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Caturday: Tama, the Stationmaster Cat

by 1389AD ( 151 Comments › )
Filed under Caturday, Japan at February 12th, 2011 - 8:30 pm

YouTube: The Cutest Train Car in the World: The Tama Densha

Tama on Wikipedia:

Tama (たま, born April 29, 1999) is a calico cat who is the station master and operating officer at Kishi Station in Kinokawa, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan.

In April 2006, the Wakayama Electric Railway converted all stations on the Kishigawa Line from manned to unmanned in an effort to cut costs. Station masters were selected from employees of local businesses near each station. For Kishi station, Toshiko Koyama, the neighborhood grocer, was selected as station master. Koyama had adopted Tama and other stray cats, and he fed them at the station.

In January 2007, railway officials decided to officially name Tama the station master. As station master her primary duty is to greet passengers. The position comes with a stationmaster’s hat; in lieu of a salary, the railway provides Tama with free cat food.

The publicity from Tama’s appointment led to an increase in passengers by 17% for that month as compared to January 2006; ridership statistics for March 2007 showed a 10% increase over the previous financial year. A study has estimated that the publicity surrounding Tama has contributed 1.1 billion Yen to the local economy. In January 2008, Tama was promoted to “super station master” in a ceremony attended by the president of the company and the mayor; as a result of her promotion, she is “the only female in a managerial position” in the company…

Tama the Stationmaster Cat, with information placards about her train, “Tama Densha” (たま電車, Tama railcar/train)

The plan for the train (shown above) includes photo booths in which one can take and print cute Tama-themed purikura photos, vending machines for souvenir badges, cat-themed furnishings, a library of children’s books, and other amenities.

Here’s the train in real life. It began running in spring 2009.

From Wikipedia: “Tama wears a decoration of ‘Wakayama de knight’ (a pun, ‘It got to be Wakayama’ in Japanese) given by Governor of Wakayama”

Tama’s comfortable stationmaster’s room, converted from a ticket office, includes sleeping quarters and a litter box, which is hidden away to give Tama appropriate privacy.

There’s also a Tama-themed Osaka-Ryobi bus!

More here:

Cuteness for the Day: Stationmaster Tama and the deer of Nara
The Coolest (or at least the Cutest) Train Car in the World: Wakayama Electric Railway’s Tama Densha Cat Train
Cat named stationmaster of unmanned station on the Wakayama Electric Railway
Stationmaster Cat Draws Tourists
Click the link to see two YouTube clips filled with feline cuteness (Japanese-language).
Stationmaster cat gets a train
Wakayama Electric Railroad (Japanese-language)

Tags: Cats, gatos, railroad, Train, travel
Posted in Caturday, Japan | 151 Comments »

Caturday at Chez Brick

by 1389AD ( 275 Comments › )
Filed under Afghanistan, Caturday, Open thread, Weapons at January 15th, 2011 - 6:30 pm

Brick's cat Odie, next to rifle: Arfcat iz fixin' ur sights!
Brick’s cat, Odie

Confesses Brick of 2.0: The Blogmocracy:

Kirly wrote:

the proper method for giving a cat, or multiple cats, actual baths with soap and water involves locking you, all the cats, and eveything you will need in the bathroom. no one comes out until each cat is clean. no exceptions.

This reminds me of a story…

Once upon a time, there was a little Brick. Actually he was a little prick Brick. Prick Brick had a little sister, let’s call her Prissy Brick. Anyhoo, one day for some reason or another Prissy Brick narc’d on Prick Brick and got Prick Brick grounded for something that probably deserved a good grounding.

Prick Brick probably all of 10 years old or so, true to his name, grabbed the household cat, (let’s call it Prick Brick’s evil Trick) while Prissy Brick was taking a shower, and tossed Prick Brick’s evil Trick into the mix.

Points of interest: the shower…had those semi-transparent, wavy glass doors on tracks.

the cat: a big tom with all his sharpy, clawy, fangy bits intact.

Results: pretty much as you can imagine. The only dry high ground for the kitteh was atop Prissy Brick’s head. To get there, the glass/tub surfaces lacked the necessary coefficient of friction, and porosity for any gription, so the most expedient route to safety, in the kitteh’s mind anyway was up Prissy Brick.

The caterwauling was immense. Cat and Prissy Brick. Each was louder than the other. Prissy Brick came out of the shower looking like a low-paid actress in a budget slasher film. (The cat was soaked, but largely unharmed.)

Contrary to popular belief, Prick Brick was NOT sold to the monkey house and is actually rumored to be on speaking terms with Prissy Brick to this day.

It’s lolcat time…

Lolcat: Afghani girl kitteh no want wear burka no mores

Image of tiny hat (h/t: BuddyG)

Phyllis Chesler offers plenty more reasons to ban the burqa.

Tags: burka ban, Burqa, Cats, felines, Humor, lolcats, Open thread
Posted in Afghanistan, Caturday, Open thread, Weapons | 275 Comments »

DVD for Cats

by Bunk Five Hawks X ( 155 Comments › )
Filed under Humor, Music, Open thread at December 26th, 2010 - 11:00 pm

[via]
If you buy this thinking that your cat is smart enough to turn on the TV, turn on the DVD player, open this box, put the DVD into the player, find the remote, grab a beer, hit “PLAY” and actually pay attention to this ridiculous exploitation of people who think cats are humans trapped in the bodies of furry lizards, you should pay triple the price as a penalty. Wait. That’s wrong… hand over the contents of your wallet and sign over your bank account to the first person you meet named Bunk.

A much cheaper version is available, and it’s free. It’s called “Throw the Cat Outside Like You’re Supposed To.”

Then again, maybe you don’t have cats, but would like to hear what they (supposedly) like to hear. Fortunately, the hawkers of that piece of crap offer a preview, but it won’t do much for you unless you’re heavily sedated (like cats are 18 hours out of 24).

For the rest of us, heh, we’ve got The Overnight Open Thread.

Tags: Cats, gullible people, Overnight Open Thread
Posted in Humor, Music, Open thread | 155 Comments »

Caturday for Geeks

by 1389AD ( 55 Comments › )
Filed under Caturday, Humor, Open thread at December 18th, 2010 - 2:00 pm

Dan’s Data Reviews Juvenile Felis catus

(excerpt)

Compatibility with existing hardware

No significant points of incompatibility have been found between the new kitten and my existing equipment. A box with some old cables in it has been slept in. My monitor and mouse pad have been sat on. My keyboard has been walked on, but not seriously enough to justify intervention.

NOTE: Kittens do not have any computer-compatible ports. Don’t try to plug anything into them. I’m serious.

Also: If you’re waiting for me to make some kind of “mouse” joke here, you can just keep on waiting…

Read it all.

Here’s Tom, another cat belonging to Dan:

PawSense intercepts “cat typing”

Note: I have not tried this product myself, because our cat is of mature years and seldom gets on the keyboard. If you have used this product and have any opinion on it either way, you are invited to comment here.

From the site:

When cats walk or climb on your keyboard, they can enter random commands and data, damage your files, and even crash your computer. This can happen whether you are near the computer or have suddenly been called away from it.

PawSense is a software utility that helps protect your computer from cats. It quickly detects and blocks cat typing, and also helps train your cat to stay off the computer keyboard.

Every time your computer boots up, PawSense will automatically start up in the background to watch over your computer system.

Even while you use your other software, PawSense constantly monitors keyboard activity. PawSense analyzes keypress timings and combinations to distinguish cat typing from human typing. PawSense normally recognizes a cat on the keyboard within one or two pawsteps.

If a cat gets on the keyboard, PawSense makes a sound that annoys cats. This teaches your cat that getting on the keyboard is bad even if humans aren’t watching.

Once a cat has been recognized, PawSense blocks the cat’s keyboard input. This keeps the cat from entering lots of commands to your programs or operating system…

To get back into your computer, you can either select the appropriate button with your mouse and click it, or type human in the text box to prove that you are one.

Here are a few cat smileys: =^..^=

Brown cat wagging tail smiley Angry Hello Kitty smiley Purring black cat smiley Arched black cat smiley Running black cat smiley Scratching white cat smiley Standing cat wagging tail smiley White cat dorsal view, wagging tail smiley Bouncing blue cat face smiley Catbert smiley
Large lion smiley