My Movember Mustache
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Archive for the ‘Health’ Category
Movember
Monday, November 30th, 2009If you’d like to contribute to furthering Men’s health, feel free to donate here.
24 days later, redux
Monday, September 28th, 2009(Ah, if only I’d waited another 4 days 
- Ghenghiscon quiz night win, thanks to a most excellent team. I really need to memorize countries and capitals.
- UCC dinner at Mez in Northbridge. Food was pretty good, but quite a loud venue on a Friday night (I suspect even if you subtracted the UCC’s noise
- DogCow dinner at Trigg Island Café. Not cheap (not particularly expensive), but the food, serving size and service were all excellent (on a Tuesday night, too!). Went the Blackened Fish and the Cherries Jubilee (which came with three full scoops of icecream!)
- A very enjoyable random dinner at The Moon
- My first site visit to as yet mostly unfurnished Perth Artifactory. Lots of potential there, hopefully it’ll be realised! And hopefully it’ll get me making stuff.
- Blood pressure monitoring. Seems it’s 15 points lower when it’s not in the GP’s office. Or between the left and right arms
- Discovered that while you may only need to keep your tax records for 7 years, you probably want to keep your share records for longer than that when you’re trying to work out your Capital Gains Tax.
- 4WD towball through my car’s front grille in the UWA carpark. Don’t bother using your horn, the other driver probably has the stereo on. Looks like mainly cosmetic damage. Now have to decide, do I claim and perhaps get the car written off (and then have to come up with money to buy a new one?) or do I just live with it?
- Planted squash, butternut pumpkin, golden cucumbers and pansies (in a hope that they’ll either keep the bugs away or get eaten first. Plus it’s easier to get the kids to water the flowers and they’re conveniently next to the veges). Hoping for some more groundcover to keep the grass at bay. I think one of the secrets the whole vege gardening has reinforced (I did learn it on my permaculture introduction), is to plant lots of different things close together. A nice big cauliflower, which unfortunately went to seed.
- Watched “The Pink Panther” at movie club. Still worth a few laughs. I wonder how long it is before movie ratings include “Includes smoking”? (Or will it just come under “Drug references”?)
- Leaves on the fig, flowers on the plum, many mulberries waiting to ripen (and then those that the kids can reach get eaten). Hoping we get some mulberry stained eggs from the chooks…
The fortnight, redux
Friday, September 4th, 2009- Since last post, washing machine fixed, phone upgraded. Car has a leak in the roof
- Yet another cold. And a possible burst eardrum?
- 2 days of training, with a cold
- Plane watching. And I see my first A380 in the flesh
- Had a chance to watch the kids swimming
- Saw District 9
- A start to the week I don’t want to repeat, and the village rallying around Mikey and family
- Couriering stuff to Becc on the way to work
- We discovered where Henny Penny has been stockpiling her eggs
- Too many bills, not enough liquidity. Oops! Shouldn’t have upgraded the phone
- The first ducklings of the season at work
- The chinese cabbages put forth new growth and ablate their outer leaves
- Mulberry tree is covered in leaves and green fruit. Hopefully signs of life from the fig soon
- A busy weekend ahead!
- There’s no leopard like snow leopard…
Another two months redux
Friday, July 10th, 2009It seems that I manage to update things about every two months, which is pretty lax.
- Rogaining was lots of fun, even if we did only get one checkpoint. Average speed 1.5km/h by the time we stopped for nappy changes, nursing breaks, and for Puggle to beat things with his stick (hammer)
- More mulch in the garden. Tomatoes and now Broccolli!
- Olives for pickling
- Roasting marshmallows with friends
- Dinner with friends
- The (Swine?) Flu, complete with raging fever
- Homelaid eggs (Dark yellow yolks and very white whites. Yummy!)
- Watching big machines move big rocks in Mandurah
- Finished reading Freakonomics (worth reading), now have Wikinomics, Richard Morgan’s “Black Man” and Craig Shuftan’s “Hey Nietzsche leave those kids alone” to read.
- Fixes needed for car, phone and washing machine.
- Bilby still talking up a storm, Puggle is thinking about things, Cygnet is standing up a lot.
- Now have a 1.5Tb drive
Ecoflow at Perth Sun Fair
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009I didn’t get to the Perth Sun Fair at UWA this year, so went to the Sun Fair’s web site to check out the exhibitors. Amongst them I noticed Ecoflow, who claim to be able to reduce fuel costs by between 5 and 20%, probably by the use of magnets. (Ecoflow is advertised on their site as a “Low cost home based business… No risk with genuine ethical company”). They also offer a range of products for horses, cats, dogs, and even people.
There’s a nice page talking about Ecoflow from an engineering perspective here.
Maybe the Firepower fuel additive guys should have had a look at Ecoflow’s technology instead?
Insurers encourage safer smart car drivers
Sunday, February 22nd, 2009It seems that insurers NRMA Insurance, SGIO and SGIC are taking an important step in encouraging the uptake of smarter vehicles by offering insurance discounts to people driving the Volvo XC60, which features “City Safety” technology. City Safety actively monitors traffic in front of the vehicle and stops the vehicle if it detects imminent collisions at relative speeds up to 30km/h, which should cover about 75% of fender bender accidents (and thus dramatically reduce insurance claims for such).
Now if only it wasn’t an SUV. Presumably Volvo will be rolling the technology into the rest of their vehicles as part of their 2020 Zero Crash initiative.
The month, redux
Thursday, January 15th, 2009It’s been a month since I’ve posted. A busy one
- Uneasy is the tooth that bears the crown…
- The usual pre-Christmas chaos, including lunch with Rob
- Christmas, and much opening of presents by the kids both at home and at my folks place
- Boxing day, catching up with friends from distant parts, then off to do much opening of presents with the kids, the cousins and the rest of the family
- The results of which are the flu progressively working its way through everyone, leading to a quiet few days
- Our 6th wedding anniversary, complete with a trip to watch Quantum of Solace under the stars at Camelot while Puggle and Bilby got a sleepover.
- New Year’s Eve with a small group of friends, was good to catch up with everyone! Cooked prawns, a skill lost in time since I accompanied the family on prawning trips in the Swan in (Mon Dieu!) the late 70’s!
- Preparing the makeshift reticulation in the vain hope it would work while we were away
- Taking the battlewagon down to Mandurah
- Grandad conveniently planted the crabbing meme in Puggle’s head, causing him to continually check when we were going to catch crabs (although I suspect he doesn’t actually like them
- Cooked something from the Christmas present cookbook. Leftovers made good crab bait
- After 10 minutes in the water, 2 crabs, probably undersized, but as I had no idea what the size was meant to be, they went back in. Puggle was happy to catch them though!
- Lots of people catching and returning undersized crabs, which at least provided some entertainment for Puggle
- Discovered where the fish actually are. Nowhere near the fisherfolk
- Cygnet is a lot more smiley and interactive, he’s very happy
- The return to work
- Catching up with Jo and Martin and the boys. Puggle was distraught that we wouldn’t be seeing them again for a while.
- Ploughed through Pinocchio in about 8 days.
- Tomorrow, the brewing of beer
Dr. Teeth
Friday, January 9th, 2009In discussions on a Slashdot article about growing new teeth, there was a link to the wikipedia entry about vaccines against tooth decay, with at least two options currently undergoing testing, plus a chewing gum (good for that ongoing revenue stream
Religion v Society
Thursday, January 8th, 2009An interesting post in the Journal of Religion and Society (pointed to via a recent Slashdot discussion), called “Cross-National Correlations of Quantifiable Societal Health with Popular Religiosity and Secularism in the Prosperous Democracies”.
To jump straight into the conclusion:
The U.S. is therefore the least efficient western nation in terms of converting wealth into cultural and physical health… Pressing questions include the reasons, whether theistic or non-theistic, that the exceptionally wealthy U.S. is so inefficient that it is experiencing a much higher degree of societal distress than are less religious, less wealthy prosperous democracies. Conversely, how do the latter achieve superior societal health while having little in the way of the religious values or institutions? There is evidence that within the U.S. strong disparities in religious belief versus acceptance of evolution are correlated with similarly varying rates of societal dysfunction, the strongly theistic, anti-evolution south and mid-west having markedly worse homicide, mortality, STD, youth pregnancy, marital and related problems than the northeast where societal conditions, secularization, and acceptance of evolution approach European norms.
Year End Meme 2008
Thursday, January 8th, 2009Now that it’s over and I can’t jinx it…
1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
Helped save a life. Met Cygnet.
2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Can’t remember what they were and probably.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Many people. Some closer than others
4. Did anyone close to you die?
Yes. One of them about one metre away. But she got better (!)
5. What countries did you visit?
This year, none other than the country of myself and family.
6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
More spare time and creative impulse. A new house. Global happiness.
7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Cygnet’s birthday. Sorry day. Obama’s election. Internet censorship protest. A random Wednesday at work.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Cygnet. Surviving 2008. Taking Puggle and Bilby for their swimming lessons. Sorting out a car.
9. What was your biggest failure?
Not Getting Things Done (TM). Not enough art, not enough writing. Disorganised home office. Slack-assed backup schedule. Not spending enough time with Bilby and Puggle and Cygnet, but better than last year I think. (Note that this year I do not have Too much TV on the list!)
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Yes.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
Coffee (also the worst thing I bought), information, beer. A camera. The Battlewagon.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My family. Those who elected Obama. Anyone doing humanitarian or volunteer work.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
The outgoing regime. Global warming deniers (looking at you, Rudd government). Internet censors (looking at you, Rudd government). So I guess that’s probably the incoming Australian regime too.
14. Where did most of your money go?
Most of it into a new car. Otherwise somewhere between electronic gadgets, food, down with the sharemarket, and the mortgage.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Cygnet. Swimming with Bilby and Puggle. Puggle reading. Bilby talking more. Cygnet smiling.
16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
Undecided, will have to check the playlist and get back to you on that.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder?
Another years worth of happy memories, so I’d have to say happier.
ii. thinner or fatter?
Thinner than last year, fatter than before Christmas.
iii. richer or poorer?
Richer.
18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Art, writing, iPhone hacking, spending time with Puggle, Bilby and Cygnet. Hedonism. Travel. Films. Outdoor cinema.
19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Administrivia. Organising the study. (“Watching crap TV” is not on this list this year, yay!)
20. How will you be spending Christmas?
Spent both first and second Christmas eating excessively and watching the Bilby, Puggle and Cygnet.
21. What LJ users did you meet for the first time?
This was more a Facebook year
22. Did you fall in love in 2008?
Yes, with Cygnet.
23. How many one-night stands?
Less than 10.
24. What was your favorite TV program?
Grand Designs. Heroes. Battlestar. Doctor Who.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Used car dealers. See also #13.
26. What was the best book you read?
Lets see, I read “First National Bank of Dad”, the pop-up version of “Moby Dick”, “Slaughterhouse 5″, “Newton’s Wake”, “Jagged Orbit”, “The Alchemist”, “The Other Wind”, Enid Blyton’s The Faraway and Wishing Chair books, Milly Molly Mandy, and probably some others. I think many of those are ‘best’ in different ways.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Loius Armstrong’s “Skokiaan”.
28. What did you want and get?
My family. C’est suffie.
Other than that, a new car to put them in.
29. What did you want and not get?
World peace. Everyone to be happy. Travel overseas. A new house. Solar power, greywater recycling and a permaculture garden.
30. What was your favorite film of this year?
Iron Man. I think that was this year…
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Dinner with my family and folks I think. Older.
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
More outdoor films. More hedonism. Sane government of Australia, the US and the rest of the world. Maybe that’s destined for 2009?
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
Relaxed, but still not cool enough for an Australian summer. Perhaps something with inbuilt A/C?
34. What kept you sane?
Sanity is overrated. Postsecret. My family helped me get through the day though, when most of them behave.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Mary-Louise Parker (Weeds). Natasha. Alyson Hannigan (Willow, Buffy). Pauley Perrette (Abby, NCIS). Katee Sackhoff (Starbuck, Battlestar Galactica). This list doesn’t seem to change much from year to year.
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Australian internet censorship, Australia’s failing at setting more than 5% emission reductions.
At the end of 2006 I said: “Nice to see an increase in the amount of environmental awareness, now all that remains is to see how much of it is lip service, and how much of it is too late.” I guess we know a lot of it was lip service from the Rudd government.
37. Who did you miss?
Friends I didn’t socialise with as much as I’d like to due to other life commitments or geographical difficulties. Or the ones who didn’t make it through 2008.
38. Who was the best new person you met?
Old people: schoolmates from 20 years ago.
New person: Probably random people at SF@The Pub. Didn’t meet any new people particularly, worked on attempting to spend time on existing friendships.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned
Having your heart beat and your lungs breathe is something we all take for granted, but it’s a lot of effort when you have to do it for someone else (and I wasn’t the one doing it). CPR can work. Even better if it’s backed up with O2 and a defibrillator. Make sure your first aid is current! UWA ambulance response time is >20 minutes. Blue is not a good colour on people.
Other than that, used car salesmen really can make you feel unclean.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
Politically I’m tempted to say something from The Herd’s The King Is Dead:
The dickhead dictator leader imitator
Made me feel immature when I said I hate ya
Did you read the paper the day after and hear the laughter?
However that’s not really my personal year. “Beautiful, beautiful boy” perhaps?
