January 12, 2019

The decline of the flesh-and-blood world....



I needed a picture of a mouse, a reference picture for a drawing. I googled "mouse." Now, I'm a little sad.

25 comments:

tcrosse said...

Not as saddening as if you'd Googled 'Maus'.

Rich B said...

Happy Birthday, Ann!

Kevin said...

Imagine the disappointment if you’re a cat.

Mary Beth said...

Search for "field mouse".

BudBrown said...

Dead mouse on the desk not so alarming now.

Fernandinande said...

Love to eat them mousies
Mousies what I love to eat!
Bite they little heads off,
Nibble on they tiny feet!

Lao Tzu, "The Art of Mouse".

Dave in Tucson said...

Try "mouse animal" or "vole".

I'm not really seeing a profound existential crisis here.

Terry said...

You can specify the type of image you want -- probably try specifying line art as the type of image

loudogblog said...

It's literally been years since I've seen a live mouse, but I see computer mice multiple times a day. Also, there is money to be made on the internet and Google tends to lead people to things they are more likely to buy.

Darrell said...

Pro-tip: Don't Google "Pussy" images.

Crimso said...

Your first mistake was in not simply obtaining a live specimen.

Anonymous said...

notice my icon :)

chickelit said...

Wetware beware hardware.

JLScott said...

It would be pretty silly to expect otherwise.

Now try "crane".

Rick.T. said...

It’s all about the Benjamins.

Maillard Reactionary said...

Fernandinstein-- I've heard that somewhere before. It reminds me for some reason of Randy Newman, but I think it's from somewhere else (Kliban, perhaps?).

Separately: In this age of wireless optical mice (the computer interface variety) it may be unknown to some here that mice used to have a little ball on the bottom that spun as you moved it around the surface, operating rotary encoder sensors on the way to send motion information to the computer. The ball clearly had a heavy metal core, and was covered with a high-friction elastomer. Occasionally they would become balky when the rubbery stuff became loaded with Dorito crumbs and so on. So, it was claimed, replacement mouse balls were made available by the manufacturer as a field-replaceable part. The part description told us that mouse balls come two to the bag, etc, etc. One can imagine that the lads writing the text had some fun with this.

True story? Apocryphal? Or too good to check?

Those were the days.

Crimso said...

"I've heard that somewhere before"

I have a coffee mug that's about 35 yrs old with those exact lyrics on it (and a graphic of a cat singing it), never knew where it came from.

Mary Beth said...

Love to eat them mousies

I still have something from the '70s with a Kliban cat and that poem on it.

David-2 said...

I'm sad too. Trackballs are superior yet people won't be convinced, just keep buying mice.

Leland said...

"Rodent" works well, Birthday Girl.

Kirk Parker said...

Try googling "putty".

JMW Turner said...

Coulda depicted a mouse operating a "mouse".

BornInTheGarden said...

The Igloo company makes a line of small coolers with captive lids with the name "Playmate"*. No, I'm not kidding (and this link is SFW, goes to igloo's site, not That Other One.)

I don't recommend you try to find it by just googling the name, though.

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*This is apropos to the recent discussion about Skee Wee and Intellectual Monopolies--trademarks are domain specific!

Tina Trent said...

Google. "Mouse Lemur."

sinz52 said...

David-2 wrote: "I'm sad too. Trackballs are superior"

There is a niche product called a footmouse. You put the footmouse on the floor and operate it (including the mouse buttons) with your foot.

I first saw it advertised ("If you can tap your foot...")in the 1980s, but it never caught on for general use. Today, it's used mostly by disabled people, such as those suffering from carpal-tunnel syndrome.