http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/40324 from http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/11/dogs-welcome-soldier.html ...

Can you survive a day without cats on the internet? Can we possibly go a whole day here without cat videos? Or could you not give a shit?

It'll be interesting to see how much support this effort receives. Probably very little. It ain't like Urlesque is one of the four corners of the intertubes. And personally, if I see an effing funny cat video, I'm effing posting it. You effers.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/46053000/jpg/_46053673_cat_bbc_226.jpg

From BBC News:

Cat owners may have suspected as much, but it seems our feline friends have found a way to manipulate us humans.

Researchers at the University of Sussex have discovered that cats use a "soliciting purr" to overpower their owners and garner attention and food.

Unlike regular purring, this sound incorporates a "cry", with a similar frequency to a human baby's.

The team said cats have "tapped into" a human bias - producing a sound that humans find very difficult to ignore.

Dr Karen McComb, the lead author of the study that was published in the journal Current Biology, said the research was inspired by her own cat, Pepo.

"He would wake me up in the morning with this insistent purr that was really rather annoying," Dr McComb told BBC News.

"After a little bit of investigation, I discovered that there are other cat owners who are similarly bombarded early in the morning."

While meowing might get a cat expelled from the bedroom, Dr McComb said that this pestering purr often convinced beleaguered pet lovers to get up and fill their cat's bowl.

To find out why, her team had to train cat owners to make recordings of their own cats' vocal tactics - recording both their "soliciting purrs" and regular, "non-soliciting" purrs.

"When we played the recordings to human volunteers, even those people with no experience of cats found the soliciting purrs more urgent and less pleasant," said Dr McComb.

How annoying?

She and her team also asked the volunteers to rate the different purrs - giving them a score based on how urgent and pleasant they perceived them to be.

"We could then relate the scores back to the specific purrs," explained Dr McComb. "The key thing (that made the purrs more unpleasant and difficult to ignore) was the relative level of this embedded high-frequency sound."

"When an animal vocalises, the vocal folds (or cords) held across the stream of air snap shut at a particular frequency," explained Dr McComb. The perceived pitch of that sound depends on the size, length and tension of the vocal folds.

"But cats are able to produce a low frequency purr by activating the muscles of their vocal folds - stimulating them to vibrate," explained Dr McComb.

Since each of these sounds is produced by a different mechanism, cats are able to embed a high-pitched cry in an otherwise relaxing purr.

"How urgent and unpleasant the purr is seems to depend on how much energy the cat puts into producing that cry," said Dr McComb.

Previous studies have found similarities between a domestic cat's cry and the cry of a human baby - a sound that humans are highly sensitive to.

Dr McComb said that the cry occurs at a low level in cats' normal purring. "But we think that (they) learn to dramatically exaggerate it when it proves effective in generating a response from humans."

She added that the trait seemed to most often develop in cats that have a one-on-one relationship with their owners.

"Obviously we don't know what's going on inside their minds," said Dr McComb. "But they learn how to do this, and then they do it quite deliberately."

So how does Dr McComb feel about Pepo now she knows he has been manipulating her all these years?

"He's been the inspiration for this whole study, so I'll forgive him - credit where credit's due."

Digg shares a CNET News article on Webware Auto Keyboard Cat to make your own Keyboard Cat videos.

Russian scientists say that Moscow stray dogs became much smarter. The four legged oldest human’s friends demonstrate real smartness such as riding the Moscow metro every morning to get from their suburban places of living to the fat regions of Moscow center. Once they arrive to the downtown they demonstrate different new, previously unseen for the dog skills. Those skills can include “the hunt for shawarma” for example, the popular among Muscovites eastern cuisine dish. This hunt scene can be seen as this:

Regular Moscow busy street with some small food kiosks. A middle-aged man buys himself a piece of hot fast food and walks aside chewing it without a rush. Then just in a second he jumps up frightened - some doggy has sneaked up on him and barked out loudly. His tasty snack falls out from his hands down to the ground and the dog gets it. Just ten minutes later, on the same place, the teen youngster loses his dinner in exactly the same manner. The modern Russian dogs are on their urban hunt.

“This method of ambushing people from their back is widely exercised by Moscow dogs”, saying A. Poiarkov, working in Ecology and Evolution Institute of Moscow. “The main point here is to define who would drop the food scared and who won’t, but the dogs are great psychologists they can do it better than us”.


Full article and adorable pictures here

http://englishrussia.com/?p=2462

http://playhimoffkeyboardcat.com/

Tons of videos!

Here are some interesting studies I found on the subject since my assumption that it was an obvious truth didn't cut it. Should have started out this way, just didn't predict the opposition. So here ya go...the scientific method! Check it out

Animal Emotions Provide Clues to Autism, Other Disorders-

http://researchnews.wsu.edu/health/141.html

"Do animals have emotions?
Look deep into her eyes ... Is she sad or do we just think so? Many scientists now believe that animals feel emotions too"-

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article4595810.ece

Study Says Dogs Read Human Emotions on Faces-

http://petcare.suite101.com/article.cfm/study_says_dogs_detect_emotions_on_human_faces

"Researchers working in neurobiology and behavioral observation seem to be learning what pet lovers have known all along: animals have feelings."

"New evidence gathered from actually studying dogs, chimps and other animals, supports pet owners’ firm convictions that animals experience fear, jealousy, grief and love."


http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/8-10-2003-44071.asp

"Five years ago my colleagues would have thought I was off my rocker," said biologist Marc Bekoff. "But now scientists are finally starting to talk about animal emotions in public. It’s like they’re coming out of the closet."

Can we have a poll on Cat video's I'm undecided as to if i like them or not. in some ways i think the obsession with cats has gone to far what about the other animals ? its true cats can be funny and cute but Manny other creatures can be as well so why discriminate why has this meme got stuck on cats ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2CLT0_QdbE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWOEHFUFnic

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/714055/amazing_pet_hippo/

http://www.greatpetnet.com/630/jasmine-the-mother-theresa-greyhound/

I find these stories amazing. There are so many instances where animals go against instinct and preform acts that do not benefit their survival. Why? To me its simply the obvious...because they are not dumb creatures who only act on impulse. Animals are smart, they feel love , some even suffer depression when separated from their companions. A lot of people argue that this is not possible, that animals are not capable to conscious decision and are only fueled by motives that contribute to their survival. I, and I'm sure many pet owners, have witnessed animals to truly be more than that.

"The parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, has been transmitted indirectly from cats to roughly half the people on the planet, and it has been shown to affect human personalities in different ways.

Research has shown that women who are infected with the parasite tend to be warm, outgoing and attentive to others, while infected men tend to be less intelligent and probably a bit boring. But both men and women who are infected are more prone to feeling guilty and insecure.

Other researchers have linked the parasite to schizophrenia. In an adult, the symptoms are like a mild form of flu, but it can be much more serious in an infant or fetus. Oxford University researchers believe high levels of the parasite leads to hyperactivity and lower IQs in children.

Lafferty, who is a parasite ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey at the University of California at Santa Barbara, is an expert on the role parasites play in the ecology of other animals.

Building on research by scientists in the Czech Republic, Lafferty took a long look at areas of the globe where infection levels are quite high, or quite low. In Brazil, for example, two out of three women of child-bearing age are infected, whereas in the United States the number is only one out of eight."

http://a.abcnews.com/Technology/DyeHard/Story?id=2288095&page=1

WTF!

For the cultural elitist

(I'm looking at you blankfist. you really thought the act could fool anyone?)





CAT IN AN EMPTY APARTMENT


Die — you can't do that to a cat.
Since what can a cat do
in an empty apartment?
Climb the walls?
Rub up against the furniture?
Nothing seems different here,
but nothing is the same.
Nothing has been moved,
but there's more space.
And at nighttime no lamps are lit.

Footsteps on the staircase,
but they're new ones.
The hand that puts fish on the saucer
has changed, too.

Something doesn't start
at its usual time.
Something doesn't happen
as it should.
Someone was always, always here,
then suddenly disappeared
and stubbornly stays disappeared.

Every closet has been examined.
Every shelf has been explored.
Excavations under the carpet turned up nothing.
A commandment was even broken,
papers scattered everywhere.
What remains to be done.
Just sleep and wait.

Just wait till he turns up,
just let him show his face.
Will he ever get a lesson
on what not to do to a cat.
Sidle toward him
as if unwilling
and ever so slow
on visibly offended paws,
and no leaps or squeals at least to start.

-- Wislawa Szymborska

I'm not one for lengthy discourse, so -- BWAH:

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-04/14/content_11184581.htm

If I ever meet a dolphin I will make graven images and worship it.

What do you guys think of the actions made by these thousands of dolphins? I think I'd like to join their ranks and leave the human world behind, yes. Yes.

Yeah.

I was surprised to see the negative comments on my post.

My post was NOT the actual abuse video, just a news story on it. I was not aware anyone had heard of this, I myself only heard about it from a friend just minutes before posting it. (I guess I somehow missed this the first time around.)

I mentioned a link (with a warning) - but didn't end up adding it - to a site which had the video. I only watched a few seconds of it myself and clicked it off. I didn't want to see it either. I was just providing it for people that didn't know what it was all about.

Sorry if it offended any one. It was not meant to offend or inspire, I was just trying to bring attention to something terribly awful and unjust. I understand it was a sensitive topic, as I said, even I couldn't / didn't watch it.

Please accept my apologies for the post.
I have killed the news story that I posted.
Again, I am very sorry

On Friday, February 20, 2009 it was confirmed that Socks the former White House cat, passed away. He'd been living with Bill Clinton's secretary, Betty Currie, in Hollywood, Md., since 2001. The article in the Chicago Sun Times says he was around 18 years old and that he had developed cancer.

The 6th King and 2nd Queen of the Sift is...Blankfist. I'll just say that again: blankfist. That's right, the guy who posts nothing but videos of farting cats and threatens to rape every male sifter. What's the world coming to?



"And while the King was looking down,
the Jester stole his thorny crown."

Major congrats though, Blanky. Keep on being repulsive! And as his loyal subjects, we should all upvote his queue and PQUEUE.

... more inside ...

I couldn't find a way to embed the video but I wanted to share with everyone!

http://www.wmur.com/family/18814224/detail.html

Below is a picture of Dusty the cat. Sometime over the weekend of Feb. 14/15, someone uploaded a set of videos to YouTube that showed two teenaged boys abusing this poor cat. YouTube has removed the videos, as they violated their terms of service, but copies are available across the Internet, and we have linked to two below. Please, viewer discrection is advised. These are graphic videos that show this poor animal being tortured.

We need to help bring those responsible for Dusty’s abuse to answer for their crimes. As far as we can tell, from information we have found on various Internet sites, including Digg, Reddit, 4Chan and YouTube, one of the boys is likely named Kenny Glenn, and he is from Lawton, Oklahoma.

If you know anything about these kids or this abuse, please help Dusty.

Call the Lawton, OK Police Department at (580) 581-3500.

Videos (warning, graphic!) are available:
here and here

The latest advertising avenue has clearly taken its cues of the Internet, as it is on.. Cats!

http://www.custompc.co.uk/news/605417/fear-2-to-be-advertised-on-cats.html

Because the siftlounge keeps getting back to the cats & kittens subject, i thought it might be fun to know the ratio cats:sifters.

1. How many cats do you have? (if '0' goto question 7/8)
2. What are their names? (and why)
3. Where did you get them? (and how)
4. How old are they?
5. What do they look like (pics!)
6. What are their specialities?
7. why cats or why not cats?
8. and ok, ok.. whats your fav catvid on the sift?

(note: this thread is open to random cat ramblings like 'ahhhh, my cat just did random-extraordinary-cat-thing-X', 'awwww, i lurv kittens so muchhhh xxx lurv lurv heart heart', 'my dog just ate a cat' or maybe even discussion of questions like 'can i be a succesful sifter even if i don't own a couple cats')

A reporter practically runs up and strikes Bush's dog (hyperbole, but he obviously has no clue how to greet a strange dog) and gets bit.

...but I can't post the video... someone else?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/27577655#27577655