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04.09.12
Photo courtesy of Kerry Hyde
Do cat buttholes touch every surface they sit on? Science answers.
Cat owners sometimes have unique questions that even Google doesn't always have the answer to. This is probably the sole reason cat forums exist, but one kid who needed a 6th grade science project decided to skip the cat forums for answers and instead use the scientific method. Kaeden Henry, a sixth grader living in Florida, bravely pondered a question few (if any one) has been brave enough to ask: do cat buttholes touch every surface they sit on?
Since cats do whatever the heck they want, training them not to jump on kitchen counters is a feat even Hercules struggles to complete. These fierce felines don't care if you're cooking dinner or trying to get comfy in bed. If they want to sit somewhere, they're going to do it. The thought of cat butts on that expensive Serta pillow designed to feel like you're sleeping on a cloud can gross people out, but thanks to Kaeden, you no longer have to wonder if the butthole itself is also making contact.
Courtesy of Kerry Hyde
The curious sixth grader is homeschooled and well-versed in the scientific method thanks to her mother's PhD in animal behavior with a concentration in feline behavior. And, since they own cats, the science experiment was pretty straightforward (and directly impactful).
To complete the experiment, Henry and his mom, Kerry Hyde, bought non-toxic lipstick and applied it to each of their cat's anuses. Then, the cats were given commands.
Courtesy of Kerry Hyde
"Non-toxic lipstick was applied to their bum-bums, they were then given a series of commands (sit, wait, lie down, and jump up. Side note: Both cats have been trained since kittenhood with a variety of commands, they also know how to high-five, spin around, and speak.), they were compensated with lots of praise, pets, and their favorite treats, and the lipstick was removed with a baby wipe once we collected our data in just under 10 minutes," Hyde wrote in a Facebook post.
The results? Turns out that, no, cat buttholes do not touch every surface cats sit on. Now, let's all take a collective sigh of relief while we go over the details. Kaeden's experiment covered long-haired, short-haired, and medium-haired cats (if your cat is hairless, you better stock up on Clorox wipes just in case).
"His results and general findings: Long and medium haired cat’s buttholes made NO contact with soft or hard surfaces at all. Short haired cats made NO contact on hard surfaces. But we did see evidence of a slight smear on the soft bedding surface. Conclusion, if you have a short haired cat and they may be lying on a pile of laundry, an unmade bed, or other soft uneven surface, then their butthole MAY touch those surfaces!" Hyde shares.
Now every curious cat owner can rest easy knowing that as long as their cat has hair, their bare bottom balloon knot is not touching the majority of surfaces in their home.
Courtesy of Kerry Hyde
The amusing experiment caught the Internet's attention. People laughed and commented, with one person writing, "This is probably the most useful information I’ve learned from a science fair project."
"Good to know!...I can now eat my sandwich left on the counter with confidence!" another writes.
Courtesy of Kerry Hyde
"A+++!!! Whew!! I am very grateful for your sciencing on this subject. My fears from walking in on my cat sitting on my laptop keyboard and subsequently being grossed out and cleaning furiously in a hyper-ocd manner have been somewhat allayed and now maybe I won’t have to use QUIIITE so many wipes." someone chimes in.
"Finally.. Someone answers the important questions!!"
A collage of family photos.
Shannyn Weiler, a Utah-based interior designer, has sparked a debate on TikTok after urging people to exercise caution when displaying family photos in their homes. The discussion started a debate over whether a home should be decorated for visitors or the family itself, and if having a “shrine” dedicated to family members is tasteful.
The video began with a stitch from a designer passionately saying that one should “never" display “personal photos” in the living room. “So family photos can become a problem when they become what I refer to as the shrine,” Weiler begins the video. She shared an example from her life to illustrate why family photos should be hung judiciously.
“I got married when I was 21,” she shares. “We were both in school, absolutely broke, we had $50 to buy a couch, so imagine what type of couch that was. We went to go decorate our first apartment and lo and behold, there’s no money for decoration. So we do what most newlyweds do, we use our wedding photos, because we’re so cute and we’re so in love and we just love our wedding day. Everywhere in our apartment was wedding photos… it felt like what I call ‘the shrine.’”
“It’s very real. This also happens if you have one baby, and you might have baby photos taken and it’s the shrine to the one kid,” she continues. “This also happens if you have one grandkid.
@shannynweiler Interior design art tips Art decor interior design Interior design 2024 art prints Interior design art trends 2024 interior design trends #hometips #homedecor #wallart #decortips #walldecor #interiordesign
Weiler believes that people should hang artwork or photography about more than one subject. “They can’t just be on every wall with one subject,” she says. “We need to mix it up. There needs to be a mirror in the space. We need some Etsy art prints or something like that. We just need to mix it together to get rid of that shrine feel.”
The post bothered many who love having pictures of their family around the house. The vast majority of commenters were people who love having family photos strewn about their homes. "The house is for us not company," Sarah Murdock, the most popular commenter, wrote. "I’d rather have pics of my kids and our life up than prints of random flowers and art," Ty Harman added.
"I grew up in an interior design magazine and HATED that my mom never displayed any photos of my family. Felt like she cared more about material things," Alexandra DiGiovanni wrote.
A wall of family photos.via Stacey Rackley/Flickr
Others noted that people decorate their homes for themselves, not for guests. "OR we do what we want with the homes WE live in, not guests," Ergot wrote. "I like myself, I don't have a problem seeing myself everywhere. After all, I paid the bills," Gege Chic added.
Some people agreed with the interior decorator and said that having too many family photos in a house looks tacky.
"YES. Photographs of ourselves in my own house feel so weird to me. Narcissistic kind of Jamiecakes wrote. "I don't have a single photo of a person in my house. I think they look tacky," C wrote. "One friend's house comes to mind for me, it was tacky (for me) to see nothing but wedding pics. Like, do you have other interests? Just my opinion but also, they’re divorced now. Mixing in art helps," _sigred added.
Even though the post received a pretty sizable backlash, Weiler’s opinion is widely accepted in design circles. “To us, having too many portraits of yourself on display in your home is kind of like having a tattoo of yourself on your own body. It can come off as vain and tacky,” Sarah Han writes at Apartment Therapy.
Woman's lifestyle blogger, Joanna Goddard, asked herCup of Jo readers if it was tacky to hang family photos in the living room, and she received similar responses to Weiler. Some were passionately for it, while others were passionately against it.
"I have always felt like it was bragging to have family pictures in the 'public' areas of my home. However, in the bedrooms I have nice family pictures. If someone is close enough to me to be in the bedrooms they probably know my family. It certainly isn’t that I’m not proud of each and every one of them, just a pride that I don’t care to display to casual acquaintances," Bridget wrote. "I think people should be able to have whatever they want in their homes. I have family photos throughout my house and don’t care if it’s trendy or acceptable. My house my choice! Do what you want in your house," Jean added. After her thoughts on family photos went viral, Weiler posted a follow-up video where she shared an example of a student changing their mind about home decor.
“Sometimes in design, we hear the design ideas and go, 'Mmm nope, that's not for me.' Sometimes, we try those ideas and we still say, 'Nope, that's not for me.' But occasionally we try things and we go, 'Okay, I do kind of like that,’” Weiler concluded her video.
@shannynweiler reply to @Shannyn #homedecor #interiordesign #hometips #interiordesigntrends2024 #wall art
This article originally appeared last year.
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Robin Williams performs on stage.
Robin Williams once beautifully said, "I think the saddest people always try their hardest to make people happy. Because they know what it feels like to feel absolutely worthless and they don't want anybody else to feel like that."
One night at a comedy club in Los Angeles, a new, nervous stand-up comic was called to the stage by the emcee. In one hand, she casually had a beer that she propped up on the piano. In the other, was her notebook full of scribbled, half-written joke premises and a few wine stains. She did her opening joke and the response was so quiet, she could hear the ice machine crackling in the kitchen. Joke two — a slight spattering of nervous laughter. Joke three got a heartier laugh, but then it went back to deafening quiet by joke four.
She mercifully got through her final joke, and said "That's my time" long before the red light in the back of the club even went on. She scurried off stage with her beer, like that rat in New York carrying a piece of pizza. Panicked, embarrassed, and frankly — a little hungry.
It was just one of those nights. The last time she'd done this act — same words nearly exactly — she'd received an applause break. This time, she was left questioning every one of her life decisions. Why had she come to Los Angeles? How was the next month's rent supposed to get paid? Why had she cut her hair in the "Rachel-styled" haircut?
As she was about to enter the hallway that led into the bar area, she could feel actual tears forming behind her eyes, like little faucets that were slowly turning on. "Don't cry at the comedy club," she told herself. Rather, "Don't cry at the comedy club AGAIN." But as the tears came anyway, she looked up and lo and behold, there was Robin Williams. She stuttered, "You. Are. One of my favorites. Ever." He looked at her, his blue eyes warmly crinkling and said, "You were amazing."
It hadn't been true. But the fact that he would go out of his way to make this total stranger's awful night into one of her best at that time, was just the kind of person Robin was.
I know this because that woman was me.
I wanted to tell him about the Mork and Mindy poster on my wall as a kid, and how I had cut out Mindy's face and put in my third-grade class photo. I wanted to tell him how much I loved his care for animals and for the unhoused and for the less fortunate. Or that because of him, I had a weird fetish for suspenders. (The last one wasn't quite true, but I still wanted to say it.)
But instead I merely laughed and said "Oh, thank you. But I can do better." He gave me a gentle look like, "We're all in this together," and even though I knew I'd never have a career like his, it dawned on me that it didn't matter. That being kind to others actually DID matter and that he was a lighthouse in a really stormy, pitch-black ocean.
I stuck it out and just a few years later, got to perform in the super cool and coveted "New Faces" show at the Just for Laughs Montreal Comedy Fest. Didn't kill there either, but I was able to step back and look down from an aerial view. How we uplift others, whether through laughter or kindness, is really the only control we have in this world.
Years later, after Robin passed away, I had heart surgery and was feeling down. I had read that cardiac issues could leave a person biochemically depressed and the first person I thought of was him. I messaged our mutual friend from San Francisco and asked if he remembered Robin speaking to him about heart surgery and depression. He only affirmed that yes, it was a very real side effect and that I should take it seriously.
I have always thought of the neurotransmitter Serotonin like it was a flowery perfume. Notes of honey, lavender, rose. When someone has a good amount of it floating through their synapses, it leaves trace of itself wherever it goes, as if the tunnels it burrows under pumps it out through a steam grate. But from what I've heard, Robin struggled with that too. And yet he still found a way to leave a lovely and inviting scent behind him, because he wanted to make sure OTHERS were okay.
A heart shaped neon sign in the dark
Photo by DESIGNECOLOGIST on Unsplash
I guess, even in his death, I was looking to Robin for answers. But one puzzle remains solved: making others happy is the kindest thing we can do, even when our own valves --- whether heart or perfume pumps --- fail to work.
From holding the phone on your shoulder to folding a map to knowing what "cornflower" and "goldenrod" are, here are pre-Y2K skills at their finest.
Hey there, millennials! Welcome to the "Holy crapoly, I have real-life memories from 20 years ago!" club. It's a strangely disorienting milestone to reach when you find yourself starting sentences with, "When I was young…" or, "Back in my day…" isn't it? Your Gen X elders have been here for a while, but even we have moments of incredulously calculating how the heck we've arrived at this place. Time is a tricky little jokester, isn't it?
To highlight how much has changed for middle-aged folks since we were young, a user on Reddit asked people born before 1990 what useless skills they possess that nobody has a need for anymore. It's both a hilarious trip down memory lane and a time capsule of life pre-Y2K. (Do kids these days even know what Y2K was? Gracious.)
Y2Kcore.Image via Canva.
If you're down for some good-old-days nostalgia, check out people's responses:
Making brown paper bag book covers
"I can cover a textbook with a brown paper bag." — sourwaterbug
Oh goodness yes. And there was always that one girl in class who had the art of the brown paper bag book cover perfected. (They're probably Pinterest influencers now.)
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
Folding a map—and knowing where to find a map
"I can re-fold a map correctly." —JungleZac
"Man remember actually using maps…I had an atlas with the road system in my car to navigate other states during road trips. Crazy." – jagua_haku
How did we ever figure out how to get anywhere before GPS and Google Maps? (Two-inch thick road atlases in our car and stopping at gas stations to buy local maps while traveling, that's how. Positively primitive.)
Memorizing phone numbers and answering the house phone
For real, though, kids these days don't even know.
"Remembering phone numbers." — greatmilliondog
"Not only that, having to speak to your friend's parents for a few minutes when you call their house." — Logical_Area_5552
"How to take a message when the person they want to talk to isn't there." — Amoori_A_Splooge
How about dialing on a rotary phone, using a pay phone and making (or taking) a collect call?
Phone Call Vintage GIF by US National ArchivesGiphy
The skillful phone shoulder hold
"Using your shoulder to hold a telephone up to your ear while doing multiple other things at once. Now, the phones are so damned small I drop them." – Regular_Sample_5197
"100 ft phone cords 🤣" – mrch1ck3nn
"I got in sooooo much trouble for stretching the phone cord into the bathroom for some privacy. Accidentally clotheslined Grandma 😬 She laughed about it but Mom was pissed!" – AffectionateBite3827
Knowing the exact name of every Crayola color because we only had so many
"I know what the color “goldenrod” is." — ImAmazedBaybee
"That and burnt sienna were the crayolas of choice." — Signiference
"Cornflower would like a word." — cps12345
The art of the mixed tape—especially from the radio
I don't think kids these days fully grasp how revolutionary Spotify and the like are for those of us who spent hours in front of the radio with our cassette tape recorder queued up at just the right spot waiting for the song we wanted to record to come on. And they will never, ever know the frustration of the DJ yapping right up until the lyrics start.
Made you a mixtape. Image via Canva.
"Record to tape from the radio. Trying to make sure to not get the DJ/presenter talking sh-t or an ad" – Gankstajam
"'Shut up, shut up, shut up!!! I'm trying to record my song!!!'" – tearsonurcheek
"Haha yeah and trying to tell others so they don't make random noise or knock on the door.
How about making cassette-based mix tapes, trying to figure out to the second, how many and which types of songs in which order, that would still fit perfectly on the length of tape per side.
People who make digital recordings do not have to worry about 'running out of tape.'
Having the first side be tempting enough that they'd flip the other side to continue listening. That's before continual playback machines existed. Had to flip the cassette." – CrunchyTeaTime
And there were many more, from rewinding a cassette tape with a pencil to writing in cursive to tearing the sides off of printer paper without tearing the paper itself. (Oh and, of course, the ability to count out change and understand what you're supposed to do if something costs $9.91 and someone hands you $10.01.)
Gotta love it when the things that used to be totally normal now sound like historic artifacts found in a museum. Kind of makes you wonder what normal things from today we'll be laughing about in another 20 or 30 years.
This article originally appeared two years ago. It has been updated.
via Seattle Municipal Archives/Flickr
Memories of childhood get lodged in the brain, emerging when you least expect.
There are certain pleasurable sights, smells, sounds and tastes that fade into the rear-view mirror as we grow from being children to adults. But on a rare occasion, we’ll come across them again and it's like a portion of our brain that’s been hidden for years expresses itself, creating a huge jolt of joy. It’s wonderful to experience this type of nostalgia but it often leaves a bittersweet feeling because we know there are countless more sensations that may never come into our consciousness again.
Nostalgia is fleeting and that's a good thing because it’s best not to live in the past. But it does remind us that the wonderful feeling of freedom, creativity and fun from our childhood can still be experienced as we age.
A Reddit user recently posed a question to the online forum that dredged up countless memories and experiences that many had long forgotten. He asked a simple question, “What’s something you can bring up right now to unlock some childhood nostalgia for the rest of us?”
It was a call for people to tap into the collective subconscious and bond over the shared experiences of youth. The most popular responses were the specific sensory experiences of childhood as well as memories of pop culture and businesses that are long gone.
Ready to take a trip down memory lane? Don’t stay too long, but it’s great to consider why these experiences are so memorable and still muster up warm feelings to this day. Fascinatingly, many of these things no longer or exist, or wouldn't be allowed to exist. They're a brief snapshot representing a short moment in time. They're gone and we can never get them back. But small as they are, it feels good to remember them again.
Here are 19 of the best responses.
1. Scented erasers
"An eraser that looks and smells like a very fake strawberry." — zazzlekdazzle
2. TV static
"Remember the warm, fuzzy static left on your tv screen after it was on for a while. A lot of you crazy kids WEAPONIZED the static to shock your siblings!" — JK_NC
Who doesn't love the soothing sound of TV static?Giphy
3. Saturday morning cartoons
"Waking up super early on Saturday morning before the rest of the family to watch cartoons." — helltothenoyo
4. VHS tapes
"When you'd watch a vhs and it would say 'and now your feature presentation.'" — Mickthemmouse
"And now for your feature presentation."Giphy
5. Freezy pops
"Eating one of those plastic-wrapped ice pop things after a long day of playing outside in your backyard with your friends." — onyourleft___
6. Everyone's favorite day at school
"Scholastic book fairs." — zazzlekdazzle
"The distinctive newspaper-y feel of those catalogues, the smell of them. Heaven. I would agonize over what books to get, lying on my living room floor, circling my options in different colored gel pens, narrowing it down to 2-4 from a dozen in an intense battle royale between slightly blurry one-line summaries. I know my mom's secret now. She would've bought me the whole damn catalogue. But she made me make my choices so that I really valued the books. I'd read them all immediately, reading all night if I had to, hiding in a tent under my covers with a flashlight I stole from the kitchen. I thought I was getting away with something. As an adult, I notice, now, that the flashlight never ran out of batteries." — IAlbatross
7. Everyone's favorite weekday TV show
"Watching 'The Price Is Right' when you were sick at home." — mayhemy11
A young Aaron Paul once appeared on The Price is RightGiphy
8. Summer vacation
"That feeling of limitless freedom on the first day of summer vacation. That feeling of dreaded anticipation on the last day of summer vacation." —_my_poor_brain_
9. The old video store
"Blockbuster." — justabll71
Blockbuster Video, where everyone hung out on Friday nightGiphy
10. The worst best noise in the world
"The noise when picking up the phone when someone was surfing the web." — OhAce
11. The TV Guide channel
"The TV Guide channel. You had to sit through and watch as the channels slowly went by so we could see what was on. It blew getting distracted by the infomercial in the corner and then realizing you barely just missed what you were waiting for so had to wait for it to start all over." — GroundbreakingOil
Before this version of the TV guide you had to wait for the options to cycle throughGiphy
12. The one and only Lite Brite!
"Light Bright [sic]. I barely remember it myself but you’d take a charcoal-black board and poke different colored pegs through it. You plug it in to the electrical outlet and all the pegs light up creating whatever shape you made in lights." — 90sTrapperKeeper
These masterpieces were true artGiphy
13. Parachute day in gym class
"You knew it was gonna be a good day when you walk into PE class and see that huge colorful parachute." — brunettemountainlion
14. A very specific part of school recess
"Ripping handfuls of grass at recess and putting them on your friend." — boo_boo_technician
15. Anything involving Mr. T
"In 1972, a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum-security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem if no one else can help, and if you can find them....maybe you can hire The A-Team." — Azuras_Star8
I pity the fool!Giphy
16. Watching the best human being who's ever lived
"Watching 'Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.' There was something so special about the intro where he would sing Won't You Be My Neighbor while he changed his jacket and shoes. I loved every second of it, and would watch in utter content and fascination each time as if I'd never before seen him zip his cardigan up and back down to the right spot and change his shoes with the little toss of a shoe from one hand to the other." — Avendashar
17. The surefire way to fix any video game
"Somewhere between blowing on some cartridges and pressing the cartridge down and up in the NES to get it to play." — autovices
18. Reckless behavior on the swingset
"That feeling when you are going as high as you can go on the swings. Power? Freedom? Hard to describe." — zazzlekadazzle
All 90s kids have either kicked their shoes off on the swing or jumped off at its peakGiphy
19. When toy guns were a thing
"Cap guns. But smashing the entire roll of caps at once with a hammer." — SoulKahn90
The 80s and 90s were really a special time. Right on the cusp of major technological breakthroughs, but before the Internet and smartphones had taken over every day life. Things were modern but simple. Of course, every generation can't help but crave "the way things used to be." Kids today will one day look back at the quaintness of TikTok, or they'll fondly remember a world before everything was AI generated.
There's nothing wrong with taking a brief look back every once in a while and soaking the nostalgia in. Just remember to keep looking forward, as well.
This article originally appeared three years ago. It has been updated.