Buttons and Speedbump are completely comfortable with each other.
Mar 062023
Mar 022023
How about NO:
Government considered killing all domestic cats at start of Covid pandemic
Ministers briefly considered ordering all domestic cats in Britain to be killed amid fears they could be spreading Covid, a former health minister has said. … “In fact, there was an idea at one moment that we might have to ask the public to exterminate all the cats in Britain. Can you imagine what would have happened if we had wanted to do that?
Had that come to pass, what *should* have happened was that the British people *should* have risen up and overthrown their government, putting any official who was supportive of the idea on the same boats the invading migrants had come in on, and shoved them – and the invaders – out to sea.
Feb 072023
So, what’s going on in the world? Balloon-borne Chinese spy equipment the size of regional jetliners; an earthquake in a NATO member state that has killed at least 7,000 people; awards shows supported by Pfizer with segments that are basically Satanic rituals.
Eh, nothing of any real interest, so here’s a cat on a fashion runway.
@rover_thecat Happy Lunar New Year 🎉 ngl, kind of leaning towards the Vietnamese variation – Year of the Cat 🐈⬛
As a general rule I’m not a fan of putting clothes on cats, because cats don’t *like* clothes and it freaks them out. This one, though, seems cool with it.
Jan 212023
Billy the cat spent a good long while in quarantine. He started off with a pretty bad upper respiratory infection, treated with antibiotics; this took more than a week to clear up. He also had ear mites, treated with drops. He only left quarantine and entered gen pop on Wednesday.
Billy is quite aggressively friendly with me, increasingly friendly with other humans. But Banshee, true to form, absolutely loses her mind when she sees him, shrieking, growling, hissing. This has unsettled the other cats; even Buttons, normally absolutely chill, has been spooked. Billy, for his part, hisses at the other cats if they get too close. This will, no doubt, work itself out in time. But the one I really kinda feel bad for is Speedbump: he and Billy are both mostly black cats, most readily discerned by Billys oranger eyes and smaller size. But Banshee seems unable to tell them apart and loses her mind at Speedbump. This upsets him, as he has become reasonably friendly with Banshee.
Here’s Billy helpfully holding down some papers:
Billy has filled out a lot in the weeks I’ve had him. It seems eating on a regular basis appeals to him.
Jan 112023
Dec 212022
I did not wake up this morning seeking or expecting to get another cat. Well, here we are:
Billy and his two siblings are strays who caught the attention of some friends who decided to rescue them. Given that the temperature will shortly be Damned Cold, the rescue effort was decided upon quickly. Unfortunately, one got away (hopes are that he/she will be picked up tomorrow), but two are now safely indoors. Above is “Billy” at the vet getting the first of several checkups and procedures. Fortunately he was found to be free of feline AIDS and leukemia, but he has an upper respiratory infection. Consequently he’s currently in quarantine. But all looks promising. He was a fur coated razorblade when first picked up (yes, there was blood), but he has calmed down a lot.
Yes, he looks a lot like Speedbump.
Dec 082022
I’m conflicted:
Big cat bill unanimously approved by Senate, heads to Biden’s desk
The legislation prohibits any “import, export, transport, sell, receive, acquire or purchase in interstate or foreign commerce” and the breeding or possessing of such wildlife. Possession of big cats and cross-breeds would be limited to wildlife sanctuaries and state universities, as well as certified zoos. … Current owners of big cats will be able to keep their animals but are prohibited from breeding, selling or acquiring any of the prohibited wildlife species. They are also banned from allowing their animals to engage in contact with the public and must register the cat with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service within 180 days of the bill’s enactment.
Hmmm.
Big cats are often owned by people wholly unable to care for them correctly. But on the other hand, there are more tigers in private hands than in the wild. On the gripping hand, legislating “you can’t own that” is never a good thing. The passage of this law will doubtless be used by some to say “Well, we can ban the ownership of assault rifles. We can ban the ownership of standard capacity magazines. Internal combustion engines. Bitcoin. VPNs. Books we don’t like.” Etc.
It’s unclear to me what exactly will happen with all the privately owned big cats, especially the ones used in crappy “attractions” for some sort of income. I suspect at least some will be simply driven into the sticks and let go. Which won’t be good for anybody.
Perhaps the thing to do would be to start off by walling off Central Park in New York and turning it into a free-range sanctuary for one particular species of big cats… tigers or lions or some such. Won’t be able to sustain a lot of them, but it’ll be a start. All of those gigantic and horribly expensive sportsball stadia built at taxpayer expense might also serve.
Nov 092022
Even the rural areas of Idaho show that, like Chicago or Baltimore, you should never go out unarmed.
KITTY!!!!
Nov 052022
The US Naval Institute press is having a 50% off sale on their in-print, in-stock books. Sale runs through December 31.
https://www.usni.org/press/books
If someone wanted to take this opportunity to buy me half-price copies of Friedman’s revised editions of U.S. Submarines Since 1945 and U.S. Aircraft Carriers, I would not object.
P.S. What with Annual Mandatory Soulless Consumer Spending Holiday coming up in less that two months, there’s lots of stuff, useful and otherwise, available on Amazon that you can get without having to mingle with the degenerate weirdos who increasingly make up the public. If you start your search for stuff by going through THIS LINK TO AMAZON, a tiny smidgen of whatever you end up spending will get passed on to me, and by extension will be used to feed my cats. You don’t want to disappoint my cats, do you?
Oct 252022
Some people are fine. And some… some people just plain suck.