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A question for you all.Way back when RvB was just starting and still in its first season, when my favourite swear word ever (fuckberries) was being coined by the genii in the RvB studios, the first episode had an introductory song with all the characters and their names in big block letters beside them. It was very loud and wonderful, and I understand it had to be removed due to copyright issues. I remember 4 words from it: "he said she said"- I think. I'm not very good at remembering lyrics, as evidenced by the fact that I only remember four words, and they might not even be right.
What I do know is that I really liked that song, and I WANT IT.
But it is very difficult to find a song that you know only 4 words to. And 4 very generic words. This has been bothering me for SEVEN YEARS. So, my question is this:
What is that song?
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Today's incredible factDid you know that in order to achieve the incredible genetic diversity of the human species our chromosomes go through some pretty intensive acrobatics at the time of egg and sperm creation. In the process, sometimes things go wrong. For example, while happily swapping maternal and paternal DNA, sometimes chromosomes end up swapping whole chunks of themselves. This is not good. But never mind, as long as the exchange is equal, all remains well with the world.
Now, what happens when these incorrectly swapped chromosomes come to make little germ cells that will be the building blocks for the new baby? Well, if the baby is really unlucky it can end up with too much genetic material (don't ask how, I barely understand, and I've been poring over the textbook for the last hour and a half). But NO FEAR, with certain types of chromosomes, fortuitously just the chromosomes that this all most commonly happens to, when the baby is still only just a cell a process called imprinting happens that can switch off the extra genetic material. Hallelujah! The baby is saved!
Well.... actually, the imprinting has to get just the right genetic material, otherwise instead of saving the baby it just gives it a different syndrome.
Is it any wonder my head feels like it's about to explode? Rereading this, it strikes me that I have WAY oversimplified the matter, and it is just one example of how our DNA can go wrong. Seriously people, take a look at yourself. Do you have two arms, two legs, and all the right numbers of fingers and toes? Are your eyes the right space apart and your lips the right shape? Does your hair grow right, are your ears in the right place and is your life expectancy above 3 decades? If your answer is yes to all or even most of the above then THIS IS AMAZING. Go away and thank God, or the universe, or whatever you choose to believe in, for this incredible circumstance, and enjoy your wonderful gift.
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The Human BodyIt is too fascinating for words. It just blows me away. Today I was studying about immunoglobulin s, the little molecules that are crucial for the recognition of foreign material in the body. Well, actually I lie. The body also has the complement system, a collection of protein molecules that ALSO recognise foreign material in the body and act in perfect synchrony with all the other parts of the immune system to kill whatever is not supposed to be inside you. I haven't even gotten to the bit about the B-cells and the T-cells, or the neutrophils and monocytes... just trying to imagine how it all works together is enough to make my head explode! And this is just one system in the bajillions of harmonised processes that make up a fully functional human being! Do not even get me started on respiration. Do you realise how ridiculously complicated the process is just to make energy to do all the other ridiculously complicated things any given cell in your body is doing RIGHT NOW?? In other medical related funny-news: The America vs England video RT put up yesterday had me practically rolling with laughter, and at the same time a little stunned by the education system. What really amused me was the following thought: As part of the abbreviated mini-mental test to assess a patient's level of confusion/deme ntia, we ask 10 questions, one of which is "What year did World War 2 start?" It never occurred to me that maybe they were getting it wrong because they never knew in the first place! When this generation gets old, we might have to make sure that question is no longer on the test... The Human BodyIt is too fascinating for words. It just blows me away. Today I was studying about immunoglobulin s, the little molecules that are crucial for the recognition of foreign material in the body. Well, actually I lie. The body also has the complement system, a collection of protein molecules that ALSO recognise foreign material in the body and act in perfect synchrony with all the other parts of the immune system to kill whatever is not supposed to be inside you. I haven't even gotten to the bit about the B-cells and the T-cells, or the neutrophils and monocytes... just trying to imagine how it all works together is enough to make my head explode! And this is just one system in the bajillions of harmonised processes that make up a fully functional human being! Do not even get me started on respiration. Do you realise how ridiculously complicated the process is just to make energy to do all the other ridiculously complicated things any given cell in your body is doing RIGHT NOW?? In other medical related funny-news: The America vs England video RT put up yesterday had me practically rolling with laughter, and at the same time a little stunned by the education system. What really amused me was the following thought: As part of the abbreviated mini-mental test to assess a patient's level of confusion/deme ntia, we ask 10 questions, one of which is "What year did World War 2 start?" It never occurred to me that maybe they were getting it wrong because they never knew in the first place! When this generation gets old, we might have to make sure that question is no longer on the test...
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Vitamin A overdose"Acutely, may occur after ingesting large amounts, eg in polar bear's liver."
Uhhhm.... what? Who would....
Never mind. Clearly a highly important medical diagnosis I MUST recognise in West Yorkshire.
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Let's play a game...Last night, I lay in my bed at 2AM, wide awake after a week of night shifts that I am clearly still jet lagged from, and remembered something. I was just thinking about this exercise one of the lecturer's used when I was in university to illustrate the frustration patients must go through when the choices in their life are taken away from them by a disease that they cannot control. He had us each make a list of 10 names of people that were important to us. Once we had finished the list, he asked us to choose four of the names and scratch them out. To remove the name from your list was to have that person taken from you forever, never to be seen or heard from again. We then had to pass the list to the person to our right, who scratched out two more names, whichever they wanted to. Then we had to pass the list to our left, where two more names were removed. Finally we passed the list to the person behind us. What has always stuck in my mind was at the last, when we had to hand over the list for the last time. In to my hand fell a list on which were left the following two names: God Mum When your faith is a fundamental part of yourself, its loss would be devastating. But losing your mum... Which one would you have scratched out? Let's play a game...Last night, I lay in my bed at 2AM, wide awake after a week of night shifts that I am clearly still jet lagged from, and remembered something. I was just thinking about this exercise one of the lecturer's used when I was in university to illustrate the frustration patients must go through when the choices in their life are taken away from them by a disease that they cannot control. He had us each make a list of 10 names of people that were important to us. Once we had finished the list, he asked us to choose four of the names and scratch them out. To remove the name from your list was to have that person taken from you forever, never to be seen or heard from again. We then had to pass the list to the person to our right, who scratched out two more names, whichever they wanted to. Then we had to pass the list to our left, where two more names were removed. Finally we passed the list to the person behind us. What has always stuck in my mind was at the last, when we had to hand over the list for the last time. In to my hand fell a list on which were left the following two names: God Mum When your faith is a fundamental part of yourself, its loss would be devastating. But losing your mum... Which one would you have scratched out?
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RT hates modding? Or iPods?Something hates the idea, as my iPod had a spas and totally shut off safari when I tried to mod something. Maybe it just disapproved of the mod? Woo people, beware! It's a scary world when your technology is editing your actions... ;-) RT hates modding? Or iPods?Something hates the idea, as my iPod had a spas and totally shut off safari when I tried to mod something. Maybe it just disapproved of the mod? Woo people, beware! It's a scary world when your technology is editing your actions... ;-)
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Guess who just found the app?Of course, finding it and being able to use it are two totally different things. Factor in my love-hate relationship with my iPod Touch (I love it, it hates me and consequently sabotages my life by eg hiding the last sentence and preventing me from seeing what I am actually typing) and the fact that I am post- nights, and the quality of this journal is likely to be wanting. I am delighted to note the ongoing activity in the Discworld thread, and if I could just figure out if ( and then how) I can add comments on the app, life would be wonderful. Not to say life isn't wonderful. It's fantastic! I would go in to details but suffice to say it would be corny and excessively enthusiastic. There. It's not a particularly funny journal, and I don't imagine you really care, but I've been putting off writing it because I hadn't anything good to share. I'd like to be back. Hopefully this time I'll keep up! Who am I kidding? I have an exam in a month, so I should be on LoADS. Guess who just found the app?Of course, finding it and being able to use it are two totally different things. Factor in my love-hate relationship with my iPod Touch (I love it, it hates me and consequently sabotages my life by eg hiding the last sentence and preventing me from seeing what I am actually typing) and the fact that I am post- nights, and the quality of this journal is likely to be wanting. I am delighted to note the ongoing activity in the Discworld thread, and if I could just figure out if ( and then how) I can add comments on the app, life would be wonderful. Not to say life isn't wonderful. It's fantastic! I would go in to details but suffice to say it would be corny and excessively enthusiastic. There. It's not a particularly funny journal, and I don't imagine you really care, but I've been putting off writing it because I hadn't anything good to share. I'd like to be back. Hopefully this time I'll keep up! Who am I kidding? I have an exam in a month, so I should be on LoADS.
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