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March 28th, 2005
10:41 pm - Mooo!
Hasn't it been a long time since you got really excited by a liquor? Frangelico was amazing, but perhaps a little too sweet. Similarly with kahlua, not to mention the diet alcohol content. So, it's been years right? You go to the boozary and the same drinks leap out at you, whether it's Grey Goose, Tanqueray or the aged single malts, you've done them. The love affair is still there, but sometimes, sometimes you want a fling that makes you feel the love in an entirely taste-bud exploding fashion. Look no further. I give you Meukow.
Meukow Vanilla is the subtle and unique blend of Meukow VS and natural vanilla flavors. The vanilla aroma, which is yet naturally present in the cognac taste after ageing in oak wood barrels, creates a wonderful sensation when it becomes dominant...Cognac is long and delicate and vanilla is silky and powerful, that's the perfect harmony! Delicious over ice or mixed with fruit juices or sodas, Meukow VS Vanilla offers a NEW trendy way to enjoy the cognac.
Meukow VS Vanilla has been awarded one of the Drinks International Magazine "BRANDS OF THE YEAR 2003".
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March 27th, 2005
04:48 pm - New in Town
I managed to bundle myself up and visit ![[info]](http://library.vu.edu.pk/cgi-bin/nph-proxy.cgi/000100A/http/web.archive.org/web/20050330001530im_/http:/=2fstat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) meleah and the_christian in their new apartment last night. The agenda was beer and marvelling at their view. Even though it takes at least two hours to get to them (that's like being on a train from Ballarat to Frankston for reference), the end was worth it. They live in a ghetto, but it's a ghetto by the water. So, it reminds me of Sydney before everyone realized how perfect for yuppification The Rocks, Darling Harbour and Balmain were. There is indeed a little Irish cemetary out the front, with one lone Italian grave. There is a big park to explore within a couple of blocks. They have a fabulous milk bar where you can get limes under the counter for your coronas. I think between the three of us we drank about a slab, give or take a six-pack.
The apartment is fantastic. It's a really good space, big kitchen, good lighting, great view, not too noisy & not too cramped. Of course, once Leah's StuffTM arrives, then the spaces will all be filled in and no one will be able to move, but until then, it's a bloody good find. The two of them are desperately cute black-clothed immigrants. I can feel their usual indomidable egos straining under the pressure to find jobs, get accepted and enculturated into this town. New York is big. It's always been tough to the new arrival. The crowds remind you of how lonely you are and how few friends you make when you're in your late 20s. If you don't have a job, then you don't meet anyone new, so you don't talk to anyone for days besides the person you dragged half-way across the globe. You've got serious money worries, so you can't eat out or go out much, even though the city creaks under the weight of attractions and dazzling displays. It's at once desperately exciting and soul-destroying terrifying.
I have a pretty good sense of what they're going through and I know that its going to take a while for anything resembling their previous lives to happen. Australia's socialist paradise where you can get the dole, fare evade on PT, visit a doctor for free, get concession card discounts, get a job with worker rights, etc... is a very distant place. As meleah described to me today, girls speak in whispers about these things called 'unions'. The poor here are poor. They're not 'oh I wish I could find a perfect job so I'll stay on the dole' poor. They are benefitless bottom feeders, working 13 hour shifts for months on end and nobody cares. Here socialism is a dirty word and the Hobbesian dystopia feels crushingly close. However, the people here live on the thick promise of hope. Hope gets pumped through the steam pipes, through the radiators and belches up from the subway. Hope is fueled by the success stories shared over a pint at the Irish pub with the perfect stranger. Hope inspires hard work and patience and these in turn build character like bootcamp builds stamina. If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. How true. I'm barracking for these two. This is the black run on a tall, snowy mountain, and if they don't crash, they'll get to the bottom faster than everyone else.
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March 25th, 2005
04:23 am - Yay Bertrand
"The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time"
Bertrand Russell
I got this quote on a card for my birthday last year. It featured a horse lying down with blissful expression. Tonight I wasted a LOT of time. In fact, this week has been one wasted time after another. And each of them in turn was a blissful connection with another human being. I wonder how many people in analytic philosophy are obsessed because they have not experienced love, or connection with another person. I am blessed with love. I am a loving person and I give love freely. I enjoy life. I take life up in my arms and give it a big squeeze.
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March 24th, 2005
12:35 pm
Amazing postapocalyptic TSUNAMI dream. morganjaffit and I watched the wave come in on the top floor of an ugly, sprawling 50s brick apartment complex. It surged over our windows and then lurched back into the sea. The building buckled somewhat, but we survived. What kinds of supplies did we have? What kinds of things should we loot? Amazingly enough, the Australians didn't start looting, instead we left things in shops that we didn't need, because we knew we could get them later! I had my compass and my GPS, a roll-up camp bed. It was a little like starting a D&D; campaign, but much scarier. Is there a 'just after the apocalypse' role-playing game?
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12:16 am - Goodnight
For a bigger, even CUTER version of this picture, click HERE
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March 23rd, 2005
04:28 pm
Maybe not drowning, but devoting a lot of resources to staying afloat. I'm a good swimmer, the milk isn't infinately deep. I've applied for more funding today. Another four hours of writing and re-writing proposals via the graduate school. This level isn't broken, it's just got emotional lasers which I didn't read about in the instruction book. *sigh* It can only get easier with practise right? I mean, it doesn't get any easier, that's for sure.
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March 22nd, 2005
11:21 pm
Not bouncing
Drowning
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12:51 am - In the Scale of Things
I think my mood is beginning to re-emerge. On the Spilt Milk scale I have only 'Cried' for seven hours. I'd like to thank everyone who got angry with me and told me about other egregious instances of funding failure, told me it was going to be okay, told me that they'd punch noses to get justice served.
I just planted a Great Sequoia Tree that my friend brought back for me from California
No other tree in the world, as far as I know, has looked down on so many centuries as the sequoia or opens so many impressive and suggestive views into history...the area covered by sequoia has not been diminished during the last eight or ten thousand years
John Muir
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March 21st, 2005
05:08 pm
FUCK. I didn't get the fellowship.
Well, I guess I can't get any more disappointed.
Current Mood: depressed
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02:22 pm - Symptom of Depression, or The Spilt Milk Test
I think a good test for depression is the time it takes for you to 'bounce-back' after a mishap. E.g. When you drop your muffin as you're buttering it and it falls on the floor due to your own ineptitude, and your mood plummets for a disproportionate period of time. You cast the entire incident as evidence of your own failure to get anything accomplished. Poor hand-eye co'ordination translates to 'shouldn't be fed'. I've got a mild version of this right now. My bounce-back time is a few minutes long. I don't think it indicates some long-term problem, but I know the feeling well enough to say, 'ahhh, yes, depressive symptoms'. My hypothesis is 'depression due to recalibrating my discombobulation', or DDRD.
When I've been in a really bad patch in my life, almost anything functional in my day can be seriously traumatic. E.g. trying to open a door with a key and fumbling it, or leaving my jacket upstairs can make me quite angry, desperate, and need to find a bed for safety. I've played a lot in 'safety-bed'. PJs, bed and many, many hours of sleep. Anyway, I just thought this bounce-back test is an interesting subjective cue to my mental state.
I'm off to my first belly-dancing class now, which I'm hoping will drag me out of my slump. If it doesn't, then my yoga class afterwards should. Plus, I'll be riding my bike to both of these, ensuring I get some air in my lungs and some blood pumping around this creaky old body. Ten days of fatty joy in Montreal has left me seven pounds heavier and I'm feeling like an unfit slug. That's a lot worse than a regular, aerobic slug.
Current Mood: heavy
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12:04 am
Oh jez. I'm just a crazy emotional mum. Let me know if you can't bear the 100k kitty pics and I'll remove you from my 'kitty friends list', but if you don't mind, I have to indulge again. I've just come back from Montreal and trying to recombobulate my life. I celebrated the spring equinox this morning at dawn on the beach. My grandma and grandpa are both in the ocean, albeit carbon deposits returning to the great mother. Mananan, Neptune, Poseidon rise from her depths and bring us such a curious blend of emotional stuff that I can only describe as poignent. The return of the light brought almost a desperate gratitude.
I didn't get accepted into the Harvard graduate student conference and I'm all embarrassed and shamed about it. The rational self says, 'who cares' and the emotional self is running with its tail between its legs. Stupid graduate students. Oxford graduate students rejected my intuitions paper last year at around this time, before I got accepted at a professional conference with the same paper. Rational sense says 'who cares if graduate students reject you if REAL philosophers like your work'. But, oh gosh... this graduate life is so hard. I feel a great empathy with other writers and artists struggling to be accepted, peer recognized, given money for peddling their wares.
There is so much impetus to silence myself sometimes. I should just shut-the-hell up. Drugs can help us to a degree. I suspect that a stronger person manages without help. But, right now I want to win. I want to get accepted. I feel like I'm playing the boardgame of 'The Game of Life' and I rolled a funny number and ended up with a difficult profession. I remember playing that game and getting entirely too involved. I was terrified to gamble, lest my family would be poverty-ridden, starving plastic pegs in my all-terrain vehicle. I became self-congratulatory if I landed by chance on big money, and I got vindictive if I landed on a poorly paid lifestyle.
I'm drinking Grey Goose Vodka that I managed to get for $27 Canadian dollars at Customs. It's the smoothest straight alcohol you've ever tasted.
LATE NIGHT UPDATE: Gosh, a bath later, an empty bottle, a vegetarian hotdog smothered in mayo & tomato sauce. I think I'm for bed.
For more NEVER BEFORE SEEN kitten photos...
( I miss my kitties! )
I'm going to post this, but continue to update it for a while.... I've never believed that lj posts couldn't be edited.
Current Mood: forlorn
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March 18th, 2005
05:31 pm - Flattery & Progress
I still haven't heard about the money, but I did get an email from the Institute for Humane Studies today. Based on the quality of my fellowship application, they've invited me to a workshop on Social Change in Virginia this summer. Normally interested students have to specifically apply with transcripts, essays etc..., but they are waving the application process for me, because I'm so clever. I also found out that only around six students are specifically invited for this particular workshop. So, I'm feeling all flattered and excited. It suggests that not only did I not completely screw up the application. They actually like me and they like what I'm studying. Being invited to conferences and getting external funding always looks really good on the job market.
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March 17th, 2005
04:14 pm
Good: I am now ranked 121 in the train game.
Bad: We just got a letter stating that due to complaints from downstairs, either we get rid of one of our pusskas, or we get evicted.
How can I tear them apart? Their brother has already been shipped off to a new home, I can't bear losing another baby. To think that I almost hired that movie about the tiger cub brothers, I'm glad I didn't now.
Good: My baby just got a promotion.
Bad: I still haven't heard about this dag-nabbit grant. I've been procrastination central for a week now...
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12:17 am
To compete with ![[info]](http://library.vu.edu.pk/cgi-bin/nph-proxy.cgi/000100A/http/web.archive.org/web/20050330001530im_/http:/=2fstat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) saccharinmetric, Morgan and I have created, through the power of internet anagram.... jam_of_farting. Come, ask... if you dare...
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March 15th, 2005
03:21 pm - Jor-El considers
I've been thinking about television and how awful it is. I'll admit that specific programs are good, but given the technological transition to DVDs, Netflix, TiVo and the internet in general, I have less and less patience with the cheap programs available on free-to-air (or basic cable). Why would I want to bring up my children on junk food commercials and brain-rotting syndicated shows?
There is a tension with all children's cultural artifacts between what is healthy and nourishing and what is 'cool'. Food, clothes, toys and TV are all part of the child's status. I don't want my kids to be desperately unpopular at school, jealous of their hip peers, and I know to a certain extent having healthy fresh food means social death, as would having no TV in the house or toys that last a generation. How do we balance the rubbish with the good stuff? I've heard of mums who swore that they'd never have TV and then crumbled at its convenient baby-sitter function. As a kid growing up I always had the outdoors for adventuring with other kids, so one hour of TV a night was plenty. But, increasingly kids live in neighborhoods with no parks, no wild scraggy woods to frolick in, no silent worlds to create to the joy of the imagination.
What do we tell these kids?--The ones with nothing except electronics to keep them entertained? I don't know. I suppose a five year old can happily surf the internet these days and a two year old can use a mouse. I'm not as scared of the internet. At least, I'm not as scared of games as I am of passive TV. I remember some amazing kids computer games that really educated me when I was little. Hopefully the same quality (if not better) will be available in a few years time and TV will be relic of a bygone era. Instead of TV we'll have comprehensive iPod entertainment and I'll program the entire Sesame Street from the 1970s, The Goodies, Astroboy, Monkey Magic, documentaries, space adventures, Muppets, tales of wilderness and exploration and all kinds of wondrous, exciting and inspiring shows to introduce my offspring into this crazy world.
What Were Your Experiences?
1. When you were a kid, how much TV did you watch? (e.g. hrs per day)
2. What kinds of restrictions, if any, did your parents put on your TV watching?
3. What effect did TV have on your life?
4. What kinds of restrictions would you put on your (or a friend's) kids TV watching and why?
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March 14th, 2005
07:13 pm - Reeling, Writhing & Arithmetic
the secret of good writing was clarity and, where possible, simplicity, and that the aim was, above all, communication. By all means use any word you want, as long as it's exactly the right word for what you need to say.
Neil Gaiman
Reading A.J. Ayer's Problem of Knowledge and he certainly writes very well along these lines. It's good to be inspired by a 20th century analytic philosopher again. I feel it's been a while. I also just bought St. Thomas Aquinas' commentary on Aristotle's De Sensu and De Memoria. Philosophy is like opening presents at the moment. As it should be.
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March 11th, 2005
06:14 pm - Snowcats
Here are my pusskas watching the snow falling. They're a little ike 'lovecats', but more like couch potato pusskas watching telly.
( Read more... )
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04:34 pm - 1-900-555-CORY
Here are some words that rhyme with Corey: Gory. Story. Allegory. Montessori.
Current Mood: twitchy
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10:33 am - Academic Lottery
I'm waiting to find out if I'm a finalist for an Institute for Humane studies Fellowship. If I get it, then I could wipe my debt instantaneously, buy a snazzy laptop and give myself a book-buying account. Libraries these days just aren't rich enough to purchase all the books I need for my courses. Anyway, I'm all anxious about it. I had nightmares this morning and now my shoulder is causing me agony, just in anticipation of an answer. I'm crossing my fingers, I'm crossing my toes, I'm crossing the cat's toes if it will help. How can I concentrate today? Maybe I should play some more of the train game?
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March 10th, 2005
12:42 pm - I want to be...
...under the sea, in a luxurious pod in the Bahamas. $1,500 a night and probably opening in 2007
It is so Incredibles meets James Bond.
I'm with my baby for ten days in Montreal. Last night there was Irish music and Irish dancing and an Irish pub. Someone bought me a Jameson shooter and I found myself with a set of guiness coasters with a difference:
( Read more... )
Current Mood: octopussy
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March 9th, 2005
01:06 pm - Winter Sunset
When I took these photos it was -14 degrees celcius with a vicious wind. The weather had dropped thirty degrees centigrade in 24 hrs and there were sheets of ice across everything from rain water freezing as the temperature plummeted
( Read more... )
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March 7th, 2005
01:00 am - Fresh snow
Canadian geese in the snow.
( Read more... )
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March 6th, 2005
11:55 pm - I guess I do live in a ghetto
Friday night meleah came to my house for beers and general introduction to my gang of close mates. Due to fears about the quantity of said beer, I headed off down the street. Ironically enough, one minute after assuring meleah that my neighborhood really "wasn't that bad", I got stopped by a guy in the street who said, "hey white girl, want some crack?" My first time offered crack and I was suitably dressed, wearing my black hoodie and sporting two blonde pigtails.
Then on Saturday we drove to Brooklyn to check out the real estate and found ourselves singing Cartman's song "in the ghettOOoo". However, there was one little suburb with rainbow flags poking out the windows and a food co-op, so as long as the_christian doesn't pin his hopes on Red hook, it will all work out.
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March 4th, 2005
02:04 pm - Rub 'em here, rub 'em there
Thanks to jeremyjx via foundobjects
Current Mood: greatly amused
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12:08 pm - Doomsday Devices
Oooh, Apocalypse dream! Morgs and I were in Melbourne yet terrifyingly not-together. I was in the city and suddenly there was no electricity, radio, no phones, no computers. Basically no distance communicative abilities and an eery silence. I suspect it was a EMP attack coupled with an attack on our powerstations. Everyone has to scramble to saftey. Yet, there was no news of what had happened. That was the insane thing. Normally radios, TVs, internet etc... will inform you, but we had radio silence. I managed to get to a train station (because clearly trains are the answer in a crisis). There I found heroic train staff managing to get trains going through some miraculous means. I saw ancient steam locamotives used to haul trains (this sight of course made my dream-self whoop with joy and I pointed a lot, much to the distaste of other grumbly apocalypse survivors). There were even people are pushing trains with their hands on close-to-frictionless surfaces! Of course my mission was to get to Morgs who was at his dad's place, but I was hamstrung as the light faded, because you can't move around when it's dark, because it's really, really dark. But the next day I managed to find him.
Then the dreamworld swerved to the left and I was hanging out with Jesus in biblical times. Jesus was with a woman and becoming a vegetarian, swearing never to hurt pigs again like he did that day for her. Then he became John Lennon. I left the room with a beatific smile and lay down with horses in the fields.
There was other stuff too, but those were the highlights. That's my first night sleep after having a cup of valerian tea before bed. What a wierd hideous-tasting substance. I also have a Korean herbal muscle patch on my shoulder. It's been tiger-balming my body all night. Perhaps the combination with valerian is some awesome oracle dream drug? If so, I highly recommend buying a wind-up radio and a spare laptop batteries, because when doomsday arrives, it won't come with a bang, but a whisper.
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March 3rd, 2005
March 1st, 2005
01:47 pm - For my love
Sonnet LXXVI.
( Why is my verse )
O, know, sweet love, I always write of you,
And you and love are still my argument;
So all my best is dressing old words new,
Spending again what is already spent:
For as the sun is daily new and old,
So is my love still telling what is told.
( Read more... )
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February 28th, 2005
11:46 pm - BMI bollocks!
If you've ever had poor body image relating to fat, read this really great post by Erudito. Bottom line: exercise regularly, eat well, don't smoke, exercise and forget about the few extra pounds.
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10:52 pm - The Nonconceptual Gateway to Early Word Learning
Here is my abstract for the Harvard Mind, Brain and Behavior Conference:
The Nonconceptual Gateway to Early Word Learning
This paper asks why nouns are learned disproportionately more frequently than other kinds of words during early language acquisition. This question must be considered in the context of cognitive development in general. Infants have two major streams of environmental information to make meaningful: perceptual and linguistic. Perceptual information flows in from the senses and is processed into symbolic representations by the primitive language of thought. These symbolic representations are then linked to linguistic input to enable language comprehension and ultimately production. How exactly does perceptual information become conceptualized? Although this question is difficult, there has been progress. One way that children might have an easier job is if they have structures that could simplify the data. Thus, if particular sorts of perceptual information could be separated from the mass of input, then it would be easier for children to refer to those specific things when learning words. It would be easier still, if linguistic input was segmented in predictable ways.
Unfortunately the frequency of patterns in lexical or grammatical input cannot explain the cross-cultural and cross-linguistic tendency to favor nouns over verbs and predicates. There are three examples of this failure: 1) a wide variety of nouns are uttered less frequently than a smaller number of verbs and yet are learnt far more easily; 2) word order and morphological transparency offer no insight when you contrast the sentence structures and word inflections of different languages and 3) particular language teaching behaviors (e.g. pointing at objects and repeating names for them) have little impact on children's tendency to prefer concrete nouns in their first fifty words. Although the linguistic solution appears problematic, there has been increasing evidence that the early visual system does indeed segment perceptual information in specific ways before the conscious mind begins to intervene
I argue that nouns are easier to learn because their referents directly connect with innate features of the perceptual faculty. This hypothesis stems from work done on visual indexes by Zenon Pylyshyn. Pylyshyn argues that the early visual system (the architecture of the "vision module") segments perceptual data into pre-conceptual proto-objects called FINSTs. FINSTs typically correspond to physical things such as Spelke objects. Hence, before conceptualization, visual objects are picked out by the perceptual system demonstratively, like a finger pointing indicating ‘this’ or ‘that’. I suggest that this primitive system of demonstration elaborates on Gareth Evan's theory of nonconceptual content. Nouns are learnt first because their referents attract demonstrative visual indexes. This theory also explains why infants less often name things that just sit there such as plate or table, but do name things that attract the focal attention of the early visual system, i.e., small objects that move, such as ‘dog’ or ‘ball’. This view leaves open the question how blind children learn words for visible objects and why children learn category nouns (e.g. 'dog'), rather than proper nouns (e.g. 'Fido') or higher taxonomic distinctions (e.g. 'animal').
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01:33 am - I rule
I am ranked 166 in the world on Ticket to Ride.
Current Mood: kickin' ass
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February 27th, 2005
12:17 pm - Freak out!
I just wrote a paper on early word learning and its connection with the visual system and I am submitting it for the 1st Annual Harvard Mind, Brain and Behavior Graduate Student Conference. One of my professors is Jerry Fodor and he just sent me comments on my paper. Jerry is the biggest living philosopher in the universe as far as I'm concerned. He basically invented modern cognitive science and everyone has been scrambling to explore, experiment, refute, expand, critque and wallow in his ideas ever since. Anyway, he wrote some good criticisms of my paper and commented that the connection I'm exploring is "the only good idea anybody has had about this sort of stuff for ages. But it's the kind of topic that is very sensitive to prior assumptions; and much of the literature gets garbage out because it puts garbage in. Why don't you consider doing your thesis on nonconceptual content?"
What do you do when Jerry Fodor suggests a dissertation topic? I was ready to do 'false memories'. I've got fat, expensive, hardback books waiting on my bookshelf to be ingested. But if Jerry is excited about an idea, then surely it's actually worth exploring right? I could always do my false memory stuff as my next project. But, am I excited enough by content to do a whole dissertation on it? Would Jerry be my advisor? It feels like he might offer...
Current Mood: in a spin
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February 25th, 2005
03:57 am - Loved.
My baby bought me train stamps. He loves me so much. He loves me like the feeling you have when you close your eyes and write stuff down with your extremeties and then look back over at what happened.
Current Mood: blissed
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February 24th, 2005
February 23rd, 2005
01:19 am - Greetings from New Jersey!
Greetings from Linden Co-generation Plant! New Jersy's finest! You won't find a better place to catch some rays whilst driving along the turnpike. I wish you were here, soaking up the atmosphere, there's plenty of it! Oh well, I'm sure I'll be home in sunny Oz soon enough. Pity these holidays don't last a bit longer eh? love, Kate
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February 21st, 2005
01:58 am - Let's Play Dress-ups!
I got out of my shower and decided that instead of pyjamas, I would play *dress ups*
These are my boots! I haven't been allowed to wear them outside yet, but look ( under here for more fun and games )
Current Mood: extroverts anonymous
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February 20th, 2005
06:27 pm - Waiting for the Snow Storm
I'm waiting for the snow. I'm counting down each hour before the sky breaks. I actually wish I could brave the outside so that the first flakes would silently glide down and kiss my head. Pure white snow is what you need to cover the grey decaying debris and brown slumbering earth. Snow creates a wonderland on top of man's ugliness, reversing a trend.
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12:40 am - Light
Your lifespan is measured not in years, but in breaths
Gopali Vaccarelli
Current Mood: peaceful
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February 18th, 2005
11:48 pm - Crikey!
Good lord. I just jogged home from work in -15C (5F) bone-chilling cold in just a sweatshirt because I locked everything I owned in my office, including my jacket, gloves, keys, phone, etc... Now that's an experience. It was my first time jogging since I messed up my knees and I didn't stop once. I should have flagged down the passing cop car for assistance, but by the time I had thought of it, they had zoomed around the corner.
Current Mood: brave
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03:35 pm - Knee Care
I've just started taking glucosamine and chondroitin for my knees. Both knees punish me for living in a cold climate and it's finally driven me into finding an alternative to taking pain killers. I continue to do daily yogic practice which strengthens my muscles, ligaments and joints, but after a year of physical therapy and yoga I am still not 'better' by any stretch of the imagination. There is more to my knee problems that simply the atrophy of my quadriceps. I try not to complain too much to my loved ones, because they must feel helpless when I do. I am going to document my experiences on these supplements and hopefully as the weather gets warmer I'll also notice a difference. Has anyone else tried these? The NIH is going to publish the results of a long-term double-blind study on the effectiveness, but until then, I'm a bit of a guinea pig.
Glucosamine and Chondroitin:
Glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate supplements are used to slow the progression of osteoarthritis — the deterioration of cartilage between joint bones — and to reduce the associated pain. Glucosamine is thought to promote the formation and repair of cartilage. Chondroitin is believed to promote water retention and elasticity in cartilage and inhibit enzymes that break down cartilage
Whilst on the NIH websites I came across this scientific study on acupuncture:
Acupuncture:
Acupuncture provides pain relief and improves function for people with osteoarthritis of the knee and serves as an effective complement to standard care. This landmark study was funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) and the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), both components of the National Institutes of Health. The findings of the study--the longest and largest randomized, controlled phase III clinical trial of acupuncture ever conducted--were published in the December 21, 2004, issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine [1]
Overall, those who received acupuncture had a 40 percent decrease in pain and a nearly 40 percent improvement in function compared to baseline assessments.
National Institute of Health Press Release
[1] Berman BM, Lao L, Langenberg P, Lee WL, Gilpin AMK, Hochberg MC. Effectiveness of Acupuncture as Adjunctive Therapy in Osteoarthritis of the Knee: A Randomized, Controlled Trial. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2004; 141(12):901-910.
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12:59 am
Odysseus P. Cat died last night.
( Read more... )
I am heartbroken and don't know what else to do.
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February 16th, 2005
01:15 am - "I'm afraid my truck broke down and I won't be able to make it to Canberra this weekend"
Where do you see yourself in 5 years time, or even longer, 10 years time? A question often thrown my way by many a prospective employer. I'd always opt for the quick and easy answer of, I'll have your job, rather than "To tell you the truth, in five years time, I dont want to be anywhere near what I would tell you today, because in no way can I conceivably understand the pathways open to me at any juncture over the next five years. Every day life is about choices, each one of them slides you onto a different path, but without choosing its like handing over the keys of your car to the drunkest dude at the party, and asking him to drive you home".
guysy
I love my mates. Cheers to you: the inspirators, yarners, flesh-melders, game-demons, pranksters and reflectors.
FIVE YEARS - 33 yrs
Finished my PhD
Had my first child
TEN YEARS - 38 yrs
Had my second child
Apart from biologically constrained activities and my drive to finish my dissertation. There isn't much else that's a must do. But, I'll admit there's plenty of things I'd like to do. I'd like to build my own sacred space on my own land. I'd like to have a garden. I'd like to travel to India. I'd like to publish my first book. I'd like to be best mates with my holy guardian angel. All these are options on my infiniately flexible futureways ticket.
knock, knock...
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February 14th, 2005
02:53 am - Happy Valentine's Day
Morgan and I just got back from an incredibly romantic trip to Quebec City for the Winter Carnaval. It was a three hour bus trip from Montreal, through barren, unpopulated snowy plains to a 400 year old walled, medieval city. It was pretty cold when we got out of the bus, but we were very excited!
We walked up the steep hill, past elements of a modern civilization until we came to the slender, snaking streets and stone-built houses. Imagine "San Francisco on Ice" meets "Cirque du Soleil Mardi Gras". Lots of face-painted people scampered along the medieval streets, drinking Carabou [1] and blowing long trumpets. Our first stop was a little village of thatched houses built around a quaint stage. Folk french songs were sung by burly women in traditional dress and the first snow storm began to fall gently down upon the dancing crowd. First Nations people grinned in their handmade fur next to desperately elegant 50s inspired French ladies drinking maudite [2] in tailored fur and muffs. Around the corner we found an ice-skating rink framed by a gate into the fortified city.
We wandered through the gate and past the jugglers, fire-twirlers and into the heart of the carnaval. We ambled along beside jingle-bell harnessed horses and courtyard bars made of pure ice. You could sit on ice stools and drink from ice shot-glasses. In a little while we came to another gate and we decided to climb up the side onto the wall itself.
When we arrived at the top of the wall and over the other side, I suddenly felt like I was Dorothy and had just arrived at the Emerald City. There was an Ice Castle on the other side of the wall. Of course, Morgan and I scrambled down the wall and into the enchanted kingdom.
Photos of the Quebec City Adventure
Unfortunately my camera died at this point. So, I can't show you the pictures of the best chocolate croissant I've ever eaten, or the parade that we went to afterwards. But, there were manic fiddlers and percussionists on floats, marching bands, dancing, balloons and this incredible energy across the night. Big flakes of snow heralded the end to the excitement and Morgs and I enjoyed a scrumptious dinner that included a parmesan fondue, caribou (reindeer) pie and creme caramel.
After this orgy of the senses, we headed to one of Morgs friend's warehouse apartment for a party. As the door opened the smell of frankincence filled my nostrils and I heard the unmistakable sounds of "Jesus built my hotrod" kicking out of the surround sound speakers and screening on the computer controlled TV. A great night followed from this auspicious beginning.
[1] A typical drink of caribou contains brandy, vodka, sherry and port...
[2] A local Quebec 8% alcohol beer Legend has it that a group of lumberjacks struck a deal with the devil to fly home in their canoes, guided by Satan himself, to make it home in time for Christmas.
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February 11th, 2005
09:19 am - Ornamental Soul
For a long time, my outside adorned my inside. But, now my inside is adorning my outside.
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February 7th, 2005
02:08 pm - Ultimate Fire Fighters - Smoke Jumpers
During World War II, American conscientious objectors sometimes became Smoke Jumpers to prove that they weren't cowards. Smoke Jumpers parachute into forest fires with 90lb packs and have to be able to run one mile in twelve minutes with their gear on.
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01:27 pm - Prayer
The lovely lady at the post office had a badge on her blouse with the word 'hate' written in black and a red strike through it (like the no-smoking symbol). She and I have always had lovely chats, but I was struck by her political upfrontness. She's a bit of granny, a matriach, not some punk 18 year old. I like it when elders speak out, I believe they know what they're talking about. Today I sent a package to Australia with a home-made St. Brigid's cross back to my step-dad who's been sick for a while now. My post-office lady said that she would say a prayer for him and it was really beautiful. That's the second time someone has said that to me, the first time was when I first went to ground zero and some mid-west teenager asked me if I wanted her to pray for me. I really did. So, I asked for her to pray for my family to be safe. It did something. I don't know what, but something.
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February 6th, 2005
12:14 am
How much hate can an enlightened person have?
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February 3rd, 2005
07:29 pm - New work journal
mnemosynosis is a philosophical journal for research and commentary on my dissertation. I am investigating the epistemology of false memories and their implications in the philosophy of mind and cognitive science. There isn't anything there yet, but prepare to be dazzled. :)
Current Mood: busy
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February 1st, 2005
11:42 pm - If he really loves me, then he won't buy me a gold ring.
The production of a single 18 Karat gold ring weighing less than an ounce generates at least 20 tons of mine waste
( Read more... )
When you combine this with the fact that 1.5 carats of diamond created from carbon costs $550, then the whole jewelry thing looks pretty silly. I find it interesting that lots of new-agers like to believe in the healing properties of natural crystals, stones and gems, yet the ability to access these natural objects comes at a horrendous environmental and human cost. This strikes me as another 'tradition' that needs to be re-evaluated in light of modern industrial standards (or lack there of) and the irrevocable damage done in the name of cosmetic effect. Nobody wears real tiger fur anymore, nobody uses real ambergris (synthetics work just as well), yet everyone buys gold and jewelry without hesitation. Unless I've mined it myself, or inherited it, then forget it. As long as my stuff is shiny and comfortable, then I'm happy.
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