New/Improved Longest Thread

[Mr. Face]

My first car is a smartcar...
Global Warming better be real if i have to ride around in this.

[Dave]

Global Warming better be real if i have to ride around in this.

lol

[cbre88x]

My first car is a smartcar...
Global Warming better be real if i have to ride around in this.

And I'm driving a 2000 Saturn SL-1.

At least you're driving something slightly hip and new. Be appreciative yo.

[Surf314]

So my cat, my original cat, has it in for me now.  I don't really understand it but I think it's because the other two cats beat her up all the time and I can only break up so many fights.  She's peed and pooped on my fav spot on the couch and my side of the bed.

I dunno what to do, I'm thinking about finding another home for her since its 2 on 1 with the cats currently.  My coworker who is really knowledgeable about animals said I should shut her in a part of the house by herself for a week so she has time to de-stress.  So I'm doing that first.  If it doesn't I'm pretty sure I'm going to start looking into giving her away, I think she'd be happier somewhere she can be a single cat (she is an extreme loner).

[copulatingduck]

http://www.evga.com/decade/

[Honest]

http://www.evga.com/decade/

How do you find all of these Duck...And why do I keep going to them.

[Mr. Face]

So my cat, my original cat, has it in for me now.  I don't really understand it but I think it's because the other two cats beat her up all the time and I can only break up so many fights.  She's peed and pooped on my fav spot on the couch and my side of the bed.

I dunno what to do, I'm thinking about finding another home for her since its 2 on 1 with the cats currently.  My coworker who is really knowledgeable about animals said I should shut her in a part of the house by herself for a week so she has time to de-stress.  So I'm doing that first.  If it doesn't I'm pretty sure I'm going to start looking into giving her away, I think she'd be happier somewhere she can be a single cat (she is an extreme loner).

I LUV CATS I WANT IT CAN I HAVE IT? :-* :'( :-* :'(
(I really like cats, giving them away is always sad no matter who is doing it.)

[Surf314]

If you could come to Florida to pick her up.  But I'm taking her to the vet tomorrow and we are going to try some other things.  Maybe get her some kitty Prozac.

[copulatingduck]

[quote author=CopulatingDuck link=topic=2632.msg95923#msg95923 date=1247155261]
http://www.evga.com/decade/

How do you find all of these Duck...And why do I keep going to them.
[/quote]

when I'm bored I go to the steamforums and qlforums to see how hard I'll laugh today. The answer is usually "until I cry" but sometimes I find cool stuff like that

[rumsfald]

So my cat, my original cat, has it in for me now.  I don't really understand it but I think it's because the other two cats beat her up all the time and I can only break up so many fights.  She's peed and pooped on my fav spot on the couch and my side of the bed.

I dunno what to do, I'm thinking about finding another home for her since its 2 on 1 with the cats currently.  My coworker who is really knowledgeable about animals said I should shut her in a part of the house by herself for a week so she has time to de-stress.  So I'm doing that first.  If it doesn't I'm pretty sure I'm going to start looking into giving her away, I think she'd be happier somewhere she can be a single cat (she is an extreme loner).

Niceguy will take her in. I'm sure he could find something to do with her.

[Surf314]

Cat knows she went overboard and is now hiding from me even though I'm not mad at her.  I just feel bad for her since I know she's upset about getting picked on all the time.  Taking her to the vets tomorrow just in case.  Nature's Miracle cat odor removal does a wonderful job.  So all and all things seem to have worked out.

I still might give her away if I find a good home for her though, she really doesn't seem that happy lately.

[Ianki]

Cat knows she went overboard and is now hiding from me even though I'm not mad at her.  I just feel bad for her since I know she's upset about getting picked on all the time.  Taking her to the vets tomorrow just in case.  Nature's Miracle cat odor removal does a wonderful job.  So all and all things seem to have worked out.

I still might give her away if I find a good home for her though, she really doesn't seem that happy lately.

Animal personification is hilarious.

[KarthXLR]

OH MY GOD YES PITCHMEN IS ON I'M SO RECORDING THIS

[Totla]

I vote we never talk about horse dicks or trannies or uncircumcised vs. circumcised in the TF2 server ever again.

[Surf314]

[quote author=Surf314 link=topic=2632.msg96085#msg96085 date=1247179483]
Cat knows she went overboard and is now hiding from me even though I'm not mad at her.  I just feel bad for her since I know she's upset about getting picked on all the time.  Taking her to the vets tomorrow just in case.  Nature's Miracle cat odor removal does a wonderful job.  So all and all things seem to have worked out.

I still might give her away if I find a good home for her though, she really doesn't seem that happy lately.

Animal personification is hilarious.
[/quote]

Actually its not really personification.  Animals have far more complex mental processes than we give them credit for.  I can provide links.  I remember a study recently that showed dogs raised by people are basically the mental equivalent of young children.

[Ianki]

[quote author=Ianki link=topic=2632.msg96203#msg96203 date=1247194968]
[quote author=Surf314 link=topic=2632.msg96085#msg96085 date=1247179483]
Cat knows she went overboard and is now hiding from me even though I'm not mad at her.  I just feel bad for her since I know she's upset about getting picked on all the time.  Taking her to the vets tomorrow just in case.  Nature's Miracle cat odor removal does a wonderful job.  So all and all things seem to have worked out.

I still might give her away if I find a good home for her though, she really doesn't seem that happy lately.

Animal personification is hilarious.
[/quote]

Actually its not really personification.  Animals have far more complex mental processes than we give them credit for.  I can provide links.  I remember a study recently that showed dogs raised by people are basically the mental equivalent of young children.
[/quote]

If you have spent as much time with animal researches as i have, you start to realize how much personification actually goes into their quantifications before they even opperationalize their relevant behaviors of the animal, much less while they are coding these behaviors later.

I had a friend that worked at the great ape trust, this research facility in Des Moines that taught bonobos how to use touch panels to use language (in particular, one bonobo named Kanzi).  It became quite evident to him within a couple of weeks that the apes had no linguistic skills what so ever, but the researchers were so good at "interpreting", or rather performing enough mental gymnastics to give the behavior context even though there wasn't any, that their data starts to look meaningful.

Another time, the pond that is adjacent to the great ape trust got a couple of new swans, and for PR they decided to have a couple of the apes to name the new swans.  They came up with ridiculous names that didn't make any sense (like "banana quick" and shit like that), and ended up telling the press that the apes had come up with appropriate names instead.

It's all a racket.

One good example

[Mr. Face]

OH MY GOD YES PITCHMEN IS ON I'M SO RECORDING THIS

Billy Died, it's over.

I vote we never talk about horse dicks or trannies or uncircumcised vs. circumcised in the TF2 server ever again.

I agree

[Surf314]

What about the vending machines for crows or the facial recognition found in crows?  I'm not saying that animals have people characteristics, but they do have moods and problem solving skills.

In the case of my cat she's normally pretty skittish but is friendly around me and will come when I call her.  Since she peed on my couch everytime she sees that I have seen her she runs and hides, and I haven't seen much of her in a couple days.  She won't come when I call either.  It's pretty uncharacteristic and seems reasonable to assume a causal relationship. Also my other cat growls when hes on my lap and someone knocks on the door or the phone rings because he knows he has to get up.

I know my cats aren't people but they still act and react in ways that show there is more complexity to their behavior than to satisfy just their "hierarchy of needs."  Like I don't speak to my cats as if they will understand me but sometimes I do talk to them knowing that they know I am paying attention to them and can take cue from my tone of voice and they act accordingly.  Like my orange cat when spoken to will generally start rolling around and jumping all over you because he loves attention.

I think that assuming animals are biological automatons (or soulless as a religious person might put it) is just as naive as saying they can understand us and act just like people. It also seems to go along with this strange thinking that even though we all evolved together somehow we are the only animals on the planet capable of complex thought. The biggest problem I see is that we try to teach animals specifically human traits and abilities when we do research on them, which is basically assuming animals can be people with just a little learnin'. But if you treat animals as if they have their own way of thinking you can find a lot of nuance just there.  Like the big cat sanctuary near me, the keepers have to be able to tell their moods just by looking at them to know if it is safe to interact with them.  In that case it's the animals teaching the people how to think like them.

Also don't get me started on dolphins.

[cbre88x]

What about the vending machines for crows or the facial recognition found in crows?  I'm not saying that animals have people characteristics, but they do have moods and problem solving skills.
In the case of my cat she's normally pretty skittish but is friendly around me and will come when I call her.  Since she peed on my couch everytime she sees that I have seen her she runs and hides, and I haven't seen much of her in a couple days.  She won't come when I call either.  It's pretty uncharacteristic and seems reasonable to assume a causal relationship. Also my other cat growls when hes on my lap and someone knocks on the door or the phone rings because he knows he has to get up.
I know my cats aren't people but they still act and react in ways that show there is more complexity to their behavior than to satisfy just their "hierarchy of needs."  Like I don't speak to my cats as if they will understand me but sometimes I do talk to them knowing that they know I am paying attention to them and can take cue from my tone of voice and they act accordingly.  Like my orange cat when spoken to will generally start rolling around and jumping all over you because he loves attention.
I think that assuming animals are biological automatons (or soulless as a religious person might put it) is just as naive as saying they can understand us and act just like people. It also seems to go along with this strange thinking that even though we all evolved together somehow we are the only animals on the planet capable of complex thought. The biggest problem I see is that we try to teach animals specifically human traits and abilities when we do research on them, which is basically assuming animals can be people with just a little learnin'. But if you treat animals as if they have their own way of thinking you can find a lot of nuance just there.  Like the big cat sanctuary near me, the keepers have to be able to tell their moods just by looking at them to know if it is safe to interact with them.  In that case it's the animals teaching the people how to think like them.
Also don't get me started on dolphins.

animals use body language and sound to communicate to each other, plus.. not to mention learned behavior (cat hears the bell and jumps off your lap, cat pees on couch=your angry voice/any show of pain)

[Surf314]

[quote author=Surf314 link=topic=2632.msg96279#msg96279 date=1247230652]
What about the vending machines for crows or the facial recognition found in crows?  I'm not saying that animals have people characteristics, but they do have moods and problem solving skills.
In the case of my cat she's normally pretty skittish but is friendly around me and will come when I call her.  Since she peed on my couch everytime she sees that I have seen her she runs and hides, and I haven't seen much of her in a couple days.  She won't come when I call either.  It's pretty uncharacteristic and seems reasonable to assume a causal relationship. Also my other cat growls when hes on my lap and someone knocks on the door or the phone rings because he knows he has to get up.
I know my cats aren't people but they still act and react in ways that show there is more complexity to their behavior than to satisfy just their "hierarchy of needs."  Like I don't speak to my cats as if they will understand me but sometimes I do talk to them knowing that they know I am paying attention to them and can take cue from my tone of voice and they act accordingly.  Like my orange cat when spoken to will generally start rolling around and jumping all over you because he loves attention.
I think that assuming animals are biological automatons (or soulless as a religious person might put it) is just as naive as saying they can understand us and act just like people. It also seems to go along with this strange thinking that even though we all evolved together somehow we are the only animals on the planet capable of complex thought. The biggest problem I see is that we try to teach animals specifically human traits and abilities when we do research on them, which is basically assuming animals can be people with just a little learnin'. But if you treat animals as if they have their own way of thinking you can find a lot of nuance just there.  Like the big cat sanctuary near me, the keepers have to be able to tell their moods just by looking at them to know if it is safe to interact with them.  In that case it's the animals teaching the people how to think like them.
Also don't get me started on dolphins.

animals use body language and sound to communicate to each other, plus.. not to mention learned behavior (cat hears the bell and jumps off your lap, cat pees on couch=your angry voice/any show of pain)
[/quote]

That's kind of what I just said.  Also people exhibit learned behavior as well (ex. muscle memory from gaming).  My only point is that animals are smart in their own way, which is shaped by the environment they evolve in.