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These two very different portraits are allegedly of one subject: William Shakespeare. The one on the left is owned by the Cobbes, an Anglo-Irish family related to Will’s patron, the third Earl of Southampton. Experts doubt whether that’s really Will.

It would be interesting to know what Shakespeare looked like, but do we really care whether he looked like Joseph Fiennes in Shakespeare In Love, Colin Firth in Blackadder, or Max Alvarado in Ang Panday? Of course he would look different in every portrait. Did Othello look like Viola? Does Shylock resemble Edmund? He invented human characters and they all had bits of Will in their DNA.

The New York Times reports. Adam Gopnik weighs in on the find.

Revolutions create a curious inversion of perception. In ordinary times, people who do no more than describe the world around them are seen as pragmatists, while those who imagine fabulous alternative futures are viewed as radicals. The last couple of decades haven’t been ordinary, however. Inside the papers, the pragmatists were the ones simply pointing out that the real world was looking increasingly like the unthinkable scenario. These people were treated as if they were barking mad. Meanwhile the people spinning visions of popular walled gardens and enthusiastic micropayment adoption, visions unsupported by reality, were regarded not as charlatans but saviors.

Cause of Death Determined for Print Media by Clay Shirky in Gawker.

Today’s winner: Blue. Sent in by his human, Yas.

“I found my cat exactly a year ago on a Saturday afternoon. Our children’s choir had just finished practising and we were waiting for the van when we saw a tiny kitten on the sidewalk. I didn’t want a kitten that time. We lost our 17-year-old dog two years ago and never thought we could have another pet. But this little thing had suicidal tendencies, or so I thought. He kept crossing the street, and I kept looking out for him and bringing him back to the bushes where it was safer. After the nth time I heaved an exasperated sigh and brought him to the church basement. I decided to take him home with me.

“I named him Blue because he has blue eyes. He is such a funny, adorable bundle of energy. He didn’t like being carried by the scruff of the neck, so I always carry him with his belly on the length of my arm. He was barely a month old then. He inspected every corner of the house, every guest coming in; hissed at anyone/anything that surprised him; clawed us to shreds during playtime, and kept the house roach-fly-lizard free. My greatest accomplishment: teaching him to sit and give high fives.”

Yas, I’ve emailed you the prize confirmation.

Could we have some dog adoption stories next? We have prizes for cats and dogs.

Here’s the first winner in our Pets Make Us Human contest: Comrade Kitanya, sent in by her human, Kit Kwe.

“Two years ago a very young, mackerel pusakal, impregnated by a lion it seemed, started keeping vigil by our front gate, fazed by neither cars nor people. Impressed by her pluck, we started feeding her. After a week, she moved into our plantbox, and spent her days sitting before the wire fence, meowing tirelessly at the snarling dogs that bounced inches from her face. The dialogue was apparently successful because one day, she just hopped into the yard, walked coolly amidst the dogs (who licked her like a pastry) and staked her claim in their sleeping area.

“Comrade Kitanya Irenya Tantanya Karenska Alisoff, or “Kitty” has a passion for hour-long “conversations,” herding runaway dogs back home, joining them for daily walks around the village, and giving them a taste of her claws when they break my orders to “stay” and “sit.” Everyday, she assiduously notes the exact time of my arrival, expressing her displeasure when I come in later than 1 am. She thinks human feet are the perfect pillows, and surgical attachment to my heels is not a bad idea. She cannot give birth until she is snuggled up next to me in bed, and one of us–guess which–is being drawn into the sweet, slow waters of sleep.

“Here is a picture of her thoughtfully gazing at a litter of puppies.”

Comrade Kitty gets a gift pack from Purina. I’ll email you confirmation you can use to claim your prize. Email your stray dog and cat adoption stories with pictures to saffron.safin@gmail.com to get gift packs for your pets. (Humans and pets should have been together for at least 6 months.) If you haven’t adopted or can’t adopt stray cats or dogs—I know, the effort and expense—you can still participate in the Homeless, Not Worthless campaign.

When you were a kid did your parents make you pluck out their gray hairs? What rate did they give you per piece? I got five cents. Now I have my own grays to pluck out. I can get some grays at the back of my head using two mirrors. Bruno’s had a gray-plucking service, I wonder if they still offer it.

What do scientists know about the causes of graying? Very little.

The age of graying seems to be determined by heredity, The Journal of Investigative Dermatology reported in 2005. Whites tend to gray first, often as early as their mid-30s, followed by Asians and then Africans. About half of 50-year-olds are at least 50 percent gray. So it would seem that Mr. Obama, at 47, is a little late to the graying game.

But while the arrival of gray hair is relatively predictable, how and why hair ages this way is not well understood. Unlocking those secrets could have potential well beyond vanity, leading to a better understanding of the aging process at the cellular level. Scientists even hope that by identifying the mechanism that kills hardy hair-pigment cells and leaves us awash in gray, they can develop new treatments for shutting down more troublesome cells — like those that cause skin cancer.

Thousands of stray dogs and cats roam the metro every day, taking shelter and rummaging for food in dumpsters. Most of them were abandoned by irresponsible pet owners who let their animals breed incessantly or left them to wander the streets when taking care of them became a burden. Many of these dogs end up in illegal dog fighting dens or are butchered and sold.
The ‘Homeless, Not Worthless’ campaign of Nestlé Purina, the Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) and SM Supermalls has been launched to support PAWS in their mission of seeing to the well-being of such animals. PAWS, a 50-year-old volunteer organization that works for the prevention of animal abuse and promotion of compassionate animal treatment has constructed the Paws Animal Rehabilitation Center (PARC) with funding from Meralco and International Fund for Animal Welfare. PARC, which has 36 dogs and 149 cats in residence waiting for adoption, serves as a treatment center for low-cost neutering of dogs and temporary animal shelter for abandoned or rescued animals from the streets and from abusive owners.

You can donate your coins to the campaign in the “GaraPAW”—red plastic canisters in strategic locations at SM Malls. To give bigger donations or adopt pets from the PAWS Rehabilitation Center, concerned citizens can text PURINA to 2338 (for Globe subscribers) or 0917-599-23-38 (for non-Globe subscribers). An automated message will give texters the option to donate cash, or to adopt (Purina DONATE CASH, Purina ADOPT). Each text message costs P2.50, a part of which goes to PAWS. Globe subscribers can readily donate through G-CASH by typing the following: Send amount MPIN to 2882 + 10 digit mobile number (e.g. 0917-1111111).

Cash donations can be deposited for Philippine Animal Welfare Society to BPI US Dollar Account No: 3944-0021-61, Philippine Peso Account No: 3943-0086-11 (SWIFT No: BOPIPHMM) or PNB Peso Account No: 072-8301740 (SWIFT No: PNBMPHMM). Checks are also accepted and payable to “The Philippine Animal Welfare Society”, PAWS PARC, Aurora Blvd., Katipunan Valley, Loyola Heights, QC. tel no +632-4751688.

Are you the proud human of adopted stray cats or dogs? Tell us how you met and what made you decide to bring them home. Email a picture and a short description of your pet/s to saffron.safin@gmail.com. If your entry is posted here, you will receive a gift pack from Purina. Maximum two entries per person, please; each entry can feature as many dogs and cats as you wish. Prizes have to be claimed in Metro Manila. The contest will continue as long as supplies last.

Koosi adopted me in 1999. I found her rolling around in a patch of sunlight in front of the Today office. I put her in a shopping bag and took her home. To this day she likes crawling into shopping bags. She turns 10 on April 12. She is a terrible snob. When she wants attention she bites my toes.