I would like to take this opportunity to remind people that I have the most mundane dreams in the entire known universe. Last week I dreamt that I was standing in line at the post office. Holding the little piece of paper that says I have a box. Never started standing in line, never stopped, never found out what was in the box, just stood in line, moving at a normal pace, holding my paper.

Then last night I dreamt that I had volunteered for an extra month of camp. I spent my time unfolding my clothes from my suitcase. That was it. That was the whole dream. Doing something I will have to do about ten times this summer.

eta: I decided to eat leftover spaghetti this morning. It was possibly not the right choice. I recommend something else for you.

Freebasing catnip: HOW TO - Make SUPER CATNIP... isolation of nepetalactone from catnip

At least two thirds of domestic cats "enjoy" the effects of Nepeta, a.k.a. "catnip." But do they it enjoy it enough? If humans were able to isolate the active ingredient in catnip, could we not use it to become omnipowerful CATGODS? Imagine the possibilities! What fool wouldn't want their own personal cat army? A massive fuzzy force with which to execute your every bidding? A united, unquestioning militia that requires nothing other than unfettered access to the super-powerful catnip products that give their adorable cuddly lives meaning?

Nepetalactone is the active ingredient in catnip.* Today we are going to isolate nepetalactone in its pure form through a steam distillation. The distilled liquid will be extracted with an organic solvent (toluene), refined, then evaporated to give the final product.

Now I know what you're thinking: is it safe for cats to be around such a concentrated extract of catnip? Hell yes! Within reason. And we're all reasonable people. Pure nepetalactone has been studied on cats extensively. In fact, "catnip oil" that is available from botanical stores is essentially just nepetalactone, and it is widely used in homeopathic medicine.

If I'm in the midst of oversleeping, I start having dreams about trying to get ready and being thwarted. The shower is too small, no water pressure, can't find the shampoo, my clothes don't fit or are dirty, people keep interrupting me, etc.

It's kind of funny, if frustrating. My subconcious is a nag.

Okay, I'm still freaked out by my last dream. It disturbed me enough that I went back to bed twice to see if I could replace it with something more placid, but no. Just me beating the crap out of some (not real) kids. I'd blame tommy, except his robot link would have made me feel better about it, not worse.

With all the crap I post, I'm sure something or other could give you nightmares....

Who wrote that article? Did somebody steal MM's sooper-secret anti-Hec plans?

I really need to get my sleep less fitful. And also to kill fewer children in my sleep.

Hee. You left off the disclaimer at the end.

• Note: pure nepetalactone will not enable you to create a cat army.

...what kind of person thinks that it's okay to use "lol" in an e-mail in a professional context? Is it the kind of person I can kill?

And for Theo - newt (sorry, couldn't resist).

Not that kind! More like this:

[link]

Hee. You left off the disclaimer at the end.

Yeah. I wasn't sure how to get the asterisk to stay an asterisk instead of turning to a bullet point. And my brain didn't feel like making the effort to figure it out.