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I wrote a program that sends cats to my phone when I'm sad at the computer

healeycodes.com

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Re: I wrote a program that sends cats to my phone when I'm sad at the computer

#71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't any warm spot essentially pre-configured as a cat bed?

Any place is pre-configured as a cat bed. "If I fits, I sits" does not just apply to boxes... cats will, in my experience, sit wherever the f..k they want whenever the f..k they want.

Preferably on your chest at 5 am. At least that's what mine like to do, because they feel a little bit hungry or have seen a bird and want to get out on the balcony for further inspection.

Re: I wrote a program that sends cats to my phone when I'm sad at the computer

#72

Does anyone else find this mildly dystopian? I mean, it's a cool and really fun project, but it doesn't take much imagination to envision a service like this actually taking off. "We monitor your mood 24/7 and automatically send you 'happy thoughts' on demand! Contemplating your feelings? Why bother! Here's a cute cat video! Never feel uncomfortable, pensive, or existential again!"

People trying to make themselves happy isn't something new or dystopian. A better description if you don't mind being slightly rude is that it's a bit pathetic.

Re: I wrote a program that sends cats to my phone when I'm sad at the computer

#73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The dystopia is already upon us. Facial recognition was apparently deployed in a school in China to track students' emotions and actions. [0]. [0] https://www.businessinsider.com/china-school-facial-recognit...

China has been dystopian for decades. The real bummer is that even free countries are starting to embrace the same methodologies. When Australia, Canada and the US start heading toward the abyss of surveillance/lock-down states you know things are not looking good for the planet.

Settler-colonial states were never symbols of peace and egalitarianism.

Re: I wrote a program that sends cats to my phone when I'm sad at the computer

#74
Since working from home I have between 3 and 6 coworkers. The stress relief tends to depend on the fact that some are better behaved/trained than others.

My SO and me are a foster home for stray cats that were found to need special care during neutering campaigns for stray cats. While most strays in these campaigns return to their spots after being neutered some (like kittens found in trash bins or cats with injuries that need longer treatment) are being put up for adoption.

Especially with newly arrived foster cats they need to be taught what the are allowed and especially what not (let the plants live, not jumping onto the table). After that they are the most lovely coworkers lying on the chairs next to me.

Re: I wrote a program that sends cats to my phone when I'm sad at the computer

#75

Does anyone else find this mildly dystopian? I mean, it's a cool and really fun project, but it doesn't take much imagination to envision a service like this actually taking off. "We monitor your mood 24/7 and automatically send you 'happy thoughts' on demand! Contemplating your feelings? Why bother! Here's a cute cat video! Never feel uncomfortable, pensive, or existential again!"

After the protests in Canada I started seeing a bunch of recommended videos on YT themed around random acts of kindness. I mainly watch technical videos, nothing else.

I am convinced that someone did something to pump those videos up and get eyeballs on them. If my hypothesis is correct I would find it to be creepy and insulting. I do not want to be manipulated.

Sometimes the truth is hard, and that's ok. Pain is healthy in the right doses.

Re: I wrote a program that sends cats to my phone when I'm sad at the computer

#76

Since working from home I have between 3 and 6 coworkers. The stress relief tends to depend on the fact that some are better behaved/trained than others. My SO and me are a foster home for stray cats that were found to need special care during neutering campaigns for stray cats. While most strays in these campaigns return to their spots after being neutered some (like kittens found in trash bins or cats with injuries…

How do you train cats? I thought they are the king of the house!

Re: I wrote a program that sends cats to my phone when I'm sad at the computer

#77

Maker of the Cat API the author uses here - love his use-case, and a wonderfully useful & concise write-up to boot.

How do you moderate what is uploaded and check for copyright for example. I am always confused how solo developers make sure that nothing malicious is uploaded. Surely you don't have time to moderate everything yourself.

We layer AWS Rekognition and GCP Vision to check if it's safe, does not contain a human, and actually contains a Cat. The ones that make it through are then manually reviewed to be included in the public results.

We also make the results available for each safe image via the API so anyone can create their own ML model on top.

Both theCatAPI.com and its sister theDogAPI.com are used in a lot of schools, colleges, bootcamps, and even coding interviews so we try and make them as clean as possible.

Re: I wrote a program that sends cats to my phone when I'm sad at the computer

#78

I solved this problem in a lower-tech way by simply configuring the area behind my workstation as a cat bed. Now, I can turn around and enjoy looking at my cat at any time, as she loves her bed and rarely leaves it. Stress eliminated! Yes, she is taking Series A funding in the form of wet food, if anyone is interested.

If you can get some to give you $1 for 0.000000000001% of your cat then you can upgrade your cat to a unicorn.

Re: I wrote a program that sends cats to my phone when I'm sad at the computer

#79

Would be interesting to use this to track your facial emotion in relation to what you are doing at your computer; e.g. facebooking, reading news, working, etc. If you're a developer, what kind of programming you're doing, language, platform, etc. Could scientifically prove once and for all whether or not Ruby is optimized for programmer happiness.

In the quantified self heyday I created an app that takes a webcam pic every half hour which was popular in the Bay Area QS community. I’ve had it running almost 10 years now.

Bottom line: people don’t show much emotion while looking at screens. The only exception was video calls.

Project site: http://wanderingstan.github.io/Lifeslice/

Early talk: https://vimeo.com/42239564

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