Happy Saturday! Professor Ceiling Cat Emeritus is back in the building, though his office has a heat problem: it’s about 55 degrees F (13°C) in here. But it’s a frigid 7° F (-14°C) outside, and I froze my face on the 10-minute walk to work.
But let’s keep up tradition and have a Caturday felid. (Does anybody read these carefully selected items?)
First up, Maru and Hana fight over catnip, and both of them get baked. Ive never seen a video of Maru stoned before, and I’ve seen many Maru clips!
********
From Aeon Videos, , we have a touching video of an 11-year old narrating what he thinks happened—and will happen—after his beloved cat ( “puss” in Dutch) dies. The cat doesn’t go to Heaven or anything, for of course most Dutch are atheists.
The notes:
1Minute Nature is a Dutch series of short vignettes in which children from the Netherlands reflect on how they experience nature. In this episode, 11-year-old Lieuwe recalls finding his pet cat dead, and gives an imaginative (if not entirely accurate) account of what will happen to the cat’s body after he buries it, grappling with the universal human struggle to process death by finding a slightly macabre, but funny link between himself and the dead pet.
Director: Katinka Baehr, Stef Visjager
Animator: Kris Kobes
Website: Radiomakers Desmet
*********
Tom Nichols is an anti-Trump conservative whose Wikipedia bio describes him as “a professor at the U.S. Naval War College, at the Harvard Extension School, a Sovietologist, and a five-time undefeated Jeopardy! champion.” That’s a pretty polymathic bio, and he’s also the author of several books, one of which, The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters, is recommended by Grania. In this series of tweets, which I couldn’t reproduce without some duplication, he tells the story
So, I’m sitting and warming up while waiting to do some work on the house, and here is the story of why Carla was a hero kitty. /1
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) December 28, 2017
Basically, the fire burned under the floor, trapping smoke between the floor and ceiling. Fire investigator said it’s one of the most dangerous types because it goes undiscovered until it’s too late. /2
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) December 28, 2017
The smoke and house alarms tripped, but by that time the FD was already on the way. The cat patiently waited for Lynn in the bedroom, and we all jumped in the car outside while the fire was put out. /4
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) December 28, 2017
The investigator was amazed because apparently cats are a common casualty of fires – because their instinct is to hide under something. Ours woke us, then waited for us to get her where we knew she’d be. /5
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) December 28, 2017
We were told, yet again, that the extra time was the difference between “bad” and “tragic.”
All because: cat 🙂
So, we’re okay, house is a mess but okay, and the cat gets spoiled for life even more than I already was spoiling her.
/6x— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) December 28, 2017
And here is the lovely and prescient Carla from Nichols’s Twitter feed:
h/t: Blue
(Does anybody read these carefully selected items?)
Yes. Every week.
Welcome back.
L
But only once a week!
Yes, I read the Caturday. The catnip video is very funny. The cat that saved the staff is a great one.
Yes.
+ 1
+2
(Does anybody read these carefully selected items?)
I look forward to them and read/look at every single one. Like the Sunday comics I sometimes save it until later in the week.
Absolutely! The Caturday posts are some of the highlights of my week. Especially now that I fell on the snow last week and fractured my right humerus (dominant hand) at the shoulder. The cat posts are always important, especially Hili, but even more so now.
Om’golly, Ms Ruthann, in re “my right humerus
(dominant hand) at the shoulder !” I am so,
so sorry for you !
I, too, know of this exact break on a
nondominant shoulder humerus split lengthwise
back in 2009, a summertime then, my having
tripped on .a quite dry. downhill slope of
uneven sidewalk taking, from it, a total full
– on body weighted extreme dive into its
concrete.
No repercussions to its healing now in y2018;
but, I am sorry to recount, the no – pain
state took upwards of six years’ time and gym
workouts to attain … …
Be, … … ah if not ‘well, then heartened ?
Blue
I’ve never had a cat who responded to catnip/catmint (Nepeta). Quite disappointing, really. In my garden I grow some Walker’s Low hybrid catmint (Nepeta x faasenii) is there another species or hybrid anyone might suggest instead?
And the kid and his dead cat/three glasses of milk…creepy/cute. I’m glad that technology has made it easier to film/record the amusing ways in which children attempt to make sense of their world. It doesn’t have to be as artistic as the one shown to be charming.
Catnip, according to several sources, is the species Nepeta cataria, while catmint is the genus Nepeta (though N. cataria is also referred to as catmint). Walker’s low is a nice decorative plant, but I’d go for N. cataria if you want to test whether a cat is responsive. I guess the concentration of nepetalactone, which is said to be the active ingredient, is higher in N. cataria than in other catmints, but I don’t know.
I will seek your recommended plant out this spring. I think it is sold frequently in the big chain pet stores but usually looks as if it is near death (can’t they water those poor plants?). I started growing the Walkers Low to attract bees to my back yard but now that I’ve got a cat again (who shows no interest in the dried stuff inside his toys) I’ve got new reasons to grow the Nepeta cataria. Funny story about the dried catnip from my tween years, my cousin brought me some in a little box for my cats (who ignored it) which I forgot about and left in the basement. I had a rather amusing and embarrassing “talk” with my parents when they found it and thought it was another mood-altering herb, if you will. Of.course, out of the four kids, I was the one who didnt smoke anything at all (I did try it out, but yuck!) despite my long hair and Grateful Dead obsession.
All three catty stories are great!
The Caturday felids are a highlight of my week!
Does anybody read these carefully selected items? — I do, every week.
Sam Harris interviewed Nichols appeared recently on his podcast. One of the better recent episodes.
The Dutch kiddo’s video – take is darling !
Works he does, perhaps unknowingly but that
is quite okay of course, off of the “we are
all just itty bitty bits o’s t a r d u s t” –
type of afterlifing ! Lovely thinking !
Blue
I always read the Caturday specials too, and look forward to them. Maru and the catnip was excellent, Gus would have eaten the whole plant in that situation. The Dutch child’s video was sweet in a weird way.
Loved the Dutch ‘one minute’ video.
However, I’d have translated “een mooi idee” by “a beautiful idea” rather than “a nice idea”.
I always look forward to Caturday Felids, it’s a major highlight of my Caturday!
Who DOESN’T read the Caturday felids??? They are always a highlight of the week!
Reading Caturday Felids is the first thing I do on Sunday morning (here is OZ), at least after my coffee!
I read them religiously…. Well not exactly! But I do enjoy them very much!
+1, Ms Kenner !
I have had to go find me out new adverbs to
use so as to rid my lexicon o’that ‘ne: of
‘religiously’ … … or to rid it o’any one
o’those ‘supernaturally’ ones !
I have come up with several such as
conscientiously and eagerly and meticulously
and scrupulously. This attention to my own
diction helps to keep on .all. matters …
… balanced reality within my purview !
Blue
Why yes! As a matter of fact, I read most of the postings on here, I am an infrequent commenter. Keep up the good work! I’ll have to contribute some dive photos, something I haven’t seen in here yet; maybe other will enjoy them.
Thanks!
P.S. I also love cats, I have three of my own: Zeppelin, Zinnia (brother/sister) and Sparklemuffin.
Of course I read it every week. My masters demand it so I can learn new ways of honouring their greatness.
I look forward to these posts.
Maru has been a rock star for years now. It seems the inevitable overdose is right around the corner…
I too, wouldn’t miss Caturday as. Well. Really enjoy them.
For once, Maru out of the box?
I also read these posts.