Polecaterpillars

Ermine moth:

Src: Shadoxhurst Garden

Ferret legging, possible aftermath of

Via Matt P (see also):

"A pencil-necked little weasel"

Legislator apologizes for weasel words (NYT):

Opening himself up to the full retaliation of the supernatural world, Mr. Dean singled out Mr. Gaiman for having received a $45,000 payment last year for a four-hour speaking engagement. Mr. Dean said Mr. Gaiman, “who I hate,” was a “pencil-necked little weasel who stole $45,000 from the state of Minnesota,” The Star Tribune reported.

Embracing Mr. Dean’s description of him, a self-deprecating Mr. Gaiman responded in a post on his personal blog, titled “The Opinions of a Pencil-Necked Weasel-Thief…,” writing that it was “kind of nice to make someone’s hate list.” Mr. Gaiman added that while he liked being compared to pencils (“You can draw or write things with pencils”), he did not appreciate being called a thief.

Killer stoats

Famous baseball statistician Bill James, who “played a prominent role in the Michael Lewis best-seller Moneyball,” is now aiming his science at serial killers.

James’ wise-beard status can be traced to a series of self-published books he wrote in the late ’70s while working at a Kansas pork-and-beans factory. Each carried the name Baseball Abstract and contained a mix of dust-dry stoats and nimble prose that James used to debunk some of the sport’s most deeply held beliefs.  

(Wired via the Rumpus.)

Bad Hare Day

Easter ferrets, via killorn.

Pole(cat) vault

The first 25 sec. or so of this video are quite good. (Src: StoatsJackson on twitter)

Ferret legging

Wikipedia article on ferret legging, i.e., putting ferrets in your pants and trying to keep them in there as long as possible:

In 1972, the ferret legging record stood at 40 seconds.^[5][30] A few years later, the record had risen to over one minute,^[30] and eventually to 90 minutes. In 1977, Edward Simpkins from the Isle of Wight set the new world record of five hours and ten minutes, although he only had one ferret in his trousers during the first four hours and two for the last seventy minutes. Simpkins sustained two large bites during his record-breaking attempt, but continued to play a game of darts undeterred.^[31]
Retired miner Reg Mellor, from Barnsley,^[32] set the new world record time of five hours and twenty-six minutes on 5 July 1981 at the Annual Pennine Show at Holmfirth, Yorkshire.^{[20][33][34][35]} He had practised the sport since his youth, but had received no recognition until he set the new world record.^[22] Mellor, who had hunted with ferrets in the dales outside of Barnsley for many years, had grown accustomed to keeping them in his trousers to keep them warm and dry when out working in the rain.^[36] Mellor's "trick" was to ensure that the ferrets were well-fed before they were inserted into his trousers.^[20]
In 1986, Mellor attempted to break his own record before a crowd of 2,500 spectators, intending to beat the "magic six-hour mark—the four-minute mile of ferret legging".^[15][37] After five hours, most of the attendees had become bored and left; workmen arrived to dismantle the stage, despite Mellor's protests that he was on his way to a new record.^[15] According to Adrian Tame of the Sunday Herald Sun, Mellor retired after that experience, "disillusioned and broken-hearted," but with his dignity and manhood intact.^[9] Mellor had hoped to organise an annual national competition held in his home town of Barnsley, and offered a prize of £100 to anyone who could beat him.^[5]