Test Equipment Anonymous

Damn cat. So today I'm putting up a curtain rod. Blondie comes into the lab holding one of the wall anchors I need. Found on the kitchen floor. I keep forgetting that I can't leave small parts on the lab benches unattended.

Yesterday Blondie makes the mistake of leaving a cake with cream cheese frosting on the dining table. Guess who was enjoying cream cheese frosting? He made a mouth sized hole in the frosting right down to the cake.

And today's xkcd involves cats: https://xkcd.com/3108

tggzzz wrote: ↑Sat Jun 28, 2025 7:02 pm And today's xkcd involves cats: https://xkcd.com/3108

Harley indeed goes nuts over laser pointers.

MED6753 wrote: ↑Sat Jun 28, 2025 9:05 pm

tggzzz wrote: ↑Sat Jun 28, 2025 7:02 pm And today's xkcd involves cats: https://xkcd.com/3108

Harley indeed goes nuts over laser pointers.

So does daughter's dog, for the same reasons.

And that loops back to: viewtopic.php?p=8355#p8355

MED6753 wrote: ↑Sat Jun 28, 2025 9:05 pm

tggzzz wrote: ↑Sat Jun 28, 2025 7:02 pm And today's xkcd involves cats: https://xkcd.com/3108

Harley indeed goes nuts over laser pointers.

To be fair, I have yet to find a cat that doesn't enjoy a laser pointer, both of mine go crazy over them.

It's summertime, isn't it?

Cat's melting - impossible.

Friends had two black cats who liked to get under the log burning stove when it was fired up. After a time, the heat got too much even for them, and they'd dart out with their fur smoking.

Agreed, cats love heat which would drive any human into heat stroke.

mnem
mrrrp...?

Amusingly horrifying?
Horrifyingly amusing?

No harm, no foul, the cat landed on it's feet.

MED6753 wrote: ↑Sat Jul 12, 2025 9:03 pm No harm, no foul, the cat landed on it's feet.

I was under the impression that was part of their design specification - or is it merely emergent behaviour?

tggzzz wrote: ↑Sat Jul 12, 2025 9:33 pm

MED6753 wrote: ↑Sat Jul 12, 2025 9:03 pm No harm, no foul, the cat landed on it's feet.

I was under the impression that was part of their design specification - or is it merely emergent behaviour?

Design specification. By the time a kitten is 2 months old they have already mastered landing on their feet. So I guess you could say it's "emergent" but instinctive, not behavior driven.

If I tried to hold Harley upside down by his feet I'd be bloodied on both arms.

Want to know how resilient cats are?

One Spring night a year ago Blondie and I sat out on the balcony enjoying the evening. What we didn't realize at the time was that Harley came out with us unseen. We eventually came in and closed the door, not knowing he was out there. Several hours later we hear a cat howling and crying. I went looking for Harley and couldn't find him. Then we realized it was coming from outside. I open the door to the balcony and sure enough the howling was coming from outside. But not from the balcony. I look down as shown in the picture and there was a cat huddled up against the building howling and crying. Since it was dark I couldn't make out if it was Harley. I rush down and outside and sure enough it was him. I scooped him up and he immediately stopped crying. I brought him up and he was completely uninjured, except for his pride. And we are so lucky he didn't run away. I don't know if he fell or jumped. And that's at least 25 feet straight down. Imagine a person falling that distance. When we go out on the balcony now he does like to come out with us. But we make damn sure he comes back in.

Thursday morning this is what I found on the bed just beside my feet.

MED6753 wrote: ↑Sun Jul 13, 2025 3:07 pm If I tried to hold Harley upside down by his feet I'd be bloodied on both arms.

Use cowhide arc (MMA) welding gauntlets. It's the only way to approach a dangerous creature of that sort.

mnem
we've all been there.

Those who have both species in their furry family (and any with human siblings as well ) will surely relate:



mnem
pants are highly overrated.

Cat vs Roomba: Cat Wins!



https://www.youtube.com/shorts/C9kQVW2VICM

mnem
zfg, yo.

Introducing Heidi (aka Mrs Gutbucket or The Technocat) and Binx. They arrived in 2020 and were very tiny indeed (starved), although they are now regulation cat size. Heidi is the mother and would let Binx eat her food. Binx was very timid indeed and hid a lot for the first six months. Her favourite place was in the 3" gap between wall cupboard and end wall. To get there, she would leap three feet vertically from the counter onto the top, then drop in. Even more impressive, she could do it from a counter that only overhung the wall cupboard by a few inches. Heidi is now luxuriously upholstered, not overstuffed, you understand, but definitely a bit rotund. Vet keeps telling us that she needs to lose some weight, but neither cat has forgotten being starved, so they demand food and SWMBO gives in. Heidi likes peace and quiet (no Binx), but Binx wants to be with mum. Heidi is allowed in the lab for peace and quiet whereas Binx (technically) isn't. But the lab is a bit like colonial Hong Kong; if you come from the mainland, you're not allowed to go there, but if you make it, you can stay, so I often find Binx looking winsomely at me from the lab chair. Fortunately, neither has shown any inclination to chew 'scope probe cables. Neither has shown any inclination to understand Thevenin's theorem, but Binx has dragged three pigeons through the cat flap, two in fully working order. Heidi is too lazy to do much hunting.

Cat in my avatar is an earlier cat called Anode; she was a very bright cat (like all mackerel tabbies) and lasted almost seventeen years. Heidi has a very nice nature, but she's not going to get on "Brain of Britain". Binx is a bit Oriental and takes more after her father, so she's a bit brighter.

tggzzz wrote: ↑Sat Jul 12, 2025 4:53 pm Amusingly horrifying?
Horrifyingly amusing?

Ya know, I must've scrolled past that a couple dozen times since you posted it... and every time it catches me unawares and makes me laugh IRL.

mnem
just never gets old.

I'm glad it has bought a little pleasure into this hard life!

I dislike animal cruelty, but came to the same conclusion as MED w.r.t. landing on its feet. I was a little concerned that cat lovers would find it cruel, and thought about my caption for a while.

Animate gifs : youtoob == haiku : poems. Short and sweet is good.

But if you look closely, the cat is magically flying head first immediately after take-off; I think it's been fiddled.

On the subject of cats (albeit large ones), I had breakfast at "The Shack" https://www.communityad.co.uk/exclusive ... cafe-hook/on Saturday. There was a poster above our table telling of a little history. Apparently, the owners of The Shack also ran a fairground where one of their ladies would drive a three-wheeler round the Wall of Death. Nothing new there. Except that she took a lioness named Rita with her. There's a photograph of said lioness in side compartment of a tiny car with intrepid lady standing next to it. As a cat-owner, I know that cats only do stuff they enjoy, and the lioness looked quite happy (positively grinning), so I assume it enjoyed the stunt. More significantly, I can't imagine anyone persuading a lioness to do something it didn't really want to do.