I must say I was shocked and amazed when I read the report the other day about Prince Harry serving in the front lines of Afghanistan. I personally think it is extremely admirable that Prince has been serving his Country out in the field, and wish more leaders would do so. Albeit, Prince Harry is only third in line for the throne, but it sickens me when political leaders (US, UK, etc.) push for military action without having seen military action themselves.
I will be completely honest, I was in Army ROTC when I was in University (yes, I almost became an officer in the US Army), but for personal reasons I had to turn in my scholarship and walk away. I however did attend an officer boot camp one summer, and I will say I have a strong admiration for anyone who serves our Country in the military. I can remember the hardworking, eager, and bright officers I trained with that summer and following years. People don’t join the military for glamour or fame, but instead for patriotism, desire to make a positive difference, and service.
While some people would probably argue Prince Harry is probably in a very controlled environment. Anyone who has served would tell you that you can’t truly have a controlled environment. Colleagues and friends who have served in the Iraqi Green Zone will tell you that while it “should” be safer, it often is more dangerous than some of the other hotspots in Iraq.
Kudos to Prince Harry! I am glad he is getting to fulfill his dream of serving his Country, and being treated like a solider (not a Prince) for his tour. I am sad that this news link by the Drudge Report will most likely shorten his stay in Afghanistan due to security issues.
I never realized that the World even had Seed Vaults. Call me naive, but that is a pretty cool concept. Recently, as many of you know (and me in my complete ignorance) Norway just opened their seed vault. It makes sense, as the World starts to experience natural disasters (can you say…global warming!), wars, poor agricrop management, we need a way to stockpile our crop seeds (and our lovely flower seeds too). Not to mention you want as many Seed Vaults as financially possible in the event one is damaged or inaccessible.
What strikes me as weird when reading the article is the fact that Norway choose a remote island in the Artic Ocean. Now what I couldn’t find out is what the impact is of global warming. I mean if the ocean rises due to polar ice caps melting, isn’t there a risk that this Norwegian Seed Vault may be submersed under water?
I have started to realize that there is ZERO incentive for Big Pharma to come up with a cure for the common cold. I know, I know, there are over 100+ different types of rhinovirus (which many different strains), which create a variety of different possibilities. However, if you look at the numbers in the US, they conservatively estimate that the Cold Care drug market is about $2.9 billion annually. However, I would gladly pay $100 for a Cold Vaccination that would immunize me from over 50% of the typical Cold Viruses. But I doubt Big Pharma will willingly give up a $10 billion worldwide market.
I did read an interesting fact that once you get a particular strain you are pretty much immune from that strain for life. So why can’t we just synthesize the antibodies to make a vaccination? Maybe it is time to talk to some of my Bioscientist friends…
I have been stricken with the dreaded cold. It totally ruined my Valetine’s Day Weekend last week, and screwed up my entire plans for Chicago. I am still feeling pretty rotten, but I am slowly starting to feel better. Last Thursday (which was Valentine’s Day) I was a wreck, running a fever, and feel like general hell.
I did take a coworkers suggestion and used Zicam, snorting it up my nose like no tomorrow. And another coworker swore by Zand Insure Immune Support Liquids, which has an Echinacea and Goldenseal blend. I can’t say which of the two worked, but the cold never left my throat and stayed out of my nose, which I was really grateful. So if I ever started to feel ill again, I would probably attack the cold with both the Zicam and the Zand formula again.
I have been noticing a lot lately that I have been getting sick more than usual. I usually feel fine, but after a flight I just start to get run down and end up getting sick. My friend the Divine Miss N has pointed out that I come down with the “man-flu” a lot. Basically, us men get stricken by this virulent strain of the flu virus that almost incapacitates us, while most women only get mild symptoms and feel generally fine. Yeah, basically she is calling us men big babies.
And I think she is right. Whenever, I get sick I want to just crawl up into bed somewhere and just sleep through it. I don’t want to go to work, get showered and leave the house, or try to function in any way shape or form. I just want to quietly die in my bedroom, and wait until the sickness passes. And what is wrong with that? I believe if you have accrued sick time, you may as well use it. That is my story and I am sticking to it. *cough cough* Ok off to bed I go.
It has been a while since I last posted (mostly due to my lazyiness). But I did have a thought this year, one of my New Year’s Resolutions was to start blogging more regularly. One of the ways I have decided to do this is by promising to myself to publish at a minimum at least one entry a week. Ideally, it would be great to publish more, but I don’t want to push myself too hard.
Why does Valentine’s Day always seem like a huge deal to people. I love when people have Black Valentine’s Day, you know the Anti-Valentine’s Day. That is awesome!
I sometimes think that the amount of energy and effort people put into this Hallmark Holiday is ridiculous. But you know, maybe that is because I don’t currently have a date. Maybe if things were different, I wouldn’t be so negative about the day…Nyah! Bah Humbug!
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