Why I'm Tired

Since Friday we have experienced a briefly ill Squeaker on Friday night (she was fine almost immediately thereafter and requesting vegetable straws, but we were still up until close to 1 AM settling her and Muffin back down), a late Sunday night meeting for mabfan, a 4:50 AM wake-up call from Squeaker on Tuesday morning, and Town Meeting last night and tonight. And on Thursday night mabfan may attend yet another meeting that could go late. So if you see me and I look rather glazed, it's just the sleep deprivation.

Zzzzzzzzzz....

And On A Different Topic... (Language/Grammar)

May vs. Might. I know that traditionally there are differences between the intensity of the uncertainty (may is less uncertain than might, if I recall correctly). However, technical writers tend to avoid using "may" in documentation because of the possible confusion between "may" (possibly) and "may" (allowed) in (for example) the construct "you may [whatever the possible choice is]." In many cases, I replace "may" with "can." However, when I am writing about a possibility, I often replace "may" with "might" (as in, "You might need to open the window before throwing your computer out of it") if the sentence is not cleanly recastable (recasting the sentence above results in "Open any closed windows before throwing your computer through them"). But when I do find myself substituting "might," I wonder if I'm overstating the uncertainty.