Well today was one of those days where I really thought I would have to seriously hurt someone, and there were several choices for that honor. The following email exchange with a colleague sums it up. I had written of my frustration and possible homicidal tendencies but the situation was resolved and I was glad that I didn’t have to put a contract out on anyone, as I was too busy so they got to ‘live another day’. To which the reply came “good, I’m glad I didn’t want to have to visit you in jail” And of course my response “Jail is looking good at this point - I have many hobbies, which I could pursue.” No argument as her reply was “I hear you....”

I’m posting the link for the word of the day, as there are a couple of good entries lately. Especially the pound symbol article. I’m reminded of the pound/pound confusion when we were newlyweds and living in Labrador as we had a British couple (midwife and dentist who I worked with as International Grenfell Association was our employer) over for the evening. There was a discussion about their trunk not having arrived from England, although they were reassured that it was insured for 500 pounds. My amazed husband asked “are you serious? 500 pounds, how big is it?” To which my co-worker said “oh about the size of this coffee table” My husband was still skeptical and inquired “what do you have in it anyway, books?” My colleague began to list off some articles and ended with “and all of David’s jumpers” My Canadian husband who thought of jumpers as something I wore over a blouse was completely floored and said, “you wear jumpers?” to the dentist who replied “well only when it’s cold but this is Labrador in the winter” by way of defense. By now my friend was the one looking perplexed and I had to intervene to translate for my husband that the pounds insured was a monetary value not a weight!

http://podictionary.com/

Now this Yahoo News posting – had an irresistible title……

Blind Irishman sees with the aid of son's tooth in his eye
Wed Feb 27, 12:28 PM DUBLIN (AFP) -

An Irishman blinded by an explosion two years ago has had his sight restored after doctors inserted his son's tooth in his eye, he said on Wednesday. Bob McNichol, 57, from County Mayo in the west of the country, lost his sight in a freak accident when red-hot liquid aluminium exploded at a re-cycling business in November 2005. "I thought that I was going to be blind for the rest of my life," McNichol told RTE state radio. After doctors in Ireland said there was nothing more they could do, McNichol heard about a miracle operation called Osteo-Odonto-Keratoprosthesis (OOKP) being performed by Dr Christopher Liu at the Sussex Eye Hospital in Brighton in England. The technique, pioneered in Italy in the 1960s, involves creating a support for an artificial cornea from the patient's own tooth and the surrounding bone. The procedure used on McNichol involved his son Robert, 23, donating a tooth, its root and part of the jaw. McNichol's right eye socket was rebuilt, part of the tooth inserted and a lens inserted in a hole drilled in the tooth. The first operation lasted ten hours and the second five hours. "It is pretty heavy going," McNichol said. "There was a 65 percent chance of me getting any sight. "Now I have enough sight for me to get around and I can watch television. I have come out from complete darkness to be able to do simple things," McNichol said.

And this article in the newspaper which I read part of in my 20 minute lunch hour – I am determined to still call it that – explained many things from my not too distant past:

Blame biology for sullen teenagers
By The Times of LondonThu. Feb 28 - 5:00 AM

A little-known region of the brain has been pinpointed as a key factor in the transformation of mother’s little darling into a rude and moody adolescent.

Scans of adolescent brains have shown that the length and intensity of their tantrums correlates directly with the size of their amygdalas. The bigger the amygdala, a region linked to anger, the bigger and more aggressive the rows with the parents are likely to be, according to research.
Teenagers with smaller amygdalas were likely to be delights to have about the house but those with an expanded version were identified as real nightmares.

Researchers identified the link between stroppiness and the size of the amygdala when they carried out brain scans on 137 children who had been arguing with their parents.

Volunteer families were put in rooms and asked to talk through sensitive issues. Among the topics that quickly prompted rows, even in the laboratory, were homework, lying, bedtime, talking back, and the use of the internet and mobile phones.

Children with the largest amygdalas displayed the "longest sustained aggressive behaviour," Nicholas Allen, of the University of Melbourne in Australia, said. "Some of the behaviour of young adolescents isn’t driven simply by the environment. There’s also some biology involved."
The findings, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, were part of a study to identify early warning signs of mental problems including eating disorders and depression.

As children enter adolescence, their brains undergo radical rewiring to help them cope with all the changes their bodies are undergoing, including puberty and hormones. Human brains continue to develop into a person’s early twenties, and many of the inbuilt neural safeguards against losing their tempers have yet to be put in place.

Allen said that children aged 11 to 13 had been chosen for the study to monitor behaviour immediately after the onset of adolescence. "What we were able to do is look at the relationship between the kids’ biology, the brain structure and their behaviour during their interactions with their parents," he said.