Feb 1587 Mary Queen of Scots was finally executed by Elizabeth I

Well my computer says it's 9pm but I suspect it's wrong since my tv told me it was 9pm when I was still downstairs, and that seems like ages ago. And blogger says 9.07. So who knows. In this modern age the idea of a watch has been replaced by multiple clocks on every other possible device.

I'm sitting here in bed listening to Mighty Little Man, a song introduced to me by the wonderful the only Miss Mindy. And I wonder if she still listens to it. It's by Steve Burns or someone. I am in bed so early cos it's miserable weather out there. Oh btw I don't have my contacts in so please excuse all typos.

So hmm I have had a nice weekend, even though I didn't do terribly much. i wanted to go to the zoo but the weather didn't play ball. And I thought the museum would be a nice wet-weather alternative but that never eventuated either. I blame this on my own lack of commitment and also on Shahzad who was supposed to be free but then wasn't until 5pm by which time the museum was shut. But on the positive side things I did do in the weekend:

*Baked carrot cake.
*Cleaned the fridge. It is now white. This is amazing. I have wanted to do this for a while.
*Mopped the kitchen floor, did the dishes, cleaned the bench.
*Did a 750 piece where's wally - the castle siege - jigsaw. And found Wally.
*Talked to Lisa and Charlotte - at the same time - on the phone for 2 hours Sunday night. This was so awesome, I have been missing my friends up here but forget I can talk to them.
*Walked round Killarney Park - has a lake, is on North Shore, and had an iced chocolate at the cafe there. It was very windy and wild, the windsurfers were zipping along. There are also ducks, guess and black swans here. And scuba divers. And the last time I came it was so hot people were jumping off the jetty and swimming
*Read the Nomes series by Terry Pratchett, again.
*Watched the rugby, kind of - more listened to it as I jigsawed.
*Had tea at Mai Thai Friday night - again. It is so yum!
*Went out with David, my supervisor at work, and Karthik, for drinks on Friday after work.
*Watched Minority Report. One of the main characters is called Lara! It was quite cool. Worth seeing. Better than the last Tom Cruise movie. The one with the taxi driver that was predictable and often boring.
*Dropped in to see Tanya and Sarah who is staying while Sascha is overseas to help with Luka. They weren't home, but we're going there for tea this Thursday.
*Played Halo. Mindy I'm getting better! I still fell off the bridge over that ravine on that outside level a couple of times though...but Karthik did once too ;)
*Made pancakes
*Went shopping with Ellen and Karthik and stopped in at the Chocolate Boutique again. I love that store. Their mexican denso is just so delicious. It's like drinking melted chocolate. In fact, that's pretty much what you are doing.

I think that's all. Went out for lunch with Clem today. Had two Indian curries - I thought I was ordering only one, but apparently I got two. Very filling. Very very very filling. And watched some tv tonight - learned about eating habits in France and about a possible pygmie race existing 18,000 years ago in Indonesia. Queen's Birthday coming up! Ooh how exciting. And I'm off to see a hindi movie tomorrow with K, and out for dinner with David and Lilli (who I haven't met) and K on Wednesday.

In Jan 2004, around about 460,000 people suffered from leprosy.

By the way, dogs and horses suffer sunburn to their noses and mouthes, so I would like to say that perhaps pigs and humans are the only ones to suffer it to their entire body? But I'm not sure. However today's random fact comes from the World Health Organisation so I am more sure of its verity.

I am interested in leprosy today because it once was terribly afflicting to mankind, and also I have just had the dubious pleasure of watching Kingdom of Heaven.

Interesting things about the movie: The meditteranean sea is very rough, people have been fighting in Israel for at least 1000 years and STILL HAVEN'T STOPPED, and there are some very old buildings there. And camels are cool.
Plus it prompted me to investigate leprosy, and having done so, I thought I'd share the information with the lucky few of you who read this blog, because I'm sure you're just as interested as me!

Leprosy is caused by bacteria. Yes, contrary to my own belief, it is contagious. The bacteria at fault is mycobacterium leprae, which is rod-shaped and acid-fast.

What is 'acid-fast' bacteria I hear you ask? Well, apparently, there are three types of bacterial cell wall - gram negative, gram positive, and acid-fast. I do remember vaguely hearing about the first two at uni. The name acid-fast comes about because when bacteria are dyed with an acid alcohol mixture, only acid-fast bacteria retain the dye and stay red. In fact, an acid-fast cell wall is one composed of a thin, inner layer of peptidoglycan and large amount of glycolipids such as mycolic acid, arabinogalactan-lipid comlex, and lipoarabinomannan.

This just leads to more questions. What is peptidoglycan? It gives the cell wall structure and shape, it is a lattice of two amino sugars. It prevents osmotic lysis in the acid-fast cell wall- which is the cell bursting because it has water with a high concentration of electrolytes inside, and osmosis leads the concentrations on both sides of a membrane to equalise, and to do this, all this water pours into the cell, and it bursts. So peptidoglycan protects the cell from this happening.

What is a glycolipid? It is a sugar attached to a lipid (I think a lipid is a fat). Their role is to provide energy and also serve as markers for cellular recognition.

Ok I think we know enough about acid-fast bacteria. (By the way, there is a school of thought which thinks a particular type of acid-fast bacteria is responsible for cancers)

Anyway back to leprosy: So it's caused by this bacteria. In fact its bacteria, discovered in the 1873, was the first bacteria to be discovered as causing disease in mankind. You would have thought it being bacteria that we would have developed antibiotics for it, some type of penicillin, and we did - in the 1940s, with the development of dapsone, but resistance to this gradually appeared and spread. So to combat this there are three drugs which must be used at the same time, one is taken once a month, and the other two more frequently, usually daily. Without using all of these, the patient's bacteria will most likely become resistant to the one type of treatment offered.

And how can we tell if they have leprosy? Look for lesions to the skin (often red, or copper, may or may not be raised), loss of sensory ability, thickened nerves, muscular weakness. They can also in some cases do skin smears and identify the bacteria that way.

Enough of that topic now. I think we should all feel more educated about the plight of some people both historically and in the present day. And I think even when you can't do anything about it, one should still care that it is happening.

So the movie: I wouldn't recommend it to be honest. There was holes in the storyline, I didn't feel I ever got to know the main character, there was heaps of random jumping from one bit to another, lots of people killing each other, massive improbabilities, bits never explained, and the girl was honestly pathetic. "Oh dear my kingdom is going to be attacked soon, I'll let my ex-lover rouse the people to its defence, and go mope in my room for a bit." By the way, most of the story was based on accounts of the time, but the main character's life was invented quite a bit. I was hoping that Ridley Scott didn't get the dramatic escape from drowning from his own imagination but was compelled by folk tales or legends to include it, but this doesn't seem to have been the case.

Anyway Joy leaves for Europe tomorrow. Well, via Alaska and a cruise which will be awesome! I'm so envious. I so want to travel! I want to go somewhere! Hmmm maybe i'll convince K that a short trip to.. Kerikeri? might be good this weekend. Taupo even? Somewhere exciting. We are going out for dinner with Brendon and Minan Sunday night, and I theoretically have a 21st to attend on Friday, and I thought I might go to the art gallery with anna at some point, but we can still travel somewhere! It might calm my travel bug for now.

The sun is 330,330 times larger than the earth.

Oh I am supposed to be going to bed but I just can't help it, I have to blog.

Even if the first (non-exciting) thing I would like to say is that it is 11pm, I have work tomorrow, and I still have to make my bed, wrap Mindy's presents, (oh it is so hot up here in Auckland!), and brush my teeth, take out my contacts and I want to read my book! It is so so so so good! When I have read more than 26 pages I will blog about it. Actually, I might be up to page 40. Yes this does mean I have deviated from my French book for a very brief period of time.

I have been so busy lately. Last week highlights were a night witnessing the first stand-up comedy of my life with work (and K) - which was fun. Shahzad has a .. interesting... laugh - I would like to say that it might even be worse than mine. That could just be its novelty value though, I am somewhat more used to mine..

Also organised a french speakers community lunch. Made a cake. Word to the wise: blue icing does not remain blue once cocoa is added. Also, using raspberry essence to flavour something and colour it red only results in it looking pink, because you can't add enough to make it red without overdosing on flavour and killing everyone. But lunch was really good. 11 people came! Which exceeded expectations. The night before I went to bed at 12.40 (making cake) and got up at 6.45 (to ice cake) and so I was pretty tired. I also dreamed of the lunch, except in my dream my family was attending.

The A&D team at work even went out for lunch on Friday, at Dean's instigation. I was very impressed with his organisational ability and motivational skills. (Dean is one of our lead programmers, he is known for introducing the delights of the Bananaphone song and Ich bin Schappi to our group, has a beard that I actually like - wonders will never cease - but it is well trimmed, and not full facial so that does help - is engaged, likes trips to the zoo, and is great at helping me whenever necessary. And he has good ball skills.)

Weekend was very exciting and busy, went shopping for various bits and pieces, went out with flatmates and K fri night, had brunch with Ellen Sat, went out with K for tea tonight, had choir practice, attended Shihad live in Aotea sq at 4pm - free concert for Aucklanders, lovely except at 4pm it started raining for 20min, and I saw Paula there! Up from Ohope. Awesome. Watched 'A beautiful mind' - quite enjoyed it. Sad but still nice. And visited Sarah and Pat - who were up visiting Tanya and family - briefly on Sat night before returning to try out Mike's 3-cheese risotto. Which was delicious.