On Thursday, July 22, 2021 at 8:26:29 PM UTC-4, J. Clarke wrote:
> On Thu, 22 Jul 2021 16:30:43 -0700 (PDT), Quadibloc
> <jsa...@ecn.ab.ca> wrote:
>
> >On Thursday, July 22, 2021 at 4:05:03 PM UTC-6, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
> >
> >> >But a shower curtain, unlike certain other types of barriers, would be a
> >> >simple thing to put in; so is there any way to modify a shower curtain to
> >> >make it an effective barrier to cats?
> >
> >> Are you serious?
> >
> >I wasn't claiming I knew of one offhand.
> >
> >But possibly something along these lines would work:
> >
> >1) The curtain itself would have to be longer than the typical shower curtain.
> >Not more than an inch could separate the bar from the ceiling, or the bottom of
> >the curtain from the floor, or the top of the curtain from the bar.
> >
> >2) When the curtain is drawn, there would have to be fasteners on its sides,
> >so that it could be fixed to the walls - with enough force that it is also drawn
> >taut.
> >
> >But even if that could be made to work, it wouldn't necessarily be the best
> >way to achieve the goal, and it might be unattractive in appearance.
> >
> >What I don't know is the situation of the near end of the narrow hallway.
> >
> >If there were a sizable blank and unused wall going off from it at right angles
> >at that side, it would be relatively easy for one of your children
> >to install something that could slide into place as a barrier.
> >
> >But that favorable situation may not exist.
> >
> >The next obvious alternative, which is even a relatively
> >conventional type of doorway used for closets, would be
> >some type of pleated door that unfolds:
> >
> >basically, take an accordion door, such as is used
> >for a closet, and above it put a wooden panel
> >to reduce the hallway's height at that line to that
> >of a doorway.
> >
> >Attention, of course, would need to be devoted to
> >arranging it so that the cats couldn't easily crawl
> >under the bottom of the door.
> I suspect you have little experience of cats.
>
> I'm thinking that the best bet would be simply a piece of plywood with
> a couple of hinges in a frame that could be put up with double-sided
> foam tape. Might damage the paint when it came down but wouldn't
> likely damage the wall itself.
>
> It has to pretty much completely close the corridor and not be
> flexible or susceptible to knife attack (nothing that most cats are
> well equipped with knives or reasonable facsimiles thereof).
>
> But at this point it's not going to be super cheap--wait for the
> prices of construction materials to stabilize--construction grade
> sheathing right now costs about the same as aircraft plywood.

A lot of people find that baby gates do the job just fine.

Pt

On 23/07/2021 23:13, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
> In article <333088f0-d53f-4318-8fc0-ad92d83d6360n@googlegroups.com>,
> Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> wrote:
>> On Friday, July 23, 2021 at 3:25:04 AM UTC-6, J. Clarke wrote:
>>
>>> If they were actually dictating requirements one would expect the
>>> quality of the goods produced to be higher. Japan was the place tht
>>> dictated requirements.
>>
>> Of course, Soviet Russia was the place well known for having quotas
>> of making X number of tons of alarm clocks, without much concern
>> about whether or not they worked.
>>
>> Which was an ineffective way to run the economy, but presumably it
>> was only applied to consumer goods, not military items.
>
> There was an old joke, from the fifties IIRC. A Russian is
> hauled in by the police for buying and using imported, instead of
> domestic, matches.
>
> His defense: "It is true that I use foreign matches--but only to
> light our People's matches!:
>
> And let's not forget the Yablotchka.
>
Okay, I'll bite: "Little Apple"???

Cheers,
Gary B-)

--
Waiting for a new signature to suggest itself...

"pete...@gmail.com" <petertrei@gmail.com> writes:
>On Thursday, July 22, 2021 at 8:26:29 PM UTC-4, J. Clarke wrote:
>> On Thu, 22 Jul 2021 16:30:43 -0700 (PDT), Quadibloc
>> <jsa...@ecn.ab.ca> wrote:
>>
>> >On Thursday, July 22, 2021 at 4:05:03 PM UTC-6, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
>> >
>> >> >But a shower curtain, unlike certain other types of barriers, would be a
>> >> >simple thing to put in; so is there any way to modify a shower curtain to
>> >> >make it an effective barrier to cats?
>> >
>> >> Are you serious?
>> >
>> >I wasn't claiming I knew of one offhand.
>> >
>> >But possibly something along these lines would work:
>> >
>> >1) The curtain itself would have to be longer than the typical shower curtain.
>> >Not more than an inch could separate the bar from the ceiling, or the bottom of
>> >the curtain from the floor, or the top of the curtain from the bar.
>> >
>> >2) When the curtain is drawn, there would have to be fasteners on its sides,
>> >so that it could be fixed to the walls - with enough force that it is also drawn
>> >taut.
>> >
>> >But even if that could be made to work, it wouldn't necessarily be the best
>> >way to achieve the goal, and it might be unattractive in appearance.
>> >
>> >What I don't know is the situation of the near end of the narrow hallway.
>> >
>> >If there were a sizable blank and unused wall going off from it at right angles
>> >at that side, it would be relatively easy for one of your children
>> >to install something that could slide into place as a barrier.
>> >
>> >But that favorable situation may not exist.
>> >
>> >The next obvious alternative, which is even a relatively
>> >conventional type of doorway used for closets, would be
>> >some type of pleated door that unfolds:
>> >
>> >basically, take an accordion door, such as is used
>> >for a closet, and above it put a wooden panel
>> >to reduce the hallway's height at that line to that
>> >of a doorway.
>> >
>> >Attention, of course, would need to be devoted to
>> >arranging it so that the cats couldn't easily crawl
>> >under the bottom of the door.
>> I suspect you have little experience of cats.
>>
>> I'm thinking that the best bet would be simply a piece of plywood with
>> a couple of hinges in a frame that could be put up with double-sided
>> foam tape. Might damage the paint when it came down but wouldn't
>> likely damage the wall itself.
>>
>> It has to pretty much completely close the corridor and not be
>> flexible or susceptible to knife attack (nothing that most cats are
>> well equipped with knives or reasonable facsimiles thereof).
>>
>> But at this point it's not going to be super cheap--wait for the
>> prices of construction materials to stabilize--construction grade
>> sheathing right now costs about the same as aircraft plywood.
>
>A lot of people find that baby gates do the job just fine.
>
>Pt

Although cats can jump as high as five or six times their
own length.

On Friday, July 23, 2021 at 9:15:58 AM UTC-6, Paul S Person wrote:

> The core problem here is not keeping the cats out. That can be done by
> shutting the door, which (as I understand it) is currently working
> quite well.
>
> The core problem is keeping the cats out while a person enters the
> room.
>
> Theorem: any barrier sufficient to stop the cats will also stop the
> person.

The place with a door is in a hallway. There's a door to the room with
the books, yes. But there is no door to the hallway. If there were a door
to the hallway, the door to the room could be opened safely.

Or the place with the books is more like a closet, so one can't close
the door while looking at the books.

John Savard

On Friday, July 23, 2021 at 10:38:26 AM UTC-6, pete...@gmail.com wrote:

> A lot of people find that baby gates do the job just fine.

Against a dog, perhaps. Against cats?

John Savard

On Friday, July 23, 2021 at 10:39:07 AM UTC-6, Gary R. Schmidt wrote:
> On 23/07/2021 23:13, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:

> > And let's not forget the Yablotchka.

> Okay, I'll bite: "Little Apple"???

As it could be the name of an alcoholic beverage, maybe it's the
story of the radar of a MiG-25 cited above?

A Google search turns up a Russian sailor's songs, and a
literary work of some sort.

John Savard

On 7/23/2021 8:32 AM, Scott Lurndal wrote:
> Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> writes:
>> On 7/22/2021 5:39 PM, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
>>> In article <c799292c-0eca-4959-88c9-eed16306a7f9n@googlegroups.com>,
>>> pete...@gmail.com <petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> On Thursday, July 22, 2021 at 2:00:08 PM UTC-4, Dimensional Traveler wrote:
>>>>> On 7/22/2021 10:12 AM, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
>>>>>> In article <FjhKI.52360$h8....@fx47.iad>,
>>>>>> Scott Lurndal <sl...@pacbell.net> wrote:
>>>>>>> Christian Weisgerber <na...@mips.inka.de> writes:
>>>>>>>> On 2021-07-22, Jack Bohn <jack....@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> In this future, it's obvious that only socialist societies can
>>>>>>>>> survive and achieve spaceflight, and of course they could trust
>>>>>>>>> each other.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> As exemplified by, say, the mistrust between the Soviet Union and
>>>>>>>> China, between Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, or the full-blown
>>>>>>>> war between the Khmer Rouge and Vietnam.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I don't believe any of them qualify as 'socialist societies', as
>>>>>>> they were all dicatorships.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Except that socialism is an economic system, and dictatorship is
>>>>>> a political system. You could have one and not the other.
>>>>>>
>>>>> Only if the dictatorship allows it. And since doing so would require
>>>>> reducing their own wealth, power and comfort....
>>>>>
>>>>> In theory it may be possible to separate economic system from political
>>>>> system but in practice I don't think it is.
>>>>
>>>> China at the moment is 'socialist' in name only. It's capitalist, but a
>>>> dictatorship.
>>>
>>> Economic and political, respectively.
>>>
>> Its more "State Capitalist" in that the government directly owns or
>> otherwise controls a number of critical companies and industries and
>> dictates requirements to the rest.
>
> As opposed to "Capitalist State" where the rich companies and
> industries dictate requirements to the rest?
>
My asbestos suit is not thick enough to comment on that.

--
Troll, troll, troll your post gently down the thread
Angrily, angrily, angrily, the net's a nut's scream.

On Friday, 23 July 2021 at 16:20:03 UTC+1, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
> In article <156d5b9d-ea52-4439...@googlegroups.com>,
> Quadibloc <jsa...@ecn.ab.ca> wrote:
> >Given that Dorothy lives in rental accomodations, I understand her
> >alternatives are limited.
> >
> >But then, even a little Saran Wrap might work for a time...
> >
> >https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJS4hYNngto
> ... while also preventing the humans from reaching the doors.

If they go in the linen closet... can you shut the closet door?
Maybe with gentle illumination, some toys... though you
don't want them to be too happy in there, and stay.

Maybe a light that goes out after a few minutes...

On Thu, 22 Jul 2021 18:33:45 -0700, Dimensional Traveler wrote:

> On 7/22/2021 5:39 PM, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
>> In article <c799292c-0eca-4959-88c9-eed16306a7f9n@googlegroups.com>,
>> pete...@gmail.com <petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> On Thursday, July 22, 2021 at 2:00:08 PM UTC-4, Dimensional Traveler
>>> wrote:
>>>> On 7/22/2021 10:12 AM, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
>>>>> In article <FjhKI.52360$h8....@fx47.iad>,
>>>>> Scott Lurndal <sl...@pacbell.net> wrote:
>>>>>> Christian Weisgerber <na...@mips.inka.de> writes:
>>>>>>> On 2021-07-22, Jack Bohn <jack....@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> In this future, it's obvious that only socialist societies can
>>>>>>>> survive and achieve spaceflight, and of course they could trust
>>>>>>>> each other.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> As exemplified by, say, the mistrust between the Soviet Union and
>>>>>>> China, between Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, or the full-blown
>>>>>>> war between the Khmer Rouge and Vietnam.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I don't believe any of them qualify as 'socialist societies', as
>>>>>> they were all dicatorships.
>>>>>
>>>>> Except that socialism is an economic system, and dictatorship is a
>>>>> political system. You could have one and not the other.
>>>>>
>>>> Only if the dictatorship allows it. And since doing so would require
>>>> reducing their own wealth, power and comfort....
>>>>
>>>> In theory it may be possible to separate economic system from
>>>> political system but in practice I don't think it is.
>>>
>>> China at the moment is 'socialist' in name only. It's capitalist, but
>>> a dictatorship.
>>
>> Economic and political, respectively.
>>
> Its more "State Capitalist" in that the government directly owns or
> otherwise controls a number of critical companies and industries and
> dictates requirements to the rest.

It's more of a fascist oligarchy based on communist excuses.

It still amazes me how many of my old friends will bend over backwards to
not say anything bad about China and attack anyone who does.

On 7/23/2021 11:38 AM, pete...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Thursday, July 22, 2021 at 8:26:29 PM UTC-4, J. Clarke wrote:
>> On Thu, 22 Jul 2021 16:30:43 -0700 (PDT), Quadibloc
>> <jsa...@ecn.ab.ca> wrote:
>>
>>> On Thursday, July 22, 2021 at 4:05:03 PM UTC-6, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
>>>
>>>>> But a shower curtain, unlike certain other types of barriers, would be a
>>>>> simple thing to put in; so is there any way to modify a shower curtain to
>>>>> make it an effective barrier to cats?
>>>
>>>> Are you serious?
>>>
>>> I wasn't claiming I knew of one offhand.
>>>
>>> But possibly something along these lines would work:
>>>
>>> 1) The curtain itself would have to be longer than the typical shower curtain.
>>> Not more than an inch could separate the bar from the ceiling, or the bottom of
>>> the curtain from the floor, or the top of the curtain from the bar.
>>>
>>> 2) When the curtain is drawn, there would have to be fasteners on its sides,
>>> so that it could be fixed to the walls - with enough force that it is also drawn
>>> taut.
>>>
>>> But even if that could be made to work, it wouldn't necessarily be the best
>>> way to achieve the goal, and it might be unattractive in appearance.
>>>
>>> What I don't know is the situation of the near end of the narrow hallway.
>>>
>>> If there were a sizable blank and unused wall going off from it at right angles
>>> at that side, it would be relatively easy for one of your children
>>> to install something that could slide into place as a barrier.
>>>
>>> But that favorable situation may not exist.
>>>
>>> The next obvious alternative, which is even a relatively
>>> conventional type of doorway used for closets, would be
>>> some type of pleated door that unfolds:
>>>
>>> basically, take an accordion door, such as is used
>>> for a closet, and above it put a wooden panel
>>> to reduce the hallway's height at that line to that
>>> of a doorway.
>>>
>>> Attention, of course, would need to be devoted to
>>> arranging it so that the cats couldn't easily crawl
>>> under the bottom of the door.
>> I suspect you have little experience of cats.
>>
>> I'm thinking that the best bet would be simply a piece of plywood with
>> a couple of hinges in a frame that could be put up with double-sided
>> foam tape. Might damage the paint when it came down but wouldn't
>> likely damage the wall itself.
>>
>> It has to pretty much completely close the corridor and not be
>> flexible or susceptible to knife attack (nothing that most cats are
>> well equipped with knives or reasonable facsimiles thereof).
>>
>> But at this point it's not going to be super cheap--wait for the
>> prices of construction materials to stabilize--construction grade
>> sheathing right now costs about the same as aircraft plywood.
>
> A lot of people find that baby gates do the job just fine.
>
> Pt

My 15 lb Siamese male cat can clear a 4 foot fence.

Lynn

In article <58165c52-6068-4908-ad79-d9c076468bean@googlegroups.com>,
Robert Carnegie <rja.carnegie@excite.com> wrote:
>On Friday, 23 July 2021 at 16:20:03 UTC+1, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
>> In article <156d5b9d-ea52-4439...@googlegroups.com>,
>> Quadibloc <jsa...@ecn.ab.ca> wrote:
>> >Given that Dorothy lives in rental accomodations, I understand her
>> >alternatives are limited.
>> >
>> >But then, even a little Saran Wrap might work for a time...
>> >
>> >https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJS4hYNngto
>> ... while also preventing the humans from reaching the doors.
>
>If they go in the linen closet... can you shut the closet door?
>Maybe with gentle illumination, some toys... though you
>don't want them to be too happy in there, and stay.
>
>Maybe a light that goes out after a few minutes...

If I opened the linen closet, one of them would probably go in
and look around. (Misthlith got shut into it once; yowled till
we figured out where she was and let her out.) gI don't know if
I could get them both inside at once ... and if I did, it would
probably work only once.

--
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at gmail dot com
Www.kithrup.com/~djheydt/

In article <40543491-c48c-47f0-b5e5-a243db360ccbn@googlegroups.com>,
Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> wrote:
>On Friday, July 23, 2021 at 9:15:58 AM UTC-6, Paul S Person wrote:
>
>> The core problem here is not keeping the cats out. That can be done by
>> shutting the door, which (as I understand it) is currently working
>> quite well.
>>
>> The core problem is keeping the cats out while a person enters the
>> room.
>>
>> Theorem: any barrier sufficient to stop the cats will also stop the
>> person.
>
>The place with a door is in a hallway. There's a door to the room with
>the books, yes. But there is no door to the hallway. If there were a door
>to the hallway, the door to the room could be opened safely.
>
>Or the place with the books is more like a closet, so one can't close
>the door while looking at the books.

No, it's a full-sized bedroom, in the intention of whoever built
it. And I can usually get *in* without them following, but then
they hang around outside the door, and if I try to get out they
get in. Hence having Hal stand guard.

--
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at gmail dot com
Www.kithrup.com/~djheydt/

On Friday, July 23, 2021 at 8:55:31 AM UTC-4, jack....@gmail.com wrote:
> On Thursday, July 22, 2021 at 1:56:47 PM UTC-4, Ahasuerus wrote:
> > On Thursday, July 22, 2021 at 9:04:05 AM UTC-4, jack....@gmail.com wrote:
> > > I only have a description to go by, but there was a Russian story,
> > > "The Heart of the Serpent." (I can look it up, now, it's title should really
> > > be "Cor Serpentis" (in Cyrillic)
> > The original title was "Cor Serpentis (Сердце Змеи)", i.e. it used a mix
> > of Latin and Russian -- see https://fantlab.ru/work13724
> > > after the constellation, by Ivan Yefremov, and has had only one
> > > English publication.) [snip]
> >
> > There were two English translations, one by R. Prokofieva (1961) and
> > the other one by Doris Johnson (1963). Each one appeared in multiple
> > publications -- see http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?925930 for
> > details.
> Ah, I see what I did wrong. Entering "heart of the serpent" as a Fiction
> Title took me to: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?97913
> Although out of curiosity I clicked through to the series of which it was
> a part, I didn't check the title it was a variant of.
> How did the search decided not to take me to
> http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?97218
> is something I confess I do not understand.

A "Fiction Titles" search on "heart of the serpent" should display 5 title
records:

* 2 for different forms of Yefremov's story
* 1 for the eponymous 1961 anthology in which the story was reprinted
* 1 for a 2015 N. J. Walters story
* 1 for the chapbook in which the N. J. Walters story appeared (chapbooks
are treated by the ISFDB database as single-story collections and get their
own title records just like collections do)

In article <sdf45t$6qf$2@dont-email.me>,
Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:
>On 7/23/2021 11:38 AM, pete...@gmail.com wrote:
>> On Thursday, July 22, 2021 at 8:26:29 PM UTC-4, J. Clarke wrote:
>>> On Thu, 22 Jul 2021 16:30:43 -0700 (PDT), Quadibloc
>>> <jsa...@ecn.ab.ca> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Thursday, July 22, 2021 at 4:05:03 PM UTC-6, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>> But a shower curtain, unlike certain other types of barriers, would be a
>>>>>> simple thing to put in; so is there any way to modify a shower curtain to
>>>>>> make it an effective barrier to cats?
>>>>
>>>>> Are you serious?
>>>>
>>>> I wasn't claiming I knew of one offhand.
>>>>
>>>> But possibly something along these lines would work:
>>>>
>>>> 1) The curtain itself would have to be longer than the typical
>shower curtain.
>>>> Not more than an inch could separate the bar from the ceiling, or
>the bottom of
>>>> the curtain from the floor, or the top of the curtain from the bar.
>>>>
>>>> 2) When the curtain is drawn, there would have to be fasteners on its sides,
>>>> so that it could be fixed to the walls - with enough force that it
>is also drawn
>>>> taut.
>>>>
>>>> But even if that could be made to work, it wouldn't necessarily be the best
>>>> way to achieve the goal, and it might be unattractive in appearance.
>>>>
>>>> What I don't know is the situation of the near end of the narrow hallway.
>>>>
>>>> If there were a sizable blank and unused wall going off from it at
>right angles
>>>> at that side, it would be relatively easy for one of your children
>>>> to install something that could slide into place as a barrier.
>>>>
>>>> But that favorable situation may not exist.
>>>>
>>>> The next obvious alternative, which is even a relatively
>>>> conventional type of doorway used for closets, would be
>>>> some type of pleated door that unfolds:
>>>>
>>>> basically, take an accordion door, such as is used
>>>> for a closet, and above it put a wooden panel
>>>> to reduce the hallway's height at that line to that
>>>> of a doorway.
>>>>
>>>> Attention, of course, would need to be devoted to
>>>> arranging it so that the cats couldn't easily crawl
>>>> under the bottom of the door.
>>> I suspect you have little experience of cats.
>>>
>>> I'm thinking that the best bet would be simply a piece of plywood with
>>> a couple of hinges in a frame that could be put up with double-sided
>>> foam tape. Might damage the paint when it came down but wouldn't
>>> likely damage the wall itself.
>>>
>>> It has to pretty much completely close the corridor and not be
>>> flexible or susceptible to knife attack (nothing that most cats are
>>> well equipped with knives or reasonable facsimiles thereof).
>>>
>>> But at this point it's not going to be super cheap--wait for the
>>> prices of construction materials to stabilize--construction grade
>>> sheathing right now costs about the same as aircraft plywood.
>>
>> A lot of people find that baby gates do the job just fine.
>>
>> Pt
>
>My 15 lb Siamese male cat can clear a 4 foot fence.

And our two 6-pound female half-Siamese, as I said upthread, can
do 5 feet easily.

--
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at gmail dot com
Www.kithrup.com/~djheydt/

In article <af4a5477-d27d-44c1-8d2e-d732a8019da4n@googlegroups.com>,
pete...@gmail.com <petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:
>On Thursday, July 22, 2021 at 8:26:29 PM UTC-4, J. Clarke wrote:
>> On Thu, 22 Jul 2021 16:30:43 -0700 (PDT), Quadibloc
>> <jsa...@ecn.ab.ca> wrote:
>>
>> >On Thursday, July 22, 2021 at 4:05:03 PM UTC-6, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
>> >
>> >> >But a shower curtain, unlike certain other types of barriers, would be a
>> >> >simple thing to put in; so is there any way to modify a shower curtain to
>> >> >make it an effective barrier to cats?
>> >
>> >> Are you serious?
>> >
>> >I wasn't claiming I knew of one offhand.
>> >
>> >But possibly something along these lines would work:
>> >
>> >1) The curtain itself would have to be longer than the typical shower
>curtain.
>> >Not more than an inch could separate the bar from the ceiling, or the
>bottom of
>> >the curtain from the floor, or the top of the curtain from the bar.
>> >
>> >2) When the curtain is drawn, there would have to be fasteners on its sides,
>> >so that it could be fixed to the walls - with enough force that it is
>also drawn
>> >taut.
>> >
>> >But even if that could be made to work, it wouldn't necessarily be the best
>> >way to achieve the goal, and it might be unattractive in appearance.
>> >
>> >What I don't know is the situation of the near end of the narrow hallway.
>> >
>> >If there were a sizable blank and unused wall going off from it at
>right angles
>> >at that side, it would be relatively easy for one of your children
>> >to install something that could slide into place as a barrier.
>> >
>> >But that favorable situation may not exist.
>> >
>> >The next obvious alternative, which is even a relatively
>> >conventional type of doorway used for closets, would be
>> >some type of pleated door that unfolds:
>> >
>> >basically, take an accordion door, such as is used
>> >for a closet, and above it put a wooden panel
>> >to reduce the hallway's height at that line to that
>> >of a doorway.
>> >
>> >Attention, of course, would need to be devoted to
>> >arranging it so that the cats couldn't easily crawl
>> >under the bottom of the door.
>> I suspect you have little experience of cats.
>>
>> I'm thinking that the best bet would be simply a piece of plywood with
>> a couple of hinges in a frame that could be put up with double-sided
>> foam tape. Might damage the paint when it came down but wouldn't
>> likely damage the wall itself.
>>
>> It has to pretty much completely close the corridor and not be
>> flexible or susceptible to knife attack (nothing that most cats are
>> well equipped with knives or reasonable facsimiles thereof).
>>
>> But at this point it's not going to be super cheap--wait for the
>> prices of construction materials to stabilize--construction grade
>> sheathing right now costs about the same as aircraft plywood.
>
>A lot of people find that baby gates do the job just fine.

These cats are leapers. Their favorite lurking places are atop
my computer tower or Hal's rack of miscellaneous electronics,
both about five feet off the floor. They would laugh as they
leapt over the baby gates.

--
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at gmail dot com
Www.kithrup.com/~djheydt/

In article <1q7rsh-75o.ln1@paranoia.mcleod-schmidt.id.au>,
Gary R. Schmidt <grschmidt@acm.org> wrote:
>On 23/07/2021 23:13, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
>> In article <333088f0-d53f-4318-8fc0-ad92d83d6360n@googlegroups.com>,
>> Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> wrote:
>>> On Friday, July 23, 2021 at 3:25:04 AM UTC-6, J. Clarke wrote:
>>>
>>>> If they were actually dictating requirements one would expect the
>>>> quality of the goods produced to be higher. Japan was the place tht
>>>> dictated requirements.
>>>
>>> Of course, Soviet Russia was the place well known for having quotas
>>> of making X number of tons of alarm clocks, without much concern
>>> about whether or not they worked.
>>>
>>> Which was an ineffective way to run the economy, but presumably it
>>> was only applied to consumer goods, not military items.
>>
>> There was an old joke, from the fifties IIRC. A Russian is
>> hauled in by the police for buying and using imported, instead of
>> domestic, matches.
>>
>> His defense: "It is true that I use foreign matches--but only to
>> light our People's matches!:
>>
>> And let's not forget the Yablotchka.
>>
>Okay, I'll bite: "Little Apple"???
>
It was a Russian knockoff of an early Apple model; I forget its
official name. It didn't work as well as the original, either,
which (IMO) is a very low bar.

--
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at gmail dot com
Www.kithrup.com/~djheydt/

In article <f3cc753c-ea2b-49f3-9510-a9e719a5a253n@googlegroups.com>,
Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> wrote:
>On Friday, July 23, 2021 at 10:39:07 AM UTC-6, Gary R. Schmidt wrote:
>> On 23/07/2021 23:13, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
>
>> > And let's not forget the Yablotchka.
>
>> Okay, I'll bite: "Little Apple"???
>
>As it could be the name of an alcoholic beverage, maybe it's the
>story of the radar of a MiG-25 cited above?
>
>A Google search turns up a Russian sailor's songs, and a
>literary work of some sort.

An early Russian Apple-knockoff; see upthread.

--
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at gmail dot com
Www.kithrup.com/~djheydt/

On 7/23/2021 1:51 PM, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
> In article <af4a5477-d27d-44c1-8d2e-d732a8019da4n@googlegroups.com>,
> pete...@gmail.com <petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Thursday, July 22, 2021 at 8:26:29 PM UTC-4, J. Clarke wrote:
>>> On Thu, 22 Jul 2021 16:30:43 -0700 (PDT), Quadibloc
>>> <jsa...@ecn.ab.ca> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Thursday, July 22, 2021 at 4:05:03 PM UTC-6, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>> But a shower curtain, unlike certain other types of barriers, would be a
>>>>>> simple thing to put in; so is there any way to modify a shower curtain to
>>>>>> make it an effective barrier to cats?
>>>>
>>>>> Are you serious?
>>>>
>>>> I wasn't claiming I knew of one offhand.
>>>>
>>>> But possibly something along these lines would work:
>>>>
>>>> 1) The curtain itself would have to be longer than the typical shower
>> curtain.
>>>> Not more than an inch could separate the bar from the ceiling, or the
>> bottom of
>>>> the curtain from the floor, or the top of the curtain from the bar.
>>>>
>>>> 2) When the curtain is drawn, there would have to be fasteners on its sides,
>>>> so that it could be fixed to the walls - with enough force that it is
>> also drawn
>>>> taut.
>>>>
>>>> But even if that could be made to work, it wouldn't necessarily be the best
>>>> way to achieve the goal, and it might be unattractive in appearance.
>>>>
>>>> What I don't know is the situation of the near end of the narrow hallway.
>>>>
>>>> If there were a sizable blank and unused wall going off from it at
>> right angles
>>>> at that side, it would be relatively easy for one of your children
>>>> to install something that could slide into place as a barrier.
>>>>
>>>> But that favorable situation may not exist.
>>>>
>>>> The next obvious alternative, which is even a relatively
>>>> conventional type of doorway used for closets, would be
>>>> some type of pleated door that unfolds:
>>>>
>>>> basically, take an accordion door, such as is used
>>>> for a closet, and above it put a wooden panel
>>>> to reduce the hallway's height at that line to that
>>>> of a doorway.
>>>>
>>>> Attention, of course, would need to be devoted to
>>>> arranging it so that the cats couldn't easily crawl
>>>> under the bottom of the door.
>>> I suspect you have little experience of cats.
>>>
>>> I'm thinking that the best bet would be simply a piece of plywood with
>>> a couple of hinges in a frame that could be put up with double-sided
>>> foam tape. Might damage the paint when it came down but wouldn't
>>> likely damage the wall itself.
>>>
>>> It has to pretty much completely close the corridor and not be
>>> flexible or susceptible to knife attack (nothing that most cats are
>>> well equipped with knives or reasonable facsimiles thereof).
>>>
>>> But at this point it's not going to be super cheap--wait for the
>>> prices of construction materials to stabilize--construction grade
>>> sheathing right now costs about the same as aircraft plywood.
>>
>> A lot of people find that baby gates do the job just fine.
>
> These cats are leapers. Their favorite lurking places are atop
> my computer tower or Hal's rack of miscellaneous electronics,
> both about five feet off the floor. They would laugh as they
> leapt over the baby gates.
>
But think of all the money you could make with actual proof that cats do
indeed laugh at humans!

--
Troll, troll, troll your post gently down the thread
Angrily, angrily, angrily, the net's a nut's scream.

On Fri, 23 Jul 2021 20:49:39 GMT, djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J
Heydt) wrote:

>In article <40543491-c48c-47f0-b5e5-a243db360ccbn@googlegroups.com>,
>Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> wrote:
>>On Friday, July 23, 2021 at 9:15:58 AM UTC-6, Paul S Person wrote:
>>
>>> The core problem here is not keeping the cats out. That can be done by
>>> shutting the door, which (as I understand it) is currently working
>>> quite well.
>>>
>>> The core problem is keeping the cats out while a person enters the
>>> room.
>>>
>>> Theorem: any barrier sufficient to stop the cats will also stop the
>>> person.
>>
>>The place with a door is in a hallway. There's a door to the room with
>>the books, yes. But there is no door to the hallway. If there were a door
>>to the hallway, the door to the room could be opened safely.
>>
>>Or the place with the books is more like a closet, so one can't close
>>the door while looking at the books.
>
>No, it's a full-sized bedroom, in the intention of whoever built
>it. And I can usually get *in* without them following, but then
>they hang around outside the door, and if I try to get out they
>get in. Hence having Hal stand guard.

I just had a weird notion. Do they run from a vacuum cleaner?

On Fri, 23 Jul 2021 14:09:45 -0500, Lynn McGuire
<lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:

>On 7/23/2021 11:38 AM, pete...@gmail.com wrote:
>> On Thursday, July 22, 2021 at 8:26:29 PM UTC-4, J. Clarke wrote:
>>> On Thu, 22 Jul 2021 16:30:43 -0700 (PDT), Quadibloc
>>> <jsa...@ecn.ab.ca> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Thursday, July 22, 2021 at 4:05:03 PM UTC-6, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>> But a shower curtain, unlike certain other types of barriers, would be a
>>>>>> simple thing to put in; so is there any way to modify a shower curtain to
>>>>>> make it an effective barrier to cats?
>>>>
>>>>> Are you serious?
>>>>
>>>> I wasn't claiming I knew of one offhand.
>>>>
>>>> But possibly something along these lines would work:
>>>>
>>>> 1) The curtain itself would have to be longer than the typical shower curtain.
>>>> Not more than an inch could separate the bar from the ceiling, or the bottom of
>>>> the curtain from the floor, or the top of the curtain from the bar.
>>>>
>>>> 2) When the curtain is drawn, there would have to be fasteners on its sides,
>>>> so that it could be fixed to the walls - with enough force that it is also drawn
>>>> taut.
>>>>
>>>> But even if that could be made to work, it wouldn't necessarily be the best
>>>> way to achieve the goal, and it might be unattractive in appearance.
>>>>
>>>> What I don't know is the situation of the near end of the narrow hallway.
>>>>
>>>> If there were a sizable blank and unused wall going off from it at right angles
>>>> at that side, it would be relatively easy for one of your children
>>>> to install something that could slide into place as a barrier.
>>>>
>>>> But that favorable situation may not exist.
>>>>
>>>> The next obvious alternative, which is even a relatively
>>>> conventional type of doorway used for closets, would be
>>>> some type of pleated door that unfolds:
>>>>
>>>> basically, take an accordion door, such as is used
>>>> for a closet, and above it put a wooden panel
>>>> to reduce the hallway's height at that line to that
>>>> of a doorway.
>>>>
>>>> Attention, of course, would need to be devoted to
>>>> arranging it so that the cats couldn't easily crawl
>>>> under the bottom of the door.
>>> I suspect you have little experience of cats.
>>>
>>> I'm thinking that the best bet would be simply a piece of plywood with
>>> a couple of hinges in a frame that could be put up with double-sided
>>> foam tape. Might damage the paint when it came down but wouldn't
>>> likely damage the wall itself.
>>>
>>> It has to pretty much completely close the corridor and not be
>>> flexible or susceptible to knife attack (nothing that most cats are
>>> well equipped with knives or reasonable facsimiles thereof).
>>>
>>> But at this point it's not going to be super cheap--wait for the
>>> prices of construction materials to stabilize--construction grade
>>> sheathing right now costs about the same as aircraft plywood.
>>
>> A lot of people find that baby gates do the job just fine.
>>
>> Pt
>
>My 15 lb Siamese male cat can clear a 4 foot fence.

One of mine could consistently get from the ground to the first floor
roof by some means I never determined. She would appear at the
bedroom window wanting in.

On Fri, 23 Jul 2021 18:51:41 -0000 (UTC), Magewolf
<Magewolf@nc.rr.com> wrote:

>On Thu, 22 Jul 2021 18:33:45 -0700, Dimensional Traveler wrote:
>
>> On 7/22/2021 5:39 PM, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
>>> In article <c799292c-0eca-4959-88c9-eed16306a7f9n@googlegroups.com>,
>>> pete...@gmail.com <petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> On Thursday, July 22, 2021 at 2:00:08 PM UTC-4, Dimensional Traveler
>>>> wrote:
>>>>> On 7/22/2021 10:12 AM, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
>>>>>> In article <FjhKI.52360$h8....@fx47.iad>,
>>>>>> Scott Lurndal <sl...@pacbell.net> wrote:
>>>>>>> Christian Weisgerber <na...@mips.inka.de> writes:
>>>>>>>> On 2021-07-22, Jack Bohn <jack....@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> In this future, it's obvious that only socialist societies can
>>>>>>>>> survive and achieve spaceflight, and of course they could trust
>>>>>>>>> each other.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> As exemplified by, say, the mistrust between the Soviet Union and
>>>>>>>> China, between Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, or the full-blown
>>>>>>>> war between the Khmer Rouge and Vietnam.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I don't believe any of them qualify as 'socialist societies', as
>>>>>>> they were all dicatorships.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Except that socialism is an economic system, and dictatorship is a
>>>>>> political system. You could have one and not the other.
>>>>>>
>>>>> Only if the dictatorship allows it. And since doing so would require
>>>>> reducing their own wealth, power and comfort....
>>>>>
>>>>> In theory it may be possible to separate economic system from
>>>>> political system but in practice I don't think it is.
>>>>
>>>> China at the moment is 'socialist' in name only. It's capitalist, but
>>>> a dictatorship.
>>>
>>> Economic and political, respectively.
>>>
>> Its more "State Capitalist" in that the government directly owns or
>> otherwise controls a number of critical companies and industries and
>> dictates requirements to the rest.
>
>It's more of a fascist oligarchy based on communist excuses.
>
>It still amazes me how many of my old friends will bend over backwards to
>not say anything bad about China and attack anyone who does.

Kruschev wanted to bury us in consumer goods. The Chinese actually
pulled it off.

In article <6qmmfghp0u53oemb85anpf5g6gotk076nb@4ax.com>,
J. Clarke <jclarke.873638@gmail.com> wrote:
>On Fri, 23 Jul 2021 14:09:45 -0500, Lynn McGuire
><lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>On 7/23/2021 11:38 AM, pete...@gmail.com wrote:
>>> On Thursday, July 22, 2021 at 8:26:29 PM UTC-4, J. Clarke wrote:
>>>> On Thu, 22 Jul 2021 16:30:43 -0700 (PDT), Quadibloc
>>>> <jsa...@ecn.ab.ca> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On Thursday, July 22, 2021 at 4:05:03 PM UTC-6, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>> But a shower curtain, unlike certain other types of barriers, would be a
>>>>>>> simple thing to put in; so is there any way to modify a shower curtain to
>>>>>>> make it an effective barrier to cats?
>>>>>
>>>>>> Are you serious?
>>>>>
>>>>> I wasn't claiming I knew of one offhand.
>>>>>
>>>>> But possibly something along these lines would work:
>>>>>
>>>>> 1) The curtain itself would have to be longer than the typical
>shower curtain.
>>>>> Not more than an inch could separate the bar from the ceiling, or
>the bottom of
>>>>> the curtain from the floor, or the top of the curtain from the bar.
>>>>>
>>>>> 2) When the curtain is drawn, there would have to be fasteners on
>its sides,
>>>>> so that it could be fixed to the walls - with enough force that it
>is also drawn
>>>>> taut.
>>>>>
>>>>> But even if that could be made to work, it wouldn't necessarily be the best
>>>>> way to achieve the goal, and it might be unattractive in appearance.
>>>>>
>>>>> What I don't know is the situation of the near end of the narrow hallway.
>>>>>
>>>>> If there were a sizable blank and unused wall going off from it at
>right angles
>>>>> at that side, it would be relatively easy for one of your children
>>>>> to install something that could slide into place as a barrier.
>>>>>
>>>>> But that favorable situation may not exist.
>>>>>
>>>>> The next obvious alternative, which is even a relatively
>>>>> conventional type of doorway used for closets, would be
>>>>> some type of pleated door that unfolds:
>>>>>
>>>>> basically, take an accordion door, such as is used
>>>>> for a closet, and above it put a wooden panel
>>>>> to reduce the hallway's height at that line to that
>>>>> of a doorway.
>>>>>
>>>>> Attention, of course, would need to be devoted to
>>>>> arranging it so that the cats couldn't easily crawl
>>>>> under the bottom of the door.
>>>> I suspect you have little experience of cats.

For anyone else lacking experience with cats, please note that
wherever a cat's head can go, its body can follow. They have no
collarbones.

--
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at gmail dot com
Www.kithrup.com/~djheydt/

In article <sdflbm$gqg$2@dont-email.me>,
Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
>On 7/23/2021 1:51 PM, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
>> In article <af4a5477-d27d-44c1-8d2e-d732a8019da4n@googlegroups.com>,
>> pete...@gmail.com <petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> On Thursday, July 22, 2021 at 8:26:29 PM UTC-4, J. Clarke wrote:
>>>> On Thu, 22 Jul 2021 16:30:43 -0700 (PDT), Quadibloc
>>>> <jsa...@ecn.ab.ca> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On Thursday, July 22, 2021 at 4:05:03 PM UTC-6, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>> But a shower curtain, unlike certain other types of barriers, would be a
>>>>>>> simple thing to put in; so is there any way to modify a shower curtain to
>>>>>>> make it an effective barrier to cats?
>>>>>
>>>>>> Are you serious?
>>>>>
>>>>> I wasn't claiming I knew of one offhand.
>>>>>
>>>>> But possibly something along these lines would work:
>>>>>
>>>>> 1) The curtain itself would have to be longer than the typical shower
>>> curtain.
>>>>> Not more than an inch could separate the bar from the ceiling, or the
>>> bottom of
>>>>> the curtain from the floor, or the top of the curtain from the bar.
>>>>>
>>>>> 2) When the curtain is drawn, there would have to be fasteners on
>its sides,
>>>>> so that it could be fixed to the walls - with enough force that it is
>>> also drawn
>>>>> taut.
>>>>>
>>>>> But even if that could be made to work, it wouldn't necessarily be the best
>>>>> way to achieve the goal, and it might be unattractive in appearance.
>>>>>
>>>>> What I don't know is the situation of the near end of the narrow hallway.
>>>>>
>>>>> If there were a sizable blank and unused wall going off from it at
>>> right angles
>>>>> at that side, it would be relatively easy for one of your children
>>>>> to install something that could slide into place as a barrier.
>>>>>
>>>>> But that favorable situation may not exist.
>>>>>
>>>>> The next obvious alternative, which is even a relatively
>>>>> conventional type of doorway used for closets, would be
>>>>> some type of pleated door that unfolds:
>>>>>
>>>>> basically, take an accordion door, such as is used
>>>>> for a closet, and above it put a wooden panel
>>>>> to reduce the hallway's height at that line to that
>>>>> of a doorway.
>>>>>
>>>>> Attention, of course, would need to be devoted to
>>>>> arranging it so that the cats couldn't easily crawl
>>>>> under the bottom of the door.
>>>> I suspect you have little experience of cats.
>>>>
>>>> I'm thinking that the best bet would be simply a piece of plywood with
>>>> a couple of hinges in a frame that could be put up with double-sided
>>>> foam tape. Might damage the paint when it came down but wouldn't
>>>> likely damage the wall itself.
>>>>
>>>> It has to pretty much completely close the corridor and not be
>>>> flexible or susceptible to knife attack (nothing that most cats are
>>>> well equipped with knives or reasonable facsimiles thereof).
>>>>
>>>> But at this point it's not going to be super cheap--wait for the
>>>> prices of construction materials to stabilize--construction grade
>>>> sheathing right now costs about the same as aircraft plywood.
>>>
>>> A lot of people find that baby gates do the job just fine.
>>
>> These cats are leapers. Their favorite lurking places are atop
>> my computer tower or Hal's rack of miscellaneous electronics,
>> both about five feet off the floor. They would laugh as they
>> leapt over the baby gates.
>>
>But think of all the money you could make with actual proof that cats do
>indeed laugh at humans!
>
No, there would be no money in it; everybody who knows a cat
would say, "We already knew that."

--
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at gmail dot com
Www.kithrup.com/~djheydt/

In article <aommfg17c27j1bquhisjf2rirsnedu8o7s@4ax.com>,
J. Clarke <jclarke.873638@gmail.com> wrote:
>On Fri, 23 Jul 2021 20:49:39 GMT, djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J
>Heydt) wrote:
>
>>In article <40543491-c48c-47f0-b5e5-a243db360ccbn@googlegroups.com>,
>>Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> wrote:
>>>On Friday, July 23, 2021 at 9:15:58 AM UTC-6, Paul S Person wrote:
>>>
>>>> The core problem here is not keeping the cats out. That can be done by
>>>> shutting the door, which (as I understand it) is currently working
>>>> quite well.
>>>>
>>>> The core problem is keeping the cats out while a person enters the
>>>> room.
>>>>
>>>> Theorem: any barrier sufficient to stop the cats will also stop the
>>>> person.
>>>
>>>The place with a door is in a hallway. There's a door to the room with
>>>the books, yes. But there is no door to the hallway. If there were a door
>>>to the hallway, the door to the room could be opened safely.
>>>
>>>Or the place with the books is more like a closet, so one can't close
>>>the door while looking at the books.
>>
>>No, it's a full-sized bedroom, in the intention of whoever built
>>it. And I can usually get *in* without them following, but then
>>they hang around outside the door, and if I try to get out they
>>get in. Hence having Hal stand guard.
>
>I just had a weird notion. Do they run from a vacuum cleaner?

I have not yet attempted to find out. In spite of their ability
to limit my access to the book rooms, I'm very fond of the cats,
and I don't want to frighten them (our vacuum cleaner is a
honking great ShopVac).

At this moment, Misthlith is asleep on my lap and Stillfot is
sitting on the printer by the window.

--
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at gmail dot com
Www.kithrup.com/~djheydt/

In article <qwq4vw.382@kithrup.com>,
djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) wrote:

> In article <6qmmfghp0u53oemb85anpf5g6gotk076nb@4ax.com>,
> J. Clarke <jclarke.873638@gmail.com> wrote:
> >On Fri, 23 Jul 2021 14:09:45 -0500, Lynn McGuire
> ><lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >>On 7/23/2021 11:38 AM, pete...@gmail.com wrote:
> >>> On Thursday, July 22, 2021 at 8:26:29 PM UTC-4, J. Clarke wrote:
> >>>> On Thu, 22 Jul 2021 16:30:43 -0700 (PDT), Quadibloc
> >>>> <jsa...@ecn.ab.ca> wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>> On Thursday, July 22, 2021 at 4:05:03 PM UTC-6, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
> >>>>>
> >>>>>>> But a shower curtain, unlike certain other types of barriers, would
> >>>>>>> be a
> >>>>>>> simple thing to put in; so is there any way to modify a shower
> >>>>>>> curtain to
> >>>>>>> make it an effective barrier to cats?
> >>>>>
> >>>>>> Are you serious?
> >>>>>
> >>>>> I wasn't claiming I knew of one offhand.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> But possibly something along these lines would work:
> >>>>>
> >>>>> 1) The curtain itself would have to be longer than the typical
> >shower curtain.
> >>>>> Not more than an inch could separate the bar from the ceiling, or
> >the bottom of
> >>>>> the curtain from the floor, or the top of the curtain from the bar.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> 2) When the curtain is drawn, there would have to be fasteners on
> >its sides,
> >>>>> so that it could be fixed to the walls - with enough force that it
> >is also drawn
> >>>>> taut.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> But even if that could be made to work, it wouldn't necessarily be the
> >>>>> best
> >>>>> way to achieve the goal, and it might be unattractive in appearance.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> What I don't know is the situation of the near end of the narrow
> >>>>> hallway.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> If there were a sizable blank and unused wall going off from it at
> >right angles
> >>>>> at that side, it would be relatively easy for one of your children
> >>>>> to install something that could slide into place as a barrier.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> But that favorable situation may not exist.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> The next obvious alternative, which is even a relatively
> >>>>> conventional type of doorway used for closets, would be
> >>>>> some type of pleated door that unfolds:
> >>>>>
> >>>>> basically, take an accordion door, such as is used
> >>>>> for a closet, and above it put a wooden panel
> >>>>> to reduce the hallway's height at that line to that
> >>>>> of a doorway.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Attention, of course, would need to be devoted to
> >>>>> arranging it so that the cats couldn't easily crawl
> >>>>> under the bottom of the door.
> >>>> I suspect you have little experience of cats.
>
> For anyone else lacking experience with cats, please note that
> wherever a cat's head can go, its body can follow. They have no
> collarbones.

Actually, their clavicle bones aren't tied down like ours (clavicle =
collarbone).

--
"We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_.
�-----------------------------------------------------
Robert Woodward robertaw@drizzle.com