We got this little robot bird off Amazon as a cat toy. I actually quite like holding it in my hand. The way it flaps its wings and the frailty of its mechanics inside an unstuffed cloth body actually feels a lot like a bird. The downside is that it screams constantly, in that shrieky “I am a bird that is dying” sort of way, and everyone in my family finds it intolerably obnoxious.
Of course that means it is the best cat toy we have ever bought. The cats are obsessed. Why shouldn’t they be? It lets them authentically roleplay murder. It’s extremely unsettling seeing my tiny fluffy babies that I give all the widdle kisses suddenly convert to their panther instincts.
They go straight for the neck on this toy. Just try to snap its neck straight off, with these sharp, sudden little viper-bites. They don’t do this move with the myriad crocheted cat toys I make for them, so they’re recognizing the robot as actual prey.
I’m amazed on a few levels. One, because I managed to find a robot my cats like, and it’s like…AR outdoor cat life for indoor fatties. Two, because it’s an amazing robot honestly, simple as it is. Just a brilliant design that genuinely understands cat. Three, I’m amazed to remember my stupid little lazy babies are just pretending for my benefit. Only *pretending* to be babies until there’s a neck to snap.
I adore them. I wish I could befriend every cat in the world. They’re so perfect. The bird robot is cool.
~
Christmas was quite low-key. I think the cats got the best presents honestly. It was really nice to just have a warmly special, different from normal day without the stress.
~
It’s been a few days since I posted links, so some of these are almost a week old now. I’ll try to just post stuff that remains evergreen.
~
Nargis in Kabul posted on Psyche about losing her right to work under Taliban rule. It’s a compelling read, more unsettling than overtly violent. I found it really easy to imagine myself in her position.
~
The USA promises to land astronauts on the moon. (Ars Technica) They’re saying it will be an international astronaut; my vote is Japan. Japan has special rights over the moon on account of Kaguya Hime being primo a+++ myth.
~
ABC News pulled a piece out of the archives. In 2015, they covered the creepy American cult tradition of purity balls; current House Speaker Mike Johnson was featured in this story with his daughter.
I really don’t like how this man interferes in his kids’ sex lives. Johnson is the same dude whose son will get a notification if he looks at porn on his phone. Imagine the amount of shame these kids have to navigate. Imagine having to think about your dad every time sex comes up. MY GOD.
~
I adored this article about Newark students reluctantly curating a Museum of Prince (the music artist) for a school assignment. (NYT)
~
NPR summarizes Congress’s accomplishments for the year in a thousand words.
~
I hate how I just “discovered” Last Holiday and was just warming up to the idea of a love square with Queen Latifah and several men, including Gerard Depardieu, only to come across news about a long history of assault allegations against Depardieu. Bah! (Variety) I continue to be resentful when abusive public figures taint projects I love.
Variety has also reported on allegations of assault against Vin Diesel. He’s one of those actors I’ve mostly heard about in terms of his benign nerdiness behind the scenes and something about a beef with another large bald man, so I really was surprised by this one. Social media comments made it clear I should not have been surprised.
(On this blog, we acknowledge it costs $0 to believe abuse survivors.)
~
The Reuters analysis of Tesla’s ongoing behavior, which feels rather like a grift to me, makes me *so* happy my family veered off and got a Nissan Leaf last-minute. We really almost got a Model S. Phew.
I know others have had issues with Nissan, but for us, the Leaf has been a no-drama car.
~
Variety’s interview with the cowriter of Rebel Moon reminds me that a lotta working writers simply do not have the same “rules” around constructing story that I do. This is a completely neutral observation; I’m sincerely not snarking.
~
On NPR, a conversation between adult children who have lost their last parent and become orphans. I am very close to my two siblings so I just always appreciate sibling stuff tbh. I relate to the way they piece together an image of their parents, a unified theory of parents. Even now my siblings and I will do this in conversation. Death is not the only boundary that can distance us from firsthand accounts of wtf is going on with these people who made us, so real humans must become myth. In so many ways, children are the keepers of a most arcane history nobody else can know about the generation prior.
~
Reykjavik’s child-eating Yule cat is now the only Christmas-adjacent holiday figure I accept. (NPR)
~
Great news for Sara hate-fans! If you’ve been waiting to lurk and judge my every thought derisively on BlueSky as you once did so easily on Twitter, you can now do so. (Engadget)
~
Ars Technica reminds us again that humans aren’t actually super-special in our cognition; we are just a little bit more complex and develop further than the asshole crow who poops on your car deliberately.
~
I keep thinking about this New Yorker article about a more informal variation of therapy (it should really be compared to life coaching imo) based on talking about philosophy. The article itself shares how this can be really good, really dreadful, or anywhere in between, so the concept is perhaps more interesting than the current execution.
I often think that I need a philosophical counselor who can also do therapy, more than just a therapist, so it was interesting seeing this come up. I always seem to be on society’s brainwave.
~
Glorious orange cat Taters was a deep space ambassador for NASA. (Engadget)
~
Emptywheel has a great piece about how political the Christmas story is.
~
Kidnappings are on the rise in Colombia again, but factions are working on a deal to stop this practice. (AJE)
~
