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By David Futrelle
We’re going off-topic for a dose of CAT-spiration this Caturday.
Cats are pretty badass. And maybe just a teensy bit overconfident? Or possibly just stupid?
This cat chasing a bear up a tree is the most Russian video I have seen since a bear chased some dudes up a tree and made off in their car https://t.co/7dNO7yHCOF
— max seddon (@maxseddon) September 21, 2018
As I pointed out on Twitter, walking away nonchalantly — like, hey, nbd! — after chasing a bear up a tree TWICE is pretty hardcore, even for a cat.
But this isn’t just a Russian thing. Nope! Cats have a long and proud history of scaring the shit out of bears all over the world.
And let’s not forget this legendary cat from New Jersey.
Of course, sometimes cats and bears become BEST FRIENDS FOREVER!
I don’t think that ever likely to happen with these two, though.
In conclusion, cats have something even more powerful than Big Dick Energy, which is Tiny Pussy Energy.
Okay. Sorry to spam, but holy fucking shit.
Big TW for rape
https://twitter.com/MichaelAvenatti/status/1044032678951960576
@Kupo
Honest question – I know absolutely nothing about how these things work. How many weather gals and dudes, as in the people who stand in front of maps on TV and say “Ooh, looks like the clouds are moving this way,” are actual meteorologists rather than wannabe news presenters reading things off an autocue?
Not trying to be an ass, and not denying that the term “weather girl” is awful (though I assume it’s the official job title on Fox). I’d just never considered the matter before.
I do love my cats, but I could love my big orange boy a bit better if he hadn’t just had a huge runny stinky poop on the side of the litter box and then, when I had finished cleaning that and gotten myself tucked back into bed, gacked a hairball onto my camisole.
He’s lying next to me purring, though, and all is well again.
@Jesalin
It depends. Some of the worst abusers I’ve known have been good with cats… I think they can be a good metric for whether someone sees boundaries at all, but not so good for more clever emotional abusers.
Doesn’t change my love for the creatures, though. <3
@WWTH
It's so awful and I'm not even surprised. None of these guys abuse just once.
I remember when the first stuff about Al Franken came out, and all the straight people I knew were like, "But it's only one incident! It had to be a one-off! He can't be that bad!" Lo and behold, more accusers came forward.
At least sunlight may help disinfect here, but my gods, the depth of it. And the public's denial in the face of overwhelming evidence. I've wandering in and out of Dissociation Land and the Flashback Swamps all last week… Folks are already cynical, why can't they start applying their cynicism where it's needed?
Rabid Rabbit:
In the old days, training was vital. You did most of the forecasting yourself, based on highly technical data from the national weather service and all the data you collected yourself. If you didn’t have a meteorology degree, you couldn’t do the job.
Things have changed a lot. TropicalWeather.net lists the requirements for a television weathercaster position, from most vital to lesser importance, and being “attractive” tops the list, while having a meteorology degree is the eighth item on a list of eight. The National Weather Service sends out details that let any competent person fake a weathercast with reasonable success. (And by success, I mean the audience won’t notice if you’re off a lot because they expect that of weather forecasts anyway.)
HOWEVER, you’re still much better off with someone with a degree who can pick up on ambiguities and fill in the gaps with their own experience and data, not to mention being able to explain what’s going on to an audience. For instance, there are a half-dozen models used to predict a hurricane’s path. The different models tend to produce similar results, but even small differences are important and sometimes they’re wildly divergent. The NWS sends the results of all the major models, as well as a singular “prediction” which is basically the “average” of all the models. A skilled meteorologist can compare the current situation to past model success and failure and advice people about the possibilities of where the hurricane might go with greater detail. It’s the difference between:
“The hurricane is mostly likely to go north into Louisiana, but if the jet stream dips south it might well turn east into Florida, so Floridians shouldn’t be complacent.”
And, “The line goes this way, so everyone get out of the way of this line!”
(I don’t actually know if the jet stream influences hurricanes. I am not a trained meteorologist, I just play one in a vampire RPG online.)
@Michael Suttkus, II
Thanks — that was absolutely fascinating. The trend towards “being attractive” is more or less what I’d have expected, depressing though that is. Of course, I’d never have denied that having a degree and some expertise there would always be preferable.