Just catching up...Jilli, I am so sorry. Your family is in my thoughts.

ita, I don't even know how you're upright. At least it's almost the weekend? When you can not-sleep without other obligations?

Sometimes science is just weird.

Clowns Can Help Women Get Pregnant And not just in the obvious way either.

Strange, but true. A recent study led by Shevach Friedler published in the medical journal Fertility and Sterility showed that laughter can promote pregnancy:

To test the idea, the research team had a medical clown visit their fertility clinic periodically over one year. Of the 219 women in the study, half underwent embryo transfer on a day the clown was at the clinic.

During recovery from the procedure, each woman had a 15-minute visit from the clown, who performed a specific routine created by Friedler – who has studied movement and mime – and a colleague.

The researchers found that, compared to women who came to the clinic on a "non-clown" day, those who’d had a laugh were more than twice as likely to become pregnant, when other factors such as age, type of infertility and the number of embryos transferred, were taken into account.

Current temperature: 19. Feels like: 3. I don't wanna go outside.

-27 degrees Farenheit here.

Holy shit.

From The Twitter: Today is Buffy's 30th birthday.

Aw!

38 degrees here, should climb into the mid-40s. It's a very gray and damp cold, though.

We just had Penguin Appreciation Day, right? Guess what we're supposed to appreciate today? Fucking squirrels!

Squirrel Appreciation Day Is January 21 (PHOTOS)

Oh dear god.

Hubert Blackman Says Hooker Did Not Spend Enough Time With Him, Sues For $1.8M

A college student claims he was traumatized by a underwhelming session with a Las Vegas prostitute -- and now he's suing her escort service for distress caused by the "tragic event."

Hubert Blackman, originally of New York, would like his $275 payment to Las Vegas Exclusive Personals back, according to court documents, as well as a $1.8 million verdict.

According to the Las Vegas Sun, Blackman was vacationing in Vegas in December when he ordered a stripper to come to his hotel room. There, the stripper performed a $155 lap dance and a $120 sex act. But then things took a turn for the bizarre.

The Sun continues:

[Blackman] said that the next morning, he called Las Vegas Exclusive Personals to demand his money back, saying he was dissatisfied because the entertainer didn't stay for the promised one hour and left after a half hour.

Blackman said he also told the company he was incapable of making an informed agreement with the stripper because he was drunk at the time.

When the company refused to refund Blackman's money, he called the cops, who threatened to bust him for prostitution.

Blackman told the Sun he didn't know that the act was illegal in Vegas.

eta: It's been a while since I had my business law class, but contracts to perform illegal activities are unenforceable.

Modernist furniture for your cat.

Giant Crayfish found in Tennessee. (SyFy Classic of the future?)

Champion mare Miesque has died. (Well, she was 27.) A champion racehorse and a good broodmare.

eta: It's been a while since I had my business law class, but contracts to perform illegal activities are unenforceable.

I can see how he may have thought that since prostitution is legal in Nevada under certain circumstances (clearly not this one), he was okay. He's an idiot for trying to sue, but not a complete idiot.