text:
- Jon Cox
- Eugene, OR
- United States
This conversation is closed.
Cats pose a serious threat to biodiversity: Why do we accept it? What should be done?
According to the ASPCA, there are around 90 million owned domestic cats (Felis catus) in the U.S., and taking into account strays and feral cats, the total number is estimated to be as high as 160 million (1). Loss et al. (2013) estimates that cats roaming outdoors kill 1.4-3.7 BILLION birds and 6.9-20.7 BILLION mammals in the U.S. annually (2). Reptiles and amphibians such as snakes, lizards, frogs, etc., are also frequently killed by cats.
Cats are even more popular New Zealand, where they are contributing to declines of endemic birds such as the critically endangered kakapo (3), which have evolved in the absence of predators. Businessman/philanthropist Gareth Morgan is trying to gather support for legislation that would aggressively deal with stray and feral cats and potentially eliminate cats from New Zealand to take pressure off of threatened species (4 & 5). With Morgan's plan, in addition to regulation that would reduce cat populations and increase owner accountability, residents would be encouraged to not replace their cats. As of now the majority of New Zealanders surveyed are in opposition to Morgan's initiative.
Would a proposition like Morgan's meet similar resistance in the U.S.? Probably, but is he on the right track? Would you personally support something like it for your state or country? Why or why not is it a good idea? Is this type of legislation necessary to curb the problem and protect wildlife? If you disagree, what are some alternatives? Will the aesthetics and familiarity of cats keep them off limits to such ideas in the opinions of the general public?
1. http://www.aspca.org/about-us/faq/pet-statistics.aspx
2. http://www.abcbirds.org/abcprograms/policy/cats/pdf/Loss_et_al_2013.pdf
3. http://www.avianweb.com/kakapo.html
4. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/01/24/170191917/new-zealand-environmentalist-wants-to-eliminate-cats-to-save-birds
5. http://www.livescience.com/26525-cat-eradication-new-zealand-save-birds.html
Closing Statement from Jon Cox
Thanks to everyone who contributed to a thought provoking discussion!
I think we can all agree that we need to be responsible with our pets! For the sake of ecological and human health. And pet owners must realize that their carelessness is costly. Plans to completely eliminate cats from areas where they are very popular are pretty far fetched, but stricter regulation is a must, and domestic cats do NOT belong in the wild, period. Feral cats need to be seen and dealt with just as any other invasive species. However, extreme caution is necessary in any attempt to remove them where they have become established as a keystone species.
Check out Australian cat laws for a look at the legislation adopted by a people who cherish their native wildlife and do not want to see it be destroyed by invasives.
And lastly, we must keep in mind that invasive species are just one way in which we threaten biodiversity. Overexploitation and especially habitat loss pose even greater threats to species survival.
Thanks again!
Mario R
May 7 2013: I found an interesting article that highlighted the effects of reducing predatory effects in ecosystems. The article was talking about predatory chains and how the elimination of a top, or superpredator, might open the door for a different predator, or mesopredator, to take the original predator's place. This would in fact lead to the extinction of the prey. The example they looked at was an endemic bird population, and the superpredator were feral domestic cats.
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This got me to thinking about the effects of suppressing cats' activities outdoors. If something was done to regulate cats' outdoor liberties, would there be increases in predatory activity of a different species on the same prey?
Erik Parker
May 7 2013: Great point as usual, Mario.
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That was exactly the same line of thought that I was mulling over. For as long as there have been modern urban and suburban areas there have been cats present really. So I think it makes sense to think about it as though those environments and cats have co-evolved in a way. That means we have no real way of knowing what will happen if cats are eliminated from an area all together. Sure we can speculate that maybe those species preyed upon by the cats in those environments will recover greatly, but what's to say that some other species wouldn't come in to fill that niche vacated by the cats? The reality is that we really don't know what will happen until it does, and this unpredictability is why removal experiments are often so dangerous.
The article Mario linked makes the good point that other predators often move in to such situations quickly, and in particular uses the example of rodents coming in to prey on the eggs of birds usually targeted by feral cats. I was able to find some more articles that addressed this phenomena of top predator removal harming an ecosystem overall, and I think they would be valuable to take a look at as it is a really counterintuitive but interesting viewpoint.
1. http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/276/1671/3249.short
2. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169534701021942
ben head
May 7 2013: Great point about urban/suburban environments co-evolving with cats present!
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Even in rural areas, as some have pointed out, farmers really need cats for pest control, and in America I don't really think cats can cause even a fraction of the damage they can cause in island environments. North America has always had plenty of predators that have interacted and co-evolved with potential prey species, whereas in New Zealand (and many other island nations) there have NEVER been endemic mammalian predators present for things to evolve defenses for, and such an introduction can vastly destabilize a system, even leading to extinction in some cases. The only predator i can find ever being from New Zealand was Haast's eagle which humans also drove to extinction, which, due to its diet of moa and corresponding huge size, was likely not a large source of predation for many of these smaller birds anyway- they were completely defenseless.May 7 2013: What will be the predator that will partially fill the void of the cat superpredator? I ask this, for in many environments, cats are introduced, so they take advantage prey that have no natural predators or inefficient natural predators.May 7 2013: "Could tiny organisms carried by house cats be creeping into our brains, causing everything from car wrecks to schizophrenia."
The parasite, which is excreted by cats in their feces, is called Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii or Toxo for short) and is the microbe that causes toxoplasmosis—the reason pregnant women are told to avoid cats' litter boxes. Since the 1920s, doctors have recognized that a woman who becomes infected during pregnancy can transmit the disease to the fetus, in some cases resulting in severe brain damage or death. T. gondii is also a major threat to people with weakened immunity: in the early days of the AIDS epidemic, before good antiretroviral drugs were developed, it was to blame for the dementia that afflicted many patients at the disease's end stage. Healthy children and adults, however, usually experience nothing worse than brief flu-like symptoms before quickly fighting off the protozoan, which thereafter lies dormant inside brain cells—or at least that's the standard medical wisdom.
May 8 2013: Great Theodore, now i can sleep peacefully and worry-free while the cat helps me strengthen my immune system... ;-)
Justin Allen
May 8 2013: I found a recent review on this subject. If you have access, take a look.
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Influence of latent Toxoplasma infection on human personality, physiology and morphology: pros and cons of the Toxoplasma–human model in studying the manipulation hypothesis
http://jeb.biologists.org/content/216/1/127.abstractMay 8 2013: T. gondii
Brain damage and death in unborn babies, making adults sick and crazy, killing sea otters...
Spread through cat poop from litterboxes, garden soil and unwashed food, ocean runoff
And I'm not sure if it was mentioned, but cats are the definitive host for T. gondii. It cannot sexually reproduce in any environment other than the guts of felids.
This is an interesting protozoan.
May 8 2013: I am curious if T. gonodii is present in every cat or just the majority of them? Because maybe there is a way to stop the protozoan from thriving inside cat guts. Then at least there would be a little less to worry about with the abundance of cats in our world.May 7 2013: Attempting to find scholarly articles on this topic proved a little difficult, so I'll just discuss some of my thoughts and attach the best piece of research I found on the topic.
In island nations such as New Zealand I can understand the need for more extreme measures to control cat population due to the characteristics of many New Zealand fauna that make them more susceptible to cat predation. Some of these characteristics include small size, terrestrial foraging or breeding habit, and isolation in native habitat fragments.
However, in urban environments I see more problems resulting from the extermination of cats. It is mostly small mammals, birds, and reptiles that are subjected to predation by cats. As much as I can appreciate the conservation of many species, do you really think that people in urban environments are going to be happy if urban populations of rodents and birds significantly increase?
From what I have read there are some legislative controls on cat activities in different areas across Australia that have been going on for a decade. I think the best plan of action is to use these areas as case studies to fully understand the effects of removing cats from the ecosystem. I also think it is important to take each environment (urban, suburban, etc.) and consider the impacts on an individual basis. For example I think cat populations in urban environments, where we know diversity of species is already reduced due to human impacts and urbanization, play an important role at this point and without them pest populations could become an issue.
Derek Niemi
May 7 2013: I agree with you Eleni. I'd like to add though that the usefulness of cats as pest regulators extends beyond urban environments. Many people living in the country, especially those with barns and sheds have cats to get rid of mice, and even birds that live in the rafters and the like. While yes, there also will likely be collateral damage with those species we are concerned about, there is also an undeniable benefit to a feline presence in both these areas and urban areas.
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As you said, people in these environments wouldn't be too happy to see rats running around, so the next alternative would likely be pesticides, which we know will have their own set of undesirable side-effects. While there are certainly downsides to having so many cats around, I believe it is a necessary evil. However, to help solve the problem, more animal control measures on feral cats could help reduce the unwanted deaths of native and threatened species.
May 7 2013: Hey Derek,
where we live, in a woodsy, rural area, our cat has been undeniably handy in keeping the explosive rabbit population under control!
And on a side note, our cat indirectly teaches my kids a valuable lesson of life and death. When they go outside to play, they are often confronted by half-eaten mouse/rabbit/bird carcasses. My initial instinct was to shield them from this 'horror', but that was impossible, and as it turns out, unnecessary. They accept that there are predators and prey, that animals have different needs than humans, and that where there is life, there is death. A cat symbolizes the raw aspects of nature that children need to be aware of.
May 8 2013: I agree, Lizanne. I grew up in the same sort of area. My parents still live there. No rabbits though. Mostly mice and voles. The moles and gophers I take care of myself when I'm around and have time for a stakeout.
In addition to the lessons you mentioned, it also teaches people to watch where they step ;)
Only had to make that mistake once...
But anyway, back to you said, I totally agree and I think that that sort of realistic outlook is something kids are losing as more and more people live in cities. They never see what the real world is like outside of their sterile bubble.
Mario R
May 7 2013: While you bring up a good point Eleni, I think that rodents, and birds, both serve a purpose in urban environments. For example, squirrels, mice, and birds all aid in seed dispersal. By eliminating significant numbers in these populations, seed dispersal will be hindered.
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May 7 2013: I agree with you Mario, I am sure they do play an important role in urban environments. Have you come across any news articles or scientific articles discussing a lack of these critters in urban areas? From personal experience I see lots of squirrels, mice, and birds around Eugene despite the large domestic cat population.
May 8 2013: i like the point you brought up eleni about how cats do keep certain populations down. Maybe the cat populations just need to be regulated for certain areas? That being said, is that even fair to do?
Jon Cox
May 7 2013: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/8565033/Sydney-imposes-cat-curfew-to-protect-native-wildlife.html
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Here is another interesting form of legislation from Australia. A curfew requiring cats to be indoors overnight to curb attacks on nocturnal wildlife.
May 7 2013: This is an interesting approach but I think this might be hard to implement. From my experience cats don't like to be controlled and usually roam around as they please. What if trying to control these cats leads them to become violent and attack their owners? Are we just creating more of an issue?
May 7 2013: Yeah I wonder how you could even enforce it. I imagine registration is also mandatory there, so if your cat was found wandering around it could be traced back to you and you would get a nice big fine in the mail, and each offense results in a heftier fine until ultimately the city takes your pet away. Something like that, I bet! Would be neat to find out if the curfew plan was successful or not.May 7 2013: I agree that something needs to be done to cut down the amount of killing that domestic cats do but I personally love cats and would not give them up.
I have a few ideas about how to regulate the cat population (a few of which have been touched on earlier in this conversation)....
1. We could make all domestic cats that are pets indoor animals only. There is really no good way to regulate this but I think more people would comply with this if it was law and if they were educated about why the law was going into effect.
2. I think that cat owners should have to register their cat through a vet's office (with the vet reporting to a regional or national database). I see this registration involving having a chip injected into the cat as the registration number.
3. Regulated domestic breeding - These people would have to apply for a license to breed and there could be a limited number of licenses per year per area (as they do with hunting tags). The kittens would all have to be reported and chiped by the vet after they are born and before they are sold to new owners.
4. More funds and resources allotted to spay/neuter clinics for feral cats. With more resources and domestic cats being kept indoors we could drastically reduce the number of these cats roaming the streets.
5. And finally, if the owner has no intent of breeding their cat they must spay/neuter them by a deadline.
Does any of this sound feasible?
May 7 2013: A rule without enforcement is just a suggestion. Unless you somehow enforce this, there will be minimal compliance.
I like the idea of having cats being registered at the vets office. A step further would to be to place a tax on cats. Those who own a cat would be taxed for owning one. The tax would be set at the same level of the social costs created by the cat. This way the owner can pay for externalities created by the cat. These funds can only be used for restoration and preservation in the environment that the cat damages.
Some may not take their cats in for fear of this registration and not wanting to pay a tax. However, when a pet becomes sick then the individual will be morally obligated to take the cat to a vet. This will be the enforcement part of the law. It also applies for individuals who breed cats. Those who refuse to take their cats in will eventually do so. We could also subsidize spraying to keep cat populations down.
In the end, government and the individual are held responsible, and the winner is the environment.
May 7 2013: I'm not sure about taxing pet owners of cats. That doesn't seem like something the public would pass due to the amount of taxes we already have. Although... you could make the cost of cats from breeders and those from the humane societies slightly higher (adding in the tax that way so it is just a one time fee when you buy the pet).
I also think that it would be hard to pass all of these ideas at once (in the United States at least) but if one part of it could be passed and then research done to show effectiveness the public may be more invested in the tax or other regulations regarding cats.
As far as taking in your cat to get registered.... You are right... Some people would simply oppose to this and others would call it government conspiracy to get ahold of personal information but as time goes on and breeders, humane societies, and citizens bring in their pets to get registered more and more will be registered. I do not imagine all of this happening overnight. It would take people a while to warm up to the ideas (and even to the fact that something needs to be done) as well as take an abundant amount of time to get all of these pets registered and the current strays and feral cats spayed and neutered.May 7 2013: My main concern is that many of your proposals seem relatively expensive (either because of enforcement costs or the price of chips). While I like Alex's suggestion of a Pigouvian tax, I agree that it seems pretty unfeasible with the political atmosphere.
I wonder if there are other, more cost-effective solutions. Someone mentioned developing a sort of birth control shot for cats earlier in the thread. While I don't know how long a shot could be effective, I think we should be focusing on solutions that are cheap and easily disseminated. Tracking down whether every pet owner keeps their cat indoors or fixes their cat just don't happen.
May 7 2013: How is a shot going to be more effective or less money than spaying/neutering your cat? And we know that spaying and neutering is effective birth control.
I do realize that my solutions would cost money as does every other solution we are coming up with in this conversation so we again to that idea of putting a monetary value on ecosystems. How much are we willing to lose versus how much are we willing to invest in saving.
May 8 2013: Spaying and neutering is certainly effective, but can be costly (upwards of $50 a cat) and requires recovery time for the animal. I can't see a shot being more effective but certainly cheaper. Again, it's a flawed idea though due to the temporary nature of shot-based birth control.
I didn't intend to disparage all of your ideas because of their cost. You're right that any solution will require some financial investment. I just wanted to point out that many of the ideas proposed on this thread would require a degree of enforcement that I don't see being funded. My hope is that someone might produce an idea for a cheap way to address the problem on a wide scale (I'm thinking syringe/needle exchange programs to reduce HIV as a model). A birth control shot is probably not it but I think it's along the lines of how we should be thinking, versus top down legislation that counters the sentiments of the majority of the population.
Phoebe Cone
May 7 2013: I find it pretty ironic to call for the elimination of cats as pets because of their effect on bird biodiversity, when humans are directly causing the loss of so many other species. You could argue that legislation to limit the population of humans in the US should be implemented, because "it is for the greater good and humans are just too destructive to justify", but of course most people would not support that. Similarly, the majority of people will never support a decision to make cat ownership illegal. There has to be a balance. I do not think it is reasonable to force people to give up pets, a major source of enjoyment and entertainment (a provider of "cultural services", if you will) to protect other species that the general population, to be honest, probably doesn't care all that much about.
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I think the focus should be on public education and on feral cat population control. The people who are most likely to want to donate their time and resources to organizations that advocate things such as the protection of bird biodiversity are probably animal lovers, and therefore are likely to keep pets themselves. If we increased public education that let people know that regulating their cats' outdoor activities could lead to more beautiful birds gracing their feeders and yards, I think people would be much more receptive to the idea that cats harm bird biodiversity. As another person mentioned, putting bells on cat collars is a great idea. Outdoor cats without bell collars could result in their owners being fined, similar to the concept of keeping your dog on a leash. Finally, I think increased control on feral cat populations would have a big impact, especially in the US. One study found that over two years, trap-neuter-return approaches decreased feral cat populations by 36%; without TNR, populations increased 47% (Stoskopf & Nutter). It's not perfect, but it's a much more balanced and reasonable approach to this issue.
May 7 2013: Very well said. I had intended to create a post expressing similar sentiments, but you've saved me the trouble. :)May 7 2013: I can also see the irony in the situation, and the reason there are so many cats destroying other species is because of human domestication and breeding so I think it's reasonable for a need for more regulation and accountability for cat owners and even the general public. I agree that there should be a focus on feral cat population control but honestly, from experience volunteering with an animal rescue group, there are just too many feral cats for people to deal with, at least the small amount of volunteers and workers that care enough to deal with them. But I agree that this issue should be more publicized because people probably don't realize how much of an impact their house pets can have on biodiversity. Maybe there should be a government funded program in each city for trap-neuter-return methods instead of rescue groups applying for grants and using finite resources to deal with the issue.May 7 2013: I agree that it is silly for people to point the finger at cats when we are doing the most damage, it's just easier for us to fragment and change each destructive behavior rather than step back and see ourselves as a problematic species. I wonder if the law is harder on dogs because they have the potential to injure or kill humans and destroy property, whereas cats can only harm smaller organisms. If cats were as big as most dogs, there would certainly be a lot of restrictions. So much of our behavior and legislation is centered around human well being, with no regard for our neighbor species, that seems to be a theme of this class.
Paige Walker
May 7 2013: You are right Ryan, humans are egocentric so lets use that to bring light to this issue. Conservation efforts can use that fact to not only inform the public of the harm that felines do to our ecosystems but also the danger they pose to us. Cat overpopulation can be linked to extinction but also the spread of disease to humans and other organisms.May 7 2013: This is a great point, I wonder how the two threats compare in terms of scaling. Humans do more diversified and global damage for sure. They are also responsible for domestication and export of cats around the world. Rather than seeing cat-caused destruction as separate from human caused destruction, the loss of biodiversity due to cats is actually just an extension of human caused destruction.May 7 2013: I do think that human populations need to be limited and that we could offer financial incentives to people who choose to have only one or two children.
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I think the focus has already been on public education and feral cat population control but that hasn't worked.
The fact that we humans have introduced cats to environments that previously didn't have such excellent predators and that we let their numbers grow to the point of destroying other species is pointing the finger more so at humans than cats, they're just doing what comes naturally.
May 7 2013: Exactly. It is not the animal's fault what so ever. It is a man made issue. Cats just do what they do, but we have engineered a serious problem by spreading them across the globe and turning a blind eye to the damage they do for so long. Destruction caused by domestic cats is just another way in which we are putting unsustainable pressure on our environment.
Jaeuck Kim
May 8 2013: I think overall Morgan's idea seems right; however, his way to address the issue was radical, especially, in terms of dealing with one of favorite pets for human being. First of all, people are not ecologists or biologists. Statistics and data do not open our minds and convince the importance of cat control. Number is just a number. For this issue, I think we need more political approach than science.
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As the first step, to make a documentary like the National Geography, or even TED Talk seems a good idea to convince people why we need a cat control for preservation wildlife. Such the visual information is, sometimes, more effective than a well written article. The next step will be to start indirect and passive controls. Legislation of registration and neutering of domestic cat is a good example. It does not really kill or actively remove cat by human hands, but it prevents that more escaped cats flow in the wild life system. Especially, Registration of cat with small under skin-implanted magnetic chip is important for next action to give strong responsibilities to cat holders. Based on registration of cats, we can give fines when finding cat holders with unneutered cats or holders who do not care cats properly. Additionally, taxation for cat holders is also good idea. This tax can be used for restoring destroyed wild life by cat and neutering street cats. Meanwhile, we can capture street cats and neuter them and send the humane society or adopt cats to people who want. This action is very important because at least, we have a good excuse that "we try to save cats by adoptions, but you guys do not want. Soooo, there is no option.."May 8 2013: Morgan seems to be far to radical to attain success on a small isolated island like New Zealand, so there is no way he could be successful with this idea on a larger scale in the US. People have been known to protest over anything, and taking away one of their favorite "model" (cute) organisms is not going to go over well. I don't even think his methods are logical because a total eradication of any one species from an ecosystem is considered a threat to biodiversity. Even if cats are as dangerous as some researchers assume, they reside as a Keystone species due to their interactions. I don't think there is anything that would make this a reasonable course of action, but the idea of curtailing the effects of cats on biodiversity is sound. Regulation of cats could definitely be handled better, but I do not think that there is a way that all cats can be controlled and monitored. They are wild and many are feral or unregistered cats. Many people have large amounts of unrecorded animal births. Large proportions of these animals will escape or become wild, and once that happens they are impossible to control via the owners. This is a difficult species to monitor because of how close to our homes that it lives. They are right outside our door and people can see anything that we do to them. I'm having trouble figuring out a way that we could eliminate or use this species as we do others, but there is a huge amount of public support for animal safety and regulations on animal cruelty. This animal is too "cute" to use simple strategies of population control, so it might be an invasive species that we have to live with.
May 8 2013: I tend to agree that we may just have to live with the problem. The amount of resources it would take to attempt to create a society paradigm shift in how cats are regarded (as "cute" pets, not vermin) is prohibitive and would likely meet with failure anyway. In any event, applying an extreme solution to a moderate problem is illogical. I unfortunately am unable to offer a better solution at this time, but I think that if a solution exists, we must seek it out using a balanced approach.May 8 2013: I agree chipping cats and registering them seems like a great idea. I think Morgan's suggestion is very extreme and I don't see that working out here. Since cats cannot be contained like dogs it would be best if a law could be passed that all cats had to be spayed or neutered unless the owner had a special permit for breeding. I see this being very hard to control though since cats roam free and its hard to tell if cats even belong to anyone sometimes. The only other way I see something like this really working would be to go out and spay and neuter every cat we find but that would be very costly and then we also face cat extinction which I imagine will create a huge increase in rodent problems and more. Cats shouldn't disappear we just need to find a happy medium!
May 8 2013: I agree with you and I said similar things in an earlier post. I did want to make one comment though.... We do already have a system in place to capture and spay/neuter stray and feral cats. I have helped participate in the program and a lot of good is done by this. We have seen the population of feral/stray cats reduced in areas where we did this. Volunteer vets do the procedures and college students provided a lot of the extra help as well as community members. If we could expand this program we could vastly decrease the wild population.
May 8 2013: This is really cool! Im wondering how this is applied on the national scale and what percentage of feral/strays are tagged or neutered. How many feral/ strays are born from stray parents and how many just escape from a domesticated environment? Is this system also implemented for dogs, or is it primarily just for cats?May 8 2013: I like your idea of having a law passed for spaying and neutering all cats, unless you are a breeder. I also agree that there should be some control for the feral cats. However, cats are a keystone species and without them there could be disruption to other species. Complete eradication is a drastic move, so I agree that there needs to be a happy medium.May 8 2013: ANYONE need only Google for: Loews Hotels Feral Cats, if they want to see just what kind of whack-jobs these people are. More problems than their cats.
After reading what they did to the owners of Loews hotels, any sane person realizes to not bring these TNR sociopaths and psychopaths right to your door.
Another replay of what these cat-licker-sociopaths did to Loews Hotels: www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-stray-cats-20121026,0,6245372.story
A $150 million renovation project for low-income housing, put on hold, jobs lost, money lost, homeless still homeless, court costs and lawyers, just to save a few of their feral vermin cRats. And the saddest part of all, the vast majority of these TNR'ed cats had already died heinous inhuman deaths from TNR-practitioners' OWN "death by attrition" mantra. (Road-kill, diseases, parasites, injuries, environmental poisons, cat & animal attacks, exposure, etc.)
Similar scenarios can be found across the globe every month by Googling for feral cats and churches, universities, hospitals, shopping centers, malls, apartment-complexes, etc., etc. Cat-lickers think that any property on which a cat has stepped foot is their own property and they can control every life and law on it.
This is precisely why everyone is learning to destroy all cats on their properties as quickly and quietly as possible. Telling nobody beforehand about the cats even being there. Long before these psychotic cat-lover sociopaths and psychopaths get wind of the cats. Shoot cats first, tell no-one later. Because the only thing worse than feral cats are feral cat-lickers. You can legally shoot the former, not the latter. You need to pay lawyers and courts to get rid of the latter. THEN you can get rid of their cats. And the sad part is, that's EXACTLY what happens, each and every time.
People are wising-up. If ANY cats are around they destroy every last one of them first before they make any other move. All thanks to these cat-advocates.May 8 2013: The ONLY veterinarians and groups supporting the COMPLETELY INHUMANE practice of TNR are those that financially benefit from all the hundreds of thousands of dollars that PetSmart and other petfood companies hand-out as "seed money" cash-grants and pleas for donations by exploiting suffering animals. The more suffering cat-mouths that they can all keep alive to torture to death by "attrition" and torture all wildlife to death with their cats, the more they all benefit financially. This is ONLY about the money being made by letting cats and animals suffer to death.
ALL respectable veterinarians and others with the least bit of credible education and morality speak out strongly against TNR. Educate yourselves as well about this morally reprehensible TNR "business".
You can start the process by Googling for these postings (include the quotes for each full search-string):
"The TNR Con-Game"
(Lists and dispels some of the most prevalent lies told by all TNR cat-hoarders.)
"Be cautious about using any cats taken from outdoors for adoption"
(Why rabid cats are now being adopted right from shelters.)
"Here's another fun aspect of TNR that TNR LIARS never bother to tell anyone"
(TNR con-artist liars are now clipping cats ears only without sterilizing nor vaccines to save money and protect any stray cat from being trapped and euthanized, proof is included in that post.)
Bonus Info: Now you'll know the underlying reason why cat-lickers do this in the first place. Even they aren't aware of why they are more than happy to throw their cats under the wheels of moving cars and still claim they love cats, and why they can't stop themselves from doing so. Google for (include quotes):
Cats "Human Territorial Behavior By Expendable Proxy"May 8 2013: After 15 years of trying to reason with criminally negligent cat-lickers, I learned my lesson (at the loss of nearly all the native wildlife on my lands that were tortured or starved to death by their invasive species vermin cats). You can't train a cat to stay home; but I found that, in time; you CAN train a disrespectful, inconsiderate, and criminally irresponsible neighbor into being a responsible, considerate, and respectable adult. One who finally takes care of their animals like any responsible grown-up would.
Google for this complete string, as-is, including all quotes:
"Licensing and laws do nothing to curb the problem." AND "I don't see anyone dumping cats where I live anymore." AND "irreversible consequences"
Therein you'll find a humane answer that works 100%, is affordable by any individual or size of community, and the cat problem is completely resolved PERMANENTLY in less than 2 seasons. Guaranteed.
People who let cats roam free only do so because they think their disease-ridden INVASIVE SPECIES cats are going to live idyllic lives chasing and torturing animals (valuable native species) or someone else will take care of their vermin cat for them. If they realize that that cat will die within hours or days from them having dumped it or letting it roam free, the dumping and free-roaming of cats stops 100%. They can't just believe it MIGHT happen, they have to KNOW that IT WILL HAPPEN. It worked where I live.
Did I mention that you have to ignore every last thing these deranged invasive species lovers spew to the world? That's the MOST important part. Asking them for advice and help to solve the problem they created and are hellbent on perpetuating is as foolish as asking your local career thieves for advice and help to hide your valuables from their daily motives and activities. That's where I made a foolish error for 15 years. Don't make the same mistake I did. Just do what needs to be done and the problem is solved -- PERMANENTLY.
May 8 2013: Sounds like somebody is allergic to cats! >^..^
Comment deleted
Jon Cox
May 8 2013: Thanks for the passionate contribution! Eye opening info for sure!
- +2
Good on Arkansas for getting that trap program going. I hope it is working.May 8 2013: Eliminating all cats from New Zealand is, to put it simply, unrealistic. The simplest and most humane way to deal with the cat problem in New Zealand is to require all cats sold to be spayed or neutered, as well as spaying and neutering all strays caught. Of course, people would probably still be able to register as breeders and not be required to spay/neuter, but that's beside the point.May 8 2013: When I first saw the large numbers of species that are being killed by cats, I was so surprised. I usually just think of cats as house pets just playing with mouse toys or laying around sleeping. There definitely needs to be something done to decrease the negative effects that cats have on the biodiversity around them, but I think Morgan's idea of completely eradicating cats in New Zealand is a very radical idea that would probably never gain acceptance. I do, however, agree with his idea of requiring all cats to be chipped. I know that there are already some breeders that have the cats chipped before selling them; when I got my cat, he came with a chip already. I think the chips make it a lot easier for owners to know where their cats are, making them easier to regulate.
A few people have suggested to make all cats be indoor cats, but I don't know how this could really be regulated, as it is mainly up to the owners discretion whether they let their cats out or not. I also think that it is unfair to the cats to not let them roam around outside every once in a while. It would be cool if some sort of contraption was made that would allow cats to spend time outside, but limit how far they can go.
May 8 2013: You're right. Turning criminally irresponsible people into responsible ones with laws doesn't work. They're already criminally irresponsible. Criminals don't obey laws. They just don't care, about anyone nor anything, but what they want for themselves.
Google for this complete string, as-is, including all quotes, for the answers you seek:
"Licensing and laws do nothing to curb the problem." AND "I don't see anyone dumping cats where I live anymore." AND "irreversible consequences"
That lengthy posting starts with the paragraph of:
"Licensing and laws do nothing to curb the problem. If cats are required to be licensed then cat-lovers just stop putting collars on their cats, as they did by me. And they won't even bother getting them micro-chipped, especially not that They want absolutely nothing that can hold them legally responsible, liable, and accountable for the actions of their cats. It's why many of them even keep cats in the first place. We're not talking about the topmost responsible citizens of the world, you know. They don't want that responsibility of what their cat has done coming back on them. If they had even one iota of a sense of responsibility and respect for all other lives on this planet we wouldn't even be having these discussions."May 8 2013: Clarissa, I agree with your views of Morgan's initiative. Chipping cats would be very effective in aiding in the loss of a runaway cat, but also allows for domesticated cats to have a chance every once in a while to not be stuck outside. A cat owner wouldn't have gotten a cat in the first place if he/she didn't want to have an animal that was, well, happy. In 2012, Washington D.C.'s mayor presented the idea of an indoor cat park, much like a dog park, to take care of this problem of indoor cats being allowed outside part time to socialize and explore. This would help reduce the problems of a loved family pet becoming a problem.
Justin Allen
May 8 2013: I, like many believe that making sure cats are spayed or neutered is the most realistic and efficient method for controlling cats, both domesticated and feral. Yes of course this doesn't immediately solve the issue with cats killing birds and other small mammals, but running around and catching/killing cats is inhumane and there is no way such a proposal would pass. As of now, the most common method of control used is the trap, neuter and return method. According to the Humane Society it is a "...non-lethal strategy to reduce the number of feral cats and improve the quality of life for cats, birds, wildlife, and people."(1) Not only do they neuter the feral cats that have been caught, they are also vaccinated for rabies. To recognize a feral cat that has been neutered and vaccinated, they surgically tip one of the cats ears. There is no doubt such a method of control would take it's time to show positive results. Cats that have been neutered continue to kill birds and mammals, but as far as I see it there is no other likely plan. Of course TNR procedures cost money, and unfortunately "TNR is a strategy that many dedicated caretakers pay for out of their own pockets to help improve the lives of feral cats and reduce their numbers."(1) An effective TNR plan also requires a dedicated caretaker, which also cost money. Perhaps, like others have mentioned, there could be a tax payed by either cat owners or cat breeders which helps cover these costs.
- +1
1. http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/feral_cats/qa/feral_cat_FAQs.html#What_is_TrapNeuterReturn_TNR
May 8 2013: The board-members of HSUS and SPCA are laughing all the way to their bank by exploiting suffering animals with TNR programs. You won't get any credible information from them. Their pockets and conflict of interests are just too deep.May 8 2013: I agree with Justin that spaying and neutering cats is the best plan we have today to reduce the number of feral cats and reduce the number of wildlife killed by them. A tax on breeding or owning cats would also likely reduce the number of new cats and help control the current population. I think this method of reducing the number of cats combined with keeping cats indoors or keeping a closer eye on them outdoors would make a noticeable impact on reducing bird and small mammal deaths.
Carson Viles
May 8 2013: I think outdated attitudes around pets are a major part of the problem. HIstorically, cats served a very important function in some communities: controlling rodent functions. However, it doesn't take a cat in every household to do this. Cats for individual households is the result, I would argue, of the shift in thinking toward nuclear families and an individual-centered society. Maybe a significant part of reducing the high number of cats is to re-imagine pet ownership as a community activity. Although anecdotal, I have noticed that many of the cats in my neighborhood hang around lots of different houses in the neighborhood; they are already communal. Sharing cats would reduce the amount of cats dramatically!
- +1
Moving from cars to public transportation has been hampered by cultural priorities around car ownership as much as by infrastructure and scientific difficulties. Are pets an analogous situation, in which it is our ideas of pet ownership, not necessarily our technical solutions to pet over population, that need re-imagined?
May 8 2013: I myself like cats but am more of a dog person. I think that cat sharing would be awesome! It would be cheaper to own a cat for one thing and it would greatly reduce the problem with the number of cats. It would be harder to do in smaller towns because everyone is more spread out but in cities and places like Eugene I think it would work. But, again I am not really a cat person and for people that LOVE cats I think the idea may not go down so nicely. Maybe someone that really is a cat person could share their feelings on this idea.
May 8 2013: This is a really cool idea! I know quite a few people who buy a cat and love it at first but... when the magnitude of the responsibility really sets in they itch to get rid of it. By having some sort of pet sharing program one could set aside a couple of weeks or months to have a cat and decide if they really want one or if it's not for them.May 8 2013: Hi Carson,
You touch on a great point: Pets became like many other pieces of private property: initially we own as much as we need, but after a while it gets to a point when it is no longer about what we need, but about showing that we can always buy and own more in quantity and more expensive pets. And where there is demand, animal breeders will step in with supply
Sadly, for some people shared ownership (what used to be the commons) is a dreaded concept... and some might worry that starting with pets could lead down a slipery slope towards one of those terrible -isms... where people might start thinking about sharing food, shelter, resources... scary indeed!
Jon Cox
May 8 2013: Yup. Yes there are lots of responsible animal lovers out there whose pets are their best friends, however pets have largely become just another possession or toy, a compulsory thing to own. And when the owner is irresponsible the pet and other living things suffer. My next door neighbors own about 5 dogs, which they just ignore or yell at most of the time, and the house across from them has several as well, and there are so many cats wandering around my neighborhood at any given time. It is crazy. There are probably at least as many pets on my street as there are people.
- 0
Carly Otis
May 7 2013: From what I have read in this conversation it sounds like Australia is the leading nation in cat control... perhaps they will save us when cats inevitably try to take over the world ;) In all seriousness though, we should definitely be taking notice of Australia's efforts and possibly follow their lead. It is outrageous to think that anyone is going to be willing to get rid of their cat(s) to save a few birds from being killed in their backyard, as that is how the average person will view the situation, so we have to come up with a better solution.
- +1
While the cats are technically the ones doing all the killing, humans are truly the ones to blame, as we are the ones who first brought cats to the US and we are the ones allowing them to cause as much damage as they are causing. I think that the government should require cat owners to have a stricter control on their pets, possibly implementing laws that require cats to be on a leash when outside, or making it illegal for cats to be outside altogether.
May 8 2013: I do agree that there should be some type of regulation on cat ownership. Maybe there could be a law that you can only have one cat per household, or try to slow the reproduction of cats for a few years by getting many female cats spaded and require everyone that wants to own a cat get it from the pound or some other program for stray/feral cats. That might eliminate the need to use euthanasia to take care of the stray/feral cat problem that is talked about in the comment above.
I think that it is just kind of unreasonable to make a law to have indoor cats or have cats on a leash outside. I know many outside cats and if they were not free to roam as they please they would freak out. And it would be so easy to break a rule like that and very hard to regulate. Maybe there could be a registry for the percent of cats that are spade per state and have a lower limit on the percent.
Over all this is going to be a very hard idea to get people on board with because like you said, people that love their cats are going to choose their cats over the loss of birds and mammals.May 8 2013: Yes, I agree with your idea that people are the ones to blame and are the source of this problem. Instead of eliminating the cat, I think the most effective way is to keep invasive cat indoors. This is a mutually beneficial solution. This can eliminate the threat of cat predation and also protect cats themselves. According the to American Humane Society, cats that are allowed to roam outside live an average of 3 years while indoor cats typically reach an average age of 15 years. Humane traps can also work to trap visiting cat and transport them to local animal shelter safely. This works well for stray or troublesome cats.May 7 2013: Somepeople like cats. Rats don't. Not much of an answer, but isn't that part of the problem?
May 7 2013: I agree. Who knows if the increase in cats has actually made a positive influence on some of the rat and rodent species. If we eliminate the cats would we have an overpopulation of rodents?
May 8 2013: It has happened before : ]
Kinda long but interesting...
"The Catholic Church was the most powerful entity in Europe at the time, and the masses were consumed with the presence of evil and eradicating it in any form it might be believed to take. Because of their secretive nature and their ability to survive extraordinary circumstances, the general population came to fear cats as consorts of Satan. The innocent cats began to be killed by the thousands.
The cats ultimately got their revenge, of course. Since there were few felines left, the rat populations increased unchecked, and the plague grew even more widespread. You'd think that the humans would make the connection by this point, but instead, they made things even worse. They began to associate the plague's new vigor with the cats and even with dogs. They believed that since both of these animals typically harbored fleas, they must be the cause of the plague. Subsequently, cats were outlawed in many parts of Europe, and huge numbers of cats and dogs were killed. In fact, at one point in the middle ages, there were barely any cats left in England at all.
Even though cat ownership was illegal in some regions, a few people kept their felines. Other people finally noticed that these cat owners often seemed to be immune to the black plague. Word spread quickly, and more observations of this phenomenon were noticed. This resulted in research, crude as it was during the time.
Eventually, it was decided that the rats, not the cats, were responsible for spreading the black plague. Then, of course, everyone wanted to own a cat or two. And since cats are prolific breeders, it didn't take long for the demand to be satisfied. The laws which had been the cats' death sentence were repealed. In many regions, a new law took its place – one that protected felines instead of banning them and almost causing their extinction in Europe."
Paige Walker
May 7 2013: I don't debate the damage cats do to small animal populations but an issue surrounding this is poverty.Putting aside people that just don't care, do pet owners have any less right to the companionship of cats (or any animal) because they are not educated or financially able to be responsible owners? Government subsidies and enforcement of neutering and spaying might be a real answer to this question. I am just not sure if this is where funds should be allocated though. Another issue is the threat cats pose to human health. Most people don't have the money (or the insurance) to see the doctor let alone take their cat to have regular checkups and the fact is they carry gastrointestinal parasites like helminths and protozoa that are dangerous for pregnant women and people with suppressed immune systems. Maybe if this becomes a human health issue it will get more serious attention and thought from a broader spectrum of people.
- +1
"Gastrointestinal Parasites in Domestic Cats" Cohell et al. (2012) http://cdn.intechopen.com/pdfs/34781/InTech-Gastrointestinal_parasites_in_domestic_cats.pdf
Erik Parker
May 7 2013: I think you are absolutely right that this issue would become more visible to the public if it were framed as one of human health, which I think it totally will become as more research comes out on the topic. Everything out there on the negative effects that domestic cats have on humans seems quite recent. It all seems to be pointing in the same direction at this point though and I have to think that sooner or later these studies will catch enough attention for this to become a major issue.
- +1
May 7 2013: Visible to the public is one thing, and legislation is another. Which do you think is more important? Gaining the attention of the public and pursuing whatever course of action seems most supported? Or putting legislation in place that addresses what the research shows? Or another strategy altogether?
This conversation brings the tension between the inherent value of life and the subjective value we place on "charismatic megafauna" pretty starkly to light. Which should be more important in informing our laws?May 7 2013: A proposition similar to Morgan's would be met with similar, if not harsher resistance in the United States. Our country was founded on independence from government, which still is present in a lot of America. Our idea of having the "freedom" to choose what we want to do, although sometimes limited in today's America, is backed by this thought of being independent, and being able to live your life without the government knocking on your door.
Is Morgan on the right track though? Absolutely. Cats are acting as an invasive species for the kakapo and other bird species, which is severely affecting the biodiversity on New Zealand. This can disrupt many ecosystems if cat populations are not reduced, which may prove to be more costly in the long-term for New Zealanders. But who are we to point the fingers at cats? Humanity is responsible for more biodiversity loss than any other species on Earth.
I think it's a start of a good idea. Government intervention is crucial if we are to curb the bad habits of humanity, even if it is against the constituency. Sadly, many problems like these are political, and people do not wish to lose their paid political positions.
Rather than a strict command and control policy of banning cats, why not levy a tax with cats? Felines that are not documented may become documented when taken into the vet. A yearly tax on owning a cat may persuade others to limit the amount of cats they own. Tax revenue generated from this plan can only be used strictly for restoration and preservation of many habitats so that it can protect the vulnerable bird species. This not only holds government responsible for the environment, but also the individual so they can think of the social costs of owning cat, and not solely the private costs. In the long run, this plan may prove to be efficient in protecting biodiversity, even more so that Morgan's plan of just banning cats.
May 7 2013: I like your idea of levying a tax against cat owners, but I'm skeptical that the tax alone would sufficiently incite responsible pet ownership. Sadly, many people opt to abandon their pets in the wild after incurring expenses that they either can't afford (or won't) pay, so I worry that a tax would increase instances of pet abandonment. In addition to carrying some undesirable moral implications, it would also have the potential to exacerbate the very problem it was designed to fix.
Although I cannot presently offer a better solution (this will require more thought and research), I believe this problem will need to be solved with a multifaceted approach. The solution will need to encourage personal responsibility over one's own cats (or restrict cat ownership to those who can demonstrate it, perhaps), balance the tax in a way that would discourage abandonment, and simultaneously account for the fact that many policy changes have the potential to be self-defeating. This solution is not an easy one.May 7 2013: The proposed eradication of cats is rather radical, and I doubt it would ever pass favorably in the public eye. A better solution would be education of the public about the destruction their pets cause when allowed outside (this is the real issue, cats are generally harmless if confined indoors). If there were stronger laws in place about spaying/neutering, this would help control both the domestic and feral cat populations. A trap-and-release (where feral cats are trapped, spayed/neutered then released) program is already in place in the US (not sure about New Zealand) but this is a good way of humanly eliminating populations that most people find easier to stomach than flat out killing them. Having indoor-only policies would also be effective, not only at protecting wildlife but also the cats themselves. It is actually rather inhumane to allow your cat to be outdoors, especially in urban environments. Their life expectancy drastically decreases, due to high risk of getting hit by cars, attacked by predators, and contracting disease.
One solution besides laws that can help protect native species from contact with cats is to construct barriers that block areas of land set aside as reserves for these native animals. In the early 1900's, a 2,050 mile long fence was constructed in Western Australia called the Rabbit-Proof Fence. Originally designed to keep the rampant rabbit population in control, it has also been effective at keeping other pests like dingoes and feral goats off farmland and native habitats. This fence is still in use today. If you constructed something like this in New Zealand to keep feral/outdoor cats out of reserved land it would allow native species a chance to recover.


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Hey this is a neat little project that I tried building for this class. I was initially going to use it in my site sound project as a way to record the visual information obtained when riding the bus at night, but it's not quite sophisticated enough for that. But, I still think it's a fun experiment. Check it out:
The trip to the anechoic chamber was one of the highlights of this class. I loved having the experience of sitting in the room all by myself, something which was somewhat meditative except that tiny little details such as the light from the camera would become major distractions. I also loved spying on people with the infrared camera as they had their individual moment in the room.
Some pictures (I'll remove these pictures if the subject prefers not to have them online, just let me know.)
In addition to my original post reflecting on the Bakken trip, some notes about how it relates to embodied sound:
I found the early scientific and medical explorations of the body and electricity really interesting. From the models in storage that would be filled with salt water and have nodes and wires attached to them as a way to map how electricity moved through the body to the more modern statement of praise of electro-shock therapy that was on display in one of the exhibits. I just think it's fascinating that while many of the properties and characteristics of electricity have been figured out, much of why it works particularly in the body remains mysterious. That's an idea to explore for a future embodied sound.
Pietro Riparbelli and Massimo Bartolini.
I presented on these artists because I was initially interested in a piece that Bartolini had helped construct of a giant theremin that monitored audience interaction with a painting:
Beyond Entropy
I found it hard to find information about him, so I turned to another artist whom he regularly collaborates with, Pietro Riparbelli. Riparbelli is an Italian artist and philosopher interested in phenomenology and perception and the visible/invisible landscape that can be explored through sound. He has done recordings of the ionosphere (as have others), but the pieces of his that I found most interesting were recordings that he made of ancient gothic churches in Italy. I liked how he thought of these places as sites to be explored, as sites of immense invisible energy, and potential. I was reminded of both Alvin Lucier's piece "I am Sitting in a Room" and some of our course readings about the role of field recordings.
An example of one of the church recordings
I think I was drawn to his work because I was having a hard time conceiving an idea for the site-sound project and so much of his work is based on a particular site, whether physical or not. As I reflect on this though, I don't know that I'm really inspired by this artist beyond this assignment. I should have taken more time to find someone whom I felt more of a connection to beyond a particular assignment. I think now I know that I appreciate more conceptual motivation behind a work, something a bit more innovative perhaps? Or maybe just something that exists beyond sound? I'm not quite sure.
My independent project was an experiment integrating sound into other work that I do. I am interested in exploring the performative in everyday behavior and using long exposure photography as a remnant and document. For this project, I integrated sound recordings as a document as well. I think that, by far, this was my most successful project this semester.
There were two photographs hung in the room with a corresponding set of headphones and media player. Each photograph was created over the duration of one night-- exposure ranging from 6-8 hours. One was of me sleeping, the other of me trying to finish a research paper the night before the deadline. While the photo was being taken, a recording was made simultaneously. The audio players next to the photographs play the full, unedited recordings.
I had initially planned on editing down a more finished, consumable product from the original recordings. Yet, as I reviewed them, I found myself waiting for something to happen, trying to find patterns, wanting to stop listening, ending up really appreciating the recordings after hours of listening and committing myself. I did not want to spoil them. So, for easy sharing I chose one excerpt from the sleeping recording to play for the class that I felt exemplified the whole. I also tried to edit together a piece that would represent the narrative of the working piece.
sleeping 3-02.wav
Some things I found exciting about this project:
-How the amount of visual information did not correspond equally with the amount of aural information.
-Patterns, especially in the sleeping piece. How breathing patterns would only become noticeable after a loud truck passing or other noise. How this seems to correspond with the stillness of the photograph.
-How failure, the theme of the working piece, is evident in the photograph's underexposure.
-How nerve-wracking it is to me to listen to myself work.
contact mic and a whoopie cushion:
contact mic whoopie.WAV
contact mic on the bus:
contact mic on bus.WAV
another contact mic on the bus:
contact mic on bus 2.WAV
This was a project that I had some fun with. I wanted to take the idea of embodied sound and use the physical body but allow participants to determine how much of their body would be employed. One could be completely detached, or one could be all-in. I liked the idea of a communal art project where the audience would determine the experience from my framework; this is an idea that I think a lot about in terms of studio art classes that also are founded in this you get out what you put in kind of arrangement.
For this project, people were to partner up with another classmate and share a contact mic and mini-amp. People would serve themselves food, like real comfort food, not costco snacks. As they were eating, they were supposed to explore the sounds of the food, of eating, of their utensils, etc.
Macaroni and Cheese:
14 oz Cavatappi or other tubular pasta
32 oz Whole Milk
8 oz Sharp cheddar, shredded
8 oz Mozzarella, shredded
4 oz American, shredded or small cubed
4 oz Grana Padano or Parmesan with rinds
4 oz Butter
4 oz Flour
1 t Dried thyme
1/8 t Cayenne
1 Large sprig fresh rosemary
1/4 C vegetable broth
Salt & Pepper to taste
Cheese sauce:
Melt butter over medium heat. Add in flour and stir. Reduce heat to medium low and continue cooking flour in butter for 5-10 minutes, careful not to burn. Return heat to medium and slowly whisk in 1/2 of the milk. Stir milk until it begins to thicken. Reserving a bit of cheddar for topping, begin adding cheddar, mozzarella, and american by the cup into the milk mixture. Allow each addition to melt into the sauce before adding the next. Add in the vegetable broth and 1/2 of the remaining milk. Add herbs and spices and cheese rind and salt and pepper as needed. Simmer over low heat. Sauce will continue to thicken a bit, add rest of the milk only as needed. Sauce should be thick enough to hold onto the back of a spoon.
Cheese sauce can be used right away or refrigerated and used later (recommended).
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook pasta in a rolling boil with 1 T salt added to the water. Drain when a firm al dente. Shake off excess water. Return to pot with cheese sauce and mix well. If cheese sauce is cold from refrigerator, reheat on stovetop with pasta to reduce baking time. Add pasta and cheese sauce mix to a baking pan. Top with reserved cheddar and grana padano or parmesan. Bake until cheese on top is melted and golden brown. Serve hot.
1.5 T Fresh Tarragon
2 T Lemon juice
1/4 C Roasted garlic olive oil
1 T Grain Mustard
1 Clove Roasted garlic, mashed
1 t Salt
1 t Pepper
5-10# red potatoes, washed and cubed
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper
Fresh Rosemary
Toss cubed potatoes in a light coating of olive oil, s&p and chopped fresh rosemary. Bake until tender and lightly browned at 350 degrees. Cool.
4 # Green beans, lightly blanched, then shocked in ice water.
5 Hard boiled eggs, peeled and rough chop
2 Heads Boston Bibb lettuce, plus one other head of greens of choice
Mix all ingredients together or reserve toppings on the side for people to add as they desire.
People were asked to sit in rows in the middle of the room as if in bus seating. The audio track played over the 8 channel system so as to mimic movement around listeners fixed in the room. This was a pretty literal interpretation of the bus, but I was drawn to all of the bizarre sounds buses make: squealing, popping, hissing, beeping, etc. rather than just driving sounds.
I do wish it had been longer; this was mostly an experiment with editing files in audacity which I utilized in my final project.
site sound tracks 1-4.wav
I combined my Embodied sound project and my Independent project. I used the embodied sound project to experiment with understanding how to "create a space". I was interested in figuring out how to create a particular emotion with the use of space and environment. My presentation I did for the class for my "embodied" project I felt was unsuccessful. I received plenty of feedback, however most of it didn't feel encouraging. I was hoping with my project to create an environment that makes people feel comfortable with dancing. However, I don't know if I personally was taking a big enough risk on my projects. I'm not sure what I would have done differently, perhaps more screaming and breaking of glass bottles. I'm not sure what the point would have been though, other than to have a selfish vent at my extreme displeasure and frustration towards most of life.
My final project went alright. I had a lot of people tell me they thought the music I was playing was great.. These people were all my peer's parents however. I felt like the perception of me was a nice boy, that plays nice music, to make people feel happy. This is not the person I wish to be, and not the persona I wish to present to the world. I do not feel any sense of inner power with this position. Thank you to Shannon Lee, Dan Dicken, Madelyn Lee for taking pictures with me at the end of the night! Also thank you to all my classmates that stopped by and said Hello. I was having a rough night and seeing you there to support me meant a lot.
Here are my pictures of the event. Photo credit: Shannon Lee
Justice is Xavier De Rosnay & Gaspard Auge. Formed in 2003, first full length album "†" released in 2007 to critical acclaim.
I will skip the details of why I think this is a great electro-house group and get into what I had skipped during my presentation. During the course of one of our readings there was a philosopher mentioning modern music, or, the change he thought we would witness in modern music. The author had said that our sound environment is now more filled with noise pollution. This is because of the industrial revolution, so now we have cars, factories, and hundreds of electronic machines that are apart of our daily lives. These machines all produce their own sound. The author described this passive existence much like an ocean or flour mill. If I live next to the ocean for long enough, after a while I won't hear the ocean anymore, unless I try to listen for it. If I live in a room with a computer, refrigerator, and like most people have lightbulbs, there is a static electric noise that these machines all produce. The author of this paper suggests that we too have begun ignoring these noises as static background. We are now adjusted to the age of machines.
The author goes on to explain that the timbre heard in a saw blade running can be much more interesting to the human ear than a full orchestra. We are fully adjusted to the sounds of an orchestra and to control the sound of machines is very exciting to us.
I believe that the first examples of this phenomenon are seen in early rock music of the 50's and 60's which used amplifier distortion as a way to create more timbre in music that wasn't heard previously. We have reached an end of this use of sound, now computers have helped in assisting us to make our sounds much more complicated. The age of computers creates real, controlled distortion, the use of sampling previous material at an infinitely open level, and all of this can be done essentially real-time. I believe Justice is the epitome of embodying this artistic paradigm. They embody much of the modern aesthetic of what is "cool" in the modern sound world. They also are very talented song-writers in the traditional western sense. Lastly, they take into account modern trends and old cliches of the past, and put all their pieces together with taste.
You may sample the album here:


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Rated 3.5 out of 5�by 2 reviewers.
Rated 4 out of 5�by MeMeEarls Love this top but..... I purchased this in white, Wore it to an all white party and killed it! The only thing i didnt like was the way the it flared out on the sides underneath the arm area, I ordered online so I did not notice that.... August 12, 2013
Rated 3 out of 5�by bebefan101 Both colors are stunning with a bandage skirt BUT. What really bothered me was that it runs soo large like i tried the xxs and it fit like an x-large for me and the open back is too open for ME. I would put a safety pin but i dont want to ruin this top. Love both colors though. Whoever this top works for im happy for you but im not sure it works that well for me. August 3, 2013
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Lecithin is one of nature's miracle foods. It's found naturally in foods like egg yolks and organ meats, which most people don't often eat. That's why taking lecithin is an inexpensive way to add its incredible powers to your supplement program.
Fight memory loss
Has your memory started to fail you? An ingredient in lecithin, called choline, may be just what you need. Your body uses choline to produce acetylcholine, a substance involved in learning, memory, muscle function, sleep, arousal, hormone secretion and circulation. It allows nerve cells to send impulses properly. Recent research has shown that two tablespoons of lecithin daily helps mild memory problems associated with aging.*
Heart health and more
Also abundant in lecithin is inositol, a B-vitamin-like substance. Your body uses inositol to help maintain healthy cholesterol and blood pressure levels already within the normal range, grow healthy hair and skin, and help break down body fat. By adding lecithin to your diet, you'll provide some of the raw materials your cardiovascular system needs to stay in top shape.
Vegetarian safe, no cholesterol
We use high quality lecithin made from soybeans grown in the Midwestern United States and processed in American facilities. Lindberg Lecithin Granules are vegetarian safe (soybean source) and have no cholesterol.
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Archives of the Federal Writers' Project. The Federal Writers' Project (FWP) was part of Federal One, the arts project established by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The WPA recognized that steelworkers, sharecroppers and factory workers were not the only section of the American economy hit by the Depression. Academics, novelists and playwrights were also struggling. In five years, the WPA spent millions to provide literary training and, more significantly, the opportunity for participants to observe, eat and write. This collection presents the FWP publications of all 47 states involved in the 10-year project.
Guest curated by graduate student Katie Wills
Stories from people who were children during World War II and the objects in this exhibit animate the past and inform us of a time when war took over daily life. "Retrospect is a very interesting thing," says Ruthie Kallnder. "At the time I don't recall any of the information we got as being propaganda," but the government tried to influence children to make "necessary" sacrifices. Propagandists made the war a battle between good and evil, democracy and fascism. They also asked children to share in the war effort. In response, many children took on more responsibilities. Ruthie explains that boys and girls felt "if that's what it was going to take" to win they "were willing to do it." The memories of the people in this exhibit and their wartime actions show the power of propaganda's messages and its lasting affect on their lives. Propaganda posters, children's books, and classroom assignments demonstrate how propagandists reached children and involved them in the national war effort.
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B.E.S.T. Library services limited Saturday June 27 by building power outage
Need to relax before your next exam? Try Amos Music Library's playlist.
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Stella English - Next Stop LAX - Launch Party - Arrivals - London, United Kingdom - Tuesday 9th July 2013
The Rolling Stones are set to celebrate their long career as a band next year (2016) with their first exhibition at London's Saatchi Gallery.
The star makes his superhero debut in the upcoming movie.
'Secret In Their Eyes' is the upcoming re-boot of the 2009 Argentine Academy Award winning movie of the same name.
Disclosure go sci-fi thriller on us in the new video for their single 'Holding On', featuring the vocals of Gregory Porter.
The new movie mixes old and new territory.
The male stripper sequel hit US theatres today (July 1st) and stars Channing Tatum, Matt Bomer, and Joe Manganiello.


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Creating the Calm Within LCW, 10:30 to 11:30 a.m.Kathleen Lubanski, RN, NPWeekly class teaches relaxation techniques for cancer patients and survivors, and their loved ones. Call for information; pre-registration not required.760-834-3798 Read More Lunch and Lose ACTU through Sep 24, noon to 1 p.m.M beginning September 30, noon to 1 p.m.Lisa Lindley, MD, Gynecology/Obstetrics, certificate in Obesity MedicineWeekly class provides focus on weight loss, nutrition and support.760-568-1234 Read More
Nutrition and Prostate Cancer: Eating Well for Health LCTH, Sep 12, 5 to 6:30 p.m.Carolyn Katzin, MSPH, CNS, MNT760-834-3798; light dinner, register by Sep 11. Read MoreRadiation Therapy for Prostate Cancer: Understanding Your Treatment Options LCLunch and Learn with the ExpertM, Sep 16, noon to 1:30 p.m.Robert Johnson, MD, Radiation Oncology760-834-3798; light lunch, register by Sep 13. Read More
Bariatric Surgery Information ACW, Sep 18, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.Bobby Bhasker-Rao, MD, General Surgery760-778-5220 Read More
How to Be Younger Next Year ACHealthy Night OutW, Sep 18, 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.Joseph Scherger, MD, MPH, Vice President, Primary Care and the Marie E. Pinizzotto, MD, Chair of Academic Affairs760-568-1234. $8 for heart-healthy dinner; payment due by Sep 13. Read More CALENDAR KEY
Most classes and lectures are free and early registration is recommended. For a full listing of lectures, events, programs and support groups, visit emc.org/calendar. Online registration is available for most events.
AC Annenberg Center for Health Sciences at EisenhowerLC Eisenhower Lucy Curci Cancer Center
Would you like to have someone from Eisenhower Medical Center speak to your organization on a health-related topic? Please contact Vanessa Shanks at 760-834-7956 for more information.
By: Deborah Liv Johnson
A few of the favorites at Michael's: pizza with clams, Anjou pear salad, and the roasted vegetables.Italy has arrived in Rancho Mirage, fresh from the belly of an 850 degree oven — picture a hand-thrown, bubbled crust pizza dressed in tomato, mozzarella, basil and extra virgin olive oil. The classic taste of fresh ingredients, housemade sausage and gnocchi is behind the doors of a new restaurant called Michael's Pizzeria.
The restaurant opened in July 2012 at The River in Rancho Mirage, a "sibling" of Michael's on Naples Ristorante, and of the first Michael's Pizzeria, both of which are based in Long Beach. Angelenos and Long Beach patrons can't get enough of these Italian treasures — Michael's on Naples and Michael's Pizzeria were named Zagat® Guide 2013 best Italian restaurant and best pizza in Los Angeles, respectively.
Michael's desert location has already garnered a loyal following. General Manager Pietro Luca Bordignon, born and raised in Italy, is delighted to share his knowledge of all things Italian. "My passion for food comes from family," explains Bordignon. "My grandmother was a chef and everything she made was absolutely fresh and delicious."
The Michael's restaurants are owned by founder Michael Dene, Carl Dene, Massimo Aronne and Martin Howard. Executive Chef David Coleman creates the menus for each location.
"One of the best compliments we get is when customers tell us they feel like they're eating in Italy," says Bordignon. "We want them to experience real Italian food."
The menu changes according to what is grown locally and available. Part of eating healthy, especially when eating out, is choosing food with fresh ingredients and minimal processing, and few — if any — preservatives. Using local, seasonal fruits and vegetables helps support local growers while promoting the benefits of eating what's fresh — from farm to fork.
Stretching 40 to 60 pounds of house-made mozzarella each day, Michael's uses the fresh cheese for their signature Margherita D.O.P. (Denomination of Origin Protected) pizzas, as well as in their housemade lasagna.
In addition to Napoli-style pizza, Michael's offers a variety of delicious options that cater to most diets — from small bites on the antipasti menu featuring farmer's market vegetables and specialties like arancini oxtail and saffron to savory salads with such delectable ingredients as shaved fennel, artichokes, goat cheese, pine nuts and arugula or winter root vegetables, pancetta and roasted pumpkin seeds. Entrees feature a host of fresh ingredients — with several choices for vegetarians. And for that occasional splurge, dessert options are made in-house daily, including house-made gelato and an unforgettable almond cake with rosemary sauce, among other choices.
Berkeley resident David McMullen, a recent visitor to Michael's Pizzeria, couldn't help but gush about the gnocchi with braised oxtail. "It's like they reached up and scooped out a bit of heaven."


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Behind The Scenes Winery Tour
Behind The Scenes Winery Tour
11/29/2013 - 11:00am
12/23/2013 - 12:30pm
Judged Best Winery Tour in the Valley.
Get up close and personal with the real workings of a winery during a harvest crush with South Coast Winery's Behind the Scenes Wine Tours. It's a one-of-a-kind opportunity to stroll the vineyards and the winery where the magic begins.
Tours are held: Monday -Friday at 11:00 a.m. & 1:00 p.m.
Saturdays - Sundays at 11:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m.
This $40 walking wine tour culminates with a private, plated wine & cheese pairing with a fun and informative Wine Concierge. Wine Club Members, enjoy the tour for just $35 per person.
Reservations strongly suggested: Call 951.587.9463x 350


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A MAN who discovered a 48-year-old bar of Kendal Mint Cake in his loft believes it may be the oldest-surviving bar of the famous confectionery.
Peter Truelove, 68, of Windermere, bought the bar of Robert Wiper's Original Mint Cake when he and a friend visited Kendal as 21-year-olds in 1964.
The pair were on a 'boy's adventure' which took them from their homes in Kent to John O'Groats, the most northerly point on the Scottish mainland.
"We travelled the distance in an Austin 7 and it took us a week," said Mr Truelove, of Hill Top. "The car only did 35mph at best and it was blizzard weather – the snow was coming into the car.
"We called at Kendal on the way back and we'd heard about the mint cake, so when we saw some we thought we'd buy a bar."
Mr Truelove said he was not sure why he had kept the bar in a box in his loft.
"It was on a shelf as a memento of the trip but it's been in the loft since we moved to Windermere 16 years ago," he said. The bar is still in reasonable condition although some of the sugar is seeping through the wrapping.
Although the original Wipers recipe is still used, the company was sold to Romneys in 1987.
Managing director John Barron said: "We have been making it all these years and I don't think we have any that old – it's impressive.
"It wouldn't do him any harm to eat it now but I don't expect it would taste very nice."
Mr Truelove said what was also interesting to discover was the journal he wrote while travelling, which documented the stop-off in Kendal. He said: "I had to record everything we spent because my friend and I were splitting the cost of the trip. It's funny now to look back and see that someone offered to sell us a car engine and gear box for £2.50, and that 15 litres of petrol was 60p.
"Unfortunately, the price of the mint cake wasn't included, although I did write that we'd visited and purchased it."
BBC Radio 1 DJ's Chris Moyles and Greg James are packing their bags early and taking their shows to Carlisle a week before Radio 1's Big Weekend.
The pair will broadcast their shows live from Cumbria from Monday (May 9) to Friday (May 13) when they arrive a week ahead of the main event. In addition to their daily shows, Chris, Greg and their teams will be getting out and about in the city and surrounding areas, meeting the residents and celebrating all that Carlisle has to offer.
The pair will immerse themselves in the local community for a whole week, and they also plan to meet the city's students in a Q&A session during the week.
Chris Moyles says: "The Big Weekend is always the highlight of my year and I'm so excited that we get to go up to Carlisle for a whole week beforehand and settle in before everyone else arrives. I'm hoping the good people of Carlisle are going to show us a good time!''
Greg James adds: "I'm really looking forward to this year's Big Weekend and to bring my show live from Carlisle. Chris and I will be out and about meeting the locals during the week and I'm hoping we can experience the best of the city!"
BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend is the UK's biggest free ticketed festival and 40,000 lucky music fans will be able to enjoy performances across four stages at Carlisle Airfield where the event is taking place – the Main Stage; the In New Music We Trust Stage; the Outdoor Stage and the BBC Introducing Stage. This year's artists include, Lady Gaga, Foo Fighters, The Black Eyed Peas, Tinie Tempah and Ellie Goulding.
A truly multiplatform experience, Radio 1's Big Weekend will be broadcast on Radio 1, with a major interactive presence online and many live performances available to watch on demand. There will be highlights on BBC Three and extended performances can be seen via BBC Red Button on digital TV during the weekend.


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For Immediate Release: July 7, 2011
The City of Alexandria is seeking applicants to fill the following vacancies on the Ad Hoc Fort Ward Park and Museum Area Stakeholder Advisory Group. All applicants must complete a Personal Data Record Form and return it to the City Clerk's Office or file the form electronically via the City's website no later than 5 p.m. on August 2, 2011.
Ad Hoc Fort Ward Park and Museum Area Stakeholder Advisory Group – (these appointments will be made by the City Manager) Three vacancies as follows: two at-large citizen members who have shown a knowledge and keen interest in Fort Ward; and one citizen living within a one-mile radius of the park. The Advisory Group will meet on an as-needed basis and is limited to a two-year period. Approximately three hours per month are required of members.
For further information, contact Jackie Henderson or Lora love at 703.746.4550
Find neighborhood parks?
Start a small business?
Learn about new development?
Pay my taxes or parking citation?
Report fraud, waste and abuse?
Speak at a City Council meeting?
Apply for a marriage license?
Find information for retired City employees?
Get information about permits?
Search property and sales data?
Find visitor information?
Find volunteer opportunities?
Obtain and review public documents and records?
Find information about parking?
Learn more about Verizon FiOS?
1108 Jefferson St.
Alexandria, VA 22314703.746.4343Fax: 703.838.6344Email: Information
Office Hours
8 am - 5 pm
James B. Spengler


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TG chats to Aston's design chief
Vanquish designer chats Ferrari, classic F3 racers and of course, the epically pretty One-77…
Posted: 24 Jul 2013
A beat, and then, a smile. "They're all very interesting," Marek Reichman, Aston Martin design director, says quietly. "They're very interesting and very valid for those companies, in terms of the way they're looking at technology and how they project themselves."
Another beat. A minor pause. Some hesitation. Then finally, something concrete. "But if you ask me about my favourite of them all? It would have to be the Ferrari." The 'all' bit referring of course, to the Ferrari LaFerrari, McLaren P1 and Porsche 918 Spyder: three rather stupendous hypercars, and three very different iterations of each companies' design philosophy.
You see, TG.com was in the process of being grilled by the midday heat at Kensington Park Gardens over the weekend, the scene of Aston Martin's splendid 100th anniversary garden party, when we bumped into none other than Marek at the ice-cream stand. Considering his baby, the glorious One-77, was vacuuming up audience attention and threatening to push the little Cygnet parked beside it into a cosmic black hole, it was only right we had a little chat.
Talk naturally fell to the current hot potato of the holy triumvirate of hypercars that Jeremy recently threatened to end Top Gear telly on. "I like LaFerrari, I like what it's done in terms of reducing the mass and size of the car," he says, coolly.
He should know a thing or two about such aspects, having jumped on board the Aston train in 2005 - after a stint with Ford - and being responsible for... [deep breath] the Rapide, DBS, new Vanquish, new V12 Vantage, Rapide S, Vantage S, One-77 and the Zagato. Whisper it - he also did the Cygnet, but we'll brush over that for now.
"It's lower than anything they've ever done before," he adds, "it's a little bit narrower, and the technology of the chassis and the way its integrated into the front crash structure is, I think, very beautiful." LaFerrari certainly is something to behold, but can we expect anything like this from Aston?
Again, another beat, another pause, and finally, a wry smile. "We never say no to anything," he says to me, "but our focus is very much on, you know, our layout, which we believe is successful in terms of front mid-engined cars. It's also very successful in our racing attempts, and we believe it gives 50:50 weight distribution and balance. It's perfect for me in terms of getting perfect proportions for a GT car."
Guess we'll have to make do with the One-77 then, as the pinnacle of Aston's achievements, and something very dear to Marek's heart. Obviously. "One-77 was pretty special as a project. We knew how many we were going to do, we knew the price point (because of the technology involved) and the engine involved (a mighty 7.3-litre, 750bhp V12).
"It was then about coming up with a design language that could only be made by hand, because the whole idea was that it's an interconnection between technology and art. So the whole body - although super-formed aluminium - is then hand beaten and hand finished, the chassis and engine - which uses F1 technology - are incredibly high tech.
"It's a super mix, and it was about the most beautiful proportion we could come up with: getting the driver as low as possible. It's a true front mid-engined car. When you look at One-77 with the bonnet open, you can only see six of the cylinders because the others are further back. I remember being around when we were receiving the first parts for the first prototype, and just unwrapping these beautiful carbon fibre bits and machined engine parts was like Christmas every day."
This raises an interesting point, and one we alluded to in our earlier story about the Kensington Park Gardens party. Because there, we bumped into a chap who had been locked into the One-77 death-glare and couldn't budge. He told me "every Aston Martin has a unique story to tell," and with one particular One-77, the owner wanted to see that story Every Single Day.
"Every single surface, every single piece had to be an 'A' surface in design," Mareks says, pointing to the fact you could legitimately showcase any given piece on the One-77 and pass it off as art. "In fact," he smiles, "we had one customer who was interested in having the chassis in his bedroom. He didn't want the body put on the chassis, he said it was too beautiful to cover up."
This philosophy forms part of why Marek came to Aston Martin in the first place. "My mission statement when I began was to really move the brand on in terms of the modernity of design. It was to keep pushing them into being incredibly... if I could use the word 'aggressive', but I don't want to say aggressive. Perhaps more powerful? More distinctive. To become a recognised competitor to all the brands we sit next to now.
"And then, it was to introduce some unusual products. Like One-77. Like the Zagato. And like the CC100." Ah yes, the roofless, bonkers, DBR1 tribute built on a timeframe skinnier than a skinny latte drinker's skinny jeans - less than six months. "We wanted to do it in a way that was very relevant to the way DBR1 was done, in that there was no compromise, it was raw, there was no 'should we question', 'should we redo'. To imagine at the time how the DBR1 was done, it was all about 'get it out for the next race', 'get it ready', 'get it prepared', but it turned out to be a beautiful object. We wanted to approach it in very much the same way."
The DBR1, incidentally, happens to be one of Marek's top three motoring design icons, along with the W154 Mercedes Silver Arrows F1 racer from the late 1930s, and finally, the Lamborghini Miura. "That last spot changes all the time," he laughs.
Our time is at an end, which is a shame, because Marek has much to offer on the world of design. "I must say, to be a designer in the modern era now you've got to look outside the field of your specialized subject, to get inspiration from everywhere. It comes from art, architecture, from theatre, from cinema, from light, from travel, the culture of different countries.
"I like my gadgets, I ride motorbikes, I've got old racing cars, I like my hi-fi, I like vinyl, I like my design furniture, I'm creating my own - well, I've already designed and built one house, I'm doing another one at the minute, so I think you've got to live and breathe it, it's a full time thing."
Wait a sec, he's got old racing cars? He smiles. "Ah, I've got a Ducati 996, I've got a brand new Aston Martin Vanquish, I've also got a Formula 3 car from the '50s called an Emeryson, I've got a Formula Junior from the '60s called the T56 Cooper. And that's it. I'm so lucky I get to choose whichever Aston Martin I want. Apart from the One-77 and Zagato, of course." A hardship we must all bear, Mr Reichman.
Words: Vijay Pattni