Hi JZ, Suzi and Sarameg! Edit: Hi Beth too!

I'm not in Europe yet Suzi, I live in Maine. But my BF is in Belgium, and most of my geeky gaming friends are in Europe too.

The pics of Matilda are so cute JZ! I was shocked by the last one, both she and Emmett are getting so big! I'm going to have to check out some of those Kalman books, they look like fun!

I wish I had something interesting to say! Ummm, round ligament pain. It sucks. Discuss! :P

Hey, Callaluna! Congrats on the coming baby and the man in your life.

There is a criminal lack of Thomas Jane on the web. It's weird which guys there aren't many of, I find, when I go binging. Jensen Ackles is fucking everywhere, to put it coarsely and suggestively.

Ok, sleepy time. NN all, I'll try to get in the habit of stopping by more often.

I do not know Thomas Jane, but I do not mind looking at pictures of him.

I do not know round ligament pain, but it sounds like no fun.

My neck is slight stiff after the earthquake. Tension?

Fernet maybe the answer.

Hey CV!

Today has been a DAY. We got a call that Noah had a fever of 101. So I left work early to get him, which woke him from his nap. He was not feverish after the fact. In fact, he was Very Very Very 2 instead.

Sigh. We aren't allowed to take Noah to see Grace anymore. Due to swine flu outbreaks within the community, no kids allowed and temps are taken at the door on visiting. Seriously. So all the people who think that Swine Flu is BS, 40% of the cases are healthy people with no underlying respiratory issues.

Ugh.

In other news? I still have to do traffic school. Ugh.

And yet, there are people saying that you shouldn't have your kids vaccinated.

The stupid, it burns.

Due to swine flu outbreaks within the community, no kids allowed and temps are taken at the door on visiting. Seriously. So all the people who think that Swine Flu is BS, 40% of the cases are healthy people with no underlying respiratory issues.

Last week when we toured the maternity ward where I'll be delivering, they said that they are not allowing anyone under 16 (or maybe it was 18) in due to H1N1. I'm working from home this week because there are 2 co-workers who are sick and are NOT staying home. My OB and high-risk OB both have me paranoid about swine flu and unfortunately the vaccination isn't here yet so I'm not taking any chances if I can help it. Us preggies (hi, CV!) have to watch ourselves. Not that others don't, but we are in the high-risk category.

Here's a work-safe pickmeup link:

[link]

Hi Glam, congrats! I'm waiting for the H1N1 vaccine to arrive as well. I got my regular flu shot at my last appointment. I don't spend a lot of time in public, but my mom is in school and she has become comically careful since I became pregnant trying to avoid bringing home any germs to me. However, there is no vaccine yet in Belgium, and my BF is a train conductor who deals with the general public all day every day, so hopefully he'll stay healthy - he's coming to visit in 12 days (not that I am counting!) and it would suck if I picked up something from him.

Monkeys Fall Into ‘Uncanny Valley,’ Just Like Humans

Monkeys are freaked out by almost-but-not-quite-real depictions of themselves. That tendency is well documented in humans, but has never before been seen in another species.

To test their preference, researchers showed macaque monkeys real pictures, digital caricatures and realistic reconstructions of other monkey faces. To the latter, the macaques repeatedly averted their eyes.

“The visual behavior of the monkeys falls into the uncanny valley just the same as human visual behavior,” wrote Princeton University evolutionary biologists Shawn Steckinfinger and Asif Ghazanfar in a paper published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

...

It remains to be seen how the monkeys would react to a simian version of The Polar Express.

Heh.