Cat cafés: Eat among cats!

Today I acquired some life-altering information:

There is such a thing as a cat café.

"Excuse me, please stay out of my tea."

You go, there are cats there, you can buy food, you might need to pay an hourly fee.

There are about 100 cat cafés in Japan. Apparently their popularity stems from most landlords in Japan refusing to allow tenants to have cats.

As far as I can tell via Google, there are no cat cafés in the United States.... yet. Should I take a break from college and start one in MA? This is a real consideration. I imagine that there would be a huge market for this around here. I would definitely go to one!

Notice the cat furniture in the window inviting cats to display themselves to passersby

I think the attentiveness of the cats may be a bit exaggerated here.

Very similar to the above photo, but the cats and humans have swapped roles.

"Some cat cafés feature specific categories of cat such as black cats, fat cats, rare breed cats or ex-stray cats."
-WIKIPEDIA 

If I decide to open a cat café, I would like it to be basically a normal café (with great vegetarian food) that just happens to have cats. And there would be no hourly fee unless problems arose. Anyone interested in being my business partner?

Humane bug catcher

As someone who is very afraid of bugs (though I'm working to change that) and very uncomfortable with killing things, a problem arises every time I find a bug in my house. I've recently been trapping them under cups for my dad or Nate to bring them outside, but I don't like walking around with bug/cup sets all over my floor and counters (there can be a lot of bugs in my house) and I feel like I'm kind of torturing the bugs.

Solution: For a while I've been envisioning a fly swatter that captures flies, and all kinds of bugs, instead of squashing them. Today I finally googled it--and it exists! PETA has them for $12.

Also, apparently President Obama killed a fly during an interview a couple of years ago and PETA sent him one of these.

Critic 'jimspar' says, "if you love bugs so much why don't you marry them." Hmm.

On the other hand, Stephen Colbert and friend contend that "There can never be enough apologies."




More humane animal control products: DIY humane fruit fly trap, frog saver lily pad for pools, humane mousetrap, and animal rescue car kit



My next invention idea: Filters that go inside your nostrils to protect you from secondhand smoke.

Luckily, BSU became a smoke-free campus this year, so I am less worried about my exposure to smoke than I was last year.


*Update: Nose filters (aka nasal filters) exist!

Cognitive development inducing dog treats

We feed Henry these fancy treats that are "Formulated with DHA for Cognitive Development." This is ridiculous, right?

"Thanks guys!"

My boyfriend shows me ridiculous things

Here is a picture that Nate showed me recently. He knows what kinds of things I get excited about.

Baby pig with rain boots

Face mug

I just found the most wonderful thing. Will someone please make one for me? I can't justify spending $18 on something made in China.

It's from Uncommon Goods.

Pets on furniture

My sister Melissa just sent me a link to the blog Desire to Inspire, which has a (long!) weekly (!) "pets on furniture" post. I love this!

Here is my contribution to this "pets on furniture" movement, taken yesterday, at my friend Kyle's house:

Little Man on Kyle's vintage couch

When I take photos of my pets, I say to myself, "I am so corny for doing this. No one would ever be interested in seeing these pictures." But maybe that is not so! I have found that I'm surprisingly interested in looking at pictures of strangers' pets.

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I also have to share with you a fantastic video of an experiment Ikea did, in which they let a hundred cats into one of their stores.

Watch it here.

If nothing else, you have to watch the part at 3:27. But seriously, watch the whole thing. (I also found this on Desire to Inspire.)