monkeys have the same characteristic of not distinguishing that others can't just see what they see.

This is called Theory of Mind, and is the coolest thing ever. Just the idea that we can observe a child developing the facility to separate one consciousness from another. When the kids themselves know it, there's this funny Aha! moment that a prof of mine in college used to record in her studies -- they were like, OMG I have knowledge nobody else has! POWER!!!

I learned today that cheetahs have notoriously low spermcounts.

Well, the reason they let the elderly 13 year old cheetah show the younger male cheetah (Rekii?) what to do with Allie is because...his is...reallly low. Also, any cheetah can be a blood donor to any other cheetah because they are so inbred. The zoo is desperate to get Rekii and Allie together because they are not nearly as related as many. (see, people TALK to me.)

Let's not conflate masculinity and sperm count.

See above exhibit.

ita, good. I can now trust this mail place. It was just really busy and there was a confused new employee dealing with me. Who, incidentally, was the only non-Jamaican in the place (the other employees and owner were talking about home.)

I'm watching a tv show about.... catsup/ketchup.

Even NPR was getting in on the Katerina coverage. The weather forecasters/hurricane specialists sounded so depressed at the prospect of being right. Gotta suck, for a highpoint of your career being that you were right about a disaster. I just hope the roof on the superdome thingie stays put. For some reason, this really worries me.

I don't know nothing about no fireworks.

And am glad to hear that people's families have gotten out of Dodge. Or at least New Orleans. Dodge should be OK.

But this?

Estimates predict that 60 percent to 80 percent of the city's houses will be destroyed by wind.

That's fucking terrifying.

When the kids themselves know it, there's this funny Aha! moment that a prof of mine in college used to record in her studies -- they were like, OMG I have knowledge nobody else has! POWER!!!

Some days it's all that gets me out of bed.

This morning My youngest brother came into the study and asked me, "Do you know what the problem would be if Keiran [other younger brother] were in charge of the American military? He'd just be looking for an excuse to say 'Defcon 4!'" The problem? Who looks at the prospect of giving my brother the strongest military on earth to play with and can't just trust their reflexive reaction? Is there an upside I'm not seeing that should be given some weight? (Apparently so, because Brendan added "At least it would get it out of Donald Rumsfeld's hands.")

Just heard from my teevee: " Those mustard people are zealots!"

Mom was telling me earlier that one of the problems with the estimated height of the storm walls is that a lot of the reefs that buffered the costal cities have eroded.

Also, can the lady on the weather channel please stop acting like she's watching a bass fishing tournament. "A whopping category 5! That's as big as it gets, folks!"

I also dislike people calling other people folks.

I'm trying to believe that a lot of the hysteria is because CNN and the Weather Channel have a lot of airtime to fill.

Well, it IS August. OTOH, when the National Weather Service issues a statement like this that starts with the line "MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS"... then maybe it is time to panic.

I just hope the roof on the superdome thingie stays put. For some reason, this really worries me.

The dome was built to withstand 200 MPH winds and is made of reinforced concrete. It should hold.

On NPR, they had Senator Landrieu (I'm likely massacring the spelling) and she specifically brought up the loss of marshland as part of what makes NO and LA so vulnerable.

In first world issues... I have a LOT of fresh sage this year. Someone please give me suggestions about what to do with it all.

dw, thanks. I wasn't sure what kind of construction it was. Dad was at his first professional baseball game last week, in Seattle, and brought up concerns about the type of roof architecture used in various stadiums (heck all the nearby stadiums where I grew up are open air.)