Stumbled across this fabulous blog post rounding up a bunch of different straw bale and cob builds. Kim links to some blogs I’d not heard of before as well, so going to take a look at those! Well worth a visit.
Archive for January, 2010
Strawbale and cob
Sunday, January 17th, 2010First introduction to the Kitten Wheel
Friday, January 15th, 2010Grabbity and Sir Izacat Mewton came to live with us in August last year, at about 10 weeks old. They are siblings and incredibly affectionate. I don’t remember the last time I had two cats that were so keen on snuggling and sitting on my lap and being near me. Utterly adorable.
Whilst we have a fair amount of space here, Grabbity and Mewton are indoors cats. I asked my Dad to make us a cat wheel so that they can burn off a little energy – energy that they would otherwise burn off at 2am by jumping up and down on our heads. This is a prototype, made of steel, hardened woven kevlar and, yes, duct tape.
We picked up the wheel in November, unpacked it and pretty much left the kittens to just get used to it being around. They didn’t seem overly bothered by its presence, so we tried to introduce them to the idea of running on it using the age old tactic of bribery and corruption:
Our attempts met with a modicum of success: Grabbity in particular enjoys running on it, although sometimes she does so with just her front legs!
As with all prototypes, though, we found a few bugs so it’s currently undergoing some improvements. We are also planning a second prototype that will be larger, wider, have a solid see-through back and a larger bearing to prevent vertical play in the axel. Hopefully we should get that one done by spring. I shall, of course, report back on progress.
Experimenting with Kachingle
Thursday, January 14th, 2010In April last year I wrote about a start-up called Kachingle for The Guardian. I explained Kachingle thusly:
After registering with Kachingle, users decide on a maximum monthly donation, currently set at $5 (£3.50). When they see something they like, they simply click on the Kachingle “medallion” to initiate a donation. Kachingle tracks their reading habits, tots up how many times they visit each favoured site and divvies up the money proportionally at the end of the month.
It’s equally simple for site owners, who just need a PayPal account and a snippet of code to display the Kachingle medallion. The revenue split gives content providers 80% of the donations, with the rest covering Kachingle’s costs and PayPal fees.
I’ve been quietly keeping an eye on Kachingle to see when they would launch and was excited to get an email from Bill Lazar, Kachingle’s Marketing Engineer, last week saying that they were ready for beta testers to come on board. They will be launching properly in early February.
I think Kachingle is a really interesting idea, and I’m very excited to have the opportunity to test it out. That’s the medallion, up there in the top of the right-hand sidebar. All you need to sign up with Kachingle is a PayPal account and a spare $5 a month (although you can spend more if you want to). That works out at £3.07 per month, which even in a recession I think I can spare!
Kachingle sits very nicely with my recent decision to buy as many hand-crafted present for Christmas as I could. In an economic downturn it is more important than ever to support small businesses and I really like the fact that the vast majority of the money I spend on sites like Folksy go to the person who made the item I’ve bought.
But Kachingle is not just a way that I might earn a little spare change, it also gives me a way to support others. I’m hoping that over the course of the next few months, bloggers I enjoy will be able to join up and let me show them my appreciation.
If you want to sign up as a Kachingler or as a Site Owner, get in touch with Kachingle’s beta programme. And, of course, let me know what you think in the comments!
Arising from the ashes
Thursday, January 14th, 2010Kits and Mortar has been very quiet, even possibly moribund, over the last year. If you can remember that far back, you’ll recall that I was suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome and had to dramatically cut back how much I was writing. It took a lot longer for me to get the CTS licked, although I think we are pretty much there now.
Whilst I’ve been away, I’ve moved house (well, flat) and have become the very proud ownee of two kittens, Grabbity and Sir Izacat Mewton. They are two tabbies, currently 8 months old and as adorable as can be. You can expect a lot of cat posts and videos over coming months!
2010 is promising to be a year of great change and one of my aims for this year is to get Kits and Mortar to pay – even if it’s only just enough for cover a half-day’s blogging each week. If your business is interested in sponsoring us, then please do get in touch.
It’s good to be back, though. I hope you’ll enjoy the new improved Kits and Mortar – Now With Added Kittens!
