61–70 of 89 posts
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Around the same time they realize breaking formation and running a half marathon charge against the enemy, while screaming at the top.ofnyour lungs, is a bad battlefield tactic. So never.
If we're talking military tactics in media go to acoup.blog. It deconstructs a lot of movies/games. It's fun.
> Cat’s eye movements were coded using actions defined in CatFACS, an anatomically based system designed to objectively measure facial actions based on their underlying muscle movements. Whoever named this system was clearly aware of the meme. I'd like to remain subscribed to CatFACS, please!
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I use this trick for years, in my experience yawning theatrically gets the same result
For maximum results, lie sideways on the ground and start blinking slowly and petting yourself gently and meowing softly. Your friends will think you're crazy, but cats will love you.
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Absolutely! Dogs use yawning a lot in their communication if you look close enough. They also have other messages like smelling around, looking away, etc. I think they all might mean something along the lines of "I don't see you as a threat to me so we are good"
Cats also regard looking away as a friendly gesture. Which is probably one reason they anecdotally tend to seek out the company of the one person who is allergic or does not like cats. Humans not accustomed to cat body language tend to think of looking away as a sign of aloofness and disinterest instead.
Smiling is also important. Most animals I encounter seem to understand a broad smile as friendly and non-adversarial, especially cats and dogs.
A genuine smile shows in the eyes, which may be what many mammals pick up, as discussed a bit in the paper (cats and dogs certainly learn to associate the mouth shape with friendliness too). Bared teeth is a sign of aggression in many species though, smiling or not.
Given that the "American smile" is not universal (despite the changes in most cultures over the past centuries - there was an article posted on HN a few weeks ago about how AI generated "selfies" of people from certain cultures look wrong because they wouldn't smile like that), I wonder if the association between a toothy smile and friendliness is entirely recent, evolutionarily speaking.
I also wonder if the "don't smile at dogs because bared teeth are a sign of aggression" has more to do with dogs picking up on the mismatch between the "friendly" facial expression and the emotional state of the human or if they would be equally distressed when seeing a human genuinely grinning out of sheer overwhelming joy and happiness. I find exaggerated displays of friendliness as is common in US hospitality and retail extremely unnerving personally.
Friendly cats often look sort of sleepy to me, maybe because they do this slow blink sequence when I look at them?
For example, what we would traditionally see as a grumpy or angry face (eyebrows down, eyes narrowed slightly) is the relaxed face of a cat
An angry cat's face on the other hand is wide open eyes, ready to attack back
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That show and his Youtube channel are always a recommendation of mine to any new cat owner or person who doesn't have cat experience but wants to learn cat culture. I watched a marathon of 'my cat from hell' around when I first got my two boys (they are 8 now) and I really think what I learned from watching jackson break down cat issues has helped me raise them into the sweeties they are today.
My wife and I did this when we adopted our first cat. It's been incredibly helpful. As someone who had never interacted much with cats before that, and who was kinda afraid of them, Jackson Galaxy helped me see cats as little cute killing machines that can be as affectionate - if not more - than dogs. His book is also very good!
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Literature says cats can't understand it when you point at something. That's because they don't have fingers. You can point at things using your eyes and they understand. One day I was eating some fruits and a stray cat came to me and started meowing. I gave it a piece which it rejected and started meowing again. I stared for a couple seconds at my plate and then at the piece on the ground and the cat looked like it…
Thanks for pointing - ha - that out! It totally makes sense to use visual communication because of course no fingers! Made me chuckle because it seems obvious yet, no, gear shifting for cats makes sense.
I think the cat's slow blink is functionally related to a human smile, which when truly felt, also causes the eyes to close and then open slowly. I've noticed that my two Siamese cats often combine the slow blink with either a bowing of the head or lifting of the chin. They also very often yawn while making eye contact when my wife or I enter the room.