Siamese are highly intelligent problem solvers and escape artists. They’re famous for opening doors and drawers, turning on taps, and getting up to more mischief than normal. And you have two of the beauties.
I don’t get many contextual opportunities to share this story, but yeah, I get you. I like snakes fine if they’re not in my personal space, and they’re really good at blending in.
When I was 13, we were driving from Phoenix to a town in Mexico. There’s a long stretch through the desert before you reach the border that’s literally nothing but highway. Before you hit it, there were signs pointing out the last place for gas and refreshments, with a ‘now or never’ vibe. It was the height of summer, so of course we stopped and I got the largest drink I could find.
It turned out my eyes were bigger than my teenage-girl bladder, and about midway through the most desolate stretch, I had to pee badly. We pulled over, I hopped out, and made for a set of dead bushes that were the only cover in range suitable to protect my modesty. I squatted awkwardly – everything was hot and pokey – and just as my business started, I heard a sharp rattle from right behind and below me.
I panicked and launched myself forward, just spotting a coiled rattler in a patch of shade under the bush, who was pretty annoyed I’d nearly pissed on him. I scrambled back to the truck, ass bare to the world, too scared to bother with my shorts.
My family found it hilarious and I didn’t live it down for years. I learned two things that day – rattlers will usually warn you before wasting their venom on something too big to eat, and fear (or humour) always trumps dignity.
TLDR: Always check the shade under bushes before pissing in the desert.
Excess oxygen is actually harmful to humans, but all the climate warnings are about losing oxygen, not nitrogen edit: but when we look for habitable planets, our focus is ‘oxygen rich atmosphere’, not ‘nitrogen rich’, and in medical settings, we’re always concerned about low oxygen, not nitrogen....
That makes sense, thanks, since our threshold for co2 is less than 0.5%.
I may have worded my question poorly; I’m more asking why low oxygen is a problem vs low nitrogen. In retrospect, my climate focus may be distracting. It was what made me wonder about this in the first place, but the medical and scuba points are much more relevant. That has little to do with co2 (I think?) and more to do with the relative compounds in our air.
I’m still confused why we hear about oxygen but never nitrogen. Another example: when we look for habitable planets, the focus is ‘oxygen rich atmosphere’, but not ‘nitrogen rich’.
My climate example was poor, I’m sorry. A better example of what I mean is that when we look for habitable planets, our focus is ‘oxygen rich atmosphere’, not ‘nitrogen rich’, though most of our breathable air is nitrogen and too much oxygen will actually kill us.
So from what I understand, we need a rather precise amount of oxygen plus a large amount of an inert gas – pretty much any inert gas, barring a few that have narcotic effects. So nitrogen isn’t special, except that it’s inert and doesn’t get us high.
But I’m also curious whether the reactive gas in low quantities (oxygen) can also be replaced. I’m not a chemist, and this is fascinating. I’ll keep reading.
Thank you for your detailed response. That explains things very well. I don’t know a lot about chemistry, but is oxygen specifically required for cell metabolism or could that be replaced with a similarly reactive gas, too?
So glad Winter has such a comfortable and obviously cultured home now.
‘Pretty girl’ was the first sign Emma learnt; I’m pretty sure she thought that was her name. I signed it at her every time she looked at me at first, lol. After a bit she would pay more attention after I’d do that sign, like she was expecting more.
She was ten when she learnt her first signs. She picked up on several pretty quickly after that. ‘Food’ was the cutest, because she started doing it at me after a while (probably because she knew a treat was coming immediately with that one, where with things like ‘down’ she didn’t get a treat if I had to physically put her down from where she didn’t belong. It was obvious she knew what it meant because she’d go out of her way to look away from me if she didn’t want to hear that one.
Sorry for the mini-screed, but Winter reminds me of my girl and I’ll bet she’d respond to ‘pretty girl’. :)
They’re both semi-feral and don’t always get along. Precious (the calico) doesn’t often have patience with her daughter, and Moppy (the big one) spooks at everything, real or imagined. I’ll never get another picture like this, so had to share.
Funded by Harlan Crow, who was recently exposed for footing the bill for Ginni and Clarence Thomas’ lavish vacations and more, the Supreme Court justice’s wife worked with Federalist Society leader Leonard Leo to advance the conservative agenda...
US citizens are literally wage slaves, who can be fired for no reason and whose healthcare is tied to employment.
The country is immense with vast distances between major cities, so in order to protest in a meaningful way (ie, not being a scattered handful of picketers in towns hundreds of miles apart that would get no press traction), people need to take weeks off work which would get them fired and take away all their healthcare and retirement options, and drive the equivalent of several EU countries, then hope they have a home and job to return to after. And over a century of unchecked capitalism has locked people into a cycle of perpetual debt such that many are only a paycheque or two away from losing everything.
It’s not an excuse, but a compelling reason that is exploited by bad actors in the government. They know with no safety net and literally everything working against common people, it’s very difficult for protests to gain purchase.
So the trump lawyer syndicate is advising clients to perjure themselves to help the boss, and sensible independent lawyers are saying fuck that, do you really want to go to jail for decades for that shyster who doesn’t care about you and won’t even pay your bills?
Lol worst crime family ever and everyone saw this coming. Where’s my tiny violin?
It should have long been obvious that Trump operates with methods familiar from the mob: He tried to make James Comey kiss the ring. He demanded that Volodymyr Zelenskiy do him a favor. He threatens those who try to hold him to account for illegal behavior (“If you go after me, I will come after you”). This pattern is not...
Is this an intervention? ( lemmy.world )
Snakes can be cute too ( lemmy.world )
Why are we so concerned with oxygen production yet we never hear about nitrogen production, though we actually need 78% nitrogen vs 21% oxygen to survive?
Excess oxygen is actually harmful to humans, but all the climate warnings are about losing oxygen, not nitrogen edit: but when we look for habitable planets, our focus is ‘oxygen rich atmosphere’, not ‘nitrogen rich’, and in medical settings, we’re always concerned about low oxygen, not nitrogen....
Fav kitty and fav Stout... Happy Thanksgiving! 🦃🍻 ( i.imgur.com )
Is there a Lower Decks community?
I’ve searched every way I can think of and can’t find anything.
The girls co-opted my meditation pillow last night. It took me like 15 ‘minutes of glacial creeping to get this shot, and Precious still looks suspicious, but score! ( i.imgur.com )
They’re both semi-feral and don’t always get along. Precious (the calico) doesn’t often have patience with her daughter, and Moppy (the big one) spooks at everything, real or imagined. I’ll never get another picture like this, so had to share.
Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis turns on ‘malignant narcissist’ ex-president ( www.theguardian.com )
Ellis, one of 18 Trump associates charged in Georgia election subversion case, says she ‘simply can’t support him’ aga
Ginni Thomas and Conservative Activists Worked Together to Exploit Citizens United Ruling ( www.rollingstone.com )
Funded by Harlan Crow, who was recently exposed for footing the bill for Ginni and Clarence Thomas’ lavish vacations and more, the Supreme Court justice’s wife worked with Federalist Society leader Leonard Leo to advance the conservative agenda...
Trump Mar-a-Lago security aide flipped after changing lawyers ( www.politico.com )
Special counsel Jack Smith’s team revealed the details of the employee’s about-face in a new filing.
Trump yearns to govern a mafia state. Fitting that he faces racketeering charges ( www.theguardian.com )
It should have long been obvious that Trump operates with methods familiar from the mob: He tried to make James Comey kiss the ring. He demanded that Volodymyr Zelenskiy do him a favor. He threatens those who try to hold him to account for illegal behavior (“If you go after me, I will come after you”). This pattern is not...