An Engineer's Guide to Cats . . .

HAVE A SAFE, WARM AND HAPPY CHRISTMAS. There are three things I wish for 2012: 1) Stevie gets his; 2) the US Navy's fusion project gets green-lighted; and 3) that we are all here this time next year to bitch and complain.

ENGINEERS AND PUDDY-TATS: I once had the pleasure of co-habiting with a very large, white, fluffy long-hair by name of Fred (you had to groom him 2-3 times a week to keep knots from forming). On dry winter days, he could build up a static charge on wool carpet that could've started a Peterbilt. A visiting friend, an electronics engineer, surveyed the problem and the room and advised grounding Fred as necessary against the mesh fireplace screen. Worked like a charm. Anyway, the video proclaims —

Two professional engineers illustrate the proper care and practical benefits of cats. None of the cats, humans, or engineers were mistreated in the making of this film. They were however, slightly annoyed.

The SPCA needs a little of your help

You click on the link. You ask your friends to do the same thing every day. Dogs, cats and other abandoned pets get the food they need to survive in the hands of the SPCA until adoptive humans rescue them.

Pretty simple really.

H/T Dana

When your human is all about tanks

Being a cat in the household of a military groupie like Harper has its moments...


Like... you get the coolest litter boxes...
















H/T Cheryl and Jezebel

A kinder, gentler Steve

If he doesn't watch it, Steve Harper could end up being listed in Hairy Fish Nut's Desperation Watch.

Under the worn out heading of Canada's New Government, Getting Things Done... for all of us, Harper employs a Government of Canada webpage to promote cat adoption.

How sensitive... how caring... how WTF?!

I leave you there. Now go visit Alison for the gritty details.

Does this door make my ass look fat?

If you're a cat person, this is sort of a Garfield tm story:

Goliath, a 20-pound stray whose girth got him stuck in a pet door while trying to plunder some dog food, is back with his owner.

His name isn't really Goliath, but it's close. It's Hercules, says owner Geoff Ernest, who was reunited with his tubby tabby Thursday at the Oregon Humane Society.

Gresham resident Jadwiga Drozdek found the feline stuck in the dog door of her home a few days ago, helped free him and gave him a plate of food on her patio.

Ernest said he had a house-sitter when he went to Seattle for a lung transplant six months ago, and Hercules departed.

Unfortunately, while Hercules was at the Humane Society he was diagnosed with Feline Immunodeficiency Virus, similar to HIV in humans. About 40 percent of cats in the US are deemed to be obese. That's about 10 percent higher than the obesity rates for humans.

Photo: Tiffany Noreuil, an animal care technician at the Oregon Humane Society, holds Hercules, temporarily-named Goliath in Portland on Wednesday. (Associated Press )