Okay, yes, Cold Start is a bit late this morning, because as I mentioned yesterday, I’m attending the Secret Autopian Leadership Steering Committee Synod at our secure East Coast bunker in the left buttock of the Statue of Liberty. It’s so very cold and damp in here. And loud. The copper skin just booms and reverberates, and the nature of the shape of the buttock-chamber means that the floors are all curved and hard to do anything on. But that’s not your concern! You’re here for one reason: to get an idea of how a dog might see this lovely Ford Escort Sundowner van, currently up for auction.
You can see how a dog would see it up top; here it is to our nice wet human eyes:
Our favorite Australian and former David-tender Laurence Rogers put a picture of the car in our Slack channel, charming all of us on the other side of the planet, and, strangely, prompting our social media jockey Peter to post this:
Okay, I don’t know why Peter decided we needed to see that van how dogs saw it – perhaps he’s starting a new canine-friendly social push today or some shit? I don’t know. We have him here so I don’t have to know. But, I wasn’t exactly sure that is how dogs see the world: do they have zero cones? Is their vision just monochrome? I’m not so sure, so I checked.
Turns out, dogs can see color, but they have only two types of cones instead of three, like human eyes, so they can only perceive blues and yellows, similar to how some color-blind humans see the world. The result is that, in the case of this particular car, I think dogs would get to appreciate it pretty closely to how we do, since it’s so dramatically, unabashedly yellow.
Honestly, I bet dogs would appreciate the Escort Sundowner on many levels – there’s a big, nice, often padded area in the back perfect for dog-lounging, and these had the surprisingly robust and fun Pinto engine, in 1.6 or 2-liter guises., so I bet these were fun to whip around, too.
So, there you go. Dogs can see color. Now that that’s sorted, you can go about your day.
“I don’t know why Peter decided we needed to see that van how dogs saw it”
Because Peter is an observant, talented writer with a knack for understanding the abundance of comedy to be found in imagination.
You know exactly why.
Good stuff Torch! My year and a half old Lab/Shepard ignores the TV 99% of the time.
But when the commercials for Subaru (with the dogs) come on she goes apeshit and sticks her face smack into the screen.
Being a modern dog in politically correct times has changed her though. She no longer sees color. Or is willing to shop in Walmart…
Maybe he’d like the white Falcon version better? https://64.media.tumblr.com/223eae8afdad0c7666a680d255d4bbc3/5b96f99cb3f0ae7a-05/s1280x1920/7d227eba9533d95353fbdec1d59cc4bcfe6614d5.jpg
Jason finally spelt my name correctly!
A family friend had the 2-litre version of the MkII van (not a Sundowner), even loaded with electrician tools and stuff it scooted along quite nicely.
I will need to correct you, Jason: the 1.6L version had the Kent pushrod engine, the 2.0L has the OHC Pinto engine.
Some years ago I encountered a slightly faster MKII Escort panelvan – it had a turbocharged Nissan RB30 in the engine bay (well, only half of it was in the bay, the rest inside!)
That would scoot along indeed! I’ve seen a MkI Escort coupe with 265 Hemi six, likewise three cylinders were behind the windscreen!!
Yup, they don’t have red cones. Most mammals are dichromat (two cones) and don’t have the cones for red, except for many primates. It’s theorized that it evolved so that we and some other monkeys and apes can detect ripe fruits better. A small percentage of XX chromosome people are tetrachromat from a (duplicate?) gene mutation that doesn’t occur in XY. Dogs also have worse visual acuity than we do (well, those of us who don’t need corrective lenses). I went down this rabbit hole while researching animals for a fiction book series and trying to get an understanding of how they might perceive the world differently and how it might affect their abilities (while allowing for the story to work). Ended up finding this stuff fascinating . . . as if I needed another thing.
Now this begs the question, how would a 3-headed dog see the world?
Wait, so are you saying that we need to start making glasses for our canine friends?
Funny that you say that. While the German Shepherd in the books doesn’t wear glasses, the Bradypus sloth has sunglasses made for her by the smuggler she ended up raised by after her mother was killed by stray dogs. I had to do that because sloths only have rod vision, which gets overwhelmed in bright light, and I needed it to be slightly more believable for her to be able to do some of the things she does.
This reminds me of the time I was trying to finish up a training manual with a particularly picky and contentious client. They never liked anything and had particular ideas about how things should look, but would never tell us what those ideas were, just that ours were wrong. In short, they sucked. My favorite part was when they told us we had to get rid of all colored text because people with color blindness wouldn’t be able to see the text. I had to explain to them that wasn’t what color blindness was as that we had chosen the colors we did specifically to be accessible. Didn’t make a bit of difference to them though, they still insisted that the color had to go.
Here on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, there is a massive strip club called the Sundowner. The name Escort Sundowner is therefore making me giggle like a schoolboy.
“Now that that’s sorted, you can go about your day.”
Sure, they can see color, but can they look up?
Beat me to it.
Good to read that you’re busy getting to the bottom of things. Careful though, Lady Liberty’s been looking a bit constipated these last several years.
Shades of bi-polar doppelganger showing us oblique angle square headlights, then round headlights that i first saw as 4. Under closer scrutiny, obvious adjustable fog lamps that can be rotated downward for nighttime clamming convenience.
The human version is ugly. Dog version less so.
The red one in the ad is awesome!
I do like that version in the ad.
This just makes me miss my little 1.6L MkII!
i like the dog version better
I want one made from a Maverick tremor!
Wait, what did Rob post in that slack? Was it a picture of his dog? Did you crop out a picture of a dog??? WE DEMAND TO SEE THE PICTURE OF THE DOG!!!
Thomas’ message that “ML is in the hopper” is also intriguing. Is that like “the eagle has left the nest”? Are secret Autopian operations ensuing? The peanut gallery demands answers!
Thank you! I was expecting it to be shown and we’re left on a cliffhanger of Dallas proportions. This is unacceptable.
It’s been updated to include the dog. Apologies.
Thank you, that doggo is already making my day better.
This is why we love you Torch. The people spoke and you listened.
Also can we get like a dogtopian post or something similar. Just remove the colors dogs can’t see on car graphics. Make it a weekly or monthly post. It’s something fun and could serve as a cold start post from time to time to break things up a bit. Discuss it with the other higher ups at your butt summit in the Statue of Liberty.
I second this proposal. A monthly dogtopian or catopian post would be awesome!
Remember when the sports related sister site of the old lighting site had some kind of disagreement with some sort of herb and the result was a post with nothing but photos of dogs? That has to be the highest viewed article on that site, it’s certainly the only one I ever read.
Planes, trains and automobiles…
Pop culture, music and puns…
Hypnagogic comedic ramblings…
Now you want to throw dogs in the mix?
My boss: “What would you say.. you do here?”
Yes please
You had me at “doggo”.
I happened to be finishing a walk with my pup as PV sent that dog POV of the van. I showed my dog, Oliver, the picture, and he barked… Not sure if he’s a fan. But everyone appreciates a dog pic, no? By all means, I smile anytime someone sends me one!
HI OLIVER!