At the library, there was a very unhappy baby. As the minutes went by, it was obvious to all within earshot that there was supreme wetness or hunger or pain involved. More minutes went by, and the mother came into the aisle where I was. The baby sucked on a pacifier, but whined and made fitful cries. After a bit, with no response from Mom, it launched into full Dolby mode.

After another ten minutes passed, Mom slowly walked away.

I once lived across from a woman who had many issues. When her baby was particularly fussy, she would bring it out to her front yard ’so all the neighbors will know what I’m having to go through’.

The woman who lives behind my mom’s house does her enthusiastic vocal practicing outside. Mostly scales, and I’m not sure what you would call them - trills? She sings her commands to her dog. It is quite something to stand in the lemon and orange trees while the lovely voice wafts over.

Either it is taking a long time for a tiny mantis nymph to digest a meal of whole fruit fly, or they’ve become great friends. The flies must know that they are safest when they are still, because earlier, one flew past a nymph, who lunged at it, but didn’t eat. Right now, it looks like they are all taking afternoon naps. A couple of nymphs look a bit bigger and darker.

The usual definition of ’slurry’ involves unappetizing substances. I have a better one. Some call it a slushie.

Freeze a can of fruit - light syrup, heavy syrup, doesn’t matter. Remove contents of can into blender. Blend.

Out of necessity, I made a lot of these a few years ago, when one son had all his wisdom teeth removed, and could not tolerate the prescribed pain killer. The cold helped, and the slurry went down easy.

Medical researchers discover more clues about the perplexing disability that is autism. Reuters reports that many children in a CDC study were breech babies of low birth weight. In addition, if one of the parents had a mental illness, the child was predisposed toward autism.

From Paulie , the movie:

Paulie: I like pie.
Benny (Jay Mohr): I like pie too.

It could happen by 2100, say some experts, who note that only 4% of people have the redhaired gene . Others with knowledge in such areas disagree, but say that carrot-tops will certainly become rare.

Mark Tilden, creator of robo sapien, promises a female version (long blonde hair and big eyes) that will have hair-grooming abilities.

Uh, Mark. We need to talk.

Excerpts from a small, but wonderful book .

A Few Short Notes on Tropical Butterflies , stories by John Murray.

It’s not news that bacteria are the culprits behind illnesses like stomach ulcers. What you may not know is that single microbes, such as the Epstein-Barr virus, can contribute to mono, throat cancer, Hodgkin’s, and Burkitt’s lymphoma. Once certain bacteria invade, they can trigger a series of events that begin with immune suppression and end with a terminal disease.

Long ago and far away, people were taking an antibiotic commonly prescribed today. Nubian bones dating back to A.D. 350 have been found with traces of tetracycline. So, what gives?

Turns out the ancients were fond of beer. The grain they used was ridden with the bacteria streptomycedes, from which tetracycline comes. Researchers speculate that adults drank the thick beer, and let the kids eat the dregs, insuring that certain infections were kept at bay.