I have three eyes and I love myself very much.

[flexagon]

La la la... here I am still viewing the mountains in Mountain View (psst, it's actually very flat here, but I have it on good authority that I could see mountains from somewhere nearby), while heisenbug is back with the kitties. What am I doing here? Now that laundry is done and I found a place to work out, I'm down to basics.

1. Raving about the food
2. Whining about the weather
3. Getting acquainted with my new Mac

On the first topic, it's not just at work -- I had a sandwich for lunch today that was to die for, a shrimp salad melt on sourdough. I am going to try to make those when I get back home. On the second topic, I stick wtih my previously stated opinion: I could do without the roasting and freezing on a cycle of about 0.2 Hz, but that's just what happens here. On the third topic, this Mac is oddly stripped down... no iPhoto, no iMovie, no Photo Booth... I actually ended up BUYING something so that I could play with the built-in camera.

Hosted at my new Picasa account:



I have also been reading, which is easy to do a lot of when the trains are slow. One book I read was The Female Brain, which was a little fluffy but interesting. When is an enjoyable book not enjoyable? --oh yeah, when it scares the snot out of you.

Biology can hijack circuits in spite of our best intentions.... "Baby lust"... can hit a woman soon after she's cradled someone else's soft, warm newborn. Suddenly, even the least child-focused females can start craving the tender, delicious feel and smell of babies. They may chalk it up to ticking biological clocks, or the "me-too" influence of their peers, but the real reason is that a brain change has occurred and a new reality has set in. The sweet smell of an infant's head carries pheromones that stimulate the female brain to produce the potent love potion oxytocin--creating a chemical reaction that induces baby lust.

This does have a reference to an established pheromone researcher, but the article referred to isn't online. Hmm. Has anyone been sniffing baby heads lately? If this is true, then it's the first bit of really practical advice I've ever gotten from a gender studies book, even if it's only inferred. Do not sniff their contagious/addictive little heads if you don't want to like it! Sure, I know what you're thinking; the first time's free.

Comments

[perfectbound.livejournal.com]

one of the regular contributors on my favorite linguistics blog had a few things to say (http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/%7Emyl/languagelog/archives/003530.html) about The Female Brain. (the very last link in that post goes to the index of everything else he wrote about it.)

[flexagon]

Oh, ugh. :( I saw some of this type of assertion in some Amazon reviews, but not in so much detail... thanks.

[perfectbound.livejournal.com]

Yeah, kind of a buzzkill, huh? I have to admire the tirelessness of the guy's debunking, though.

[flexagon]

Annoyingly enough, of course, it doesn't mean EVERYTHING in the book is wrong or misleading. I just would have to research it all myself, which I didn't want to do, which is why I bought the book (whine, whine)! I agree, that author is amazingly dogged, clearly more so than me.

[a-kosmos.livejournal.com]

Biology can hijack circuits in spite of our best intentions.... "Baby lust"... can hit a woman soon after she's cradled someone else's soft, warm newborn.

Sorry/hooray, but it doesn't work.... or at least it didn't for me. After a summer of raving about wanting to spread "baby fever," one of my coworkers plonked her grandson into my arms and then stared at me kind of expectantly.

Of course, I do tend to squee uncontrollably over puppies and kitties.... transference?

[flexagon]

But did you inhale?

[a-kosmos.livejournal.com]

Inhale? yes... Did I bend down and take a big snort o' baby head? No.... That seems kind of weird to me..... I was actually too busy noticing that his skin looked kind of blochy.

[flexagon]

I understand perfectly. :) It's kind of weird that I totally (instinctively?) do that to my cat, though. I sniff the top of her head when I'm hugging her, and I like it.

[a-kosmos.livejournal.com]

I'm not really a head sniffer.... I'm more of a bury my face in Vinny's shoulders so I can hear him purr.... He usually smells a little like grass for some reason... odd for an inside cat.

[body-alchemy.livejournal.com]

Argh, holy shit that's scary!

I did sniff a baby head before the 5K and was immediately forced to "Awww!" and kiss it, but was more than happy to give the baby back to Mama when she returned from the restroom. And I'm still feeling unlusty of the babies.

[apfelsingail.livejournal.com]

Hmm- I've held a few babies, and probably did inhale; I mostly just wanted to give the squishy floppy thing back, though.

Love the picture, btw- very Mirrormask. :-)

[flexagon]

Yeah, I can imagine that if one was quiet and not drooling and just cuddling, it would be nice the way a cat or a friend is nice. I haven't experienced that, nor have I sniffed a head.

Thanks on the pic. The software I bought has a lot of fun/silly modes, but that "mirror" one is the first one that caught my attention. :)

[apfelsingail.livejournal.com]

Oh, forgot to mention, I do sniff Sable's head, and it always makes me want to hug her and scratch her ears. Maybe my circuitry got wired a bit differently?

[flexagon]

Could be. I sniff Nala's head, too. :)

[bluechromis.livejournal.com]

I'm a cat head sniffer too. Only Preggers' though.

I will let you know about babies heads and lust after the next one I encounter. For the team I will deliberately inhale a big ole whiff. If I then ask you to refresh me on knitting, you'll know what happened.

It's too bad your mac didn't come with that fun stuff. I especially love garage band.

[flexagon]

All right, I look forward to a full report. If you ask me to refresh you on knitting, I'll just assume motospeedfreak failed in doing the same. :) For the record though, I know nothing about knitting baby clothes/blankets.

I don't have Garage Band, but I do have Google Reader and Google Desktop and various other things along those lines. It's... a different kind of fun. Sigh.

[bluechromis.livejournal.com]

Do you know what garage band is?

[flexagon]

Er, yes...

[bluechromis.livejournal.com]

I was just confused because google reader and desktop aren't creativity software, so I wasn't sure if you thought garage band was an aggregator or something. :)

[flexagon]

Nah, just being sarcastic. I do also have Google Earth though, which actually is fun... not creative but fun.

[bluechromis.livejournal.com]

Oh, sorry, I'm schlow.

Google earth is defintely fun.