CAT PROXIMITY
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Cartoon by xkcd: A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.
Life, Culture and Politics from BrisVegas
Larvatus Prodeo was an Australian group blog which discussed politics, sociology, culture, life, religion and science from a left of centre perspective. more»
That seems to make perfect sense.
But I thought that people were truly interested in photos of my cat…
The degree of statement inanity varies in a reciprocal inverse square relationship between the sapient homo-person and the cat. From the time cat’s baskets were first taken indoors at Sakkara, rodent plagues were largely contained but civilization, arts and letters throughout the Egyptian Empire began to decline. The spoken word became infused with gibberish, hieroglyphics on papyrus more difficult to decipher. Residents of Rosetta, alarmed at the sudden downturn in the quality of the spoken word, resolved to commit their dearest held tenets to the more enduring medium of stone.
These events, of not minor historical significance were referenced by Al Stewart,a troubadour, uncharitably decribed by some as a one-hit wonder, in the latter part of the Twentieth Century.
Meanwhile to our North, there was once a freeom fighter/poet who rallied his people with a rousing choruses of: “Viva Timor L’Este, Viva Falantil”.
Then he became a politician and the memory of erstwhile comrades-in-arms fast faded. He swapped his combat boots for Italian loafers. The practicalities of life confronted him with dictates of realpolitik. The former poet, and people’s hero now says;
“Bring me the head of Alfredo Reinado!”
Fffsssst!
aaahh, whadda bewdiful widdle cartoony-woony! Who’s a bewdiful widdle cartoon? You are. Yes you are.
I mean, what an insulting and ridiculous thing for the comic to say.
And xkcd rocks absolutely. It seems to be spreading, I keep seeing it pop up all over the place.
Hey!
Theres enough econobloggers around to get a proper curve going.
I suggest a competion to illustrate the cat blogging curve.
Quiggin, Clarke, Leigh, Soon…etc there are everywhere.
I’d also suggest an article, or a book, by Clive Hamilton.
Computer geeks probably like cats because dogs require more time away from the computer.
Readers better like pictures of my cat:
http://thespinzine.squarespace.com/journal/2007/3/6/jess.html
Yeah, my avatar finally works, but Selma’s head is chopped off.
Heh.
Cat h8r!
CSH, meet Kimba. Who could h8 that fluffy-wuffy tail?
The really excellent thing about that diagram is contrast between the rudimentary stick human figure and the fine realistic detail of the cat. One says idiotic things when close to cats because they make one feel so inferior and less highly evolved, as per these Cat Haiku by Anon:
My affection is
conditional. Don’t stand up,
it’s your lap I love.
Your mouth is moving
up and down, emitting noise.
I’ve lost interest.
Toy mice, dancing string,
meowing sounds. I’m convinced:
you’re an idiot.
I hate cats!!!
Cats don’t care.
Silly blog: the image didn’t come through before, razzenfrazzer it.
Anyway, Kimba’s visible in my comment above now.
.
Or even notice, unless they want something.
But that’s OK, I am happy in my semi-slavery to my friends’ cats.
Graph obviously designed by a cat, notice the resemblance to a fish tail.
I’m no particular lover of cats, but I at least respect the ones that earn their keep by doing their job –killing things– and so contributing to pest control around the house. I figure cats should work their side of the street, and I’ll work mine. I’ve seen cats perform some rather remarkable manuevers in the practice of their metier, that would put an Olympic diver to shame.
Way out in the country one time, I recall a cat who was lazing in the sun on a front porch, having his belly stroked and being cooed at by no less than three pretty girls; hearing a signal amidst all this distraction, he leapt straight up, reversed direction in midair, and sprang into action, darting 15 or 20 yards through the waist-high grass of the front yard, and emerging a half a minute later with a fresh kill. I was not unimpressed.
Next time you’re fussing over the cat, think about what *it’s* thinking about.
When it comes to cats earning their keep, here’s a cautionary tale of what happened when the Home Office engaged a string of moggies.
And speaking of fat cats in Whitehall, is this not the best named cat ever?.
Kate and Helen refute that theorem!
Who’s a bewdiful widdle killing machine? Yes you are!
Can some LP fat cat please tease my previous comment out of moderation here before I start shedding black hairs with intent. Nothing offensive in it, just three hyperlinks to some amusing feline facts and an almost dead and much chewed mouse.
Hey, here’s a question. Does anybody know how cat-inanity translates in other languages? Especially non-Western ones. Somehow I bet they don’t literally say “yes you aaaare” in Vietnamese or Malay or Urdu, but I’m wondering what they actually *do* say.
Also, since the ancient Egyptians seem to have been the first to go ga-ga over cats, can anybody point me to hieroglyphic inscriptions where, like, the eye and the feather and the bird and the sideways-posing chap seem like they’re extra-underlined and gooey?
Tigtog – absolutely brilliant!
I demand more LP cats! Forget Saturday Salon, let’s have Feline Friday! I hereby start early.
Actually, there is a link becoming evident about cats and schizophrenia via toxoplasmosis which might explain the inanity or disordered thinking of some posters. See articles in New Scientist (popular) and MedScape (technical, the most cited paper).
Actually, it appears that maternal exposure during pregnancy is the worst.
BTW: I consider that a cat is an id with fur, and the pictures of shaved cats should appear in books on Freudian psych.
Ignore the nasty man at 5.55, sweetikins.
He’s probably a dog person.
David Jackmanson: This “nasty man” is a working animal person. That rules out toy dogs too. But then… I point to peer-reviewed journals in posts, which correlates with me not being a cat person. (Mind you – cats are useful for work – ask Schrodinger)
[Put's hands over sweetikins ears to protect said sweetikins from awful words].
However, we may have some common ground on the toy dogs thing. If it’s chihuahua-sized or smaller, it’s a rat.
But the cat is always never dead. Bwahahahahaha.
You say that like it’s a bad thing.
Hmm — cockamamie theory, citation needed. It certainly doesn’t say anything about it here.
a) DJ: I like rats: Sacrificed lots of them, hated it every time. Hate mice though – dumb, dirty, and more likely to bite you than a big white Wistar. [wiki], [picture of Wistar in the interests of equal time with cats]
b) PC: Cat in the box – always never dead: You’ve got to open the box if you want results to write up! Leave it a while though for the best chance of interesting results. (Make sure its a quick painless toxin though, don’t want the poor moggy to stress out and release too many corticosteroids – I’m not that nasty, and read your citn.) BTW: Does Pavlov’s cat have a Pavlov/Heidenhein pouch?
c) PC: “cockamamie theory” : yep, but I was whimsically extending this post’s initial hypothesis.
Not toxoplasmosis again. First it was getting flu in winter now the poor moggy is blame. Actually the most interesting thing about schixophrenia is that is likely to disappear from classifications of mental disorder in the near future. Scientists have recognised that mental illnesses vary in the degree to which mood disorders and psychosis contribute and schizophrenia is just at one end of what is essentially a spectrum. Noone would be so foolish as to attribute a single etiology to schizophrenia either.
Cats do mess with your head but that is entirely deliberate, they don’t need some amoeboid to do it for them.
I’m not saying get rid of cats, just take appropriate care. Don’t believe me, just take notice of the experts: the Center for Disease Control (CDC)
a) Schizophrenia has both multiple and multifactorial aetiologies. It’s just that we don’t know enough yet, and eventually it will become classified into a number of different diseases. The jury on toxo as a RISK factor is no longer hung, as serology not just epidemiology has entered the argument. The weird anti-psychotic effect of anti-toxo drugs is the clincher for me.
b) I’d recommend you google for schizophrenia and toxoplasmosis (with site:cdc.gov), and then toxoplasmosis, cat, cat and pregnant (with site:cdc.gov.au) – the “site” qualifier will limit the search to the CDC. You’ll find the practical things you can do, i.e. keep cat indoors, what you should and shouldn’t feed the moggy, how long a cat is infectious, and how pregnant women can take extra care etc.
The link with humans probably extends back to the time we were prey (lions, sabre-tooths, etc), just like the mice which are not scared of cats after toxo. (Think mouse wanting to suicide by climbing into Sylvester’s mouth saying “EAT ME”).
This is just a re-hash of women cats=witches thing, isn’t it.
Wow. The line “What’th with the paper bag, Thon?” has just taken on a whole new meaning.
Why yes, my pretty. Now then, did anybody see you come in? No? Good. Stir this cauldron and repeat after me:
Tongue of mouse, and pigeon’s claw,
heart of Adelaide Rosella,
liver of Barred Bandicoot
boil till it’s all nice and yella.
Hubble burble, toil and trurble,
this should rid you of that furball.
Cackle!
Cats=witches? No, because if today’s “be careful of cats and toxo” types got into a time machine, epidemiological studies back then would have shown a healthier population where there were lots of cats, and fewer rats, and less Yersinia pestis. – Cat owners would have been heroes.
By the way – I’m a (white) RAT person – even though I’ve sacrificed too many (hated it, always overused the phenobarb, but animal-lovers should want lab types who hate sacrificing. See “wistar rat” on wikipedia), and boiled their guts up in all sorts of nasty mixtures – (the “cauldrons” were made of glass).
And I never did felid vivisection. And I preferred Sylvester to the nasty Tweety.