Weekend Open Thread

Are you enjoying your weekend so far? Are you snowed in? It’s snowing here but it’s not sticking yet. I’m glad I got my errands done before the snow hit!

Do you know what your cat is doing while you’re away? Apparently it’s not sleeping, it’s mainly looking out windows.

Fifty house cats were given collar camerasthat took a photo every 15 minutes. The results put a digital dent in some human theories about catnapping.

Based on the photos, about 22 percent of the cats’ time was spent looking out of windows, 12 percent was used to interact with other family pets and 8 percent was spent climbing on chairs or kitty condos. Just 6 percent of their hours were spent sleeping.

My cat is definitely sleeping when I’m there, that’s for sure. Perhaps they are guarding the house when you’re gone?

TPM brings us the funny story of a viral rightwing email based on a pack of lies. I know you’re shocked. This time it’s the heroic tale of one man bravely thwarting a terrorist attack. The truth is that a Spanish-speaking passenger was removed from the plane because he didn’t understand the instructions to turn off his cell phone. The best part is that the guy in the email actually missed his connection so he wasn’t even on the plane where the incident happened.

Guy sends an email to friends and family recounting his single-handedly thwarting a potential terrorist plane hijacking at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport by man-handling a group of Arabs in “full attire” and tossing them from the plane. The email goes viral on the right-wing interwebs, even ending up on Glenn Beck’s Project 9/12 website.

Turns out the incident was actually a misunderstanding that happened when a Spanish-speaking passenger didn’t understand a flight attendant’s instructions to turn off his cell phone. And even better, the “hero” who wrote the email wasn’t even in Atlanta when the events happened. He was supposed to be, but missed his connecting flight. (The airline debunks the email in great detail here.)

Busted! Click on the link to get the full swashbuckling adventure! In summary the email stated that there were 11 Muslim men in full Arab dress, watching porn on their cell phone (the email goes in to great detail on why that was allowed), 2 of men got up to go to the back of the plane and the brave, brave bedwetting conservative grabbed one guy while a huge Texan grabbed the other. They saved the day! Or maybe not.