For security reasons, we must remain circumspect about exactly how this video got to Neatorama headquarters from outer-space. It's footage of an act almost as heinous and terrifying as cat juggling. This time, it's a cat in zero gravity.
Note that the audio has been removed to protect the innocent.
Courage.
[YouTube]
Not really zero gravity, more like falling inside a hollow cylinder with wings :P
Not very nice...
I don't see the point of the experiement.
Pointless if you ask me though. Animal cruelty? How should I know. That cat could have been breed for animal testing so its life was born to die.
Why would you think it was OK to post this? PETA's going to be on your ass, and for once, rightfully so.
And to MrPump... if you were 'in the wilderness' you'd experience a lot of stress too. It's really easy to make statements like that sitting on your ass in your cushy home. The difference between you and the cat, is that if the cat *were* put into the wilderness, it would adapt and survive. You would probably last a week.
"well, i suppose sneaking into your house and pretending to set you on fire while you sleep is just “added stress”, right?"
No, that's called breaking and entering and is illegal and punishable by law.
I mean, honestly, calling this animal cruelty is taking away all value the phrase has when describing real animal cruelty.
glassmusic, I've been an avid outdoorsman since I was a wee kid, and I have the outmost respect for nature, I'd last much longer than the vast majority. Sorry to burst your bubble.
I was proud to say, once, this was my favourite place to come and learn, laugh or just feed my brain for a bit with useless goodies, I doubt very much I'll be frequenting this site again for a very long time.
again. Shame on you neatorama.com, shame.
If a cat can remember this 0g experience, it can and will remember all the catnip crazes you've provided, the fact that you provide it with food (if not shelter) and most of all it will remember getting its chin scratched while sleeping on your lap.
glassmusic: I hope you don't eat ice cream unless it's made with human milk, that's another thing PETA fights for!
The cat did not get hurt, or lit on fire. But whatever.
On the day of the actual mission into space, without telling the astronauts, NASA technicians switched the cats so that Team A would fly with Team B's cat - and vice-versa.
The astronauts did not find out that they were in space with the other team's cat until they were already in orbit. This was also the moment that they discovered that the cat experiments they had prepared and trained for: cat stroking and purring in zero gravity, cat grooming, catnip toy playing, etc. were to be discarded in favor of a new set of experiments, known collectively as the "Cruelty to Cats" experiments.
We've only been able to piece together a small amount of information about the "Cruelty to Cats" series of zero-gravity experiments, but we know that in addition to the one that appears in this video, "Effects of throwing a weightless cat at a metal capsule wall," there was another experiment that involved tying little paper bags on the cat's feet and forcing him to roam freely about the capsule. It is suspected that an additional experiment involved spraying the cat with a zero-gravity water hose.
I realize that these acts - including the part of the experiment depicted in the video above - are heinous. Neither Neatorama nor I condone acts of cruelty perpetrated against any animals, especially cats - even in the name of science.
I chose to share this video as a warning to some of our younger readers out there that even within an organization as ostensibly benevolent as NASA, evil still lurks in the hearts of men. Hopefully, by watching this video, young people will be more aware of what takes place in their names these days, masquerading as "science." It is my belief that these young "scientists of tomorrow" can use the awareness to change things for a better future for all of us - human and feline alike.
Tell your friends.
Seriously, unless it was your cat they were playing with just keep your mouth shut and re-arrange your priorities.
I wouldn't call it cruelty in the same sense as kicking or injuring the cat. it certainly looks like a mean thing to do.
That's truly horrible.
I think it is on one of those airplanes that one can buy rides on now that have all of the seats removed and that make huge dives, creating the illusion of weightlessness inside the cabin.
Anyone?
Get a grip people, if you want to know what animal cruelty really is, go find that video of the Marine throwing the puppy off a cliff.
In my opinion, the cat didn't act much differently from any other human taking that ride for the first time. I'm sure that, given enough experience, the cat would learn to navigate in zero-g as easily as anyone else would.
So relax, no cat went into outer space.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vomit_Comet
I want to see a space shuttle experiment with pigeons; will their homing instinct get them back from space?
Sure what was done to poor kitty wasn't terribly nice, but cruel? Nope. And besides, you have to excuse the people in the video on grounds of ignorance. Judging by the women's hairstyles, this was filmed before the world was blessed by PETA and their mission to make us aware of what horrible beasts we humans are. We now know that animals deserve better treatment than people.
A friend of mine IM'd me the video this afternoon. As far as I know, nobody was killed delivering it to my friend.
I'm not sure why there is no audio. I don't think the reason there's no audio has anything to do with keeping anybody safe, however.
I was frankly very surprised at the negative reactions to the video here. While I'm not really a cat or a pet person, I do love all living things to some extent and would never tolerate any cruelty to any animal.
I looked at the video again and again and I just don't think there is anything cruel about it at all. I can guarantee that nobody who posts on Neatorama would ever post a video in which an animal is deliberately being harmed for laughs. This simply does not compute.
I had a few free minutes when I wrote the comment above about the NASA cat cruelty program. It was a complete fabrication and was meant to be marginally humorous. The idea in comments that inspired it was somebody saying that nobody would hurt a cat that they knew - which made me think that if you DIDN'T know the cat, maybe you could be cruel to it. What if NASA took away your cat and replaced it with a cat that you didn't know - and demanded that you tie little paper bags to its feet. Would you do it? Would you derive some small amount of sadistic pleasure in doing so?
These are important questions without easy answers.
In the meantime, I'm genuinely sorry if anyone was genuinely upset by the cat video. I'm not sorry enough to take it down, however, as I think it is interesting, and yes - even "neat." It isn't the most interesting thing on this site by a longshot, nor will this post go down in the annals of Neatorama history as one of the "neater" ones, but I think it is "neat," nevertheless.
I reach into my magic bag and try to find something worthy of a post here on Neatorama. More often than not, I think I'm successful. Some posters have higher success rates than me, however, IMO. Are they able to tap in to some cosmic "neat" energy that mysteriously guides them? Are they eating diets higher in Omega-3 Fatty Acids? Are they simply cooler, funnier and "neater" than I am? I'm afraid that I can't answer these questions. I just don't know.
User feedback - particularly through comments and the occasional hate mail/death threat - is something that I personally take into account on an ongoing basis as I continue to post here. While the demands of conflicting definitions of "neat" can sometimes be paralyzing, I believe in my heart that whether or not I agree with a given feedback tidbit, I learn from them all. The lesson I will carry forth from today is that there are people who read this blog who seem to have a remarkable amount of concern about whether or not a cat that is unknown to them that appears in a video is happy or unhappy. Seeing what they perceive to be an unhappy cat makes these people unhappy. I do not wish to be an agent of unhappiness here on Neatorama or anywhere else for that matter. In the future, when choosing a video that features a cat whose happiness can be discerned, I will stick exclusively to videos where the cats depicted are either apparently happy or indifferent. There is a third category I might consider - that of cats that are pretending to be unhappy, but who are actually happy deep down. The truth be told, however, I will probably mostly stay away from that type of video as I could see how making a determination like that - and sticking with it - could be stressful.
If anyone has any suggestions, please feel free to post them here in this thread or to contact me directly via email. Thanks!
I like your posts.
"I mean, honestly, calling this animal cruelty is taking away all value the phrase has when describing real animal cruelty."
this is not true animal cruelty. look up puppy mills and lab animals and you'll see what REAL animal cruelty is. lifelong cruelty.
i'd like to challenge all those who are outraged at this - and those who aren't - to do something besides posting here to actually help a real live animal. i'm not a crusader - but i got a rescue dog who was used as a breeder at a puppy mill and after months and months of love, attention, full bellies, long walks and kisses, she still runs from us. fear is all she knows. it's doubtful she'll ever be a trusting dog. so lets keep things in perspective and consider actually doing something besides posting your outrage. to all those that have helped an animal...i salute you. they need us.
thank you for reading this far.
That's very sweet of you.
I'm going to tell 10 friends about Neatorama to counteract all the over-reactors out there.
Also, there is REAL animal cruelty out there that you should go get angry about.
For what it's worth, it does seem like a pretty mean thing to do to a cat. It's obviously absolutely terrified (check out the hair on its tail), and he starts by throwing it at the wall of the plane.
It seems like people tend to hate your posts Adam but you sure get people talking
Monkey Torture.
It is kind of interesting to see the cat in zero G. If you've ever seen a cat fall in slow motion you'll see the exact same thing except with the zero G the cat can't stop its spin for it looks like its really freaked out. But you'll also see when its in the persons hands. Its not trying to scratch the persons eyes out either so its probably not that stressed out.
It would be interesting to see how long it would take a cat to get used to a zero g enviroment. Too bad they don't take one up to the space station where it would have a chance to get used to zero g. I bet after about an hour it would be walking on the ceiling like nothing unusual was happening.
You think 45 seconds in Zero F is cruel? Try living on the streets of Provo Utah in the winter like my cat did.
My cute little pug dog would have taken a real ticket to space for the day just not to spend it in the trailer she lived in until she was 5 months along with 35-45 other dogs owned by a lady with a hoarding problem.
I meant Zero G
The only person living in "Zero F" is apparently......me.
This particular cat probably lived out its days long ago and has since passed away.
But what bugged me was the dude throwing the cat against the wall. That's just peculiar.
Some of you people really sicken me that you can think of yourself as a good human being.
Anyway... I still say poor cat and I think it was a pointless "experiement", but I'm not going to get all up in arms by Neatorama posting it.
This isn't even on the radar compared to the other real cruelties out there.
You people seriously need to untangle your bunched up panties and get over your self righteous selves.
I've seen a lot of angry cats being bathed. Bathing, while ostensibly is done under the auspices of health, is a very stressful activity for a cat. Is it abuse? Is it more abusive than what's happening in this video?
What I don't like is the attitude of the humans in the video. It's difficult to tell but it seems they are having a great time throwing the cat around. I find that disturbing. Though not at the same level, it is the same base emotion of crowds that inexplicably allows them to throw all moral judgment aside and do the awful things that crowds can do. And by viewing, I feel that I am part of that crowd and that is an unsettling feeling.
The context in which this video is viewed is a big deal. Are we watching it to laugh at the cat? Are we watching it to shed some light on human behavior that we're not very proud of? If the former, I am very ashamed.
What a bunch of sissies. Thank God we've allowed at least enough animal cruelty to get a few medications. Here in the pinnacle of decadence, feline mental health advocates outnumber the humanitarians. Shazaam.
As for those of you who claim they will not return to Neatorama after seeing this post-- Neatorama features articles which are hard to look at sometimes, not because it promotes things like cats in zero gravity, but because it is a great site with an eclectic range of really really damn interesting pieces of information. It's not called "daisies, kittens, and smilinglaughter-orama," it's called NEATorama, and it exposes you to neat things you would never normally see.
It's probably good you're leaving if you're not going to understand this website.
"I have to admit the first toss looked a little to hard. But chances are the guy doing it wasn’t all that experienced with zero G either the second one was much softer."
that makes perfect sense. especially since he does do the second toss much more softly. i seriously doubt that this was all a set up to torment the cat. i think one of my dogs would really enjoy it. i would let her give it a try because she loves new adventures. who knows, maybe they thought the cat might enjoy it.
as many others have said - this is not true abuse. look up 'animal abuse' and this will look like a day in the park. fight real fights - there are plenty out there without building one out of a mildly annoyed cat.
Cruelty is a continuum. So is stupidity. People are capable of great cruelty, or the lesser kind - mean, spiteful little things that don't take into acount the comfort of any living being but themselves.
To place an animal in a situation it can't possibly comprehend will certainly cause it unnecessary distress. To do so from a general attitude of "What if we tried this?" is cruel - and stupid.
"Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to." --Mark Twain
...LOL
I know, shoulda , woulda, coulda
just didnt
dont'love it
dont want it
please dont stick me with it