Not a very computer related tale, but one worth telling, comes from The Register, who have a tale of a curious cat. "Little Nicky" is a very special cat indeed, because he is a clone of his owner's previous cat. Bought by a Texas woman identified only as "Julie" because of fears that she would be targeted by anti-cloning groups, the cat is identical in every way to the cat it was cloned from, including its appearance, temperament and behaviour.

Not everyone, of course, thinks that "Little Nicky" is a very good idea. The Humane Society and other pet advocacy groups, for example, believe that cloning pets is wasteful, given the 3m to 4m pets destroyed every year in animal shelters in the US. Other concerns are more on the biological side of things, where it is claimed that cloned animals may not live as long as ordinary animals and may have more health problems.

"Little Nicky" was the first sale from Califoria-based biotech firm Genetic Savings & Clone (GSC), who charged $50,000 to reincarnate Julie's dead pet.