Jonathan Swift

A sad note on Swift’s last years.

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In 1738 he suffered a paralytic stroke followed aphasia: a period of extreme pain succeeded by apathy. The last seven years of his life were marked by dementia. He was found of “unsound mind and memory” by the commission of lunacy. Guardians were appointed to manage his affairs. Thackeray records, “Sometimes, during his mental affliction, he continued walking about the house for many consecutive hours, sometimes he remained in a kind of torpor. At times, he would seem to struggle to bring into distinct consciousness, and shape into expression, the intellect that lay smothering under a gloomy obstruction in him.” In such moments he said he was resigned to dying. It came in October 1745. His body was interred at St. Patrick’s, besides that of Stella.

-- Michael Schmidt, “The Novel: A Biography”

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Sunday Morning

After I go through the trouble of stepping outside and making three quick grabs to get the cats in the house and out of the heat, Coco vomits in the big room. I do not believe she did it out of spite, but you never know with feline nature.

The Natural World

An orphaned juvenile squirrel is fed a cherry in New Delhi. The squirrel was rescued from a tree which fell during a recent thunderstorm in the city. Picture: Chandan Khanna/AFP/Getty Images

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Being On the Moon

The astronaut Buzz Aldrin answered some questions at Reddit.com. We have the answer he gave to this question: Is there any experience on Earth that even compares slightly to having been on the Moon?

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“My first words of my impression of being on the surface of the Moon that just came to my mind was ‘Magnificent desolation.’ The magnificence of human beings, humanity, Planet Earth, maturing the technologies, imagination and courage to expand our capabilities beyond the next ocean, to dream about being on the Moon, and then taking advantage of increases in technology and carrying out that dream – achieving that is magnificent testimony to humanity. But it is also desolate – there is no place on earth as desolate as what I was viewing in those first moments on the Lunar Surface.

Because I realized what I was looking at, towards the horizon and in every direction, had not changed in hundreds, thousands of years. Beyond me I could see the moon curving away – no atmosphere, black sky. Cold. Colder than anyone could experience on Earth when the sun is up- but when the sun is up for 14 days, it gets very, very hot. No sign of life whatsoever.

That is desolate. More desolate than any place on Earth.”

-- Buzz Aldrin

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Cats

Maybe that was my mistake. Lately, I have only come to indulge my cats more. In times past, for instance, when I was wary of feeding strays, I would have the cats come inside to grab a bite to eat, after which I’d let them go again. For the past several months, I would bring the plate outside and content myself with checking on it periodically, while I was doing my chores or whatever. Maybe this is why none of the cats have been inclined to come inside on their own in the morning, but insist that I bring the plate outside. I need to mix things up. They cannot simply associate ‘coming inside the house’ with being a trap, otherwise I can no longer use it as a trap.