Happy Valentines Day

The Secret of Love

Valentine Day Facts
That's Amaaaaaaazing
Random Joke of the Day
The Secret of Love

Valentine's Day started with the Romans.

There are two theories about the origin of Valentine's Day. According to History.com, one is that the day derives from Lupercalia, a raucous Roman festival on February 15th where men stripped naked and spanked young maidens in the hopes of upping their fertility.

The second theory is that while the Roman Emperor Claudius II was trying to bolster his army, he forbade young men to marry, because apparently single men make better soldiers. In the spirit of love, St. Valentine defied the ban and performed secret marriages, History.com reports. For his disobedience, Valentine was executed on February 14th.

Passing out Valentines is a 600-year-old tradition.

Each year, kids in classrooms across America hand out Valentine's Day cards to their classmates. According to History.com, the oldest record of a valentine was a poem Charles Duke of Orleans wrote to his wife when he was imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1415.

Wearing your heart on your sleeve is more than just a phrase.

In the Middle Ages, young men and women drew names to see who their Valentine would be,they would wear the name pinned to their sleeve for one week so that everyone would know their supposed true feelings.

Valentine's Day is a popular holiday to get engaged.

This seems fitting: A 2017 study by diamond retailers found that 43% of millennials chose Valentine's Day as their top choice of day to propose or be proposed to.

That's Amaaaaaazing 

Largest box of chocolates
If you want to make the ultimate grand gesture to your loved one this Valentine's Day, this bumper box of chocolates is sure to please.

On 2 April 2008, confectionery retailer Thorntons and prop-maker Russell Beck Studio (both UK) created a box of chocolates that towered 5.04 m (16 ft 6 in) tall.

Random Joke of the Day

Every time I attend my Kleptomaniacs Anonymous meeting they tell me to "take a chair" I can't see how that is going to help me

The Secret of Love -

Here is a new radio play, written by myself and performed by Sheffield Radio.

For more, check out You Tube and my Amazon page....

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Neville-Raper/e/B0759Z1D25?ref=dbs_p_ebk_r00_abau_000000

Z1D25?ref=dbs_p_ebk_r00_abau_000000

The Cat.....oh and another audio play !!

The Cat on the Mat

In Today's Feline Issue

The Cat on the Mat
Cats
That's Amaaaaaaaazing
Random Joke
Witness

The Cat on The Mat

Einstein's Cat
It sat on the mat
Relative, but true
Schrodinger's Cat
Was dead on the mat
Or was it one of a two?

Which cat is alive?
Which one is dead?
The concept within
Confuses your head

If the cat on the mat
is the one that's alive
Then how did it die?
Or did it survive

I think the thesis
Maybe perturbing
Anyway
I'm Pretty sure
The Mat was
Green.

CATS

Unlike dogs, cats do not have a sweet tooth. Scientists believe this is due to a mutation in a key taste receptor.

When a cat chases its prey, it keeps its head level. Dogs and humans bob their heads up and down

The technical term for a cat’s hairball is a “bezoar.

A group of cats is called a “clowder.”

A cat can’t climb head first down a tree because every claw on a cat’s paw points the same way. To get down from a tree, a cat must back down.

Cats make about 100 different sounds. Dogs make only about 10

There are more than 500 million domestic cats in the world, with approximately 40 recognized breeds

While it is commonly thought that the ancient Egyptians were the first to domesticate cats, the oldest known pet cat was recently found in a 9,500-year-old grave on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. This grave predates early Egyptian art depicting cats by 4,000 years or more.

During the time of the Spanish Inquisition, Pope Innocent VIII condemned cats as evil and thousands of cats were burned. Unfortunately, the widespread killing of cats led to an explosion of the rat population, which exacerbated the effects of the Black Death.

During the Middle Ages, cats were associated with withcraft, and on St. John’s Day, people all over Europe would stuff them into sacks and toss the cats into bonfires. On holy days, people celebrated by tossing cats from church towers.

The first cat in space was a French cat named Felicette (a.k.a. “Astrocat”) In 1963, France blasted the cat into outer space. Electrodes implanted in her brains sent neurological signals back to Earth. She survived the trip.

The group of words associated with cat (catt, cath, chat, katze) stem from the Latin catus, meaning domestic cat, as opposed to feles, or wild cat.

The term “puss” is the root of the principal word for “cat” in the Romanian term pisica and the root of secondary words in Lithuanian (puz) and Low German puus. Some scholars suggest that “puss” could be imitative of the hissing sound used to get a cat’s attention. As a slang word for the female pudenda, it could be associated with the connotation of a cat being soft, warm, and fuzzy

According to Hebrew legend, Noah prayed to God for help protecting all the food he stored on the ark from being eaten by rats. In reply, God made the lion sneeze, and out popped a cat.

A cat’s hearing is better than a dog’s. And a cat can hear high-frequency sounds up to two octaves higher than a human.

A cat can travel at a top speed of approximately 31 mph (49 km) over a short distance.

A cat rubs against people not only to be affectionate but also to mark out its territory with scent glands around its face. The tail area and paws also carry the cat’s scent.

Researchers are unsure exactly how a cat purrs. Most veterinarians believe that a cat purrs by vibrating vocal folds deep in the throat. To do this, a muscle in the larynx opens and closes the air passage about 25 times per second.

When a family cat died in ancient Egypt, family members would mourn by shaving off their eyebrows. They also held elaborate funerals during which they drank wine and beat their breasts. The cat was embalmed with a sculpted wooden mask and the tiny mummy was placed in the family tomb or in a pet cemetery with tiny mummies of mice.

In 1888, more than 300,000 mummified cats were found an Egyptian cemetery. They were stripped of their wrappings and carted off to be used by farmers in England and the U.S. for fertilizer.

Most cats give birth to a litter of between one and nine kittens. The largest known litter ever produced was 19 kittens, of which 15 survived.

That's Amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing

The longest domestic cat is Ludo at 118.33 cm (3 ft 10.59 in) long. He is owned by Kelsey Gill (UK) and was measured on 6 October 2015.

 

Random Joke of the Day 

 

I just ordered my colleague a ‘hope you get better soon’ card. She’s not ill. Just rubbish at her job.

 

From - Tales of the Unaccepted comes a new radio play, written by myself performed by Sheffield Radio - Witness.

What if you witnessed a murder right in front of your eyes but no one listened to you?

Well here's the answer...

 

Go over to You Tube for more free audio plays....and if you'd like to buy my books ( pweeeeze )

Then find them on Amazon.... Thanks x