affluent vibes

the demographics of my current locale are baffling. i've been stationed temporarily in the northern suburbs, cosily sandwiched between the lush escarpment and beautiful beaches at the foot of an aptly named street; i'd most delightedly stay here permanently if my finances and fitness acquiesced! but, hobbling down the main streets leaves me wondering why multiculturalism stopped a few townships south. the locals are predominantly friendly anglo-saxons; it's quite obvious from spending a few minutes observing the passers-by and the types of shops and restaurants lining the arterial. it's been a while since i've felt out of place, and even longer since i've been asked if i can speak english! anyone who has heard me speak two words will know that i can sound like an ocker lout, despite my misleading appearance. sure, real estate is a little bit more pricey up this end of town, but that can't be the reason why there is a drought of ethnicity. there's certainly a different vibe here though, and it intensifies the further north you go. not sure how to describe said vibe (upper middle class with an abundance of well groomed and walked pet dogs?), but if ever we had a north shore fused with the eastern suburbs...

our vampiric nation

what is it with rudd and his silver bullets? or lack thereof? apparently the budget wasn't a SB for 'working families', he hasn't a SB for the current petrol prices, the housing affordability 'crisis', climate change, nor inflation. with our lovely pm looking for so many silver bullets for our country's problems, i'm beginning to think that rudd may in fact be trying to be a real-life buffy. scary thought.

2 more sleeps to go!

the time is nigh: i am cutting my metaphysical tails off with a philosophical sledgehammer in hand, or more fittingly, in mind. i generally don't subscribe to institutions, and particularly not this one: bound to such transient, whimsical, and hypocritical rules. a long time coming, methinks.

dammit: i need to learn not to feel bad for people, especially after they've pulled me through the mud and then some. out, damned empathy! out, i say!

Straight from the Doc

Two orthopaedic surgeons and one physio have all brought an alarming statistic to my attention: women are up to 7 times more likely than men to tear their ACLs - dammit! Being the curious creature that I am, I've been trying to find out why. I haven't had a chance to ask the first surgeon, the physio doesn't know, and today the second surgeon kindly shed some light about some current academic theories: women land differently to men when they jump, we have a different pelvis size, hormonal cycles, different body shape, and different bone size around the knee (the gap that the ACL sits in is narrower in women), just to name a few. So maybe I'm not as clumsy as I think... A quick google search brings up a bit of quite recent literature on this topic, and mostly from US universities. Perhaps a possible topic for my next PhD??

Dr Knee mentioned another statistic that he himself finds alarming: 70-80% of the ACL reconstructions he has performed this year are on under 20 year olds! That's awfully young, and the reasons for this are even more unknown: perhaps because young people are physically larger than they used to be (overnutrition from too much spinach?), and the increase in weight is greater than the load expected by growing joints? Maybe evolution will slowly take place to alleviate this interesting trend, otherwise orthopaedic surgeons in developed countries will be laughing all the way from their consultation rooms to the operating theatres...

mri faces

I finally got onto a Windows machine to look at my MRI DVD. Surely, medical imaging software can be made cross-platform, or am I at the mercy of emulators? And, are you telling me that all doctors (well, radiologists and specialists) run Windows? Nooooo.....

Anyway, some interesting visuals into my inner workings (and how a knee should not look):

This little piggy went to market...

There are muscles (and tendons) amongst the flab (see leg ham image)...

Who would have thought my knee had a face?

Maybe this is why I couldn't straighten my leg, and farewell my dear ACL...

But, at least the PCL is ok!

I am amazed at how medical imaging and diagnostic tools have technologically progressed to show fascinating detail; I am accident-prone enough to almost be able to reconstruct my entire body from medical diagnostic images in their various forms - I really do have to thank Medicare for assisting me to grow my collection!

'nuff said

This real estate listing speaks for itself, and it's been listed for some time now...

INNOVATION CAMPUS - Squires Way, Fairy Meadow
Commercial For Lease $1 per Week + GST