Cat vs. TV

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Nik Simpson - 25 Aug 2005 23:53 GMT

Some weeks ago, my TV started behaving strangely when connected to my DVD
player, today I finally got around to calling Sony to schedule a service
call. Needless to say, I get a "tech" who wants to try all the obvious
things first, now I pride myself on being able to perform the obvious, so I
humoured him as he went down his list.

About half way through though I got bored and cut him off by telling him
that no settings had been changed and the TV had gone from working perfectly
to not "overnight." I was certain that it was hardware problem because
unless the cat was messing with the configuration there was no way it could
have changed. As I'm saying this, a picture goes through my mind of a remote
control on the floor in the living room and a cat walking on it, effectively
pressing buttons at random, no, couldn't possibly, never in a million years!

So this evening I get home and decide to run through the configuration menus
and look for anything screwy, and yes, lo and behold, there's the problem.
The cats are all trying to look innocent and warn me about the TV greeblings
that invade the house when I'm at work, yeah right!

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Nik Simpson

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Enfilade - 26 Aug 2005 00:57 GMT

> So this evening I get home and decide to run through the configuration menus
> and look for anything screwy, and yes, lo and behold, there's the problem.
> The cats are all trying to look innocent and warn me about the TV greeblings
> that invade the house when I'm at work, yeah right!

Yep, I'd believe it. There's a copy of Dylan's thesis on a disk
somewhere that contains "commentary" added by eight kitten paws
strolling across the keyboard....

--Fil

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Jo Firey - 26 Aug 2005 01:27 GMT

> Some weeks ago, my TV started behaving strangely when connected to my DVD
> player, today I finally got around to calling Sony to schedule a service
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
> problem. The cats are all trying to look innocent and warn me about the TV
> greeblings that invade the house when I'm at work, yeah right!

That is standard stuff here. Cats changing channels, settings, etc. And it
doesn't help that DH can't figure out such stuff and gets extremely
frustrated when he has to ask me to get the TV to work.

Jo

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John F. Eldredge - 27 Aug 2005 01:38 GMT

>> Some weeks ago, my TV started behaving strangely when connected to my DVD
>> player, today I finally got around to calling Sony to schedule a service
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
>
>Jo

Back around 1970, one of my uncles owned a television with a rather
primitive remote control. The remote contained no electronics;
instead, it had four buttons, each of which would vibrate a different
tuning fork inside the unit. The pitch of the sounds produced was
high enough that a human couldn't hear them. Unfortunately, when his
schnauzer, Schlitz (named after the beer), started scratching an itch,
his rabies tag would jingle at the right frequencies to make the TV
start changing channels, turn the volume up, etc. They never solved
that problem as long as they owned that TV set.

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John F. Eldredge -- john@jfeldredge.com
PGP key available from http://pgp.mit.edu
"Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better
than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria

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Steve Touchstone - 28 Aug 2005 22:06 GMT

>Back around 1970, one of my uncles owned a television with a rather
>primitive remote control. The remote contained no electronics;
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>start changing channels, turn the volume up, etc. They never solved
>that problem as long as they owned that TV set.

I remember those ancient remotes. We had one that you could change the
volume/channel by banging two pennies together. BTW, I don't recommend
banging pennies together when your Dad is watching his favorite
program ;-)

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Steve Touchstone,
faithful servant of Sammy, Little Bit and Spot
with loving memories of Rocky (RB)

stouchst@JUNKsirinet.net [remove Junk for email]
Home Page: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/index.html
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EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) - 26 Aug 2005 03:44 GMT

Ah yes, no telling what the critters get up to when you're
not around! I have steered clear of lamps that "only
require a touch" to turn them on, because that seemed an
obvious mistake, when one has cats. However, when I had to
replace a defunct floor lamp recently, I discovered that
most of IKEA's lamps have pressure switches on the floor!
(I did find one that has "normal" switches that the cats
can't reach and step on, but it wasn't my first choice.)

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Marina - 26 Aug 2005 04:23 GMT

> Some weeks ago, my TV started behaving strangely when connected to my DVD
> player, today I finally got around to calling Sony to schedule a service
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
> The cats are all trying to look innocent and warn me about the TV greeblings
> that invade the house when I'm at work, yeah right!

LOL! I once came home from work to a TV blaring away at full volume.
Then I discovered the remote lying on the sofa and pointing directly at
the TV. My cats never changed any settings, though.

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Marina, Frank, Miranda and Caliban. In loving memory of Nikki.
marina (dot) kurten (at) iki (dot) fi
Pics at http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frankiennikki/
and http://community.webshots.com/user/frankiennikki

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W. Leong - 26 Aug 2005 04:43 GMT

>> Some weeks ago, my TV started behaving strangely when connected to my DVD
>> player, today I finally got around to calling Sony to schedule a service
[quoted text clipped - 19 lines]
> I discovered the remote lying on the sofa and pointing directly at the TV.
> My cats never changed any settings, though.

Once I came home from vacation and found Rusty listening to
opera on the radio. Turned out my neighbour who cat sat Rusty
thought he was bored, and left the radio on for him.

Winnie

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Yowie9644 - 26 Aug 2005 06:19 GMT

I hear ya!

Reminds of the time I was inspired to write this anecdote back in
October 2003

http://www.flippyscatpage.com/vengeance.html,

Except now I have not one but two evil cats, a dog and a toddler, all
of them with a remote control fetish!

*sigh*

Yowie

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Yowie9644 - 26 Aug 2005 06:19 GMT

I hear ya!

Reminds of the time I was inspired to write this anecdote back in
October 2003

http://www.flippyscatpage.com/vengeance.html ,

Except now I have not one but two evil cats, a dog and a toddler, all
of them with a remote control fetish!

*sigh*

Yowie

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jmcquown - 26 Aug 2005 11:21 GMT

> Some weeks ago, my TV started behaving strangely when connected to my
> DVD player, today I finally got around to calling Sony to schedule a
> service call. Needless to say, I get a "tech" who wants to try all
> the obvious things first, now I pride myself on being able to perform
> the obvious, so I humoured him as he went down his list.

(snippage)

Hope you called the tech back and said, "Add to your checklist - 'Do you
have cats?' " LOL

Jill

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Adrian - 26 Aug 2005 11:27 GMT

> Some weeks ago, my TV started behaving strangely when connected to my
> DVD player, today I finally got around to calling Sony to schedule a
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
> and warn me about the TV greeblings that invade the house when I'm at
> work, yeah right!

Yes I believe it, Smokey (RB) once switched the TV off, just at a
crucial point in the film, by walking on the remote control.

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Adrian (Owned by Snoopy & Bagheera)
A house is not a home, without a cat.
http://community.webshots.com/user/clowderuk

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