Monomer

I've been so pre-occupied with SA's heatwave that I hadn't realised how bad it was in the east. More people killed in the Victorian bushfires than during Ash Wednesday! It's awful to read about that and the floods in Qld. I wonder if Jay-qu is affected. And the queenslander hypographers. How's NSW doing Michaelangelica?

We've got water, but it's very hot, even out of the cold water tap. Showers haven't been too pleasant lately. I get home after a hot bus ride home from work (no air conditioning on the buses; they're equipped with it, but it doesn't work properly) and I gotta have a warm shower. Drip-drying in front of the fan does the trick though :hihi: The air conditioning isn't working at my place of employment: 29oC in the office and slightly less in the lab so we're not doing much work! One of my colleagues made a frozen coke yesterday by putting a mug of coke in the -80o freezer. It was a great idea to keep cool, but I'm not sure he realised what we store in those freezers. (Faecal samples, blood samples and various tissues from rats... mmmm...) I don't even know if we're allowed to dig a well, but it sure would be nice to have some cold water. They can be found here:Adelaide Forecast and here:Adelaide Now | AdelaideNow Home Page | AdelaideNow (in the gallery link under the main story on the left-hand side.) Ahh Turtle, you crazy monkey! Yeah, is superscript, and when I'm typing degrees I just have to have that 'o' as superscript. You're a dear! I'm looking forward to the 22oC nights because hopefully the windows can be opened and the house aired out.

My plants are dying so I'm guessing the grapes aren't faring too well. You better buy up big now before the price goes up! Yeah, you're right. I thought they'd be a bigger problem than usual, but they seem to be well controlled. They can never cope with the demand during summer, but how many summers have we had! By now they should have some decent stats on usage and the demand they need to meet. They should have extreme weather plans in place - even for freezing temperatures because although we don't get snow and ice here, you never know what will happen. They certainly know that it can heat up here. I read this on the ETSA site: Well, that's great, but not enough by far. And this made me laugh: I don't think so!

I posted this over at Weather Watching, but it probably belongs here too. Adelaide is experiencing a heat wave. I don't think I've experienced it this hot before - temperatures in the 40s with overnight 'lows' in the 30s. It all began on Tuesday with Wednesday peaking at 45oC, and the forcast for the next week (at least until next Thursday) is around 40oC. [ATTACH]2578[/ATTACH] There have been endless power failures around the state, with some suburbs without power for 8 hours. Air conditioners aren't working properly and there is no cold water coming out of the taps. I've already had enough of not sleeping and sweating most of the time! Train lines have even buckled: [ATTACH]2577[/ATTACH] Fingers crossed for some relief next weekend...

Adelaide is experiencing a heat wave. I don't think I've experienced it this hot before - temperatures in the 40s with overnight 'lows' in the 30s. It all began on Tuesday with Wednesday peaking at 45oC, and the forcast for the next week (at least until next Thursday) is around 40oC. There have been endless power failures around the state, with some suburbs without power for 8 hours. Air conditioners aren't working properly and there is no cold water coming out of the taps. I've already had enough of not sleeping and sweating most of the time! Train lines have even buckled: Fingers crossed for some relief next weekend...

Although it is generally accepted that 'Breast is Best', there's the danger of pesticides in breast milk being transferred to the baby. Years ago I read Altering Eden: The Feminisation of Nature by Deborah Cadbury which discusses the dangers of environmental estrogens and mentioned the transfer of cancerous agents to infants via breast milk. Here are some other articles that talk about something similar: Persistence of Organochlorines in Breast Milk of Women in Victoria, Australia ScienceDirect - Chemosphere : Factors affecting the transfer of organochlorine pesticide residues to breastmilk"]Factors affecting the transfer of organochlorine pesticide residues to breastmilk Analysis of organochlorine pesticides in human milk: preliminary results

Raspberries that are black... :) But seriously: The North American Bramble Growers Association Black raspberry

Yep, it appears to be a Myrmecia pyriformis, also known as a bull ant or bulldog ant. I found these pictures to confirm it: PCD0149-46 Myrmecia pyriformis Myrmecia pyriformis - Brown Bull Ant When I was a kid we called anything bigger than a common black house ant a "bull ant". Little did I know how big an actual bull ant was. Apparently the Myrmecia pyriformis can be quite aggressive and their sting is potentially lethal. If I'd known I wouldn't have gotten so close to it! I was just so fascinated to see an ant that big and I spent a few minutes taking as many photos as I could. Thanks Cedars!

I found this rather large ant (at least I think it's an ant) in my garden one day. I thought the other ants were kinda large, but this one was a little over an inch long. I was wondering if anyone has seen anything like it before and knows what it is.

Those people that eat crappy food (the pop-tarts, donuts, fries etc) might not put on weight now, but I think it will catch up with them sooner or later and in one way or another - weight gain and/or serious health problems like cancer. I know guys who ate anything and everthing in their teens and were bean poles, but in their mid-twenties they started gaining weight. I agree with the others - you've got to get this checked out by a doctor. Also, don't skip meals because that will have the oposite effect of what you're trying to achieve. Eat well, eat small portions, and keep active. It's not all about getting the girls. Work hard, get a great job, be very successful. You don't need to be attractive to do that; you need to have a brilliant mind and a drive to achieve. I didn't have a boyfriend at school. I wasn't particularly pretty and I was shy, and I always lost out to the girls who were pretty and outgoing and who could flirt. It sucked and my self-esteem was very low. But I'm happily married now to a guy who loves me for who I am. Jay-qu is right, though. If you have a health problem sometimes you really do just have to live with it. I do everything I can to keep my asthma and allergies under control, but I still have asthma attacks, and I still have sinus infections and it all drives me crazy. But that's just how it is. I didn't get the perfect body and I have to deal with that. I have to focus on my strengths and utilise those. Your first step Gardamorg is to see a doctor and find out why you're gaining weight. Seriously, do this. Let us know what they say and we can take things from there.

What is it with Queensland... What a flippin' joke – Townsville school becomes cartwheel cops Why don't we just wrap them up in cotton wool and lock them in the house...

I tend to send more emails than text messages, but text messages are great when I need a more urgent response (I don't really like talking on the phone). I've found the only way to get a response from my sister on that day is to send a text message which she responds to quite promptly, whereas she only checks her email once a week. My husband and I are on a plan where we don't pay for text messages to each other so we make good use of that at times.

I watched the highlights of the competition on Sunday night. It was fantastic watching these very talented musicians play: their expressions, their fingers flying up and down the keyboard, their memorisation of the pieces. Great stuff!

YouTube - Tommy Emmanuel Initiation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tN2LuMQjMo

Hmm... A shortage of women in a remote mining town where there's nothing to do but hang out with miners... how strange! 'Ugly' Mount Isa women to protest

Thanks DougF :doh: I should have looked around the ABC website a bit more; how lazy of me! ;)

Not really a cure, more of a prevention: Granite Countertops a Recipe for Danger?

Okay, I've been a little busy... Well done MB!! I looked at the molecule and wondered how I was going to google that to figure it out. So, have you got a new chemical to propose?

Cows have methanogens living in their guts - hence the tons of methane they introduce into the atmosphere. Kangaroos apparently produce acetate which is a short-chain fatty acid produced by bifidobacteria, and those bifidobacteria are very beneficial to gut health, particularly in the prevention of bowel cancer. I'm not too sure of the role the bifis play in obesity, though. Roo bugs to help cut sheep burps (ABC News in Science)

Michaelangelica you'll probably know the answer to this: what is the deal with ABC1 and ABC2? Someone said ABC2 is just the digital version, but it has completely different programming. Has it become like the BBC?

You don't need the video anyway since they've got the transcript. Tough choice. Who did the US give all that money to?

If by any chance you're missing Starbucks, here's a free recipe e-book: Free Starbucks Coffee Recipe E-Book Access denied.

Not sure where to put these, but they're about the olympics, so here will do. Something funny I came across on the weekend. They guy's a clown but obviously a very talented gymnast: YouTube - 1988 Paul Hunt gymnastics comedy floor exercise http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBPjhB9d3jc YouTube - 1988 Paul Hunt gymnastics comedy beam routine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EO_BnsrWMnI&feature=related YouTube - 1981 Nadia Tour gymnastics Paul Hunt comedy uneven bars http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu-YAMiS5wA&feature=related

Computer science graduates can work as programmers, web developers, software developers, game programmers, consultants, the list goes on. Check out the courses RMIT offers and you'll see what paths you can take: RMIT - Bachelor Degrees offered by the School of Computer Science and IT Also, take a look at what graduates do: RMIT - Meet our graduates Here's some more info: Computer science - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia