soothing pats to vw's head

yay yay yay windsparrow!

ewww rats

there was more ,but I forget

{{{vw}}} You're tired. Do you have ginger or mint tea?

News from the Atlanta zoo: [link] (Bugmenot is your friend.)

Highlights:

Taz, a 15-year-old gorilla, recently mated with all four females in the family of legendary zoo mascot Willie B.

Taz's most famous partner, Kudzoo, is the beloved silverback's oldest offspring. It will take a few more weeks before pregnancy testing is complete, but zoo leaders expect that Willie B. soon will become a grandfather for the first time, albeit posthumously. (He died at age 41 in February 2000.)

Taz's performance, researchers say, demonstrates that young lowland gorillas raised in a "bachelor" environment --- a group of male gorillas that never mate --- still can be moved in with females when they reach sexual maturity and lead a successful reproductive life.

Taz has taken to his procreative duties with gusto since joining the females in November: One day last month, he copulated 20 times. ...

What's not so scientifically cutting-edge is the method Zoo Atlanta is using to test its gorillas for pregnancy. Since no gorilla pregnancy test exists, vets are using human tests, which monitor urine samples, that they buy at a local drugstore.

Right now, that process is adding to the zoo's wait.

"Those pregnancy tests are not designed for gorillas," McManamon said, "and it may take a couple [of] months before you will actually see a positive [result]. The hormone the test is looking for is a human hormone. There is some similarity between that human hormone and the gorilla equivalent of that hormone, but it doesn't always cross-react perfectly."

There is one other holdup.

"It's not easy," she said, "to get a gorilla to pee on demand."

I'm sorry you threw up, vw, and that you had to go to the visitation.

I too am sitting on my couch, watching Numb3rs. Ooh! CCH Pounder is on as a guest star. Did Glenn Close replace her on The Sheild? I was watching Battlestar Galactica, but Cashmere reminded me about Numb3rs. They'll run BSG later tonight, and again Monday night, I think.

Also, Rob Morrow's partner in this is the girl (not the Wehrer chick, the other one) from Sliders.

Do you have ginger or mint tea?

Yeah, I've got some mint tea, but I just had some other tea a little bit ago. Plus, I think I'm just gonna go to bed. Hopefully I'm not up all night puking.

OK, after some closer examination of a map and finding a webpage that lists some neighborhood boundaries, I see that this apartment is actually in Lanier Heights. I choose to believe that the giant rats know to stay away from there.

(Of course, I haven't even looked at this apartment yet, and have no idea if I'm even going to consider taking it or not.)

No ROUSes wished for you, Hil.

That's so cool about the gorillas, Ginger. Gorillas is such a funny word to say. DH counts seconds by saying, "One bald gorilla, two bald gorillas, three...etc.

Did Glenn Close replace her on The Sheild?

I hadn't heard that she was replacing CCH, but I haven't been looking. I'm recording Numb3rs to watch with DH.

I see that this apartment is actually in Lanier Heights

I have never heard of this neighborhood. I do not believe it exists. :)

I have never heard of this neighborhood. I do not believe it exists. :)

"Bordered by Quarry Road, Columbia Road, and Adams Mill Road." (I'd never heard of it until a Washington Post neighborhood profile thing that I found while googling mentioned it as a subneighborhood of Adams Morgan.)

edit: Or, alternate story from a different article:

Adams-Morgan wasn't always such a multicultural magnet. If you rewind to the early 1950s, it was a predominantly white neighborhood of ritzy townhouses called Lanier Heights.

But the Brown vs. Board of Education ruling irrevocably altered the neighborhood's history. In 1955, two segregated elementary schools—white-attended Adams and black-attended Morgan—were peacefully integrated, making Washington the first major city to successfully integrate schools. As a symbol of hope, Lanier Heights was renamed Adams-Morgan.

Interesting.

David Crumholtz on Numb3rs doesn't have geek body language.