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They seem to know where you might not want them. — Parallax Forums

They seem to know where you might not want them.

xanaduxanadu Posts: 3,347
edited 2015-02-23 11:54 in General Discussion
The neighbors cat never gave me the time of day until yesterday. Yesterday he let himself in through the window, in amazement I followed him around to see what he would do.

My newly acquired feline friend heads straight for my home office, jumps up on a desk and before I know it starts walking circles on a 17" laptop screen - long enough for me to get the camera out! Like it was possessed, prancing in circles on the LCD... Looking around my house and all of the other possible scenarios I have to wonder how it could do that haha.

meow0.jpg

Comments

  • User NameUser Name Posts: 1,451
    edited 2015-02-20 13:24
    I love it when neighborhood cats come to visit. It doesn't happen enough.

    Long time ago I had a table covered in laboratory glassware. A visiting cat walked across the entire length of it twice and then jumped down, never disturbed a thing. A dog in the same situation would have caused thousands of dollars of destruction. Just the wagging tail of the average dog would wreak havoc.

    Btw, +1 on the aeronautical charts. The Sea of Cortez on the left?
  • xanaduxanadu Posts: 3,347
    edited 2015-02-20 13:51
    Thanks. It looks like Sea of Cortez because there are two San Diego charts/TACs side by side. Those were my first solo cross country charts, just the southern tip of the route. I would like to find a way to better preserve them, some of the notes and mistakes on them are great!
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2015-02-20 14:09
    Having jumped up on the bench and luckily found a flat spot on the screen. Hmm, shiny thing. It seems that cat was at a bit of a loss to find any other safe place to step into :)
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2015-02-20 15:02
    User Name wrote:
    Long time ago I had a table covered in laboratory glassware. A visiting cat walked across the entire length of it twice and then jumped down, never disturbed a thing. A dog in the same situation would have caused thousands of dollars of destruction. Just the wagging tail of the average dog would wreak havoc.
    My cat, Browser, once jumped up on a workbench where an open box full of #4 fasteners was sitting. He apparently thought it would be cool to see hundreds of screws, nuts, and washers scattered about the shop and took a deliberate swipe at the box, sending it to the floor. That was years ago, and I'm still finding detritus from that event. 'Still miss that little rascal!

    -Phil
  • User NameUser Name Posts: 1,451
    edited 2015-02-20 15:32
    Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) wrote: »
    My cat, Browser, once jumped up on a workbench where an open box full of #4 fasteners was sitting. He apparently thought it would be cool to see hundreds of screws, nuts, and washers scattered about the shop and took a deliberate swipe at the box, sending it to the floor. That was years ago, and I'm still finding detritus from that event. 'Still miss that little rascal!

    -Phil

    Yup. Cats know instinctively whether they're the guests or the homeowners.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7udUxofdBIE
  • mindrobotsmindrobots Posts: 6,506
    edited 2015-02-20 16:26
    If the LCD was powered up, then it was warm. Cat heaven.

    Laptop keyboards are a favorite.

    This week, I learned micro-SD cards are fun when you can them across a wooden floor. Luckily, I remebered hearing an unusual noise while I was working and found that Tiny thing before the dog did. Our dog dsoesn'doesn't need 64gb of Raspbian!
  • msrobotsmsrobots Posts: 3,709
    edited 2015-02-20 22:42
    @xanadu,

    Cats usually own a huge amount of neighborhood. The roam, visit and watch. A cat of a friend of mine always left around shortly before midnight to watch from a window sill of a nearby hospital some nurses having a break and playing cards...

    So you got visited and inspected. Now all of them cats around there will meet and decide what to do with you!

    You can own a car, a house and even a dog. You never own a cat. Somehow you end up being owned by them. Sort of adopted.

    So good luck with your new overseer ...

    Mike
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2015-02-20 23:40
    One dreary winter on the Oregon coast in a small 750 square foot cabin, I came home to discover that my backdoor was open and a possum had decided to curl up and take a nap on the cozy hot water heat.

    Money was tight, so he made a nice stew.

    Don't worry, I don't eat feline or cannie. But I could pass up my first possum stew.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2015-02-21 07:37
    Loopy Byteloose wrote: »
    ... a possum had decided to ... nap on the cozy hot water heater... so he made a nice stew.

    From one hot water vessel to the next. Did he actually make stew, or was he just playing possum? Tasted like chicken, I suppose?

    I'm going to start saying "this tastes like possum" at least once a day.
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2015-02-21 09:02
    Tastes nothing like chicken, but I did have my trusty "Joy of Cooking" on hand to help me with proper preparation. I'd say it was similar to rabbit stew the way I cooked it.

    http://cannundrum.blogspot.tw/2013/12/baked-opossum.html

    You might wonder how the possum got to Oregon. During the Great Depression, loggers from the Deep South migrated to Oregon and brought along the possum for hunt. They also brought a few other things, including the Klu Klux Klan in Southern Oregon which claimed to be active in the 1960s.

    Loggers move around a lot when the timber gets logged off. Many claim that their families originated from the Great Sahara Forest. I am not too sure what to believe. I've never run into a Blue Ox named Babe.
  • CuriousOneCuriousOne Posts: 931
    edited 2015-02-21 12:16
    My cat favored my CRT monitor, and was quite angry, when it got replaced by LCD :)

    I can't understand one thing - if cats need heat so much, why not nature makes them with longer fur, thicker fatty tissues and so on?
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2015-02-21 13:43
    CuriousOne wrote:
    I can't understand one thing - if cats need heat so much, why not nature makes them with longer fur, thicker fatty tissues and so on?
    Because the path of least evolutionary resistance was ingratiating themselves to humans.

    -Phil
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2015-02-22 08:38
    CuriousOne wrote: »
    My cat favored my CRT monitor, and was quite angry, when it got replaced by LCD :)

    I can't understand one thing - if cats need heat so much, why not nature makes them with longer fur, thicker fatty tissues and so on?

    Cats and power transformers seem to have a close relationship in Kaohsiung due to the warmth of the transformers.

    Because of typhoons, the transformers are not atop power poles; they are on the ground and much of the 10KV and above power distribution is underground. So whenever the temperature drops, one sees clusters of cats atop the transformers. Some even stretch out on the tops of cooling fins. Others just seem to like the hoods and roofs of black cars during the day as they are less crowded, but it is back to the transformers when the sun goes down.
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2015-02-22 10:03
    Cats prefer vacuum tube technology. It was a common observation that a HAM radio operators cat would settle on his transmitter or receiver. Tubes have heaters, they are nice and warm. Plus the fact that cats also seem to like to have your attention so if you are there doing something, they are there too.

    Cat's don't like transistors. They are cold. No, not the sound quality.
  • mindrobotsmindrobots Posts: 6,506
    edited 2015-02-22 11:25
    They seem to have no issues with FPGAs when running the P2-HOT emulation!

    attachment.php?attachmentid=107821&d=1396026013
  • CuriousOneCuriousOne Posts: 931
    edited 2015-02-22 12:06
    Also, by my observations, cats prefer IR heating, rather than heating by convection. They generally don't enjoy moving air masses at all.
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2015-02-22 16:56
    CuriousOne wrote:
    They generally don't enjoy moving air masses at all.
    That's for sure. One time years ago when my brother, who is allergic to cats, was coming to visit, I took Browser to the local cat wash in an attempt to minimize fur-borne allergens. He hated any kind of moving air. When I went ot pick him up, the salon owner had him installed in a cage with a blow driyer afixed to the door. Browser pinned himself against the back wall of the cage to get as far from that thing as possible. I don't think he ever forgave me for that, and I never took him there again.

    -Phil
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2015-02-23 09:41
    Dogs know, too. In a crowd of people, they often walk directly up to a person who "hates dogs" and start nuzzling their hands until they get petted. Somehow they know.

    There are some amazing dogs that can reliably warn of imminent seizures in people too: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/04/0416_030416_seizuredogs.html
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2015-02-23 11:45
    Phil,
    ...local cat wash...
    What a bizarre world you live in.
  • mindrobotsmindrobots Posts: 6,506
    edited 2015-02-23 11:54
    Heater. wrote: »
    Phil,

    What a bizarre world you live in.

    Equivalent (except in scale) to your local drive-thru Reindeer wash, I'm sure!
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