Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Outside the bag the box came in.

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Thomson's Cat Lamp

you know... for cats
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It is even more cruel to leave a cat in a box for an undetermined time than to blend it with a mix of other pet-hopefulls. It is dark in that box. I suggest we provide sustenance; food, water, unbalanced wheel faux-mouse. Of course, this would all be for naught unless the cat had a few photons. Provide some light for two minutes (or eternity), if only for half the time, and who knows, maybe the light will be on, or off.
4whom, Oct 17 2007

[link]






       an echo of a satire of a spoof and a meme with - er, no, it's a spoof of a satire that combines an echo of a meme and - no, its an anechoic mean satellite spoon with - wait, is Compton next?
lurch, Oct 17 2007
  

       Thompson? I don't get it.
Texticle, Oct 17 2007
  

       I think [4whom] may have invoked William Thompson (Lord Kelvin) and (unwittingly?) supplied kitty with some infra-red photons, thus keeping the unobserved waveform from collapsing into a frozen puddle of water, food, air, (nerve gas?), cat, and faux-mouse which would not need any observation whatsoever to determine its final form.   

       Not sure where the visible-light photons are coming from... tungsten junctions? (What would happen if a lightbulb filament were set up with junctions that caused a heat flow along the filament?)
lurch, Oct 17 2007
  

       lol
Noexit, Oct 17 2007
  

       Your basic premise is wrong. Cats have evlved to be perfectly comfortable in the dark, and often choose lairs in small dark places. That's why they have whiskers, to sense their surroundings in the dark.   

       Whether the cat is there or not.
DrCurry, Oct 17 2007
  

       evlved. i always wondered why cats were so superior...
k_sra, Oct 18 2007
  

       Texticle? I don't get it.
blissmiss, Oct 18 2007
  

       Touché.
Texticle, Oct 18 2007
  

       Cat goes in box and stumbles around in the dark....
Walls of box are covered with small, harmlessly sticky, replica, eatable mice.
Every so often cat backs into an area of wall and one of the mice sticks to its bum.
Each mouse "event" releases a single photon.
The big question is: Should this light producing phenomena be called a Cat-ass-trophy?
xenzag, Oct 19 2007
  

       The tagline makes it sound more like Norville Barnes' cat lamp.
projekt, Oct 19 2007
  

       We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like "I feel a bit claustrophobic, maybe you should..." and suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us, and the box was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around us.
And a voice was screaming "Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals?"
zen_tom, Oct 19 2007
  

       Gooooo....Eagles!
4whom, Oct 22 2007
  

       Not eagles.... This is bat country! ::swats fly swatter::
rascalraidex, Oct 22 2007
  

       Am I missing something? Is Thomson's cat similar to Schrodinger's cat? If this is the case, the cat needn't worry. Every cat has, in addition to it's self-proclaimed 'owner', a little old lady just a few doors down (who also believes herself to be an owner). Put the cat in a box, and within a few hours there will be a distant call "here kitty" etc. The box is no match for the tenacity with which little old ladies can persue lost cats.
Twizz, Oct 22 2007
  

       The basic premise is that it is *at least* as cruel to leave a cat in a box for an undetermined period of time.   

       This rather drastic fate is at least partly mitigated by providing some stimulation and sustenance for the cat. The choice of the Thomson Lamp to illuminate the box provides an uncertain amount of light, so that, after two minutes, the lamp is both on and off, and the cat both alive and dead. Answering Thompson's question, at least until the box is opened.   

       The question of whether the cat may be counted as an observer, is still debatable.
4whom, Oct 22 2007
  

       er, ahem, <nudge> [4whom] - It looks like you'd better go look up Thompson. He ain't who you was thunking of.
lurch, Oct 22 2007
  

       I have adjusted the "p", however it still pops up in my anno's. Still deciding if it is the musical twins or the detectives that keep throwing out my spelling. Besides that particular foible, the lamp still stands, on or off.
Brace yourselves for the Herge's Twin's paradox, (you asked for it!).
4whom, Oct 22 2007
  

       ya, ok, i don't know. too thick a pun for my tastes and not much of an idea. looks like someone's left a little fishy snack for your cat in the dark, though.
k_sra, Oct 22 2007
  

       Any vehement denunciation of my device will be tolerated.
4whom, Oct 22 2007
  

       good choice! : )   

       [just saw your subtitle and am tempted to bun for the Hudsucker Proxy reference, if indeed it is]
k_sra, Oct 22 2007
  

       Hey, whatever will be, will be!
4whom, Oct 22 2007
  

       Gooooo....Eagles!
4whom, Oct 22 2007
  

       I hope there is a kitty tray in that box somewhere too
grannymop, Oct 22 2007
  

       and you, a Muncie girl!
k_sra, Oct 22 2007
  

       you need something to convert the IR coming off kitty, to visible light.
FlyingToaster, Feb 16 2009
  

       Easy - image intensifier/photomultiplier.   

       Einstein got his Nobel Prize for his work on the photoelectric effect. So he gets a look in too.
8th of 7, Jun 15 2009
  

       Einstein did not get the time division thing quite right, does he still get credit?
4whom, Jun 15 2009
  

       Well, more than Greece and Spain do …
8th of 7, Aug 16 2012
  

       It may be simpler to replace the cat with a bat.
MaxwellBuchanan, Aug 16 2012
  
      
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