It'll Glow On You

Did you hear what some scientists in South Korea achieved in late 2007? They succeeded in cloning cats.

But not just any cats ... these kitties GLOW IN THE DARK.

This was accomplished by "manipulating a fluorescent protein gene." Who knew such things even existed? Or that cats had it in them? Why have they been keeping this from us? Are they going to term it "feline glowth hormone"? Has anyone thought to notify Andrew Lloyd Webber?

Now, if you've been paying attention you know I am no cat person. (Forgive me if you are reading and love cats. I must have called in sick the day they were passing out cat-loving genes, fluorescent or otherwise.)

However.

I wonder if there is some way they could do the same thing to a Chihuahua? Then we could clone Javier and his diminutive doppelgänger could serve as a mobile nightlight.

Aside from the claims that cloning luminous felines could someday lead to breakthroughs in the treatment of some genetic diseases (a glowing recommendation as it were), this strikes me as a most interesting development. For instance, I wonder if there is some way they could do the same thing to a Chihuahua? Then we could clone Javier and his diminutive doppelgänger could serve as a mobile nightlight. Think of the energy we'll save! I'll gladly ship Javy to South Korea to have the work done. When they send me back two Javiers (I think I'd want to retain my original; he doesn't glow but I'm attached to him), I'll have a devoted lapdog and a roving deterrent to stubbed toes. Works for me. I hope the batteries are included. Do you think the glowing one will eat as much?

In other news, perhaps Virginia teenagers have also been exposed to too much technology. Seems a bunch of them in at least one public high school have gotten into the habit of using their phone cameras to take nude pictures of themselves and email said salacious (and illegal) photos to their friends. Sort of like playing doctor over the phone ... I'll show you mine if you'll show me yours ... wait! I've got a call coming in!

Law enforcement officials are adamant that the kids are committing a crime by producing, distributing, and possessing child pornography, but they are just as adamant that there's not a single thing they can do about it. How do you catch a kid who is determined to take nude pictures of him/herself and "text" the images to a classmate? And whatever happened to modesty? I was embarrassed to dress out for phys ed when I was that age. But then we had never heard of camera phones or text messaging ... come to think of it, as high schoolers in the early '70s we had never heard of pornography. It was still a dirty word back then.

It's enough to make a glowing cat blush crimson.