What does one do after the loss of a beloved cat? Getting new kittens seems like a reasonale solution. A couple of days after I had to put down Betty, I sought comfort by visiting a cat adoption fair. I found two adorable sisters, but they were too young to come home with me that day. After three long weeks of waiting, the day finally came. It has been an entertaining adventure watching Ann & Nancy explore their new world and basically doing what kittens do. Otis, my two-year-old, has been very curious about the two hyperactive fuzz balls he observes through the baby gate, and yesterday they finally had some face time in the same room… the results were much better than I ever expected.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1t-Eu6J1y3s
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For those of you in northern California (or planning a visit), come to the Bay Area Maker Faire at the San Mateo Fairgrounds on May 19 & 20. This is a two-day event for creative people who celebrate arts, crafts, engineering, science projects, and the do-it-yourself way of thinking. SwapThing will be there to demonstrate how swapping is ideal for acquiring the things you need to making those creative projects, as well as anything else you are seeking.
For more information please visit:
http://makerfaire.com/
http://www.swapthing.com/swapCircles/makerFaire.jsp
Please read the following notice from the Cat Fanciers Association.
It is apparent that many veterinarians, almost all shelter professionals, and even some fanciers are not aware of how devastating AB 1634 would be to the future of the historic and rare breeds of cats. This bill is not just a matter of breeders objecting to paying unknown/high fees for “intact permits”. The bill would end the cat fancy in California and seriously harm the gene pools of beautiful, healthy, well-bred pedigreed cat breeds. These cats are ideal for those families or individuals who want the predictable characteristics
of cats, like the sweet gentle Persian, the lap-sitting Burmese, or the high-energy Abyssinian.
The conditions in AB 1634 (revision dated April 9, 2007) for exemptions from
mandatory spay/neuter are such that those persons BREEDING PEDIGREED CATS
COULD NOT COMPLY AT ALL. See the details here: http://www.cfa.org/exhibitors/alerts.html
Here is the problem: ALL kittens/cats over the age of 4 months must be sterilized.
A. To get an “intact permit” - this is allowed for those cats/kittens meeting various conditions:
1. You need to have a business license (home breeders are not in “business” and may not meet zoning or other requirements to operate as a “business” as these vary with each community) AND be licensed as a breeder by the local jurisdiction or animal control. But, there is no requirement that the local jurisdiction
MUST set up a breeder license program. Breeders, like anyone else, resent having government inspectors in their bedrooms looking for a litter of kittens. Breeder licensing is a money loser for jurisdictions that will not want to set up or enforce a breeder license scheme.
OR
2. You have to meet ALL of three conditions:
(a) The cat has competed in at least one show within the last two years. (This is impossible for a kitten since they can’t be in a show hall until at least 4-months-old by CFA rules and they are supposed to be sterilized before that age. All kittens would be in noncompliance. Most breeders wait to evaluate kittens for breeding potential until they are more mature. Some do not like early-age altering as some breeds develop more slowly.)
(b) The cat is of a “valid” breed recognized by an “approved” registry. (Any local entity we hope would approve CFA, but who knows.)
(c) The cat has earned, or is in the process of earning, a TITLE (conformation, obedience, etc.) from an approved “purebred” registry or association. (If a cat doesn’t like to show - too bad. If the cat is a tailed Manx and can’t be shown - too bad. Many cats are valuable in breeding programs, but cannot be shown for a variety of reasons or a breeder may not want to show for a variety of reasons including personal. Perhaps CFA will have to start awarding “Obedience Titles” for cats.)
OR
3. The dog is a guide dog, etc. (No way to meet this one.)
OR
4. The dog is trained and used by law enforcement, etc. (No way to meet this one.)
OR
5. The owner provides a veterinarian’ s letter stating due to age, poor health or illness it is unsafe to spay/neuter the cat and saying when the cat will be spayed/neutered. (This does not help a healthy breeding cat.)
B. In addition, if a cat were to somehow be able to get an “intact permit” when later the cat no longer meets the requirements above, the cat must be spayed/neutered. (A show cat after winning “Cat of the Year” who is no longer being shown would have to be sterilized. When cats are proven to be of high quality by their show achievements, then that is when they are valuable for a breeding program and should not be spayed/neutered! Cats after showing normally do not go back to shows in the following years - they pass
on their genes to offspring and then they become neutered pets.)
C. In addition –
1. The fee for an “intact permit” shall be “what is reasonably necessary” to fund the administration of this complicated, bureaucratic nightmare program. There is no tested law to know how much this might cost. Several jurisdictions are already proposing $150/cat/year. It could be an even higher excise tax.
2. The jurisdictions MAY adopt a permit differential fee that would qualify for an intact permit. (Some may do this, others may have a higher license fee and charge an additional fee for an “intact permit” that allows the cat to be used for breeding. There is great uncertainty.)
D. The worst of all: No jurisdiction is prohibited from adopting a MORE restrictive spay/neuter “program.” There will be jurisdictions unable to implement the complicated proof of show career, registry approving, title checking plan for dogs and cats. Others may not want to administer an expensive breeder license program. Many could simply say mandatory spay/neuter - NO EXCEPTIONS.
We know the agenda of the animal rights organizations in support of this bill is to eventually stop all purposeful breeding. But it is difficult to understand how the California Animal Control Directors Association (CACDA) would support diverting resources to a complicated breeder-hunter law. We wonder why the California Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) would want to see the historic and beautiful well tempered breeds of cats with rich history, like Persians, Siamese, Japanese Bobtails, Korats, Maine Coons, American Shorthairs, Russian Blues, Scottish Folds and so many others become EXTINCT.
The cat fancy helps to educate and to raise the value of all cats. AB 1634 isn’t necessary for communities to reduce the numbers of homeless cats in California shelters. Stopping the unchecked reproduction of unowned/freeroaming/feral cats is.
Legislation to help reduce the population of feral cats is a good thing. However, the way this bill is written, we could end up cat-less, and I couldn’t imagine a world without these beautiful creatures. My fur-babies are all rescued, but they are also purebred cats, and if a law like this passed, then the chances of getting more cats will be greatly reduced.
Please join me in signing the petition to preserve the beautiful and historic breeds of cats.
http://www.cfa.org/exhibitors/alerts.html
One of the questions I am frequently asked involves how we deal with accountability and trust with online swapping. Accountability is important; you want to know that the person you are swapping with will hold up their end of the bargain. From the beginning of time, when the first caveman swapped meat for a club, trust is what makes barter work. So we have a couple of elements we look at to make it all work.
The first is a simple rating system. We could have built one, and did in the early days, but realized that we would then own your reputation, which did not seem fair. We partnered up with Rapleaf so that our users could own their own reputation. Who doesn’t want to work with a company that believes that it is more profitable to be ethical? The rating system is the first barrier to bad actions; when your reputation is portable and goes with you across multiple sites, you tend to make sure that you act with integrity.
In addition, the real key to swapping safely is leveraging implicit and explicit trust. In Freakonomics they talk about a study an economist conducts in Washington D.C. with bagels in break rooms. In small companies, people always pay for the bagels. If they aren’t motivated by ethics to act right, they are motivated by the fear of anyone they know finding out that they took a bagel without paying.
What do bagels have to do with swapping? Think of SwapCircles as the break room in the small company. If you are in a SwapCircle with people you know, of course everyone will behave well and swap fairly. You obviously have an explicit trust relationship with those people and can rely on them to meet their end of the bargain. If you are in a SwapCircle with people that you do not know, but have an association with, then you have implicit trust with them. You don’t know them, but because of other connections, you can rely on them to conduct a fair swap. One example of this is parents at an elementary school. You may not know the other parent, but you know that it is likely that you have acquaintances in common, and therefore you can trust each other. This happens when people invest social capital in an online community or group. You have never met, but you have been posting to the same collect forum for four years. You are invested in that forum and will therefore treat anyone fairly in a swap so that you can continue your online activities there without a damaged reputation.
We obviously believe that people mean well and most people not only act fairly, but will also understate the value of their item so that they are not perceived to be unfair. However, these ideas of rating and reputation, as well as explicit and implicit trust, are an important part of the SwapThing community. If you want to participate, the best way is to start a SwapCircle today. Don’t forget that if you use our affiliate program you can earn money for your group, association or even your child’s school.
Anyone who has read these blog entries knows that I am a big football fan. That being said, I have a plea to make to y’all: watch Friday Night Lights, the freshman NBC drama based on the book and film about high school football in a small Texas town. The critically-lauded, but ratings-challenged, show is a masterpiece that deserves to be granted a second season. Don’t be put off by the mostly teenaged characters… this certainly is not Dawson’s Creek or The O.C. The drama is not your run-of-the-mill teenage angst, and the adults play a vital role from week to week. In fact, Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton, who play the coach and his wife, have given Emmy-worthy performances that are right up there with the best television has to offer.
Despite finding a solid (and rabid) fan base, FNL is not exactly lighting up the Nielsens and it needs our support if it is to avoid the axe when NBC makes its decision on next season’s schedule. One bright spot is that it has pretty much held on to its audience while going up against the buzz saw that is American Idol. Once you watch just one episode, I think you will be hooked… it’s that good.
FNL is currently on a hiatus from its usual Wednesday 8:00 p.m. timeslot, but there is great news for those of you who want to jump on the bandwagon… all episodes are now available to view online for free! If you do not have the time (or bandwidth) to watch them all, you can also read episode recaps to get caught up with the happenings in Dillon, Texas. Check it out at: http://www.nbc.com/Video/rewind/full_episodes/friday_night_lights.shtml
After you fall in love with the show, visit this site and express your feeling to the powers-that-be at NBC, and let them know that you want more of this perfect show.
http://www.savefridaynightlights.com/how-to-save-friday-night-lights-the-show
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Good luck Friday Night Lights.
I am a big movie fan and greatly anticipate the annual coronation of the film industry known as the Academy Awards. I make a concerted effort to see all the nominated films in the major categories so I can truly enjoy the show and root for some favorites. Enjoying this year’s Oscars was easy with Ellen DeGeneres taking over the hosting duties, but the show on a whole was very bloated and long. In fact, this was the third longest Academy Awards show in history, and it had about an hour of irrelevant salutes that could have been eliminated.
Aside from the boring filler and length of the show, I thought Ellen did a great job hosting. She kept it clean and avoided politics while treating us to her usual brand of humor. I certainly hope the consensus is positive and that she is asked back to host in years to come.
One of my favorite moments of the night was the bit with Jack Black and Will Ferrell… totally hilarious. It can get dicey when calling out actors sitting in the audience (remember the Uma-Oprah fiasco with David Letterman), but they nailed it and had me in stitches throughout the whole thing.
As for the awards, The Departed won a highly contested race for Best Picture, nudging out Little Miss Sunshine (my personal favorite) and Babel. It was also a wonderful night for The Departed director Martin Scorsese, who finally won an Oscar after years of being criminally overlooked.
Helen Mirren (The Queen) and Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland) shocked no one by taking home the statues for Best Actress and Actor, though there was some speculation that Peter O’Toole (Venus) would win the sentimental vote and take home Oscar for the first time after eight nominations.
In the supporting categories, Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls) was rewarded for what I thought was the best performance by any actor or actress this past year. She stole every scene she was in, which is no small feat for an American Idol reject who had never acted before. I am looking forward to the next step in this burgeoning career.
Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine) pulled what could be the upset of the night by winning Best Supporting Actor over the favored Eddie Murphy (Dreamgirls). Some may speculate that Arkin’s award was given as a salute to his long career, but at the same time it can be argued that Murphy’s chances were hampered by the release of the critically-panned Norbit while Oscar ballots were still being submitted. Having loved Little Miss Sunshine more than any other film this year, I was very pleased with Arkin’s triumph, though he made a faux pas and read his speech from a piece of paper and rarely looked up at the audience. Not the most inspiring moment on stage, but it was kind of sweet and endearing in a rambling-old-man kind of way.
Al Gore seemed to take Hollywood by storm and was enjoying every moment of it. And, who can blame him after his An Inconvenient Truth won Best Documentary Feature and the always-great Melissa Etheridge took home the Oscar for Best Original Song from that film (“I Need to Wake Up”).
Another year in the books. Now we will be treated to crap movies and major blockbusters while we wait for the next Oscar season to heat up next fall.
What the heck is going on in San Diego? First, they stumble in the playoffs after compiling an NFL-best 14-2 record, and then they let four of their assistant coaches jump ship for new jobs with other teams. This stoked the fire in the volatile relationship between head coach Marty Schottenheimer and general manager A.J. Smith, which led to Marty’s dismissal. Five years of service and a 47-33 record and you get shown the door because two grown men cannot get along? Ridiculous! So what does the San Diego brass do? They hire Norv Turner to take over the team. The same Norv Turner with a nine-year career head coaching record of 59-83-1 at the helm of the Washington Redskins and Oakland Raiders. It has long been felt that Turner is best suited as an offensive coordinator, following a very successful stint with the Dallas Cowboys during their championship runs of the early ‘90s, and most recently helping guide the young careers of Alex Smith and Frank Gore of the San Francisco 49ers. How is it that a guy who has a so-so track record of leading a team was considered for so many head coach openings this postseason? Turner is a likeable guy (from what I have read), but I cannot help but think there are plenty of other worthy candidates that should be given their first shot before opting for a guy with a losing record.
I’m just your average football fan, so I am not gonna pretend to know more than those who have made a living in professional football. Maybe the Charger