What's the difference between SLAVONIA, SLOVENIA and SLOVAKIA? Also, I show you WWF maximum cards from SLOVAKIA, about The European Wildcat (Felis silvestris silvestris)

"The European Wildcat (Felis silvestris silvestris) is a subspecies of the wildcat that inhabits forests of Western, Central, Eastern and Southern Europe, as well as Scotland, Turkey and the Caucasus Mountains; it has been extirpated from Scandinavia, England, and Wales. Some authorities restrict F. s. silvestris to populations of the European mainland, in which case populations of Scotland, Mediterranean islands, Turkey and Caucasus are regarded as separate subspecies.

The physical appearance of the European Wildcat is much bulkier than that of the African Wildcat and the Domestic Cat. The thick fur and size are distinguishing traits; the Wildcat normally would not be mistaken for the Domestic Cat although in practice it is less clear whether the two are correctly distinguished (one study showed an error rate of 39%^[2]). In contrast to the Domestic Cat, it is most active in the daytime."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felis_silvestris_silvestris

"A study suggests that all current house cats in the world are descendants from a group of self-domesticating wildcats 10,000 years ago, somewhere in the Near East.^[3] 

It is believed that this domestication occurred when the Agricultural Revolution yielded grain, which would be stored in granaries, that attracted rodents, which in turn attracted cats. 

The closest relative of the wildcat is the Sand Cat (Felis margarita)." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildcat

That's how RODENTS started "wasting away, in Margaritaville..."

"According to a 2007 DNA analysis, there are only 5 subspecies:^[3]

• Felis silvestris silvestris (Europe and Turkey).
• Felis silvestris lybica (North Africa, Middle East and Western Asia, to the Aral Sea).
  • Felis silvestris catus (Domestic Cat, Worldwide).
• Felis silvestris cafra (Southern Africa).
• Felis silvestris ornata (Pakistan, northwestern India, Mongolia and northern China).
• Felis silvestris bieti (China)."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildcat

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Map of Croatia with Slavonia highlighted

"Slavonia (Croatian and Bosnian: Slavonija, Serbian: Славонија, Slavonija, Hungarian: Szlavónia, Latin:Sclavonia) is a geographical and historical region in eastern Croatia. It is a fertile agricultural and forested lowland in the Pannonian Basin, bounded, in part, by the Drava river in the north, the Sava river in the south, and the Danube river in the east. Slavonia is notable for its light forests, wide plains and significantagricultural industry."

"The root of the word is the name "Slav". Historically, the region was referred to as Sclavonia, "the land of the Slavs". Numerous Slavonic toponyms are similar, including Slovenia, a nearby country."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavonia

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Republic of Slovenia Republika Slovenija
Flag Coat of arms

"Slovenia (ⁱ/sloʊˈviːniə/ sloh-vee-nee-ə), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene:Republika Slovenija, [reˈpublika sloˈveːnija] ( listen)), is a country in Central Europe andSoutheastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia bordersItaly to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of coastline along the Adriatic Sea. It covers an area of 20,273 square kilometres (7,827 sq mi) and has a population of 2.05 million.^[5][6] The capital and largest city is Ljubljana."

Location of  Slovenia  (dark green) – on the European continent  (green & dark grey) – in the European Union  (green)  —  [Legend

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovenia

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Now, SLOVAKIA:

Location of  Slovakia  (dark green)

– on the European continent  (green & dark grey)
– in the European Union  (green)  —  [Legend

Slovak Republic Slovenská republika
Flag Coat of arms

"The Slovak Republic (short form: Slovakia ⁱ/sloʊˈvɑːkiə/; Slovak:  Slovensko (help·info), long form  Slovenská republika (help·info)) is a landlocked state in Central Europe.^[5][6] It has a population of over five million and an area of about 49,000 square kilometres (19,000 sq mi). Slovakia is a landlocked country bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west,Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. The largest city is the capital, Bratislava, and the second largest is Košice. Slovakia is a member state of theEuropean Union, NATO, United Nations, OECD and WTO among others. The official languageis Slovak, a member of the Slavic language family.

The Slavs arrived in the territory of present day Slovakia in the 5th and 6th centuries during the migration period. In the course of history, various parts of today's Slovakia belonged to Samo's Empire (the first known political unit of Slavs), Principality of Nitra (as independent polity, as part of Great Moravia and as part of Hungarian Kingdom), Great Moravia, Kingdom of Hungary,^[7] the Austro-Hungarian Empire or Habsburg Empire, and Czechoslovakia. A separate Slovak state briefly existed during World War II, during which Slovakia was a dependency of Nazi Germany between 1939–1944. From 1945 Slovakia once again became a part of Czechoslovakia. The present-day Slovakia became an independent state on 1 January 1993 after the peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia.

Slovakia is a high-income advanced economy^[8][9] with one of the fastest growth rates in the European Union and the OECD.^[10] The country joined the European Union in 2004 and the Eurozone on 1 January 2009. Slovakia together with Slovenia and Estonia are the only former Communist nations to be part of the European Union, Eurozone, Schengen Area and NATO simultaneously."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovakia

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Do you agree that the contour of a cat's head resemble oftentimes the contour of a heart?

Maybe that's another reason that they are so loved...beloved. :)

Guest Heart Thursday #67

Welcome to Guest Heart Thursday -
A place to share YOUR heart!

http://clytie-randomhearts.blogspot.com/2011/07/guest-heart-thursday-67.html?showComment=1311265761973#c5357784374343020694

PLoS Biology: Who Needs Sex (or Males) Anyway? Also, who needs books? I show you a non-traditional maxicard that I made with a book cover (cool cougar) bought from Borders bookstore (see their barcode label?)

PLoS Biology: Who Needs Sex (or Males) Anyway?
"If you own a birdbath, chances are you’re hosting one of evolutionary biology’s most puzzling enigmas: bdelloid rotifers. These microscopic invertebrates—widely distributed in mosses, creeks, ponds, and other freshwater repositories—abandoned sex perhaps 100 million years ago, yet have apparently diverged into nearly 400 species. Bdelloids (the “b” is silent) reproduce through parthenogenesis, which generates offspring with essentially the same genome as their mother from unfertilized eggs. Biologists have yet to find males, hermaphrodites, or any trace of meiosis—the process that creates sex cells—challenging the long-held assumption that evolutionary success requires genetic exchange.

The genetic variation created by meiosis and fertilization, theory holds, bolsters a species’s capacity to weather shifting environmental conditions or resist rapidly evolving parasites. (During meiosis, the genome splits in two, and chromosome pairs swap bits of their DNA; during fertilization, the sex cells fuse to restore the complete genome.) Many multicellular eukaryotes pass through a sexual and asexual phase in their life cycle. But eschewing sex altogether, à la bdelloids, is not theoretically consistent with a long-lived evolutionary life span or extensive species diversification."

Also: BBC Nature - Stick insects survive one million years without sex

Men, you want more bad news?
Cisco fired 6,500 people.
Borders Bookstore goes out of business, closing 400 stores and laying-off 11,000 people.

What do YOU prefer: not getting laid, or not getting laid-off?

It's a...grave new world.
"Living lives of quiet desperation." :)

A non-traditional maxicard that I made with a book cover (cool cougar) bought from a Borders bookstore 

(see their barcode label?).

Enjoy while you can, whatever that is...

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Please visit and join the ABC Wednesday meme!

http://abcwednesday-mrsnesbitt.blogspot.com/