We all like to think that lady luck or good fortune will one day smile on us and shower us with her
.... beneficence, maybe a lottery win.
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| Lady Luck - Invoked By Gamblers |
but how about when the lady looks the other way? What about the day lady luck frowns in your direction?
My mind turned to this when I came across two stories on the same day that seemed to show extreme (but non fatal) bad luck.
The first story involves a Swedish lady and a gorilla ..... no nothing lurid. It appears that Gorillas, who are not known for throwing stones (unlike Chimpanzees who have been known to throw faeces and even stack stones to plan an attack on people), can pick up new tricks, and at the Kolmården National Park in central Sweden one of the five gorillas has learnt to throw and aim stones ..... they threw a stone that stone measured roughly five centimetres in diameter, across a moat and hit a woman on the head causing her to need treatment.
This behaviour is extremely unusual for gorillas who normally just throw objects like grass in the air ..... but apparently the particular gorilla has 'previous' for this, with reports that Enzo the gorilla had thrown a stone at at a boy in July last year but missed. What makes this even odder is that Santino the rock ambushing Chimpanzee, is also in a Swedish Zoo .... but not the same zoo (he's in the Furuvik Zoo in Gävle, Sweden). However, funny though this is, one can't help but think, that it was very unlucky to be struck by a stone thrown by a gorilla .... its just not an everyday experience.
The second tale was of a restored horse drawn tram, which after an eight year restoration, was being put back on track in Leeds for the first time in 112 years, but which then rolled over a lady horse groom, after one of the horses pulling it bolted .... she suffered broken legs, but is not in a fatal condition. Once again, one has to wonder at the extreme ill fortune to be run over by a tram that has not been on the streets since Victorian times.
You have to assume that lady luck was frowning on both these unfortunate ladies on these occasions .....
The first story involves a Swedish lady and a gorilla ..... no nothing lurid. It appears that Gorillas, who are not known for throwing stones (unlike Chimpanzees who have been known to throw faeces and even stack stones to plan an attack on people), can pick up new tricks, and at the Kolmården National Park in central Sweden one of the five gorillas has learnt to throw and aim stones ..... they threw a stone that stone measured roughly five centimetres in diameter, across a moat and hit a woman on the head causing her to need treatment.
This behaviour is extremely unusual for gorillas who normally just throw objects like grass in the air ..... but apparently the particular gorilla has 'previous' for this, with reports that Enzo the gorilla had thrown a stone at at a boy in July last year but missed. What makes this even odder is that Santino the rock ambushing Chimpanzee, is also in a Swedish Zoo .... but not the same zoo (he's in the Furuvik Zoo in Gävle, Sweden). However, funny though this is, one can't help but think, that it was very unlucky to be struck by a stone thrown by a gorilla .... its just not an everyday experience.
The second tale was of a restored horse drawn tram, which after an eight year restoration, was being put back on track in Leeds for the first time in 112 years, but which then rolled over a lady horse groom, after one of the horses pulling it bolted .... she suffered broken legs, but is not in a fatal condition. Once again, one has to wonder at the extreme ill fortune to be run over by a tram that has not been on the streets since Victorian times.
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| First Person Run Over By Horse Drawn Tram In 112 Years. |
You have to assume that lady luck was frowning on both these unfortunate ladies on these occasions .....
Yes, very unlucky indeed to be hit by a rock thrown by a gorilla. However, her chances were increased considerably by visiting a zoo containing a gorilla, as would be my chances of winning the lottery - by buying a ticket.
ReplyDeleteBTW did you know that gorillas don't pass the ["self-awareness"] mirror test? Surprised me.
That 'Gorilla mirror test' information was a surprise, so I took the trouble to look it up. According to Wiki, "Gorillas – it was initially thought that gorillas were unable to pass the test, but there are now several well-documented reports of gorillas (such as Koko) passing the test. .... maybe Gorillas just thought the test dumb. Like it would be to an adult human?
DeleteThe article I was reading, in a magazine, gave the alternative view that even passing the mirror test does not prove self-awareness. These animals may trust their reflected images to do exactly what they do and see them as 'the same' without recognising themselves. I see a lot of humans who lack self awarenes and empathy, so attributing these qualities to animals is perhaps being over generous.
DeleteWell either our closest genetic cousins (from 95–99% depending on what is counted), alongside Bonobo's and Chimpanzees, are self aware, or its just us - then we enter the realm of the Intelligent creator aka a divine source, which is something I can't accept. So I chose to give gorillas the benefit of the doubt, certainly above dogs, parrots, dolphins etc.
DeleteSelf awareness and language are products of an evolutionary quirk and IF no other species benefitted, it doesn't follow that there must be a god - that idea is just an unfortunate by-product of the same quirk.
DeleteI wasn't suggesting that evolution wasn't at play, or even that it wasn't an element of chance, but rather that if we were in fact the only species with 'self awareness', then it lent more strength to those 'creationists aka intelligent designers' who believe that the heavens and the earth were created solely to allow humans to worship (or not) their creator/designer. However, if in fact many animals (especially those that share most of our genomes), have self awareness i.e are aware that a reflection is 'me' while there are 'others', then the whole argument becomes one of evolution.
DeleteAnd therefore the idea that a supernatural being created the heavens and the earth were created solely for humans, but not for the self aware Chimpanzees, Bonobo's, Dolphins, Whales and Gorillas, seems even more ludicrous than it normally does.
Speaking of whales, I just learned that the Killer Whale is not a whale at all but a dolphin and that it's name is a mis-translation and should be "Whale Killer", as that is what they do! Quite Interesting.
DeleteI didn't know that ... but to misquote Michael Caine probably 'not a lot of people knew that'
DeletePity Roy Hodgson's joke about the Astronaut and the monkey wasn't explained as well as your starting comment about the lady and the gorilla LOL
ReplyDeleteYeah have to agree with that. Still the self appointed 'race advisor's' were out in force. I note that invariably its whites who are always demonised by these people.
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