Comments

  1. Ogvorbis: Insert Appropriate Appelation Here says

    cleaver cephalopod

    Ah, a fan of calamari.

    =========

    PZ, cats are far more intelligent than cephalopods. They have enslaved an entire species who now cater to their every need. Those octopi? Stuck doing the work for themselves.

  2. consciousness razor says

    PZ, cats are far more intelligent than cephalopods. They have enslaved an entire species who now cater to their every need. Those octopi? Stuck doing the work for themselves.

    Well, it is true that cats are fascists, but that doesn’t mean they’re intelligent, just made of pure evil (and stupidity).

  3. Naked Bunny with a Whip says

    Some of us are terrible mindless sheep.

    Um, I mean, some unspecified individuals.

  4. Ogvorbis: Insert Appropriate Appelation Here says

    Some of us are terrible mindless sheep.

    Um, I mean, some unspecified individuals.

    Hey! I’m down to only 2.5 cats.

  5. Stacy says

    Fascists? Cats?

    The furry little things with pointy ears and pointy teeth that are anti-authority to the core? those cats?

    Now, dogs…dogs I can totally see fawning over a leader and marching in lockstep.

  6. Cassandra Caligaria (Cipher), OM says

    dogs I can totally see fawning over a leader and marching in lockstep.

    Dogs? Marching? I can barely get mine to walk on a leash! :C

  7. Matthew says

    Cats are, at the very least, anti-authority, and possibly anarchistic. Depends on the cat, of course, which is further evidence of their individuality.

  8. consciousness razor says

    Fascists? Cats?

    Look, talk to Ogvorbis over there if you don’t believe me. I don’t claim to understand why they are so thoroughly evil.

    The furry little things with pointy ears and pointy teeth that are anti-authority to the core? those cats?

    Yes. They want you to respect their authority, but won’t submit to any other. You act like they’re libertarians or something. While that would be a slight improvement, this doesn’t work for two reasons: 1) it wouldn’t have allowed me to godwin the thread, but in fact I did; and 2) libertarians aren’t generally furry little things with pointy ears and pointy teeth.

    I rest my case.

  9. Ogvorbis: Insert Appropriate Appelation Here says

    I’m down to only 2.5 cats.

    Not even going to ask.

    Dust, our large cat, has half a brain (seriously, he is really not that bright) but is the size of three normal cats (30 pounds). So he counts as 1.5 cats.

  10. says

    Stacy:

    The furry little things with pointy ears and pointy teeth that are anti-authority to the core? those cats?

    Pfffft, cats are lazy conformists. If you want anti-authoritarian, free-thinking heretics, it’s rats you want. Also, rats are great swimmers and can tread water for 3 days.

  11. says

    I ran the same experiment with two empty aquariums and five mice each. The mice in the squid aquarium gained an average of eight ounces each, and the mice in the cat aquarium lost so much weight that measurements could not be done.

  12. Rumtopf says

    I second rats!
    Because they give me kissies.

    Ferrets too, for they also give me kissies.

  13. consciousness razor says

    Pfffft, cats are lazy conformists. If you want anti-authoritarian, free-thinking heretics, it’s rats you want. Also, rats are great swimmers and can tread water for 3 days.

    That’s a real mark of intelligence. Two-thirds of the planet is covered in water, so one would expect an intelligent animal would learn to swim in it. But sprinkle a couple of drops on a cat, and it practically wets itself. They clearly think too highly of themselves.

  14. Rabid says

    cleaver cephalopod

    Ah, a fan of calamari.

    Funny, I didn’t envisage it quite that way.

    – – – – –

    “Calamari 2: The Revenge”
    Quadruple the limbs.
    Quadruple the pain.
    Tonight it’s YOU on the menu.

  15. andyo says

    Now, dogs…dogs I can totally see fawning over a leader and marching in lockstep.

    Paraphrasing old Seinfeld joke: If extraterrestrials came and saw one creature walking behind another picking up its poop, who’d they think is master?

  16. Stacy says

    this doesn’t work for two reasons: 1) it wouldn’t have allowed me to godwin the thread, but in fact I did; and 2) libertarians aren’t generally furry little things with pointy ears and pointy teeth.

    I rest my case.

    [mutters to self]Damn it! consciousness razor has bested me with hir crafty reasoning and impeccable logic.[/mutters to self]

  17. says

    A.R. @14: There are videos of them on land!!!

    And there are videos of cats in water (of the non-drowned sort).

    Regardless; of course some cephalopod can make short squishy forays onto terra firma but soon the tiring effects of relentless gravity on their boneless carcasses (the “cuttle bones” of certain species notwithstanding) and a lack of water to bath their delicate gills soon drives them back into their moist, weightless, sanctuary.

  18. says

    Stacy:

    Caine, three days?

    Yep. They can also swim 1/2 mile in open sea and they can dive 100 feet underwater and hold their breath for as long as 15 minutes.

    That’s impressive. Hardy li’l critters.

    They are indeed. They impress me every day, my fuzzy li’l heretics.

  19. Daniel Schealler says

    You wonder that you have been betrayed?

    Any master who instructs more than one apprentice in the ways of the dark side is a fool. In time the apprentices will unite their strengths and overthrow the master. It is inevitable; Axiomatic. That is why each master must have only one student.

    Darth Revan

  20. Victor says

    The cat used is not the appropriate species. Cats developed catfish for just this type of problem. Also to eat.

  21. DLC says

    Reminds me. What if I were to reply to “Praise Jesus!” with “Cthullu FTGN! may you be consumed first!” ?

  22. nms says

    1) it wouldn’t have allowed me to godwin the thread, but in fact I did; and 2) libertarians aren’t generally furry little things with pointy ears and pointy teeth.

    If cats in general are inclined towards libertarianism, then I estimate that in fact the vast majority of libertarians are furry little things with pointy ears and pointy teeth.

  23. Dick the Damned says

    Trebuchet, 31, & Troy, 32, i see that link is associated with the Wild Haggis Conservation Society. Not bad.

  24. s agould says

    Cat obviously is related to magician Teller. Pretending to be dead in the water, clearly made a deal with octopus. They are plotting something…

  25. sc_f70984cc3a287b48474ecc5c052c9d4a says

    Cat’s are lovely sociopaths. Who can’t love a sociopath?

  26. FilthyHuman says

    @sc
    #45

    Cat’s are lovely sociopaths. Who can’t love a sociopath?

    Hm… that would explain cat’s propensity to adopt dwarves. Sociopathic pets for sociopath.
    They also love cat-meat roast, with cat tallow, cat heart, cat liver. And wear cat leather armor with cat bone bolts to battle.

  27. interrobang says

    My cats are definitely not fascists. I have an easily-startled codependent cuddle monster and a surfer dude in a cat’s body (“Hey, Hyoomin, what’s happening? Cool, catch you later.”). Any honest to goodness fascist would hate them, one for being a decadent, weak coward, and the other for being an anti-authoritarian who refuses to recognise hierarchy. My cats are also not believers in a palingenesis of catkind, or the inherent inferiority of women.

    I mean, just ponder the fact that cats domesticated themselves, and have the overarching mission of infecting the entire human population with toxoplasmosis so we’ll give them endless amounts of food, snuggles, and soft places to sleep. (Sounds like a great weekend to me, but I’m already a thrall.)

  28. Ogvorbis: Insert Appropriate Appelation Here says

    How does Schrodinger’s equation apply in such situations?

    Is a clear box an allowable deviation for Schrodinger and his cat/not cat?

  29. tim rowledge, Ersatz Haderach says

    Og –

    PZ, cats are far more intelligent than cephalopods. They have enslaved an entire species who now cater to their every need

    They’re ferociously smart biochemists – what else could explain their creation of toxoplasmosis?

  30. says

    It should perhaps be pointed out to those people complaining about it being called a squid that the comic makes are Danish, and in Danish the word for squid and octopus is the same (“blæksprutte” = ink squirter).

  31. felixmeister says

    “PZ, cats are far more intelligent than cephalopods. They have enslaved an entire species who now cater to their every need. Those octopi? Stuck doing the work for themselves.”

    By this logic, wheat is even more intelligent. It’s managed to not only enslave an entire species to be devoted to it’s every need, we even completely rebuild the environment, to our own detriment at times, just to suit it.