There’s got to be some phrase, probably in French, to describe what happens when one learns a new word, phrase, or concept and then sees said word, phrase or concept everywhere one goes. For instance, my mother learned the alternate definition of the word “cougar” and then she heard it everywhere, and subsequently found a way to work it into every sentence she could.
In my case, after a lifetime of not knowing what it was, I had a weekend of being confronted with Schrodinger’s cat thought experiment. (I know, who hasn’t been confronted with it at some point?) It all started last week, when those of you who follow me religiously on Twitter already know, I saw an article on Cracked.com called Five Scientific Theories that Will Make Your Head Explode. All of them are really cool, even for those of us who have only a passing interest in physics. The third one on the list is called the “Copenhagen Interpretation” which is some heavy duty quantum physics, but boils down to the fact that electrons always do exactly what they’re supposed to do, until you watch them. At that point, their actions become entirely erratic and unpredictable, but for the fact that they always make a bunch of people in lab coats nuts.
Schrodinger’s cat (aside: I think that “Schrodinger” is the funnest name to say this side of “Dostoefsky.”) is a real-life, sadistic example of how viewing things changes them. The theory, which like so many gymnasts reaching for the high bar at the last minute, I just barely have a grasp of, starts off by sealing a cat in a box with a vial of poison gas. Said vial poison gas has a 50/50 chance of exploding, but the sadistic conductor of the experiment will not know if that’s happened or not. Meanwhile, Mr. Meow is in the box in a state of either dead or alive. Which is to say simultaneously dead and alive, because the results cannot be known until the observer opens the box, and until that time, the existence of the cat is just a probability wave.
Weird, huh? And even weirder, for various reasons, is that last night I was reading a Douglas Adams book for the first time in my life. Specifically, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, in which said detective is charged with the task of finding the cat from Schrodinger’s experiment, after it goes completely missing from the box. But that’s all part of the theory, you know. The cat can be alive or dead, or it can completely disappear, because technically anything can happen at any time. But maybe I’ll find out more when I’m able to finish the book later this week.
In the meantime, I’m looking for my own sealed box and vial of poison, and it’s going to have Micki’s name on it. It’s been almost two months since Lucy came to live with us, and she is not ready to cede an iota of her territory. The penultimate straw was a cat fight instigated by Micki on the kitchen table on Sunday morning that resulted in breaking a full glass of orange juice on top of the aforementioned book I’m reading, which is out of print and on loan from a friend. (Note to friend, if you have become a blog reader and are reading this: the book is fine, it turns out that hardcovers from 1987 have a protective coating that does not allow penetration by orange juice.) Sadly, the same cannot be said for my kitchen floor, which is still sticky after a mopping.
The last straw was when I decided that Micki was maybe feeling stressed about the fact that I shut her out of the upstairs since I she threw up on my bed three times in a row, after a 16 year history of only throwing up on hardwood. Since I haven’t seen her be sick in weeks, I figured she had nothing left in her system, and she’d appreciate having the extra space. So I opened the door, and Lucy and I spent some QT together on the downstairs couch reading and cuddling. When I went upstairs a few hours later, there it was: cat puke all over the bedspread. This is obviously a revenge tactic of sorts, but I’m telling you, I see no other option than a sealed box and a vial of poison.
It’s not entirely cruel, she does have a 50/50 shot…
Posted by Ben on August 11, 2008 at 9:28 am
*whimper* the extent of science in this post is melting my brain.
And I don’t even know what I’m talking about!
Posted by Howling Hill on August 11, 2008 at 9:40 am
Have you locked Lucy up so Micki can get some private Noelle time? Micki probably feels neglected and wants some quiet time sans Lucy.
In college I borrowed a book from a professor. One of my cats knocked over a glass of ice tea all over the book. Immediately I ordered a new one (to the cost of almost $100. We didn’t eat for a month!) and gave it to the professor with an explanation of why it took me so long to return it and why it wasn’t the same one. You know what he said? “Why thank you. It wasn’t necessary but I appreciate you did this. No other student has ever returned a book I lent much less a brand new one because they spilled ice tea it. Really, you didn’t have to buy a new one but I accept the sentiment.” He became my favorite professor.
Love the book story! Micki and I sleep together at night, sans Lucy. But I think Micki wants ALL of my time.
Posted by Dutchess of Kickball on August 11, 2008 at 9:42 am
May I suggest covering your bed with a plastic sheet?
I thought about that, but 1) I don’t have a plastic sheet big enough and 2) I’m afraid that will just cause her to puke on the rug, or she’ll find a way underneath the plastic sheet, or 3) she’ll attack the one day I don’t make the bed up with the sheet. But come winter, I’m going to have to do something like that when I close off the living room.
Posted by lizgwiz on August 11, 2008 at 10:19 am
Have you ever tried Feliway spray? It’s a pheromone-infused spray that makes cats feel good. And calm. Lots of vets recommend spraying it around when you introduce a new cat. (I believe they also have a wall plug-in for round-the-clock use.)
That’s a great idea! It looks like the pet store is about to get more of my money today…
Posted by apollocreed on August 11, 2008 at 11:37 am
You just gave me a headache.
And on your special day. Sorry about that…
Posted by bing on August 11, 2008 at 11:46 am
Man, that sucks. Kitty puke in your bed is awful. My cat was being annoying last night and hunting her toy in my room. This resulted in loud yowls at all hours of the morning. Maybe they’re all rebelling against us.
They don’t get that they’re being punished and are supposed to behave.
Posted by The Modern Gal on August 11, 2008 at 11:56 am
Penultimate is one of my favorite words.
Mine too, and there are so few chances to use it!
Posted by Allie on August 11, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Oh man! There totally is a word for the thing where you learn a new word and then hear it everywhere. The hubs just told me about it the other day and now I can’t remember it. There’s got to be a word for that too, right?
I think there is. Forgetfulness, maybe? Tip of the tongue…
Posted by Allie on August 11, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Here it is — http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=417
Awesome! Thanks! Although I’m never going to remember that in a pinch.
Posted by Sarah on August 11, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Wow. If a cat threw up in my bed, he’d be out on his duff before he could say OOPZ, I SORRY LOLZ. Proving once again that I’m only fit to be a parakeet mom.
I thought about doing that, but my sister would get mad.
Posted by mickey on August 11, 2008 at 3:58 pm
I think that’s fair. After all, you have no control over what happens in the box.
Cat puke should not be tolerated by anyone.
Maybe I’ll just burn all my bedding to show her.
Posted by nancypearlwannabe on August 11, 2008 at 5:03 pm
In all my years of living with cats I could never understand why only one of them seemed prone to puking all over the carpet EVERY DAY. The other two cats ate the same things and lived in the same house, what was making the other one freak out?!
You’re right. It’s totally a revenge thing.
It’s not that the cat enjoys throwing up, but the cat enjoys the reaction.
Posted by Aaron on August 11, 2008 at 7:06 pm
You’ve really gone all these years without reading any Douglas Adams? How oddly interesting.
There are some gaps, I admit.
Posted by alexa on August 11, 2008 at 7:28 pm
wait, whaaaaaaaat? science, murdering cats?!? oy
Science, it’s not for the weak.
Posted by Adorable Girlfriend on August 11, 2008 at 8:44 pm
I could try to explain the reason why you hear something or see something more after you first learn about it in complex science terms or make it easy:
Easy — you find what you are looking for if you are open to looking for it!
It’s true. Once you cognitively learn something, then you’re looking for it everywhere. But normally, we let a lot of information just wash over us.
Posted by Ann on August 12, 2008 at 2:45 am
The cat we had growing up was a revenge shitter. He hated when my mother yelled and as we had him when we were teenagers, there was a lot of yelling.
Once, after a particularly nasty argument between my brother and my mother, my mom used the bathroom. When she came out, she stepped right in a strategically positioned heap of steaming cat turd.
ew.
Posted by Dingo on August 12, 2008 at 4:44 am
Oh my God woman! Warn someone when you are posting all this edjumacation stuff! I had flashbacks to science classes in a stuffy, overly hot room with a definitely not hot professor. Nasty, nasty flashbacks.
Although Not a Dingo does not puke on the bedspread, she tends to have impeccable timing. Her hairballs always appear in the middle of the floor on the nights I can’t sleep and stumble around in the dark. Like tonight.
I think of this as the cool kind of science. Theoretical, no formulas…
Posted by supersobe on August 12, 2008 at 7:06 am
Feliway spray, I might look into that. Exhaling pot into their faces might help. Medicinal.
But that would mean I’d have to inhale the pot first, and no thank you ma’am.
Posted by Kristabella on August 12, 2008 at 12:02 pm
I’m sending you the cleaning bill for the brain matter I have to clean off my clothes from my head exploding.
Posted by jennifer on August 13, 2008 at 2:37 pm
cat+bag+river?
You amuuuuuuse me.
Jen
Posted by jennifer on August 13, 2008 at 2:39 pm
It could have been worse. I could have said “You ameeeeeews me.”
See? That’s alot worse. That is just bad. That is a Cat-ass-trophe of a comment.
Jen
Posted by jennifer on August 13, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Because I don’t understand physics is the answers to your question.
Posted by Stefanie on August 14, 2008 at 11:30 am
I just heard about Schrodinger’s cat thought experiment on “The Big Bang Theory” a week or two ago! I didn’t understand it much better when you explained it than when Johnny Galecki did. I also don’t understand why I was watching “The Big Bang Theory.”