Just for you CAS...

The iPhone is to be released in Australia from 11th July 2008.. It is a G3 phone while the original iPhone was 2.5G.

There are a few other features added (GPS) in the 2nd version but all in all I am not sure it's enough to make me swap from my planned Nokia N96 when it is released...

iPhone is to be released on Optus and Vodafone in Australia. But who knows by 11/06/08 Telstra and even 3 may have joined the pack... Read more On "Just for you CAS..."!

It's a Lyric's thing...

Seems I have been tagged by Fiona Carson Photography...

I only tagged FIVE people too - not six like the last one says - oh well..

Here are the rules!
1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share 5 songs you are embarrassed to admit to others you like and tell why.
3. Tag 5 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
4. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Now I have added links to both the songs to listen and the lyrics to read cause I realise not all of my ashamed to love songs may be known by you.. So have a listen and tell me what you think??




Share 5 songs you are embarrassed to admit to others you like and tell why.


1. It's Too Late (Ride On) - Evermore.... I just like the piano and guitar riff - and I guess the lyrics too - haahaha... Oh god and apparently it was on the O.C. soundtrack - haahahaha..

2. Yellow - Coldplay (actually their whole first album - Parachutes) - It got me through a bad break up and every time I hear it now it reminds me of how much it helped me (even though I don't like Coldplay - and it isn't really a breakup song hahaha).. Actually you have to read the lyrics to really get it...

3. Swiss Army Romance - Dashboard Confessional.. Adding this song here made me realise I only know the MTV unplugged version... Do I dare listen to the original version in case it ruins this version for me? I mean come on it's an EMO band singing an EMO song.. I think what is even worse about me liking this "EMO" band is that they are an EMO band for the good kids.. Know what I mean.. They are clean cut EMO, no PUNK or pretend PUNK insight :( But damn it people read the lyrics...


4. Love Me or Hate Me - Lady Sovereign... Not the best hip hop artist out there but she's young and sassy and I like that.. Again this one is more about the lyrics so read them...

Ps - does anyone find if funny that who ever wrote the lyrics on that website censored shit but left fuck intact? Like fuck isn't a swear word - hahahaaha


5. Memories & Dust AND Middle of the Hill (I actually like the alternate video better) - Josh Pyke.. Ok I couldn't choose - maybe my 5th choice should have just been JOSH PYKE... I wouldn't tell MY friends about this because previously I have bagged him as boring and well I think that is what all my friends think too, Fona is the only one I know I could tell without any repercussions ;).. Then one day I actually read the lyrics to his songs - and guess what - they took on a whole new meaning to me.. Now I actually like his music - it's simplicity and innocence, maybe I am getting older - or turning into an Indie kid... Let's face it - he has a beautiful voice..

Memories & Dust Lyrics

Middle of the Hill lyrics




Now, the 2nd one:

The rules are:
- Link the person who tagged you
- Mention the rules on your blog
- Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours
- Tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking them
- Leave a comment on each of the tagged bloggers blogs letting them know they have been tagged.

Ok, so 6 quirks of mine, here we go.

1. I LOVE recommending books to people - I am so passionate in getting them to read the books I love.... BUT I really am not good at reading books that are popular and recommended to me. For instance The Da Vinci Code - only read it this year (also only saw the movie this year too - within a week of each other hahhaah)

2. Following on from this one.. I LOVE finding new Authors to read, exploring new worlds genre's and so on.. BUT I am really reluctant to read something when I don't know the quality of toe writing - what if it is a waste of time (don't EVER read Sliver - Ira Levin)

3. Most of my all time favourite movies I have only ever seen once.. At the cinema and never again. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Pan's Labyrinth are two I can think of... While I always go to watch them I just never quite manage too - who knows maybe I am scared it won't have the same effect on me or what have you..

4. I play with my piercings waaaaay too much. People must think I pick my nose all the time when in fact I am just turning around the ring.. My lip piercing too - I bite it (it's too long) from the back; I pull it from the front... I am weird

5. I love cooking but never have dinner parties. I think it might be cause my table is outside and well the lights don't work - we need an electrician around to fix the "transistor" I think it is.. I end up cooking mainly at my sister's (Fiona) house - wish they had my kitchen though...

6. I have a dream guy.... Every now and then I dream (always different dreams) about this guy. I always wake up aching from the loss of him. As far as I can remember this dream guy is no one I have ever met. I doubt he even exists... But what I love most about this dream guy is that he isn't Mr Perfect, in my dreams we have been broken up, he's been drunk (apparently in one dream I was a recovering alcoholic). He has been with other women (not while we were together but while we were at a wedding of a mutual friends together but platonic together) and blah blah blah.. Yet I have always loved him and he has always loved me too... I have NO idea when these started but I can remember having them for a long time. I had 3 dreams with him in them a few weeks ago in one night and I finally could remember what he looked like.. But I have forgotten - it's just a memory of a memory... Wow how weird has that made me sound...


Now five people...

Gen (myspace)
Kaz (myspace)
Kara (live journal)
Cam (blogger)
Cara (live journal)



Read more On "It's a Lyric's thing..."!

The nose always knows...

This is a blog about some of the research going on at my University - Griffith University in Queensland.

A few of my lecturers who work in the National Adult Stem Cell Research Centre AND Eskitis Institute for Cell and Molecular Therapies - both at my campus...




My lecturer Alan Mackay-Sim, he of the human trials using olfactory (nasal) stem cells to regenerate spinal chord injuries (I think the trails started around 2003 - not sure where they are at, at this time). He and his team with funding of $200,000 YES $200,000 was able to turn these olfactory stem cells into heart cells, brain cells and nerve cells among others...

They were able to do this on such a little amount - but has the world taken notice NO, not really - everyone keeps funding embryonic stem cell research - don't get me wrong I believe we need to keep that option open - but when you have quite a high chance of the embryonic stem cells being rejected by the patient as well as forming tumours - isn't this worth investing in?

One of my friend's Milly is doing her Honours with them and I am sure she just told me that they have received recent funding from the Vatican for millions and millions - which worries me - I don't like the thought of religion have power in science, science should be run ethically and not emotionally or religiously...

I know they have received about $12 million from the Qld Government to help fund their research (they probably wished they had this about 5 years ago when they first found out about the olfactory stem cells and what they could do - but better late then never I guess..


They have found some new stuff that was recently published

Griffth News about the recently published science article

The full article for anyone with a few spare minutes

When stem cells from the nose of Parkinson's patients were cultured and injected into the damaged area, the rats re-acquired the ability to run in a straight line.

All animals transplanted with the human cells had a dramatic reduction in the rate of rotation within just 3 weeks," he said.

This provided evidence the cells had differentiated to give rise to dopamine-producing neurons influenced by being in the environment of the brain. In-vitro tests also revealed the presence of dopamine.

I do so like the way my University is going with their research - it's an exciting time at Griffith University - in fact in Queensland with all the amazing new research coming out of here (Gardisil anyone)..


Read more On "The nose always knows..."!

It's worthing waiting for.. Music Monday on a Thursday...

The full Splendour in the Grass line-up has been announced...


I like it... I like it a lot - some bands I have seen before and can't wait to see again.. Other bands I have seen a few times too many but they are always a good show if nothing else is on. Other bands I can't wait to see for the first time.. And yet others I have NO idea who they are but am looking forward to finding out...




SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS 2008

The Polyphonic Spree, New Young Pony Club, Yves Klein Blue, Lyrics Born, Tokyo Police Club, Little Red, Clare Bowditch, bluejuice, Robert Forster (he of The Go-Betweens fame), The Drones, Hadouken!, Bliss n Eso, Paul Dempsey, Katalyst, Even, British India, The Galvatrons, Delta Spirit, Slot Machine, The Black Stars, Van She Tech, Bag Raiders, Soft Tigers Food Fight, E.L.F DJ, Kato and pob, join Devo, Wolfmother, Sigur Ros, The Living End, The Presets, Tricky, Vampire Weekend, Ben Lee, Cold War Kids, The Fratellis, The Wombats, Pnau, Laura Marling, The Vines, The Grates, Operator Please, Band of Horses, Van She, The Panics, Gyroscope, Mstrkrft, Lightspeed Champion, The Brown Birds from Windy Hill, Scribe, The Music, The Gin Club

Soo here is my original post before any bands were announced..

Yves Klien Blue - new EP and signed to Dew Process.

Port O'Brien - new to Dew Process - new release out in May (will be in Europe around May/June so why not head on over to Aus for July/August??).

Other Dew Process probabilities =

Tokyo Police Club - nothing new out as yet but who knows...

A few others but not ones I really see coming to Splendour (and others - namely The Grates, Sarah Blasko, Powerderfinger etc - GIVE IT A REST DEW PROCESS they have had their time at Splendour time for new bands OK!!!

also....

The Panics (I think they will be "the back up someone dropped out band" - they played last year but they are touring a new album Cruel Guards)..

Be Your Own PET - I <3 this band - they so should have been here after their first album but I am guessing with a second just released they might just make it (although without old drummer Jamin Orral they might not have "the sound" like they used too)

The Fumes - they played support for QotSA, besides they are "perfect" for this festival - NO idea why they have never played it before now, but with second album on the way I say LOOK OUT....

Rumours floating around the internet (the ones in BOLD I believe have a chance) =

The Hives
Radiohead
Vampire Weekend
Hot Chip
Regina Spektor
These New Puritans
Nick Cave
Pendulum
Presets
Gyroscope
Pnau
Bluejuice
Bridezilla

_______________________________________________

Benicassim line up so far = Sigur Rós

_______________________________________________



Fuji Rock Festival = The Music;

_______________________________________________



Ones I think that AREN'T going to be coming from these line ups =

My Bloody Valentine (doing by of the festivals I doubt they would add Splendour as a third festival in what TWO weeks).

Babyshambles - well with singer in Gaol I doubt they will even be doing Benicassim let alone anywhere else.



I didn't do too badly really did I...

Next week I will discuss who I can't wait to see and who I will NOT go and see..

Tell me if YOU were coming who would you see and who would you steer clear of??
Read more On "It's worthing waiting for.. Music Monday on a Thursday..."!

I ART Kandinsky...

Wassily Kandinsky 16/12/1866 - 13/12/1944


He is my favourite Artist, I love his use his colour, I love the emotion in his paintings...


Black is like the silence of the body after death, the close of life. -- Wassily Kandinsky, 1911

Kandinsky had always expressed a strong dislike for the color black and it is significant that he chose it as the dominating color of his last major artistic statement. Composition X - 1939






Here is a great Bibliography that I found.. Have a read and find out why I love him so..

Kandinsky studied Law and Economics - he was a successful Lecturer for Moscow Faculty of Law. In 1895 Kandinsky attended a French Impressionist exhibition where he saw Monet's Haystacks at Giverny.

He stated, "It was from the catalog I learned this was a haystack. I was upset I had not recognized it. I also thought the painter had no right to paint in such an imprecise fashion. Dimly I was aware too that the object did not appear in the picture..." Soon thereafter, at the age of thirty, Kandinsky left Moscow and went to Munich to study life-drawing, sketching and anatomy, regarded then as basic for an artistic education.

Ironically, Kandinsky's work moved in a direction that was of much greater abstraction than that which was pioneered by the Impressionists. It was not long before his talent surpassed the constraints of art school and he began exploring his own ideas of painting - "I applied streaks and blobs of colors onto the canvas with a palette knife and I made them sing with all the intensity I could..." Now considered to be the founder of abstract art, his work was exhibited throughout Europe from 1903 onwards, and often caused controversy among the public, the art critics, and his contemporaries. An active participant in several of the most influential and controversial art movements of the 20th century, among them Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) which he founded along with Franz Marc and the Bauhaus .

Kandinsky continued to further express and define his form of art, both on canvas and in his theoretical writings. His reputation became firmly established in the United States through numerous exhibitions and his work was introduced to Solomon Guggenheim, who became one of his most enthusiastic supporters.

In 1933, Kandinsky left Germany and settled near Paris, in Neuilly. The paintings from these later years were again the subject of controversy. Though out of favor with many of the patriarchs of Paris's artistic community, younger artists admired Kandinsky.

Kandinsky continued painting almost until his death in June, 1944. his unrelenting quest for new forms which carried him to the very extremes of geometric abstraction have provided us with an unparalleled collection of abstract art.

Click on the links to find out what paintings each of the museums have of Kandinsky..


I think the Guggenheim, NY Museum of Modern Art, the Stadtische Galerie in Lenbach and the The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow seem to have the best or at least largest collections of Kandinsky's work..

BUT here - Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen - is where my favourite painting is held - I plan to visit it next year once I have finished studying (I am so getting a picture of my tattoo beside the original artwork)




I will leave you with a few beautiful images..






























Read more On "I ART Kandinsky..."!

Just to let you know..

I'm still around - I have uni coming out of my ears and I am sick and tired and have a major back ache causing a huge headache and I have run out of creative ideas..


I will be back - I promise....


Ps - get Box of Secrets by Blood Red Shoes - it's bloody brilliant (say it in Ron's voice) Read more On "Just to let you know.."!

Had a good $%#& lately?

So did I get your attention? Think you know the missing word? I bet you don't....




I was just thinking it's been ages since I had a good READ lately... hahahaha...

I have been looking at the top 100 best reads from 1923 - present. This list was done by Time Magazine in 2005 so maybe there has been some awesome books since then released but who knows..

Let's focus on one thing at a time.. I pride myself on being a reader - I pride myself on finding obscure authors and reading their stuff. I realised today I very rarely read what I should. I don't do the popular thing - I can't make myself read something a million people are telling me to read - yet I have NO qualms telling people what books they simply "must" read. Can anyone say hypocrite???



So here's the list in no particular order - actually that would be in alphabetical order :p


The Adventures of Augie March
Saul Bellow

All the King's Men
Robert Penn Warren

American Pastoral
Philip Roth

An American Tragedy
Theodore Dreiser

Animal Farm
George Orwell

Appointment in Samarra
John O'Hara

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
Judy Blume

The Assistant
Bernard Malamud

At Swim-Two-Birds
Flann O'Brien

Atonement
Ian McEwan

Beloved
Toni Morrison

The Berlin Stories
Christopher Isherwood

The Big Sleep
Raymond Chandler

The Blind Assassin
Margaret Atwood

Blood Meridian
Cormac McCarthy

Brideshead Revisited
Evelyn Waugh

The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Thornton Wilder

Call It Sleep
Henry Roth

Catch-22
Joseph Heller

The Catcher in the Rye
J.D. Salinger

A Clockwork Orange
Anthony Burgess

The Confessions of Nat Turner
William Styron

The Corrections
Jonathan Franzen

The Crying of Lot 49
Thomas Pynchon

A Dance to the Music of Time
Anthony Powell

The Day of the Locust
Nathanael West

Death Comes for the Archbishop
Willa Cather

A Death in the Family
James Agee

The Death of the Heart
Elizabeth Bowen

Deliverance
James Dickey

Dog Soldiers
Robert Stone

Falconer
John Cheever

The French Lieutenant's Woman
John Fowles

The Golden Notebook
Doris Lessing

Go Tell it on the Mountain
James Baldwin

Gone With the Wind
Margaret Mitchell

The Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck

Gravity's Rainbow
Thomas Pynchon

The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald

A Handful of Dust
Evelyn Waugh

The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter
Carson McCullers

The Heart of the Matter
Graham Greene

Herzog
Saul Bellow

Housekeeping
Marilynne Robinson

A House for Mr. Biswas
V.S. Naipaul

I, Claudius
Robert Graves

Infinite Jest
David Foster Wallace

Invisible Man
Ralph Ellison

Light in August
William Faulkner

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
C.S. Lewis

Lolita
Vladimir Nabokov

Lord of the Flies
William Golding

The Lord of the Rings
J.R.R. Tolkien

Loving
Henry Green

Lucky Jim
Kingsley Amis

The Man Who Loved Children
Christina Stead

Midnight's Children
Salman Rushdie

Money
Martin Amis

The Moviegoer
Walker Percy

Mrs. Dalloway
Virginia Woolf

Naked Lunch
William Burroughs

Native Son
Richard Wright

Neuromancer
William Gibson

Never Let Me Go
Kazuo Ishiguro

1984
George Orwell

On the Road
Jack Kerouac

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Ken Kesey

The Painted Bird
Jerzy Kosinski

Pale Fire
Vladimir Nabokov

A Passage to India
E.M. Forster

Play It As It Lays
Joan Didion

Portnoy's Complaint
Philip Roth

Possession
A.S. Byatt

The Power and the Glory
Graham Greene

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Muriel Spark

Rabbit, Run
John Updike

Ragtime
E.L. Doctorow

The Recognitions
William Gaddis

Red Harvest
Dashiell Hammett

Revolutionary Road
Richard Yates

The Sheltering Sky
Paul Bowles

Slaughterhouse-Five
Kurt Vonnegut

Snow Crash
Neal Stephenson

The Sot-Weed Factor
John Barth

The Sound and the Fury
William Faulkner

The Sportswriter
Richard Ford

The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
John le Carre

The Sun Also Rises
Ernest Hemingway

Their Eyes Were Watching God
Zora Neale Hurston

Things Fall Apart
Chinua Achebe

To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee

To the Lighthouse
Virginia Woolf

Tropic of Cancer
Henry Miller

Ubik
Philip K. Dick

Under the Net
Iris Murdoch

Under the Volcano
Malcolm Lowry

Watchmen
Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons

White Noise
Don DeLillo

White Teeth
Zadie Smith

Wide Sargasso Sea
Jean Rhys


So how may of these have I read? Not as many as I should have. How many have I always meant to read but never got around to it. Quite a few... I think it's time.... Time to join a library again. Get a book out and read read read.. Alas it will have to wait until Uni holidays ;)

So tell me how many of these have you read? How many of these do you want to read? And is your favourite book on here? If not what is yours???

Do I have a favourite book? Probably not but I do love the first one from my series Wheel Of Time - that book takes me right back to the beginning of the series when everything was shiny and new and exciting and UNKNOWN.. I love re-reading it to get that feeling back.. Same as the Narnia books - they take me back to that time when anything was possible and where it was believable to be able to get to another world through a closet... I watched Limony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events last night with Sammo (when is the next one coming out or is there no others??) and it make me wish I was a child so I could read that book. I wonder if the feeling you have when you re-read a childhood favourite would be there with a children's book you are reading as an adult... Or would it just disapoint cause you don't believe in magic and well really in anything anymore - your too grown up for that...


Thoughts?

Read more On "Had a good $%#& lately?"!

Size does matter...

In fact size US 10 (Aus 14) matters...

This is the size of the new America's Next Top Model (Whitney Thompson) - and she is damn hot.. Plus size? Not really sure but she is defintely carrying more booty than most models... BUT as I am the size of most models do I like some of the comments coming out of Whitney's mouth?

So this is plus size???









These are the contestants from cycle 10 ANTM.. Whitney has dark hair and is second from the left..


NO I don't like the WAY she is saying them. I think what she meant but who knows is that people shouldn't be afraid of being a larger sze than a 2 - but it is being discriminatory against us poor kids who don't have booty and will likely NEVER have booty..

"This is what people should look like," Thompson told the media, referring to herself, "rather than skin-and-bones, which is disgusting and sends a bad message to people everywhere."

I'm sorry I think what you meant to say is that EVERYONE should be working at being healthy and the size they were made. NO starving yourself to be a size 0 (Aus 4). NO gorging yourself and affecting your health...

I would love to have curves but it is never going to happen. I would like Whitney to talk to my GP and see that I have been tested for absolutely everything - there is not one god damn thing wrong with me. I don't have an overactive thyroid, I am not a coeliac, I don't have diabetes. NOTHING just a very fast metabolism - other than that I am perfectly healthy and my GP is happy with my health.


I also want to point out it isn't like I was a "normal" weight and then dropped 2-3 dress sizes. I have been this size since I was 17 people - it ain't going to change. The sooner you realise people come in all shapes and sizes and NOT every skinny girl is an anorexic in disguise the sooner everyone will get back to loving what ever size they are...


So the next time people laude Whitney for showing the world what a "REAL" girl looks like I want to say she looks like Me, you, Whitney, Kate Moss, America Ferrara... Tall, short, skinny, curvy, big, small we are all who we are meant to be and the sooner you realise that the soon you will be happy and complete!




Whitney looking very hot!

Do I want Whitney to succeed in the top fashion industry - hell yes we need more women in all different shapes and sizes out there showing you how it's done... Do I think she will succeed - only if the top people in the Fashion Industry change their ways of thinking...

Do I think modeling and constantly being called "plus-sized" or "full-figured" will get to Whitney, and there will be too much pressure for her to lose weight - unfortunately I think it will. She does seem to have a healthy self esteem but this is the fashion world - it's cut-throat and bitchy and people are literally dying to be what everyone tells them to be..

Good luck Whitney and let's hope Elite Model Management holds up their end of the bargain and makes you a star!!

Read more On "Size does matter..."!

Sometimes people write MY songs for me..

I finally got the Be Your Own PET onto my phone...




and I like it - I would go into a little speel about the album but I can't be bothered... all I can say is it sounds a little more mature but yet still very typical BYOP music. Maybe it's not as racous and mind numbing as before (if played too loud on headphones. It's still as messy as the previous album but it feels deliberate and orchastrated this time rather than just a happy coincidence (as in they didn't really know what they were doing it just happened to work)... Now I would imagine they had a lot of help on the first album but it was made to intentionall sound like they didn't... But on this one it is easier to listen to all at once...




and to leave you with the lyrics that have been stuck in my head for a few days (especially the Woo bit)

I can see you're looking
and I really really want you to
and I dont know if he knows
that I'm looking straight at you
every time that I see
you looking right at me
I forget that I belong to somebody

I can see you're looking
and I really really want you to
and I dont know if he knows
that I'm looking straight at you
every time that I see
you looking right at me
I forget that I belong to somebody

woo
you're making me think
way too hard
woo
you're making my stomach hurt way too much

the sun is getting brighter
but I'm still cold
said to tell me that
you feel too old
the sun is getting brighter
but I'm still cold
don't just start to tell me how you feel

I can see you're looking
and I really really want you to
I would do anything that you wanted me to do
but i know I'm not allowed
with everyone around
I've got to hide these feelings so they cant be found

I can see youre looking
and I really really want you to
I would do anything that you wanted me to do
but I know I'm not allowed
with everyone around
I've got to hide these feelings so they cant be found

woo
you're making me think
way too hard
woo
you're making my stomach hurt way too much

the sun is getting brighter
but I'm still cold
said to tell me that
you feel too old
the sun is getting brighter
but I'm still cold
dont just start to tell me how you feel

Maybe I'm thinking way to much
seeing things that just aren't there
and I guess its for the best
cause I've got someone else who cares

woo
you're making me think
way too hard
woo
you're making my stomach hurt way too much
woo
you're making me think
way too hard
woo
you're making my stomach hurt way too much

the sun is getting brighter
but I'm still cold
said to tell me that
you feel too old
the sun is getting brighter
but i'm still cold
dont just start to tell me how you feel

Heart Throb - BYOP


Read more On "Sometimes people write MY songs for me.."!

What is a Masters worth?

Apparently to John Hopkins (now this is a world class hospital/university - very prestigious and I would imagine the pick of the top in any field) - not that much...


Qualifications: Master’s degree in genetic counseling required. Board-certified or Board-eligible required.

Approximate Starting Salary: $36,536 - $50,301




Am I expecting too much? That is a salary I wouldn't even look at on just a Bachelor of Science NOT a Masters in Genetic Counseling... Genetic Counselors are in great demand now days - I know it is one of the jobs you can get a UK work visa turning into aplication for residency for.. Really would you move all the way over the other side of the world for $36 thousand a year _ HELL no... I am earning more than that now at GE Money in a call centre...



Hmm well this sounds interesting and it's a Masters in Science - THIS is the amount I would expect to be earning...

Cardiovascular perfusionists - In 2006 the salary range for most perfusionists was $87,569 to $105,609 per year. The median salary was $96,144.

Ok I probably wouldn't have expected quite this amount myself BUT as a Master's Degree I say this is what you would be wanting to aim for..

So what do you think - Natalie Doyle Cardiovascular Perfusionist anyone???



Ps in case you were wondering what one was when I saw it on the salary website - I wanted to know who was earning so much money and what the hell they did...

ACardiovascular Perfusionist, also known as a clinical perfusionist, is a trained health professional who operates the heart-lung machine during cardiac surgery and other surgeries that require cardiopulmonary bypass.

Read more On "What is a Masters worth?"!

Did you miss this post or is no one interested...

I wrote this post last saturday - 10/05/08 - no one commented so I don't know if you missed it OR if your not interested. Let me know if your not interested in these types of posts cause there is no point me writing them if no one is going to read them...





So I learnt a little about breast cancer today (in my immunology lecture). And now I understand why they say once you have breast cancer it will ALWAYS come back


So basically we have somatic (Non-embryonic stem cells that are not derived from gametes - egg or sperm cells - ) stem cells in our breasts.

Stem Cells = Stem cells are the body’s blank or “master” cells. They are the foundation cells for every organ, tissue, and cell in the body. Stem cells can renew themselves indefinitely and give rise to (differentiate) many types of specialized cells, such as muscles, nerves, organs, bone, blood, and so on. These properties make stem cells different from the body’s other mature cells. For example, a skin cell can only divide and generate new skin cells.

So what happens is when the stem cells renew and differentiate (become other stem cells as well as other breast cells). Something goes wrong and the new stem cell becomes a tumor cell, which proliferates (grows) uncontrollably.

So we irradiate AND inject toxic chemicals (chemotherapy) to kill the cancer cells. NOW stem cells are hardy little buggers and don't die during this. So what happens - they continue to proliferate EXCEPT this time they are now immune to irradiation and chemotherapy.....

My lecturer is develping Immunotherapy to combat cancer (mainly breast cancer, stage IV's melanoma's (usually only have about 6 months to live once you are at Stage IV) and another cancer that I forget at this moment).

What they are doing is taking monocytes (A monocyte is a leukocyte, part of the human body's immune system that protects against blood-borne pathogens and moves quickly (aprox. 8-12 hours) to sites of infection in the tissues.) and changing them into dendritic cells (the most immune-stimulating cells in the human body) and then exposing them to the cancer cells so they recognise it and then injecting it into the body...

They seem to be having a fairly good response to it. With both the Stage IV melanoma's and the breast cancer (he didn't really talk about the other cancer I THINK it was non-Hodgkin's lymphoma or a type of lymphoma anyway)...


He even showed pictures (CT scans) from some of the patients in the clinical trial of melanoma's. So far they have trialled it on 39 patients and of those 39 patients 7 have had complete response (cured); 5 have had partial response and 1 has had stable disease (meaning it stayed the same). So it doesn't seem like a HUGE success but think about it of those 39 patients who only had at most 6 months to live - 7 have survived completely cured. FIVE have survived but had the disease come back years later and 1 had the disease not grow any larger.


Anyway I am sure that just bored the pants of you all....

Ps lecturer = J. Alejandro López

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Sass & Bide Vie - Hero's or Villains..

So here I am wanting and lusting after these leggings by Kova and T - called Oxy Leggings. Think Kate Moss @ Glastonbury, Mary-Kate/Ashley Olsen @ anything... Hell even think Lindsey I am a mess Lohan...




Well they are $140 US - a lot of money for leggings I hear you say - yes it is but do think of these leggings as more like jeans. Isn't that a reasonable amount for a pair of hot shiny jeans??

Ok so here is the picture so you understand!!!
















BUT wait there's more....

Sass and Bide brought out a pair of leggings called Black Rat's for there AFW - they never intended to sell them - they were just for their show - but apparently they have had such a HUGE response that they are now in production and they are going on sale in June/July...

The Black Rats are selling for $176 (AUS) so a little more than the Kova & T leggings - but I am thinking I might like these more. S&B has always been good to me and they are Australian and far easier for me to get. In fact I could pre-order a pair on Mycatwalk.com.au today!!

Without further ado - I give you Black Rats..












Now the S&B ones come in size S/M (8-10) or M/L (10-12) While the Kova & T ones come in XS and S - they say they run small so to go up a size - but that if you get them too large they bunch and look silly. I am finding it extremely difficult to find the sizings for them... I'll keep looking - while YOU help me decide which ones to get??




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Be Your Own PET

I have the new Be Your Own PET album (Get Awkward).


I planned on doing a review of the album but alas I can't seem to download it onto my phone. Everytime I do it - it says it is already on there but it's NOT...

I don't have any speakers for my computer as they broke. I haven't even listened to it.. I have had it for a WEEK!!!



AHHHHHH
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Fur is GREEN

AFTER decades as the pariah of the fashion industry, fur is fighting back — with claims it is one of the most environmentally friendly clothing materials that exist.

Fur is renewable, non-polluting, biodegradable and energy efficient, and wearing fur will protect the planet's precious ecosystem, say producers.

If you wear fur it is considered cruel, even evil.. I wonder if these same people eat meat, drink milk, or anything with animal byproducts (leather shoes anyone). I mean fur now days isn't produced from endangered species, yes they are farmed for their fur, but aren't all animals farmed for something. Don't we produce baby cows just so we can milk their mothers? Don't we have battery hens and range free hens just to steal their eggs? Aren't cattle put into feed-lots to fatten them up just for us to eat?

How is any of this different from using their fur to keep warm...

Now I am not saying I advocate fur - or that I would even wear it - I am just asking the question. WHY is there such a stigma for fur? Why is it that to wear fur you are a murderer and people throw red paint on you to signify the blood of the animal you are wearing. I have never had anything remotely like this happen when I indulge in a burger from Hungry Jacks or McDonald's - why am I NOT a murderer (in fact aren't I more of a murderer because I am ingesting the animal not just wearing it)..





So what do YOU think? Here is the FENDI coat (called the Yeti coat I think) how hot do these girls look? (Kate Moss off to a Led Zepplin gig and Kate Bosworth wearing it at the Fendi Show in China)




I have wanted a fur coat (not real cause let's face most it real fur coats are ugly and far to expensive for my budget) for ages now. I am bidding on one at ebay..

Do you think I can get away with this in BrisVegas?




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I'm going to tell you a story...

....said Zedka.

"A powerful wizard, who wanted to destroy an entire kingdom, placed a magic potion in the well from which all the inhabitants drank. Whoever drinks that water would go mad.

"The following morning, the whole population drank from the well and they all went mad, apart from the king and his family, who had a well set aside for them alone, which the magician had not managed to poison. The king was worried and tried to control the population by issuing a series of edicts governing security and public health. The policemen and inspectors, however, had also drunk the poisoned water, and they thought the king's decisions were absurd and resolved to take no notice of them.

"When the inhabitants of the kingdom heard these decrees, they became convinced that the king had gone mad and was now giving nonsensical orders. They marched on the castle and called for his abdication.

"In despair the king prepared to step down from the throne, but the queen stopped him, saying 'Let us go and drink from the communal well. Then we will be the same as them.'

"And that was what they did: The king and the queen drank the water of madness and immediately began talking nonsense. Their subjects repented at once; now that the king was displaying such wisdom, why not allow him to continue ruling the country?

"The country continued to live in peace, although its inhabitants behaved very differently from those of its neighbors. And the king was able to govern until the end of his days."

This is from a book I read recently called Veronika Decides To Die - by Paulo Coelho

"...In the cathedral in Florence, there's a beautiful clock designed by Paolo Uccello in 1443. Now, the curious thing about this clock is that, although it keeps time like all other clocks, its hands go in the opposite direction to that of normal clocks."

"What's that got to do with my illness?"

"I'm just coming to that. When he made this clock, Paolo Uccello was not trying to be original: The fact is that, at the time, there were clocks like his as well as others with hands that went in the direction we're familiar with now. For some unknown reason, perhaps because the duke had a clock with hands that went in the direction we now think of as the "right" direction, that became the only direction, and Uccello's clock then seemed an aberration, a madness."

[snip]

"Have you ever met anyone in your entire life who asked why the hands of a clock should go in one particular direction and not in the other?"

"No."

"If someone were to ask, the response they'd get would probably be: 'You're crazy.' If they persisted, people would try to come up with a reason, but they'd soon change the subject, because there isn't a reason apart from the one I've just given you. So to go back to your question. What was it again?"

"Am I cured?"

"No. You're someone who is different, but who wants to be the same as everyone else. And that, in my view, is a serious illness."

"Is wanting to be different a serious illness?"

"It is if you force yourself to be the same as everyone else. It causes neuroses, psychoses, and paranoia. It's a distortion of nature, it goes against God's laws, for in all the world's woods and forests, he did not create a single leaf the same as another. But you think it's insane to be different, and that's why you chose to live in Villete [mental institution], because everyone is different here, and so you appear to be the same as everyone else. Do you understand?" (Coelho, 168-169)

The premise of the book is "collective madness is called sanity".


Read the book. If nothing else it is a story teaching you to live your life cherishing each and every day no matter how mundane OR insane it is....


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A thought is forming...

Bare with me - my thought process if very very jumpy, and doesn't usually make sense...


I was reading the the other day. NY Times

Was reading a story about GetUp!. this political awareness group I belong to.

They have released a new version of this awesome song called "From Little Things, Big Things Grow..." it includes excepts from PM Kevin Rudd's Sorry Speech and also the excellent 1992 Redfern Speech by ex-PM Paul Keating. I was curious about how non Australian's would view this (click in NY Times if you want to read it yourself)..

Then I started then jumping around reading other news stories about Australia and came across an article about the E-3 Visa - apparently it was started in 2005 for Australians to work in US. Pretty much all that you need is a job offer from a US company and you can apply for the visa. There are 10,500 given away each year and they are valid for 2 years and are able to be renewed - with an indefinite amount of renewals - you just have to prove you don't wish to remain in the country for good..


So... I was then looking at what Biochemists are paid in the US and the median wage is about $36.69/hr or $76,300 per year.. NOW I am thinking I could most definitely live on that amount... I am on about $45,000 per year at the moment but that isn't with my degree though... Ok chances of me actually earning $36/hr first year out are slim but....


Next I started to think back to my friend Julie - we used to work together in Townsville. She works at Yale University and has a friend who she worked with who left and started their own pharmaceutical company. She told me she could get me a job with him if I wanted - I was never really interested in pharmaceuticals and knew it was virtually impossible to get a visa to work in the US that I never took it seriously..



NOW I am!!!!!



So..... I am thinking... I might look into seeing if this is possible..

I was planning on going to see my friend Julie around next May on my way to spending Summer in Europe - so maybe I should look into applying for some jobs before I leave.....



I have always wanted to live in New York for a little while - not forever - it would be like living in London my guess - fun if you know it is for only a certain period - depressing if you think it is for good...

Thoughts???



oh and if you wish to see the video of the song From Little Things Big Things Grow here it is..





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I just made..

Rookie mistake number one - don't know what I was thinking - I KNOW better than this..


But I had just written up a long long post and of course my computer ate it. WHY didn't I save it in word first..

I hate my computer tonight and I am too tired and cranky to re-write it...

So tomorrw you get Wednesday's post AND Friday's post (with Thursday being my day off this week).. Read more On "I just made.."!

Just a post...

To let you know that the post for Wednesday will be posted tomorrow - I have an exam at 8am and two workshops tomorrow so a lot of work to do before hard.. Talk to you tomorrow.. Read more On "Just a post..."!

I bet you wanted to know...

...what new phone I plan to get in September this year when my contract is up.





WHAT and give up your 4GB MP3 player/mobile phone - YES YES YES..

Why you ask?

Cause this phone has a 16GB memory AND an microSD slot for an additional 8GB (a soon to be realised microSD 16GB is going to make this even bigger and better)...

Are you kidding me?

NO I am not - doesn't this just shit all over the iPhone??

In fact I want to compare the two phones (actually I won't - I will post a link that has already compared the as yet still unreleased (in Australia) iPhone and the soon to be released sometime around August 2008 Nokia N96

iPhone vs N96

I think the main things you need to worry about is =

iPhone - NO flash; java; GPS; SD slot for expansion; radio; 3G; unable to record sound....

N96 - all of this and dare I say it - a little bit more...

Nokia N96

and before I leave - a little thought to put inside your head...

Would YOU go for a Sony Ericsson phone? If so check out this little beauty..

Sony Ericsson Xperia X1



Ok only a little trivia - more of a gadget piece - but oh well it's what I got for you tonight... Read more On "I bet you wanted to know..."!

mah mah mah mahnday mahdness!!

I could have taken the easy way out and talked about the Splendour line up. I might do a little of that but not right now - but I wanna talk about my personal trainer...

And what the hell does my personal trainer have to do with music I hear you ask.. NOTHING...

Except every Monday when I go and see him (and he only just realised today that there is a "lazy person" inside me.. INSIDE I say she ain't so hidden!!!) he always asks me what bands I have seen lately.. Do you know it has been ages since I saw a band. Man oh Man I am crap.

So Johann (my trainer) and I always end up talking about the bands - I wanted to see but didn't get too..

Today was all about Juliette and The Licks! I wanted to see them so much - but they played Wednesday night at The Zoo and alas I had an exam on Thursday (70% exam at that) - although I have a feeling my marks may reflect the fact that I may as well have gone and had fun instead).

Now for all you kids out there that have no idea who or what Juliette and The Licks are, I am here to inform you (ok Cas I know you are probably the only one reading but please bare with me)..

Juliette Lewis - as in used to date Brad Pitt - a little freaky, a little nerdy, a little weird, is the singer.. And by all accounts does she put on a show. I even saw that the merch was a indian tribal headdress with two feathers attached as she always wears.

Well anyway without further ado

Juliette and The Licks perform HOT KISS!!!



and a live version of
YOU'RE SPEAKING MY LANGUAGE!




Tomorrow shall be about a little trivia on....

hahaha nope you just have to wait and see!!

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Should a thief be rewarded for their behaviour?

It took an ex-physicist and a former ornithology student — along with some unwitting help from a competitor — to crack the secret of life...



(click on link to read the post...)


I have missed blogging - I have been doing it on and off for the past 4 years or so. I don't know why I stopped - just ran out of things to say. I think uni drains my creativeness - you can't really be creative in science - not while still in the learning process anyway.I have decided to do themed posts....

So most days I will try and post something - a little post - nothing much but themed..

Here is what I propose (if you can think of other things let me know)

M is for Music Monday's
T is for Trivia Tuesday's
W is for Written Word Wednesday's
T is for Silent T Thursday's
F is for Fashion Friday's
S is for Sexy Science Saturday's and Sunday's


So obviously I am hoping to post something about each of these topics during the week. I have left Thursdays open as either a non post day or possibly they could be about anything if I so chose to post...

Is this going to be possible - who knows... Will I keep doing it - again who knows.. I do know that I will most likely be posting these posts in all of my blogs - this one... My livejournal one (hello TV.net and RoTV) and then Myspace...


Questions? Comments? Thoughts??

___________________________________________________

So here's a little post on science to keep you entertained until I have this up and running...



I want to tell you a little about one of my Scientific Hero's. Rosalind Franklin. She helped discover the structure of DNA (the double helix - everyone remember's the geeks going to the prom in Never Been Kissed).

Why is she one of my hero's - she is a female scientist - a very successful one in the 1950's - working in London - and beating those boy's at their own game!!!

Now when I say helped discover - really I mean it was mainly her. She worked out through x-ray crystallography (The most widely used (and most accurate) method of obtaining structures, X-ray crystallography involves expressing highly purified protein samples, crystallizing these, and then performing X-ray diffraction of the protein to elucidate crystal structure). That the structure was a helix structure and it was 2 strands not 3 as previously thought. She also worked out that sugar-phosphate backbone was on the outside of the molecule not the inside as previously thought. The only thing she couldn't work out was how the bases paired on the inside of the helix....

This was left for Francis Crick and James Watson to discover.

Maurice Wilkins was Franklins collegue at King's College in London where they worked together in John Randall's lab. He and Franklin didn't get on - what with this being the 1950's and Franklin being a female (and most probably smarter than him). Wilkins decides to take Franklin's UNPUBLISHED work to Crick and Watson - without Franklin OR her boss Randall's permission or even knowledge.

This helped them put 2 and 2 together. Their work was published in the same volume of science journal Nature (April, 1953) as Franklin's work. In all accounts Franklin never knew they had had access to her work. Five years later Franklin was dead (at age 37 from cancer).

Crick, Watson and Wilkins were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1962 (as this award is not given post-humously Franklin yet again misses out).

Now I can understand why Crick and Watson received this award, I know they did say that their success would never have been possible without seeing Franklin's work.

I can even sort of understand why they don't give this award post-humously.






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