0231: "Cat Proximity"

[webgiant]

The same goes for babies.

No. It doesn't. Babies are gross. And loud.

Actually cats are gross and loud too, we're just prepared to ignore all that with cats.

Examples

Screaming from the next room.
BABY: No one wants to go find out whats wrong.
CAT: We go find our little snoogums to see whats the matter.

Sound of puking from the hallway.
BABY: No one wants to go find out whats wrong.
CAT: We go find our little sweet baboo to see whats the matter.

Yes, parents typically run in the direction of baby making noises, but the point is that they don't WANT to. Cat owners WANT to.

Icky Noise interrupts sex.
BABY: Sex stops. Sometimes permanently.
CAT: Sex stops briefly, then everyone laughs and gets back into it.

[Linux0s]

Invisible Bread FTW:

[lanicita]

This is the new best topic with the filter.

[Max™]

Utterly relevant: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/26/techn ... gewanted=1

In short, google researchers linked 16,000 processors together to try to make a machine brain, provided it with millions of images from youtube, and let it do its own thing.

Result: it used youtube for what everyone else does, watching cat videos.

This was a triumph.

[PolakoVoador]

Utterly relevant: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/26/techn ... gewanted=1

In short, google researchers linked 16,000 processors together to try to make a machine brain, provided it with millions of images from youtube, and let it do its own thing.

Result: it used youtube for what everyone else does, watching cat videos.

This was a triumph.

I'm making a note here: "Huge success"

EDIT: The link provided asks for login ; Here is another article on the subject: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7dabef6c-c07c-11e1-982d-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1zUkAGwf1

[Max™]

That's weird, I don't have a NY times account and didn't get asked to log in.

I'm on firefox with noscript/adblock on though.

[project2051]

That's weird, I don't have a NY times account and didn't get asked to log in.

I'm on firefox with noscript/adblock on though.

So am I, and both links asked for me to log in.

[darkone238]

Utterly relevant: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/26/techn ... gewanted=1

In short, google researchers linked 16,000 processors together to try to make a machine brain, provided it with millions of images from youtube, and let it do its own thing.

Result: it used youtube for what everyone else does, watching cat videos.

This was a triumph.

I'm making a note here: "Huge success"

EDIT: The link provided asks for login ; Here is another article on the subject: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7dabef6c-c07c-11e1-982d-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1zUkAGwf1

That one asks for login as well.

[blowfishhootie]

The same goes for babies.

No. It doesn't. Babies are gross. And loud.

Actually cats are gross and loud too, we're just prepared to ignore all that with cats.

Examples

Screaming from the next room.
BABY: No one wants to go find out whats wrong.
CAT: We go find our little snoogums to see whats the matter.

Sound of puking from the hallway.
BABY: No one wants to go find out whats wrong.
CAT: We go find our little sweet baboo to see whats the matter.

Yes, parents typically run in the direction of baby making noises, but the point is that they don't WANT to. Cat owners WANT to.

Alternatively, and much more true to me, you are horribly suited to be a parent and should never be allowed to be in a position as caretaker of a newborn.

I find your generalization that all parents hate taking care of their child to be, well, fucking stupid.

[Max™]

The proper response in both instances, from someone who has raised many children and had well over a hundred cats: if they're screaming, tell them to shut the fuck up, if they're puking in the hall, toss them outside.

[SerMufasa]

Of course a parent wants to run in the direction of the child making noise.

They could be breaking the TV

[ijuin]

This was a triumph.

I'm making a note here: "Huge success"

It's hard to overstate my satisfaction.

[CatOfGrey]

http://www.npr.org/2012/06/26/155792609 ... o-identify
Better link?

Now they have requested an increased budget to look for cheezburgers.

[webgiant]

The same goes for babies.

No. It doesn't. Babies are gross. And loud.

Actually cats are gross and loud too, we're just prepared to ignore all that with cats.

Examples

Screaming from the next room.
BABY: No one wants to go find out whats wrong.
CAT: We go find our little snoogums to see whats the matter.

Sound of puking from the hallway.
BABY: No one wants to go find out whats wrong.
CAT: We go find our little sweet baboo to see whats the matter.

Yes, parents typically run in the direction of baby making noises, but the point is that they don't WANT to. Cat owners WANT to.

Alternatively, and much more true to me, you are horribly suited to be a parent and should never be allowed to be in a position as caretaker of a newborn.

Note that I didn't say that parents went with their gut feeling and chose not to help the bundle of unhappiness, but that they dealt with the little creep's needs anyway.

Since I'm a great deal happier than any parent (because I have no children), I provide a valuable role model for children as a model of a happy person. Children need such people in their lives, and certainly don't get such things at home (see below).

I find your generalization that all parents hate taking care of their child to be, well, fucking stupid.

Parents say this sort of thing because they think society expects them to like taking care of their children, and because they think they would be absolute monsters for thinking taking care of their children is awful. And then they tell researchers that every aspect of their lives was made worse with the arrival of "the little bundle of joy". Inevitably the parents say "children made us happier" and then when pressed on specifics reveal that every individual aspect of their lives was made less happy.

The fact that there are so many studies indicating that being a parent makes you unhappy is probably due to researchers refusing to accept the consistent truth of their studies, and doing study after study in an attempt to find different results from "children bring unhappiness".

I don't think parents want to dislike taking care of their kids, I think they are in a state of denial about their dislike of taking care of their kids. Biology probably figures into it somewhere, since if the human race wasn't constantly deluding itself about the unhappiness brought by children to their parents, it would have died out a long time ago.

"Our forest is beautiful! The stream is polluted, the birds have lost their feathers, the squirrels are sick, the trees have all been chopped down, and the flowers are dead. But the forest is beautiful, dammit!"

[Pfhorrest]

Parents say this sort of thing because they think society expects them to like taking care of their children, and because they think they would be absolute monsters for thinking taking care of their children is awful. And then they tell researchers that every aspect of their lives was made worse with the arrival of "the little bundle of joy". Inevitably the parents say "children made us happier" and then when pressed on specifics reveal that every individual aspect of their lives was made less happy.

I seem to recall one such study (sorry no specifics) reporting that the majority of parents found their children the greatest source of joy in their lives (in a "list things that bring you joy" and they answer "my kids" first sense, not a "are children the greatest source of joy in your life?" and they answer "of course!" reflexively sense), and at the same time everything you just wrote. The obvious conclusion I drew was: children have some perks (and as a single person I sometimes get to partake of those, hanging out with other people's kids), but those perks come at the expense of basically everything else in life. I've similarly heard, anecdotally, that being a grandparent is great, because you get little kids to spend time with while it's fun, and then you get to fob them back off on their parents when they turn into little monsters.

"Our forest is beautiful! The stream is polluted, the birds have lost their feathers, the squirrels are sick, the trees have all been chopped down, and the flowers are dead. But the forest is beautiful, dammit!"

I think this attitude comes down to the familiar old "My country forest kids, right or wrong." They're mine, therefore they must be awesome because if they weren't that would reflect poorly on me by association and we can't have that.

[PatrickRsGhost]

My cat Simon passed away last year in January, right before that snowstorm that crippled Atlanta for nearly a week. Tim passed away a couple of days before Halloween. Coaly had become very clingy, so I went and got another cat to keep her company. Presenting, Gabriel:



He's a Maine Coon/Tabby mix, approximately 8 months old. In other words, he's at that awkward stage where his feet are bigger than the rest of him. He'll grow into that in a few months.

[XTCamus]

Parents say this sort of thing because they think society expects them to like taking care of their children, and because they think they would be absolute monsters for thinking taking care of their children is awful. And then they tell researchers that every aspect of their lives was made worse with the arrival of "the little bundle of joy". Inevitably the parents say "children made us happier" and then when pressed on specifics reveal that every individual aspect of their lives was made less happy.

I seem to recall one such study (sorry no specifics) reporting that the majority of parents found their children the greatest source of joy in their lives (in a "list things that bring you joy" and they answer "my kids" first sense, not a "are children the greatest source of joy in your life?" and they answer "of course!" reflexively sense), and at the same time everything you just wrote. The obvious conclusion I drew was: children have some perks (and as a single person I sometimes get to partake of those, hanging out with other people's kids), but those perks come at the expense of basically everything else in life. I've similarly heard, anecdotally, that being a grandparent is great, because you get little kids to spend time with while it's fun, and then you get to fob them back off on their parents when they turn into little monsters.

"Our forest is beautiful! The stream is polluted, the birds have lost their feathers, the squirrels are sick, the trees have all been chopped down, and the flowers are dead. But the forest is beautiful, dammit!"

I think this attitude comes down to the familiar old "My country forest kids, right or wrong." They're mine, therefore they must be awesome because if they weren't that would reflect poorly on me by association and we can't have that.

Talking out of your respective asses, both of you. Don't just as many people struggle and complain about college, or the military, or their first job making "every aspect of their lives worse" only to come to a different conclusion of the experience later?

[SerialTroll]

Parents say this sort of thing because they think society expects them to like taking care of their children, and because they think they would be absolute monsters for thinking taking care of their children is awful. And then they tell researchers that every aspect of their lives was made worse with the arrival of "the little bundle of joy". Inevitably the parents say "children made us happier" and then when pressed on specifics reveal that every individual aspect of their lives was made less happy.

I seem to recall one such study (sorry no specifics) reporting that the majority of parents found their children the greatest source of joy in their lives (in a "list things that bring you joy" and they answer "my kids" first sense, not a "are children the greatest source of joy in your life?" and they answer "of course!" reflexively sense), and at the same time everything you just wrote. The obvious conclusion I drew was: children have some perks (and as a single person I sometimes get to partake of those, hanging out with other people's kids), but those perks come at the expense of basically everything else in life. I've similarly heard, anecdotally, that being a grandparent is great, because you get little kids to spend time with while it's fun, and then you get to fob them back off on their parents when they turn into little monsters.

"Our forest is beautiful! The stream is polluted, the birds have lost their feathers, the squirrels are sick, the trees have all been chopped down, and the flowers are dead. But the forest is beautiful, dammit!"

I think this attitude comes down to the familiar old "My country forest kids, right or wrong." They're mine, therefore they must be awesome because if they weren't that would reflect poorly on me by association and we can't have that.

Talking out of your respective asses, both of you. Don't just as many people struggle and complain about college, or the military, or their first job making "every aspect of their lives worse" only to come to a different conclusion of the experience later?

1) You are responding to something several months old. No need to revive it.
2) If they feel this way, great. Less folks competing with me in the gene pool.

[XTCamus]

Months to you are like seconds to me. What is time anyway? It ain't nothing but a number. Heh.

Oh well, someone else revived this thread, but the post just prior seemed more worthy of a response...

But you make a good point too, the future generations will be more like us and less like them. Or at the very least the world could stand for an increased ratio of wanted children to unwanted children. So sure, I mean, absolutely, kids suck, you shouldn't even bother.

[Velexia]

I speak to my cat in cat <_<

It's all about inflection and tone and such =)

[XTCamus]

I talk to my dog. She loves me. Not the cat, who ironically is the real bitch.