Unfortunate quote
of the week

Pine Lawn Police Chief Rickey Collins this week began enforcing the “anti-sagging” ordinance the municipality’s aldermen passed seven months ago to (you should pardon the expression) crack down on those who wear their pants sagging to the nether regions. Said the chief to the Post-Dispatch’s Michelle Munz: “The gloves are off with the saggy pants.”

Whiskers v. Flipper

Your cat could be killing dolphins. And whales.

In a stunning example of the first rule of ecology, “Everything’s got to go somewhere,” two scientists at Cal Tech suggest that marine mammals could be being infected with a parasite commonly found in kitty litter. The parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, is described on the website newscientist.com as “the most successful protozoan pathogen on the planet.”

Biologists have been baffled that T. gondii has been showing up in dolphins, whales, seals, walruses and sea otters, species that don’t come anywhere near cat boxes. People commonly are affected, usually by food that is poorly washed or prepared. But when Beluga whales began dying of encephalitis believed to be caused by T. gondii, Gloeta Massie and Michael Black of Cal Tech began looking for the link.

They think it’s anchovies.

Yes, anchovies, those tasty little fish that add zest to Caesar salad dressing and that most people dislike on pizza. Anchovies are a major food source for marine mammals. The hypothesis is that cats pick up T. gondii by eating birds or mice. The pathogen gets into cat feces, then into sewer systems and then into estuaries where it comes into contact with tiny particles that anchovies eat, whereupon the anchovies swim into the larger ocean and they are eaten by marine mammals.

Moral of the story: Do not toilet train your cat!

MAN IN A CAN

Word has been received here of the death May 4 of Fredric J. Baur, 89, of Cincinnati, a retired organic chemist and food storage expert for Procter & Gamble Co. His children told the Cincinnati Enquirer that their father’s proudest achievement was inventing the Pringles can, for which he received a patent in 1970.

Dr. Baur solved one of humanity’s oldest dilemmas: How do you store “potato crisps” so they remain fresh and don’t break? His solution: the tubular, foil-lined, resealable can now beloved of junk food aficionados around the world.

At Dr. Baur’s request, his body was cremated, and part of his remains were interred in a Pringles can. We are not making this up.