Few things are as serious as attending a court hearing, but in Alpine, Texas this one took an unusual twist when attorney Rod Ponton struggled to remove a kitten filter from his Zoom call.
The video went viral, inspiring T-shirts, mugs and bobble heads featuring cats that feature not only for lawyers.
Zoom Cat Lawyer
This week’s viral “Zoom Cat Lawyer” meme quickly went viral online, giving us all a collective laugh and creating one of 2016’s feel-good moments. Texas attorney Rod Ponton became the subject of ridicule online after he couldn’t figure out how to turn off a cute kitten filter during virtual hearing.
A 69-year-old was appearing before a judge for civil forfeiture at Brewster County’s 394th Judicial District Court when he realized his assistant’s young daughter had put a cat filter over his face during a Zoom call with a judge. He attempted to remove it during the Zoom call but failed.
After being posted to YouTube and tweeted by Judge Roy Ferguson of the small West Texas court that heard Ponton’s case, video of this event went viral. It shows him sitting comfortably while his face transforms as the kitty filter morphs over him while struggling to speak.
Ponton was quickly assisted by his colleagues to clear up any miscommunication and confusion during the call, helping him regain his composure and resume hearings as usual. All of this was captured on film, leading to an incredible viral video which became famous across social media networks worldwide.
Recently, he has received many messages of appreciation from individuals praising his quick witted response and his ability to laugh at himself. Additionally, Google My Business reviews for him have seen an uptick with over 130 five-star ratings now.
Ponton maintains that despite his growing prominence, he does not intend to retire as a lawyer anytime soon. He continues to practice law in Alpine – a town of around 10,000 residents located in Texas’ Big Bend region – while serving as county prosecutor. In 2014, he participated in an eventful raid at The Purple Zone smoke shop, leading to controversy among his local colleagues.
Video footage of the cat-astrophe video is now a meme, but there are other ways you can show your support for “cat lawyer.” T-shirts, sweatshirts, tanks and baby onesies featuring “I’m Not a Cat” slogans can all be purchased; as can mugs, acrylic blocks, bobble heads and action figures featuring this slogan.
I’m Not a Cat
Texas lawyer Rod Ponton made headlines this week when he had to quickly explain that he isn’t actually a cat during a video call hearing for civil forfeiture in Presidio County’s 394th Judicial District Court on Tuesday. After accidentally logging on with a filter that rendered him as an adorable feline, it took him some time to understand what had occurred.
As Ponton, an attorney for Alpine City Council, appeared on screen, an image of an alarmed kitten soon replaced his face in chambers. Although Ponton tried to recruit his assistant to assist him with dislodging it from their hearing room screen, to no avail. When internet users saw this video clip it quickly received praise and generated memes online.
Roy Ferguson, the judge who presided over this case, posted and tweeted out a clip from the video to his followers and encouraged other Zoomers to “check their video options before joining a meeting,” suggesting that attorney was likely an innocent victim of childish mischief rather than trying to be funny with it.
Although this might appear as an embarrassing gaffe, this is actually not an isolated incident on Zoom video-conferencing app. There was previously a woman who joined a Skype meeting as a potato during an early pandemic stage and struggled to remove it; and this recent Zoom fail is only the latest of several embarrassing moments during which people found themselves miscast as non-human forms (for instance when a priest livestreamed mass as boxer, wizard, and wolf!). Unfortunately, coronavirus pandemic outbreak is providing plenty of opportunities for such hilarious mistakes!
It’s a Cat’s Life
An unidentified 69-year-old Texas attorney found himself immersed in an entirely different world when, while appearing before a judge for civil forfeiture proceedings, he inadvertently activated a cat filter on Zoom video call. Internet users quickly labeled this viral video “Zoom Cat Lawyer,” providing an amusing reminder to always review video options before joining calls with children using computers, as well as making sure any cat filters are disabled before joining calls with strangers.
Presidio County attorney Rod Ponton unknowingly activated the cat filter while signing into Zoom call for court hearing in civil forfeiture case. As he signed in, Ponton noticed a kitten mask had appeared over his face and struggled to disable it as other participants on call observed with amusement and confusion.
Ponton quickly acknowledged he is not a cat, yet continued participating as though he were one. This hilarious yet educational video serves as a timely reminder to always review video options prior to joining any calls when children use computers.
Ponton states in his video that he will continue appearing as a kitten until the conclusion of the proceeding, which could take hours. His heroism is nearly overwhelming – hopefully his courtroom colleagues take note and never accidentally activate a cat filter while making important announcements.
Domestic cats generally live happy lives. They receive regular food, warmth, and affection from humans; however, for some cats their life of luxury quickly turns to chaos as they are abandoned or taken from pet shops by rescuers and eventually abandoned on the side of the road. Penny the feline stands out as having enough smarts and instinct to avoid becoming one of these statistics.
Boston-based artist JT Stevens has created a cartoon series called It’s a Cat’s Life that shows us an inner life of this feline from her habituating empty boxes to meditating on papers. Her drawings capture both its grandeur and struggle between domestication and wildness in felines’ lives.
The Cat’s Pajamas
Ray Bradbury transformed short story collections into literary classics with this selection of 22 tales that span his six-decade career and ranged in subject from flying saucers to lonely Philadelphia streets – stories both strange and touching.
Some of these stories are downright creepy while addressing important social issues in an age when these topics remain difficult to discuss. “Chrysalis” follows a white boy as he spends the summer tanning himself to look more like his black friend while in “We’ll Just Act Natural”, an African-American maid awaits for a white man she helped raise.
Bradbury begins each story with an introduction outlining his inspiration behind this collection, which was to explore how common English idioms could be utilized by animals in unusual ways. “Home sweet home” features two cookie rabbits returning to their candy house while in “Use your Noodle”, we see a panda using spaghetti strings as violin bows!
Readers of all ages will likely be delighted by both the stories and characters presented in this novel, particularly Madeleine Altimari – an intelligent yet rebellious nine-year-old determined to sing at Philadelphia’s legendary jazz club – and Sarina Greene, her teacher; both characters possess such vividness of personality that they become entirely believable characters.
Though this story can sometimes seem scattered, most individual tales stand on their own. “The Cat’s Pajamas” stands out due to its historical background: in 1920s pajamas (PJs, jammies or jim-jams, take your pick) were just emerging as women’s clothing fashion trends; during this era “cat” was used as flapper slang to refer to stylish young women in flapper outfits and it quickly became synonymous with someone being stylish or cool; its sound similarity to phrases like “gnat’s elbow” and “elephant instep” quickly cemented its place within society as a descriptor that described someone.