the carnelian nail polish of scorn

-Is anyone else having trouble with lj consistently losing their login cookies? Or seriously irritated that their error page doesn't have a login prompt, necessitating one to click to another page & close out an ad before being able to log back in?

+Interesting trivia under the heading of "Dolphins are weird not-primates": Male baby dolphins discover their erection muscles sometime in their first few weeks of life, and start experimenting with sexual behaviors along with all the other social interactions. By the time they're a year or two old, actual sex is included in the normal range of "things dolphins do" (though there's some divide between children and adults, just in terms of who can get away with picking on whom; in general grown females aren't that interested in three year old boys for some reason...) There's also plenty of same-sex interaction or rubbing against inanimate objects that goes on. Boy dolphins don't actually become fertile until around the age of 8, though, and a couple years before that they leave the pod of their mothers/grandmothers/aunts/sisters to live in smaller groups of other males.

-Today, my ears and sinuses have ganged up on me to make me feel like my head is wrapped in static-producing fluff, and despite wanting to accomplish about fifteen things, I strongly suspect there's going to be a bunch of sitting on the couch crocheting, or possibly reading a book. Phoey.

the carnelian nail polish of scorn

-Is anyone else having trouble with lj consistently losing their login cookies? Or seriously irritated that their error page doesn't have a login prompt, necessitating one to click to another page & close out an ad before being able to log back in?

+Interesting trivia under the heading of "Dolphins are weird not-primates": Male baby dolphins discover their erection muscles sometime in their first few weeks of life, and start experimenting with sexual behaviors along with all the other social interactions. By the time they're a year or two old, actual sex is included in the normal range of "things dolphins do" (though there's some divide between children and adults, just in terms of who can get away with picking on whom; in general grown females aren't that interested in three year old boys for some reason...) There's also plenty of same-sex interaction or rubbing against inanimate objects that goes on. Boy dolphins don't actually become fertile until around the age of 8, though, and a couple years before that they leave the pod of their mothers/grandmothers/aunts/sisters to live in smaller groups of other males.

-Today, my ears and sinuses have ganged up on me to make me feel like my head is wrapped in static-producing fluff, and despite wanting to accomplish about fifteen things, I strongly suspect there's going to be a bunch of sitting on the couch crocheting, or possibly reading a book. Phoey.

Experimentally cross-posty from dreamwidth. Comments encouraged in either location.

Books I bought last week:

(and, impressively, the Baltimore Harbor Barns & Noble actually had both of them in stock.)

Don't Shoot the Dog: The New Art of Teaching and Training by Karen Pryor. This was recommended by the Animal Programs staff at the aquarium, and the name rang a faint bell, which it finally dawned on me was because this is the woman dragonvyxn keeps going on about. At any rate, it was a very inspiring read about the benefits of properly applied positive reenforcement. It's not so much about animal training per se as it is about general techniques to apply to yourself and the rest of the animal kingdom; you can use these tools to train your dog, to keep your kids from screaming in public and your roommate from leaving laundry on the floor, or to train yourself to keep up with your exercise routine. It's presented very clearly and readably, with a wide range of examples from all kinds of situations. Highly recommended.

The Girl who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her own Making by Catherynne M Valente, which has just, astonishingly, made the NYT bestseller's list. Neat. Originally written as an online, donation-based serial (the first two-thirds are still available here) to help the author continue to pay her rent, winner of the Andre Norton Award, & championed by various big names including Neil Gaiman. None of this is why you should read it: you should read it if you like sweet strange children's fantasy; it's got some of the same feel as the original Oz books, with a much more modern sensibility. It has empowered little girls (both good and evil), strange lands, fantastical creatures, and a little bit of very down-to-earth common sense from a girl who is growing up in the WWII era midwest. It has wandering winds, flying leopards, a wyvern who thinks he was fathered by a library, migratory bicycles, and an autumn wood... if any of this sounds intriguing, I'd recommend taking a look. :)

Books I bought last week:

(and, impressively, the Baltimore Harbor Barns & Noble actually had both of them in stock.)

Don't Shoot the Dog: The New Art of Teaching and Training by Karen Pryor. This was recommended by the Animal Programs staff at the aquarium, and the name rang a faint bell, which it finally dawned on me was because this is the woman dragonvyxn keeps going on about. At any rate, it was a very inspiring read about the benefits of properly applied positive reenforcement. It's not so much about animal training per se as it is about general techniques to apply to yourself and the rest of the animal kingdom; you can use these tools to train your dog, to keep your kids from screaming in public and your roommate from leaving laundry on the floor, or to train yourself to keep up with your exercise routine. It's presented very clearly and readably, with a wide range of examples from all kinds of situations. Highly recommended.

The Girl who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her own Making by Catherynne M Valente, which has just, astonishingly, made the NYT bestseller's list. Neat. Originally written as an online, donation-based serial (the first two-thirds are still available here) to help the author continue to pay her rent, winner of the Andre Norton Award, & championed by various big names including Neil Gaiman. None of this is why you should read it: you should read it if you like sweet strange children's fantasy; it's got some of the same feel as the original Oz books, with a much more modern sensibility. It has empowered little girls (both good and evil), strange lands, fantastical creatures, and a little bit of very down-to-earth common sense from a girl who is growing up in the WWII era midwest. It has wandering winds, flying leopards, a wyvern who thinks he was fathered by a library, migratory bicycles, and an autumn wood... if any of this sounds intriguing, I'd recommend taking a look. :)

Experimentally cross-posty from dreamwidth. Comments encouraged in either location.