I took this picture of Oscar the other day relaxing with his toy.

I read this article about some scientists who have created mice with no fear of cats. The scientists from The Tokyo University developed the mice by shutting down receptors in their brain that process information about smells. Usually the receptors would induce panic when a mouse smells a cat but with them shut down the mouse loses its fear. That’s all very well but I thought mice were meant to be scared of cats. The cat used in this experiment shows no interest in eating the mouse but my cats would hunt it whether it showed fear or not.

Scientists in South Korea have cloned a cat that glows. The cat glows red when exposed to ultraviolet rays. Three Turkish Angora cats were born in January through cloning with a gene that produces a red fluorescent protein that makes them glow in the dark. Although one died at birth the other two survived. It is thought they could be used to develop cures for human diseases. That’s all very good but how cool is a glowing cat?

A few weeks ago my main bank account was compromised causing me quite a few problems. I am now pleased to report that I have a new working debit card again and that all the fraudulent transactions have now been refunded.

I started reading the Wheel of Time series a few months ago after a friend lent me the first book. I loved the first one so being a quick reader I immediately brought the rest of the series. Unfortunately, though the author Robert Jordan died in September after battling a rare blood disease called amyloidosis without completing the twelfth and final book. His wife and editor has now chosen writer Brandon Sanderson to complete the series. He will work from draft notes left by Jordan as well as working closely with the editor. Whilst I am still only on book number five it will be interesting to see the outcome.

Nintendo are likely to hold back its adverts for the Wii console until the New Year due to the fact that it can’t keep up with demand. Nintendo have said that holding back adverts until 2008 would be a “responsible move”. They are likely to use the existing advertising slots to advertise the DS console instead. On our shopping trip at the weekend I noticed that there seems to be a shortage not only of the Wii console but also of other leading consoles such as the PS3 which also seems to be selling out very quickly despite the price.

If you don’t know what to buy for Christmas and have a lot of spare cash you might want to treat your loved ones to this really expensive cocktail. With a price tag of £35,000 for just one glass it is the world’s most expensive cocktail. The cocktail consists of a large measure of Louis XII cognac, half a bottle of Cristal Rose champagne, some brown sugar, angostura bitters and a few flakes of 24-carat edible gold leaf. If you fancy trying it you can purchase it at The Movida nightclub in London.

An investigation has found that some major high street stores have been selling real fur labelled as acrylic. One mystery shopper brought a coat from TK Maxx which has a no fur policy. It was later found that the coat had a real fur collar trim. The RSPCA has urged shoppers to double check any items that have a fur trim. As a guide if skin or leather can be seen between the hairs at the base when they are pulled apart, the fur is real. If a weave, or material, can be seen at the base, then it is fake.

We went into Staines today and spent the afternoon doing some Christmas shopping. The idea was to try and get it all done in one afternoon. What we failed to take into account was that everyone else in the surrounding area seemed to have the same idea. I wanted to purchase some perfume from Boots but found it was hard to find the brands I wanted in the store. Although I knew exactly what I wanted to purchase none of the products were on display and I would need to wait in a very long queue to talk to a shop assistant. Whilst I appreciate certain products are under lock and key for security reasons, having more than two staff on the perfume counter might have been useful at a busy time. Eventually I gave up. When I got home I spent less than five minutes ordering the products online instead.