Can I ask why?

Heh. I suggest your brother not eat her cooking, Brenda...

A story especially for the Birthday Boy:

Domestic cats have common ancestor

Inside the cells of your pet cat lies a history book, a story that stretches back to when humans first settled into civilizations and discovered agriculture.

Using DNA from modern house cats, researchers have traced the origin of domestic cats to a specific time and region that coincided with the settlement of humans in the Middle East known as the Fertile Crescent.

The finding, to be published in Friday's edition of the journal Science, adds clarity to the evolutionary history of cats, a domestic animal unique in its persistent similarity to its wild ancestor. This ancestor was a particular species of wildcat native that still lives in the same region, which is now Israel.

"The evidence tells us that cats from throughout the entire world have a single common ancestor," said study author Carlos Driscoll.

Scientists have long debated whether cats were independently domesticated at several regions and points in time, or whether they were first kept as pets in one civilization before being spread around the world. The identification of a single ancestral species for modern house cats supports the single-origin theory.

...Earlier theories speculated that Egyptians were responsible for cat domestication, roughly 4,000 years ago, based on the animal's appearance in art and tombs of the era.

Dating the origin of domestic cats earlier and placing this process in the Middle East suggests that cats played a role in the lives of the first farmers.

"Mankind settled down into agricultural villages for the first time about 12,000 years ago, developing many domestic cereals and plants," said Stephen O'Brien, another of the study's authors. "That's about the time and exact same place that cats walked out of woods and did something unusual: act friendly."

They're all just so strange. "Hey, we're all going on a family vacation, and if you come with us you'll be killed. Probably. Oh, and did we mention we're buying a summer home?"

My crazy is supercrazy. I just wrote to my city councilman about the situation.

I'm listening to Molly Ivin's Political Animals I have Known. Too bad Molly isn't around to take Ann to the wood shed.

My crazy is supercrazy. I just wrote to my city councilman about the situation.

It's on!

Can any of the lawerly types say if there's a breach of contract issue for Allyson's apartment? Even if it's not spelled out in the lease, wouldn't there be a verbal contract or maybe implied in the contract that tenants would have reasonable use of the common areas, and that the building person has essentially altered the terms of the contract?

The difference between Ann Coulter and Leni Riefenstahl is that Leni was talented and actually kind of nice*.

* If you were the right kind of person.

"It's a common area! You can't go in there!" I'm just stuck on that part.

So, I'm the last person in my office, as far as I can tell.... It felt super Friday-ish all day here today, and a ton of people are about to be on vacation, and I wish I didn't have to come in and work my ass off tomorrow! And possibly Saturday as well! Stupid short deadlines.

Smackdown!

There's a chick in here with the cutest cut twin set. I feel like such a girl. But I can't help staring.

Can I has sweaterset now?