learned pig



happy birthday @boleynqueens!!!

Learned Pigs

Learned Pigs provided a popular form of entertainment throughout the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

The original Learned Pig caused a sensation in London during the 1780s. To the amazement of enraptured audiences, the “intellectual” swine would “by means of typographical cards … set down any capital or Surname, reckon the number of people present, tell by evoking on a Gentleman’s watch in company what is the Hour and Minutes; he likewise tells any Lady’s Thoughts in company, and distinguishes all sorts of colours.” In 1788 it was reported that the pig had died, however, later conflicting reports announced the pig’s return following the 1789 French Revolution, and his readiness to “discourse on the Feudal System, the Rights of Kings and the Destruction of the Bastille”.

In the 1790s another Learned Pig, the “Pig of Knowledge”, toured the USA. Its owner described his methods of training the pig by coaxing it, rather than torturing it, which many believed must be the only way to get these pigs to respond. Despite this, the owner was accused of employing witchcraft, with one incredulous spectator declaring that “his performances were the effects of the Black Art; that the Pig ought to be burnt, and the Man banished, as he had no doubt but…[his trainer] familiarly corresponded with the devil.” The same pig was later exhibited in London where he was advertised as having acquired his knowledge from “Souchanguyee, the Chinese Philosopher.”

An illusionist in the early part of the 19th century exhibited yet another Leaned Pig by the name of Toby. Toby could “discover a person’s thoughts”, a skill “never heard of before to be exhibited by an animal of the swine race” and around 1817 Toby published an “autobiography” entitled The life and adventures of Toby, the sapient pig: with his opinions on men and manners. Written by himself. Thereafter, Toby became the standard name for a Learned Pig.

[Source: Learned Pig]

anonymous asked:

Do you have anymore gta Gavin and Ryan head cannons because I haven't seen many about Gavin and Ryan's are always the same thing xxxxx

so gta gavin:

  • is infinitely more competent than he lets on
  • but doesn’t make an effort to correct people’s assumptions that he’s hopeless because more often than not he can use their underestimations against them
  • is capable of charming his way into and out of like 95% of situations
  • has this fucking infuriating habit of filming everything and putting it all up on youtube, just hours of everything from highly incriminating evidence to, like, seven solid minutes of geoff just eating cereal
  • has snuck no fewer than five cats into geoff’s penthouse and actually managed to keep the fifth one hidden for a week and a half before geoff woke up in the middle of the night to it sleeping on his face and smothering him
  • (gavin woke up at two in the morning to the sound of geoff (muffledly) shrieking blue bloody murder, and managed to flee halfway down the block before geoff caught him and kicked his ass)
  • learned that pig-latin is not an actual language like only just a month ago and has not been able to escape the teasing since

and ryan:

  • has a bunch of houseplants in his apartment
  • let ray name one of them after much wheedling and regrets it to this day
  • has a weird penchant for how it’s made videos
  • can juggle
  • once used juggling as an actual spur-of-the-moment diversion during a heist(?? gavin still has no idea how he pulled that off????) and is about 10000x prouder of that than he should be
  • is still a word-flubber in this universe and has been nervously laughed at by no fewer than four bank tellers/convenience store clerks for saying something along the lines of, “put the fucking bag in the money! put the– wait– no, put the money in the– oh, fuck me.”
  • has an equal love for the oldies and the top forty
  • once killed a man via mechanical pencil
  • hasn’t done nearly all the shit he’s infamous for, but doesn’t discourage the rumors, either

I saw this yesterday at a train station, and I can’t fucking believe it aru. Apparently, the feminist organization AWARE has made ads to raise awareness for single parents…and they included single fathers aru.
Holy shit. Is the sky falling? Are pigs learning how to fly? I can’t believe that a feminist organization is finally trying to raise awareness equally for both men and women aru. Not that I’m complaining, though. THIS is what equality really looks like and THIS is what modern feminism SHOULD be doing more of aru. If feminists decide to quit it with erasing male victims of domestic violence and rape, stop using false facts and statistics to prove their points, stop demonizing men and start working towards actual equality, then I’ll gladly go back to being a feminist aru.
Great job for once, feminism. Great job.
-Wang Yao