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u/tigersharkdude Oct 19 '14
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u/admancb Oct 19 '14
That's hilarious! I wonder what other shapes they'll fall for.
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u/ThreeLZ Oct 19 '14
I don't think the shape has anything to do with out, just has to be enclosed.
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u/Ooowst Oct 20 '14
My prior studies show that cats, when given various diameters to sitz, will choose the smallest one in which they fitz.
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Oct 19 '14 edited Oct 19 '14
I think she's broken
http://i.imgur.com/kureJpg.jpg
Update with tape: http://i.imgur.com/5E5Fr0P.jpg
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u/brieoncrackers Oct 19 '14
Disconfirming evidence: http://imgur.com/iFSPE9O
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u/Beartemis Oct 19 '14
Good interpretation for circle
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Oct 19 '14
Every regular shape is just an approximation of a circle. The more sides it has, the closer to accurate that approximation gets. (Relevant: http://i.imgur.com/X46836q.gif)
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u/FruitFucking Oct 19 '14
I'll be expecting to see the guy with the fake cats on the front page anytime now
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u/lachamuca Oct 20 '14
For some reason, I thought that person was female.
But I'm expecting the same thing. :)
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u/adeleundead Oct 19 '14
The robot! From Castle in the Sky! That's beautiful. Did you make it or is it sold somewhere?
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u/admancb Oct 19 '14
Not my picture, but you can get them here http://loveghibli.ecrater.com/p/2469130/mini-planter-pot-seed-soil
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u/TheVanishingMan Oct 19 '14
r/awwducational question: Is there some psychological reason why cats do this? Same thing if I have an empty room with a piece of paper, guaranteed the cat will sit on the piece of paper.
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Oct 19 '14
My cat will sit on pieces of paper on my desk or bed. Usually pieces of paper that I need. I try to trick her by putting down papers that I don't need, but she'll still choose the one I need the most as her sitting spot.
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u/007T Oct 19 '14
Perhaps you can utilize your cat as some sort of biological search algorithm, if you can't find a document you really need - just throw all your papers on the ground and observe which one your cat sits down on.
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u/kagedtiger Oct 19 '14 edited Oct 23 '14
That doesn't fit with the 3 laws of catlogics:
A cat must act cute.
A cat must be unhelpful as long as such unhelpfulness does not conflict with the First Law.
A cat must do strange things except where this would conflict with the First or Second Laws.
In this case, the behavior of sitting on papers for no apparent reason comes from the Third Law, but trying to use the behavior practically would break the Second Law. The only way that it would work is if the behavior were classified as "cute" in accordance with the First Law, but that's questionable.
EDIT: Thanks for the gold!
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u/andrewdt10 Oct 20 '14
Let me guess, the cats rise up and try to do what is "best" for humans and we have to rely on Will Smith to save us?
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u/iamacarboncarbonbond Oct 19 '14
No, no, no. Because then you want the cat to sit on your paper, so it won't work.
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u/HopelessSemantic Oct 20 '14
No, it will work; it'll just take much, much longer because they'd have to wait for the cat to first sit on every paper except the one they want.
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u/Hysterymystery Oct 20 '14
My cat tears small pieces off of sheets she finds around and drops them all in his water bowl. I have no idea why.
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u/KeetoNet Oct 19 '14
Your cat can spot the TPS reports, and has upper management written all over it.
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u/bixitsg Oct 23 '14
I have two cats...and if there is a bag on the floor, they will find it and sit on it. I always see this when I come back from the grocery store, if I left a reusable bag on the floor there will be one of the cats, sitting there on it. It's very strange. But we all know cats are out for world domination-I'm sure it's all a part of their plan.
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u/OminousHum Oct 19 '14
Rats have a hardwired circuit in their brain for the concept of 'nest', which activates when they observe a round depression in the ground of about the right size. (Source)
Perhaps cats have something similar that's being activated by these circles?
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Oct 19 '14 edited Oct 20 '14
Plop Circles
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u/PM_A_THOUGHT Oct 19 '14
So, the crop circles were made by alien kitties?
HEY GAIS WE'VE SOLVE THE CROP CIRCLE MYSTERY!
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u/ZeroAntagonist Oct 20 '14
In my living room we call them ass grooves. "You better not be in my spot ruining my ass groove!"
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u/katj813 Oct 20 '14
Perhaps. Cats like small spaces because of security and its like a den. So perhaps that's why. Also, in line with what you said, perhaps they are also attracted to them because if rats (and presumably other rodents of similar nature) do use these areas as nests, then it could be a shape their brain associates with a prey source even if the animal never hunts.
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Oct 19 '14
The reason is probably supernatural.
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u/mirrorwolf Oct 19 '14
It's like one of these demon summoning spells that Sam and Dean do
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u/ClashM Oct 19 '14
Summoning circles have existed in mythology long, long, LONG before TV was a thing, let alone Supernatural.
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u/mirrorwolf Oct 20 '14
I never claimed they were a recent invention.
21stcn said the name of the show, so I referenced the characters from it. And regardless of how long the lore has been around, Sam and Dean still perform them.
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u/efrique Oct 19 '14
Cat sits on circle to make sure something doesn't crawl out of the new portal to hell you just opened.
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Oct 20 '14
Circles obviously align the feng shui chakras of the spiritual vibrations of energy flows of natural quantum crystals, thus attracting cats.
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u/Shaggy_One Oct 21 '14
I love it. Someone make r/behindtheposts a thing.
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u/JawnZ Oct 21 '14
I agree. This needs to be a thing. Everyone team up: 1 artistic person team up with one clever person. If you have both, take a learner under your wing.
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u/I_likethings Oct 19 '14
Perhaps we could survey a bunch of cats to ask them what they're thinking when they do this.
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u/Biffingston Oct 20 '14
25 percent say "Meow"
In addition 75% say "Meow"
The last 25% just purred.
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u/sillyface42 Oct 19 '14
Done! I'm in my phone so I am having trouble linking to the AskReddit with the question.
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u/derplerpington Oct 20 '14
I asked mine. I'm still waiting on a reply. I'll let you know what she says.
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u/cathalmc Oct 19 '14 edited Oct 19 '14
I'm guessing, but it's probably related to the way cats walk in a circle before lying down. If you've ever seen them do this in long grass, you'll notice they're trampling down a little nest for themselves to doze in. They might see these small oblong shapes as ready-made nests. Again, this is just a guess.
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u/UnrealSlim Oct 19 '14
The AI on these things really needs a patch
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u/silentxem Oct 19 '14
Mine doesn't seem to have that issue. She does seem to eat constantly, even when she is at full health, though. And sleeps even though her stamina is at its peak.
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u/Pausbrak Oct 19 '14
It's a bug in the aggro mechanics. Friendly spells, such as "bellyrub", occasionally get marked as hostile, putting you on the aggro table and engaging combat. If you retreat outside of aggro range, the encounter should reset and the cat should return to being friendly.
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u/misshufflepuff Oct 19 '14
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u/RelentlessDrag Oct 19 '14
Congratulations, sir, your cat is a devil-worshiper.
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u/misshufflepuff Oct 19 '14 edited Oct 19 '14
It's my boyfriend's cat. I've been telling him this for a year and a half. Thanks to reddit I now have irrefutable evidence! Give or take. :)
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u/efrique Oct 19 '14
"Here I am rubbing my butt on your nice tie, and you're just taking pictures. You're such an idiot."
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Oct 19 '14
You should try out some new colors for your ties there buddy.
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u/misshufflepuff Oct 20 '14
I should take a photo of his tie collection. There are 3 or 4 hangers of just blue ties. 10-12 ties per hanger. Well over 100 ties total. It's impressive and ridiculous.
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u/spawn2024 Oct 19 '14
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u/mathonwy Oct 20 '14
That sir (or ma'am), is a well taped shape. I, like your kitty, would be proud to sit in that box. Unlike many of the other ghetto looking shapes appearing in this thread. Ties? Srsly?
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u/escott1981 Oct 20 '14
Have you seen Venus? She is a cat that has a divided face like yours does but even more perfect. She also has one eye that is a brilliant green, and the other eye is a deep blue. She is beautiful!
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u/TheZombieHolocaust Oct 19 '14
this is light years ahead of our current cat containment technology
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u/Wikkitt Oct 19 '14
Can someone please explain to me how these deleted comment chains like the one attached to the above comment happen?
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u/Ifthatswhatyourinto Oct 19 '14
mods come in and delete the entire chain.
For what reason?
Could be someone leaking personal info, could be people just being hateful, could just be a dick mod not liking some joke.
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u/misshufflepuff Oct 20 '14
Can you see deleted chains? I have comments in my messages that aren't showing in my thread. I've only used reddit 3 days so it's all foreign to me. This must be what my mom feels like when the Microsoft paper clip shows up on her screen, taunts her, then disappears.
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u/Salty_Minnesota Oct 19 '14 edited Oct 20 '14
..wha ...what happened here?
EDIT: We did it guys, we thrived where others could not!
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Oct 20 '14
my comments survived where others could not. woohoo
some guy assumed the top commenter was trying to measure time in lightyears. everyone jumped on him, explaining his assumption was wrong. he couldn't wrap his head around the fact that he had the metaphor wrong. he got increasingly condescending about other people's ignorance regarding lightyears. things got ugly. capslocks were used. comments got deleted.
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u/Slinky12345 Oct 19 '14
Lol my cat just lays down and eats the tape. :(
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u/bubbalubdub Oct 19 '14
Ours too!
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Oct 19 '14
That little white foot!!
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u/ForgetfulDoryFish Oct 19 '14 edited Oct 19 '14
Tried it on my family's three cats. One of them carefully observed as I laid out a hexagon on the floor, but did not enter. I put him inside of it, but he gave me a withering look before walking a few feet away and laying down with the end of his tail twitching. Both he and one of the other cats have been very careful to walk around it rather than going through it. The third cat is apparently too ditzy to even realize there is something there.
Edit: they refused to even follow a laser pointer into it.
Edit 2: crappy mobile picture
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Oct 19 '14
Ah yes, it seems your cats have reversed polarities - but don't worry, this can be reverted. Simply attach the heads to tails of two negative polarity cats (so they are forming a complete circuit) and hold this configuration for at least 30 minutes while removing excess static charge via dryer sheets. This will allow the charges to return to their proper poles. Unfortunately however, attempting this procedure with one normally polarized cat will reverse its polarity, so you will need to borrow a friend's cat to use as an intermediary in order to return them all to the correct charges.
Source: I made it up.
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u/mortiphago Oct 19 '14
well, TIL your cats are smarter than 90% of every people i've ever raided with
how fucking hard is it not to stand on the goddamn circles
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u/PM_me_a_secret__ Oct 19 '14
What? Sorry, I'm watching Netflix on the other monitor.
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u/TASagent Oct 19 '14
They prefer the circle defined by the outside of the line.
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u/pm-me-uranus Oct 19 '14 edited Oct 20 '14
This is called an Exolipsoid. The negative space that contains the circle rather than the space that the circle contains.
edit: How was I supposed to know I just made it up? Who could have predicted that?
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u/inmyotherpants79 Oct 19 '14
I'd try with my four cats but I'm pretty sure I know their reactions:
Zeke would simply smack me because I just stuck him for his blood sugar levels.
Mari would stare at me with utter contempt and saunter off to find a sunbeam.
Sammy Davis Jr. Jr. would high five me and beg to get his teeth rubbed.
Monster would try to get in the enclosed area but be stopped by the dog and slobbered all over.
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u/smeenz Oct 20 '14
What... colour is the carpet ?
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Oct 20 '14
Ugh don't ask. I took the pic on my shitty camera phone and it came out too dark, then I tried fixing the color in Photoshop and it came out piss yellow.
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u/sabretoooth Oct 19 '14
You can almost taste the disdain your cat has for that pathetic hexagon.
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u/stupernan1 Oct 19 '14
it needs to be red.
cat's have difficulty seeing the blue spectrum.
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u/wangstar Oct 19 '14
I don't know... u/tigersharkdude seemed to get it with blue.
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u/Kratomator Oct 19 '14
Actually, cats can see all colors, but have more trouble distinguishing colors in the red spectrum. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_senses
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u/itguy_theyrelying Oct 20 '14
Doesn't work on carpet. The catlectrons flowing through the carpet fibers get all fucky.
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u/4thekung Oct 19 '14
Someone please explain!?!
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u/SouljaBoiMoss Oct 19 '14
Catologist here! The reason why cats tend to gravitate towards enclosed spaces (boxes, circles, etc.) is all based on there ancestors affinity for religion. As everyone knows, cats are traditionally satanist, and in the days of old a summoning technique was used where multiple cats (3-6 felines) would gather in a marked off zone, and stay there till they reached a near catatonic state. After this, it was believed that their god satan, aka "whiskers", would rise and punish the non-believers. Hope this helps!
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u/admancb Oct 19 '14
source