15 December: Cat Herding Day

Today is Cat Herding Day. You might have heard, or even used, the phrase, "it's like herding cats" to describe an impossible task, usually involving controlling or directing people. 10 facts about herding cats:

1. The phrase inspired a TV commercial for Electronic Data Systems (EDS) in 2000. The ad showed cowboys succeeding in herding thousands of cats across a prairie, with the slogan, "EDSolved."
2. They didn't really herd thousands of Cats. Only about 50 actual cats were used during filming. Most of them were computer generated. For every five cats there was one cat trainer.
3. Herding even 50 cats would be a challenge, so how did they do it? The cats had been trained to associate the sound of a clicker with food. Out of shot there was cat food, and the cats were running towards it, responding to the sound of the clicker.
4. The filming took place in December 1999 in somewhat unpleasant weather. "the most cold and miserable shooting days I've ever had", said one member of the crew. It wasn't unknown for crew members to smuggle some of the cats into their hotel rooms at night.
5. Cats and Horses were filmed separately to ensure no cats got trampled accidentally.
6. Former US President Bill Clinton once said this was his favourite commercial.
7. "Herding Cats" has been used as the title of an album by the band Gaelic Storm in 1999, a play by Lucinda Coxon, and several books - one by a Senator about his life in politics, one about mediation by a diplomat, and a book of cartoons by Sarah Andersen.
8. Why are cats so notoriously difficult to control? Biologists put it down to evolution. While for many animals, a herd mentality provides distinct advantages, such as safety in numbers, more eyes to spot predators, accessibility of mates, help in raising young, or warmth, for most cats, the disadvantages of community living outweigh the advantages. This is especially true of smaller species of cat, like the domestic cat, which prey on small animals. While an antelope felled by a lion might feed several Lions, a mouse or small bird is really just a meal for one - so small cats evolved to live and hunt alone.
9. Even when you see large numbers of cats living side by side, in a barn on a farm, for example, they're not co-operating. It's a loose arrangement based on individual advantage - a warm place to raise kittens. We didn't domesticate cats - they domesticated themselves, once they realised humans would feed them and let them into their warm houses!
10. It's not unknown for "ability to herd cats" to appear on a list of required skills for a management role. In this context, it means the ability to bring individual people together to achieve a common goal.

Golden Thread

Terry Kennedy is inexplicably and inexorably drawn to the small town of Fiveswood as a place to live and work after university. He is sure he has never visited the town before, but when he arrives there, it seems oddly familiar.

Fiveswood has a rich and intriguing history. Local legends speak of giants, angels, wolves, a local Robin Hood, but most of all, a knight in golden armour. Fiveswood's history also has a dark side - mysterious deaths blamed on the plague, a ghostly black panther, and a landslide which buried the smugglers' caves.

Terry buys an apartment in The Heights, a house which has been empty for decades, since the previous owner disappeared. Now he has finally been declared dead, developers have moved in and turned it into six flats. Terry has the odd feeling he has lived in this enigmatic house before. But that is not all. Since childhood, Terry has had recurring, disturbing dreams which have been increasing in frequency so that now, he has them almost every night. To his dismay, the people from his nightmares are his new neighbours.

Except, that is, for Eleanor Millbrook. She is refreshingly unfamiliar. After Terry saves her from a mysterious attacker, they become close. However, Terry's nightmares encroach more and more on his waking life, until they lead him to a devastating discovery about who he really is.

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