mykrocosm

Transplants are so common these days. When organ donors die their organs are harvested and redistributed to those who need them. It’s crucial for doctors to know the age and health of these organs. Obviously the age of the organs is the age of the deceased person, and the health closely parallels that person’s general lifestyle.

But I wonder, what happens when the recipients die in turn? How do the organ harvesters know whether their organs are originals or transplants? Can they rely on medical records or the testimony of family to confirm that the patient still has all his original organs?

The C.S.I.R.O abandoned a 10-year GM crop experiment when they found that the lab mice were getting sick. Story here

Very commendable indeed, but you’d expect no less from an institution funded by the Australian government. The question is — how many GM trials in other countries are being pushed through without the same cautious agenda, so they can sell us their genetically enhanced crops?

Was home sick again yesterday - I didn’t even go near the computer, believe it or not.

You know, it’s a bit suss. Last year, hardly anyone in our little office got the company flu injection, and we seemed to enjoy great health while the rest of the company was laid low. This year, nearly everyone in our room got the flu injection, and we’ve had multiple waves of sickness.

It makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

Apparently, redheads need 20% more anesthetic than blonds or brunettes.

I couldn’t believe this, but the American Society of Anesthesiologists website confirms it.

The sixteen Vitamin C tablets I took yesterday morning seemed effective, since I felt back to normal by mid-afternoon. I wondered if it was a false alarm, but this morning our department is virtually a wasteland… a dozen people off sick. In that kind of scenario, better safe than sorry.

I’d woken up again with a sore throat, so I tried something a little different today - eight tablets at 8am, and 2 tablets every two hours after that. That adds up to 16 tablets by 4pm. Since Vitamin C breaks down quickly, this should help keep it in my body for a longer duration.

It’s Thursday, which means it’s Curry Day here at work. Every week (for the last year or so) a rostered driver gathers all the money and collects our orders from Curry Chong, this awesome stall at the market. We now have 13 employees involved in this little ritual, which means the box can get pretty heavy, but on the flip side each person now only has to do it once every three months or so.

Here’s my old favourite; lamb on the left, Thai green chicken on the right. Excellent curry! Props to Matt who drove this week. And yes, that’s a triple scoop of sambal chilli on top.

Hmm.. If the Vitamin C didn’t do the trick this sure as heck will!

All that saccharine did something.. I didn’t need my pick-me-up coffee when I got in three hours ago, but I’m starting to feel a crash now.

Think I need that coffee after all.

If you’ve been to Duncan’s blog you’ll have read about the anti-establishmentary Dr Linus Pauling and his 30 year crusade on behalf of Vitamin C. Now, the establishment’s recommended dose is 500-1000 milligrams a day.

(I love that… “free radical scavenger”!)

However, Pauling and his cohorts insisted that you needed even higher amounts of Vitamin C, and in particular when you feel the onset of cold or flu symptoms, take a huge dose. In other words, at least 8 grams.

I woke up this morning with a sore throat and a blocked nose. Nothing major, but familiar signs. While staring at my large bottle of Cenovis sugarless Vitamin C tablets, I decided to put this theory to the test. Each tablet contains 500 milligrams of Vitamin C, so I took sixteen (Count them!) Eight times the recommended daily dose.

Over a period of five minutes I chewed each one slowly and observed the effects. After the eighth tablet I had a brief sensation of well, not nauseousness, but a sense of queasiness. This passed quickly, but each tablet started to taste more bitter than the last. Was it my body’s reaction to compensate for all the saccharine? The last two I almost didn’t want to eat, but I did.

Four minutes later, I experienced a strange sense of light-headedness and some difficulty focusing on a given object. Since I was still driving to work at the time this was a bit worrying! Fortunately this passed momentarily. In addition, I felt a slight pressure on my temples which lasted another twenty or thirty minutes.

Other than that, I made it to work safely. I haven’t turned orange yet. I’ll keep you posted.

Well I thought I’d kept warm over the weekend but still managed to come home last night with a bug of some sort. I’m staying home today to try and nail it - my first day off sick since becoming a salary man 11 months ago. I’m sitting on the sofa all rugged up now. Some midday soap crap flickering in the corner, a bunch of sliced oranges on the table, Monkey Island 3 on the laptop. Peace and quiet… I could almost get used to this!