<body><script type="text/javascript"> function setAttributeOnload(object, attribute, val) { if(window.addEventListener) { window.addEventListener('load', function(){ object[attribute] = val; }, false); } else { window.attachEvent('onload', function(){ object[attribute] = val; }); } } </script> <div id="navbar-iframe-container"></div> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://apis.google.com/js/platform.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> gapi.load("gapi.iframes:gapi.iframes.style.bubble", function() { if (gapi.iframes && gapi.iframes.getContext) { gapi.iframes.getContext().openChild({ url: 'https://www.blogger.com/navbar.g?targetBlogID\x3d14058325\x26blogName\x3dChiswickite++-+formerly+The+Croydonian\x26publishMode\x3dPUBLISH_MODE_BLOGSPOT\x26navbarType\x3dBLUE\x26layoutType\x3dCLASSIC\x26searchRoot\x3dhttps://croydonian.blogspot.com/search\x26blogLocale\x3den_GB\x26v\x3d2\x26homepageUrl\x3dhttps://croydonian.blogspot.com/\x26vt\x3d-3471229122068008905', where: document.getElementById("navbar-iframe-container"), id: "navbar-iframe" }); } }); </script>

Cloned cats, anyone?

If so, 'fraid you are out of luck unless you get your skates on, as Genetic Savings and Clone of Sausalito, California is closing at year end. More here.

Surprisingly there were only two sick puppies who wanted to clone their dead cats, and were able to stump up a very modest $32,000 (down from $50,000) for the service. I wonder if hamsters were cheaper?

Meanwhile, nebulous connections / pop psycholgy corner:

Pick one from each pair: cats/dogs, Beatles/Stones, Asterix/Tintin, and a bit later on I will make an addendum....

And the addendum:

(Harry Mount in the 'graph a while back)

"Which do you prefer - cats or dogs? The Beatles or the Rolling Stones? Tintin or Asterix? Think carefully. Your answers will give away your character. These questions have been burning their way round New Year dinner tables and the answers are staggeringly uniform.

Practically everybody answers cats, the Beatles and Tintin, or dogs, the Rolling Stones and Asterix. The implications for your character are clear: the cats/Beatles/Tintin fans tend to the meticulous and unadventurous; the dogs/ Rolling Stones/Asterix lot are outspoken and edgy".
« Home | Next »
| Next »
| Next »
| Next »
| Next »
| Next »
| Next »
| Next »
| Next »
| Next »

Anonymous Anonymous said... 3:08 pm

Loathesome concept.  



Blogger The Hitch said... 4:09 pm

why clone a cat?
they are only awake 2 hours a day  



Anonymous Anonymous said... 4:36 pm

That is a calumny on cats everywhere! Cats are awake, at least have their eyes open or semi-open, for 10 hours a day. They sleep for 14 hours.  



Blogger The Hitch said... 4:49 pm

Must be just my cats then
7.30 am breakfast
7.30pm Dinner

22 hours sleep  



Anonymous Anonymous said... 5:06 pm

Well, your cats are idle layabouts.

After breakfast, my cats get washed, and then there is a frantic 10 minutes of high velocity chasing games, barrelling through the house, jumping on things. Then they settle in for their post-breakfast nap, which segues seamlessly into the pre-lunch nap.

After lunch, they get washed and lie down for a little snooze. Mid-afternoon, there is some high powered tree-climbing for five or ten minutes. Then they take a well-deserved rest on the top of a wall, gazing vacantly into space for an hour or so. Sometimes, their eyes may close.

It's all go. Soon, it's time to lobby for a snack. Blocking the refrigerator door and mewing pitifully works. Then further snacks and some bustling around as it cools down a bit and maybe a catnap on the step.

Cats are supposed to be noctural animals, but mine sleep right through the night.  



Blogger The Hitch said... 5:24 pm

Verity
If anybody could turn a cat in to a highly disciplined machine It would be you.
I cannot imagine any man cat or dog being allowed to "slack" in your presence (+:
Every time I see a posting from you I automatically jump to attention.
How those poor manyana Meskins cope with you god only knows.
Never change
x  



Blogger Croydonian said... 6:09 pm

My parents - no, I did not spring fully formed from the loins of Zeus - inherited a cat which was reckoned to be on its last legs at the time, but it carried on for another seven or so years, mainly to spite my father, I think.

A mate (see Bob, I'm up to two already. How are you doing? Don't suppose you are the recount stage yet (in-joke re the Armenia thread)) has two colossal cats which are termed the Mogaliths. He reckons I cooked that one up, but I'm not sure I can claim the credit.  



Anonymous Anonymous said... 6:26 pm

Ha ha, Peter Hitchens! I wouldn't try to change cats for the world. They are intriguing (when awake) and beautiful in repose.

I totally disagree with the analysis in the addendum. How anyone could derive lack of a sense of adventure from a liking for cats, I can't imagine. My cats came with me from France (I know it wasn't by choice, but still, they recovered.)

I would analyse this differently. Cats are dangerous because they are capable of duplicity. Dogs are safe because they're not.

Cats are intriguing, quiet and subtle, beautiful when moving or lying languidly observing, not hyperactive, they figure things out by pausing and reflecting; they're affectionate; nothing is as soothing as the purr of a cat.

The lyrics of Beatles songs are subtle and intelligent. Rolling Stones lyrics are not. Beatles melodies are more pleasing. The voices in harmony are more pleasing.

The Rolling Stones are noisy and mindlessly barky and crude, like dogs. (I don't dislike dogs, and I wouldn't want to be dismissive of their good qualities, but I wouldn't want to live with one. But if you try to give a cat an order, it looks at you as though you've lost your mind. Give a dog an order and it obeys at once.

I don't know anything about Tin Tin or Asterix so can't comment.  



Blogger The Hitch said... 7:41 pm

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.  



Anonymous Anonymous said... 12:25 pm

I think that the only thing Verity and I could ever agree on is that cats are the coolest  



Blogger Croydonian said... 12:47 pm

CS - you never know, common ground can be found in the strangest places.

Meanwhile, you and other mogophiles might enjoy this from those wags at B3ta.  



Anonymous Anonymous said... 1:17 pm

Thanks, Croydonian. V funny!  



Anonymous Anonymous said... 2:11 pm

Interesting cat fact -- hey! Come back! It's short!

Time lapse photograph in people's homes and cat shelters shows that cats wash their entire bodies three times a day. It seems to be random - licking one leg for a minute and then going on to wash their ears then giving one paw a lick, but they actually wash every square inch of themselves three times a day.

That's why they smell so sweet and freshly laundered.

This would seem to be so their whereabout cannot be smelled by predators, but cats do not have predators, except raptors, who couldn't smell them anyway. Strange.  



Blogger Croydonian said... 2:13 pm

No wonder furballs are a perennial hazard of cat stewardship.....  



Anonymous Anonymous said... 4:22 pm

I am a staunch supporter of cats everywhere, but the long-haired ones are not as intelligent and affectionate as the short-haired ones. Also, the short-haired ones, as I'm sure you know, Croydonian, don't get as many fur balls.

My cats don't get any. I think it's because it is so hot in Mexico and whatever cold weather we get is very fleeting, that there's never a moulting season because they never grow winter coats.  



Blogger Croydonian said... 4:27 pm

V - I guess that is not very surprising. My mate with the mogaliths suffers awesome levels of moulting from said cats, but then they are a rather furry pair.  



» Post a Comment