I know this feeling » « Anti-caturday post

Needless intrablogular drama-stirring

I recognize that there are certain aspects of Pharyngula’s corporate culture that are to be trifled with only at the risk of great social peril. I also recognize that Freethought Blogs as a whole might well be leary of new people coming on board and then immediately posting things that run counter to everything the community here stands for. PZ and I have agreed that my participation here is on an “at will” basis for that very reason. It’s a sound and well-justified measure.

But there are times when a person must say what she or he must.

 

Cracker

Nosy Parker wishes you a special Pharyngula-themed Happy Caturday.

I know this feeling » « Anti-caturday post

Comments

  8. opposablethumbs says

    do we have DEEEEEEP RIFTS!!?!? :-D

    cute cat, cool cracker

    (is that actually anything like what those xtra speshul magick ghosty-crackers look like? dunno why, I always imagined them as round for some reason. And made of rice-flour, a bit like a thicker version of the rice-paper “organic” label they bake onto organic loaves)

  12. Portia, Now With Improved Loudness and Feminaziism says

    I’m on board with this blasphemy against Peezus. :)

  15. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    Chris:
    Cats are awesome.
    Glad to know your taste is better than PZ’s :)

  18. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    opposablethumbs:
    Wait a second.
    That cracker isn’t *that* kind of cracker…is it?

    Should we be worried for soul of that poor cat about to consume the body of Christ?

  24. Dana Hunter says

    Oh, Chris. I love you to pieces! Haven’t laughed so hard in ages.

    Oh, and if PZ kicks you out in an anti-felid rage, you’re always welcome to move operations to En Tequila Es Verdad. :-)

  25. Josh, Official SpokesGay says

    Thanks to this post, I know what I’m feeding my cats tonight. Yeah, calamari. Suck on it.

  30. Randomfactor says

    Chris is in no danger. That only LOOKS like a cat. It’s a Mimic Octopus.

    He’s trolling, you guys…

  32. Gregory Greenwood says

    Oh dear, that’s torn it.

    You do realise that this means all out, claw-to-tentacle war, right?

  34. amitxjoshi says

    damn it! this was the only liberal blog which pointedly avoided stupid cat pictures, now you had to go ruin it!

    you should now atone with a fire-and-brimstone atheist post or two!

  46. Patricia, OM says

    Yep, it’s always Watsons fault, and she deserves a good spanking for posting such an abomination!

  47. says

    You really got me to hold my breath for a moment, before I clicked “read more”. And then I laughed and almost sprayed my keyboard with beer. That is some heavy and dangerous stuff you got there.

  48. Tapetum, Raddled Harridan says

    Caine – those are gorgeous ratties! Vasco is particularly gogeous, but I have a thing for wee, black, fuzzy beasties. Dratted rodent allergies!

  51. says

    It’s heretastic!

    Caine, those are gorgeous rats. And if they all live in the same house, I am struck dead with envy of what your compost pile must be like. When I lived in Oakland the only time I didn’t have mice living in my compost pile was when I was cleaning rat cages into it every couple days.

  52. says

    Tapetum:

    Caine – those are gorgeous ratties! Vasco is particularly gogeous, but I have a thing for wee, black, fuzzy beasties. Dratted rodent allergies!

    Thank you. :D Vasco is a cutie, but he’s completely ruled by his Big Balls!!1!

  53. says

    Chris:

    Caine, those are gorgeous rats. And if they all live in the same house, I am struck dead with envy of what your compost pile must be like.

    Thank you. Yes, they all live in the same house, we had unexpected litters. The compost pile is doing very well. :D

  55. says

    Cats naturally crave squid, especially deep ocean squid — or so I’m told by TV advertising. Squids and cows, you don’t often see a herd of cats taking down a cow but apparently they crave beef too.

    ** alternative hypotheses: humans find the idea of rat and bug flavored food disgusting — and yet humans still eat canned food.

  58. Louis says

    1) Cats? Oh This Shit Just Got Real!

    2) No disparaging of my Virtual Rat’s bollocks please. Being ruled by one’s big balls is a pleasant idiosyncrasy, not a problem. Honest. No, really. Please!?

    Louis

  60. julian says

    I will be starting a petition to have Chris Clarke removed from Pharyngula. All he’s done is tear it down since he joined.

    Who’s with me?!

  61. says

    I will be starting a petition to have Chris Clarke removed from Pharyngula. All he’s done is tear it down since he joined.

    Who’s with me?!

    I’ll sign it, but only because I like to follow the crowd.

  62. ChasCPeterson says

    Makes thing more fair & balanced to have Caturday and anti-Caturday posts. Teach the controversy!
    Chris is just pretending to be a kalimarophobe, though. And I can prove it.

  65. says

    In a fight between a cat and a squid, which would win? In my personal opinion, it would be venue specific.

    I select… the surface of Mars.

    According to my computer modeling, that would result in a draw.

  66. dianne says

    It’s just a fracking cracker.

    It’s a cracker that intends to extract oil from the ground in an especially environmentally unsound way? Destroy it!!!!

  67. ChasCPeterson says

    According to my computer modeling, that would result in a draw.

    Well, yeah. A squid is immobilized on the surface of Mars but the cat probably asphixiates much quicker.

    Now, a size-matched octopus might kick a cat’s ass on the surface of Mars. It has greater anaerobic capacity by far and probably finds the lower gravity covenient for terrestrial locomotion. If we start them close enough together, the octopus could get to the cat and might administer several nasy bites before, during and after the cat’s demise.
    More likely, in its last minutes of life it wouldn’t give a shit about the cat, dead or alive. (It’s dead.)

  68. says

    I desperately hope anyone on the JPL Mars terraforming crew who reads Pharyngula will note Chas’ statement immediately above, because it has the ring of a new future unfolding in it.

  70. blindrobin says

    Thait sher’s a fennyy lookin’ seffluhpahd wut wiff thuh fur enawl. Are yew trahn ta puhla fassun on us?

  72. Woo_Monster, Sniffer of Starfarts says

    But there are times when a person must say what she or he must.

    I admire your courage, Chris. Don’t let the FFtBullies and baboons suppress your free speech!

    No doubt the feminazistasi*will now blacklist you. And Rebecca Watson will organize a crusade to boycott you.

    *This word sounded fine in my head, but looks like a mess written down. Sorry about that.

  77. says

    ChasCPeterson:

    According to my computer modeling, that would result in a draw.

    Well, yeah. A squid is immobilized on the surface of Mars but the cat probably asphixiates much quicker.

    Your model was obviously more sophisticated than my model. I modeled the fight as the interaction between a spherical cat and a spherical squid. Using empirical data suggesting that compressing animals into spherical masses kills them, I was able to deduce that both the cat and the squid would die.

  78. says

    The friendly cow all spherical,
    I love with all my brain:
    She makes my models possible
    To complex worlds explain.

    She wanders lowing here and there,
    And yet she cannot stray,
    Because she has no legs down there,
    To her fine shape betray.

    Not blown by any winds that pass
    In vacuum’s perfect grid,
    I love my global bovine lass.
    I do, but oh, Euclid.

  80. Tony •King of the Hellmouth• says

    Caine:

    Cats are boring. Especially next to rats. Rats win. Always.

    Boring?
    Boring?

    Ok, I have to give you that. If they don’t want to do something, they won’t.

    But, but, they’re still awesome!
    ****

    This reminds me of a few people I’ve encountered who refer to cats as “rats with tails” (yeah, I know, eyeroll).

  81. bastionofsass says

    I think we need to move any further discussion to The Thunderdome. ‘Cause it’s gonna get really ugly.

  82. Amphiox says

    Well, yeah. A squid is immobilized on the surface of Mars but the cat probably asphixiates much quicker.

    The way vertebrate and cephalopod epidermis would react to Martian atmospheric pressures and temperatures, in terms of restricting fluid escape, would need to be included in the model.

    As the one that expires a few nanoseconds later, could, arbitrarily, be declared the winner.

    Posthumously.

  84. thunk, circumzenithal arc says

    Chris:

    No. It can’t be.

    I have long loved this place as avoiding people’s weird responses to felines. But you have done it. You have posted cat pictures here.

    I’m afraid I’ll have to flounce*.

    *Not actually.

  85. Amphiox says

    I have long loved this place as avoiding people’s weird responses to felines. But you have done it. You have posted cat pictures here.

    I’m afraid I’ll have to flounce*.

    *Not actually.

    Repeat after me:

    It is not a cat picture. It is not a cat picture.
    It is not a cat picture. It is not a cat picture.

    It is not a cat picture.

    It’s a cracker picture! (With a cat in it….)

  86. John Morales says

    But there are times when a person must say what she or he must.

    Implying all persons are either a he or a she, eh?

  88. says

    John Morales, I assure you I won’t have even the tiniest bit of hurt feelings if you don’t force yourself to read my posts, or comment on them.

    In fact, I can help you with that second part if you’d like.

  90. ChasCPeterson says

    atmospheric pressures and temperatures

    yes, right, I was just thinking about those problems. Well, we’ll get some kind of atmosphere going before releasing the gladiators animals and it seems only fair to do it someplace thermally amenable to the octopus.

    Morales, you’re being an asshole. In case you want or need to be told that. [Please do not use the word ‘imagine’ in any form in any reply.]

  92. John Morales says

    [meta]

    Chris,

    John Morales, I assure you I won’t have even the tiniest bit of hurt feelings if you don’t force yourself to read my posts, or comment on them.

    What gave you the impression I’m forcing myself to read your posts?

    In fact, I can help you with that second part if you’d like.

    I am aware of that — I even noted it elsewhere (though I recall tigtog disputed my claim).

    So, are you warning me to only produce complimentary comments or GTFO?

    If you wish for me to never again comment on your posts, just tell me so.

  93. ChasCPeterson says

    oh but wait; any significant amount of oxygen in the atmosphere and the damn cat probably wins.
    I’ll shut up.

  95. Amblebury, I doesn't afraid of NOTHING! says

    Pointless commentpost is pointless.

    (But such impressive pwnage!)

    In fact, I can help you with that second part if you’d like.

    Purrfect.

  97. ChasCPeterson says

    John, he’s suggesting, more subtly than I am, that you’re being an asshole. That’s all.

  98. RahXephon, Waahmbulance Driver for St. Entitlement's Hospital says

    So, are you warning me to only produce complimentary comments or GTFO?

    No, he’s telling you (in my opinion) to shove your passive aggression in your tedium hole and shut it. I don’t know what you’re trying to prove by swanning in to a comment thread to go “YAWN THIS IS SO POINTLESS MERP”, but all you are proving is that you’re a self-important douche.

  99. RahXephon, Waahmbulance Driver for St. Entitlement's Hospital says

    P.S. I approve of this post. Cats are wonderful.

  100. says

    So, are you warning me to only produce complimentary comments or GTFO?

    Substantive non-complimentary comments are fine too. But that’s not the issue here: this issue is that you’re behaving in a manner that Chas aptly summarized a couple comments above.

    I would strongly prefer that we get along well, because I have enjoyed reading your comments in a number of places.

    But if not, then life’s too short, and I suspect you have better things to do than write vague, largely content-free comments about how I fail to meet your expectations. I know I have better things to do than read them.

  101. RahXephon, Waahmbulance Driver for St. Entitlement's Hospital says

    I suspect you have better things to do than write vague, largely content-free comments

    Have you ever read Pharyngula comment threads before?

  102. Rev. BigDumbChimp says

    Have you ever read Pharyngula comment threads before?

    This is a good point, though John does like playing the part of the asshole.

  105. John Morales says

    Chris, FWIW, I’d like to get along too, so after this comment I shall depart this thread and darken it no more.

    I am aware that you’re riffing off PZ’s “anti-caturday” posts and joking that you’re running counter to the spirit of the place, but if there’s is any point or content to this post other than that I fail to see it — so it’s kinda hard to make a substantive comment about it.

    Looking at the comment thread, I don’t see all that much substance, but it looks like I’m running counter to the spirit of the comments, and apparently that is no joke at all.

    (Nor have you have failed to meet my expectations, so far, but apparently I have failed to meet yours)

  106. ambulocetacean says

    I don’t like this at all. It’s not free thought if you’re trying to smuggle in Ceiling Cat mumbo-jumbo in the guise of “science”.

    Have you been taking money from the Tempurrton Foundation?

  108. Muz says

    re: #76
    I think it would be wise for the Octopi movement to start a bit smaller than a whole planet. Wall Street perhaps.

  109. Ava, Oporornis maledetta says

    Best. “Fold”-ing. Ever.As in the perfect break between the tease and the follow-up. I, for one, welcome our new feline overlord.

  119. McC2lhu saw what you did there. says

    This is the first instance I have ever heard of Schrödinger’s Martian Cat experiment. It goes far beyond the possibilities I (and probably Erwin himself) assumed to be part of such an experiment, including rocket and cable crane importation of octopuses simply for the purpose of cat rending. I can see the advertising now in the commercial breaks during Bill Nye’s new show ‘Fucking Creationist Fuckers’ on Discovery Channel – “HEY KIDS! COLLAPSE YOUR OWN WAVE FUNCTION ON A DISTANT PLANET AND WATCH ANIMALS TURN THE DISTANT ORB INTO A PIRATE’S DEN!”
    .
    .
    .
    SCIENCE!!!

  120. Lofty says

    Knee perching cat approves.(Of what you may ask? Well, stuff, you know. And crackers.)MrrrrMrrrrrMrrrrrMrrrrMeeep?

  121. theophontes (坏蛋) says

    @ John Morales

    but if there’s is any point or content to this post other than that I fail to see it — so it’s kinda hard to make a substantive comment about it.

    Subtle it is. For such is the nature of subversion.

    (I predict major sea-changes ensuing from this. Next up: praise for engineers and physicists!!! It is all downhill from here on out.)

  122. machintelligence says

    Patricia, OM @ 13
    So send him a pullet surprise.
    Sorry, I always wanted to say that.

  124. untheist says

    you don’t often see a herd of cats taking down a cow but apparently they crave beef too.

    Herd, no. Pride, yes.

  126. Stacy says

    Here I was worried that Chris, terrific as he is, might somehow dilute the Pharyngu-tastic nature of this place.

    Boy was I wrong.

    (Kitty!)

  127. says

    @untheist — I’m talking about the cat as pictured (Felis silvestris catus), not the Panthera genus. And ‘herd’ was being using in a humorous sense.

  128. Lofty says

    neXus

    I think that just about the entire comment thread of this post deserves to be Mollie-fied. ;D

    There shall be a new award of comment, the “Moggie”, for services to deeeeep riiifts.