Author: admin

What to say.

It's been a rough couple of days. It started with a phone call with my mom, where she tells me that she's worried about me, as every time she calls, I'm not feeling well and I never seem happy. How do you answer to that? It wasn't a pleasant phone call, especially when you're at the office and there's no walls between you and your coworkers. I'll admit that I've been feeling less than stellar these past few weeks, but it's a mix of money woes, roommate hassles, job concerns and well, my love life sucks. As in, I have none.

Now I know that some of you will call me princess or pobrecita (as you've already done), but what can I say? I feel like this right now. I'm trying to “suck it up”, it's just not working.

I had fun on friday night, as I went to see the Fluff Girls burlesque show at Cafe Campus with Hacker_grrl and some of her friends. It was an interesting evening, and the eye candy was nice, but I was glad to get home at the end. My coat stinks of cigarette smoke.

So today is valentines day. Normally, I wouldn't give a shit. This year though, it's hitting hard. I spoke to a few people today on MSN. It seems I'm the only one not getting it on this weekend. Now I know that sounds really petty, but damn, It's not helping morale when everybody around you is talking about their sex life. The worse one was a girl I'm flirting with on LL, who doesn't have a date this morning and is mopey about it the first time we talk this morning, has a date planned for tonight the next time I talk to her, and is telling me she got laid the third time I talk to her tonight. That one was harsh.

So I think I'm going to cut this one off short now. I hate feeling like this. Self-pity is basically self-destructive, so I'll do my damndest to get out of this funk.

I've been watching old muppet show reruns lately. I found this sometime ago, but always forgot to mention it: http://www.muppetcentral.com/cards/parody.shtml

Here are my 2 favourites. Click on a thumbnail to get a bigger pic (in another window):

  

Oh, and for those of you who might want it, here's another IM icon:

You are all weirdos!

*sigh* My headache finally abated, and I had a great lunch with Hyde_grrl. Felt good to laugh, especially after the morning from hell I had this morning. We started talking about Lavalife, and she told me that she hadn't seen my profile in a while, so I figured I'd revamp it a bit. It's expanded under the cut. I'd like your feedback on it, before I put it online. Be honest now :)

Lavalife Profile

It's been a while since this profile was written, so I thought I'd dust it off. First and foremost, I'm looking to meet a friend. So far, my LL experience has been positive, in that I've met a few people that became very good friends. I'm still looking for someone to go beyond friendship with though.

I'm a jeans & T-shirt kind of guy who's looking to meet someone fairly down to earth to share in the simple joys of life: a good meal, beautiful music, cuddling on the couch watching a movie and sleeping in on weekends. Music is a passion in my life, so you enjoy as broad a musical palette as I do (jazz, classical, classic rock, oldies, pop, gregorian chant, electronica, heavy metal, and whatever else tickles my fancy at the moment).

It takes me a bit of time to open up to new people I meet, though I enjoy a good conversation. I've been told I'm a good listener. I'm also fairly direct and I mean what I say. I'm attracted by intelligence, curiosity and humour. In the hands of the right person, it's a combination that can have me laughing until it hurts and keep me up until the wee hours of the morning.

So what am I looking for? Like you, I'm looking for someone special. I want us to be so comfortable around each other that we can give in to the silliness that sometimes needs to be let loose. I want to be able to lose myself in your eyes and see the kind, passionate woman that you are. These things won't happen overnight, but I'm willing to take all the time in the world. Good things come to those who wait.

If you're still reading, here are some mundane facts about myself. I have a master's degree in biochemistry and a degree in computer science. I currently work as a software developer for a bioinformatics consulting firm. The weirdest thing I've ever done was going to work in my pyjamas and I have way too many books (I average one paperback a week). I'm perfectly bilingual (je suis francophone).

So, if you're curious, please feel free to say hello.

(Copenhagen, Denmark-AP) Some sex ed goes a little too far, even for open-minded Danes. The Danish government is pulling the plug on C-D-ROM's intended for ninth-graders.

The computer programs had information about threesomes, bestiality and partners relieving themselves on each other while having sex. Distribution of 60-thousand discs was supposed to start next week. The nation's health minister says the questionable information had nothing to do with the intended purpose of educating young people about birth control.

So Conan O'Brien is in Toronto and having a ball. Triumph the insult dog is tagging along. This made the news this morning:

Living down to his four-word moniker, Triumph paid a visit to Quebec and promptly insulted any French Canadian in sight. Insulted? That doesn't cover it.

If the Official Languages Commissioner found it necessary to launch an investigation into Don Cherry, they may well issue a fatwa on Triumph. The dog's virulent assault made Cherry's hockey visor rant seem like a Mary Poppins song about raindrops and kittens.

teehee. Original link: http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1076627413776&call_pageid=968867495754&col=969483191630

Can bags of pig fat deter suicide bombers?

Jerusalem – Israeli police have come up with plans to place bags of pig lard on buses in a bid to deter Palestinian militants from carrying out suicide attacks, the Maariv daily reported on Thursday.

Rabbinical authorities have given the idea its approval on the grounds that it could be a life-saving measure even though pigs are also considered impure by Jews.

Authorities believe that the move could discourage Palestinians from carrying out attacks as pieces of their exploded body could come into contact with the pig fat, prejudicing their chances of entering into paradise.

Original link: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/auto/epaper/editions/sunday/opinion_0442326e064c624b0099.html

The Bush administration has decided that people with bad hearing have bad judgment, too, and need special guidance from the federal government.

So the U.S. Department of Education is declaring about 200 television programs inappropriate for closed-captioning and denying federal grant requests to make them accessible to the hearing-impaired.

My favourite quote is this one: The government is refusing to caption Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie, apparently fearing that the deaf would fall prey to witchcraft if they viewed the classic sitcoms.

WITCHCRAFT?!?!?!?

Other shows that aren't CC'ed include Law & Order, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Robin Hood, The Simpsons, Scooby Dooas well as NASCAR, NFL, NBA, MLB and PGA sports events!

Sigh. It just warms the heart to see that the Bush administration has its priorities in the right place.

A few weeks ago, I got some really abusive comments on my blog, by anonymous posters (though I prefer the AC nomenclature of Slashdot, but it's not really important). Anyway, as I was saying. I really wondered what caused all the kerfuffle. I was browsing through the server logs when I noticed this little gem.

Apparently, a website I run made it on to something awful :)

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=900782

I'm so proud :D

Amusing comments:

Though some people apparently have more than half a brain:

Now don't get me wrong. I couldn't care less what these people think. I got into it for the fun of putzing in photoshop :) If someone wants to think less of me for doing that, they can just go screw themselves :D

Berlin – A German pop star is trying to salvage his marriage after his wife left him when he moved a monkey into their marital home.

Werner Boehm was introduced to the 10-year-old female baboon while filming a music video.

He said: “It was love at first sight. The monkey is extremely musical and can even play the piano. We're on the same wavelength.”

But his 31-year-old wife Susanne was not amused and moved out after Boehm allowed the pet to share his bed and dismissed the animal's demolishing of the furniture as “harmless fun”.

She said: “I gave him the choice: The monkey or me. He chose the monkey. It's incredibly painful to know that some baboon is more important to him than I am.”

Boehm, 62, says he wants his wife back – but on condition she accepts the monkey.

He said: “Susanne is welcome to stay. But only if she accepts the monkey.”

But the relationship may be short-lived, as animal protection officials want to remove the monkey which they say will become lonely without contact with other baboons.

Wolfgang Poggendorf, head of the Hamburg animal protection agency said: “We have made a complaint to police, and they will take the animal away.”

Boehm's mix of traditional folk and modern pop has seen a resurgence in popularity since he returned from filming the German version of I'm a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here. — Ananova News

Original link: http://www.nature.com/nsu/040202/040202-19.html

Fat used to boost breasts
Doctors hope stem cells might flesh out cosmetic surgery.
9 February 2004
HELEN PEARSON

A clinical trial in which stem cells from women's fat are used to revamp their breasts is starting in Japan. But some experts warn that such studies must proceed with caution.

Surgeons frequently shuffle handfuls of fat from the hips up to the face for cosmetic reasons – to smooth out wrinkles or cover up scars, for example. But they have been wary of moving fat into the breasts.

In the 1980s, doctors found that a proportion of grafted tissue tends to die and form hardened areas. If fat has been transferred to the breast, these hardened areas can show up on mammograms and might be mistaken for tumours. So using fat to increase cup size is “kind of taboo”, says plastic surgeon Adam Katz of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville.

But Kotaro Yoshimura of the University of Tokyo and his colleagues think they might be able to avoid this problem by using a mix of fat cells and stem cells. The stem cells should create fresh fat cells and coax blood vessels to grow into and nurture the new tissue, says Yoshimura. This should boost tissue survival.

Yoshimura carried out the procedure on his first patient on 21 January, and he plans to do 30 more operations after obtaining approval from a review board. The women are undergoing the surgery for cosmetic reasons.

During the operation, the team suck fat cells from the woman's stomach or thigh. By separating cells based on their density, the team enrich the slurry for special stem cells that are able to generate new fat cells. They then inject 300-400 millilitres of these stem cells mixed with normal fat tissue into the woman's breasts.

More natural than silicone

Around 240,000 women underwent breast augmentation in the United States in 2002. Most breast enhancements are done by implanting packets of saline water. Silicone implants are now banned in the United States because of concerns that they can leak, causing serious side effects. Around a third of implants are removed within ten years because of complications.

Using a person's own fat is an attractive alternative to these artificial implants because it does not provoke the immune system and looks completely natural. Also, women are rarely sorry to donate a few pounds of their own fat to the cause. “There's no other tissue you can take that amount of,” says Marc Hedrick of the University of California, Los Angeles, and chief scientific officer for MacroPore Biosurgery in San Diego, California.

The idea of using stem cells from fat isn't completely new. Two other groups have tried transplanting fat stem cells to rejuvenate the faces of a small group of patients, says Hedrick. Yoshimura's stem-cell trial is the biggest so far, he adds.

Katz says he would like to see more trials on animals and in other areas of the human body before trying the technique on breasts. But Hedrick is more optimistic: “There's a good shot that this will work,” he says.

Hedrick believes that fat stem cells will one day find a broader use in repairing heart muscle and bone fractures and in other developing stem-cell therapies. But it is not yet clear how to coax such cells into becoming muscle, bone or blood, he says.

In preparation for future therapies, MacroPore Biosurgery are already offering people who have had liposuction the opportunity to bank their fat stem cells. “I think it's crazy to throw them away,” Hedrick says.