account
Subscribe to
The cat got the tongue of lawyer Rod Ponton in a virtual court today – after a cat filter briefly got his face. Ponton, who works as an attorney for Presidio County, Texas, appeared at a Zoom hearing Tuesday to discuss a civil foreclosure suit. In the place where he was used to seeing his own face staring at him, he was surprised to see instead a kitten with oversized sad eyes sitting there. The animal also mimicked its facial expressions, moving its eyes in sync with its own, and moving its mouth when it spoke. « Mr. Ponton, I think you have activated a filter, » said the judge in the courtroom. « I don’t know how to remove it, » said the kitten in Ponton’s voice back. « I have my assistant here, she tried it. « Even so, he was unimpressed: » I’m ready to move on. I am live here. I am not a cat. «
All of this was captured in a clip that has since gone viral as a well-known type of remote work warning, in which the cartoonish desperate eyes of a kitten speak to the soul of a weary nation. But the judge and attorney involved insist that it wasn’t as big a deal as all of that; you could remove the filter just seconds after the clip ended. « Of course it was amusing, but if you look closely you will find they were all extremely professional, » District Judge Roy Ferguson said at an impromptu Zoom press conference this afternoon, explaining the incident “just one more day in the zoom virtual court.” When a phone call came to Ponton, who is again not a cat, he took a few minutes to see Slate to tell from his side the not so shocking story. Our conversation was compressed and edited.
« I’m here, I’m not a cat », says the lawyer after d em mishap with the zoom filter. « I can see that, » Richter replies pic.twitter.com/HclKlAUwbM
IMPORTANT ZOOM TIP: If a child has used your computer, check the zoom video options before joining a virtual hearing to make sure that the filters are deactivated. This kitten has just made a formal announcement about a case in the 394th (tone on). #lawtwitter #OhNo @zoom_ushttps: //t.co/I0zaj0wu6K
Rod Ponton: The district court has been holding all hearings on Zoom for several months to be safe with the COVID epidemic. This computer was also my office computer but is mainly used by one of my secretaries who has young children. And for some reason she had a cat filter. The cat showed up in place of my video.
Oh yes, she was embarrassed. She couldn’t figure out how to get rid of it. The judge told us how to do it.
Fortunately, the judge knew how to do it. I don’t think I would have known.
He’s a very computer savvy person. The judge told me what to click to get rid of the filter and my less cute face finally showed up and we kept listening.
Well, I was just embarrassed. You’re trying to put your best face in front of the district judge instead of a picture of a cat.
No, no, it’s just one of those little computer snafus that happen in our day where we’re trying to zoom in on everything take care of. It seems to have gone viral now, so that’s pretty funny.
We have a sense of humor here in West Texas. If I can make everyone smile for a moment, I’ll be happy to do it today, even at my own expense.
Did your secretary find out which of her children last used the computer and what exactly they did?
I could don’t tell you I dont know. We got rid of the cat image and moved on and stopped our hearing. And that was the end of it.
If you were to pick an animal to use as a filter in court, would it be a cat or would you go with another animal?
I don’t know. I usually don’t try to portray myself as an animal. This is all new to me.
Readers like you make our work possible. Help us keep delivering reports, comments, and criticism you won’t find anywhere else.
You’re running out of free articles. Join Slate Plus to read on and you’ll get unlimited access to all of our work – and support Slate’s independent journalism. You can cancel at any time.
Subscribe now
Already a member?
Sign up here.
Subscribe now
Already a member?
Sign up here.
Slate is published by The Slate Group, a Graham Holdings Company.
All content © 2021 The Slate Group LLC. All rights reserved.
Slate depends on advertising to support our journalism. If you appreciate our work, please deactivate your ad blocker.
By joining Slate Plus you support our work and receive exclusive content. And you will never see this message again.
« )), c = d (m [i.size_id] .split ( » x « ). Map (function (s) {return value (s)}), 2 ), s.width = c [0], s .height = c [1]), s.rubiconTargeting = (Array.isArray (i.targeting)? i.targeting: []). redu (function (e, t ) {return e [t.key] = t. Values [0], e}, {rpfl_elemid: f.adUnitCode}), t.push (s)): n.logError (« Rubicon: bidRequest undefined at index position: » . concat (o), r, e), t}, []). sort (function (e, t) {return (t.cpm || 0) – (e.cpm || 0)})}, getUserSyncs : Function (e, t, r, n) {if (! X&&e.iframeEnabled) {var i = « »; return r&& « string » == typeof r.consentString&& (« boolean »? == typeof r.gdpries) « ? gdpr = » .gdprApplies), « &gdpr_consent = »). concat (r.consentString): i = « ? gdpr_consent = « . concat (r.consentString)), n&& (i = » « . concat (i? » & « : »? « , » us_privacy = « ) .concat (encodeURIComponent (n))), x =! 0 , {type: « iframe », url: « https: // » .concat (g.syncHost || « eus », « .rubiconproject.com / usync.html ») i}}}, transformBidParams: function (e) {return n.convertTypes ({accountId: « number », siteId: « number », zoneId: « number »}, e)}}; Function v (e, t) {var r = obgetConfig (« pageUrl »); r = e.params.referrer? e.params.referrer: r || t.refererInfo.referer; return e.params.secure?r.replace(/^http:/i, »https: »):r Genealogie function y (e, t) {var r = e.params; if (« video » === t) {var i = []; return r.video&&r.video.playerWidth&&r.video.playerHeight? i = [r.video. playerWidth, r.video.playerHeight]: Array.isArray (n.deepAccess (e, « mediaTypes.video.playerSize »)) &&1 === e.mediaTypes.video.playerSize.length? i = e.mediaTypes.video. playerSize [0]: Array.isArray (e.sizes) CSSEANDCH AR&0e.length) && (t = e.length); for (var r = 0, n = new array (t); r ‘; var i, o}}, h = function (e) {var t = 0 = e&&t.innerWidth’ v.vast_url « »: v.vast_string&& (y = v.vast_string), g.pre_market_bids.push ({id: v.deal_id, seatbid: [{bid: [{impid:, dealid: v.deal_id, price: v.price, adm: y}]} ], cur: v.currency, ext: {event_log: [{}]}}}} var h = n.getBidIdParameter (« mimes » « , e .params) || [ » application / javascript « , » video / mp4 « , » video / webm « ], _ = {id: e.bidId, sure: l, video: {w: p, h: f, ext: g, mimes: h}}; » « ! = n.getBidIdParameter (« price_floor », e.params) && (_. bidfloor = n.getBidIdParameter (« price_floor », e.params)), « »! = n .getBidIdParameter (« start_delay », e.params) && (_. video. video .startdelay = 0 Boolean (n.getBidIdParameter (« start_delay », e.params))), « »! = n.getBidIdParameter (« e! .params) && (_. video.minduration = n.getBidIdParameter ( » min_duration « ) , e.params)), « »! = n.getBidIdParameter (« max_ duration « , e.params) && (_. video.md .getBidIdParameter (« max_duration », e.params)), « »! = n.getBidIdParameter (« placement type », e.params) && (_. video.ext.placement = n.getBidIdParameter (« placement type », e.params))), « »! = n.getBidIdParameter (« position », e.params) && (_. video.ext.pos = n.getBidIdParameter (« position », e.params)), e.crumbs&&e.crumbs (c = e .crumbs.pubcid ); var S = navigator.language? « language »: « userLanguage », I = {id: s, imp: _, site: {id: « », page: a, content: « content »}, device: {h: screen height, w: screen width, dnt : n.getDNT ()? 1: 0, language: Navigator [S] .split (« -« ) [0], brand: Navigator.Vendor navigator.vendor: « », including: navigator.userAgent}, ext: {wrap_response: 1}}; n.getBidIdParameter (« number_of_ads », e.params) && (I.ext.number_of_ads = n.getBidIdParameter_ « , e.params)); var A = {}; return 1 == n.getBidIdParameter ( » spotx_all_google_consent « , e .params) && (A.consented_providers_settings = u), t&&t.gdprConsent .consentString, void 0! == t.gdprConsent.gdprApplies&CSSEAND « : 1. gdprons )), t&&t.Sp .us_privacy « , t.uspConsent), n.deepAccess (e, » userId.id5id.uid « ) && (A.eids = A.eids || [], A.eids.push ({ source: « id5-syn c.com », uids: [{id: e.userId.id5id.uid}], ext: e.userId.id5id.ext || {}})), c&& (A.fpc = c), e&&e.schain&CSSE (I.source = {ext: {schain: e.schain}}), e&&e.userId&&e.userId.tdid&CSSEidsAND [=], A.eids || {source: « adserver. org », uids: [{id: e. userId.tdid, ext: {rtiPartner: « TDID »}}]})), n.isEmpty (A) || (I.user = {ext: A}), {method: « POST », URL: « https://search.spotxchange.com/openrtb/2.3/dados/ » s, data: I, bidRequest: t}} )}, interpretResponse: function (e, t) {var r = [], i = e.body; return i&&n.isArray (i.seatbid) &&n._each (i.seatbid, function (s) {n._each (e.bid, function (s) {var a = {}; for (var c in t.bidRequest. bids) e.impid == t.bidRequest.bids [c] .bidId&& (a = t.bidRequest.bids [c]); n._each (a.params. pre_market_bids, function (t) {t.deal_id == e.id&& (e.price = t.price, i.cur = t.currency)}); var d = {requestId: a.bidId, currency: i.cur || « USD », cpm: e.price, creativeId: e.crid || « », dealId: e.dealid || « », ttl: 360, netRevenue:! 0, channel_id: i.id, cache_key: e.ext.cache_key, vastUrl: « https: // search .spotxchange.com / ad / vast.html? key = « e.ext.cache_key, videoCacheKey: e.ext.cache_key, media type: sd, width: ew, height: eh}; d.meta = d.meta | | {}, e&&e.adomain&&0e.length) && (t = e.length); for (var r = 0, n = new array (t); rt? e: t} function d (e, t, n) { ! e.preload&&e.preloadThreshh old&&function (e, t, n, i) {return t.top = e.shownThreshold&&! e.seen? (e.seen =! 0, setTimeout (function) new r (« shown », t))}, 15)) :(! n || i1&& (h = e (r, Math.floor (n / o), i-1, o)), h}, dies .getVerticallyVisiblePixels = f, this.getViewportHeight = function () {return t.innerHeight || e.documentElement.clientHeight || e.body.clientHeight}, this.getViewportWidth = function () {return t.innerWidth || e.documentElement .clientWidth || e.body.clientWidth}, this.isElementNotHidden = u, this.isElementInViewport = functi on (n) {var i = n.getBoundingClientRect (); return i .top> = 0&&i.left> = 0&&i.bottom = o.length) return {done: true}; return {done: false, value: o [i]}; }, e: function e (_e) {throw _e; }, f: F}; } throw new TypeError (« Invalid attempt to iterate on a non-iterable instance. nTo be iterable, non-array objects must have a [Symbol.iterator] () method. »); } var normalCompletion = true, didErr = false, err; return {s: function s () {it = o [symbol.iterator] (); }, n: function n () {var step = it.next (); normalCompletion = step.done; Regression; }, e: function e (_e2) {didErr = true; err = _e2; }, f: function f () {try {if (! normalCompletion && it.return! = null) it.return (); } finally {if (didErr) throw err; }}}; }}
Function _unsupportedIterableToArray (o, minLen) {if (! O) return; if (typeof o === « string ») return _arrayLikeToArray (o, minLen); var n = Object.prototype.toString.call (o) .slice (8, -1); if (n === « Object » && o.constructor) n = o.constructor.name; if (n === « Map » || n === « Set ») returns Array.from (o); if (n === « Arguments » || /^(?:Ui|I)nt(?:8|16|32)(?:Clamped)?Array$/.test(n)) return _arrayLikeToArray (o, minLen); }}
Function _arrayLikeToArray (arr, len) {if (len == null || len> arr.length) len = arr.length; for (var i = 0, arr2 = new array (len); i
Ref: https://slate.com