Runaway Robots and Toilet-Flushing Cats

[Sydney]

In June in Rotherham, England, Gaak the robot, who is part of a research project into equipping robots to think for themselves, escaped from the lab while it was momentarily unattended and made it as far as the parking lot of the Magna science center before being stopped by a visitor's car. It had forced its way out of a small pen used to house units scheduled for repair. Said Professor Noel Sharkey, "(The robots) have all learned a significant amount and are becoming more intelligent by the day." [The Age (Melbourne), 6-20-02]

Russ and Sandy Asbury of Whitewater, Wis., told an Associated Press reporter in February that their two cats, Boots and Bandit, now each 2 years old, have driven up the couple's water bill recently because they have learned to flush toilets. Said Russ, "We have to shut the bathroom door when we go to bed. Otherwise one or the other of the cats are in there flushing away all night." [Los Angeles Times-AP, 2-19-02]


News of the Weird

[Danny]

So we ought to watch for robotic cats going berserk, taking over the world, and wasting all of our water...

[Oddness]

O_O That's really strange...

[abe22]

Robots, when will them poms learn?
I like the cat one. My cat can open doors. Well, I guess that's not as good as flushing a toilet...

[Wolfpac]

Yet another reason why Cats are smarter than dogs... And Robots have always been smarter than humans. They just haven't showed it yet

[dark_xinos]

No. A robot is not smarten than a human. It hase no brain, and sofare there is now AI.

Actualy cats arent smarter. They just have a reputation of being "cool".
They dont do such enthusiastic things as dogs do. There hunters, so they stay quiet, and look more phylosoficle.
But that dosent mean there smarter.
Dogs arent hunters anymore sence we have them as pets, and there instincs are slowely sipping down the drain. Sure there are planty stupid dogs!
Dogs that are bred to look just they way humans want, are usualy verry dum, and and get problems, and all kinds of wierd desises (purebreeds).
Now the dogs that are basicly left alone (like wolfs, labrador, retrivers and other dogs in that genre, that are mixed together... You can get a pretty smart dog! No matter what you think.

[Danny]

Cats are better than Dogs in so many ways... They're:

• Cleverer
• Cuter
• Easier to care for
• Less active
• Less liable to leap up at you and drool over your face
• More likely to realise that when you throw a stick away, you don't want the f*cking thing back
• Nicer to stroke
• Lazier
• More friendly (there aren't many cats in my area that sit up and bark loudly at anyone who passes by)
• Less friendly (dogs are so bloody enthusiastic about you)
• Deadlier (when in the right mood)
• Just generally all-round cooler

Face the evidence, dog-lovers. Your best friend is the scum of the pet world...

EDIT: Oh, and they can flush toilets... Even the ones who can't at least have the politeness to bury it, rather than just leave it on the pavement for someone to slip in. Besides, when was the last time you saw a cat lay a cable in the street anyway?

[One, Two, Middlesboogie]

Cats also take themselves for walks and have the decency not to shit all over the floor. Dogs have to be TOLD to go and do it outside; cats do it automatically.

[Wil]

• Cats bring you presents.
• Cats have over ten times as many vocal sounds, and yet they only use them if they have to.
• Stroking cats relieves stress.
• Data has a cat.
• Cats' breath doesn't stink.
• On the whole, cats take up less room when they sleep, and are easier to move than sleeping dogs.
• Wet cats don't reek.
• Cats can climb ladders.

Just thought I'd show my active role in the Cat Lovers' Club.

[Oddsville]

Ok, lets not have another cats and dogs war again. Anyways, yeah I heard about that on Tectv not to long ago, I thought it was funny.

[Danny]

Originally posted by Max the Mug

• Data has a cat.

Amen. Hadn't thought of that one.

Originally posted by Oddsville
Ok, lets not have another cats and dogs war again.

Agreed. Let's stop it now while the Cats still have the upper hand... Not that I think we might ever lose that upper hand, of course, but total victory is always preferable to a long drawn-out battle...

[Wil]

Really, we've had a cats and dogs war before? It must have been in the days I didn't visit Off-Topic so often. Perhaps someone might point me in the right direction of it.

[Majic]

It was long ago, in a galaxy far, far away. I think it was a poll or such, "who do you like more, cats or dogs?" I don't feel like looking it up, to much time...

Cats' breath doesn't stink.

I beg to differ, anything that licks its own ass is gonna have bad breath. Dogs breath is still bad though. This is how we conquered and beat down the pets into submission, with out minty fresh breath!

[Dequibenzo]

Originally posted by Max the Mug
[list][*]Wet cats don't reek.

Well, then I guess that means the black, furry, feline looking thing sleeping in the living room right now isn't a cat, just a large marmet or something that's very good at impersinations. I have had, cared for, or for some other reason lived with many, many cats in my life thus far, and not ONE of them has been at all pleasant to any of the senses when wet. Not only do they stink after being dunked, they also look terrible, sound awful, feel like sacks of veins and claws, and, I imagine, don't taste that good either. I think we just don't notice it as much because they take such extensive precautions to keep away from water, while dogs just love to get soaked on a hot day. Hmm, slowly dying of heat, or easy way to cool off AND get all the briars and such out of you coat? Intelligence difference there? Hmm...

Smart men are the losers of life's only game
The points are happiness, not fortune or fame- Oscar Wilde

[Wil]

Well, perhaps I've ust got used to the smells then.

[Fazerina]

Originally posted by Danny
Cats are better than Dogs in so many ways... They're:

• Cleverer [like hell they are!]
• Cuter [a matter of opinion, I think dogs are cuter]
• Easier to care for [true, yes]
• Less active [it isn't automatically a good thing. I am exteremely happy that my dog is such a wacko she is and not as boring as golden retrievers usually are]
• Less liable to leap up at you and drool over your face [so? I love kissing my baby... ]
• More likely to realise that when you throw a stick away, you don't want the f*cking thing back [Dogs are TAUGHT to do that, they don't do it automatically. And besides, Fanny is more likely to go away and eat stick, no matter how much I yell ]
• Nicer to stroke [eh? mm...]
• Lazier [I wouldn't want a lazy pet, because it would bring the worst out of me and my own lazyness]
• More friendly (there aren't many cats in my area that sit up and bark loudly at anyone who passes by) [more friendly? you got to be kidding...]
• Less friendly (dogs are so bloody enthusiastic about you) [see a conflict between this and the above? ]
• Deadlier (when in the right mood) [wanna see my dog after a few hours of swimming..?]
• Just generally all-round cooler [what ever]

Face the evidence, dog-lovers. Your best friend is the scum of the pet world...

Oh, and they can flush toilets... Even the ones who can't at least have the politeness to bury it, rather than just leave it on the pavement for someone to slip in. Besides, when was the last time you saw a cat lay a cable in the street anyway?

This argument is so pointless and stupid [and again on these forums...], but I just had to answer... I love both dogs and cats [dogs more, though] and I can't understand how some people want to go through this over and over again.

Well cats aren't so often in the streets anyway. If they're outside on their own, they usually stick in the forests. And they wait to get outside? Please... my sister's cat [which later on lost it and attacked my sister's friend] used to go and do his business on my sister's sauna's floor. So there's your wise cat... And they don't automatically go outside. They have to be taught to go to their box or outside.

Well what comes to their intelligence... my dog can eat corn from the cob, without eating the cob at all and she can eat blue berries and strawberries staright from the bushes. So she is intelligent. And when she wasn't allowed to come to our washing room, she used to wait in her own bed under our stairs till I had finished my shower and went up stairs. She pretended to be asleep as I walked by her. When I was up stairs, she stood up and ran straight to the shower room and boy was she ashamed, when I followed her and caught her there.