Breakfast Links: Toenail Necklace, Electronics Recycling & Lifestyle Pets
Gross. Seriously. Gross. Oh, gross, I just looked at it again. Don’t forget to click on the thumbnail to see the full size. Blackened. Toenail. Necklace.
Shiver… anyway, on to something more mundane - Staples has launched a recycling program for computers and other electronic gear. I think that’s really cool, you pay them $10 per large item (doesn’t have to be from staples) and they’ll recycle it in accordance with whatever environmental laws there are. Since there’s Staples all over the place, I think it’s a really worthwhile thing to do. I wonder if this is somehow profitable for Staples since the revelation a bit ago that e-waste contains 17x more gold than gold ore and 40x more copper than copper ore. Of course, that’s all mined on the health of chinese workers. Why isn’t there any such thing as a free lunch??
Lastly we have the Ashera, some new breed of cat that this company Lifestyle Pets has bred and is selling for $22k. Yes, that’s right, twenty two thousand dollars. Now you know I disapprove of cat and dog breeding programs. But let’s set that aside. When I was a younger man, I always wanted a bengal and the Ashera is kinda like that but bigger. This cat gets up to 30 pounds, that’s a reasonably sized dog. Seriously, go to the site and click on the gallery and then click on the bottom left most image, it’s a picture of one of these beasts on a leash with a person for scale (and is it just me, or does the woman in that picture have man hands?). I scream like a baby when my 6 pound cat jumps on my shoulder what’s going to happen when that bad boy does?? Still, it is really darn cool looking - if I was a billionaire and didn’t have ethical problems with breeding programs, I’d think about it.
June 1st, 2007 at 10:04 am
Um, aren’t the dogs and cats we have now all products of breeding programs more or less? Maybe not so commercialized like these guys are doing but still bred for specific traits and features.
June 1st, 2007 at 10:11 am
That depends on your definition of “we”. I personally don’t have a pure bred cat or dog. But yes, these are no different than any other pure bred domestic - but I have a (minor) problem with breeding programs in general - especially in this day and age where the breeding is for an aesthetic and not practical end. I do enjoy that we have such variety of animals which is largely due to the breeding programs, but if I think too much about it I still find it a little creepy.
June 1st, 2007 at 12:40 pm
I think what ben is saying is that just about all domesticated animals are the product of generations of selective breeding.
except my $5 chinatown turtle.
jerk.
June 1st, 2007 at 1:19 pm
Is that li’l guy still around??
June 1st, 2007 at 1:33 pm
yeah, my lil green buddy arthur is basking in the heatlamp as we speak.