- I started college in September and it’s been kicking my sorry ass regarding the amount of work we have to do. I kid you not. 12 weeks we have per semester, if you will, and we have 6 different subjects. For each of those subjects we have between 2 and 4 projects to complete – in TWELVE WEEKS! [for those who didn't get it] Hand in after the block finishes doesn’t count, and the array of work has included; create a story, draw, ink and colour your own comic, write and present a presentation, write a total of 6 essays of between 1500 and 4000 words, film a short film, create two animation pieces, draw 16 pieces of art, build a website, make 2 posters and digitally manipulate 8 images…There has barely been time for eating and sleeping never mind blogging :[ VERY SAD STATE OF AFFAIRS.

The block is almost done now though and now the shock has passed, i’d like to think i’ll be able to manage my time more effectively, leaving room for stuff that ISN’T work!

Bare with and within the next week or so I should have something to say The rants for example have been piling up and I have a few debate topics up my sleeve as well, everything else will follow.

Emma

Hopefully in the next few days i’ll have something decent up for perusal, until then please bear with me.

Back in 2002 Austalia scientists laid claim to having created a “thinking cap” that could stimulate our creativity. The thought behind it is that we all have the kind of extraordinary abilities assiociated with Savants and that this invention could unlock out inner genius by reawakening dormant parts of our brains.

“How?” I hear you ask.

“Magnets”, Jack O’niell would say (geeky Stargate referrence)

A cap containing a figure of 8 shaped magnet on the left hand side, made from a bundle of tiny wires, is connected to an electrical current and placed on the head. The tiny magnetic pulses then disturb the electrical circuts on the left hand side of the brain suppressing the detailing hoarding right side. Things then usually filed unconciously are brought to the fore, creating a burst of creative, mathematical or other talent.

“In one experiment, volunteers were asked to draw a dog, horse or face from memory before and after being zapped for ten to 15 minutes. Four of the 11 volunteers produced more natural pictures after wearing the cap.”

In another experiment -

“30 volunteers to track a target on a computer screen with a red dot using a joystick. During the task, the target would move randomly, then enter a programmed pattern and finally return to moving randomly. The participants were not aware of the repeated section, believing that movements were random throughout. Some of the volunteers had their brain stimulated by magnets while others did not. Those participants who had received the stimulation were significantly better than the other groups at tracking the target during the repeated section of the test.” *

However, these flashes of brilliance are temporary and wear off after an hour.

Researcher Professor Allan Snyder believes the experiments show we all have hidden talents, we just have trouble tapping into them; his ultimate aim is to produce a thinking cap that would unleash creativity as and when required.

Another Doctor (Dr. Boyd) is convinced that this technique could boost learning skills and aid people who have difficulties acquiring new motor skills and is currently investigating the possibility in his lab.

*UPDATE*

Post tomorrow, I’ve had zero brain power today – sorry folks!

Bus drivers are terrible. I mean I don’t envy their position, trying to drive a fucker of a bus through any city centre must be a nightmare, but Jesus Christ! They box you in, pull out right in front of you clearly knowing they’re not the ones who’re going to end up pulverised, drive far to close to your rear end, stop in stupid places to pick up and drop people off and take the biggest bite out of corners ever, inches from smashing the front corner of the car or ripping the wing mirror from it’s delicate hinges!

Tractors and old people have one thing in common – 30mph on a country road is the limit! This is frustrating and dangerous. According to the DFT (department for transport) the national speed limit is 60mph for a single carriageway, perhaps too fast for some of those obnoxiously tight, twisting back roads, but those are the rules and people crawling at 30mph are just asking for trouble from a driver doing the speed limit.

On the flip side, you have teenagers or wannabe teenagers whizzing around the city in their mobile christmas trees and pumping beats and you just get this urge to reach out the window at a set of traffic lights and smash their faces into their steering wheels. Obnoxious is too mild a word for these twits. They think they own the roads, not indicating at roundabouts or changing lane, cutting you up and screeching away from traffic lights like you’re in a drag race. Wrapped around a lampost is where they’re likely to end up and “hell mend them” as my mother used to say.

James was having a gripe the other day after honking at a blond who just sat staring at a green light instead of driving. “That’s the 3rd person that’s done that in the last couple of days at these lights.”

It’s a little disturbing when you can see quite plainly that the driver isn’t focused on the road at all or their surroundings.

Why would anyone want to drive?

Stage 1 of the surgery involves 5 separate procedures:

1. The eye is opened up and the entire inner surface of the eyelids, corneal surface and all scar tissue is removed
2. Inner mucosal lining of the cheek is transplanted onto the new surface of the eye
3. A canine or premolar tooth and part of the adjacent bone and ligaments are removed
4. A bolt-shaped structure is fashioned from the tooth-bone complex which is fitted with a plastic optical cylinder
5. The tooth-bone-cylinder complex is implanted into the patient’s cheek to grow a new blood supply

Stage 2 (about 4 months later) involves 2 separate procedures:

1. The cheek mucosal lining over the eye is opened and the inner contents of the eye are removed
2. The tooth-bone-cylinder complex is removed from the cheek and inserted into the eye, the mucosal cheek lining is replaced over the implant.

At the end of the procedure, light can now enter through the plastic cylinder, and the patient is able to see through this cylinder with good vision.

Goodness, since starting this blog I’ve discovered a whole world of bizarre happenings, fascinating insights and down right morbid stories but I’m glad because I learn at least one new thing about the world and sometimes myself every time I post.

Today I was browsing the paper and came across a rather gruesome story about a man who lost his sight in a terrible accident in a scrap-yard he worked at 12 years ago. Nottingham specialists tried to save his sight by using stem cells but it failed and it was then decided that he qualified for the rare procedure, OOKP, carried out by Brighton based surgeon Christopher Lui, the only consultant in the country capable of doing the operation.

‘The procedure began when one of Mr Jones’ canine teeth was removed and converted into a holder for a special optical lens by drilling a hole in it.
The tooth was then inserted into his cheek for three months to enable it to grow new tissue and blood vessels.
Then finally came the delicate operation to insert the tooth, complete with the fitted lens into Mr Jones’ right eyeball.
Within two weeks of the final operation to implant the tooth in his eyeball his sight returned and he was told he had almost perfect vision in his right eye.’ *

This isn’t the first case either, which surprised me never having heard of it before, but back in February 2008 a similar case was written about on Dentistry.co.uk.

‘A man has had his sight partially restored after doctors inserted his son’s tooth in his eye.
Doctors at University College Hospital Galway said there was nothing more they could do for Robert McNichol, 57, from County Sligo after he lost his sight in an explosion two years ago.’ **

Still this isn’t the first case, digging a little deeper regarding the procedure uncovered a case back in 2004! A 42 year old woman who’d been blind for 15 years received treatment and though her vision isn’t perfect she was able to see the faces of her grandchildren for the first time.

However bizarre this treatment may seem it IS revolutionary as the 2004 article claims and though it’s a rarely performed procedure, the people that have had their vision restored in such an unusual manner have not a bad word to say about it. Sight is something we take for granted when we don’t have to wear contacts or glasses, but when it’s ripped away from you through disease or, god-forbid, a horrific accident like some of the people mentioned above, procedures like this give people hope.

_____________________

*  Link – Telegraph Article – http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5737927/Blind-man-has-sight-restored-by-having-tooth-implanted-in-his-eye.html

**Link – Densitry.co.uk Article – http://www.dentistry.co.uk/news/news_detail.php?id=1051

Link – BBC 2004 article – http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3576152.stm

Link – OOKP Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteo-Odonto-Keratoprosthesis

Link – Images of the step by step procedure (GRAPHIC) – http://www.rajaneyecare.com/modified-osteo-odonto-keratoprosthesis.html

Cadbury brings back Wispa Gold

Hooray! I did a double take, no joke! I think I’ve probably bemoaned the fact they’ve not been on the shelves about once a week to Mutti (my best friend’s mum)! Now, here they are, my prayers have been answered! Thank you Cadbury’s and all those other Wispa Gold lovers who demanded they be resurected.

It’s likely, reading this, you’re like “what’s all the fuss, it’s just a chocolate bar?”

WRONG. It’s like a little, bubbly, creamy, taste of heaven with yummy smooth caramel inside. Food of Gods I tell you.

When the original Wispa was reinstated last year 41 million bars were sold in the first 18 weeks! Now Wispa Gold is set to make a comeback in September it will be interesting to see how well it does. It’s supposed to only be re-released as limited edition but i’m thinking, like the original bar, it’ll do so well it’ll make a comeback permenantly.

“IT IS BACK. AND GOLDER THAN EVER!!!

September 14th is the date to mark on your calendars… The Wipsa Gold is back for a limited time only!! Once again Cadbury has recognised the demand, and of this facebook group directly! Well done to all the members who kept up their support. Check out the pics of the first bars to come off the production line! Woohoo!” *- Facebook Group

Proof that my enthusiasm is shared and these guys and their online petition are who my tastebuds owe their thanks to.

“There be the chest, inside be the…Wispa Gold!”

_____________

*  Link – Facebook Group – http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=2311634209

**Link – News Article - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/5722159/Cadbury-brings-back-Wispa-Gold.html

I’m going to give two case examples, one against assisted suicide and one for:

Against

“I tried to kill my mother in 1993. I didn’t attempt the act myself, you understand, but I asked a nurse to increase her morphine dosage to a lethal level, so that she might be washed away on an opiate tide.
At 75, mum had been operated on for a brain tumour, but the cancer had spread and they had stitched her up, and told us she hadn’t got long left. My sister made her comfortable in her house and when her condition nosedived, I took the train to the West Country and found my sister taking a break in the garden. It was easy to see why; mum was unconscious, but taking great, rattling gasps of breath, her body clearly staging one last, hopeless rage against the dark.
When the nurse came that afternoon to change her morphine drip I begged her, in tears, for this pointless suffering to end. The nurse was lovely: patient and kind, but firm. No, she said, she couldn’t do that, but she held my hand and said that all would be well soon.
Given all the fuss recently about nurses offering prayer, I recall that she also assured me that mum would soon be in a far better place.
She was right, of course. About the morphine dosage, I mean. That evening, the morphine faded and mum regained consciousness for a few minutes. We could talk to her, hold her, say goodbye. She struggled to communicate with my sister and me. And I realised in awe that, in a final, selfless act of motherhood, she was comforting us, rather than the other way round.
I wouldn’t have missed that last exchange for the world and will remember it vividly for the rest of my life. But had the nurse been able to respond to my earlier pleas for release, we would have been denied it. I shiver when I think of what I would have lost, had the medical profession not saved me from myself.” *

For – (In response to the above argument)

“I read your article mainly because I really do believe everyone should have the right to decide the manner in which they leave this world. Like you I watched my Mother gasping for breath at the end of her long life but, unlike you my memories are of nine years of steady profound decline. Her children and grandchildren were either guilt ridden or indifferent depending on their involvement with her care. I watched while she was fed food she would never have normally eaten, reduced to wearing nappies, bruised due to constant handling etc.etc. At the end, in a very well run care home, she was alongside men and women with equally advanced dementia who displayed a vast array of bizarre behaviour, Meowing like a cat and crawling along corridors on all fours to name but two.
She had been a loving and caring Mum to five children who had protected them from so many domestic problems it was so cruel to see her in such a condition. I prayed for her to die. I begged doctors not to give her life saving medicines that would prolong the agony. Still she was given flu jabs and antibiotics when she caught chills. I wondered uncharitably, at one point, whether she was simply a cash cow for the nursing home. This experience has left me terrified of old age. There was no dignity, there was no peace just a long gruelling slow death she certainly would not have wanted
I’m sure of one thing I do not want my three daugthers to face the same sadness. I will not allow them to sacriface their lives to care for me. Further I do not want my very hard earned funds spent in a high cost care home denying my children and grandchildren a nest egg to help them in their lives just in order to keep a shell of my former person alive. I hope I die naturally at a reasonable age but if I succomb to a disease that means that cannot be the case then I want the right to go at a time of my choosing in a decent way. Why should I be denied that right?” *

After looking death in the eye as it claimed my mother last year in the form of pneumonia, I would have to stand up and fuck controversy in the eye and firmly state my place deep on the side of legalising assisted suicide.

I’m an Atheist thus lack faith and only believe in what I can see. People claim to see miracles performed or happen every other day, but I haven’t and until I do I’ll stick to common sense, general knowledge and the facts of any given situation.

Technology and medicines are advancing all the time. Just earlier this afternoon I was discussing this topic with my boyfriend’s flat mate who was telling me about a programme he watched on television about a man/woman who had their head surgically severed from their bodies, leaving skin intact, and was kept alive with blood transfusion machines and other equipment. That is quite a cool thing to be able to do, but what are these life prolonging drugs and machines doing to those patients who are terminally ill,  in constant pain and mental degradation with little to no quality of life left?

Professor Steve Field is the Chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners counters with this:-

“I am concerned that, with assisted suicide, the patient might feel they are a burden on their carers and request that their life be ended without exploring all treatment options. Or the carers might push the patient towards assisted suicide in order to reduce the burden on them. This might be social, psychological or financial, resulting in coercion, especially if they are socially or economically disadvantaged.” ** (Guardian Aricle)

Firstly in the Human Rights Act we have the right to:

• Freedom of speech
• Privacy, prohibition of torture
• Prohibition of torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
• Prohibition of slavery
• To a fair trial and to no punishment without law
• The right to life.

(only a few examples)

The right to prohibition of torture, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment.

Take that right. Where in allowing a person, or ourselves, to continually suffer a painful and often degrading death are we exercising our right?

We don’t stand back and watch our pets die like that, why should we allow it to happen to human beings?
Secondly, I’m not saying it could never happen, though I’d like to think there would be proper procedure in place to assure it wouldn’t; that people would use euthanasia to free themselves of having the difficulty, physically and financially, of looking after someone terminally ill. Whether the patient themselves opts to end their life for these reasons is surely up to them however?

To play the devil’s advocate, what happens when poor folk can’t pay medical expenses in the first place or stop being able to pay? What happens to their sick, loved ones then? Are they sent home, drug free, to die in agony? Is that a more dignified, humane way to spend the rest of your days? Like hell!

If I was lying in a hospital bed after being hit by a bus or dying from a painful disease with no hope of recovery and only months or maybe a year or so of prolonged, agonising life ahead of me, I know what I’d want.

________________

* Link – Cases - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/georgepitcher/5419794/There-is-no-dignity-in-assisted-suicide.html

**Link – Guardian Article – http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/joepublic/2009/jun/22/assisted-suicide-uk-nhs

UPDATED LINKS ( Tue 7th July)

Link – Falconers ammendment - http://www.dignityindying.org.uk/act-now/three-peers.html

Link – BBC Article – http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8137193.stm

This odd topic came to me whilst melting in the living room, talking to James’ flat mate about how I’ve not seen 1 pet shop in Nottingham and am convinced people don’t keep pets here or maybe just eat them…

</Tangent>

The point being though, this is infinitely better than wandering down the street to find: a kid, a long legged bimbo, a heavy set builder or just your regular hunched grandmother hauling their dog’s along behind them or seeing the dog haul them!

People should be properly vetted before being allowed to own pets.

Not giving your animal the proper training/handling it requires is tantamount to cruelty and the one thing I can’t stand more than George Bush and teenage girls is Animal Cruelty.

There are 3 simple rules when obtaining a pet:

• Read books and learn about the animal.
• Rescues are better than private sellers or pet shops
• Make sure you can pay your vet bill.

Hundreds of thousands of animals are put to sleep each year purely because the owner hasn’t taken the time to learn about their animal and it’s needs. Animals are put to sleep for all kinds of reasons:

• Biting
• Aggressive towards people
• Aggressive towards other animals
• Destroying the house
• Destroying the garden
• Too Hyper
• Too Noisy
• Soiling the house

The list goes on, but these are the top reasons people request to have their animals put to sleep. It’s sickening. Firstly these people have taken the responsibility for another living thing, taken the animal into their care and when it becomes a problem for them they just get rid of it? A little love and effort in the first place and it would never come to pass

Let’s use dogs and take the aggression and biting for example; if an animal is properly socialised with people (especially children) and other animals when it’s young it’ll learn to be playful and respectful to other beings. Training classes are a great way to bond with your dog and socialise it at the same time.

Hyperactivity and destructive behaviour in homes and gardens is a cry for attention. Medium to large dogs especially need a lot of exercise and leaving them out in the garden all day isn’t going to cut it. Take them on a run or a walk, go to the park or the beach. Dogs make great companions and no matter the weather won’t complain about exercising. Spend time with your dog though, play games when you’re out to keep your animal stimulated and free from boredom. This will tire them out and stop them destroying your property and howling or barking from being locked up all day (which is not a good thing to do in itself).

Spaying and Neutering can also help with hyperactivity and aggression, though it should be used in conjunction with the suggestions above, not as a sole means. Having your animal spayed and neutered though not only helps with behaviour but by reducing the hormones produced in their body is healthier for your animal by reducing the risk of unwanted pregancies, pregnancy complications and tumours.

Are these things really that difficult to accomplish?

People who let their animals run wild, jumping on people, destoying the house, wreck the garden, hauling on leads and then scream at or beating the animal for not doing what it’s told should be taken to the nearest empty car park, stripped, flogged, stood in a vat of acid then shot – repeatedly.

___________________

Link – How to train your dog – http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/item/454

Link – How to train your cat – http://www.iams.co.uk/cat/Training-Behaviour-3/

1. Mammals give birth to live young.
2. Mammals feed their young milk.

There are two species of mammal however, still alive today, that break those rules which I’ll tell you a bit about in this post.

Duck Billed Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus)

The Platypus is an egg laying, semi aquatic animal that not only has a strange name, but has an even stranger appearance. It’s about 40-50cm long, has the bill of a duck, the body of an otter and the tail of a beaver. It weighs on average about 1-2.4 kg depending on the sex of the animal in question; basically its about half the size of an average, domestic cat.

When the Platypus was first discovered scientists thought it was a hoax because the creature looks somewhat mythological with it’s oddly put together body. They deliberated for some time and became divided in their opinion as to whether the Platypus laid eggs or not. This wasn’t confirmed until 1884 by W.H.Caldwell with a team of 100+ Aborigines, who went to Australia and after extensive research discovered some eggs. ‘Wiring’ England back then was costly so the famous phrase consisting of only four words – “Monotremes oviparous, ovum meroblastic” was delivered, meaning that the Monotremes lay eggs and that they are similar to reptile eggs being that only part of egg divides as it develops.

In addition to the egg laying oddness, the male platypus is also one of only 3 species of venomous mammal in the world today, sharing the spot with Shrews and the European Mole. The male platypus has a spine/spur on his hind foot that’s capable of delivering a venom that’s rather painful to humans though not lethal but can however kill something as large as a dog (!). Both male and female have this spur at birth, but the female’s don’t develop, lack functional cural glands and eventually drops off before the female is a year old. The venom is composed of Defense-like Proteins (DLPs), unique to the Platypus and are developed in the animals immune system. Oedema (an abnormal accumulation of fluid beneath the skin) quickly develops around the wound and over time spreads throughout the affected limb. Case histories and anecdotal evidence indicates that the pain develops into a long-lasting Hyperalgesia (an increased sensitivity to pain) that persists for days or even months.

Another odd feature these Monotremes (egg laying mammals) have is their unique sense of electroreception. They, along with Echidna’s are the only mammals to use electrolocation which is the ability to locate their prey by detecting electric fields generated by muscle contraction. Platypus’ are the most sensitive of the Monotremes and the electroreceptors are located in the skin of the bill, while mechanoreceptors (which detect touch) are uniformly distributed across the bill. When the Platypus hunts it scours the river bed in a charactistic motion by moving its head from side-to-side, much like how you would use a metal detector. It’s thought that it does this to determine the direction of the electrical source, likely by comparing signal strengths across it’s electroreceptors.
Echidna

There are two species of Echidna -

• short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus)
• long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus brujnii)

Together with the Platypus (mentioned above) the Echidna is one of the last surviving members of the monotremes. They are often called ‘Spiny Anteaters but bear no relation to the anteater species; superficially they resemble the anteater of South America and other smaller mammals like hedgehogs or porcupines. The Echidna is covered in coarse hair and spines, an elongated snout, a long sticky tongue and large claws. The animal is around 30-70cms long and can lift objects twice its weight, which on average is about 2-5 kg

The Echidna being the only other egg laying mammal is surprisingly quite different in how it incubates it’s eggs in comparison to the Platypus. A Platypus has a burrow where it lays it’s eggs and uses it’s body to keep them warm until they hatch, female echidnas have a backwards facing pouch on their abdomen in which a single egg, of about 15mm, is laid into directly. The hatchlings, known as Puggles, then stay in the pouch like Joey’s (young kangaroos) and suckle until they are ejected from the pouch around 2-3 months old due to their continued growth and lengthening spines. By 6 months of age echidnas are weaned.

Similar to its fellow monotreme the Platypus, the Echidna has an unusual system of sex chromosomes, resulting in males having one fewer chromosomes than females. Male individuals appear to be XYXYXYXYX, with the final X unpaired, while females are XXXXXXXXXX. Weak identity between chromosomes results in meiotic pairing that yields only two possible genotypes of sperm, XXXXX or YYYY, thus preserving this complex system.

The Echidna also shares the Platypus’ spur on it’s hind leg though aren’t venomous, but bears no other unusual qualities like it’s other monotreme brother.