I am totally convinced that I am the only person on the whole board who is accidentally scrambling those five letters, and losing the slash.

So totally not just you.

in the PEI/NS area

Maybe I'll start calling PEI and NS the PENIS Area.

On a totally bummer note, the vet called again and those are tumors. So I'll probably take him home tonight and put him to sleep on Monday.

Supposedly this is the worlds most advanced robot dog (available commercially, anyway): Sega Dream Dog DX: The first robot dog you can truly love

Many attempts have been made to create the perfect robot dog, but we can now safely say that a new bot called the Dream Dog DX Golden Retriever reigns supreme over them all. More cuddly than a tribble and ten times more believable than the AIBO, the DX made its debut at the recent Tokyo Toy Show and blew visitors away with its realistic antics.

Responding to voice commands, the DX will sit, roll over, bark and even nip at your fingers when you play with its nose. The "toy" is actually rather cute and comes closer to a realistic dog than any robot I've seen. The plaintive dog sounds it emits are enough to tug at your geek heartstrings. Imagine what life would be like if this thing had an embedded, live-updated Wikipedia database and speech functions enabled--scary.

Still, I think it could be improved. Here are some possibilities:

• Built-in IR remote so it can control your TV.
• WiFi, so it can go on the internet and buy stuff.
• Friggin' lasers on its head.
• Acid for blood.

I was trying to encompass "You can't do that" and "You don't want to do that" and "You don't have much opportunity to do that" in the same sentence.

Then it's not that much like the black man thing, because of the lack of a strongly (and violently) worded "Don't do that."

I am totally convinced that I am the only person on the whole board who is accidentally scrambling those five letters, and losing the slash.

On which board? Well, maybe the losing the slash bit--that seems to be rare (hi, msbelle!) around these parts.

Damn, sorry to hear that Sue. What's up with all the sick kitties, lately?

I'm so sorry, Sue.

Well, NOW you aren't, Nutty.

(thwacking dead horse) The other thing about Northern Exposure that bugged was the character of Ed Chigliak being played by a blond dude that (reportedly) only has 1/8 Native American ancestry.

I was waiting for that one! (I find his dad weirdly hot, by the way. I find him weirdly hot, too, but somehow less hot than his father.)

It's entirely possible. I guess the Mi'kmaq who were in Nfld migrated between NS and NFLD as they fished. It's really hard to get a clear family history because my grandmother had a fairly painful past and didn't really want to talk about it.

My grandfather's family migrated all the Maritimes, and occasionally west to BC and back again. It's hard to get a clear family history there because he left home at 13, his mother married his uncle after his father died, he died over 50 years ago, NO ONE seems to actually know his parents' names, and Gram was in the habit of glossing over the truth in favor of a less rough and tumble narrative.

I'm so sorry about Pico, Sue. Poor sick kitty.

Responding to voice commands, the DX will sit, roll over, bark and even nip at your fingers when you play with its nose.

I don't think Ed's gonna go for that...

I'm sorry, Sue and GC.