Angry cat or irritated cat?

Here is a little animated photo that shows a cat biting a person's hand.

What do you think? The picture comes from a website in which the person says that this is an angry cat.

Just because a cat bites it does not mean that the cat is angry. The cat might be angry but often bites are in play or as a message. A gentle bite like this one is more likely to be a form of communication.

I sense that the cat is a little irritated by the person's hand. The person may have deliberately provoked the cat's reaction for the camera.

Cats that are a bit unhappy and/or irritated with a situation will tell you by biting in this way. It is about one third the normal strength. When an adult cat bites with genuine anger and aggression you'll know about it. It will really hurt. Clearly this person is not hurt.

Alternatively, play involving gentle biting can turn to stronger biting as the cat becomes wound up. Note: I have published this picture believing it is in the public domain. If I am wrong please tell me.

Picture of ginger tabby cat looking anxious in water

In one way I love the face of this cat but I am also worried for this cat. He or she looks very anxious. I don't know how she got into water. Was she put in it? It almost looks way because I don't think she would get in for the fun of it. Some cats don't mind water. Some even like it (Savannah cat breed for example). But the majority of random bred cats don't really like water. This cat is in that bracket. That said, all cats are decent swimmers. Some are excellent (tiger for example). It is a bit of a myth that the Turkish Van likes to go for a swim.

New Google Plus One search hurts small websites

Jan 17th 2012: This is not a moan, just a cold fact. I don't really care that much. But it is important. Recently Google decided to prioritize branded websites. In effect that means big websites. What I call the independents, individuals who build websites, were pushed back. That hurt millions of smaller websites.

Google Plus One was failing (+1 button). No one used it. It didn't work properly either on websites. So, they decided to force people to use it. Google is the major search engine. A couple of days ago they attached Google Plus One to their search results. The idea is to encourage people to use Plus One.

You can turn it off but people won't in practice. This will further erode traffic to the independents. Google are changing the face of the internet and they can do this because it is unregulated. Google regulate it. They are scared of Facebook and have decided that they have to step out of their own rules to force people to use Google Plus One as a social network instead of Facebook. Perhaps Facebook were thinking of starting their own search engine which further upset Google.

However, what they are doing is an abuse of the Google monopoly and their own policies. That is it, simple. And it undermines our trust in Google.

Recommendation: use Bing! It is better. Let's build up Bing.

Goa Mining Destroying Rainforest

I am afraid China is at it again in league with corrupt officials in Goa. Their wealth and insatiable demand for iron ore that is required for their manufacturing industry is resulting in corruption in Goa which in turn leads to mining in prohited areas of rainforest and the forced eviction of homeowners. The forests of Goa are within the distribution of the leopard cat, a small wildcat that is the wild cat ancestor of the very popular Bengal domestic cat.

Mining is an example of a major threat to forests. Another similar example is the forests of sub-Saharan Africa where they are being cleared not for mining but palm oil plantations. The forest of sub-Saharan Africa is the home of the African golden cat.

There you have it. I guess it is nothing new to report as this sort of thing happens all the time especially where there is corruption in government.

As mentioned it is not just wildlife that is losing its habitat and home, people are too. They are being threatened with rape and iron bars. They are forced out so the big mining corporations cashing in on the China boom can mine their properties for minerals.

Strange Cat Show Picture 1950s

Cat cruelty? This cat fancier would probably be stopped and questioned about the possibility of being charged with animal cruelty under modern laws if it happened today (2012)! I have never seen a person carry around a cat, purebred or not, like this - unless the cat is dead or it's China - sorry China but I have seen a cat being taken to market to be killed for meat being carried like this.

The picture from Life Magazine¹ is of a Siamese cat breeder (I presume) carrying his Siamese show cats to the show in 1952. It is interesting on two counts.

J.W. Blackford carries his Siamese cats to show
Los Angeles cat 1952 (photographer unknown)

Are you as surprised as me to see this? I don't think it is as bad as it looks but it is not good particularly from a breeder or at least someone who knows cats and is heavily involved in cats.

It is not recommended for plainly obvious reasons to carry a cat like this. It could cause injury. These are show cats, purebred cats that are at a cat show to win a prize. I don't think this behaviour would enhance the chances of winning either. Mr Blackford says that Siamese cats are more muscular than most and his cats just relax when carried like this. He was criticised in another edition of Life Magazine (see picture). Note: Siamese cats are not more muscular than most.

The second point of interest is the type of Siamese cat in the picture. They are not what today I call "modern Siamese" meaning highly bred oriental shape (very slender) Siamese. These cats are what breeders would call "old-style Siamese". That was the only type of Siamese in the USA in 1952. Today there is an extensive range from super slender to more cobby or natural looking traditional Siamese.

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Note: (1) about publishing the picture here. The photo is 60 years old. Google allow people to embed the picture in their websites using the iframe tag. On that basis I have to make the presumption that I am licensed to publish it here in the conventional way using the img src tag. If someone thinks differently please contact me. The picture of the drawing is published under the same rationale.