Althouse: Does catnip affect squirrels?

July 15, 2012

Does catnip affect squirrels?

We have catnip in the yard — for purely ornamental reasons. Not trying to drive any animals crazy. But we have a very crazy squirrel.

22 comments:

edutcher said...: Have you seen the squirrel eating the catnip?; 7/15/12, 9:24 AM
Bob Ellison said...: Why do you post polls like this? They seem to dumb down.; 7/15/12, 9:24 AM
Anonymous said...: Bob, get a sense of humor.; 7/15/12, 9:27 AM
Roman said...: Tree Rat, crazy, surely you jest?; 7/15/12, 9:29 AM
garage mahal said...: We have catnip in the yard — for purely ornamental reasons.

Catnip. Uh huh. Suuuuure.; 7/15/12, 9:32 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "Bob, get a sense of humor."

He needs to eat some catnip.; 7/15/12, 9:33 AM
Chip Ahoy said...: I asked the thing that answers everything, the collected wisdom of mankind in its present state, maybe it's the way I asked, but the font of wisdom returned 3 results and that is strikingly low.

[+catnip +squirrels]; 7/15/12, 9:35 AM
Anonymous said...: Might be good in Chip Ahoy's salmon salad.; 7/15/12, 9:36 AM
Bob Ellison said...: Allie, you have a point. Maybe the Professor is being all hyper-intellectual here, showing that the polling process itself is silly.

But the market does not work that way in the real world, with real people from all backgrounds. People take polls seriously, somehow. "What does your neighbor think?" is a question that influences neighbors. Mob-think results.

I hate stupid polls. Insofar as they reduce the perceived value of polling, they serve a porpoise. But mostly, these days, polls encourage mob-think.; 7/15/12, 9:38 AM
Chip Ahoy said...: Your served porpoise on a pole?; 7/15/12, 9:43 AM
Automatic_Wing said...: It's not the catnip. The squirrel in into New Age, or maybe Mormonism.

{/Crack Emcee}; 7/15/12, 9:44 AM
Anonymous said...: Bob, I think that porpoise may not be as delicious as salmon. It think it's a poll meant just for having fun, nice change.

I think that catnip will indeed make a squirrel bat shit crazy.; 7/15/12, 9:46 AM
edutcher said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/15/12, 9:46 AM
Bob Ellison said...: Chip, no, I go for the ginger-soy glazed version.; 7/15/12, 9:46 AM
edutcher said...: Bob Ellison said...

Allie, you have a point. Maybe the Professor is being all hyper-intellectual here, showing that the polling process itself is silly.

But the market does not work that way in the real world, with real people from all backgrounds. People take polls seriously, somehow. "What does your neighbor think?" is a question that influences neighbors. Mob-think results.

I hate stupid polls. Insofar as they reduce the perceived value of polling, they serve a porpoise. But mostly, these days, polls encourage mob-think.

In that case, you are going to appreciate this piece.; 7/15/12, 9:49 AM
Bob Ellison said...: edutcher, thanks; that is an interesting article.

If you liked that, you might love Tim Groseclose's book, Left Turn: How Liberal Media Bias Distorts the American Mind.; 7/15/12, 9:52 AM
Alex said...: All squirrels are crazy.; 7/15/12, 11:44 AM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: Chip Ahoy said...

I asked the thing that answers everything, the collected wisdom of mankind in its present state, maybe it's the way I asked, but the font of wisdom returned 3 results and that is strikingly low.

Three is low? That's odd, my Magic 8-ball only ever returns one answer at a time.

True Story: A couple years ago, my son, who was about 5 at the time, came across his first Magic 8-ball. He tried about 6 different questions, two of which were immediately verifiable, which it got right, two more which were verifiable, which it said ask again later, and two which were not verifiable. My son was quite impressed with the results. His question for me: What's the technology behind this?; 7/15/12, 12:43 PM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: The Obama campaign has spent the last four years specially training these squirrels for the sole purpose of distracting you from the economy.; 7/15/12, 12:46 PM
Chip S. said...: I really hate to be this way, but one observation doesn't even establish correlation.

A controlled experiment might make for some amusing video, though.; 7/15/12, 12:52 PM
Jeff Hall said...: What evidence is there that your squirrels were sane before the introduction of catnip into the system?; 7/16/12, 12:41 AM
gerry said...: Squirrels just want to have fun.; 7/16/12, 7:17 AM