Hey bt - I figure you've already heard the latest in prehistoric giant wombat news, but just in case....

And as it turns out, only one species of giant wombat roamed the planet between 2 million and 10,000 years ago, despite evidence that they varied significantly in size.

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Scientists previously studying giant prehistoric wombats had assumed that there existed anywhere from two even up to eighteen or more different species of wombat. This assumption was made because of the varying sizes of the adult fossils found. Specimens ranged from just a few feet long to up to nine feet long and almost six feet tall!

When Giant Wombats Ruled the Earth...

And as it turns out, only one species of giant wombat roamed the planet between 2 million and 10,000 years ago, despite evidence that they varied significantly in size.

It's good to know people aer working on this, though I think it needs more work to become conclusive.

So I had a root canal 10 days ago. Today, they put in a post and final filling and in cleaning out the stuffing, said it looked great. Should I be freaked out that my gums (where wisdom teeth were) are kinda swollen? Not hurting. I can feel that the poor root-canalled tooth has been abused, but it isn't pain, just..it feels more compressible. Which has often been the case on teeth after work (the filling and post was done without numbing and the only winceble moment was driving the post in the final bit, and that was quickly passing and up in the cheek, not the jaw, like when you poke your sinus too hard.)

Man, this makes me so paranoid. I hate teeth. So damned expensive genetics.

I've been working on my Rachel girl-crush for a while now. I just don't like that she wears 3 times as much make-up when she hosts Countdown.

A woman I hired at my previous job was a valley girl who went to USC. She had a serious uptalk problem and I almost didn't hire her because of it. I'm glad I did in the end because she was amazing. However, I did practically beat the uptalk habit out of her by mercilessly making fun of her until she stopped.

Believe it or not, we are still very good friends.

I do not mind the farting humor AT ALL, it is the grandparents. I just called to warn them. They seemed, honestly, slightly horrified. Once of mac's 4.5 or 5 yo cousins is getting in trouble for saying the word fart, and I was all "not only is he NOT getting in trouble, I join in - and he can't get in trouble for it when he stays with you, as long as it stays in the house."

if nothing else, mac has a very good grasp of in the house stuff and out of the house stuff. Since I use "not allowed in school" words all the time: crazy, stupid, hate, shut up, dumb, ugly....

Heh. Fartness is tolerated and embraced here. Gotta go digging in my small kid book collection! Given the parents have their son's child for the next couple of weeks starting in a day or two, they are going to get happy with the bodily emissions. We're bad that way. And the nephews are all about the bodily functions ( T likes to fake burp.)

Does anyone want to see my vacation pics from April? I finally got them up at Flickr.

You can see my Savannah, GA, trolley tour pics, DC evening bus tour pics (complete with a few from the next day at the American Indian Museum), some more from just the WWII Memorial, some from Honeymoon Island, FL and I rather like these two from Beaufort, SC.

pennies

I swear mac picks up on average 5 cents a week from pennies on the ground/floor.

I -- very seriously -- cannot leave a penny on the ground. I have fished them out of mud puddles, motor oil splatters, and other dubious goop. Whenever I do any sort of volunteer thing that involves going door to door (like checking to see who has recycle bins, and if they don't have them but want them, obtaining their info), I have to try really hard to NOT pick up pennies on the ground on their property.

I don't know if it's technically, clinically OCD, but it *feels* like it.

I *just* got home from work.

Just. I totally stopped at Subway for a turkey sammich and a not-on-the-diet orange soda. Too tired to make a freakin' sandwich. This symposium is going to kill me.

Eat your sandwich! Don't die Allyson!

I'm back from our second All-Star game. A very tough game against a tough South Oakland team. We were down 2-0 as late as the 4th inning, but we tied it up, coughed up the lead, tied it up, and pulled away for an 11-4 win.

Emmett played a great game. Caught all six innings. Had one inning where he made two defensive outs at catcher (pounced on a bunt and threw the runner out, nabbed a tricky foul ball). And he hit the ball well all-game, going 2 for 4, but one of the outs was a smoked line drive to the second baseman. And one of the hits was in the middle of the tying rally, and another was a two RBI double.

It's good to stay in the winner's bracket.