Archive for June 2005

A 28-year-old office worker and her butcher partner are going to have New Zealand’s first sponsored wedding next April. Three
months after their wedding planner began approaching
potential sponsors, 65 per cent of the wedding’s estimated $19,000 cost
has been covered.

New Zealand Herald

[Direct from the press release, I know, but it’s interesting:] American Honda Motor Co., Inc., today announced the lease of its
revolutionary FCX, an advanced hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicle, to
the world’s first individual customers, Jon and Sandy Spallino of
Redondo Beach, California.

The Spallinos become the world’s first fuel cell family, having signed
an agreement to lease a 2005 Honda FCX for a period of two years. Honda
is the only automotive manufacturer to certify its fuel cell vehicle
for regular daily use and the first to offer its technology to an
individual customer.

Honda

A new law discussed at the European market could cause major changes in
the production of beauty products made in the US and elsewhere.
Europe’s tough stand on toxics means that 600 chemicals used by US
manufacturers cannot be sold in the EU.

Treehugger believes that US manufacturers will not abandon a market
with 450m buyers and instead adopt their rules. We like this bit too:

Brand USA="dirty";  Brand EU="clean."  That’s a pretty straightforward pair of equations.  To complete the reaction series, we add these two:  Organic ="clean"; EU=>USA on the distribution of more "natural" health care products.

Treehugger

The team at the Chicago Tribune have, for the third year running, compiled their own list of their 50 best magazines: "our personal favorites, drawn from the titles that clutter our cubicles, litter our nightstands or just, frankly, fire us."
 

IF provides a quick list of the top 25 < subscription required >

The above line is from the mouth of Rachel Stevens, a well known UK pop star.  It’s not a line from her new single or a saucy quote from any stage performance, instead, it’s from a video campaign on behalf of Everyman which raises the issue of self-testing for testicular cancer.

"I’m delighted to be able to help the Everyman Campaign and thanks for your interest. The commercial is a fun way of raising awareness of a serious subject - hopefully it will help to get the message across to men - and give them something to think about!"

View the fantastic video here

Tonight I will not only
toast to a year of PSFK, I will also toast to girlfriends who nag at me
to check the reservation I made a while back.

So… due to unforeseen/unchecked circumstances there’s a venue change.
If you are coming, we’ll be three blocks south on the West Side Highway
on the corner of West 11th Street at ‘West‘ - which, now I think
of it, is far better as you can watch the sunset from there.

As said, it’s very low key - pop by and hang out. 6.30 to 8.30.

Details here:
http://newyork.citysearch.com/profile/12252557/new_york_ny/west_lounge.html

Call me is you have any probs - cell: 646 824 8986

Like with all new films, the build up to their release date seems to be getting longer and longer…

Peter Jacksons King Kong has just released its trailer - 6 months before the film gets shown in theatres - PSFK says look out for the merchandising wave to start early as well!

King Kon website link.

A new study shows that while journalists may not see blogs as highly
credible, they read them.  Most journalists use blogs to do their work, even
though only 1% believe blogs are credible, according to a survey by Euro
RSCG Magnet done in partnership with Columbia University.

The study finds
that more than half of journalists use Weblogs regularly, with 28% relying
on them for day-to-day reporting. By comparison, the Pew Internet and
American Life Project reports that only 5% of the online population reads
blogs regularly.


eMarketer Article

At last weekend’s NextFest, PSFK had the opportunity to talk with Ben Carlson VP of communications for Genetic Savings and Clone Inc., a company that will, as the name suggests, bank the genetic code of your favorite pet for future cloning as well as actually clone the pet when you are ready.

The process involves taking the genetic code from a skin cell and implanting it into a de-nucleated egg… yeah, they build a fertile egg out of parts then stimulate it to divide with electricity and implant it into a surrogate mother; and we have seen the evidence of at least one success.

Aside from the volumes of technical talk we could get into and the other volumes on ethical debate, there were a few really interesting items that developed out of the discussion with Ben.

My first thought was "What animal would be the most profitable to clone?" The only thing that came to mind was race horses. The answer was as expected, "Yes." Ben also stated that horses had been cloned already and that since the technology exists and is proven it would be a natural direction to take the service. Perhaps the next fad among the ultra-rich equestrian set will be clones of Kentucky Derby winners.

One of the other interesting things was finding out that, not surprisingly, cloned cats are not allowed in the big cat shows. So, as well as cloning the cats, there is a deal in the works to register the genetic code of all those expensive show animals. So, we can likely expect about a $300 increase in the cost of registered pure bread show cats soon. They are also planning to clone dogs later this year. This could get complicated very fast. $295 is the current cost of basic banking of your pets’ genetic code. There is also a $100 dollar annual fee for the storage. For more comprehensive banking expect to pay $1395.

As for the cloning itself one of the strongest selling points to the crowd was being able to get the exact "breed" of a favorite mixed breed animal as many times as you can plunk down $32,000 dollars. A fee that is a lot of money for a pet but sort of astoundingly low when you consider how you get it.

The other obvious question that got asked enough that I didn’t have to was, "Any plans for using this technology to clone humans?" Ben answered with a resounding, "No, and there never will be."

Genetic Savings and Clone Inc.