It took me a long time to break the "I have to go out on Saturday because it's the only non-school night I have" habit.

What's the likelihood that an animal can tell where the cancer is originating?

Just pulling an answer out of my hat, it seems likely that if it is detecting a tumor by smell, the odor might be stronger where the tumor actually is.

See, I'm just thinking the cancer-cat story is anecdotal. It could just be a coincidence that the cat was poking at the guy's side.

But it's not like double-blind tests can be conducted. (Cats would never sign the consent forms.)

like my former workplace that did nothing for expectant fathers or me when I adopted, but gave a shower to a pregnant female. I should ask if they gave a shower to a much lower level employee who I know was pregnant after I left. But that place was awful about favoritism wrt such things.

As much as I hate the baby shower at work thing, at least we do it for expectant fathers and mothers.

But put me in the camp where you never spend money at work, and certainly not on people above you. I go to work to earn money, not spend it.

Oh yeah, I was pissed when we found out one of the Finance guys was having a baby (like, that day), because there was no shower, no nothing. A male Director did get a shower.

My mom just told me that she went to Michael's to pick up the Santa cross-stitch piece I had made for her (she loves so much she's going to have it stay up year-round instead of just in December). Well, when she went to the framing desk to pick it up, the guy pulled it out and smiled, telling her that a co-worker of his was so enthralled with my work that she went through almost 100 patterns online before she found that exact one to make herself. (I had bought it back in 1992, when I worked at Michael's.) Then, a woman behind her in line said she had to take a look at this piece to see what the big deal was, and she went into raptures over the detail on it.

It's just a cross-stitch pattern that anyone can do just as well as I did, so my head isn't too big with the ego-boost, but I am glad my mom loves it so much. Also, at Christmas she showed it to my niece and nephews before she took it in to get framed, and even the 18-y.o. was impressed, which pleases me just as much!

Obama's Elf: The Worst Pun Of All Time?

A man named Mark Liberman who runs the Language Log blog out of UPenn posted this YouTube video yesterday and begged the question is this the "worst pun of all time?"

The answer is almost certainly yes, yes this is the worst pun of all time. I tried to resist putting this up, but it's just so adorable/ridiculous that I folded.

Just pulling an answer out of my hat, it seems likely that if it is detecting a tumor by smell, the odor might be stronger where the tumor actually is.

Amych mentioned chemical markers on the breath, so I was assuming that's where the smell was coming from.

That may be the most magnificient pun in history.

Amych mentioned chemical markers on the breath, so I was assuming that's where the smell was coming from.

That's what I was thinking. A quick google turned up a story about dogs being able to smell skin cancer, but I dunno about the smell of a lung cancer tumor being able to penetrate the walls of the chest cavity.