Aluminium

Today I looked up “why do my bones hurt after drinking coke”? And as well as getting my answer I also read a whole lot of other scary things one of which was the amount of aluminium in our diet.

Aluminium build up is thought to be poisonous to brain cells and possibly even lead to alzheimers which is “a progressive loss of all mental powers - the powers to think, to remember and to reason.”

There are the obvious sources of aluminium such as cooking with aluminium pots, foil and drinking from cans but we also get it from not so obvious sources like self rising flour, processed cheese, antacids and deodorants and no doubt many more foods and products.

Add comment September 21st, 2006

Full trains

This is Kasey’s representation of what the train is like in the mornings. We’re usually squashed against the door like those parrots lol.

I’ve been keeping busy with learning the CMS Joomla and trying to speed learn CSS and layers. Better late then never I say. If all goes well I will be switching my site over to running on Joomla which will make updating it easier (I hope).

3 comments September 17th, 2006

More on bed bugs

A few weeks ago I wrote a vague comment about bed bugs. My comment caused a whole bunch of people searching for info on bed bugs to find this site. After reading up on them I realized they are quiet a terrible problem and bed bug infestations are spreading rapidly through the US. So in order to help out the people arriving here looking for info I’ve put this quick article together. (Please note I am no expert here this is just info I have found on the net) It’s all in point form for easier scanning.
Some info about bed bugs.

- They are small insects which feed on human (and sometimes animal) blood.
- They can’t fly or jump
- They quickly scatter when disturbed
- They don’t spread disease but their bites can cause allergic reactions.
- They are most active at night (but are able to feed any time if they have to)
- They are found mostly in or near rooms where people sleep.
- They are able to squeeze into tiny places such as behind walls, electrical outlets, inside furniture and appliances, behind wall hangings, inside books etc.
- They can live for up to 18 months without a feed. They can feed on pets/rodents blood if human blood is not available.
- In joined buildings (units, apartments) they can spread from one residence to another.

How to get rid of them

1) Elimiate all clutter
2) Seal all cracks in walls and floors
3) Don’t throw away old furniture, this doesnt help the problem. DOn’t buy new furniture either until the problem is gone.
4) Encase mattress in a tight mattress bag. Make sure nothing can get in or out.
5) Move bed away from walls, make sure nothing on the bed is touching the floor. Stand the legs in jars of water.
6) Empty all draws and cupboards
7) Launder and dry all clothes (and anything else that can be laundered such as stuffed toys ) on very hot temperature setting. Put all laundered items which you can do without into sealed plastic bags until problem has been dealt with.
Thoroughly vacuum to reduce numbers and eggs. Deal safely with vacuum bag after vacuuming so you don’t reintroduce any bugs at a later time.
9) Hire a professional pest control company who have previous experience with exterminating bed bugs.
10) It may take up to 3 weeks after exterminating for bed bugs to die off. Also usually at least 2 treatments are needed.

Sources:
Wikipedia
Harvard school of public health

Tags: bedbugs

1 comment September 9th, 2006

Steve Irwin follow up

On a sadder note, Australian naturalist Steve Irwin’s death drew enormous attention when news of his tragic accident broke. The massive ABC news web site here in Australia crashed under the weight of visitor numbers. CNN had to switch to ‘lite’ mode, ditching bandwidth-hungry elements from the site’s pages, so it could cope with the visitor numbers. His death has been the most blogged-about subject of late.

Source the sitepoint.com newsletter.

Add comment September 9th, 2006

Museum

Over the weekend we went to the museum since a few of us have not been there before. Some of the things we saw there were some spiders (not real but pretty lifelike)

Some ancient (and rather creepy) computers:

And Kasey had a very funny Marilyn Monroe skirt incident:

Kasey was standing at that window so she could point to the playground and say she wants to go there. She was just about to get upset when we all started pointing and laughing at her skirt. In the picture she wasn’t yet sure what we were all laughing at but she joined in anyway.

Add comment September 6th, 2006

Steve Irwin

RIP Steve Irwin
I think there will be lots of kids (and adults) all over the world who will miss him.

1 comment September 6th, 2006