We don’t want to overload you with guilt each time you reach for your remote, but did you know that flash new TVs and digital radios use lots more power than old ones? A digital radio can use four times as much power as an old non-digital one, while a flat-screen TV can need three times as much electricity to make it work than an old one. It's mainly entertainment gadgets that cause this problem. Modern versions of things like washing machines and fridges need less power than older ones. Like you would be more interested in a washing machine than a 56-inch plasma screen eh? However, by the year 2020 experts think new gadgets will use almost half of all the electricity produced in the UK. Hmmmmm.  Bit sobering really.

Not only our gadgets but now our pets are up for scrutiny by the scientists. The ancestors of pet cats have been traced back to between 130,000 and 160,000 years ago, to the Middle East. Oh the miracles of DNA profiling! Not only useful for nicking Nobby “It wasn’t me guv” Lightfingers, but now able to tell that wee Smokey comes from at least five different types of wild cat. This information will help save some types of wild cats that are getting more and more rare.  Apparently it wasn't until 10,000 to 12,000 years ago that people and cats started to live together.  It’s at about that time that people started storing grain and other crops.  Can you see where we’re going with this? Grain = mice = cats

Naturally people were very grateful to the ancient moggies for keeping their food pest free. Yes, but who promised them the comfiest seat by the fire?  Have you seen Cats and Dogs?  As Garfield would say “never trust a smiling cat”.

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Remember issue no. 74?  We were giving away five copies of the April Flipside.  The lucky winners are Simon Bellows (12) of Essex, Victoria Olive (12) of Dorset, Ben McGarry (11) of Bury St. Edmunds, Aarron With (13) of Liverpool and Pam Large of London.

So keep entering – you never know! Next time - it could be YOU…

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