Onward

I need to watch Priscilla, Queen of the Desert again. I didn’t hear all of it today. And it seemed like a movie I’d really like to pay more attention to. But what can you do? When you’ve got an adorable nephew sitting right there within squeezing range, movies just aren’t important.

I’m too tired to think. But I had a lot of fun today, and I came home and got things done, even though I can’t remember what they were.

I’m still using voice recognition, and it’s getting a lot better. I’m hopeful this will make a real difference in the things that I do to my body in pursuit of my career. I don’t like wrist pain, and I really hate when I want to rip my eyes out because they hurt so bad.

Are you noticing my blog entries are longer? That’s because I’m doing it with my eyes closed. But that’s enough playing around for tonight, I guess.

(just for your information, speech recognition isn’t about fun. My use of it is in no way caused by how cool it is to have my computer do what I tell it when I tell it to.)

Okay, this may be the coolest thing ever. I’ve been having eye trouble lately, and I’m always flirting with hand problems. So we had to go to Best Buy today anyway, and I decided I wanted to check out Vista’s speech recognition program. I bought a microphone. I’ve had computers for years and I’ve never had a microphone before. I didn’t see the point.

Well, there’s a point. 911 points, to be exact, on my Donte edit (points – otherwise known as words) and 975 on the Stargate Atlantis fanfic I promised Bly so very long ago.

As I mentioned, coolest thing ever. Talking is a lot easier than typing. It’s not that hard to get the hang of, and once I did I was off. I can pack my cat while I write.

Well, there’s one issue with it. I don’t pack my cat, I said pet my cat. But it’s not that hard. I’m learning very quickly. And it makes me speak clearly. That can’t hurt anything. Also I’m writing, when if I had to strain my eyes, or my wrists, I almost certainly wouldn’t be.

Just remember, if you give this a try – speak all you punctuation, and say new paragraph not next paragraph. Because next paragraph ends up in the middle of your sentence.

Oh, and you can’t sing along with your music. Nor can you start scolding your child while it’s still listening. You can imagine how that turns out.

But. I’m sitting here writing my blog with my eyes closed. That is the coolest thing ever.

This episode of teenage angst brought to you by…

Well, hell. If I knew where it was coming from, I’d effing do something about it, wouldn’t I?

Here’s the thing. I haven’t written since…Sunday. No time, no energy, no flippin’ way I could stop snarling long enough to write anything but vitriol. Fall Warm-Up is blown to hell, and I can’t even summon some “nice” to hang out on the NaNoPubYe forum and encourage the others. I can’t talk; I just want to bite.

Work blows. I’m driving my roommate nuts. I have a near-constant headache, and that twitch under my right eye that used to happen when I’d been on the computer all day (AND had too little sleep the night before) now starts ten minutes after I get to work. Yesterday I came home and went to bed for THREE HOURS, got up for three hours, and went back to bed. That’s the best night I’ve had all week.

I posted on my other forum to explain my absence. Someone said she’d read how I’m feeling described as “howling wolf feelings.”

Hell yeah. I don’t wanna talk, don’t wanna deal, don’t wanna SOLVE. I want to grab a spear, smear blood on my cheeks, and run with the wolves.

I know I haven’t been posting.  It’s not just here.  I haven’t been writing, either.  And I haven’t (hardly) talked on my forums in days. I went on today to change my icons.

Here’s one.

Here’s another.

a pic is worth 1k words, right?

Some fascinating stuff on teh interwebs today…

“We’re seeing a move from systems that rehabilitate to systems that actually enhance,” says Herr, who has himself tried out the robotic ankles. “In this century, through advances in human technology, we will largely eliminate disability through a deeper, more sophisticated interaction between humans and devices.” (from here.)

And some more: A crater that mysteriously appeared near Lake Titicaca in Peru last week was probably caused by a meteor, researchers say. The Associated Press reports that a Peruvian astrophysicist discovered a chunk of iron in the crater—an element common in meteorites; that piece of evidence, combined with reports of a hail of pebbles and a violent roaring sound point to a meteorite as the potential source. Still unclear is why scores of residents reported falling ill shortly after the crater’s discovery, but researchers say it could have been psychosomatic.

Uh oh… Prevnar, a vaccine given since 2000 to prevent potentially fatal childhood infections caused by seven different strep strains, may have opened the door for a new variety of the bacterium that shrugs off all pediatric antibiotics.

And this one…wow, this one is pretty incredible: Researchers report in the journal Cell that the phenomenon is likely linked to two enzymes—SIRT3 and SIRT4—in mitochondria (the cell’s powerhouse that, among other tasks, converts nutrients to energy). They found that a cascade of reactions triggered by lower caloric intake raises the levels of these enzymes, leading to an increase in the strength and efficiency of the cellular batteries. By invigorating the mitochondria, SIRT3 and SIRT4 extend the life of cells, by preventing flagging mitochondria from developing tiny holes (or pores) in their membranes that allow proteins that trigger apoptosis, or cell death, to seep out into the rest of the cell.

“We didn’t expect that the most important part of this pathway was in the mitochondria,” says David Sinclair, an assistant professor of pathology at Harvard Medical School and a study co-author. “We think that we’ve possibly found regulators of aging.”