Best Father's day present EVAH

My kids note that I spend way too much time at my computer managing WUWT. So rather than fight it, they embraced the dark side for Father’s day. I love evil but harmless technology. TubbyCat, not so much.

BTW, the USB Missile Launcher is harmless, it shoots nerf missiles which you control via desktop app or via remote web controls that use your webcam (or the built in one in the launcher) to help you aim.

No animals were harmed in the making of this film.

0 0 votes
Article Rating

Discover more from Watts Up With That?

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

36 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
crosspatch
June 17, 2012 7:34 pm

Interesting, I had this very idea years ago only with a different goal in mind. Our garden was constantly raided by starlings. After chasing them out of the garden they would simply perch on the phone wire and laugh at me. I thought at the time that I would like to develop a .22 rifle with a servo mechanism and a webcam through a scope. I could sit inside and aim with a trackball and pick the starlings off at my leisure. Just check the wide angle cam every once in a while and if there were any starlings on the wire, plink them off. Never did build it, but it was a nice fantasy when they got into the garden.

James Sexton
June 17, 2012 7:35 pm

Lol, very cool!

Geo
June 17, 2012 7:43 pm

LMAO!!! Purrfect!!!

Dexter Trask
June 17, 2012 7:43 pm

James, surely you mean ‘lolcat’…

June 17, 2012 7:43 pm

My cat hates it when I type.
She also prefers that if I must I type I wear nice soft sweats and not get dressed up to go out.
Like my kids she is always worried I do not understand my essential role in life.
I don’t suppose I do.
Happy Fathers Day everyone.

Sioned Lang
June 17, 2012 8:09 pm

That won’t happen again. Next time the cat hears the servo noise, it will be gone. =;<)

June 17, 2012 8:30 pm

When I was a kid Dad wouldn’t let us get a BB gun. He loved birds and had several bird feeders. Then a cat showed up. He got us one upon the promise that we wouldn’t shoot birds but we would shoot any cats that showed up in the yard. Very low powered. It couldn’t really hurt them even if we did manage to hit one. Might as well have been a Nerf gun. But we were all happy. (Except the cats.)

AnonyMoose
June 17, 2012 8:49 pm

crosspatch: Bolt the plinker to the wire. But you lose the fun of aiming.

eyesonu
June 17, 2012 9:19 pm

With regards to the BB gun and cats. “Two pumps on the rump” usually does it. For the stubborn ones three usually does the trick. Use six on the birds in the tomatoes. I’ve heard it takes ten to get the attention of a deer.

SMC
June 17, 2012 9:21 pm

Shame on you…poor kitty. lol.
Funny as all get out. I want one.

gnomish
June 17, 2012 9:21 pm

a thousand times better than a tie or slippers!!
happy father’s day!

eyesonu
June 17, 2012 9:27 pm

This one is for the kids age 5 to 70. Nerf darts (available Wmart in packs of ~ 10 to 20ea) plus ~20″ lengths of 1/2 in pvc pipe. It’s blowgun city! Sometimes even the cats love it.

June 17, 2012 9:36 pm

My beagle has a thing about… his favorite thing is cats for target practice… he will even throw them up in the air for me! Who needs to spend money on paper and clay targets when cats are free?

RoHa
June 17, 2012 9:48 pm

“No animals were harmed in the making of this film.”
But at least one was seriously pissed off.
REPLY: Nah, he’s back on my lap now – A

Editor
June 17, 2012 9:55 pm

crosspatch says:
June 17, 2012 at 7:34 pm
… a .22 rifle with a servo mechanism …
I had an old coil from a VW Rabbit and wired that to my bird feeder that fed more squirrels than birds. First a bench power supply, then with a Heathkit CD ignition kit that didn’t precharge the coil when the points closed.
It didn’t save me any bird seed, but boy, did I have some paranoid squirrels!

Editor
June 17, 2012 10:00 pm

Now we have to find Anthony a Michael Mann bobble head doll for a target. 🙂

Jeef
June 17, 2012 10:00 pm

LMAO! Brilliant.

June 17, 2012 11:04 pm

BTW, the USB Missile Launcher is harmless…
I know a way to rectify that.

CRS, Dr.P.H.
June 17, 2012 11:18 pm

Happy Father’s Day, Anthony and all! Great gift BTW!

The Sage
June 17, 2012 11:45 pm

If you want to do the job properly, you want a system like ths :
Militarizing Your Backyard with a computer vision controlled anti-squirrel water-cannon — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPgqfnKG_T4

Paul Carter
June 18, 2012 12:07 am

Careful there. Cats have a perfect sense of timing when it comes to revenge – and it is often a complex scheme involving a dog taking the blame.

MangoChutney
June 18, 2012 12:24 am

Anthony,
You do realise alarmists will now have proof that your in the pocket of Big Business – using your blog to advertise – just how much money did you receive $50m? ? ? Come on, ‘fess up 😉

RobertvdL
June 18, 2012 1:11 am

A little respect for the cat. It is the greatest blessing for mankind that they keep mice under control . Feeding the world would be a big problem without them. It’s Tom we need as a friend ,not Jerry.http://www.tomandjerryonline.com/animgifs/angry.gif

H.R.
June 18, 2012 2:11 am

Hey! A Rag Doll. We have two. They’ll forgive anything if you give them a belly rub.

Craig S
June 18, 2012 4:15 am

H.R. . . . you’ve never met my sister’s rag doll. So mean we had to put it on prozac to even allow it in the same room as the nieces and nephews. No kidding.