Fairtrade Fortnight!

Just a note that Fairtrade Fortnight is between 6th and 19th March. Check out the link for more information!

Cute things!

According to this article on the Now Magazine Toronto website and the experts consulted, particularly persuading for me was Adam K Anderson, Canada Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience, U of T, our brain reacts to cute images we see, something to do with positive association and reward processing!

So to get your dose of potentially rewarding cute images look at the following websites:
cuteoverload.com
babyanimalz.com
The Daily Puppy [previous post mentioning this site]
The Daily Kitten [previous post about this site]
thingsthatmakeyougoaahh.com (example picture right)

Changing colour bath!

Now i have to be honest, what attracts me to this bath is simply the fact that it looks cool because i'm not convinced that constantly changing colours would do anything but give me a headache. It is meant to be relaxing utilising Chromatheraphy [definition of Chromatheraphy, yes i had to look it up], can someone try it please and let me know if it works? Then i'll consider whether perhaps in the future it would be useful to buy one. Maybe i'm just attracted to it because my uni house only has a shower... well i guess we'll never know.

Here is the article about on it chipchick.com.

Unphotographable.com

Unphotographable.com is a cool site that I found when browsing photoblogs. The idea is that there are loads of situations where there is a perfect photo opportunity but you either don't have your camera or it would be inappropriate to take a picture. On this site he describes what he saw where a picture could have been taken. And also if you have a missed photo opportunity you can email him letting him know and he'll post that too!

Immature but made me laugh!

I know this is immature but it made me laugh when i was having a horrible day, i hope it does the same for you! Make sure you watch it to the end! P.S don't watch it if you dislike immature stuff. (Remember back in the day of pokemon, feel free to sing along, noone can see you!)

Vacation Placement at Richards Butler

I have been offered a vacation placement by Richards Butler, and I was more shocked than when I got the interview in the first place! I believe it begins on June 18th and finishes on June 30th so wish me luck :)! [previous post about the interview]

Food Allergies and the Anaphylaxis Campaign

I was pleased when I saw a title involving food allergies on those clips you can get across the top of gmail. But then I opened the link and was shocked to find the title 'Food can affect your health'. That to me is obvious and everyone should already know that. It is so important, it can lead to life and death situations. You could argue that it is good that awareness is being raised, and I agree, but i'm shocked at how little some people know about these allergies.

I'm the lucky one out of my siblings in that i do not have any known allergies to food, although i have my suspicions about intolerances. My brother is severely allergic to peanuts, a 6 on the scale, which is the highest you can have, and is slightly less allergic to other nuts. He used to have severe allergic reactions from feeding my hamster peanuts (this was obviously before we knew he was allergic- we don't let him do that now, would be hard I don't have a hamster anymore).

My sister has been allergic and had intolerances to food since she was a baby. These include milk (cow or goats), citrus fruits (including tomatoes), eggs, soya, wheat, nuts of all types... Just consider what restrictions that has on her diet. She is very good, when she was 3 she was offered an ice lolly whilst playing at a neighbours and told the offeror that she was on a special diet and so couldn't accept it. My mum organises for her to take her own food to school and to parties, everyone who looks after her has to be aware that she carries an anapen and that they might have to use it. My brother carries an epipen with him everywhere.

(My grandad has also recently been diagnosed with an allergy to gluten and wheat. This leads to extreme weight loss and general illness but not anaphylactic shock in his case.)

Although those working in school receptions are now trained in the use of this emergency adrenaline (epipen and anapen) to treat anaphylactic shock I wonder how many of those who work in cafes would know what to do in these situations. Food labelling with warnings has become much more prolific in the last few years, with alot of credit due to charities such as the Anaphylaxis Campaign who are consistantly raising awareness! The problem now is that many companies label everything they make in order to cover themselves from liability if they make a mistake. This almost limits the food that can be consumed in the same way that no labelling originally did. The Anaphylaxis Campaign also have run sessions where you can learn more about allergies and how to use anapen and epipen on someone who is having a reaction. I attended one of these sessions and found it very useful.

Sarah Reading, a 17 year old girl, died after eating a lemon meringue pie in a well known department store in 1993. The desert had contained peanut. Something Sarah, like my brother, was fatally allergic to. The Anaphylaxis Campaign was begun by a group of parents who had faced similar experiences and included the father of Sarah Reading. [more information about the campaign]

It is important that people in positions where anaphylaxis shock (the reaction caused by allergic reactions of this type) is likely are aware of what should be done both to protect people from the risk in the first place and how to react in a situation where accidents occur. Staff who are not told what is in ingredients of freshly baked cakes, or what is in meals on menus are not helpful and should know. It's not their fault, it's the fault of those who fail to recognise this is a problem. When my family used to eat out we'd have to check with the waitress what is in each sauce and coating, cakes for desert etc. This often lead to bags being brought to us for us to check the ingredients, and sighing as they considered that we were being difficult. This has lead to us changing tact. We now simply ask for plain (whatever meat my sister has decided she wants) and my brother tends to by habit avoid anything that looks like it might contain nuts (nut labelling is much, much better with chain restaurants often making it clear on their menus along with what is vegetarian). This is generally more well recieved with a short sentance explaining why, than an enquiry about specific ingredients and leads to a much more enjoyable evening.

Action must also be taken by those who have allergies. I used to have a friend at college who frequently failed to hand in medical forms and rarely carried his epipen. I considered this reckless and he should have been forced to be more careful, but its hard to make a 20 something male listen to reasoning when they don't want to know.

News:
Anaphylactic Shock (BBC NEWS: Death of champion hurdler Ross Bailliee)

Links to Blogs:
Anaphylactic Shock (Doctor Julie)
Anaphylactic Shock (Parenting a child with a food allergy)
Anaphylaxis (Textbook reading)
Bad Reactions (Reactions from proximity rather than actually consuming)

Radley purse and getting old...

I feel a bit more grown up using my Radley purse that I got a couple of weeks ago as a Christmas present (my mum bought it for me, we'd agreed we'd wait until I found a purse I liked) after using my Animal purse which I couldn't shut (too many cards and photographs). [From blog browsing Radley seems to have been a popular xmas present.] And after turning 20 I find myself slowly moving towards grown-up stuff, like proper handbags... what is with that??? I think i'm getting old [by the way loving the cute black radley bags with splash of colour dangles].

Links:
It Must Be Love (Radley Bag)

Monty Roberts demo was great!

'A closed mind is like a closed parachute, it will always let you down.' - Monty Roberts (variation of the common quote)

I went to see Monty Roberts yesterday (previous post about Monty Roberts)! I was very impressed especially with the horses who wouldn't load, one of them rearing all over the place, changed to trotting happily into the horse lorry. I really enjoyed the whole experience and it gave a whole new dimension on the idea of body language use with horses. I think the critics should try the techniques themselves with their own horses and then see what they believe. I know I have tried Join-Up myself with my horse and was happy to see what I already believed to be true, that it does work! And my horse has never been in contact with Monty, trust me on that.

I also learnt a couple of new things about Monty himself that I did not previously know. For example that he is 71 years old, and that he is not meant to ride horses anymore due to horse-riding injuries he has sustained! As a person Monty has a great sense of humour, although it would be hard to explain to those who don't know anything about horses!

Links:
Monty Roberts Website

Loving Pandora.com!

Have you ever been listening to iTunes and sat there clicking through all your songs feeling bored and fed up that you can't get instant music that you haven't heard before and old favourites that you don't have in your music library? Have you ever wanted to listen to a song that you don't have without downloading? If you have check out Pandora.com.

Pandora.com is a website where they make a radio station around what you tell them, so you type in a song or artist and then it plays music back to you that is by similar artists, and you can state whether or not you like it or not and it learns what you want to listen to. I haven't been using it for very long but so far i'm loving it! It's been on my list of sites to check out for a while and i'm impressed. Only criticism so far is that for all us UK users you have to fake a US postcode thingy to sign up (you can use the service without signing up!) if you want your radio preferences saved because they are currently only licensed to stream to the US but apparently they are planning a UK release in the future! The concept is allowing you to discover new music by artists you have never heard of! The creators have actually listened to each individual song taking notes so they can cateogorise them, thats commitment for you. Such a great idea, it's free, there really has to be a catch!

NB discovered that you can't skip very much, only a few songs per hour due to licensing so keep typing in what you want to make sure the songs are what you are going to want to listen to!

Other comments on Pandora.com and the Genome Music Project:
Listen to Music Online with Pandora
Pandora - The Genome Music Project
Radio made just for you

Other Pandora Links
The Pandora Site Blog

Yay Video!

I think I just found a way to embed video and i'm so excited I thought I'd try it out! I warn you that the quality is going to be rubbish, this was the video I was going to post to show you how interactive furby is with my sister!

Random Acts of Kindness Week!

It's random acts of kindness week this week (13th Feb - 19th Feb), I would have posted about it yesterday but it may surprise you to know that occasionally I do have other things to do! Quite why they chose the week of Valentine's Day I don't know but hey... Check out this months issue (March 2006) of Marie Claire for an amusing article by a journalist trying R.A.K.W. out in London. (Also several decent strong women bouncing back stories, I quite enjoyed reading it for a change on the long train journey back from my London interview. Usually I just turn page after page after page sighing with boredom. And it reminded me that I want to do some voluntary work over the summer... I need to look into that!)

Some ideas I 'borrowed' from Marie Claire for your random act of kindness:

1. Buy a coffee for someone behind you in the queue
2. Say 'hello' to a stranger
3. Take goodies to workmen
4. Donate to homeless shelter
5. Buy a friend flowers
6. Collect litter in the park
7. Pay everyone you meet a compliment
8. Help someone with their bags

There is actually a Random Acts of Kindness Foundation, no really hit the link. And the previously always in the media Join-Me 'collective' is still running its' one random act of kindness every friday (yes the Join-Me from the books).

It's true that one thing you say or do can make or break someone's day (so if you can't be kind at least don't be mean).

Happy Valentines Day!

Thats it really!

Legal News

While attempting to get information on a law firm I discovered this Legal Week site. Check it out and do a search on the firm name to get up to date information on what is going on with them in the legal news!

Rotary and Shelter Boxes

I attended a Youth Speak yesterday that my brother was taking part in, both my old school (my brother's team) and my old college were represented there. What was interesting is that Rotary who are an international network of service volunteers, sponsor this event, and also several others which include Young Poet, Young Chef and Young Musician. I know that I was completely unaware of their involvement and think that it is important to recognise the good that they are doing in promoting youth talent!

They are also involved in Charity work sending Shelter Boxes to be used disaster areas that provide all the equipment necessary for 10 people, this includes sleeping bags, a tent, cooking equipment and other stuff that's useful like clean water. You can make a donation towards these boxes here.

More Links:
RowGirls race across atlantic and help Rotary Shelter Boxes
The Rotary Website
The Shelter Box Website

Furby is truely interactive

My mother has bought me a Furby and it is very cute. They are much more interactive than I expected and the voice recognition is quite impressive considering they had to make it so it would recognise the all changes in voices according to country and region. My sister particularly likes the jokes. I wanted to upload the video of her talking to it but I don't know how to... so here is a picture of her talking to her furby.

Previous Furby Posts:
My Sister has a New Stlye Furby
Online Shopping... Again!

And welcome the mean alarm clock...

The idea behind this 'Sfera' alarm clock i found on the popgadget: personal tech for women site is you have no choice but to get up. Each time you hit the snooze button it moves further away from you and towards the ceiling (yes it does look like there are strings involved), so eventually you have to stand up to switch it off. I think they have to win the prize for creativity, and yes I still think it possibly would work, although potentially like most alarm clocks you'd get used to it, perfecting the art jumping up, switching it off and then going straight back to sleep. Even if it is mean it would probably work better than my travel clock phone alarm combination i've got going on at the moment. Also since it hangs above your head it probably has some kind of concussion/strangling warning on it... or it should have.

Eragon and Eldest Podcast

I'm not sure what I make of this podcast craze. I think I can sum it up best by saying that I quite like the idea of talking rubbish into a microphone and then posting it online for people to enjoy listening to, BUT thats just the problem noone would actually enjoy listening to it because they don't know me and i'd be talking rubbish. However people don't seem to think about this before creating them.

The Shur'tugal website now has its own podcast MWH. For those of you who don't know, meaning pretty much everyone, Shur'tugal is a site to bring news etc. about the Inheritance Triology by Christopher Paolini which are books which I loved reading... i live half my life in a fantasy world even when i'm not reading fantasy books like this! Anyway my point is I decided to listen to the most recent podcast and I have to be honest I was annoyed because it was annoying (could potentially be because they are all 16, i'm sure I was annoying at 16), and vaguely interesting if I didn't already know all the stuff that they were talking about, although they did have a bit where Christopher Paolini himself spoke but again that was annoying because he just said two sentances in a radio voice. By five minutes in I just felt like a loser for even considering it in the first place... debate amongst yourselves.

So in conclusion Podcasts are not good, not fun, and not usually clever.

P.s. if you loved the Inheritance Triology books the movie Eragon is due for release at the end of this year.

My Sister has a New Style Furby

An update on my post here regarding the new style, looks like a gremlin, Furby. My sister has a new one, and although not as cute as the original it is cuter in real life than it appears in pictures... AND its more fun to play with and doesn't talk so much rubbish on its own. It will sing you a song, or tell you a story, or tell you a joke when you ask it to. My conclusion, the new furby isn't all that bad, and yes I still want one...

Gym...

Today I have decided that I am going to the gym... actually technically I agreed yesterday to go with my housemate Laura, today my enthusiasm has reduced but now she is making me go anyway. If I never post again it's because i've died from the shock...

Ahhh I've been given an Interview!

Ok i've been given an interview by Richards Butler and I really didn't see that coming, and its scary, especially because I really like their firm. Time to brush up on my law and firm knowledge... AHH! Luckily the firm website has a firm news section so that shouldn't be too hard (it will be the understanding the jargon that will be difficult). And the interview is on Valentines day, what a good job i'm single otherwise I'd have to make a very early career vs. relationship decision... I have a 30 minute verbal reasoning exercise (i did a tester one and didn't do very well, not helping my nerves), and a 30-40 minute interview.

I did a quick google search on the firm and found this profile on a blog 'inside info' of the firm. This from The Top 100 in the UK (They are number 26!). And this is the HR Survey of the firm from The Lawyer.com.

I'm very scared...

Cute Pony Ownership Inner Thoughts

This blog called Little Black One and Co. is full of the mistakes of a horse lover, I particularly like 'How (Not!) to Acquire a Bigger Pony! (Cob Blob)', and even has some interesting inner thoughts of their ponies 'The Importance of Being Cute by SWUO' is an excellent example of this. Like any personal themed blog you can probably only read one or two articles at once before you get the feeling of deja vu but could be a cute site to return to occasionally.

Stalkers can track your movements after 5 mins with your mobile

I have just read this interesting and seriously disturbing article about how it is possible to track someones movements through their mobile phone just by registering it online. The moral of this story is don't leave your mobile with anyone who could be your stalker... Not particularly useful for those in relationships where the stalking starts with control issues but still something that is good for people to be aware of.