With four cats in the house I always seem to be cleaning up cat fur. It gets everywhere especially over the sofas and many vacuum cleaners just don’t seem to make a difference. I recently picked up a cheap Dyson vacuum because I had heard such good things about the Animal model. It is meant to be designed specifically for pet fur and although I was sceptical at first it does actually pick up a lot more fur than my old vacuum cleaner. I do still need to vacuum the house every couple of days but its nice to be fur free.

Further to my post about a possible shortage this Christmas it appears there could be further problems as bird flu has been discovered in Norfolk. It has been confirmed as the H5N1 virus and so far thousands of turkeys, geese and ducks have been slaughtered with a protection zone set up around the farm.

Scientists have discovered that prawns do feel pain. They discovered this by rubbing acetic acid onto the antennae of 144 of them. The prawns reacted by rubbing and grooming the affected area which is consistent to how other creatures react when they feel pain. I just feel a bit sorry for the poor prawns in the experiment; it seems a very mean way for the scientists to test the theory.

There could be a shortage of turkeys this Christmas. The shortage has been caused by threatened strike action at turkey produces by Bernard Matthews which is due to start on the 24th of November. Turkeys are also likely to be more expensive this year with rising food costs pushing up prices meaning turkeys are now 20% more expensive to rear. This is likely to add around £5 to the cost of the average Christmas lunch. It looks like we might be having duck for Christmas dinner this year.

A man in Texas who calls himself the Texas Snake Man has broken a world record by spending 45 minutes in a bathtub with 87 rattlesnakes. The snakes had not been defanged and still contained their venom. He also set another world record last year by holding 10 rattlesnakes by their tails in his mouth at the same time. He hopes to break this world record with an attempt to try it with 11. Crazy.

BT has claimed its place as the UK broadband market leader. It has added double the amount of new customers that its nearest rival the Carphone Warehouse has in the last three months. BT now has over 4 million broadband customers compared to the Carphone Warhouse which now has around 2.5 million.

I brought some Pollack today for the first time and was surprised at how tasty it was. I made a light batter and put it in the deep fat fryer for around 10 minutes. It turned out really well with a light crispy batter and perfectly cooked fish. The taste is similar to cod but I noticed the fish had less bones. I will definitely be buying this on a regular basis.

Marks and Spencer are going to introduce a 5p charge for plastic carrier bags. The move follows a trial in Northern Ireland which led to a 66% reduction in the number of plastic bags used. It will begin with a trial in the South West of England starting from February and will include the company giving a free bag for life with each transaction for three weeks before the trial starts.

Sony is going to launch a third generation model of its PS2. The new model will be a lighter version of the current design. It will be the same size but will weigh only 720g compared to the current model which weighs 850g. The new version will also include the AC power brick. The launch appears to be part of Sony’s plan to sell 12 million PS2 consoles by March 2008. The new version will come in a choice of white, silver or black and will cost the same as the current model.

A chocolate sundae served by a New York restaurant has been declared the world’s most expensive dessert with a price tag of £12,500. The dessert is infused with edible 23 carat gold and served in a gold lined goblet with a box of Knipschildt chocolate which retail at £1,300. It also includes an 18 carat gold and diamond bracelet on the goblets base which you can take home. I would think so at that price.

We were watching a nature programme the other day about song birds which the cats really seemed to enjoy. Within minutes of the programme starting Ollie was sitting in front of the TV making what we call hunting noises at the birds. People who have cats will know what I mean by hunting noises but for those who don’t it’s a sort of high pitched clicking noise they make when they see a bird that they want to eat but that they can’t catch.

I read this article about a new Stilton milkshake. The milk shake is made of blue cheese mixed with other flavours including peanut butter or ginger cake. It is made by milk shake specialist Moo Juce who experimented with several flavours before deciding on Stilton. I’m not sure I will be trying it.

I read this interesting article on the National Geographic website about these fish that can actually live outside of the water for months at the time. The fish is a mangrove rivulus or mangrove killifish and as its name suggests it lives in the swampy mangrove forests. When the mangrove swamps dry up during dry periods the fish simply lives in logs under piles of damp leaves. It can do this for around 66 days breathing air through its skin whilst still retaining its gills. Amazing.

I read this article the other day about a new chocolate that is meant to be good for you. The chocolate is called Choxi and is made by Prestat, the chocolatiers to the Queen. It is packed full of antioxidants and contains more per pound than 5lbs of apples. The chocolate is available in dark and milk varieties and mint and orange flavours. At only £1.99 a bar I will certainly be trying it.

I read this article about a new show called Arrange Me A Marriage which will be screened on BBC2 later on in November. The show will be hosted by Aneela Rahman who will match couples based on class, education, family background, life goals and earnings. Once the couples have been selected they will then have an introduction party to see how they get on. Aneela Rahman believes that British ways of finding a partner are random and likely to fail. It will be interesting to see how many matches are made based on her introductions.

I read this article that suggests some pet owners pay up to £10,000 for operations for their pets. In one example open heart surgery costs around £10,000 and a hip operation £2,500. One thing is for sure vet bills are really expensive. Just to see the vet costs around £15, although I must admit the vet gives the pet their full attention. A few years ago when my cat Ollie hurt his tail it cost us just over £300 for an overnight stay. Ollie has stitches and a small operation which saved his tail. However, at the time Ollie was not insured so we had to pay the full bill… Ouch. One thing I will say though is my cats seem to get better attention from the vet than I get when I go to see a doctor. Perhaps I should move to private healthcare.