So in the this particular universe next door Schrodingers Cat is on a paperback cover and not in a box. If this was a BAEN cover he would be tattooed onto some part of a female Space Marine.
Kudos to you, Tat Wood, for spelling “Hallowe’en” correctly. I love that apostrophe, but nobody uses it anymore (at least over here, illiterate upstarts that we are).
The naming of cats is a difficult matter
It isn’t just one of your holiday games
You may think at first I’m as mad as a hatter
But if so it’s because I’ve read too many BAENS.
First there’s the name that the editor uses
Like “Balzan,” (not Tarzan) or the cats on the cover
Attacking the train in Mountains of Madness
(Attacking a train is a hallmark of Baen).
Gender-blurred Man-kzin freaks out his/her readers
As old Larry Niven just cashes his checks
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter
That THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
His ineffable effable
See, here’s the wonderful thing: I come up with a half-baked idea for a joke, decide NOT to post it on the assumption that someone will do better, and up steps BC to bat. 🙂 Good show, sir!
@DeadStuffWBT—Sir, Good Sir, you are verily the inspiration for most of my postings. This may not be a good thing for the rest of the site, but so it be. 😉
Rather, my mother bought it for me when I tossed it into the shopping cart and her reaction was… well. Yes. I cringed and agreed but said it was a good book nonetheless. You think it’d be embarrassing to read on a bus, imagine being a teenager in the grocery checkout line and trying to convince your mother to pony up for this. Followed by the WTF reaction from the checkout lady.
Oh, yes, I have HISTORY with this book, that I remember this decades later.
IIRC, it was worth the mild derision, though I couldn’t look at the cover as it weirded me out more than the content — think I stuck something over moggy’s person-face.
I’ve just now noticed that while it only uses one font on the cover (huzzah), it’s damn wordy with it.
@TW: I probably hadn’t thought of that since 1979, but there it was, a flashbulb memory all at once.
Thanks, Janet Belden Beyda, for the cringe in two different millennia.
Just checked the shelves; while I have other books of the same vintage and purchase location, I don’t still have this one. Apparently it wasn’t THAT good, or else the cover sufficiently weirded me out that I must have traded it in during the early 80’s in favor of 1/4 of a different book.
December 4th, 2017 at 10:05 am
I thought it was dogs that were supposed to look like their owners?
December 4th, 2017 at 11:27 am
Who the hell was Robert Anton Wilson Schrödinger?
December 4th, 2017 at 11:44 am
No need to bell this cat, that face will scare the birds away.
December 4th, 2017 at 11:48 am
So in the this particular universe next door Schrodingers Cat is on a paperback cover and not in a box. If this was a BAEN cover he would be tattooed onto some part of a female Space Marine.
December 4th, 2017 at 1:24 pm
Definitely locking that cat out the bedroom during sex.
December 4th, 2017 at 1:30 pm
If Andre Norton wrote this it would be Schrödinger’s Ka’at.
December 4th, 2017 at 1:30 pm
Cover art by Illuminati, LLC.
December 4th, 2017 at 1:37 pm
HELP ME!
December 4th, 2017 at 2:58 pm
@Raoul: NO.
December 4th, 2017 at 3:03 pm
@B’Mancer—😛
December 4th, 2017 at 3:31 pm
The mad scientist’s experiments greatly displeased his cat, as the cat had been left with an inferior human nose, dampening his sense of smell.
December 4th, 2017 at 4:32 pm
I think the cat has the same hair stylist as
this guy. Hey, maybe just a little more gel next time?
December 4th, 2017 at 4:48 pm
Moggy decided to move from burglary to bank-jobs and bought a Hallowe’en mask for the hold-up. ‘No-one will know it’s me’ he purred.
December 4th, 2017 at 5:05 pm
Kudos to you, Tat Wood, for spelling “Hallowe’en” correctly. I love that apostrophe, but nobody uses it anymore (at least over here, illiterate upstarts that we are).
December 4th, 2017 at 5:38 pm
I think the artist got into the Schrodinger’s catnip.
December 4th, 2017 at 5:40 pm
Lost: One gray and white domestic shorthair, answers to the name of WTF.
December 4th, 2017 at 6:08 pm
Well, now I know why Schrodinger left his cat in a box and never opened it up to look at it.
December 4th, 2017 at 6:38 pm
Apologies to TSE—
The naming of cats is a difficult matter
It isn’t just one of your holiday games
You may think at first I’m as mad as a hatter
But if so it’s because I’ve read too many BAENS.
First there’s the name that the editor uses
Like “Balzan,” (not Tarzan) or the cats on the cover
Attacking the train in Mountains of Madness
(Attacking a train is a hallmark of Baen).
Gender-blurred Man-kzin freaks out his/her readers
As old Larry Niven just cashes his checks
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter
That THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
His ineffable effable
Effanineffable
Name, now a Trademark of Baen®!
December 4th, 2017 at 8:04 pm
See, here’s the wonderful thing: I come up with a half-baked idea for a joke, decide NOT to post it on the assumption that someone will do better, and up steps BC to bat. 🙂 Good show, sir!
December 4th, 2017 at 8:32 pm
@DeadStuffWBT—Sir, Good Sir, you are verily the inspiration for most of my postings. This may not be a good thing for the rest of the site, but so it be. 😉
December 4th, 2017 at 8:39 pm
I want to know the repercussions this cat has on alt/universe Jefferson Airplane.
December 4th, 2017 at 11:50 pm
I bought this book when it came out!
Rather, my mother bought it for me when I tossed it into the shopping cart and her reaction was… well. Yes. I cringed and agreed but said it was a good book nonetheless. You think it’d be embarrassing to read on a bus, imagine being a teenager in the grocery checkout line and trying to convince your mother to pony up for this. Followed by the WTF reaction from the checkout lady.
Oh, yes, I have HISTORY with this book, that I remember this decades later.
IIRC, it was worth the mild derision, though I couldn’t look at the cover as it weirded me out more than the content — think I stuck something over moggy’s person-face.
I’ve just now noticed that while it only uses one font on the cover (huzzah), it’s damn wordy with it.
@Tor: heh.
@BC: standing ovation
December 5th, 2017 at 5:10 am
I was all set to add a “facebook” tag. But then I remembered the seldom-used “animals with faces”!
@GSSXN – Glad we could help you recall those delightful WTF memories from childhood 🙂
December 5th, 2017 at 2:48 pm
BC@18: *very* Good Show sir!.
December 5th, 2017 at 8:34 pm
@TW: I probably hadn’t thought of that since 1979, but there it was, a flashbulb memory all at once.
Thanks, Janet Belden Beyda, for the cringe in two different millennia.
Just checked the shelves; while I have other books of the same vintage and purchase location, I don’t still have this one. Apparently it wasn’t THAT good, or else the cover sufficiently weirded me out that I must have traded it in during the early 80’s in favor of 1/4 of a different book.
December 6th, 2017 at 2:48 am
@BC (#18):
I tip my brown-and-white plaid Trilby to you! As others have said, *very* Good Show, Sir! Well-played, well-played.
December 6th, 2017 at 2:18 pm
@Hammy—that sounds like a very cool hat.
December 7th, 2017 at 2:17 am
New tag line for this site:
GIVING YOU FLASHBACKS TO YOUR CHILDHOOD TRAUMAS, GUARANTEEING YOU TRAUMATIC FLASHBACKS IN THE FUTURE.
Relive traumas from 40 years ago!
December 7th, 2017 at 2:27 am
Why is kitty wearing a metal butt-plug at her collar?
December 7th, 2017 at 2:31 am
@Dead Stuff (39): because she can’t carry it around with her paws.
December 7th, 2017 at 2:44 am
And s/he certainly wouldn’t want it in his/her teeth.
December 7th, 2017 at 3:16 am
New tagline for this site:
NEVER OPEN YOUR DAMNED MOUTH. JUST DON’T.
😀
December 8th, 2017 at 4:03 am
@29-32—Beautiful riff. First class for teamwork. Brilliant. Rimshots (as it were) all around! 😉