Feline – The Chester Chronicles

Unequal Justice

Size Matters “It’s not the size of the dog cat in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog cat.” Mark Twain (as edited by a cat) Law enforcement recently discovered that Mark Twain was correct, though it doesn’t hurt to be a large feline. In Thailand, a small cat named NubContinue reading “Unequal Justice”

Going Dutch

Shanghaied in Amsterdam We recently went on a vacation to the Netherlands. Just my wife, Genifer, our youngest daughter, Lily, and I. At least that’s what we thought. Our cat Chester had other ideas. I broke the news of our pending trip to him a few days before we left. Not one for liking change,Continue reading “Going Dutch”

Hijacking High Jinks: The Purrfect Story of Airline Chaos

I Want To Go to There Back in the 1960s and early 70s, it was a thing to hijack U.S. airliners and force the crews to fly them to Cuba. Now, one particular cat has turned hijacking on its head. A Ryanair flight was getting ready to take off from Rome for Germany when crewContinue reading “Hijacking High Jinks: The Purrfect Story of Airline Chaos”

Cats Know Stuff

Credit Fraud Great discoveries in virology include Doctor Jonas Salk, who created the first effective vaccine for polio; Doctors Drew Weissman and Katalin Karikó’s pioneering work on messenger RNA that helped find a quick vaccine for COVID-19; and Pepper the cat, who discovered the first-ever jeilongvirus to be found in the United States. Of course,Continue reading “Cats Know Stuff”

Catlateral Damage

Bombs Away If you see a cat strolling through the airport, don’t assume it’s lost. It might be doing the same thing you are, getting on a plane for vacation. This summer a cat named Harry, was found wandering Boston’s Logan International Airport. For three weeks his humans thought the 8-year-old cat went missing fromContinue reading “Catlateral Damage”

Natural Phenomena

Shake Rattle and Roll Recently we’ve experienced a couple of natural phenomena that we don’t usually get in Connecticut; neither of which impressed our cat, Chester. The first was a 4.8 earthquake that hit nearby New Jersey, the largest such event in that state in more than 200 years. I have my doubts about thatContinue reading “Natural Phenomena”

Black Cat Friday Food Sale

Brand Loyalty If you think that dogs are more loyal than cats, you’re wrong. Not only are felines just as attached to their human owners as canines, but a couple of black cats have shown they’re just as devoted to a particular grocery store. First the science – A 2019 study by Oregon State UniversityContinue reading “Black Cat Friday Food Sale”

Computer Hacks

Crypto Cats A study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that the Department of Veteran Affairs has a number of issues it needs to deal with in order to better serve our veterans. Cats are not one of them, but they should be. Major areas of concern according to the GAO are health care,Continue reading “Computer Hacks”

I’ll Sleep to That

Subliminal Messages Have you ever woken up to find several thousand dollars’ worth of cat items delivered to your front door from Amazon? If so, there’s a good chance you sleep with your feline. Owning a cat reduces your chance of getting a heart attack by 40 percent compared to those who never owned aContinue reading “I’ll Sleep to That”

Murder by Cat

Meow Bloody Murder Is your cat really plotting to kill you? That was the Newsweek headline for an article on how to read cat emotions. Needless to say, I clicked. It must have been a slow news day because the focus of the story was a 2019 study about the difficulties of reading your cat,Continue reading “Murder by Cat”