Middle-night reading

Ivo woke around 3:30 to nurse a bit and I haven't been able to fall back to sleep so I've been reading the NYTimes.

Neat articles on surfing Lake Erie, pseudocyesis (false pregnancy) and a report on a genetic mutation/adaptation which occurred around 3000 yrs ago that allows adults to digest lactose.

Neat neat neat! Especially the article on false pregnancy. Some medical science historians reckon that's what brought on Mary Tudor's bloody behavior... And it's strange that while being extremely rare in humans, the phenomenon is common in dogs - who are all hormones without the attendant psychological mishmash-zeitgeist.

But my favorite line is "Almost all Dutch people and 99% of Swedes are lactose- tolerant." I'm gonna see if I can work that into normal conversation today!

Also good, from what I gather is a big deal (cf.: Kofi Annan, Pinochet, Iraq etc), an article on who's more civilized, Americans v Britons. Apparently this perennial debate has been rekindled by some remark made by Gwyneth Paltrow. But I like this quote, "Americans would rather describe great transcendent truths than do anything else; Brits would rather carry off challenging polemic than do anything else." So did an American or a Brit say that? You can check here.

I also read a short interview with a weird-looking Dr Louann Benzadrine, I mean 'Brizendine,' who just published a book called The Female Brain - grounding teenage girls' tendency to gossip on female hormones. She also said that during pregnancy, the brain shrinks 8% and doesn't recover til 6 months postpartum. I don't get it. But then, maybe it's cuz me brain done shrunk down...

Pics from yesterday: Kevin and Kaia came over last night. Ivo and I went to Sian and AJ's for breakfast and then to the art museum park. Weather's cool at night, beautiful in the morning/evening and, to my mind, brutal in the afternoon.

Baby Burl's moving a lot. Heartburn. Otherwise perfect:)