Weekly digest #4

More bird flu! Possible pandemic : A new strain of bird flu, the H7N9 virus, is spreading in China. It has killed 3 people so far. Luckily, it currently transmits only from bird to bird or bird to human, so human to human transmission is not a concern yet. However, the mutations that have already been observed indicate that this could change, thus leading to a pandemic of the disease, so the situation needs to be closely monitored. The World Health Organisation is apparently pleased with China's response to the situation, so I think we should handle possible outbreaks pretty well. Here's to hoping that doesn't happen though. I found it really interesting that this disease has been analysed using DNA sequencing: science, medicine and technology is amazing! Another fun fact that could be handy to remember to bring up in conversation in the future: the H and the N in the names of these flu viruses refer to proteins on their surfaces, namely hemagglutinin and neuraminidase.

Plagiarism issues at Fort Hare University : Postgraduate students at the University of Fort Hare in the Eastern Cape have been accused of plagiarism by copying and pasting in their Political Sciences assignments. The students claimed that they had been told that they were allowed to do this. Plagiarism is something that has been growing in importance in my life, not because I do it, but because everyone is so worried that I, along with my fellow students, will commit this serious offence some time in our University careers. They even started drumming this into us at a school level. We know: don't copy and paste or claim an idea as your own if it is not! And something I told a friend today: at University level, nothing is your own idea, and nothing is common knowledge - it all comes from somewhere and everything has to be referenced! Until late in post-grad at least, like when you have your phD. These people were dumb, and the outcome of this situation is actually ridiculous and should definitely be investigated further. Follow the link for the full (though somewhat difficult to follow) story.

Grahamstown Spur gets itself robbed (accidentally) : A man fell asleep in the local steak house chain Spur, and the restaurant closed for the night and locked up. When he woke up, he thought it would be a good idea to rob the till. He was apprehended when he was trying to leave the building. I was lucky enough to come across this story filed under both Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth (not even remotely true in location) - an occurrence in this little town that should have been bigger news amongst my peers. I also don't understand how Spur managed to lock someone up in their restaurant...

Weekly Digest #2

North Korea have abandoned their peace pact with South Korea, and have threatened the US with a pre-emptive nuclear strike : nuclear war seems to be a threat, as of late. There have been assertions that the US are at no risk of such a strike, but there are warnings that South Korea still remains vulnerable, and apparently Japan should be careful as well. From a reader's perspective, I almost look forward to the day that bio-warfare becomes a thing. Then I stop and realise that that would really suck. Perhaps I'm just in my own world where I think that I'd probably be one of those evolved super-humans who is immune to whatever disease becomes air-borne, and that my body holds the cure. Poor human race: I don't do well with needles, so it's just going to be me and the rest of the superior folk to remain on this earth. 

Fine, Ted Dekker is a really great author. And that's all I can say. Even though this has now become rather impalpable.

Homeless man’s scrap metal turns out tobe a live mortar bomb : reporting a "suspicious man" lead to  the discovery of a live mortar bomb, possibly from WWII, in the Durban-area last week. There was shady handling of the situation: Desmond Daniels, from UTI Electronics, who discovered the man and his trolley, suspected that the found bomb was live, and moved it to an open field in case it went off. When a police van drove past and Daniels reported the incident, they advised what to do, and drove off. Also, the suspect has subsequently disappeared. I find this story very bizzarre. Where could it have come from, why was he carrying it around, and what a random situation! Perhaps the reporting of the case is a little bit lacking, and this is why the circumstances are not clear: there are so many issues with this story, what could you decide to focus on?

Patients had clean their ward after thehospital cleaners didn’t show up for work : mothers in the maternity ward at Frere Hospital were told that if they did not clean up after themselves, their babies would get lung infections. When cleaning staff did not arrive to work, the inhabitants of the Kangaroo ward were told to clean the ward, and had to remove rubbish, change sheets, and mop the floors. Great healthcare we provide in this province of the Eastern Cape (note the sarcasm). 

To count the calories...

As I've mentioned in the "About Me" section of this blog, I love exercise. And I love food. And I struggle to maintain a balance between the two. I am self-diagnosed with some condition in which I find all food hyper-palatable. Once I start eating, I don't want to stop, and I just want more of the flavour. Which results in me eating whole slabs of chocolate and whole packets of biscuits, and massive packets of chips. Even the "healthy" snacks: I eat them all! Because, hey, if I eat it now, it won't be there to tempt me! When it is gone, it's gone. I wish I could convince myself of this while I am eating it though...

In my attempt to never let the effects of "first-year-spread" afflict me again, I Googled, of course. I feel I have to work hard to stay at a certain weight (and then lose some perhaps as well). Thus, I came across "thinspo". An evil word in many cultures, this form of blogging/media sharing is a way for girls (and sometimes guys) to get inspiration for being thin (makes sense, right?). What it ultimately results in, is you sitting on tumblr, scrolling through endless posts and reposts of girls who just make you feel crap about yourself because they are so gorgeous (ahem, so professionally airbrushed).

While that last comment is true for a lot of the pictures, there are actually some really motivational before and after pictures that girls share of themselves (so brave!). There are also innumerable posts with advice on what the right foods are to eat, healthy alternatives, and even, as you move towards the Fitspo side of tumblr, exercises routines and advice for targeting particular areas (most commonly, that booty of course. And enter: the squat!).

Eventually I learnt that in order to lose weight, it was not just about eating less overall, it was about eating fewer calories. If you ate veggies to fill up your Cals, you could eat forever and still not reach your "calorie goal". If you ate pizza, however, one slice was the equivalent of a whole meal in some cases (basically a whole pizza could be the same as a single day's allowance...). So I began to count the calories.

The good news: it works! Basically. So now, in order to maintain a below-first-year-spread-maximum, I count how much energy each thing that passes my lips will give me. If I overeat, I want to burn those calories (or, if I burn the calories, I get to eat more, yay!!!). This might be borderline some kind of purging bulimia thing, but that is probably best reserved for another post. Because, as passionate as I am about exercise and my body, I know what I'm doing.

I thought I'd share this with you as a precursor for what is likely to follow in future blog posts...