james_nicoll ([info]james_nicoll) wrote,
@ 2005-05-29 14:12:00
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Hypergravity
The cats have access to the attic in the summer. The steps block access to the bathroom and the kitchen so when I use one or the other, I have to put the steps up. I will refrain specifying which room I was using.

As I was sitting there, I saw Blotchy walk out to the end of the stairs, obviously expecting them to go down. Nothing happened and after a while he went back up to the attic.

A few minutes later, Hillary came trotting out to the end of the stairs, which slid down to contact the floor just as she got to the end. Blotchy soon followed her.

Blotchy weighs about 20 pounds. Hillary weighs seven or eight pounds. She looks insufferably smug as the stairs descend, too. I can't tell what she is doing that Blotchy isn't, either.

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[info]austin_dern
2005-05-29 06:27 pm UTC (link)

I've wondered too whether gravity necessarily works the same way for quadrupeds as it does for humans and inanimate objects ... at the zoo particularly there're a couple raccoons who perch in tree branches that look far too weak to support them, particularly at the awkward supporting angles they lounge at. Something doesn't seem to quite add up.

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[info]kgbooklog
2005-05-29 06:29 pm UTC (link)
Was it a case of Blotchy walking slowly and Hillary jumping directly unto the bottom step? Did one walk down the center and the other the edge?

Or maybe friction keeps the stairs from extending by themselves, and so the extra weight of Blotchy increased the friction more than the downward pull of gravity.

Or you're living in a universe where physics doesn't work the way we think it does (which would be ironic considering your previous entry).

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My Own Private Physics -or- Another Prejudice, Freely Aired
[info]james_nicoll
2005-05-29 06:36 pm UTC (link)
Or you're living in a universe where physics doesn't work the way we think it does (which would be ironic considering your previous entry).

That would be funny, because "reality is defined by the observer" is a reliable marker for "James is going to think this is total shit", because it so easily leads into "So if I think _very very hard_, all the women around me will suddenly think my breathe is sweet and pi will be equal to 4."

I freely admit that the physical limitations of our perceptual systems gives us a narrow keyhole through which to observe the universe.

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[info]lisajulie
2005-05-29 08:52 pm UTC (link)
Force = mass * attitude. Hillary weigh 7 or 8 lbs., but has an attidude measurement of more than three. Blotchy, weighing 20 lbs., has an attitude measurement of one or less. Q.E.D.

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[info]janetmiles
2005-06-18 04:05 pm UTC (link)
(was pointed here from riba_rambles.)

I'm sure you don't know me, but I remember reading your posts on Usenet, and wonder if you'd mind my adding you to the list of folks whose LJs I read?

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