On Cats

I forgot how much I dislike cats when I agreed to house sit this week. I think it is because purring sounds like (and must be related to) growling. Also on the subject of cats (and other lovable animals), my father sent an email to my siblings and I this morning with the subject line, "You guys will like these/ Emily Hale it's a forward but don't get mad at it."

I approve of his use of the slash.

The email contained "cute," obviously photoshopped pictures of babies and animals, such as:

This brought to my sister's mind an Onion article. This brought to my mind a fabulous post by one of my favorite bloggers, Harry Hutton:

THAT'S PROGRESS

One of my old students just sent me some funny animal pictures. A single mouse click was all it took and this crap came beaming to me at the speed of light. Ain't no mountain high enough, ain't no valley low enough, to keep a photo of a laughing dog from my inbox.

One is struck by the gulf between the technology in place to make the message possible, and the value of the message itself. I chose to interpret it as an ironic take on the communications revolution. Look, she is saying, here we are in the new millennium, able to send data across the oceans faster than a speeding whippet, yet we have nothing to say, so we send each other amusing pictures of kittens. Look at the kitten, Harry! It's in someone's pocket! Ha ha!

Or perhaps she felt that I am a simpleton who would welcome such kittens in his inbox, and that when I saw its dear little ears I would be happy. Though, in fact, I was unamused by the kitten.

[Note, Stearns, there is no moral to this post.]