Maybe cats' fear of vacuums has to do with some unfortunate early cat-pneumatic-tube experiments. We may have forgotten, but they haven't.
I don't care if it is an orgy of death, there's still such a thing as a napkin.
Willow ,'Lies My Parents Told Me'
Natter 71: Someone is wrong on the Internet
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
Theodosia - Feb 08, 2013 10:16:57 am PST #10428 of 30001
'we all walk this earth feeling we are frauds. The trick is to be grateful and hope the caper doesn't end any time soon"
Amy - Feb 08, 2013 10:17:07 am PST #10429 of 30001
Because books.
Some of those cat ... shelves (I don't know what else to call them) that wind all over the house would be sort of cool.
DavidS - Feb 08, 2013 10:23:03 am PST #10430 of 30001
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
Both my Georgia grandfather and my Aunts in Georgia had hand operated water pumps in the kitchen sink. I wanted to use it and give it a pump and expected water to come gushing out like turning on a tap. My cousins mocked me and then showed me how you had to pump up the water.
§ ita § - Feb 08, 2013 10:29:11 am PST #10431 of 30001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
About half our houses in England had fireplaces, and in England no source of heat is ornamental--it's way warmer than Detroit or Montreal, but the only place I've sat down on a toilet seat and melted the rime with my morning piss.
I didn't sit on the seat long, but a) heating the bathroom isn't optional and b) extra not optional when the toilet is in a separate room from the sink and tub.
We also had a fair incidence of burst water pipes. And never in Canada or the midwest.
Tom Scola - Feb 08, 2013 10:39:31 am PST #10432 of 30001
hwæt
The Pneumatic Tube system of New York.
On at least one occasion the tubes carried not just mail, but a live cat. “The postal workers seemed as fascinated by the nearly magical tube system as everyone else and, at least once, even routed a luckless cat through the city’s tubes.‘He was a little dizzy, but he made it." - Joseph H. Cohen, historian for the New York City Post Office.
Sue - Feb 08, 2013 10:43:19 am PST #10433 of 30001
hip deep in pie
We had a downtown dept store in my hometown that used pneumatic tubes for their cash system. None of the salespeople had cash registers but pnuematic tubes that they would send the money to the main office and they would send the change back through the tubes. It was open until the 1990s, believe it or not.
sarameg - Feb 08, 2013 10:47:19 am PST #10434 of 30001
I think it was the Service Merchandise in the mall built in the 1980s that has pneumatic tubes as well. I can't remember if it was for cash or the order slips.
le nubian - Feb 08, 2013 10:57:07 am PST #10435 of 30001
"And to be clear, I am the hell. And the high water."
I was cleaning out my wallet and can I say what a pain in the ass it is when stores put your name (or worse your whole CC #) on the receipt?
tommyrot - Feb 08, 2013 11:07:46 am PST #10436 of 30001
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
Tom Scola - Feb 08, 2013 11:09:28 am PST #10437 of 30001
hwæt
snowpocalypse
Gothamist is calling this one "Snowtorious B.I.G."