BWAH! My favorite is Robert Jordan's "Characters Show Up."

It's funny because it's true. I liked the first three books, but then came the realization these storylines weren't going anywhere anytime soon and that his female characters were all very similar.

I tried to pick back up Wheel Of Time after a long gap, and dear god, is it insensible. You can't tell the characters apart, and there just keep getting to be more and more of them.

My favourite was the Xanth one. That dawning realisation was pretty much where I gave up reading and sold my stash.

I have my annual review at 2 and I'm anxious! I think I did a good job this year. I certainly did A. Lot. I hope my supervisor acknowledges that. I reminded him that me doing all that stuff meant he didn't have to!

Technically I am not supposed to use prefab firelogs but it turns out real wood spits like a demon sucking salt and what it spits is, you know, ON FIRE.

Also, what kind of wood are you burning? Spitting and such usually comes from wood that is wet. The first part of the burn is the water evaporating, and then the nice calm warm burn is the wood burning, and then the gases burning. Ginger is right in that fireplaces are generally inefficient and glass doors will improve that. If you get properly seasoned wood, you will get less hissing and spitting.

WTF, Off The Map?

Seriously. Correct me if I'm wrong here, folks with medical knowledge, but isn't coconut milk kind of deficient in the red blood cells that one would want in a transfusion for a guy bleeding out? I mean, it's nice that his organs would all be getting a nice sugar rush, but wouldn't something that could carry oxygen to them be preferable? Perhaps they should have had Russell Johnson guest star in the pilot to suggest the technique.

I really don't want to do my evaluations this year, but I just got reminded that the first part is due today, so I kind of have to get the ball rolling.

Matt, I googled that a bit this morning, and apparently coconut water, not the coconut milk was used during WWII in this way. I don't know how or why it works.

Matt, that particular item can be used in place of saline solutions to prevent dehydration, but does not replace a good transfusion . sj is right about the specific item.

I believe that in a case like that, he'd still need a blood transfusion at the hospital, but the coconut water is about keeping total volume up--it's more rePlacing the plasma, allowing the remaining cells to keep circulating. Or something. The detour for the lake, though...gag me.

I suspect it works like saline to increase the blood volume. As I understand it, the immediate problem is not blood cells, but simply not having enough fluid to circulate.