General > Except for the Pig
Small Animal News
Sindobook:
The pool is open as of May 21. Mr. Sparkles is administering it this time.
There are seven pools your small animal can place on, your small animal must either mail in the carrot slip or do an electronic transfer to Mr. Sparkles account. As usual, the preliminary payouts of pools are based on current bets placed, and payouts may shift before the event time. The metric is 'the amount of time that passes between the stated time (when the event is supposed to actually begin) and the actual 'first song'. The verifier for this event will be Tuan Tuan, as he will be attending the event.
0 hours - 1 hour: x2.7
1 hour - 2 hour: x1.5
2 hour - 3 hour: x1.4
3 hour - 4 hour: x1.1
4 hour - 5 hour: x1.2
5 hour - 6 hour: x1.5
6 hour or more (or never): x1.1
Surrender return is currently 50%, surrender transfer, 75%.
When asked for commentary, here's what all the locally significant small animals had to say about the event:
"Not a lot of small animals are attending the event in question, but I understand it's quite popular with Pandas." - Mikey
"Technical Difficulties are a given. Oh yeah. Bring it on!" - Jojo
"Thats... It? I mean, seriously? Really? What's for dinner?" - Happy
---
Yes, from an (anonymous) informant. This happened a few months ago, it was reported by Mikey in his blog at the time but didn't draw much attention. He had just completed his tour and in debrief gave the following statement (excerpted).
"At the meeting, they asked for 'volunteers' to go over and 'stir the pot'. I drew the short-tailed mouse[1] and so I ended up volunteered for the job. I was told to get some paints and to go deep into woof-woof[2] territory and paint the gang symbol all over."
"Cat P was absolutely livid. I don't remember why, but someone had just said something that maid him real upset. He was hissing every other word and his hair was standing on end. He insisted that we had to show the small animals out there that just because they have a woof-woof on their side (actually there are more than three woof-woofs on their side) that we can still mess with them and that we could still hit them if we so chose."
"Being my creatively incompetent[3] self, I picked up some watercolors from the shop and a brush. I waited for a day when the weather report said it would rain, and that morning I met a friendly woof-woof who took me around in woof-woof territory and we painted the tag in more places than I can remember. We photographed each tag and afterwards I showed the pics to Cat P. Cat P took the pics as proof and said he would reward me for my service. No one ever verified the tags, they took the pics as proof even though I know the next day it rained so the tags would be gone."
"Afterwards Cat P followed up by sacking his old hairball management manager and giving me his position. The poor cat got moved into the boat management department. Only problem is the gang didn't have any boats to manage. In fact all their territory is landlocked, the gang wouldn't have any use for boats."
[1] A saying among cats, believed to come from the saying 'drawing the short straw'. It's rare for cats to volunteer to do another cats dirty work, so typically when the boss asks for 'volunteers', it ends up being decided by rolling a dice, drawing cards, or some other simple game of chance.
[2] Phonetic for dog.
[3] Seasoned infiltrators / informants are trained how to be incompetent or ineffective without getting noticed, at least for a time.
---
Yes, we have noticed the same thing. Reports come in from the Bunny Brigade all the time, and Mikey reads every one.
"Ever since the disaster, it's been up. Way up. Is that a good thing? We'll, it's certainly not a bad thing."
I'm told the sixties were the same way.
---
This has been standard practice for years, basically anytime you have any doubts, just 'play dumb' in the title and desc. "I don't know what this is" etc.
Sindobook:
Pasted from Mikey's blog. It's another cat's report.
"The pounce[1] was rather uneventful. First, Cat T was publicly commended for his service to the gang and rewarded the newly made position of director of small animal interdiction operations. Cat P seemed as if he was about to discuss something of import when 'Grampa', his owner, threw a wrench into the works by throwing a catnip-flavored mouse toy into the middle of the cats. The snake Z stuck around, trying to restore order despite his complaints of not having eaten in the last month and a half and having to pass up another small animal hunting opportunity in order to make the meeting. But it was rather futile, the cats could not resist the urge to play and did so for the allotted time until the meeting ended. After that all the cats went off and did their own thing except for Cat T and Cat P who went into another area to discuss something in secret. No idea what."
"After the pounce, I followed Snake Z as he slithered through the grass and back to his hole. Slyly, I advised him, something like this. 'You know that you'll eventually have to make a choice between the gang and hunting opportunities. Cat P recognizes that you're doing stuff 'on the side', and it makes him antsy. He doesn't like the higher-ups in the gang having outside issues, that's why he sent Cat T after [deleted]. And he just promoted Cat T, so it's only going to grow."
"The snake just shook his head at me. He might be all-in for now, figuring that he already made that choice. But I think not. He's not eating cold[2] just yet."
[1] meeting
[2] domesticated
---
"Yesterday a doberman showed up at the high-level department of hairball management meeting. The morale, even among higher-ups, is poor. In the past, the gang would have not given an inch and made a concerted effort to fight off a dog in their territory. And there wouldn't be much a single dog could do against 12 angry cats. But yesterday, all the cats just split. Of course I ran too, one job ain't worth becoming dog food over. But they didn't even try to radio in their situation. They just panicked and ran every which way."
"Cat P wasn't there, but when he heard of the situation, he made it a thing to interview everyone who was there and then became increasingly paranoid. His fur stood on end, and he hissed out something like, 'Swore I've seen that woof-woof before. Must be one of C's dogs. [explicative]', clawing at thin air for effect. I wasn't one of C's dogs. It was just a dog from a few doors down owned by a neighbor who just moved in. That had somehow gotten out. Honestly P's been stuck in the house[1] for weeks."
[1] among cats, roughly translates to 'off his rocker' or 'losing perspective with reality'.
---
1) The numbers I heard were around 1200. That is just incidental, I wasn't there as I really don't have much interest in that stuff.
2) I'm not going to post it beforehand, honestly it's still in flux and too many stalkerz out there.
Sindobook:
I've been getting a lot of questions about this, 'what happened', 'is he alive', etc. so I'm going to post this report.
If you watched [Deleted], one of the things that might have drawn some attention was Cat Y. Known for his outwardly likable, though somewhat effeminate manner, the cat ended up drawing plenty of attention to himself.
Cat P, the current leader of the 'neighborhood cat gang', has been desperate to try to inflict damage on C, or any of the bunnies, pigs, other assorted small animals who are loyal to C. But he's been so busy just trying to hold his gang of cats together that he hasn't had the time to take action himself. So Cat F, who had ingratiated herself to Cat P, said she would act against C in exchange for Cat P giving her 'any position (in the gang) she wanted'. Cat P, who doesn't trust half his cats in the higher positions in his gang to begin with, couldn't help but to agree. But Cat F demanded that he act first. For starters, she demanded Cat Y's position. She wanted to be a star on [Deleted].
Cat P agreed. He had doubts about Cat Y's loyalty, his spies had reported seeing Cat Y being a bit too friendly with small animals on numerous occasions. So he ordered that Cat Y give his current position and instead take over Cat K's old logistics position. And then put Cat F in his spot.
Cat F was very happy, having secured what is basically the lead role in [Deleted]. Kinda ironic because Cat Y basically made [Deleted] what it was. But probably, Cat P feels that he served his purpose to him and now needs to be disposed of. Now considering this, Mikey doesn't expect that Cat Y will turn, too much to lose, but you never know.
Several weeks later, Cat P's changes paid off when Cat F managed to hack into C's RSS feed and use that to the gang's advantage. While it was a short-lived victory for the gang, it helped to solidify her position and she was rewarded by Cat P along with some of the other cats with a "Zhu Zhu Pet" Hamster (Mr. Squiggles), a new scratching post, and some of her favorite luxury cat food. Meanwhile, Cat Y has been trying to clean up the mess that has accumulated since Cat K's departure. Far from a pleasant job.
---
Definately not. Plus, a tripod? In this day and age? And what kind of application asks you to list what kind of equipment you have? That's between borderline and irrelevant, if I want to hire someone for, say, a wedding, that's the last thing on my mind! It just goes to show that, they don't have the slightest idea what they're talking about. It's not worth the bother.
---
Mikey does not recommend that method for anti-interdiction efforts, it is too easy to mislead or just plain have the snake show up in an area unplanned or on a whim. Always keep an eye out, if outdoors, be mindful of wind conditions and the effect on scent, watch out because he is known to associate with other snakes and cats that could be hostile to small animals.
Sindobook:
For people, quite simply, there is nothing to be worried about. It's just a collection of eastern herbs, spices, turmeric, etc. Things like that. Pretty harmless for people, which is much more than I can say for the western 'energy drinks'.
Not for animals though, small animals or otherwise.
---
I know. He probably just soiled himself. The cat's got to be running scared now, they're pulling out all the stops as best they can. Not that it will make a difference. They've been trying to go on the offensive for weeks, but they are short supplies and their morale is in the pits, especially at the lower levels. There's really not much they can do besides just sit and watch.
He's going to have to face the music soon. He's never gained any traction, every victory has been short-lived and every defeat has lasting consequences.
---
The reports (about Cat Y) are pretty much true.
"Cat K's logistics department was in shambles when he (Cat Y) took it over. About two thirds of the cats had left, and the remainder had become so accustomed to sleeping 'on the job' and just generally goofing off that they were absolutely useless. Most of the rum-rum[1]'s had seen far better days, in various states between working sporadically to broken down with no reasonable hope of repair. More importantly, the department had no fuel so even if all their rum-rum's had been in working order, they would still not be able to operate them. (Cat Y) tried very hard at first, but it was simply a no-win situation."
"Eventually he too succumbed to malaise and sat around every day sleeping, preening, cleaning himself, etc. (Cat T) noticed this and threatened to report back to (Cat P) if he did not 'pick up the pace'. But even if he had wanted to, he couldn't, his strengths were in publicity and customer service, not logistical management. So (Cat T) eventually did report his laziness back to (Cat P), who promptly confronted him and threatened to remove him if he was not up to it."
"At that moment, when he was confronted by his boss, he snapped. He ordered his underlings to take down (Cat P) and charged headfirst at him to set an example, leaping and trying to land on him with all four claws. He did not receive any support from his underlings, and while he was able to land on the rather portly (Cat P)'s back, with claws extended, he could not get a good grip and lost his balance, only grazing his back as he fell to the ground. Using his weight to his advantage, (Cat P) leapt on top of him, flaying him along the ground and biting the back of his neck. A full-on catfight followed, Cat Y held his own using his superior agility, but ultimately neither cat could gain the upper hand. Knowing that reinforcements would be on the way, (Cat Y) had the good sense to disengage and flee in short order. For this, he was removed from the gang, even if for PR reasons the official statement was that he had left to pursue other opportunities."
So he's pretty much out of the cat gang now, even though he still has a few friends' among the cats and the snakes who are higher-ups in the gang (remember that Cat P's control is nowhere near absolute).
[1] - on-road vehicles
Sindobook:
Please stop asking me about the video, you can ask Tuan Tuan for his video taken with his pandacam but even better, look in the usual places and there's a far better video out there I've already seen. Top notch in terms of quality, I'm guessing it was an official source because really, they want it out there rather than held back.
Overall people say it was fine, they managed to get a passing grade with their treatment and I don't think there will be any long-term repercussions for the worse. Hell it better have been though, that's what he sold his soul for. Like faust, he gets what he wanted, at least for the time being. But like faust, it's going to come back to haunt him in the end, it always does, we'll see how that turns out because it's only a matter of time now.
---
What I can say is that the 'trend' started about a month and a half ago, middle to late May, by mid to late June daily traffic had doubled and since seems to have leveled off at double the prior rate.
---
Yes, I will, and intelligence indicates that it is almost certain there will be snakes there, so far we have counted one for certain (snake Z) and several other probables. For this reason, it is highly recommended to stay in groups, don't venture out alone and keep a constant eye out for dangerous critters. None of the snakes are known to have any support of their own, though this is still being looked into.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version