Cat-point 1 – AstroArtu.Studio/en

14 July 202414 July 2024

A submarine rescue

—Guys! Have you read the latest news?— exclaimed a chestnut-coloured brindle cat, which was literally scrambling down the corridor that led to the main room of the old and respectable Royal Crowder Society.

He waved a newspaper in his left paw; the enthusiasm had induced him to do it so vehemently that, if converted into energy, the mass of air displaced could have light up the whole room for the rest of the day.

It was Sunday morning and at the Royal Crowder Society the cats were relaxing in the room in front of the fireplace, some taking a nap, some reading a good book, others chatting about more or less important topics.

But Chest, short for Chestnut, had messed up that perfect balance.

—Chest, calm down!— he heard from the back of the room.

—Look at this!— said Chest, slamming the paper folded in half, but with the front-page headline clearly visible, with a loud paw on the round oak table in the middle of the room, not caring about the chess game that was going on between Monsieur Sable du Poisson and Sir Whitehorse.

—Well, Chest, what elegance!— scolded Monsieur du Poisson, sarcastically.

Chest wasn’t even listening: —Another impossible case solved! And this time it was defeated by nothing less than The Dark Farmyard!—

—Show me!— a cat snatched the newspaper from his paw, while other members of the society had already crowded around out of curiosity. The most suspicious remained in their posts, and from one of them a comment arose: —Yes, of course not… even if it was the Dark Farmyard, it cannot be defeated entirely. It’s such a sneaky organization and who knows how extensive. Maybe it’ll be out of the game for a while… And then it’ll come back.—

—The usual skeptic! It is written in large letters on the Crowder Chronicles: The mystery of the puffin stone revealed: the diabolical plan of the Dark Farmyard foiled, crushing victory of the two super detectives Hans and Hank!—

—Thos two again?— muttered Whitehorse doubtfully, —They’re everywhere now!—

—They’re real geniuses! Chest rebuked him: —The Dark Farmyard: do you realize it in the slightest?!? No one had had the courage to get involved in a matter of theirs in decades!—

—The Chronicles is always so sensationalist!— snorted an ash-gray cat, —Please, Paul, pass me The Cat Post.—

He wished he could read something different, because the expression on his face as soon as he glanced at the first few lines of the Post was unmistakably shocked. He threw it in an armchair, crumpled.

—So John…?—

—Nothing, so nothing! By now the press is reeling!—

—But there’s no denying it: Hans and Hank are the best detectives Scotland Yard has seen for at least fifty years!—

—Even a century!— said Andy, opening his eyes to the maximum as if to emphasize his wonder.

—Come on…!— said Whitehorse as he left the game, not least because the pieces had been brutally evicted from the board by Chest’s exuberance.

—If not, would they have written a book about it?—

—Also?!?,— Whitehorse marveled.

—Don’t pretend you don’t know that their first case has become a best seller in the feline and canine world. It’s rumored to be coming to humans as well…—

—Nonsense! For me, it’s just two who had a stroke of luck.—

—And you’re all envy, aren’t you?— sang Rocky, coming up from behind and giving him a pat on the back, which moved him forward a few steps. Whitehorse turned, giving the red cat a strained smile, and walked away muttering.

—Rocky, you won’t be of the same opinion as that boring Whitehorse, will you?—

—Not at all! Professor Arthur Van and I know talent when we see it,— Rocky explained, drawing Arthur’s attention, and inviting him to take part in the discussion.

Arthur took the place vacated by Sir Geordie Whitehorse: —True Rocky! They guessed, those two setters! Hans and Hank: two names that will remain in the history of Scotland Yard, I assure you! Deep intuition, loyalty, and well, even a great attitude to getting into trouble… They’ll lead the way, it’s guaranteed!—

—Like us, huh, mate?—

—Yes, you can say that Rocky…—

In the meantime, Andy had picked up the newspaper between his paws and was reading with transport:

26 February 202312 March 2023

Betting for tuna!

Royal Clowder Society of Caithness

In the north of Scotland, where the Highlands jut out to touch the Shetland Islands, there is the County of Caithness, previous home of a tribe of Picts, the Catti, from which it takes its name.

On the border with the County of Sutherland, the last reliefs stand out, preceding the vast flat expanse that gently accompanies to the sea.

Here, Mount Morven and its neighbors form what, from above, appears just like the silhouette of a cat’s footprint. And it is precisely among these heights that an old and abandoned castle is said to be hidden, not shown on any map. Since it is known that all legends have a fund of truth, it will not surprise you to know that this castle does exist, and is the seat of the most renowned academy of historical-scientific studies in the feline world: the Royal Clowder Society of Caithness. The manor is a massive structure of gray stones, with four cylindrical towers to delimit the vertices, surrounded by a wide and deep moat, always full of water, and this make it seem almost floating on its surface, a characteristic that it has maintained to this day.

The history of the origins of this institution is ancient and quite adventurous, so let me tell you about it.

4 June 2022

Tuna-mancy

that is to say: the art of the interpretation of the residuals on the bottom of the tuna can

Hi to everybody!

Today I’ll teel you about a new discipline that I invented some time ago.

A day, observing the tuna that remains on the bottom of the tuna can, after humans had poured it into my bowl, I asked myself: what if these residues could mean anything?

Let me explain well: you will surely know disciplines such as tasseomancy, through which you can foresee a glimpse of the future only by observing, with an expert eye, the tea grounds.

Based on this, I wanted to create my own version with the tuna “grounds”, but mind you: all this has been created just for fun and it hasn’t any scientific base (apart from the analysis of the data collected in terms of number of events), moreover it doesn’t take into account of any rules valid for the other divinatory practices.

As scientist, obviously I don’t rely on what the tuna tells me to decide about my days, I encourage you to do the same.

After all these premises, I am pleased to inform you that, after few weeks of data collection, I have come to the development of the principles for the divination practice of my invention which I have called “Tuna-mancy”.

The Tuna-mancy is the art of interpret the bottom of the tuna can, as long as your cat allows you to leave some in the can before forcing yourself to pull out till the last fillet (which I’m sure you always do …).

In order to obtain a result as much as possible not altered by external perturbations, it needs to read the bottom of the can after quickly turning it upside down and letting down the biggest part of the content, without shaking too much. It would be ideal to put all the tuna, or at least the biggest part, in the bowl at the same time.

You photograph that remains, before giving also this to your friend cat.

Now you have your photo, and you can compare it with the example images illustrated in this article.

I precise you that all the considerations here are derived from metal cans of about 6 cm of diameter, that contain tuna (without sauce or jelly). Any adaptation to other cans or contents could cause the result to vary unexpectedly and unpredictably.

Oh, I almost forgot: I am a cat… so, the indications are valid only for your four-legged friend!

I have to confess you that, to decide what “omen” associate to every tuna residuals configuration, I collected a lot of photo of cans (what an effort to eat all these tuna… no, it’s a joke! I have eaten normally and I monitored a period long enough to have a significative number of events) and then… well, then I invented the prediction, basing on the sensations that every distribution of residues gave me.

However, considering as a whole the data collected from all these cans, I can tell you that I did a good job: generally, I obtained a correspondence quite accurate of my life-style (obviously, not including the unexpected events!).

I briefly explain you how I classified all the evidences I got, showing you in the meantime what I obtained for my case.

First of all, I noticed that the residual quantity can vary from “zero residual” to a big quantity.

This became the base principle for a first differentiation of the indications the tuna will give you.

So, overturn the tuna can and see: how much residues have remained? I give you an help for the evaluation…

18 May 202130 May 2021

The “immortal jellyfish”

Meow (ops…hello!) to all, intrepid explorers!

I’m sure you all know about jellyfish, but I’d bet a whisker that there is someone among you who hasn’t heard of the “immortal jellyfish” yet.

Well: ypu know that I don’t like to leave anyone behind, so let me briefly introduce the topic, giving you some information about what a jellyfish is scientifically. I apologize in advance if I will use terms that may seem difficult to understand, but they concern scientific names that cannot be omitted in the description. If you need more information, you can read up on the encyclopedia, on any other book or website you prefer.

Jellyfishes belong to the phylum (definition used for the classification of living beings which generally indicates the type to which an animal belongs) of the Cnidarians. Cnidarians, also known as Coelenterates, are animals that possess a radial symmetry and live in water. It’s interesting to know that the term “Cnidarians” derives from the Greek word knídē, which literally means ‘nettle’, a name that fully captures one of the best known characteristics of these living beings, namely the fact that they are highly stinging.

A jellyfish develops from a polyp, which lives in colonies anchored on the seabed. Reached maturity, it can generate both other polyps and jellyfish. In detail:

– through a process defined as “gemmation”, the polyp generates other polyps. Generally, they stick to the polyp that gave them birth and increase the size of the colony on the seabed. However, in some cases the polyps can detach from the bottom and live an independent life;

– particular polyps, called gonophores, have the ability to generate jellyfish, which can conceive other polyps through reproduction.

Here is my drawing that schematizes this particular life cycle.