55 lines
3.2 KiB
Plaintext
55 lines
3.2 KiB
Plaintext
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 92 12:51:19 PST
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From: 0028017@msgate.emis.hac.com (Douglas M. Kavner)
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Subject: Laser Printer Sucks up Cat
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Danger from personal computers? Most people think of electromagnetic fields
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or getting zapped while monkeying around inside the box. Nothing immediately
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threatening could happen while just printing a spreadsheet. Right?
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That's what I thought until last week when my wife was severely bitten by our
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kitten as it was hanging in mid-air by the tip of its tail. It all started so
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innocently. Our 8-month-old kitten likes to lie on top of our Apple Personal
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LaserWriter LS. We have tried to get him off, but he keeps getting back up on
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it. He must like the hum. My wife was printing a few pages in the
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background. While she was talking on the phone, there suddenly was a shriek
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from the kitten. The printer was only about 2 feet away from her, luckily
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turned the opposite direction. The kitten was sprawled stiff on top of the
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printer, like he had been stuffed. We just had him declawed, but his teeth
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were grabbing at anything in sight, including my wife's arm as she tried to
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turn off the printer. The party on the other end of the phone thought that
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both the kitten and my wife were being murdered.
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After a few deep bites, the printer was off, but the tail was still stuck in
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the top roller that ejects the paper from the printer. Apparently, the hair
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on the tip of his tail had gotten inside the roller and was sucked in as the
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paper was being fed out. While my wife was getting a towel to prevent further
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injury, the kitten jumped off the side of the printer. The top of the desk is
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slightly waxed and the printer nearly slid off. It would have landed on top
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of him. Can you imagine how hard it is to figure out how to open a printer
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under these conditions? Before she got the towel around him, the kitten took
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a few more deep bites out of my wife's leg through her bluejeans! After what
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must have seemed like an eternity, my wife got the printer open and freed the
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kitten.
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A $27 trip to the vet informed us that we had a real lucky kitten. If he had
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been a little older and heavier, the tail would have separated and required
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amputation. If he still had claws, my wife would have had to have been
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stitched back together. What if it had been a child's long hair?
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So Apple, how about a Kitty Guard? Unfortunately, Cats don't read the generic
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warnings that came with the printer. I really like the quality and value of
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the printer. How much extra would I pay for more safety? At least $27. I
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knew I was cutting corners when I bought the printer since it did not include
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PostScript, but I really didn't expect this.
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Several other companies also use the same type of printer case. They all have
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a max speed of 4 pages/minute and a cut-out in the top for the paper to
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reverse stack or innocent kitties to take a nap. Some have different paper
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feed mechanisms, so the eject roller may also vary.
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In case you were wondering, the kitten has been avoiding the printer the
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last few days, but was seen standing on it once while it was off.
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Doug Kavner, Hughes Aircraft Company, P.O. Box 3310, Fullerton, CA 92634
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0028017@msgate.emis.hac.com (714) 732-3682
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