This is pretty great. The article is not quite so enthusiastic about this as I am, actually. Even with a success rate of 30%, imagine the difference it would make if this vaccine could be given to, say, women in backwards third-world countries where they run the constant risk of being raped and not only contracting HIV, but falling pregnant and passing it to the child. One of the considerations as to whether this vaccine will be distributed is the idea that it may lead to people behaving less safely (ie. sex without condoms). This is not something that needs considering in the previously mentioned situation.

90% of people who contract HIV go on to develop AIDS, which kills them within a few years. This vaccine could save almost 2100 lives a day. How much is that worth to you?

Love Girl

I know it is tough. I know it is difficult, or even nigh impossible to see sometimes. But you are incredible, life and the universe and every single person and being is incredible. We are quite literally the children of the stars. Every single human is a source of great power and great potential. We must do what we can, the best we can, every single one of us, for no other reason than that it is the right thing to do. And even if no-one sees, no-one knows, no-one realises the amazing things you’re doing… the truth remains that you are doing the good, right thing.

I love you all, dearly, you are all incredible and awe-inspiring creatures.

Love Girl

It’s Spring (in my backyard, at least)!

I can’t wait to not be so cold all the time, to get plenty of Vitamin D from the sun, to go swimming, to pick flowers, to wear pretty dresses, to sweat and bitch about the heat.

Love Girl

You’ve been giving me a tough time of it lately (a delicious cocktail of hormones, chemical imbalances and unfortunate life events) but I still love you. I know, I’ve learnt over these years, that there will always be a calm after the storm. For

So to avoid wallowing in a pit of misery, I’m going to think about things in life that make me happy:
: Tiny cat footprints in the sand in front of my house.
: Drinking a cup of green tea in the warm sun.
: Seeing L platers in driving school cars learning to drive&doing well.
: Long, warm snuggles with my friends.
: When a song randomly comes on the radio, perfectly describing my current situation.
: Walking on the beach, eating delicious ice cream, being chased by seagulls (ie. Wednesday)

So you see the truth in my declaration of love for you, dear World. Even when it is miserable and cold and it would be easier to close my eyes, I am going to keep looking at you with adoration.

Love Girl

If the fact that mankind broke ground on its first commercial spaceport isn’t exciting, then I don’t know what is.

I get tingles thinking about this. I firmly believe that the future of man lies outside just this planet (although that is certainly no excuse to go trashing the place) and this first step opens up a world of possibilities.

Love Girl

This is one of those hard things to consider. I think everyone can identify with feeling so hopeless that living is pointless, even if only briefly. Well, the current news is that suicide rates have gone down in Australia!

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the average rate of suicide across all ages, genders and races in Australia was 8.7 per 100,000 people in 2006. This is down from 14.7 per 100,000 people in 1997. It was as high as 10.3 per 100,000 people in 2005!

I think this is a good sign. It means more people are more willing to get help and do something about mental illness (seeing as how something like 98% of suicides occur when the person has a mental illness). More people are seeing what I’m seeing, that the world is incredible and life is something to be loved and cherished. It’s hard to see that sometimes, true, but it is possible!

You are incredible,

Love Girl

My new favourite hobby is subversive and/or inspirational grafitti. Tools required (minimum): Black texta/pen, things to say about life.

from the UK

It’s just such a great medium to reach everyone, and people are so used to block-lettered tags which have no meaning to anyone not in a teenaged gang, that finding something beautiful or thought-inspiring painted on walls is a pleasant surprise. This is one of the things I love about you, World, the proof that other people love you too.

Love Girl

I was watching a documentary today about jelly fish and, like every documentary I watch lately, it was just amazing. Did you know that they reproduce by both cloning AND sexual means?

What happens is, the fertilized egg lands on the seafloor and grows as a polyp which means it’s stuck to the floor but is growing a body and tentacles and stuff. There are some jellyfish even which, when they first land on the seafloor, grow two tentacle-like things immediately and actually move around until they find somewhere safe and delicious to grow up. Then the polyp clones into tons of polyps and they sit there until the jellyfish are fully grown and release from the ocean floor and starts swimming around. THEN the adult jellyfishes release sperm and eggs into the water which meet each other and land on the seafloor to start again. Isn’t that cool?

It turns out that coral reefs grow in the same way, except of course the coral stays where it landed instead of swimming off.

A final little tidbit of interesting information: When a box jellyfish stings a prey (like a small fishy), it takes it into its body and digests it with an acid mixture, but the tentacles themselves are actually its stomach! After the food breaks up, little bits of it travel down through the tentacles where it’s turned into delicious nutrients.

Thank you for reminding me how awesome you are, World.

Love Girl