Cripes, Sue. Wine and scotch with a good friend does seem to be in order.

The "greater good" is for society, the "larger good" is the better thing.

My phone has been ringing off the fucking hook this morning. So weird! One person I haven't talked to in months, my grandmother who I've been trying to catch up with for a week, the job thing, AND another friend. I hope I'm done for the day now.

Tommyrot, you could put casting news in spoilage lite.

Ginger - THAT was the thing about Bats and superpowers that needed to be added!

I was sad to hear about Chris Penn too.

I bet that giving the cats places to climb, space away from their major predators and stuff to look at helps.

They probably stalk all the time -- and the local fauna would do just as well as their regular prey to get that instinct going.

Oh, and had you guys heard about Moscow's colder than normal weather?

They probably stalk all the time -- and the local fauna would do just as well as their regular prey to get that instinct going.

A friend made a fantastic suggestion last night that I'm going to use this week. I'm getting a mylar balloon with a very long string (I have tall ceilings), long enough to reach just above the floor. That way, while I'm at work, the cat can bat at the string and chase it all over the apartment as the balloon floats around the ceiling (I don't have fans to get in the way). Since she loves to attack the drawstrings on my pants when they dangle, I'm sure she's going to love this!

The only good thing about today so far is oatmeal. By my estimation, that means the day will get better.

Unless it was some really fantastic oatmeal. Nevertheless, I do hope you're right.

I think I could have slept another 3 or 4 hours easily.

I wish I could have. I woke up at 4:08 this morning, after a dream of being chased by a zombie with really, really 80s hair. For some reason the hair was as distubing as the whole zombie thing.

"greater good" vs. the "larger good". I haven't really heard "the larger good" before. Doesn't make it wrong. But if you're working in a social context (see Jesse's post) I think "the greater good" is more common. Whether that makes it more or less useful to you depends how you want people to read the passage, I guess.

Sorry about the tensions, Sue. I'm in favor of scotch, myself. And good friends. And kicking out troublesome co-op folks who set their place on fire. Fire bad. New residents potentially pretty.

A friend made a fantastic suggestion last night that I'm going to use this week. I'm getting a mylar balloon with a very long string (I have tall ceilings), long enough to reach just above the floor.

I did that for a roomate's kitten. (I made the string end a few feet above the floor, so kitty had to jump for it.) She loved it. She used to grab the string in her teeth and walk proudly from room to room, up and down the stairs, etc, with her balloon captive trailing above her.

Sometimes she'd even hide behind a chair so she could pounce on my feet as I walked by - except her balloon (still in her teeth) bobbing above her would give her away.

That's probably why cats in the wild evolved to not carry balloons about as they stalked their prey....

A friend of mine gave me some cat toys she had sitting around the house -- her cats don't get to play because she is afraid that the dogs will eat the toys and choke on them.

I've been doling them out to the kitties little by little and left the last one out yesterday. I hadn't really paid much attention to it, but last night when I got home - I was back in the bedroom when I started to hear bizarre noises and much cat excitement coming from the front of the apartment. Fearing the worst - strange creature caught by cats that I would have to deal with - I went up front to find the cats extremely excited by a cat toy which is a fur mousie on a string that makes a sound when they squeeze it.

Lovely.

They probably stalk all the time -- and the local fauna would do just as well as their regular prey to get that instinct going.

But I'd think killing would be important too. Or perhaps I'm just projecting.

For some reason the hair was as distubing as the whole zombie thing.

Well, yeah.

But I'd think killing would be important too.

I dunno. Extrapolating from my housecat, she gets pretty bored with her prey once it is dead. No more chasing! Unfortunately for her, you bat a live mouse around like that, it ends up dead.

At the Baltimore zoo, the keepers play fetch with the cheetahs. Otherwise, they end up fat cause they are so very lazy.