Hi Shir!

I also saw this and thought of bt:

I like that. I will quibble about the king cobra - true, it's not a member of the genus Naja, but the term cobra tends to get applied more broadly. I'd go with "not a true cobra", but wouldn't restrict it further.

I'm also pretty sanguine about the "king" appellation, since the genus it does belong to (its only member) is Ophiophagus, which translates to the entirely accurate "snake-eater".

To balance things out, let's add to the list the musk ox, and one I came across just recently - African acacias are not members of the genus Acacia. Scientists discovered that all the species included in Acacia were not in fact monophyletic, and split them into five genera. Acacia now mostly consists of Australian wattle trees, despite that:

1. The African trees are usually called acacias and the Australian trees are usually called wattles;
2. The word "acacia" derives from the Greek word for thorn; most African acacias are thorny, while most Australian wattles are not; and
3. Back in 1773, Carl Linnaeus himself designated the genus Acacia to refer specifically to the African trees. The Australian wattles were only added later.

Anyone feeling like using a different name for my beloved Australian wattles (the golden wattle is in flower now and it is awesome), I recommend "Sugababes".

I'm feeling ridiculously exhausted. I'm not sure if this is purely physical or a combination of physical and emotional. (I've been pretty stressed out lately.) I'm in that boneless phase of exhaustion where you could fall asleep at any time and sleep for hours and then get up and be awake for a bit and do it again.

I'm not sure if this is purely physical or a combination of physical and emotional. (I've been pretty stressed out lately.) I'm in that boneless phase of exhaustion where you could fall asleep at any time and sleep for hours and then get up and be awake for a bit and do it again.

sumi, I get that. I think stress sucks all your energy, big time. I'd rather get a bad cold than be as stressed as I made myself over the past couple of weeks.

My feeling is that if you need the sleep, then do it. I finally got a good night's sleep last night -- about 10 hours or so -- and I'm still kind of tired. But better.

I'm in that boneless phase of exhaustion where you could fall asleep at any time and sleep for hours and then get up and be awake for a bit and do it again.

That's the state I've been in for about the last 13 years.

Stress is definitely exhausting. Take care of yourself, sumi.

Australian wattles

I am thinking of getting one of these. I shall name it Sugababe. We totally name trees, right?

I am sorry about your car, P-C. I know having cars broken into is really violating. And the things that can't be replaced. That's so sad. I can still probably detail things I lost once when my car was broken into nearly twenty years ago.

Last night there were gunshots as I was going to sleep. But I heard nothing else and couldn't even begin to guess where they were. My window was open so it could have been just about anywhere.

Oh, P-C. That sucks. I'm so sorry, and will be keeping my fingers crossed that things find their way back to you somehow.

I'm in that boneless phase of exhaustion where you could fall asleep at any time and sleep for hours and then get up and be awake for a bit and do it again.

Yeah, I live there. I seem to have an infinite capacity for sleep.

Most of the time I love that Frankie is a very quiet, chill doggie, but I do wish we could work out a better communication system for when he needs to go out. I keep finding puddles, having had no clue he needed to go out. He doesn't whine, or scratch at the door, or anything.

Hi Shir!

I'm feeling ridiculously exhausted. I'm not sure if this is purely physical or a combination of physical and emotional. >(I've been pretty stressed out lately.) I'm in that boneless phase of exhaustion where you could fall asleep at any time and sleep for hours and then get up and be awake for a bit and do it again.

If you can take the time to get a good sleep, do it. I am in a phase of not being able to get more than 4-5 hours of sleep a night, no matter how tired I am.

Sorry about your napsack P-C. It's hard to have all the things important in your life taken like that.

I'm so sorry, and will be keeping my fingers crossed that things find their way back to you somehow.

I just realized that because my business card holder is in there, if the fucker did just toss the backpack somewhere and somebody finds it, they should be able to contact me. So, fingers crossed, I guess. I don't know how long I should wait before giving up all hope and start replacing things. I just want it all back now. Exactly the same. I'm trying to find the exact model of that backpack. I wish I'd taken note of the model number.

And I have to replace The Kindly Ones, but they've come out with a new edition since then, so that will be tricky. Or...ooh, maybe the new edition is the recolored one, which is sold separately, and the one on Amazon would be the one I have, which would make things much easier.

It's hard to have all the things important in your life taken like that.

I'm just really, really glad my personal laptop wasn't in there. I would be devastated. That is one of my worst fears. Also one of my worst fears? Having my backpack stolen. Oh, look at that.

"Shir, he's so out of your league!"

Did she mean he was too good for you, or not good enough?

P-C, that's precisely how I lost (har) my work laptop a few months ago. I can't stress highly enough to everyone how much it's not worth it to leave a bag visible in a parked car. I can't think of any pro that's worth the possible con. Some people are that shitty--I've had my broken into because they thought they saw something worth breaking in for (twice now--and there's not really anything I can do about that), and once because they really did (and the police never found that laptop, despite possible CCTV footage of the bag being dumped). What I keep in mind about the second thieves is that they broke into one guy's car for his luggage (and they did seem to keep some of his clothes), and when that guy was searching dumpsters for what they'd discarded he also found a set of knives, which means that might have been something else that initially caught their eye.

I don't know why other people with a bunch of stuff in their cars haven't been broken into like I have, but I'm still going to minimise the inviting signals I send out. It's getting more and more automatic (I put my laptop in the trunk to drive home, just in case I decide to stop somewhere on the way, for instance) because I don't want to go through another morning like that one again, with the trashed rental.

Which, blah blah tl/dr--PC, I feel your pain--people, don't even look like you might have left stuff in your car. It's not worth it. It's not a far-fetched thing. It's totally commonplace. Don't let it happen to you (again or for the first time--learn from me and THREE times).