Entries from September 2006 ↓

World’s first hypo-allergenic cat | Video | Reuters.com

San Diego based company Allerca says it has successfully produced the world’s first hypoallergenic cat, something that could allow allergic pet lovers to enjoy cats again.

Unfortunately my laptop has decided to give up on its sound so no idea what’s being said in this video, the cats are cute. I’d be interested to see if there’s a patent in this, given that it’s being done by a company rather than a breeder. I wonder too whether there’s a trademark associated with it. Mind you, it’s not the world’s first hypo-allergenic cat, apparently the Russian Forrest Cat has incredibly low levels of allergens, likewise many Abyssinians possess low levels of allergy triggering proteins in their saliva.

[Edit: Just checked out the company Allerca's website and, yes, their techniques are "patent pending" and you can only buy neutered cats (I doubt in the interests of overpopulation). You also cannot even choose the gender of your cat (due to "high demand") nor the colour so out would be any of the personality matching of a responsible cat breeder (yes, cats do actually have different personalities). I guess the good news is if they haven't keep some crucial part secret, the patent will be available in twenty or so years for anyone to use. They are taking votes for the next breed to de-allergenise. ]

I totally agree that there needs to be more crates in this world. Check out the video! Aram Bartholl via Wonderland

Some cool things from BoingBoing.net today:

I really wish my local pool would get one of these Giant inflatable climbing-iceberg for your pool

Giant inflatable climbing-iceberg for your pool This 14-foot-tall inflatable pool-iceberg will set you back about $9,000 (not including the pool and the back-yard), but it looks like it just might be worth it. it doubles as a climbing-wall, with ascents from easy to pro. Link (via Wonderland)

Wonderful hippopotamus service WSJ: In 2003, he met a ceramics scholar for lunch and they wound up talking about Royal Copenhagen’s 1880s dinner patterns, and how they often featured bears, ducks or birds. Mr. Cohen said, “You know, I think I’d like to see a hippo on one of those.” He scrounged for antique etchings of hippos but eventually decided to go all out and hire photographer Sarah Galbraith to document the names and faces of nearly every hippo in captivity — she ultimately traveled to 101 zoos in 33 countries, including Vietnam, South Africa, Australia and Sri Lanka. (She has chronicled her trips in a blog, “Joined at the Hippo: The story of traveling the world, one hippo at a time.”) Back home in Oyster Bay, N.Y., Mr. Cohen sifted through 3,000 images and sent his favorites to Royal Copenhagen, which hadn’t received a commission of this scale in at least a century. He asked for the hippos to be painted on the company’s renowned Flora Danica pattern — also found in the collection of Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II — with enough teacups and dinner plates to serve a five-course meal for 18. The 231-year-old porcelain company has about 25 artisans who can paint the pattern for regular, five-person place settings (cost: about $6,000). But because of the scale of this commission, the company called in semi-retired master [Mr] Nielsen to do the entire set. (Mr. Cohen says he doesn’t plan to sell the collection, or eat off it.) [via Mister Jalopy Link]

I love the fact that such valued labour has actually gone into this. As Mister Jalopy points out “$400,000 is a rounding error when purchasing an impressionist painting that adds no value to the world; it merely transfers bragging rights. It wasn’t $400k charged by a private equity fund for management costs incurred while splitting up a venerable family company, it was spent hiring a photographer, painters and one of the five remaining porcelain companies that can still execute such a noble effort. There are valid discussions about distribution of wealth, but this is not one of them.” Here much of the money has actually gone into hiring (and thereby supporting) living skilled workers. It’s not millions of dollars being paid to a celebrity to say that they just merely use a product while the person who made it is on slave labour wages.

I really want to listen to the album though.
EMI goes after The Beachles

At some stage, when I get round to making up some productivity templates, I’ll need a place to store then as I don’t want huge hosting bills. Anyway I wanted something free, that allows free public downloads (that’s a paid extra at box.net … stupid! immediately they lose all that free publicity), that doesn’t delete your files after 30 days if they haven’t been accessed (eg savefile.com) and has a nice community. Good design would be just an added bonus. Well I found all that at eSnips:
eSnips.com – Get 1GB free storage to upload and share files, photos and videos

I love the little birdy logo and the fact that the CEO is a woman. You set up folders which can be public or private, public folders have their own static (and short!) web address. You can link directly to a document or create cute little “widgets” buttons.

The fellow eSnippers all seem like a nice bunch, it’s not as daunting as the bigger players. Pigment is my favourite. He’s an English artist and here are some widgets linking to his paintings: