The recent discovery that elephants can recognize themselves in mirrors reminds me of a recent development with one of our cats. True, they're not as smart as the Lacanian elephants, but they figure out ways to engage their world that work to their advantage.
Quercus, for example, has learned how to manipulate the clock radio on D's side of the bed. There's a large button in the middle of the thing that turns off the alarm. This button also starts up a white noise generator. You can choose between crickets, babbling brook, etc. Miss Thing, the calico, has figured out that if she wants more kibble in her bowl and D--the deliverer of kibble--is asleep, a good mashing down on the big button will wake up the food bearer.
Now, D does not then groggily hoist herself out of bed and stagger down to the cat bowls. But once she's up, Miss Q can start to argue her case. And she is a chatty cat. So what you must do is walk to the top of the stairs with intention, this will lead Q to gallop down the stairs, and then you can turn back and drop into bed. Usually, there's a little bit of snackishness left for the kitties and this distracts Quercus long enough that D can get back to sleep.
And in other news, a pair of good xian boys are talking about their love lifes and god at the next table. I am a spy in the house of love, here, people. A house with a lot of soap and very little funk.
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