24 Jan 2017 05:39:01 GMT, djh...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J
>>>> Heydt) wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I believe there was a
>>>>> time when cats weren't allowed to leave Egypt, which would
>>>>> suggest a time when there weren't any in Greece.
>>>>
>>>> Given that we're talking about cats, I don't think it suggests
>>>> anything of the sort. Cats go where they damn well please.
>>>
>>> Are you suggesting the revered cats of Egypt were not law-abiding
>>> creatures?
>>
>> Indeed, I am saying cats are a law unto themselves.
>>
>I seem to recall reading somewhere (a long time ago) that in Pharoahnic
>Egypt the law was that cats got to do whatever they wanted and harming a
>cat was a capital offense.

Unless you worked for the temple (presumably of Bast) where you
raised cats and then killed them at near-maturity so you could
mummify and sell them as holy relics. Yucch.

[Ted Nolan <tednolan>]

In article <o685pk$3kv$1...@dont-email.me>,

Oh yeah. And he'd have a plank to correct the situation with!

[David DeLaney]

On 2017-01-20, Garrett Wollman <wol...@bimajority.org> wrote:
> Joe Bernstein <j...@sfbooks.com> wrote:
>>I'm pretty sure I've encountered otters - Earth otters, that is - in
>>space somewhere or other, but not at all sure I've ever seen Mustela
>>in space. Has it happened, somewhere in sf? Should it happen, in
>>reality or in sf? Any other comments?
>

> Not quite Mustela spp. but IIRC Elf Sternberg has written space porn
> with anthro mustelid-morphs.

And I'm thinking Girl Genius' six-legged wasp-eating weasels will probably
end up in space once she decides to Go There.

Dave, come on, you know she eventually will
--
\/David DeLaney posting thru EarthLink - "It's not the pot that grows the flower
It's not the clock that slows the hour The definition's plain for anyone to see
Love is all it takes to make a family" - R&P. VISUALIZE HAPPYNET VRbeable<BLINK>
gatekeeper.vic.com/~dbd - net.legends FAQ & Magic / I WUV you in all CAPS! --K.

[David DeLaney]

On 2017-01-22, Garrett Wollman <wol...@bimajority.org> wrote:
> Then Graydon Saunders' Commonweal has ocelotters -- apparently (he's a
> bit oblique about the appearance, never mind ontogeny) the front is
> ocelot and the tail end is otter. Must have required a *lot* of
> paperwork.

ALMOST everything weird-animal-or-plant-y the Commonweal has to deal with was
thunk up and slapped to-gether long before the First Commonweal got started. So
no paperwork at all!

Basically, "a wizard did it some time between a thousand and a few hundred
thousand years ago, _probably_ to try to kill off some other wizard, and it
survived the magical ecology till now". Their world is a lot nastier place,
ecologically speaking, than ours today.

Dave

[David DeLaney]

On 2017-01-23, Gene Wirchenko <ge...@telus.net> wrote:

> David Johnston <Davidjo...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>There is a book entitled "Space Weasels". I checked.
>
> Piers Anthony's _Mute_ has a telepathic weasel. I do not
> remember how much space is involved in the story.

A good bit; it's a galactic-empire setting.

The teleporting chickens help out, after a while.