Meta Cat is Meta
Posted on November 29, 2010 Posted by John Scalzi 27 Comments
Alternately, Pensive Cat is Pensive, squared.
Here’s a closer look at the picture in the Photoshop window, if that’s something you need for your day. Yes, fan club members. I’m looking at you.
Update, 4:05pm: Recursive Cat is recursively recursive!
Update, 5:30pm: Zeus wrecks the recursion by a) not being Ghlaghghee, b) looking entirely in the other direction, c) being in black and white. Oh, Zeus. If only you knew what trouble you cause.
Can I use that for a Desk Top Background? Nice dim colors, don’t hurt the eyes.
I’m sort of new around here. Is that a Ragdoll?
No, she’s a mixed breed whose father we assume was a Siamese, more or less.
Blainesgirl: Go right ahead.
I see this whole concept of a smaller desk means less caterference is not so much working.
Speaking of less caterference, can anyone recommend a keyboard and/or computer that I can still type on with a cat draped across my chest?
Do they make cattop computers? That would be ideal.
Regarding animal breeds: We had a dog that was not only clearly not purebred, but we were pretty sure that none of his ancestors had ever been purebred, either. The animal shelter that we got him from said he was a “labrador/german shepherd mix”, but that was clearly a crock. So, when anybody asked what breed of dog he was, our stock answer was either “Yes”, or “Big and friendly”.
Does your 24″ Dell monitor tilt into portrait orientation, eg for writing tall tales? :) Ours doesn’t, mechanically speaking, though its device driver does fully support rotation, there seems to be no swivel mount available for this model. Bummer (even though I guess we’d never actually use it). Think I remember Jerry Pournelle writing about portrait writing once, in an 80s Byte mag…
Pensive cat is also beautiful, squared.
Good to see she’s taking her vitamins. That is One A Day for Cats, no?
John Kerr:
Yes, I can put it in portrait mode, and do from time to time.
How did you manage to luck out with a cat who does not actually use the keyboard itself as a seat?
i am disapointed that photoshop doesn’t have some kind of mode to do recursive images.
otherwise it could have been infinite pensive cat…
Greg @ 11
It’s possible with multiple photos edited into the final picture. Although I’d call it “Infinitely Pensive Cat.” (I think adverbs get a bum rap, most days. They’ve been grammar ghettoed.)
John Kerr@7: I use two monitors at work, one in portrait orientation for writing and reading PDF manuals. The other is landscape for everything else. I love the portrait mode because I can display an entire page with margins and the type is still big enough to read.
If I’m limited to one monitor, like at home, I stick to a big screen in landscape. I like to spread things out while I work.
“Tall tales” – good one! I guess that means I’m writing wide tales. (grin)
O Great Scalzi, what a wonderful image of the Beauteous Ghlaghghee the supplied link leads to. The image in the post? Not so much.
The Executive Committee likes where this is going – you seem to have understood (no matter how dimly and imperfectly) that unmodified images of Her Most Glorious Shimmering Radiant Perfection are wasted on the low-brows of the Whatever. In fact, such displays of Perfect Superbness may actually be dangerous to the fragile mental health of your limited and demented fans.
Of course, driving them back to their home asylums would have the positive benefit of vastly improving the quality of your audience at the expense of dramatically shrinking it.
We’re willing to accept this.
The Official Ghlaghghee Fan Club
PS – Magnificent She is indeed pensive in this image. We doubt that you truly understand What She Is Pensive About, else you would be trembling in fear instead of splashing happily about in your ignorance.
Meta cat is meta, eh? So what’s her user number?
This isn’t actually a recursive image, is it? The cat on the screen has both eyes showing, while the cat on the desk only has one. What was the process of putting these two images together? Or did she actually sit still long enough for you to take a picture and then put it up on the screen behind her?
It’s definitely recursive, just not self-recursive.
For you computer science freshmen, this is a good example of the difference between being recursive and being reentrant.
Recursive code will invoke itself, as illustrated by the row of Ghlaghghees extending into the distance.
Reentrant code is code that may be invoked by a second task while the first task is still using it, as illustrated by Zeus horning into Ghlaghghee’s spotlight.
Recursive and reentrant code can do both, and would be illustrated by Ghlaghghee entering the foreground frame and deleting Zeus.
Yay! I’ve generated robust code!
She’s a dead ringer for my pal’s Himalayan, which are bred from Siamese.
People reading these comments are fairly likely to be aware of it, but I see this thread doesn’t already link to the Infinite Cat Project. And if there is such a link, and I overlooked it … well, if I can’t be repetitive in this thread, where can I be?
Warren, do you know what you’ve DONE to me?? Now, I must look at every… single…. cat…. picture………
You should be thankful the cat actually allows you to use HER computer from time to time… after all, it is HER house!! Humans are so obtuse and irrelevant… except to fix diner for the master race.
@Greg
There is a way to do it on Photoshop. I just can’t remember where I saw it. I do appreciate the work and artistry that goes into what John is doing. I wonder if his agent will appreciate it as much. :-)
I think the last one gets a C-C-C-Combo breaker
Victoria @ 12:
“Infinitely Pensive Cat” would be a good name for a rock band.
I for one loves tuxedo cats!