the pretty things are going to hell

happy birthday, blayne!

went for a drive, and found out a gate was in our way…

help some animals without having to do much of anything.

watch this youtube video (or, just open it in tabs and ignore it).

Help Nutrena by sharing this video with your friends. If this video is viewed 10,000 times by April 30th, 2010 we’ll donate another truckload of pet food to pets in need. For more info, visit www.nutrenaworld.com

i realize it sounds like those stupid chainmails going around saying bill gates will give you money if you forward that email, but, i promise, this one is actually real.

the cats exploring the porch, their new favorite place to be:

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scarf!

since i am wearing it, you cannot see the numerous errors i made. it is better this way.

The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, compared the responses of Westerners to those of the remote and culturally isolated semi-nomadic Himba people of Namibia. The experimenters discovered that vocalizations expressing the six basic emotions - anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness, and surprise - were recognized by both groups, indicating that they, like facial expressions, are universally evolved functions.

However, when an additional set of positive emotions was introduced - achievement, sensual pleasure and relief - they were only reliably recognized by the Western subjects. The cultural variations discovered by Sauter et al suggest that the vocalization of some positive emotions may be learned socially, rather than representing products of evolution.

interesting.

Buried deep in the health care legislation that President Obama signed on Tuesday is a new requirement that will affect any American who walks into a McDonald’s, Starbucks or Burger King. Every big restaurant chain in the nation will now be required to put calorie information on their menus and drive-through signs.

…

The legislation also requires labels on food items in vending machines, meaning that anybody tempted by a king-size Snickers bar will know up front that it packs 440 calories.

i know many people will certainly ignore the posted calories, but i really think it will help. hopefully it will at least make people stop and think before they eat an entire day’s worth of calories in one meal.

mulder playing with one of her favorite toys:

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progress:

i allowed the cats out on the porch today. they were very excited. kitten even made it down to the basement with me. the second time we were out there, i heard terrified little mouse squeaks. there won’t be mice for long…

well. i have an interview at target.