http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_righting_reflex wrote:<<The cat righting reflex is a cat's innate ability to orient itself as it falls in order to land on its feet. The righting reflex begins to appear at 3–4 weeks of age, and is perfected at 7 weeks. Cats are able to do this because they have an unusually flexible backbone and no functional clavicle (collarbone). The minimum height required for this to occur in most cats (safely) would be around 30 centimeters. Cats without a tail also have this ability, since a cat mostly moves its hind legs and relies on conservation of angular momentum to set up for landing, and the tail is in fact little used for this feat.
In addition to the righting reflex cats have a number of other features that will reduce damage from a fall. Their small size, light bone structure, and thick fur decrease their terminal velocity. Furthermore, once righted they may also spread out their body to increase drag and slow the fall to some extent. A falling cat's terminal velocity is 100 km/h (60 mph) whereas that of a falling man in a "free fall position" is 210 km/h (130 mph). At terminal velocity they also relax as they fall, which protects them to some extent on impact. However, it has been argued that, after having reached terminal velocity, cats would orient their limbs horizontally such that their body hits the ground first.
With their righting reflex, cats often land uninjured. However, this is not always the case, since cats can still break bones or die from extreme falls. In a 1987 study, published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, of 132 cats that were brought into the New York Animal Medical Center after having fallen from buildings, it was found that the injuries per cat increased depending on the height fallen up to seven stories but decreased above seven stories. The study authors speculated that after falling five stories the cats reached terminal velocity and thereafter relaxed and spread their bodies to increase drag. Scientists in Massachusetts have recently discovered that the cat's ability to spread its legs out to increase drag when reaching terminal velocity would explain the decreased injuries sustained above seven stories because they wouldn't reach terminal velocity before then. Professor David Stevenson said "we simulated the cat's weight and size and found the terminal velocity to be 60 mph which would more than likely result in severe injury or death to the cat when falling from this speed, but once we took into account the cat's ability to right its self and spread its body out this reduced the terminal velocity to only 53 mph. This 7 mph difference is massive and would almost certainly ensure the cat's survival. There however is always the possibility that the cat may not manage to right itself so this is far from a conclusive experiment and we do not condone the throwing of cats from anything.">>
's are slower than humans. But horizontally, 's are very much faster than humans. Must be that four-paw drive they have. 
Hmm... you could be heading for a cat-tastrophe, makeing 'that' assumption, Ann.Ann wrote: Always trust Art and Beyond to settle the feline matters.
Ann
A cat-astrophe?Beyond wrote:Hmm... you could be heading for a cat-tastrophe, makeing 'that' assumption, Ann.Ann wrote: Always trust Art and Beyond to settle the feline matters.
Ann
Well... not quite. It's how you pronunce-e-cate it. Catastrophe is more like ka tastrophe. You don't really get the -cat- of the matter.Ann wrote:A cat-astrophe?
Cat-tastrophe.... you mean this? Me, I still prefer the cat-astrophe!Beyond wrote:Well... not quite. It's how you pronunce-e-cate it. Catastrophe is more like ka tastrophe. You don't really get the -cat- of the matter.Ann wrote:A cat-astrophe?
That's why i hyphenated it, so it would come out cat-tastrophe (although i could have left out the hyphen) and not cat astrophe, which doesn't really sound like a 'catastrophe'.
So in order to make a possible catastrophic event -feline-, you have to add the extra -t-, to bring out the -cat-, fully, and give it a little fun with words.
Of course, IF the parachute (catachute?) didn't open... i wouldn't have posted anything about the splattastrophe.<--Notice the two -t's- to bring out both the -splat- and the -tastrophe-??
Wait a minute... why am "I" explaining this to a teacher
ha-ha, 'THAT's a cat astrophe, alrightAnn wrote:Cat-tastrophe.... you mean this? Me, I still prefer the cat-astrophe!Beyond wrote:Well... not quite. It's how you pronunce-e-cate it. Catastrophe is more like ka tastrophe. You don't really get the -cat- of the matter.Ann wrote:A cat-astrophe?
That's why i hyphenated it, so it would come out cat-tastrophe (although i could have left out the hyphen) and not cat astrophe, which doesn't really sound like a 'catastrophe'.
So in order to make a possible catastrophic event -feline-, you have to add the extra -t-, to bring out the -cat-, fully, and give it a little fun with words.
Of course, IF the parachute (catachute?) didn't open... i wouldn't have posted anything about the splattastrophe.<--Notice the two -t's- to bring out both the -splat- and the -tastrophe-??
Wait a minute... why am "I" explaining this to a teacher
And hey... teachers are slow. They need a lot of 'splaining!
Ann
IF it was a bigger train wreck, 'THEN' it would have been a cattastrophe (cat-tastrophe) 
Well, isn't that just the Bee's Grasshopper's/cricket's kneesbystander wrote:The insect that hears like a human, with ears on its knees
Discover Blogs | Not Exactly Rocket Science | 2012 Nov 15
Grasshoppers Change Mating Calls to Overcome Urban NoiseBeyond wrote:Well, isn't that just the Bee's Grasshopper's/cricket's knees
Looking like this...bystander wrote:Grasshoppers Change Mating Calls to Overcome Urban NoiseBeyond wrote:Well, isn't that just the Bee's Grasshopper's/cricket's knees
Discover Blogs | 80beats | 2012 Nov 16
bystander wrote:Grasshoppers Change Mating Calls to Overcome Urban NoiseBeyond wrote:Well, isn't that just the Bee's Grasshopper's/cricket's knees
Discover Blogs | 80beats | 2012 Nov 16
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_phenomenon wrote:
<<The 2012 phenomenon comprises a range of eschatological beliefs according to which cataclysmic or transformative events will occur on 21 December 2012. This date is regarded as the end-date of a 5,125-year-long cycle in the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar. Various astronomical alignments and numerological formulae have been proposed as pertaining to this date.
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20121117/NEWS/311179927/1006/NEWS wrote:In lieu of flour, doughnations may be made to the organization of your choice.
Consider the American Diabetes Association.
Even when someone dies, their creation is still not up for grabs for 75 years, iirc. Is it the same for a company?BMAONE23 wrote:The products will just reappear under another brand. Since the parent brand and copyright owner, Hostess is Closed, Ho Ho's, Ding Dongs, Twinkies, Zingers, etc. are up for grabs and shouldn't be protected under copyright and more. Don't give up on the availability Twinkie defence just yet.
what a cute article! It really got me smiling - that's a great start in the dayBeyond wrote:Santas from all over the world invade Sweden http://news.ph.msn.com/weird-news/santa ... ar-north-2
