About those good intentions and that road to hell

A couple of girls tried to save my cat today. As a result, they might very well have gotten him killed.
Let me explain. Ever since Ender got run over by a car last year, I'm not allowing him outside anymore, except for the balcony. Since Ender has the same level of motor control I have after 8 pints of lager, he is always fitted with a harness which will make sure that when he stumbles from the balcony, he won't plummet to his death. Instead, the harness is attached to an elastic rope which will cushion the drop. Also, the harness of course fits below his forelegs, to prevent him from suffocating.
Well, today, when I was on the phone for a few minutes, Ender apparently fell down. A few neighbourhood girls saw my cat, and figured he was going to choke to death. There was no danger of that whatsoever, but without trying to ring my doorbell they cut him loose, and off went my cat. They could have checked then if I was at home (the balcony door was bloody open), but did neither.
Ender is not used to the outside world at all, so when I found him after roaming through the neighbourhood for about an hour or so, he was absolutely petrified. I'd never seen him scared like this before.
Figures. There's plenty of cars that drive way too fast. He might have been injured or worse - it's not like nothing has ever happened to him before.
Of course, I rechecked his restraint when I got home. It was absolutely fine - except for the really sturdy knot I had to use to reattach it to the rope.
All's well that ends well I guess, though my stomach is still filled with the same nauseating fear I felt when he was run over last year.
Cat's purring again though.

14:57

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Paarse Krokodil in Adformatie

Y'all will probably remember that I used to participate in a business plan contest for which I had to register the domain name Paarse Krokodil (Purple Crocodile).
Today I got a call from Erwin Wijman, who is a freelance hack for advertising weekly Adformatie. Apparently, the commercial RTL4 tv station has been airing a section called Paarse Krokodil for some weeks now in its popular show Barend en van Dorp.
I told him why I had registered Paarse Krokodil, and how I didn't win the prize I was aiming for. That's why there's nothing yet at Paarse Krokodil (nor at Paarse-Krokodil).
The upcoming article in Adformatie may change that now.

14:09

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