The *evails* of vaccines

Interesting post over at Mamamia today about childhood vaccines. I weighed in on the discussion (with the point of view that science proves nothing to those not wanting to believe in science) and almost immediately was insulted, so I retaliated in what I hope was a fair and educated manner. The discussion (so far) is below.

ginger_nut

All well and good but unfortunately you’re preaching to the choir (so to speak – most people who respect science don’t have anything to to with preachers). A lot of people have problems with science and think it is a great big conspiracy. Creationism, anyone?

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  October 5, 2011 at 10:29 amBusted ! ! !

  I was waiting for an atheist comment against Christians. This is an extension of the Yahoo (and other) group, who gets paid per post for hijacking vaccine safety discussions. Are you the same group paid to say global warming doesn’t exist?.

  My job is done.

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    October 5, 2011 at 10:31 amThread copy complete

    Thank you.

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    October 5, 2011 at 11:58 amginger_nut

    Actually – I wasn’t labelling anyone, such a shame you couldn’t extend me the same courtesy.

    I was merely stating that there are people who choose to put their faith in scientific fact, and that there are people who choose to disregard scientific fact when it is at odds with their faith. Whether that faith is in a higher power, the “evils of vaccines” or a literal interpretation of the bible that says the earth is only 6000 years old so dinosaurs must have shared the earth with Adam and Eve.

    I rather resent the implication that I am not a free thinking adult and am getting paid to put forth someone else’s opinion. I do find it rather amusing that you finished your comment with the line “My job is done” – are you being *paid* to insult anyone who does not agree with a “Vaccines are evil” agenda?

boo to cadbury

I am rather vexed that Cadbury have repackaged the 'family sized' block of chocolate so it looks the same size but is in fact now only 200g. 

And that Safeway is merchandising these new carboard covered blocks at the end of aisles with the $3.99 in big numbers and bright pink 'new' signs in the candy aisle so people think they are getting something for a good price. 

Of course - I wondered what happened to the old 250g blocks. I found them hanging from a special display in the soft drink aisle on clearance for a dollar less than the new smaller blocks. 

Well done Cadbury - thinking your clientelle such fools that they won't realise that they are getting less of a product for the same price.

Of course - I only buy the Cadbury chocolate when it is on special* - I much rather prefer the Green & Blacks or Lindor Lindt chocolate.

*Me as a chocoholic is like a wino to metholated spirits... when I get desperate just about any cocoa will do...

cccxiv - Kate Hudson gets crafty to cut costs at Christmas

hmm.. this article was obviously written by a muggle - everyone knows that these days you don't save any money by knitting.

Sure you get better value by knitting - but saving money? Unless you are re-claiming yarn from op-shops you're not really 'saving' money by knitting. And then wouldn't the bigger story be "Kate Hudson goes bargain trawling at the thrift store"??

I like that when I knit I can spend approx $50 on (somewhat budget) yarn and get a lovely pure wool sweater, made to high standards that completely suits me. But if I really wanted to save money I could buy clothing made in China much cheaper (obviously not made out of the same quality fibre, but it would still perform the function of clothing me and keeping me warm).

Perhaps I should write in and explain the value of knitting.

I can buy a months worth of socks for the price of a really purdy skein of sock yarn - or at least 3 pairs for the cheapest ball of sock yarn. And that's before you add in all the hours labour - even at minimum wage you're looking at looking at about $200 for a single sock...

CCCIX - Commuter Hell...

Yesterday Connex (AKA Melbourne Public Transport) chewed me up and spat me out.

My morning run was interupted by a delayed train, followed by a late train - which was pack to full capacity and NO-ONE at my station could get on and at which stage I went hunting a tram (that drops me off a kay down the road from work, rather than the 200m re: train station)

The afternoon run was worse. After noticing the train at my station wasn't going anywhere, which was followed by a mass-exodus of people out of the train station I decided that the tram would be my friend for the second time that day. Except every passenger in the NorEastern suburbs was told at earlier train stations to get on that tram to Clifton Hill station where they would be able to catch a connecting train. FIVE trams went by without stopping at all (because they were packed) in the forty minutes I sat at my tram stop. The next tram stopped and a slim little lady of asian persuasion got off. I decided that if one person got off, one person could fit on and spent quite a bit of time redefining my personal space. At Clifton Hill station all the train commuters got off and I actually got a seat (and my core body temperature dropped back to normal levels again due to recieving actual air flow)*.

I thought this was the last of my woes. Alas, no. To complete the trifecta of badluck ticket inspectors got on the tram. And my 10 x 2hr ticket had expired that morning. After explaining that I couldn't purchase a ticket due to the earlier crush, and after hanging on the the rails by my fingernails I just collapsed into the first vacant seat without any further thought of purchasing a ticket I was directed to the metcard machine. Where I discovered that, in anticipation of actually catching a train that day, I had no coins on my person (and tram machines don't take notes.) At that point I got off the tram before any details were taken and words such as 'infringement' and 'fine' were thrown about. Lucky for me The Man was able to cruise by and pick me up...

When I got home I discovered my luck had changed.... (see next post)


*Apparently a jumper was the cause for the shutdown of the line between the city and Clifton Hill station. Grr...

Sad Mac

Well... I'll hear back about my poor little macbook by next wednesday. It will cost me just shy of $70 for the technicians to look at it, and then I'll get a quote. I'm thinking that any money I may have found for the bendigo weekend will end up funding electronic repairs (if I haven't completely fugged my computer, which I am hoping I haven't because I can't afford to buy a new one :(

I have spent the last couple of days feeling incredibly ill and nauseous and wanting to die because I was so stupid to give my little mac a soft drink bath (yes, it was an accident, but I still feel I should have prevented it). Last night I either let the stress of the situation get to me, or got an isolated case of food poisoning / gastro because I spent a fair bit of time with my face hovering over the loo while I lost my dinner. The night before that I couldn't sleep because I kept reliving the moment of coke going all the way through my computer and it flooding out of the base of the computer when I took the battery out. 

Please keep your fingers crossed for me that 1- it is fixable and 2- it doesn't cost too much, and 3- I haven't lost anything off the hard drive (cos I am not sure if I set up the time machine correctly to back up data.) 

I'll only be online sporadically when I can steal internets time from other people until I sort out my mac.

Ciao.

Waaaah!

diet vanilla coke + mac = baaad

i broked my computer.... we'll be taking it too the $hop today to $ee how much the damage i$.

I may be offline for a few days :(

trend-setter!

Isn't it great when you find out your ahead of the mob? I have been wearing my Adult size february baby sweater almost constantly since I finished it last december... 

and now someone has written a pattern for an adult sized one it is popping up in ravelry queues everywhere... well, nyah nyah ne-nyah nyah... I did it first!

I am just wondering what Meg Swanson's response is to someone 'innovating' an existing EZ pattern as I got lots of grief from her when I was selling something similar to the BSJ because, apparently, Schoolhouse Press owns absolutely anything that may possibly be created from one of EZ's patterns and to do something like this would be a copyright infringement... quite interesting seeing as EZ herself was the queen of the knitting 'unvention' and came up for the pattern for the BSJ when trying to copy someone else design anyway... 

Read and discuss...

I just posted the following to a Ravelry forum. Thoughts? Opinions? Please?

_____________________________________

There seems to be a lot of confusion about "eco-friendly" fibre and "cruelty-free" fibre.  

Something that is eco-friendly means it is good for the environment where it comes from. Possum fibre from New Zealand is eco-friendly. The possums need to be culled so they do not ruin the environment, and as a by-product of this the manage to use the fibre from the dead possums in yarns and fabrics.  

Likewise, rabbits are a pest in Australia, and as a result rabbit felt hats were made from the culled animals. The brand 'Akubra' is quite well known for these hats. Foxes are also a pest in Australia, and it would be quite eco-logically friendly to wear australian fox fur (though not cruelty-free).  

In a similar argument, just because something is "certified organic" does not mean it is "eco-friendly" either. 

Growing cotton uses lots of water - growing cotton in an environment experiencing drought (like Australia) does not make it "eco-friendly", and is, in fact, very eco-logically irresponsible, whether or not it is grown to precise certified organic practices. Cotton would ruin an environment like this.  

People are getting so caught up in what is good for the Earth, that they do not realise that a lot of this is just a marketing ploy to sell a new, different line of yarn. Sometimes the impact of these yarns can still be quite significant for the earth they are grown upon.

old acquaintance...

In a couple of the blogs I read, the idea of reunions has come up... and I thought I would run with the idea. 

It's all the fault of Facebook that I am on the topic of reunions. I got a message from one of the girls I met 10 years ago when I was an exchange student in Portland, Oregon. In the greatest of American traditions, time was up for a high school reunion. The Man and I were planning a trip over to the states in September to co-incide with the reunion, but it now appears the finances won't stretch that far :( It looks like that won't happen unless we win lotto*. Alas, don't cry for me Rex Putnam High School... 

*very difficult seeing as we don't buy lotto tickets. If anyone wants to send me one, please feel free.

Sick Sick Sick!

Ugh - I am home from school for today because I am the snot monster from planet mucus!

The absolutely worst thing about taking the happy pills, is that you can not take anti-histamines or pseudo-ephedrines* or any of those other lovely drugs that help you wake up and/or sleep when you have a cold or flu.  So now my head feels like it is trapped inside a high-pressure bubble, my body feels like a whole herd of heffalumps has trampled me, and my brains have been replaced by boogers. There is no way I would make it through 7 hours of classes today plus the 3 hours of train travel - which just makes me feel even lower :(

I am going to anoint myself in vicks and drown myself in ginger honey tea and completely indulge in Dr Phil and Oprah, and then, perhaps a little Simpsons DVDs - and perhaps I'll be able to make it to the Carlton Hotel tonight for the monthly Geelong S'n'B. I could do with a girls night out, so keep your fingers crossed for me!

If anyone has any other good home remedies that work and don't involve gall-bladders of cats or something similar, please, please share!

*Pseudo-ephidrines are actually no longer available in the state of Victoria because they are too easy to turn into speed. So even if I wanted to be norty and mix my drugs I wouldn't be able to. Perhaps I should hang out in some dodgy alley til I find a dealer for speed! 

Forgive the delay - moving is quite the bitch...

All of my stuff has been delivered, however, after my yarn-robe (which had a previous life as a wardrobe from ikea) arrived in pieces (the particle-board piece of furniture was lovingly placed inside the removal truck, and then had several cartons of books dumped inside it) I was a tad bit too enraged to do any blogging. Also, I only have two weeks to claim any damages and breakages caused by the removalists, so with the help of my Mum we are unpacking and repacking boxes to find any problems. Discoveries that have so far had me searching my sailor's vocabulary include:-

1. at least 20 boxes labelled misc (ellaneous). At these 10 of these boxes weren't labelled with a room so I didn't know if it was craft misc, collectables misc, or even ornamental misc. I can understand professional removalists may not know that they have packed my sock yarn stash, beading equipment, spinning bobbins and barbie-dolls (from my youth, which, god-willing, I plan to pass onto my kids one day) - but rather than 'misc' it would be more helpful if it were labelled with something like 'wool' or 'craft' or 'art' and 'toys' so I know not to look for my barista steaming jug in there.
2. Several boxes with no label what-so-ever. One of these boxes was found on its side, at the bottom of a pile of three heavy boxes. This particular box contained my ($950) stereo and my DVD player - the stereo did not have any packing around the front and display area, which was facing the ground.
3. An unwrapped picture frame (with now broken glass) in a carton of heavy magazines and hardcover books.
4. paperwork that was in shoe-boxes emptied into a large tea-chest carton and the empty shoe-box packed on top.
5. Toiletries thrown into a box. LITERALLY... THROWN... they are now covered in shampoo (from a broken bottle) and I found my glass bathroom scales, hairdryers, straightener, toothbrush charger (and spare toothbrush heads) amounst the various containers, medicines and accessories.
6. Dog-eared books. Torn dust-covers. Bent photos. All as a result of being thrown into a carton (and what really irks me : all my books were on the shelves grouped by size - ie all paperbacks on the one shelf, another of hardcovers, magazines all together - they should have been the easiest things in the world to pack!)
7. MY YARN STASH - it was all in the yarn-robe, but it didn't travel altogether. It was used for packing in other cartons (which I wouldn't have minded if it was all sealed in plastic, but I would rather not have my yarn travelling in the same container as my aromatherapy oils or facial moisteriser)
8. The boxes with my clothing (which I am supposed to pack, and are only supposed to have clothing in them, and as I packed them are not covered by the removalists insurance) had all sorts of extra things shoved in them. Pieces of my loom (not L-u-m-e). Make-up and toiletries off my bedside table. Books. DVDs. Whatever they couldn't be bothered packing properly got stuffed in there.

There is lots more, but I am getting infuriated just thinging about it, and I don't like complaining on the blog - it's supposed to by my happy place. Just wanted you to know why I have been a bit silent recently (also - Tel$tra hasn't yet sorted out the phone line yet, so I have to rely on the parents internet)

I guess one positive has come out of this - a large stash does have a great use apart from being your insurance against sheep extinction; it makes for execellent padding when moving.